Hans Schmidt Popular Books

Hans Schmidt Biography & Facts

Hans B. Schmidt (1881 – February 18, 1916) was a German Catholic priest, rapist, convicted murderer, and suspected serial killer. He was executed at Sing Sing Prison in New York State for murdering and dismembering a pregnant woman in the United States. Early life Hans Schmidt was born in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg, to a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. Both sides of his family had a long history of mental illness. From his early childhood, Hans was regularly beaten by his father and watched his father beating his mother. Even in childhood, Schmidt combined a deep religious devotion with bisexual promiscuity and a fascination with drinking blood and dismembering animals. According to relatives, Hans once beheaded two of his parents' geese and kept the severed heads in his pocket. He also frequented the village slaughterhouse daily, where he would watch the death and dissection of farm animals with rapt fascination. During his later seminary studies, Schmidt was arrested by the Bavarian police in 1905 and charged with forging diplomas for failing students. Although the public prosecutor of Mainz was determined to send Schmidt to prison, his father hired a lawyer who arranged for the charges to be dropped for reasons of mental defect. Ordination Although many who knew him had serious doubts about his moral and mental fitness to serve as a Catholic priest, Schmidt claimed that he was ordained by Bishop Kirstein of Mainz on December 23, 1904. In a later conversation with Manhattan alienists, he recalled "The Bishop ordained me alone. I do not like to speak of it. The real Ordination took place the night before. St. Elizabeth, she ordained me herself. I was praying at my bedside when she appeared to me and said, 'I ordain you to the priesthood.' There was light during her appearance. I told no one. I thought it best to keep it to myself. They would make fun of me. They always made fun of me for these things. They always expect others to do as they do. God speaks to different people in different ways." During parish assignments in the villages of Bürgel and Seelingstädt, Schmidt molested altar boys, had affairs with several women, and consorted with prostitutes. Meanwhile, Schmidt's creative way of saying Mass and eccentric sermons led his parishioners and fellow priests to complain about him to the monsignor and the bishop.: 54  When it became clear that no other parish assignments would be forthcoming in the Diocese of Mainz, Schmidt emigrated to the United States in 1909.: 55  He was first assigned to St. John's Roman Catholic Church in Louisville, Kentucky. There, a rift with the senior pastor resulted in Schmidt's transfer to St. Boniface's Church in New York City. Anna Aumüller In New York City in 1912, Schmidt met Anna Aumüller, the housekeeper at the Rectory of St. Boniface Church, who had emigrated from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1910. In his conversations with alienists, Schmidt claimed to have heard a voice from God ordering him to "love" Anna. She first refused his advances, but eventually began having a secret sexual relationship with Schmidt. Beginning in December 1912, Schmidt was also having a secret homosexual relationship with a New York City dentist named Ernest Muret, with whom he operated a counterfeiting ring. Schmidt later claimed to have enjoyed Muret more than Anna. Despite his subsequent transfer to St. Joseph's Church in Harlem, Schmidt and Anna continued a secret sexual relationship. It was later revealed that they were "married" in a secret ceremony, which Schmidt performed himself. Schmidt also wrote their names on a marriage certificate and told Anna that he was about to leave the priesthood for her. During a sexual encounter with Anna on the high altar of St. Joseph's Church, Schmidt received what he claimed was a command from God to "sacrifice" her. The command was repeated so insistently that Schmidt told Anna, who called him "crazy". Soon after, Anna informed him that she was pregnant. On the night of September 2, 1913, Schmidt went to the apartment they had rented while posing as a married couple. He slashed Anna's throat while she slept, drank her blood, raped her as she bled to death, dismembered her body, and threw the pieces from a ferry into the Hudson River. Schmidt then returned to St. Joseph's Church, offered Mass and administered Holy Communion as though nothing had happened. Police investigation After pieces of Anna's torso washed ashore at Cliffside Park and Weehawken, New Jersey, Hudson County police detectives found a price tag still attached to the pillowcase used to wrap part of the body. Using the tag, the pillowcase was traced to a factory in Newark, New Jersey, which sold exclusively to Manhattan furniture dealer George Sachs. The investigation was then taken over by the New York City Police Department and assigned to Manhattan Chief of Detectives Joseph Faurot. After arriving at George Sachs' furniture store at 2782 Eighth Avenue, Inspector Faurot found the dealer unable to recall how many of the pillowcases he had sold. A check through his receipts revealed that a bedspring, a mattress, pillows, and pillowcases had been sold on August 26, 1913. The buyer had given his name as A. Van Dyke and had arranged for his purchases to be delivered to a third story apartment at 68 Bradhurst Avenue. Questions to the building superintendent revealed that apartment was occupied by a married couple. The husband was described as a man with a heavy German accent who had given his name as H. Schmidt. When a three-day stake out revealed no one arriving, Inspector Faurot ordered detective Frank Cassassa to break into the apartment. A cursory search found that the floor had been recently scrubbed, but large amounts of dried blood were found on the walls. A large bloodstained knife was also found on the kitchen shelf. Men's clothing with the name A. Van Dyke sewn into the lining was found, as were letters in both German and English addressed to a Hans Schmidt. Many of the letters were from women in Germany. The largest number, however, were from an Anna Aumüller whose most recent address was listed as 428 East Seventieth Street. Inspector Faurot and detectives Cassassa and O'Connell visited the address and learned that Anna had moved out after receiving a job as housekeeper at St. Boniface's Church. Faurot and the detectives then visited St. Boniface's Church and were told by the senior pastor, Fr. John Braun, that Anna had been his housekeeper, but had transferred to St. Joseph's Church. Upon being asked if he knew the name Hans Schmidt, Fr. Braun described him as a priest who had formerly been assigned to St. Boniface's Church but had also moved to St. Joseph's. Inspector Faurot and detectives Cassassa and O'Connell arrived at St. Joseph's Rectory at 1:30. After Faurot pounded on the door, the senior pastor, Fr. Daniel Quinn, opened the door, led them into the parlor, and woke Schmidt. Upon being confront.... Discover the Hans Schmidt popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Hans Schmidt books.