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"PHOTOGRAPHIC character studies of Hans Schmidt; the former priest, who is now believed to be one of history’s arch criminals. On the left he is seen in the cleric garb he wore before he was unmasked as the murderer of Anna Aumuller, his sweet
■*- heart. Next he is seen in straw hat and summer attire, which frequently wore when he changed costumes at the office of his alleged fellow conspirator, Dr. Muret. He is next seen wearing a false heard, one of the many disguises the detectives say
he assumed. In the right hand picture he is seen as he looked shortly after his arrest. The terror which he was suffering is vividly depicted in this photograph.
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HSKS SGW
BETERMINEUTO
FIGHT FOR LIFE
Supposedly Mad Priest Suddenly
Changes From Martyr Air When
He Sees the Death Chair.
NEW YORK, Sept. 20—Suddenly
abandoning his air of resignation and
perverted martyrdom. Hans Schmidt,
the supposedly mad priest, who con
fessed murdering and dismembering
Anna Aumuller, declared in the
•Tombs to-day that he would fight for
kis life.
For the first time a look of terror
came into the prisoner’s eyes at a
mention of the death chair and. while
exerclr .g in the corridor, Schmidt
confid, a to a fellow prisoner:
“I will fight for my life. If District
Attorney Whitman expects to get
anything out of me he will find him
self up against a stone wall.”
On account of Schmidt's erratic
mental condition, a sudden change of
attitude with revelations of more
ghastly crimes would not surprise the
police.
When Schmidt was asked about a
confession he is alleged to have made
yesterday relatives to euthanasia he
shrugged his shoulders and re-fused to
talk. One of the beliefs of Schmidt’s
disordered mind is in the doctrine of
painless death for cripples or persons
who suffer.
The police believe that if Schmidt
had not been arrested he w’ould be
dealing in wholesale murder. Schmidt
intended to make a beginning in his
dreadful work of blood among the
parishioners of St. Joseph's Church,
where he was assistant rector. In or
der to dispose of his victims Schmidt
had stolen a book of death certificates
from a physician and these were to
have been forged.
Nelson's Greatmece
A Michigan Senior
Death of Husband Prevents Her
From Taking Title of Brit
ish Naval Hero.
BATTLE CREEK. MICH., Sept. 20.
Mrs. Katherine Nelson, of Battle
Creek, widow of John Frye Nelson,
greatnephew of Lord Admiral Nel
son. will re-enter the University of
Michigan as a member of the senior
class this month. She would have
befn Lady Nelson had not her hus
band died in London last winter. His
will bequeathed her a considerable
portion of his English estate, but she
decided to return to Michigan and
resume her old life where it was in
terrupted by her romance.
CUBIST PAINTINGS AND
•SEPTEMBER MORN’ BARRED
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20.—Cubist
specimens of artistic brainstorms
and “September Morn,” the Chabas
painting, have been barred from the
fall exhibition of the Corcoran Art
Gallery.
SECRETARY DANIELS AFTER
SECOND-HAND BROUGHAM
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20.—Secre
tary of the Navy .Josephus Daniels
is advertising in a local newspaper
for “A second-hand brougham, with
dark green interior trimmings.”
World’s Arch Criminal Revealed
In Life Story of Hans Schmidt
NEW YORK. Sept. 20.—Since the
apprehension of Schmidt as the mur
derer of Miss Aumuller and his con
fession, not a day has failed to add
some details of the man’s strange life
story. It seems to the police that the
whole world is interested. A thread
has been picked up here and there,
this tangle has been 1 unravelled. an<i
from the warp and woof the narra
tives of his career has been wovjen.
The police and the court authorities
now realize that they have to deal
with one of the arch criminals of the
age.
Inspector Faurot Is not alone in be
lieving that time will rank this as the
world’s most celebrated murderer. As |
the inspector says, the Rev. Han;.
Schmidt has been shown to be one
of the brainiest criminals in any
land.
If this man had not made one little
mistake and bought a pillow different
from any other pillow sold. Faurot de
clares that Schmidt would have de
veloped into a master plotter for a
band of smaller criminals around him.
launching out and abandoning half
way criminality to make himself a
factor In the big crimes of the world.
