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J) 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
eart. 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. lie is next seen wearing a false heard, one of the many disguises the detectives say
e 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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fflTjn LIFE
Supposedly Mad Priest Suddenly
Changes From Martyr Air When
He Sees the Death Chair.
NEW YORK, Sept. 10.—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 ho 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 njjth 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
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.
BATTLE CREEK. MICH., Sept. 20.
Mrs. Katherine Nelson, of Battle
Creek, widow of John Frye Nelson,
greatnephew of Lord Admiral Nels
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 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 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 ttjey 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 Rsv. Kans
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 L
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 frerhes wiedersehen”(To
our next happy meeting.) In a post
card that came two days later wa-?
the encouraging promise, “T 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 undoubted’y already plotting the
cruel murder of Anna Aumuller, the
comely young girl he said he loved.
He had looked at Hats and stolen •’
death certificate, had a copy made of
it by uliotography and had obtain* u 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 Gonzenhelm 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 Esteln,
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 afterwaTds launching out
‘ tn another and poorer quarter of the
HEARST’*? SUNDAY AMERICAN. ATLANTA, GA.. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1913.
city as "Dr. Ernst, teaching a tongue
in one month."
Next ho 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 in.
Tn Louisville, Ky., in 1909 a younjr
i man appeared *in clerical sarb 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 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. He wits pursued :
11,000 miles, brought back and sen- .
tenced to life imprisonment, always
protesting his innocence.
Also at that time the Rev. Ilans
Schmidt left and present
ing letters believed to be forged, tn
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 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,
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 hersel? 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 tinding
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 heigiit, 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 nf the stairs.
Like a Hash. 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 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 Rez.
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: “B it
Anna talked to me about our child
I soon to be born. The full realization
:of our sin became apparent to
The fact began to worry me.
“At first I could not think out my
course. Anna pleaded. Then I de
> cided that we should be married. Sev
| e.ral days before I killed her we were
married at the City Hall. We gave
I 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 onr
I “I engaged the apartment at No. 68
, Bradhurst avenue. I fixotj it up with
a little furniture. I bought the fur
niture we thought we required.
“Anna went there and«we began our
Read The , G x e lor
gian s New
onrarasanai O
Serial Story, By Louis
Tracy, Called
“The King of Diamonds”
married life. But T was worried. Ts
our relation became known, how
could I explain?
“I thought it all out alone and de
cided to kill my wife.
“My decision made, it wsa 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
i near that street, and bought the
butcher knife and the saw.
“I took the tools with me to O'JT
> 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
i butcher knife, I seized her and told
p 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 body
: was still warm I rushed into the bath
room with it. I threw her Into the
bathtub. And then 1 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.
“I 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, I think, part
. of the bedsnread to wrap about the
: legs or arms. I may have used some
of Anna’s lingerie.
1 “My work was rapid. I wanted to
get rid of the head. It was the first
thing I took away. I wrapped It ?n
paper and tied it up like a package.
“With the fiead under my arm. I
j made my w'» x * to the river. I bought
> a ferry tlckt i and got aboard the fnr-
> ry to Fort Lee. I laid the package
down on the seat beside me in the
! waiting room and again on the ferry
, boat. No one noticed. 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
I paid attention to me, and I felt sure
i that I was not observed. I dropped the
head into the river. It disappeared.
“I hurried hack to the flat as soon
as the boat brought me back to Man-
It Is a Thrilling Tale of
a Modern Monte Cristo
» nd ■* Monday
Begms 11 1
hattan. I did up each part of the body"
in a package small enough to carry
conveniently without attracting too
much attention. I made sure that no
blood showed. Then I 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 I sat down. I tossed
them into the water whenever the
first opportunity presented. It was
done.”
CHAPTER VI.
Following the confession, rapidlv
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
church of the Rev Schmidt, was the
dentist office of Dr. Ernest Arthur
Muret. It was there that the two
men had plotted crime.
One of the plana of the Rev.
Schmidt was to mike 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 J)r
Muret, the dentist.
Nights, after bls clerical duties were
done, the priest hurried to his friend
and in his office changed his clerical
garb for a business suit of gray.
Not all Is yet told of the deeds done
by the two cousins. Strange stories
of midnight revelry are reported.
Women were heard at night scream
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 th?
Rev. Schmidt served as assistant
priest, reports a missing girl.
Rut the old mother, back in As
chaffenburg, has but one explanation,
now that she knows the truth:
“My poor boy Is Insane. He was
Insane In hl* youth. He 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 haa in
structed the City Marshal to trace all
executions to determine just how
each was dlsr»sed of.
These executions never hav« been
satisfied, and the Mayor believes the
city has b*»en deprived of thousands
of dollars that should havo 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 , ■'■■(.. , -’ mJ nr'
M '
f I Mt- Regale at Chateau Frontenac. Quebec
I w®
fin'wr Get
|| n iOf To-morrow s Style
i| T °~ da y i n 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.”
» ■ ff °/ J
I "»I / zS' ! -i- r
I ”* ! &—S
$3.50 and $4.00 $4.50 and $5.00
REGAL SHOES
Six Whitehall St.
-
3A
Alee Shriners to
Visit Columbus
Savannah Temple Will Initiate Big
Class on Trip to West
Georgia.
SAVANNAH, Sept. JS—To initiate
a large class of prospective nobles
into the mysteries of the Shrine and
treat them to a real camel's back ride
over the "hot sands,” the official dtvan
and nobles nf Alee Temple will make
a pilgrimage to Columbus on Octo
ber T.
The ceremonial wit! be one of the
most important of the year for Alee
Temple. Special Ambassador J. E
Chancelor is making big preparations
for the event. A great barbecue and
numerous automobile rides will be
some of the entertainment features,
and the session will wind up with ■
banquet at one of the hotels.