transcribed by Dorothy Wiland
Knapp Will Die for all His Crimes.
Supreme Court, in a
Document Handed Down Wednesday,
Reverses the Circuit
Court and Upholds the Common Pleas Court
That Found the Strangler
Guilty.
[Times-Star Special Dispatch]
COLUMBUS, O. June 28. – The Supreme
court today reversed the Butler County Circuit court in the case of the
State vs Alfred A. Knapp, “the strangler,” and affirmed the judgement
of
the Common Pleas. This judgment means that the verdict of first
degree
murder against Knapp stands
___________
KNAPP SAID THAT HE WAS GREATLY SURPRISED
__________
He Expected Circuit Court to Be Sustained
__________
[Times-Star Special Dispatch]
HAMILTON, O. June 28 – When Alfred Knapp
was notified that the Supreme court to-day reversed the Circuit court
in
granting him a new trial, he became perceptibly nervous and then said,
“I’m surprised at that.” Knapp had every confidence that the Supreme
court
would sustain the Circuit court.
“I will never go to the electric
chair,”
declared Knapp in a Times-Star representative. “It is not my
fate;
still have friends in Cincinnati who will now come to the front and
save
me.”
__________
KNAPP WAS STRANGLER OF NUMBER OF
WOMEN
__________
Man Who Will Go to Electric Chair is
Unique Criminal
__________
Alfred Knapp is the self-confessed slayer
of five persons-Ada Gebhart, Jennie Conners Knapp, Mary Eckhart, Emma
Littleman
and Hannah Goddard Knapp. His confession in the jail at Hamilton,
O. not long ago startled people in all parts of the world. If
Knapp
had not confessed, the detectives all over the land would doubtless
have
still been in the dark as to the identity of the slayer of Hannah
Goddard
Knapp, Mary Eckhart, Emma Littlemas and the two other victims of this
man.
Failure to find the body of Knapp’s last victim and to prove the corpus
delicti has caused the delay in carrying out the ends of justice.
Messrs. Darby and Thomas, of this city, counsel for Knapp, fought a
great
legal battle for their client, although defeated in the end.
Since
Knapp’s arrest and subsequent confession, he has been likened to “Jack,
the Ripper,” of Whitechapel, London, fame, and others who displayed a
penchant
for slaying their victims in unique ways. He had spent much of
his
time in this city and was known to the police. After some of the
crimes to which he later confessed, he had walked the streets of
Cincinnati
and was not even suspected. Emma Littleman was chocked to death
in
a lumber yard on Gest street, and her body was thrown partly under a
pile
of boards, where it was found by the police. Mary Eckhart was
strangled
to death with a towel at a house on Walnut street, near Seventh.
Knapp confessed that he had strangled Jennie Conners Knapp one of his
wives,
and threw the body into the canal, where it was afterward found.
Ada Gebhart was murdered in Indianapolis. Hannah Goddard Knapp
was
killed in Hamilton, her body placed in a dry good box, which was dumped
into the Miami river. All the crimes were of the most heinous
character.
Knapp’s father died of a broken heart after his son had been arrested
and
incarcerated in prison. After a series of memorable legal battles
it now appears as if he will expiate his shocking crimes in the
electric
chair. His relatives insist that Knapp is not mentally
responsible
for the crimes to which he has confessed.
KNAPP’S ATTORNEY IS MUCH SURPRISED
“The decision is a great surprise to
me,” said Attorney Thomas Darby; counsel for Knapp. “It
completely
upsets all my notions and calculations about law. We have done
all
we can, and that is about all I have to say.”
[Times-Star Special Dispatch.]
Wellsville, O. June 28- Miss Emma Tilton
of Coolville, Athens county, came here a week ago with Mrs. F. M. Shull
of this city as her guest. She slept continuously for four
days.
Friday she awoke long enough to take a little good and at once relapsed
into slumber again. Physicians are puzzled, but do not think the
young lady is in any danger.
©2003, 2004 by Linda Boorom & Tina Hursh