Here Is his story so far as it is
known:
CHAPTER I.
An old gray-haired woman, sitting
by the fire in her little home in
Aschaffenburg, Germany, two weeks
ago was handed a photograph by the
mail man and the picture proved to
be that of her long-absent Johannes
Schmidt in America. On the back- of
the card was the sentence in Ger
man “Auf ein frohes wledersehen”(To
our next happy meeting.) In a post
card that came two days later wa.-?
the encouraging promise. “I rejoice
that I soon may be with you.”
Tears of joy rose in the old frau’s
eyes. Probably she told the news
of her son and his plan to return to
her neighbors and to her husband.
Heinrich Schmidt, who is 65 years
old, one year older than Frau
Schmidt.
Yet the Rev. Hans Schmidt when
he sent the likeness and the message
was undoubtedly already plotting the
cruel murder of Anna Aumuller, the
comely young girl he said he loved.
He had looked at fiats and stolen a
death certificate, had a copy made of
it by photography and had obtained in
some way blank death certificates.
CHAPTER n.
Frau Schmidt sat gazing Into the
flames in the grate and thought of
the youth of her boy, Johannes. Time
and again in those days he had
brought tears to her eyes. At Mainz
Seminary his pranks had scandalized
her. He had even on one occasion sat
in a bathtub stark naked playing a
guitar, while other students and the
learned teachers looked aghast
through the open door.
At Munich again, where he was sent
for further schooling, his love affairs
with women of questionable character
became a public scandal and led to
his disgrace. Nevertheless, he was
ordained and sent to officiate at St.
Elizabeth’s Church. He abandoned
the altar in a solemn part of the
services at Gonzenheim and ran cry
ing through the aisles and later dis
appeared from the town after an af
fair. Then he was involved In forgery
and dismissed.
A close companion of Johannes
Schmidt in these youthful days of
revelry and affairs with women was
a cousin, Adolph Mueller, none other
than the dentist and. associate of ,
Schmidt In New Y’ork under arrest
and booked by the police a% Dr. Er
nest Muret.
Mueller fled to England and
Schmidt fled to America. Constantly
they kept in touch, but secretly of
necessity.
Mueller became first Doctor Estein,
and in that guise was employed to
teach languages in th»> Hugo Lan
guage Institute in London. He pad
ded his accounts and was discharged,
immediately afterwards launching out
in another and poorer quarter of the
HEARST’S SUNDAY AMERICAN, ATLANTA, GA.. ST’NDAY. SEPTEMBER 21, 1913.
city as “Dr. Ernst, teaching a tongue
in one month.”
Next he became a surgeon. Dr. Mu
ret, and was an organizer of a medi
cal aid society that provided families
with medical attendance and medi
cine for three pence weekly. The
Medical Defense Union caused the ar
rest of the bogus doctor, and Muret
dropped out of sight, while Scotland
Yard held warrants for white slavery,
illegal operations, attacking a young
girl and fraudulently posing as a phy
sician.
CHAPTER 111.
In Louisville. Ky„ in 1909 a youna ’
i man appeared in clerical garb and j
introduced himself as the Rev. Hans
Schmidt to the priests of St. .John's I
Church. He was not appointed t« any !
place himself, but to his new Mends,
the young priests, he showed what •
purported to be dismissorlal letters
from Munich proving him a priest.
That same year the body of Alma
Kellner. 8 years old, dismembered and
cut into 25 pieces, was found in an
old cellar under the school building of
St. John's Church. About that time
Joseph Wendling, a Frenchman and
the only person known to have the
keys to the building, left his home
and disappeared. lie was pursued
11,000 miles, brought back and sen
tenced to life imprisonment, always
protesting his innocence.
Also at that time the Rev. Hans
Schmidt left Louisville and present
ing letters believed to be forged, in
Trenton, was received as a visiting
priest and allowed to assist at a
church.
While the Rev. Hans Schmidt was
in Louisville Dr. Arnold Held appear
ed in Chicago and registered at a col
lege of mechano-therapy. He was an
especially brilliant student and talked
of having been educated at the Gym
nasium at Koenigsberg, in Germany.
