Herman Webster Mudgett (1861 - 1896)

Herman Mudgett is Notable.

Herman Webster Mudgett was born May 16, 1861 in Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire.^[1] He was a son of Levi Mudgett and Theodate Price.^[1][2][3]

He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy at the age of 16 and took teaching jobs in Gilmanton and later in nearby Alton, Belknap, New Hampshire. On July 4, 1878, he married Clara Lovering in Alton, Belknap, New Hampshire.^[3] Together they had a son, Robert Lovering Mudgett.^[4]

Holmes enrolled in the University of Vermont in Burlington at age 18 and left after one year. In 1882, he entered the University of Michigan's Department of Medicine and Surgery and graduated in June 1884. Herman's classmates indicated that he may have been abusing Clara. She and her son returned to New Hampshire.

He then moved to Mooers Forks, New York.

He later traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and got a job as a keeper at Norristown State Hospital. He later took a position at a drugstore in Philadelphia.

Right before moving to Chicago, he changed his name to Henry Howard Holmes. He arrived in Chicago August 1886.

While still married to Clara, Holmes married Myrta Z Belknap on January 28, 1887 in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota. They had a daughter: Lucy Theodate Holmes. He filed for divorce from Clara a few weeks after marrying Myrta, alleging infidelity on her part. The claims could not be proven and the suit went nowhere. The divorce was never finalized; it was dismissed June 4, 1891, on the grounds of "want of prosecution."

On January 17, 1894, he married Georgiana Yoke in Denver, Denver, Colorado, United States.^[5] He was still married to both Clara and Myrta at this time.

Holmes has been identified as killing 27 people and estimated to have killed 235 other possible victims.

Holmes was hanged May 7, 1896 at Moyamensing Prison also known as Philadelphia County Prison in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania for the murder of Benjamin Pitezal. ^[6] Upon his execution, Holmes’s body was interred in an unmarked grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States.

Criminal timeline

This timeline has been constructed following the investigation undertaken by Herman Mudgett's great-grandson, Jeff Mudgett, and former CIA operative, Amarryllis Fox, as presented on "American Ripper" (2017).

Circa 1876 - 1879: Belknap County, New Hampshire records show that a cluster of unusual deaths occurr during Herman's youth. Two of them are cousins, Mary & Olin Edward Mudgett. Mary dies in 1879 but her death is not recorded in County records; Olin dies at 4 years, 10 months of age and his death is recorded in 1876. Austin Bunker and Nancy Robertson, both age 12, die of unknown causes, and George Foss, age 4, dies of poisoning. These may have been among his first crimes.^[7]

Summer 1882 - Summer 1884: He attends & graduates from the University of Michigan medical school. In this period, grave robbing is very common. Mudgett begins using bodies for insurance fraud. Herman's classmates indicate that he may have been abusing Clara, and she and her son return to New Hampshire.

Late 1884: He moves to Mooers Forks, New York, where a rumor spreads that Herman was seen with a little boy who later disappeared. Holmes claims the boy went back to his home in Massachusetts. No investigation takes place and Holmes quickly leaves town.

Early 1885: He travels to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he takes a position at a drugstore, but while he working there, a boy dies after taking medicine purchased at the store. Holmes denies any involvement in the child's death and immediately leaves the city. Before moving to Chicago, he changes his name to Henry Howard Holmes to avoid being exposed by victims of his previous scams.

Winter 1885: Chicago. Working as a pharmacist for the Holtons, using the infamous "H. H. Holmes" moniker. The Holtons mysteriously disappear, and Holmes takes over the pharmacy.

1886In his confession after his arrest, Holmes claimed he had killed his former medical school classmate, Robert Leacock for insurance money. Leacock, however, died in Watford, Ontario, in Canada on October 5, 1889.

Summer 1886: Purchased the property upon which his "Castle" would be built.

June 1888 - May 1889 After an extraordinary number of legal issues and transactions surrounding the purchase of his Chicago property and other legal matters, this time period is markedly silent. During this time, Jack the Ripper was active in London, England. Could H. H. Holmes be Jack the Ripper?^[8]

Christmas Eve of 1891: Julia Smythe and daughter Pearl disappear on Christmas Eve. Julia was one of Holmes' early murder victims in Chicago.

December 1892: Emeline Cigrande, began working in the building in May 1892, and disappeared that December. Edna Van Tassel is also believed to have been among Holmes' victims.

1894 Police officers inspect the hotel and found rooms with hinged walls and false partitions, rooms linked with secret passageways, and even airtight rooms that were connected to pipelines filled with gas, which Holmes used as gas chambers. Holmes would use chutes to deliver the bodies to the basement. He made use of surgical tables and medical tools to dissect them before selling their organs and bones on the black market and to medical institutions. The hotel is gutted by a fire started by an unknown arsonist shortly after Holmes was arrested.

