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T)HOTOGRAPHIC 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-
A heart. Next he is seen in straw hat and summer attire, which he 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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KANS SOHMIOT
_B[TERMINED ID
P FIGHTFOR LIFE
■ Supposedly Mad Priest Suddenly
j Changes From Martyr Air When
He Sees the Death Chair.
• ■’ NEW YORK. Sept. 20.—Suddenly
abandoning his air of resignation and
< perverted martyrdom. I tans Schmidt,
the supposedly mad priest, who con
fessed murdering and dismembering
; Anna Aumuller, declared in the
• Tombs to-day that he would fight for
• his life.
For the first time a look of terror
! Came into the prisoner's eyes at a
tnention of the death chair and, while
exercising in the corridor, Schmidt
confided 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.”
£)n account of Schmidts 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 refused 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 would be
dealing in wholesale murder. Schmidt
intended to make a beginning in his
4 dreadful work of blood among the
parishioners of St. Joseph’s Church,
inhere he was assistant rector. In or
der to dispose of his victims Schmidt
had stoleh a book of death certificates
from a physician and these were to
have been forged.
Nelson’s Greatniece
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 Rattle
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
I class this month. She would have
I been Lady kelson had not her hus
i band HietPln London last winter. His
■ .will bequeathed her a considerable
I 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. 2d.—Cubist
(specimens of artistic brainstorms
‘and “September Morn.” the Chabas
painting, have been barred from the
( fall exhibition of the Corcoran Art
! Gallery. ' ;
t SECRETARY DANIELS AFTER
SECOND-HAND BROUGHAM
f WASHINGTON, Sept. 20.—Secre
i- Yar\' of tht- Navy Josophus Daniels
, fs advertising in a local newspaper
l r for “A second-hand brougham, with
dark green interior tnmmings.'’
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
i has been picked up here and there,
this tangle has been ‘ unravelled, and
from the warp and woof the narra
tives of his career has been woven.
The police and the court-authorities
now realize that they 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. Hans
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 plott€*r 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 eln frohes w r iedersehen”(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, Vho is 65 years
cld, 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.
Ho had looked at flats and stolen a
death certificate, had a copy made of
it by photography and had obtained in
some way blank death certificates.
CHAPTER H.
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 Gonzenheirn 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
i a cousin, Adolph Mueller, none other
than the dentist and associate of
Schmidt in 'New York under arrest
and booked by the police as 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 the Hugo lan
guage Institute in London. He pad
ded his accounts and was discharged,
immediately afterwards launching out
in another and pourer quarter of the J
HEARST’S SUNDAY 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 w’eekly. 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 HI.
In Louisville, Ky.. in 1909 a ynung
man appeared in clerical garb and
introduced himself as the Rev. Hans
Schmidt to the priests of St. John’s
Church. He was not appointed t* any
place himself, but to his new Mends,
the young priests, he showed what
purported to be dismissorial 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. He 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 Ixmlsville 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- i
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.
He lived on the North Side* in a
family where there was a pretty
young girl. The family disappeared
and Dr. Held left Chicago about the
same time and no trace of either
could afterward be obtained.
In Germany there Is a famous Dr.
Held who was educated at Koenigs
berg. He does not know of the Chi
cago Dr. Held.
CHAPTER IV.
It was at St. Boniface’s Church,
New York, established as assistant
as assistant pastor on letters from
Trenton that Hans Schmidt first met
the young girl, Anna Aumuller, then
a maid in the church house. The
young man w r as 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 i
talked to her family and friends of
the charity of the Rev. Schmidt and
of his gifts to the poor. She said j
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 limbs
in the river, the tracing of the odd
pillow slip—wonderful detective 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 strode slowly down
the stairs —a man of middle age and
middle height, of high forehead, low
ering eyes, firm jaw’ and weak mouth.
He saw the six strangers at the foot
of the stairs. He saw Father Hunt
mann’s wondering, shocked face. But
he came on. slowly, steadily.
All were silent until he reached the .
foot of the stairs.
Like a flash, Faurot sprang for
ward. He held a picture of Anna i
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 whisper.
His arms fell. He reached them
pleadingly toward the good graj
priest, his master in the church. Fa
ther Huntmann shrank from the prof-
.from a thing stain
ed. With a swing of his arm be swepl
him aside. Schmidt staggered back
“ Because I loved her." he said
as if he were finishing his first words
CHAPTER V.
While the detectives and newspa
per men sat listening the Rev
Schmidt told the story of his crime
, a tale never equaled in the annals ol
crime. He told of his relations wltfc
Anna Aumuller and went on: “Bn
Anna talked to me about our chil i
soon to be born. The full realization
of our sin became apparent to me.
The fact began to worry me.
“At first I could not think out tny
course. Anna pleaded. Then I de
cided that we should be married. Sev
eral days before I killed her we wer«
| 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
I secluded one.
"I engaged the apartment at No. 65
I Bradhurst avenue I fixed it up with
| a little furniture I bought the fur-
I niture we thought we required.