So brilliant was he that in May. 1909,
he was given a certificate or diploma. I
He lived on the North Side in a '
family where there was a preUy |
young girl. The family disappeared
and Dr. Held left Chicago about the |
same time and no trace of either |
could afterwanl be obtained.
In Germany there is a famous Dr.
Held who was educated at Koenigs
berg. He does not know of the Chi- 4
cago Dr. Held.
CHAPTER IV.
It was at St. Boniface’s Church.
New York, established as assistant
as assistant pastoV on letters from
Trenton that Hans Schmidt first met
the young girl, Anna Aumuller, then
a maid in the church house. The
young man was so brilliant, and when
he talked of St. Elizabeth and of his
right to officiate at their own mar
riage, this in the name of the saint,
every word seemed true.
Trusting, believing, the girl soon
found herself in deep despair. She
talked to her family and friends of
the charity of the Rev. Schmidt and
of his gifts to the poor. She said
nothing more. But finally the day
came that the housekeeper suspected,
and Anna had to leave the rectory.
But at that time the Rev. Schmidt
had already gone to another church,
and at St. Joseph’s, in 125th street,
preached at the services for night
workers.
Then came the strange disappear
ance of Anna Aumuller, the finding
on August 31 of the torso and limhs
in the river, the tracing of the odd
pillow slip— wonderful detetetive work
—and finally the visit of the detec
tives to the church house soon after |
midnight last Sunday.
Father Schmidt was in bed. He was
awakened. In his black cassock of '
confessional he stn»de slowly down I
the stairs—a man of middle age and !
middle height, of high forehead, low- >
ering eyes, firm jaw and w r eak mouth.
He saw the six strangers at the foot
of the stairs. He saw’ Father Hunt
mann's wondering, shocked face. I3ut
he came on, slowly, steadily.
All were silent until he reached the
foot nf the stairs.
Like a flash. Faurot sprang for
ward. He held a picture of Anna
Aumuller before the eyes of Schmidt.
"Did you kill that girl?’’ snapped
the inspector.
The priest held up his hands, shift
ing his eyes from the face of the
woman he had slain.
"YES. YES, I KILLED HER," he
said in a choking w’hisper.
His arms fell. He reached them
pleadingly toward the good gray
priest, his master in the church. Fa
ther Huntmann shrank from the prof
fered embrace as from a thing stain
ed. With a swing of his arm he swept
him aside. Schmidt staggered back
” Because I loved her,’’ he said,
I as if he were finishing his first words.
CHAPTER V.
While the detectives and newspa
i per men sat listening the Re/.
Schmidt told the story of his crime,
a tale never equaled in the annals of
crime. He told of his relations with
Anna Aumuller and went on: "But
Anna talked to me about our chil l
soon to be bom. The full realization
of our sin became apparent to me.
The fact began to worry me.
"At first I could not think out my
course. Anna pleaded. Then I de
cided that we should he married. Sev
eral days before I killed her we were
married at the City Hall. We gave
our true names. You will find the
records.
"We decided then that we should
have a home. I set about finding a
location. We knew that for a time,
until we decided how’ to declare our
selves before the world, It must be a
secluded one.
"I engaged the apartment at No. 68
Bradhurst avenue. I fixed it up with
a little furniture. I bought the fur
niture we thought we required.
"Anna went there and w’e began our
Read The , Ge ° r '
- gian s New
Serial Story, By Louis
Tracy, Called
“The King ol Diamonds”
It Is a Thrilling Tale of
a Modern Monte Cristo
ana it Monday
Begins
married life. But T was worried. Ts
our relation became known, how’
could I explain?
“I thought it all out alone and de
ci <!<•<! to kill my wife.
"My decision made, it was time, I
thought, to act. I went out and hunt
ed for tools. I came downtown. I
thought I could best do it with a
butcher knife.
"I went to a little shop in Center
street, Just south of Worth street, or
near that street, and bought the
butcher knife and the saw.
"I took the tools with me to our
apartment on the night of Septem
ber 1. Anna was lying in her bed. I
do not know whether she was asleep.
"Stepping over to the bed with the
butcher knife, I seized her and told
her quickly that I had come to carry
out my threat.
“I cut her throat with the butcher
knife while I held her. While the bo ly
was »tin warm I rushed into the bath
room with it. I threw her into the
bathtub. And then I cut her up.
