A Book of Remarkable CriminalsIrving, H. B. (Henry Brodribb)
History
A Book of Remarkable Criminals
Irving, H. B. (Henry Brodribb)
Criminals -- Biography
The housekeeper, being shown their photographs, identified the woman
and the girl as Mrs. Pitezel and her eldest daughter Dessie. As the same
time there had been staying at another hotel in Detroit a Mr. and Mrs.
Holmes, whose photographs showed them to be the Mr. Holmes in question
and his third wife. These three parties--the two children, Mrs. Pitezel
and her baby, and the third Mrs. Holmes--were all ignorant of each
other's presence in Detroit; and under the secret guidance of Mr. Holmes
the three parties (still unaware of their proximity to each other), left
Detroit for Canada, arriving in Toronto on or about October 18, and
registering at three separate hotels. The only one who had not to all
appearances reached Toronto was the boy Howard.
In Toronto "Alice and Nellie Canning" stayed at the Albion Hotel.
They arrived there on October 19, and left on the 25th. During their
stay a man, identified as Holmes, had called every morning for the two
children, and taken them out; but they had come back alone, usually in
time for supper. On the 25th he had called and taken them out, but they
had not returned to supper. After that date Geyer could find no trace
of them. Bearing in mind Holmes' custom of renting houses, he compiled a
list of all the house agents in Toronto, and laboriously applied to each
one for information. The process was a slow one, and the result seemed
likely to be disappointing.
To aid his search Geyer decided to call in the assistance of the Press.
The newspapers readily published long accounts of the case and portraits
of Holmes and the children. At last, after eight days of patient and
untiring investigation, after following up more than one false clue,
Geyer received a report that there was a house--No. 16 St. Vincent
Street--which had been rented in the previous October by a man answering
to the description of Holmes. The information came from an old Scottish
gentleman living next door. Geyer hastened to see him. The old gentleman
said that the man who had occupied No. 16 in October had told him that
he had taken the house for his widowed sister, and he recognised the
photograph of Alice Pitezel as one of the two girls accompanying
him. The only furniture the man had taken into the house was a bed, a
mattress and a trunk. During his stay at No. 16 this man had called on
his neighbour about four o'clock one afternoon and borrowed a spade,
saying that he wanted to dig a place in the cellar where his widowed
sister could keep potatoes; he had returned the spade the following
morning. The lady to whom the house belonged recognised Holmes' portrait
as that of the man to whom she had let No. 16.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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