"Anna went there and we began out
Read The , G <- or -
. 1 "" gian s New
Serial Story, By Louis
Tracy, Called
“The King ol Diamonds”
It Is a Thrilling Tale of
a Modern Monte Cristo
and it Monday
Begins
married life. But I was worried. If hattan. I did up each part of the body
our relation became known, how l n a package small enough to carry
t conveniently without attracting too
• i oinno d, mu<h attention. I made sure that no
I tnongnt it nil out alonp finfl flp- , • • • • ». , ...
cided to kill my wife. ,±' TLoe
"My decision made. It was time, I ....P _. ith „„-u
thought, to net. I went out and hunt- _ ame “J’
ed for tools. I came downtown. I , Y k ? ge ',, ' ' nld ,hrm on ‘, he Pe , a ' P
thought I could best do It with a where otner passengers sat on the
htlfcher knife ferry boat when I eat dow n. I tossed
"I went to a little shop l« Center ' h « m Into the water whenever the
street, just south of Worth ?treet/or « rW opportunity present- d. It was
near that street, and bought the aone
butcher knife and the saw.
”1 took the tools with me to our CHAPTER VI.
apartment on the night of Septem- „,, , . . ...
ber 1. Anna was lying in her bed I Following the confession, rapidly
, do not know whether she was asleep, came 'the police discovery that the
“Stepping over to the bed with the cousins, who In youth connived to
butcher knife, I seized her and told gather at Mainz were together still,
her quickly that 1 had come to carry j n st. Nicholas, not far from the
out my threat. church of the Rev. Schmidt, was the
‘I cut her throat with the butcher dentist office of Dr. Ernest Arthur
knifi- whilal hejd her. Wblle the -body Muret. if was there that the two
Was still whrm I rushed into the bath- men had nlotted crime
room with It. I threw her Into the One of the p!an» of the Rev.
bathtub. And then I rut her up. Schmidt was to make counterfeit
1 cut the body into five or six money, and to “relieve the poor of
t 4. . this country ahd Germany,” as he
u en ‘ WPr >t out and bought tar sa y ß> The minister engraved the
moth paper in which to wrap the plates, crudely enough at first, but
pieces. better as he practiced. The place of
1 used the first things that came to safe-keeping for the counterfeiting
my mind to use as first coverings for outfit was In the laboratory of Dr
; the parts. 1 jammed one section into Muret the dentist
the pillow slip. I used. I think, part ‘ Nights, after his clerical duties were
of the bedspread to wrap about the donp thf . pr|est hurrted to hlg frtend
° r ? rl ? S ‘ ma > have used some and j n y ds office changed his clerical
of ,A nnft s l, ngerie. garb for a business suit of gray.
My work was rapid I wanted to Not aU 18 yet told nf th#i dpeds donp
get rid of the head. It was the first thp twn cousins. Strange stories
thing I took away. I wrapped it !n nf midnight revelry are reported,
paper and tied It up like a package. Women were heard at night scream
“ With tfip head under my arm. I Ing and seen running In the hallways
made my way to the river. 1 bought crying for help.
a ferry ticket and got nboard the fer- Then- may have been other mur-
- ry to Fort Lee. I laid the package ders. Helen Greene, who had been In
do« n on the seat beside me in the the company of the Rev. Schmidt,
waiting room and again on the ferry when he posed as a Van Dyke, has not
boat. No one noticed. There were since been seen. Trenton, where the
many passengers. Rev. Schmidt served as assistant
“As the boat neared midstream I priest, reports a missing girl.
picked up my package and sauntered But the old mother, back in As
to the stern of the boat. As no one chaffenburg, has but one explanation,
paid attention to me. and I felt sure now that she knows the truth
that I was not observed. I dropped the "My poor boy is insane. He was
head Into the river. It disappeared. Insane In his youth. He was in an
"I hurried back to the flat as soon asylum. He is to be cured—not pun
as the boat brought me back to Man- ished.”
Mayor Davant After
Old Tax Collections
Savannah Executive Believes City
Has Been Deprived of Thou
. sands of Dollars.
SAVANNAH. Sept. 20.—Maynr
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
rity has been deprived of thousands
of dollars that should havu been re
ceived in the general revenues. The
Mayor nnw has before him a list of
the executions which have accumu
lated for several years.
3»U 14 Jk
flfe ’ I a
z/Waill Regale at Chateau Frontenae, Quebec
I Oil’
i riW Get
g To-morrow s Style
§ H To-day in a
$ ** Regal
The styles in Regal Shoes to-day are those
you will see to-morrou) in other Shoes.
The ease and softness of the fashionable
“English suits” are perfectly matched and
mated in fashionable Regal Shoes with their
sloping toes, wide shanks, flat treads and
low “block heels.”
nSf I I
3/ I JI
$3.50 and $4.00 $4.50 and $5.00
REGAL SHOES
SK©®®
Six Whitehall St.
3A
Alee Shriners to
i Visit Columbus
f Savannah Temple Will Initiate Big
Class on Trip ts West
Georgia.
r SAVANNAH. Sept. 20—To initiate
> n large class of prospective nobles
Into the mysteries of the Sbilne and
treat them to a real camel’s twvuk ride
s over the "hot sands," the official divan
. and nobles of Alee Temple will make
I a pilgrimage to Columbus on Octo
r ber T.
The ceremonial will be one of the
i most important of the year for Alee
» Temple. Special Ambaaaador 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.