Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1895 — HOLMES IS TO HANG [ARTICLE]

HOLMES IS TO HANG

MODERN BORGIA CONVICTED IN PHILADELPHIA. Arch Fiend Monster in Human Form Found Guilty of Murder in the First Degree—Jury Needed No Time for Debute. _ J Gallows Awaits Him. Henry H. Holmes, otherwise Herman W. Mudgett, swindler, bigamist, murderer and arch fiend, has been arrested in his career ofcrime by a verdict of murder in the first degree, that is'likely to send him after his many victims into the unknown beyond < the grave. The monster who built in Chicago a labyrinth to snare and kill human game without detection, who slew innocent children without reason or compunction, who inade a pastime of betraying women, ivhe waded through blood for money, who robbed widows and orphans, who exhausted an expert's ingenuity in devising ndw forms of death, wboBiiccessfully swindled insurance-compa-nies of thousands,who escaped detection for years in the most remarkable and varied career in the annals of American crime, was convicted in Philadelphia Saturday of the murder of F Pitzel, of Chicago. The man Who was .about to hear the warrant for his death, who had meted out death to others without mercy and who had gone through trying ordeals almost without a quiver of the lips or a twinge of the conscience, stood erect in the dock, unmoved, apparently unheeding. On his face sat the pallor of death, but it had been there for days, and did not deepen as he gave one'swift glance at the rows of unsympathizihg eyes at his back, turned his gaze at the jury in a blank stare, and clasped his hands behind him. Qnce or twice he moistened his lips with his tongue, apparently betraying a fever of anxiety that he held in check with his iron nerve. These was no other sign of agitation, mill Holmes heard his doom in silence, as though it might have been a dream. The clerk of the court, in a voice op-

pressed with the gravity of his duty, turned to the twelve men in the jury box, and, in slow, measured tones, said the fateful form: “Jurors, look on the prisoner. Prisoner, look on the jurors. How say you, gentlemen of the jury? Do you find the prisoner at the bar, Herman W. Mudgett, alias H. H. Holmes, guilty of the murder of Benjamin F. Pitzel, or not guilty?” The spokesman of the twelve men had not been touched with pity for the prisoner, for he answered promptly, clearly and without a shadow of feeling: “Guilty of murder in the first degree.” The accused stood like a statue as the verdict was being pronounced. There was no tremor in his shrunken form; no twitching of a lip. His marvelous selfmastery had nor forsaken him. There was a tighter clasp on a paper he held in dils bund, but the eyes rested on the jury as though held by a mysterious magnet. At hist Holmes relieved the tension by olearing his throat with a hoarse “hem” as he slowly sank into his seat, and the people tnpved in their seats and turned to make whispered comments. This remarkable criminal, however, was tOigive yet another evidence of bis self-poSßession. His counsel requested the clerk to poll the jury, and each of thi twelve men reaffirmed the verdict which their foreman had already.given. As each name was called Holmes wrote it on the margin of the newspaper. There was no trembling of the fingers which guided the lead pencil, and the writer glanced up at each juryman in turn,, as though fixing the face in his memory. The Court made a formal record of the verdict, and Holmes’ counsel made the expected motion for a new trial. Holmes followed the proceedings in silence, and when an officer indicated that he was no longer wanted he arose alertly without protest or apparent reluctance, and start-' ed out of the courtroom. He was taken to his cellroom, and a few minutes Inter left for the prison, where be will probably remain several months until his appeal is passed on. Holmes spoke to his counsel, Rotan and Shoemaker, in the cellroom before he was taken back to Moyainepsing prison. To them he said: “I foe) that his condemns me. It was an unjust trial." The specific offense for which Holmes was tried was the murder of his confederate in fraud, Pitzel. They had planned that the latter should insure his life, that a dead boc|y procured in some way should be palmed off on the insurance company as that of Pitzel, and the money be pollected and divided. Uoluioa simplified matters by murdering Pitzel nnd getting rid of a partner who would have insisted on a division of the spoils. The only disputed question was whether Pitzel committed suicide or was murdered. 'Hie evidence Satisfied the jury that he'did tint kill himself, but was murdered. That being the ease they had no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion thnf Holmes was the murderer. He alone had a motive, anil he had abundant opportunity. His conduct subsequent to Pftzel’s death furnished ample corroborative evld««a.