KILLER PRIEST The Crimes, Trial and Execution of Father Hans Schmidt

Hardback. He was a Catholic priest and a killer. Hans Schmidt, ordained in Germany in 1904, arrived in the United States in 1908 and was assigned to St. John's Parish in Louisville, Kentucky. Arguments with the minister resulted in Schmidt's transfer to St. Boniface Church in New York City. There he met beautiful Anna Aumuller, a housekeeper for the rectory, who had recently emigrated from Austria. Despite his transfer to a Church far uptown, Father Schmidt and Anna continued a romantic affair and, in a secret ceremony he performed himself, they were married. When he discovered she was pregnant, Father Schmidt knew his secret life would soon be exposed. On the night of September 2, 1913, he cut Anna's throat, dismembered her body, and threw the parts into the Hudson River. The body was discovered, however, and Schmidt was arrested and charged with the murder. The case provided a spectacle for the media and captured the imagination of the City. Not only did Father Schmidt kill his young pregnant bride, but further investigation proved he had a second apartment where he had set up a printing press and counterfeited $10 bills. In Louisville, the dismembered body of a missing 9yr. old girl was found buried in the basement of St. John's church, where Schmidt had previously worked. In addition, German police wanted to talk to Father Schmidt about a murdered girl in his hometown. Though he was never charged, it was strongly suspected that Father Schmidt committed these murders as well. After feigning insanity during his first trial for the murder of Anna Aumuller - a trial that ended with a hung jury - Father Schmidt was eventually convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. On February 18, 1916, he was executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison. A lurid tale illuminating the man and the crime, and bringing early-20th-century New York to vivid life. Illus., Notes, Bibliog. and Index. 234pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true-crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. V. sl. bowed covers o/w Nr F. in Nr. F. dw.