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"DHOTOGRAPHIC 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 beard, 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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HANS SCHMIDT
DETERMINED TH
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
his life.
For the first time a look of terror
Came into the prisoner’s eyes at a
mention 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.”
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 refused to
talk. One of the beliefs of Schmidt's
disordered mtnd 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
deaHng 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 Greatniece
A Michigan Senior
Death of Husband Prevents Her
From Taking Title of Brit
ish Naval Hero.
RATTLE 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
been 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 Mom," 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
fnr “A second-hand brougham, with
dark green interior trimininga.”
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 1s interested. A thread
has been picked up here ami there,
this tangle has been unravelled, and
from the warp and woof the narra
tives of his career has been
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
v oiid’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 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 1n
Aschaffenburg, Germany, two weeks
ago was handed a photograph by the
moil 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 wiedersehen”(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
Schrfiklt.
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 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
sendees at Gonzenhehn and ran cry
ing through the aisles and later dis
appeared from the town after an af
fair. Then he was involved in forgery
i and dismissed.
A close companion of Johannes
Schmidt in these youthful days of
revelrv and affairs with women was I
i a cousin. Adolph Mueller, none other!
i than the dentist and associate of i
' 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. Hr pad
■ ded his accounts and was discharged,
immediately aft< rwards laun< hing out
in another and poorer quarter of the
HEARST’S SUNDAY AMERICAN, ATLANTA, GA., SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21. 1913.
city as ”Dr. Ernst, teaching a tongue i
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 young
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 to any
place himself, but to his new friends,
the young priests, he showed what
purported to be distnissorial 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 hls 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 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 mecha no-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 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 limbs
in the river, the tracing of the odd
pillow slip— wonderful detective work
—and finally the visit of .the detec
. rives to the church house’soon after
midnight last Sunday.
Lather 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
«.
» 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 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 bark.
“ Because I loved her,” he said,
as if he were finishing his first words.
I CHAPTER V.
1 While the detectives and newspa-
■ per men sat listening the Re/.
I Schmidt told the story of his crime,
I a tale never equaled In the annals of
' i crime. He told of his relations with
Anna Aumuller and went on: “But
Anna talked to me about our child
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
' elded that we should be married. Sev
eral days before I killed her we were
married at the City Hal! We gave
our true names. You will find the
1 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
1 Bradhurst avenue. I fixed it up with
a little fumWnre! I bought the fur
niture we thought we required.
j "Anna went there and we began our
Read 1 he , G K e T or -
- gian s New
Serial Story, By Louis
Tracy, Called
“The King of Diamonds”
married life. But I was worried. If hattan. I did up each part of the body
our relation became known, how in a package small enough to carry
, , . , . , conveniently without attracting too*
to oi .k eX J*. ..1 -a a* much attention. I made sure that no
cided , ?o° U k^ t .i 1 t y a "lte Uta,< ’ neftn,J Xe ‘ Went
th'u XtoX" MventotH "My eoSrse wa.s the same with each
thought, to act. I went out ana hunt- T ... m ..
j # _ . t i package. I laid them on the seats
ed for tools. I came downtown. I [ h th sat on the
,i I .M d f p "y boat '‘hen I ant down. I tossed
".o „ <„ them into the water whenever the
street, just south of Worth street, or fir* opportunity presented. It was
near that street, and bought the uone >
butcher knife and the saw.
"I took the tools with me to oar CHAPTER VI.
apartment on the night of Septem- „,, . , , ....
ber 1. Anna was lying tn 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 knilr. I seized her and told gether at Mainz were together still,
her quickly that I had come to carry i 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. En -st Arthur
knife while I held her. While the body Muret. It was th. re that the two
was »till warm I rushed into the bath- m en had plotted crime.
room with it. I threw her into thb One of the plans of the Rev.
bathtub. And then I cut her up. Schmidt was to make counterfeit
“I cut the body into five or six money, and to “relieve the poor of
pieces. this country and Germany,” as he
“Then I went out and bought tar gays. 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
“I used the first things that came to safe-keeping for the counterfeiting
my mind to use as first coverings for ou tflt was | n the laboratory of Dr.
the parts. I 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 done, the priest hurried to his friend
legs or arms 1 may have used some nnf | j n hfg office changed his clerical
of Anna s lingerie. garb for a business suit of gray.
“My work was rapid. I wanted tn a y | s yet told of the deeds done
get rid of the head. It was the first the two cousins. Strange stories
thing I took away'. I wrapped it ,n o f midnight revelry are reported,
paper and tied it up like a package. Women were heard at night scream
“ With the head under my arm, I jpg and seen running In the hallways
made my way to the river. I bought crying for help.
a ferry ticket and got aboard the fer- There may have been other mar
ry’ to Fort Lee. I laid the package ders. Helen Greene, who had been in
down 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.”
It Is a Thrilling Tale of
a Modern Monte Cristo
and it Monday
Begins
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Mayor Davant After i
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 largo num
ber of tax executions which were ei
ther canceled or not collected by the
last administration. He has in-
Htruct%d the City Marshal to trace all
executions to determine just how
each was dls|F>sed ot.
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 which have accumu
lated for several years.
i i 4 A
fl ’ \ Regal* at Chateau Frontenae, Quebec t
I wf®
ffl To-morrow s Style
I To-day in a
' g "* 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.”
; 5l i
$3.50 and $4.00 $4.50 and $5.00
REGAL SHOES
i Six Whitehall St.
3A
i Alee Shriners to
Visit Columbus
Savannah Temple Will Initiate Big
Class on Trip to West
Georgia.
SAVANNAH, Sept. 20.—T0 Initials
a large class of prospective nobles
Into the mysteries of the Skrlne and
treat them to a real camel s wWclc ride
i over the "hot sands,” the official divan
and nobles of Alee Temple will make
I a pilgrimage to Columbus on Octo-
■ ber T.
The ceremonial will be one of the
i most important of the year for Alee
■ Temple. Special Ambassador J. E.
i Chancelor Is making big preparations
tt>r the event. A great barbecue and
■ numerous automobile rides will be
’ some of the entertainment features,
and the session will wind up with a
banquet at one of the hotels.