HOLMES CASE—PART FOUR

H. H. Holmes.

Cortland Evening Standard, Friday, November 1, 1895.

HOLMES BROKE DOWN.

Wept at Sight of the Woman He Calls Wife.

SHE SHOWED NO PITY FOR HIM.

Shunned the Gaze of Her Erstwhile Husband While She Testified Against Him—Prisoner Conducted Her

Cross-examination In Person.

   PHILADELPHIA, NOV. 1.—For about 30 minutes the nerve at which all men have marvelled forsook Holmes and, bowed and broken, he sank his head into his hands and sobbed like a child.

   Meanwhile, the woman he persists in calling his wife and upon whom he had pinned his highest hope, sat two yards away, relating a story that slowly but surely tightened the noose on his neck.

   For one hour and 40 minutes she whispered to the court crier the words that told how Pitezel had come to the Eleventh street house where they were stopping, the night before the murder; and how Holmes had been away for five hours of the next day, coming back flushed and excited and carrying her hurriedly off to Indianapolis. It was the day after this that the corpse was found in the Callowhill street house.

   At the close of her direct testimony, Holmes asked to conduct the cross-examination himself, and standing in a corner of the dock nervously wringing his hands he put a few questions. Then he said he would reserve the right to call her as a witness for the defense.

   Throughout her testimony, Miss Yoke, for so she calls herself, never once bestowed a passing glance upon the man she once had loved.

   During the greater part of it she kept her blue eyes riveted on the floor, and when it became necessary to raise them she was careful to shift them so that the pale, shrunken figure in the dock should not come in their path. Miss Yoke is a tall, slender blonde of the subdued type, and demeaned herself like a woman of refinement and intelligence. She was tastefully dressed in deep black.

   The case progressed so swiftly that but few witnesses remain to be heard before the closing of the commonwealth's case. Then the defense will open and, in spite of Holmes' statement that he would himself testify and also call Miss Yoke, his counsel privately stated that the defense would offer no evidence, but submit the case on argument alone. And they expressed supreme confidence in his acquittal.

   Their first victory was gained last night and it disappointed those morbid listeners who had counted on viewing the bones of the dead boy, Howard.

   The defense strenuously objected to the introduction of any further evidence touching the alleged murder of the children.

   The jury were temporarily taken to their room and elaborate arguments followed, at the end of which Judge Arnold sustained the contention.

   This was evidently a blow to the commonwealth, and District Attorney Graham fought against it with great vigor.

   Holmes showed no elation at the triumph, but his lawyers were unfeignedly jubilant.

   Considerable stir was caused in the room when a side door was opened and Miss Yoke, or Miss Howard, was ushered in. She was at once called to the stand and gave her testimony in a whisper, which was interpreted by the crier.

   For the first time Holmes broke down. He gazed steadily at her for a few seconds, while his hands twitched nervously and his lips opened and closed, but she carefully avoided meeting his eyes. Then he suddenly bent forward over the little desk in his dock and the tears began to trickle down his cheeks. He drew his handkerchief out and for a moment or two sobbed. Then, quickly recovering himself, he dried his eyes and bowed his head, busily engaging himself with his notes, but still occasionally giving way to a sob.

   Miss Yoke testified that she was in St. Louis in June, 1894, when Holmes was in the drug business. She engaged attorneys for him when he was in jail. Miss Yoke came to Philadelphia the first week in August. At that time Holmes said he was in the copying business, looking after leases, deeds etc.

   Mr. Graham then put a series of questions to fix Holmes' whereabouts on the day the murder is supposed to have been committed, Sunday, Sept. 2, 1894.

   "I was in my room on the evening of Saturday, Sept. 1. I had been ill, part of the time in bed. The prisoner was at home. Someone called during the evening to see him, and he went down stairs. Afterwards he said the caller was B. F. Pitezel. This was the day before we left Philadelphia.''

   "Was he at home the next day?"

   "Part of the day. He went out at about half-past 10 in the morning and came back between 3 and 4 in the afternoon. He said he had been at Nicetown, a suburb of Philadelphia. He had before mentioned about going away and said we would go home to Indianapolis. We were known here by the name of Howard. We left on the 10:15 train.