1893 Holmes meets Minnie Williams and claims to have met her in an employment office, though there were rumors he had met her in Boston years earlier. Holmes persuades Williams to transfer the deed to her property in Fort Worth, Texas to Alexander Bond (an alias of Holmes). In April 1893, Williams transfers the deed, with Holmes serving as the notary. The next month, Holmes and Williams present themselves as husband and wife, and rent an apartment in Chicago's Lincoln Park. Minnie's sister, Annie, comes to visit and in July, she writes to her aunt that she plans to accompany "Brother Harry" to Europe. Neither Minnie nor Annie are seen alive after July 5, 1893.

July 1894 Holmes is arrested and briefly jailed for the first time on the charge of selling mortgaged goods in St. Louis, Missouri. He is promptly released on bail.

Benjamin Pitezel agrees to fake his own death so that his wife can collect on a $10,000 life insurance policy, in a scheme in which she is to split the money with Holmes and Jeptha Howe. The scheme, which is to take place in Philadelphia, calls for Pitezel to set himself up as an inventor under the name B. F. Perry, and then be killed and disfigured in a lab explosion. Holmes is to find an appropriate cadaver to play the role of Pitezel. Instead, Holmes kills Pitezel by knocking him unconscious with chloroform and setting his body on fire with benzene.

Holmes later confesses to murdering Alice and Nellie Pitezel (children of Benjamin Pitezel), admitting that he forced them into a large trunk and locked them inside. He drilled a hole in the lid of the trunk and asphyxiated the girls. Holmes buried their nude bodies in the cellar of his rental house in Toronto. Holmes was reported to have visited a local pharmacy to purchase the drugs which he used to kill young Howard Pitezel (another child of Benjamin Pitezel). He also went to a repair shop to sharpen the knives he used to chop up the body before he burned it.

November 17, 1894 Holmes' murder spree finally ends in Boston when he is arrested after being tracked there from Philadelphia by the Pinkertons.

October 1895 Holmes is put on trial for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel and is found guilty and sentenced to death. It becomes evident Holmes had also murdered the three missing Pitezel children.

Following his conviction, Holmes confesses to 27 murders in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Toronto (though some people he "confessed" to murdering were still alive), and six attempted murders. Holmes is paid $7,500 by the Hearst newspapers in exchange for his confession, which is quickly found to be mostly nonsense.

Research notes (Georgiana)

Interesting notes and thinking out loud re Georgiana - said to be the niece of Nelson Yoke, I believe her father was George Yoke b. 1852 in IN who was the son of Richardson Yoke b ~ 1815 in KY and Isabel Moore b ~ 1818 in KY. When she marries Holmes/Mudgett he is using he alias Henry M Howard.

Trying to trace what happens to her following the time he died, I find her in the 1941 Directory.

I also find a Georgiana that is trying to claim a civil war pension for KY as a widow of Henry Howard in 1886 1889 - dates don't mesh with this Henry but might be of use later

Name: Herman Webster "H. H. Holmes" Mudgett. Given Name: Herman Webster "H. H. Holmes". Surname: Mudgett. A Given name was found in addition to a first name in the NAME tag.

Execution 7 May 1896. Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Note: Holmes was hanged May 7, 1896 at Moyamensing Prison also known as Philadelphia County Prison in Philadelphia Pennsylvania for the murder of Benjamin Pitezal. Holmes’s body was interred in an unmarked grave at Holy Cross Cemetery.

WLNK Family Search. Note: https:/www.familysearch.org/tree/person/detailsLH5H-PVD. Famous Kin. Note: https:/famouskin.comfamily-group.php?name=8845+h+h+holmes&ahnum=1. WikiTree Note: https:/www.wikitree.com/wikiMudgett-37. Wikipedia Note: https:/en.wikipedia.org/wikiH._H._Holmes.

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External Files

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Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900 Mudgett, 16 May 1861; citing Gilmanton, Belknap, New Hampshire, United States, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord.
2. ↑ United States Census, 1870, Herman W Mudgett in entry for Levi H Mudgett, 1870; Gilmanton, Belknap, New Hampshire, United States.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} New Hampshire Marriage Records, 1637-1947, Herman W. Mudgett and Clara A. Lovering, 04 Jul 1878; citing Alton, Belknap, New Hampshire, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord.
4. ↑ United States Census, 1880, Herman Mudgel in household of Samuel B. Lovering, Loudon, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States; citing enumeration district ED 184, sheet 374A.
5. ↑ Colorado Statewide Marriage Index, 1853-2006, Henry M Howard and Georgiana Yoke, 17 Jan 1894, Denver, Denver, Colorado, United States; citing no. 16256, State Archives, Denver.
6. ↑ Entered by Charles Oliver, Sep 1, 2012
7. ↑ Belknap County Marriages Births & Deaths, 1835 - 1877
8. ↑ Records found in basement of City Hall, Chicago, Illinois.

• Henry Howard “H.H.” Holmes (1861-1896) (Original Name: Herman Webster Mudgett) on Find A Grave: Memorial #2415 retrieved 06 June 2020
• Google Search for Herman Mudgett
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes#Early_life
• Staff. "The Victims of Chicago's First Serial Murderer, H.H. Holmes." Biography. 2 May 2017. biography.com. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
• Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. Random House Audio Publishing Group. 11 Feb 2003.