All people who work at a church in the name of the Lord are completely innocent...never ever sin in their life! Well, that's a funny joke! Many religious people are the worst sinners I will ever hear about. I will admit that what shocks me the most is when it involves a priest because they are supposed to be the holiest of the holiest, right? Some priests happen to prove how much of a human, a bad human, they really are.
Let's talk about the only priest to be executed in the United States.
Hans Schmidt was born in 1881 in Aschaffenburg, a town in Bavaria, to an abusive Protestant father (not saying all Protestants are abusive) and a catholic mom. Both sides of his family had a long history of mental illness, so that could cause problems for Hans at some point in his life.
Since early childhood, Hans was subjected to his father's physical abuse as well as witnessed the constant beatings his mom took from his father. How many problems can that cause for a young child? My guess is a whole hell of a lot!!!
Not sure at what age things started taking a left turn for Hans, but at some point in his young life, Hans combined a deep religious devotion with bisexual promiscuity and became fascinated with drinking blood and dismembering animals. Some relatives reported that Hans had beheaded two of his parents' geese and kept the severed heads in his pocket. I don't even know what to say to that. I just carry around chapstick, a lighter, nail clippers...and some rocks. I'm always carrying a few rocks in my pockets at all times. Geese heads...no!!!
Hans also went to the village slaughterhouse quite often to watch the death and dissection of farm animals. In most circumstances, I would not actually find this alarming. A lot of people could go to the slaughterhouse as a learning process because their future life could consist of needing that type of information. Could they be a butcher, a farmer, whatever else is considered normal?
Hans later went to seminary school, where he was arrested by the Bavarian police in 1905 and charged with forging diplomas for failing students. That actually sounds a bit thoughtful to me...but still not a cool thing to do...because it's wrong. The public prosecutor wanted to send Hans to prison, but his father (yes, the one that beat him relentlessly) hired a lawyer who arranged for the charges to be dropped on reasons of mental defect. Interesting...
Many people who knew Hans had serious doubts about his moral and mental health in being able to serve as a Catholic priest. Not sure what these people had been witness to, but something gave them pause. Hans claimed that he was ordained by Bishop Kirstein of Mainz on December 23, 1904. In a later conversation with Manhattan alienists (psychiatrists from back in the day), Hans stated, "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."
Mmmmmmmm-kaaaaayyyyyyy!
TRIGGER WARNING - While assigned to a parish in the villages of Burgel and Seelingstadt, Hans molested altar boys, had affairs with several women, and consorted with prostitutes. Absolutely not what a priest is ever to be doing!!! Horrible...I have no words.
Many parishioners and fellow priests complained to the monsignor and the bishop about his way of saying Mass and eccentric sermons. Hans emigrated to the United States in 1909 after no further parish assignments were available in the Diocese of Mainz. Great, now the US gets this asshat...gross!
Hans was first assigned to St. John's Roman Catholic Church in Louisville, Kentucky. While there, Hans had a rift with the senior pastor that resulted in Hans being transferred to St. Boniface's Church in New York City.
In NYC, 1912, Hans met Anna Aumuller, a housekeeper at the Rectory of St. Boniface's Church. She had emigrated from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1910. In some conversations with his "alienists", Hans stated that he heard a voice from God 'ordering' him to love Anna. Yikes!!!
Anna refused his advances at first, but eventually started a secret sexual relationship with Hans. So many religious contradictions in this story.
In December 1912, Hans was also having a secret homosexual relationship with a New York City dentist named Ernest Muret. They also operated a counterfeiting ring. A man of many talents, I guess. I have nothing against homosexual relationships, but all of the above goes against everything I've ever heard about what priests are supposed to do with their lives. Hans was a very busy guy...definitely not a great priest.
At one point, Hans claimed to have enjoyed Muret more than Anna. Love who you want to love...all I'm saying is get out of the priesthood.
Eventuallly Hans was transferred to St. Joseph's Church in Harlem, but he continued his sexual affair with Anna. Hans later revealed that he and Anna were secretly married, the ceremony being performed by himself. I really don't think that is legal anywhere in the US, but I could be wrong. I'm sure if God told him it was okay to do, then who can argue with that? Hans wrote their names on a marriage certificate and told Anna that he was about to leave the priesthood for her. I have a feeling he lied about leaving the priesthood.