   "The prisoner remained with me in Indianapolis for a day or two. Then he went away, saying he was going to St. Louis. When he came back he went with me to my mother's home in Franklin, Ind. From there we returned to Indianapolis, and a few days afterward he went to Philadelphia, saying the copying deal had been closed.

   "He returned from Philadelphia about the 24th of the month and he then went to St. Louis to meet Lawyer Harvey. After we came back from Philadelphia to Indianapolis he went twice to St. Louis and on one of these occasions said he was going to meet a man from Fort Worth who was to buy the block in that city. When he returned from this trip he said he had sold the block for $35,000, $10,000 in cash and the balance payable semi-annually.

   "After his return from Philadelphia he told me he had met Howe in the train. He had the little girl with him and was going to identify the body of his client's husband. Holmes told him to call on him if he was needed for identification. He told me of the visit to the potter's field in Philadelphia and of the finding of identification marks after the doctor had failed to locate them.

   "Of the money he recovered for the Fort Worth property he said he had sent $5,000 to his broker, Mr. Blackman, in Chicago. He gave me $3,000, perhaps more, perhaps less. He gave me several presents, a Bible, a locket, diamond earrings and a little heart set with pearls.

   "He next left about Oct. 9 or 10 and said he was going to Cincinnati. I went to my mother's home in Franklin, Ind., and joined him in Detroit. We stopped at the Hotel Normandy until the next night and then went to a rooming house on Park place.

   "On Oct. 18 we went to Toronto. We remained there until the 26th, I believe. During our stay there, he told me he was going off on a pleasure trip.

   "From Toronto we went to Prescott, Canada, where we stayed one day. Holmes was with me part of the time. Thence we went to Ogdensburg, N. Y., where he was with me nearly all the time. Then we went to Burlington, Vt., where we remained three weeks or more, and next went to Boston. Here we remained a week, when he was arrested."

   "Did you, during all these travels, see anything of Mrs. Pitezel or the children?"

   "I did not."

   "Cross-examine," said Mr. Graham.

   Mr. Rotan, who had been talking quietly to Holmes, arose and told the court that the prisoner insisted on conducting the cross-examination in person.

   The court consented and Holmes, arising, stood in the corner of his dock nearest the witness stand addressing his questions tremulously direct to the woman he calls his wife, but she never raised her eyes and gave her replies in a whisper to the crier who repeated them aloud.

   "You said I left the house between 10 and 11 on Sunday morning, Sept. 2?

   "I did."

   "When did you next see me?"

   "I have stated, I believe, it was between 3 and 4 in the afternoon."

   "Will you try, as far as you can remember, to describe my personal appearance then?"

   "You came in hurriedly and said it was warm and that you had been walking fast; that, if I was well enough, we should leave that evening."

   "Was not my condition such that you could readily see I must have been much excited during my absence?"

   "You looked as if you had been in a hurry and you looked worried."

   "Did you know of any of the $5,000 being sent to Willamette?"

   "I did not."

   "Did you ever know me to send any money there?"

   "I did not."

   At this point Holmes told the court that he would reserve what other questions he had until he called the witness directly for the defense.

   A number of witnesses then identified various possessions of the murdered man, also his portrait.

   Detective Geyer was called. He said he had an interview with Holmes in the cellroom of the city hall on Nov. 20, 1894, about the body found in the Callowhill street house. Holmes said to him that it was not Pitezel's body, but a substitute.

   "He told me he left the Eleventh street house on Sunday, Sept. 2, in the morning, and went to New York, where he went to a medical student and procured a corpse. He put it in a trunk and had it taken by a furniture car driver to Jersey City, where it was shipped on the same train to Philadelphia that Holmes came over on. He reached this city about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and met Pitezel at the main office of the Western Union Telegraph company, giving him the check for the trunk. Then he went up to the Eleventh street house and that night went West.

