Episode 461: H.H. Holmes Part 5
Morbid
The Death of Benjamin Picell
On May 7th, 1896, Miranda Pitezel was hanged for the murders of two women in Philadelphia. The date plays a role in his case and he writes about it as if it were yesterday. He also talks about why they had to bury him in Holy Cross Cemetery just outside city limits.
In the final chapter of our coverage of H.H.Holmes, we talk about the theories connecting him to Jack the Ripper, his final days on the run and a trial and execution that has gone down in history.
Thank you to Dave White for research assistance.
References
Boston Daily Globe. 1895. "At Burlington." Boston Daily Globe, August 8: 7.
—. 1894. "Believes husband dead." Boston Daily Globe, November 20: 1.
—. 1894. "Believes husband dead." Boston Daily Globe, November 20: 1.
—. 1895. "Hard and Selfish." Boston Daily Globe, August 7: 5.
—. 1894. "In the toils." Boston Daily Globe, November 18: 1.
—. 1895. "Mother's Love." Boston Daily Globe, August 6: 5.
Chicago Chronicle. 1895. "Tells of one crime." Chicago Chronicle, July 30: 2.
—. 1895. "Trail of the fiend." Chicago Chronicle, July 21: 1.
Chicago Tribune. 1894. "Spins his own web." Chacgo Tribune, November 22: 1.
—. 1895. "Holmes recognized in Toronto." Chcago Tribune, July 17: 12.
Daily Boston Globe. 1895. "Good Fisherman." Daily Boston Globe, August 9: 4.
Galveston Daily News. 1894. "Two Texas Girls." Galveston Daily News, November 22: 1.
Geyer, Frank P. 1896. The Holmes-Pitezel Case: A History of the Greatest Crime of the Century and of the Search for the Missing Pitezel Children. Philadelphia, PA: Publishers' Union.
Kerns, Rebecca, Tiffany Lewis, and Cailtin McClure. 2012. Herman Webster Mudgett: Dr. H.H. Holmes or Beast of Chicago. Lecture, Radford, VA: Department of Psychology, Radford University.
Larson, Erik. 2003. Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. New York, NY: Crown Publishers.
Mudgett, Herman W. 1895. Holmes' Own Story. Philadelphia, PA: Burke and McFetridge Company.
New York Times. 1895. "A boy Holmes' first victim." New York Times, July 31: 3.
—. 1896. "Appeal of murderer Holmes." New York Times, February 4: 8.
—. 1895. "Claims an alibi." New York Times, July 17: 1.
—. 1896. "Holmes cool to the end." New York Times, May 8: 1.
—. 1895. "Holmes enters a plea of guilty." New York Times, May 29: 1.
—. 1896. "Holmes in a ton of cement." New York Times, May 9: 1.
—. 1895. "Holmes sentenced to die." New York Times, December 1: 13.
—. 1894. "May be charged with murder." New York Times, November 19: 2.
—. 1895. "The Williams girls' fate." New York Times, July 21: 10.
Philadelphia Inquirer. 1894. "Cause of death a mystery." Philadelphia Inquirer, September 6: 6.
—. 1896. "Holmes' chronology." Philadelphia Inquirer, April 12: 18.
—. 1896. "Holmes Confesses 27 murders." Philadelphia Inquirer, April 26: 1.
Philadelphia Times. 1894. "All looking for Pitezel." Philadelphia Times, November 21: 1.
—. 1894. "Perry's Peculiar Death." Philadelphia Times, September 5: 3.
Selzer, Adam. 2017. H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1894. "Arrested Again." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 29: 8.
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