A Book of Remarkable CriminalsIrving, H. B. (Henry Brodribb)
History
A Book of Remarkable Criminals
Irving, H. B. (Henry Brodribb)
Criminals -- Biography
The old man put on his glasses and looked at the photograph for some
time. Yes, he said, he did remember that he had given the keys of
a cottage in October, 1894, to a man of Holmes' appearance, and he
recollected the man the more distinctly for the uncivil abruptness with
which he had asked for the keys; "I felt," he said, "he should have had
more respect for my grey hairs."
From the old gentleman's office Geyer hastened to the cottage, and
made at once for the cellar. There he could find no sign of recent
disturbance. But beneath the floor of a piazza adjoining the house he
found the remains of a trunk, answering to the description of that which
the Pitezel children had had with them, and in an outhouse he discovered
the inevitable stove, Holmes' one indispensable piece of furniture. It
was stained with blood on the top. A neighbour had seen Holmes in the
same October drive up to the house in the furniture wagon accompanied
by a boy, and later in the day Holmes had asked him to come over to the
cottage and help him to put up a stove. The neighbour asked him why he
did not use gas; Holmes replied that he did not think gas was healthy
for children. While the two men were putting up the stove, the
little boy stood by and watched them. After further search there were
discovered in the cellar chimney some bones, teeth, a pelvis and the
baked remains of a stomach, liver and spleen.
Medical examination showed them to be the remains of a child between
seven and ten years of age. A spinning top, a scarf-pin, a pair of shoes
and some articles of clothing that had belonged to the little Pitezels,
had been found in the house at different times, and were handed over to
Geyer.
His search was ended. On September 1 he returned to Philadelphia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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