Trial and Execution
While Holmes sat in prison in Philadelphia, the Chicago police started to investigate his operations in that city, as the Philadelphia police sought to unravel the Pitezel situation—in particular, the fate of the three missing children. Philadelphia detective Frank Geyer was tasked with finding answers. His quest for the children, like the search of Holmes's Castle, received wide publicity. His eventual discovery of their remains essentially sealed Holmes's fate, at least in the public mind.
Holmes was put on trial for the murder of Pitezel and confessed, following his conviction, to 30 murders in Chicago, Indianapolis and Toronto (though some he confessed to murdering were in fact, still living), and six attempted murders. Holmes was paid US$7,500 ($209,520 in 2010 dollars) by the Hearst Newspapers in exchange for this confession. He gave various contradictory accounts of his life, claiming initially innocence and later that he was possessed by Satan. His faculty for lying has made it difficult for researchers to ascertain any truth on the basis of his statements.
On May 8, 1896, Holmes was hanged at Moyamensing Prison, also known as the Philadelphia County Prison. Until the moment of his death, Holmes remained calm and amiable, showing very few signs of fear, anxiety or depression. Holmes's neck did not snap; he instead strangled to death slowly, twitching over 15 minutes before being pronounced dead 20 minutes after the trap had been sprung.
On New Year's Eve, 1909, Marion Hedgepeth, who had been pardoned for informing on Holmes, was shot and killed by Edward Jaburek, a police officer, during a holdup at a Chicago saloon. Then, on March 7, 1914, the Chicago Tribune reported that, with the death of the former caretaker of the Murder Castle, Pat Quinlan, "the mysteries of Holmes's Castle" would remain unexplained. Quinlan had committed suicide by taking strychnine. Quinlan's surviving relatives claimed Quinlan had been "haunted" for several months before his death and could not sleep.
Read more about this topic: H. H. Holmes
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