   "A few days before his arraignment for conspiracy, to which he pleaded guilty, I saw him in the cellroom, and he said the story he had told me about the substitution of a body was not true and that the corpse found in the house was that of Pitezel. I said:

   "'Well, Holmes, if that's the case, then you murdered Pitezel and the children.' He said:

   "'No, I didn't. When I left the Eleventh street house at 11 o'clock on Sunday morning, Sept. 2, I took the Tenth street car and went to the Callowhill street house. On the third floor I found him. He was lying on the floor, his arm across his breast and a cloth over his face. Near by there was a bottle of chloroform with a thin hose in it, so placed that the drops of chloroform would fall on the cloth. I put my head down to his heart and found that he was dead. Then I went down stairs and found a note telling me to look inside a bottle in the closet. I did so and found a note in it, in which Pitezel said I should take his body and do just what I had wanted him to do with the substitute corpse. I went up stairs again and dragged his body down to the second floor, where it was found, placing the broken bottle and the pipe in position and burning the face just as I had told him to do.'

   "I asked him where the children were," continued the detective, "and he said Minnie Williams had them in London.

   "In June, in company with Mr. Perry, I saw him in prison and then he told us he had given Howard to a man named Hatch in Indianapolis and that was the last he had seen of him. The last he saw of the girls was in Toronto."

   Detective Geyer was here temporarily withdrawn and Mr. Graham offered to prove the finding of the bones of Howard Pitezel in the house in Irvington, a suburb of Indianapolis, and the bodies of the girls in the cellar of the house, 6 St. Vincent street, Toronto. This was finally ruled out.

   Mr. Graham here said that with the exception of two or three witnesses the commonwealth was ready to close, and it would perhaps be better to go on in the morning.

   Court then adjourned.

TO PRISON FOR LIFE.

Mrs. Kellar Convicted of the Murder of Albert Kempthorne.

   OSWEGO, N. Y., NOV. 1.—The jury in the case of Mrs. Harriet Kellar, on trial for murder in the first degree for the killing of Albert Kempthorne on Aug. 27, after 13 hours' deliberation rendered a verdict of murder in the first degree.

   Justice McLennan sentenced her to Auburn prison for life.

   As the sentence was pronounced, the prisoner uttered a piercing shriek and fell to the floor unconscious. Her three little boys wept bitterly. A motion for a new trial was denied.

SIX CENTS DAMAGES.

Motion for a New Trial to Secure Greater Damages Denied.

   ROME, N. Y., Nov. 1—The jury in the case of J. F. DeFreitas against the Rome Sentinel to-day brought in a verdict of six cents damages. The suit was for $10,000 because of an alleged libelous article published in October, 1892, relating to transactions in Brazil. The article came to the Sentinel and to many other newspapers, through the regular news channels and was published in good faith. Something over a year later Tyndale Palmer, who was mentioned in the article with DeFreitas wrote to the Sentinel saying the article was untrue and the Sentinel thereupon published Mr. Palmer 's letter and made retraction, explaining the circumstances of publication.

   Palmer and DeFreitas then each brought a libel suit, the former for $15,000.  Palmer's case was disposed of yesterday, he receiving a verdict of $50.

   In court this morning Palmer's attorney in the DeFreitas case, moved for a new trial, on the ground that the verdict was too small, but the court denied the motion. Palmer and DeFreites have similar suits pending against many newspapers throughout the country.

TWO PARSONAGE WEDDINGS.

Ninety-Seven Couples Married by Mr. Hamilton in Five Years.

   During the pastorate of Rev. C. E. Hamilton, the parsonage of the Homer-ave. M. E. church, 64 Maple-ave,, became a favorite resort for couples seeking matrimonial alliances, as is evidenced by the fact that ninety-seven couples were married by him during his residence of five years in Cortland. It seems also that the new pastor. Rev. M. J. Wells, is not to be ignored in this respect, for two couples have been united by him at his new residence this week—Aaron Frazier and Miss Bertha H. Share, both of Homer, N. Y., on Wednesday afternoon, and Fred H. Wilkins and Miss Jennie H. Springer, both of Cortland, N. Y., on Thursday evening.

Doubling the Power.