On the night of September 2, 1913, Hans went to the apartment that he and Anna shared, posing as a married couple. Even though according to Hans they were legally married. Whatever...
Hans slashed Anna's throat that night 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. Look at that...I was right! Hans had no intention of leaving the priesthood for her.
After doing all of that horrible stuff to Anna and her corpse, Hans returned to St. Joseph's Church, offered Mass and administered Holy Communion, not letting on to anyone that he had just committed murder. I will never understand the dual personality these people have. Psychotic killer one minute, family/churchgoing man the next. Seriously...how is the brain able to work this way???
Pieces of Anna's torso started washing ashore at Cliffside Park and Weehawkin, New Jersey. Hudson County police detectives found a price tag still attached to the pillowcase used to wrap part of the body. This price tag led police to trace the pillowcase to a Newark factory, which sold exclusively to the Manhattan furniture dealer George Sachs. NYC Police Department took over the investigation and assigned the case to Manhattan Chief of Detectives Joseph Faurot.
Inspector Faurot when to George Sach's furniture store, but found that George was not able to recall how may of the pillowcases he had sold. Obviously, this was all happening way before computers. A check of the receipts showed that a bedspring, mattress, pillows, and pillowcases had been sold on August 26, 1913. The buyer's name was A. Van Dyke and arranged for everything to be delivered to an apartment at 68 Bradhurst Avenue. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that A. Van Dyke was Hans Schmidt, and the apartment everything was delivered to is where Anna was killed. I chose Col. Mustard in the kitchen with the knife!
Upon questioning the superintendent of the apartment building, it was found that the specific apartment had a married couple living there. The husband was described as a man with a heave German accent and gave his name as H. Schmidt. Wow, dumbass! Didn't come up with a different name for renting the apartment?!? A three-day stakeout did not reveal anyone arriving to the apartment, so detective Frank Cassassa was ordered to break into the apartment.
A quick inspection of the apartment showed that the floor had been recently scrubbed, but large amounts of dried blood was found on the walls. Seriously dude, look around if you're going to try to clean up after yourself. Dumbass!
A large knife was found on a kitchen shelf with blood on it. Again...dumbass!
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. I seriously can't with all of this stupid!!!
Many of the letters found were from women from Germany. Most of the letters were from an Anna Aumuller whose most recent address was listed as 428 East Seventieth Street. Inspector Faurot and detectives Cassassa and O'Connell visited the address and found out that Anna had moved out of that address after getting the job as a housekeeper at St. Boniface's Church. They visited the church where they were told by the senior pastor, Father John Braun, that Anna had been his housekeeper but had transferred to St. Joseph's Church. They asked Father Braun if he recognized the name of Hans Schmidt. Father Braun did recognize the name as well as the man, himself. He told the detectives that Hans Schmidt had been at St. Boniface's Church but had moved on to St. Joseph's Church. The pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together!!!
Inspector Faurot and detectives Cassassa and O'Connell arrived at St. Joseph's rectory. The senior pastor, Father Daniel Quinn, answered their knocking on the door and led them to the parlor where he woke Hans Schmidt. When Hans was confronted by the inspector and detectives, he blurted out right away, "I killed her! I killed her because I loved her!" Yeah...that doesn't make any sense to me!!! At least the inspector and detectives didn't have to go through hours and hours of interrogation. Schmidt even went on to describe the murder and dismemberment in detail. Hans was taken into custody as his fellow priests watched. I'm guessing the other priests were very shocked and horrified by what they had just heard.
The New York papers loved this story, competing with each other, sensationalizing the story more and more. I know...thank god that doesn't happen today! HAHAHA!
Following the arrest of Hans, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York had indefinitely suspended his priestly faculties.
During the first trial (yes, I said first...), Hans feigned insanity. The defense team calmed that Hans heard voices and that insanity ran in the family. Which...maybe he did and maybe it did, but that doesn't make him completely incompetent to stand trial. The defense called a witness, a psychologist named Smith Ely Jeliffe, to testify that Hans' family tree showed up to sixty near or distant relatives who displayed signs of mental instability. Only sixty? Of course, let's remember what all constituted a person being insane back in the early 1900s. He blinked twice in a row while looking to his left...he must be insane! She read a book...throw her in the psych ward and throw away the key!