"I cut the body into five or six
pieces.
“Then I went out and bought tar
moth paper in which to wrap the
pieces.
“1 used the first things that came to
my mind to use as first coverings for
the parts. I jammed one section into
the pillow slip. I used,’l think, part
of the bedspread to wrap about the
legs or arms I may have used some
of Anna’s lingerie.
"My work was rapid. I wanted to
get rid of the head. It was the first
thing I took away. I wrapped it in
paper and tied It up like a package.
"With the head under my arm, I
made my way to the river. I bought
a ferry ticket and got aboard the fer
ry to Fort Lee. 1 laid the package
down on the seat beside me fin the
waiting room and again on the ferry
boat. No one hoticed. There were
many passengers.
"As the boat neared midstream I
picked up my package and sauntered
to the stern of the boat. As no one
paid attention to me, and I felt sure
that I was not observed. 1 dropped the
head into the river. It disappeared.
"1 hurried back to the flat as soon
as the boat brought me back to Man-
hattan. I did up each part of the body
in a package small enough to carry 1
conveniently without attracting too j
much attention. 1 made sure that no
blood showed. Then 1 went to the
river with each piece.
"My course was the same with each
package. I laid them on the seats <
where other passengers sat on the
ferry boat when 1 eat down. I tossed
thorn into the water whenever the
first opportunity presented. It was
done.”
CHAPTER VI.
Following the confession, rapidly 1
came the police discovery that the '
cousins, who In youth connived to
gether at Mainz, were together still.
In St. Nicholas, not far from the 1
church of the Rev. Schmidt, was the
dentist office of Dr. Err.eat Arthur
Muret. It was there that the two
men had plotted crime. •
One of the plans of the Rev. '
Schmidt was to make counterfeit '
money, and to "relieve the poor of
this country and Germany,’’ as he
says. The minister engraved the
plates, crudely enough at first, but '
better as he practiced. The place of
safe-keeping for the counterfeiting
outfit was In the laboratory of Dr.
Muret, the dentist
Nights, after his clerical duties w*ere
done, the priest hurried to hla friend
and in his office changed his clerical
garb for a business suit of gray.
Not all is yet told nf the deeds done
by the two cousins. Strange stories
of midnight revelry are reported.
Women were heard at night sc ream
ing and seen running in the hallways
crying for help.
There may have been other mur
ders. Helen Greene, who had been in
the company of the Rev. Schmidt,
when he posed as a Van Dyke, has not
since been seen. Trenton, where the
Rev. Schmidt served as assistant
priest, reports a missing girl.
But the old mother, back in As
chaffenburg, li.v but one explanation,
now that she knows the truth:
"My poor boy is insane. He was
Insane in his youth. Ho was in an
asylum. He is to be cured not pun
ished.’’
Mayor Davant After
Old Tax Collections
Savannah Executive Believes City
Has Been Deprived of Thou
sands of Dollars.
SAVANNAH. Sept. 20.—Mayor
Richard J. Davant has taken steps to
enforce the collection of a large num
ber of tax executions which were ei
ther canceled or not collected by the
last administration. He has In
structed the City Marshal to trace all
executions to determine just how
each was disused of.
These executions never have been
satisfied, and the Mayor believes the
city has been deprived of thousands
of dollars that should have been re
ceived in the general revenues. The
Mayor now has before him a list of
the executions wjdch have accumu
lated for several years.
[mti iA a
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The ease and softness of the fashionable
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Alee Shriners to
i Visit Columbus
f Savannah Temple Will Initiate Big
Class on Trip to West
Georgia.
r SAVANNAH, Sopt. 20.—T0 initials
> a largp class of prospective nobles
• Into the mysteries of the Sbrine and
treat them to a real camel’s tw»ok ride
s over the “hot sands.” the official divan
. and nobles of Alee Temple will make
1 a pilgrimage to Columbus on Octo
r ber 7.
The ceremonial will be one of the
i most important of the year for Alee
e Temple. Special Ambassador J. E.
s Chancelor Is making big preparations
-for the event. A great barbecue and
» numerous automobile rides will be
f some of the entertainment features,
- and the session will wind up with a
banquet at one of the hotels.