   The Cortland and Homer Traction Co. are replacing the old machinery at their electric plant with new machinery which will be capable of running 2,000 incandescent lights instead of 1,000 as at present. They are making arrangements to furnish constant service day and night in case the demand warrants it. The new system will soon be completed. Later it is expected that more machinery will be put in for running 2,000 more lights.

CORTLAND PARK LAND CO.

Articles of Incorporation Filed—Officers Elected.

   The papers incorporating the CortlandPark Land company were filed with Secretary of Slate Palmer Oct. 20 and yesterday with County Clerk Palmer.  The capital stock is $30,000 and the officers are:

   President— H. Bergholtz.

   Vice- President—C. D. Simpson.

   Secretary—H. E. Hand.

   Treasurer—P. S. Page.

   The officers together with L. J. Fitzgerald and Hugh Duffey of Cortland and D. F. VanVleet of Ithaca are the directors of the company. The land in the park south of the woods has been divided into lots 50 by 150 feet in size and will be sold for from $200 to $350 each, payments to be made in weekly installments of from $2 to $3, the purchaser to pay no interest or taxes.

BREVITIES.

   —New advertisements to-day are—G. F. Beaudry, page 7.

   —Good Government department will be found on the seventh page.

   —The Y. M. C. A. penmanship class will meet to-night at 8 o'clock.

   —A special meeting of the Y. M. C. A. trustees will be held to-night at 8 o'clock.

   —Notice of births, marriages and deaths will hereafter be found in the last column of the eighth page.

   —The Thimble club which is composed of twenty-one Cortland ladies met with Mrs. George P. Hollenbeck yesterday afternoon.

   — Clarence Mitchell rode from Cortland to DeRuyter in one hour twenty-two minutes Monday morning on a thirty-pound wheel.—DeRuyter Gleaner.

   —The Epworth league of the Homer-ave. M. E. church has nicely furnished the parlor of the parsonage, the Ladies' and Pastor's union having done the same by the diningroom,

   —Rev. W. H. Pound will lecture in the Congregational church, West Groton, Friday evening, Nov. 8, under the auspices of the Y. P. S. C. E.; subject, "Civic Righteousness."—Groton Journal.

   —Undertaker J. H. O'Leary of the firm of O'Leary & McEvoy has recently removed the remains of Mrs. William Tomlinson, mother of Mrs. E. D. Mallory, from Ithaca and placed them in St. Mary's cemetery.

   —The rainfall last night was .69 inches. The rain was most welcome. The ground has not been so dry for a long time. It undoubtedly spoiled the fun of hosts of small boys who wanted to celebrate Halloween.

   —Mame Bliven and John Day of McDonough walked to Binghamton, 35 miles, Saturday, in seven hours on a wager of $25. Day won by about ten feet, but Miss Bliven claims he ran at Kattleville, where she was leading and caught up with her.

THE BATES TRIAL.

   The disagreement of the jury in this case yesterday has aroused a storm of public indignation. That such a miscarriage of justice should occur in any court in this village would seem incredible. It is a matter of public record that Mr. Bates was shown every possible favor both by the justice and the prosecution.  Several adjournments were granted him to enable him to secure counsel and prepare his case. He was thoroughly informed by the court of his privileges. The effort to impeach the character of the witnesses broke down utterly. They are men whose character for integrity is beyond question. Their testimony was not even questioned. The defendant did not even use his privilege of going on the stand and denying the statements of the witnesses. In the whole trial not one word was said by the defendant or his counsel to dispute the facts stated by the witnesses. When the jury retired there had been no defense, not a single witness sworn for the defense.

   The jury stood five to one for conviction, and that one declared after the trial was over that he was the only one who stood for acquittal. By what process of reasoning or on what scruple of conscience or on what evidence or lack of evidence he reached his decision, or what influences controlled him, those who were present at the trial and the public generally must draw their own conclusions.

   The case is to be tried over again next week. It is claimed that Mr. Bates openly and constantly violates the excise law and defies the will of the people. But this is not to influence the verdict. If he can show that in this particular case he is not guilty or can awaken a reasonable doubt of his guilt in the mind of the jury, then we want him acquitted, for we, who are trying to rid our community of flagrant lawlessness, must in no wise transgress the letter or spirit of the law.