The defense tried to claim that because of the family insanity tree, Hans could not be put to death because he was, too, insane.
The prosecution called in their own doctors who had examined Hans while he was awaiting trial and concluded that Hans was sane. Shocker!!!
At the conclusion of the trial in December 1913, the jury could not come to a decision after deliberating for several days so, therefore, had a hung jury. Wow!
So...moving on to the second trial. That happened about two weeks later. At this trial, the prosecution introduced testimony that showed in April 1913, before Hans received the alleged command from God to "sacrifice" Anna, he had convinced Bertha Zech to pose as Anna in order to purchase a $5000 life insurance policy under Anna's name. The policy listed Hans as the sole beneficiary.
I have to ask...where was this information during the first trial?
On February 5, 1914, after three hours of deliberation, a jury found Hans guilty of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to death.
After being sentenced, Hans said, "I'm satisfied with the verdict. I would rather die today than tomorrow." No, no Hans! You do not get to play the martyr!!! Sit down and shut up!
Hans was sent to Sing Sing Prison to await execution.
His execution was postponed about a year due to his defense team filing an appeal. In December 1914, Hans admitted that he faked the insanity stuff during the trial. No shit, Sherlock! I'm guessing it was a bit obvious that he was not insane. However, Hans then tried to place blame on the dentist, Ernest Muret, claiming that he accidentally killed Anna during a botched abortion. Hans also claimed that he allowed police to go after him as he tried to save his friend, Ernest Muret. Allowed....whatever dude!
Hans Schmidt's appeals ended up being unsuccessful. Yay! Hans entered the death chamber at 5:50 a.m. on February 18, 1916. Just before being sat down in the electric chair, Hans said, "I want to say one word before I go. I beg forgiveness of all I have offended or scandalized and I forgive all who have offended against me!" Who the hell offended against this guy??? What a cocky piece of shit!!!
Just before they threw the switch, Hans stated, "My last word is to say goodbye to my dear old mother!" Not sure if his mom was around during all of this, but if she was, curious as to how she dealt with all of this. Guessing she wasn't a proud mama.
A total of three jolts of electricity were administered, the first at 5;52 a.m. The other two were then given and the prison physician pronounced Hans dead at 5:58 a.m. Good riddance, asshat!
A reporter for the Albany Times later wrote, "His last night on earth he spent proclaiming his innocence and declaring that he had made peace with God. The guards had expected a scene when the slayer was to be executed. But his actions surprised them. He was the coolest man in the death chamber. He almost domineered those who assisted in putting him to death."
The Schmidt family had originally intended to ship Hans' body home to Germany. However, due to the ongoing nature of World War I, this was unable to be done. So, Father William Cashin, the Sing Sing prison Roman Catholic chaplain, arranged for burial in New York State. At the request of Hans' family in Germany, the location of his burial was kept secret.
Further investigation into Hans Schmidt revealed that he had a second apartment set up for a counterfeiting workshop. He is also suspected in the murder of Alma Kellner (aged 9). Her body was found buried in the basement of St. John's church in Louisville, Kentucky, where Hans had previously worked. That poor girl!!! Her body had been burned, but police suspected that the killer had initially tried to dismember her. Good Lord! (no pun intended)
The janitor of the church at that time, Joseph Wendling, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder based on circumstantial evidence and bloody clothing found at his house. I'm not sure if Joseph or Hans killed Alma, but rest in peace precious little one!
Let me state for the record that I am not against religion...believe what works for you. Second, I'm not against priests...except the bad ones...and, unfortunately, there are bad ones out there.
If you or someone you know if suffering abuse from a priest, deacon, or individual representing the Catholic Church in the United States, you can report your abuse to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The number for the Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection is 202-541-5413.
You can always contact 911 as well or your local non-emergency contact number in the jurisdiction where the abuse has occurred.
--Audre
Hans Schmidt (wikipedia)
Anna Aumuller (wikipedia)
Sources: Wikipedia.com
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