"BLUEBEARD'S" WIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12818, 18 March 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

"BLUEBEARD'S" WIVES.

SENSATIONAL; STORY.

Amazing and more amazing still "are tie revelations concerning Jchann Hoch, who is known as Chicago's Bluebeard, and. who is alleged to be the most married man in •the. world.. Hoch, it mar be remembered, was arrested in New York quite recently, the police then alleging that he had had 20 wives, of whom more than half had died under suspicious circumstances. The police pursued their investigations, and within a few clays they raised the tally of Hocli's alleged wives, including the quick and the dead, to 33. The latest estimate, however, places the number at 44, but there is some certainty about the figures for the reason that the police state they have discovered another man who carried on the same game as Hoch. It is interesting to recall Hocli's methods. Ho is 45 years of age, a short, thick-set, fat, plain-looking man. His method was to o-dvartise for wives, and i.i cc i.i-idcjing the replies which be received lie invariably selected those of widows with money or property. Widowed landladies were apparently his favourites. After becoming acquainted with, them he made himself very useful in the house, cleaning windows and going errands. He is credited with singular powers of fascination. There was no hesitancy in his methods. From the first he worked to win. One victim describes his lovemaking as " most aggressive." He took no denial, and pushed his attentions witr such ardour that the widows easily succumbed, after a very short acquaintanceship generally. A few days' rule, . then a brief period of married bliss, herald- | ed a sudden disappearance with the wife's money. One of bis alleged wives says that Hoch played the zither and sang sweetly. All declared they were most favourably impressed because of his frequent and most endearing allusions to " his first wife." The investigation into Hoch's career was brought about by inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the death of the last but one Mrs. Hoch, a woman whose Christian name was Marie. She died suddenly, and it is stated that the chemical analysis of the contents of her stomach has revealed enough poison to kill several people. As we have said, 44 is the latest number of wives credited to Hoch. A despatch from Chicago, however, says the Chronicle, indicates that he had either a confederate or a competitor in his alleged practice of marrying, fleecing, and deserting women, as two from Indiana were married when it was impossible Hoch could have been their bridegroom, as he was in gaol at the time, undergoing imprisonment for a minor offence. It is stated that Amelia Kauke married Hoch in Chicago two years ago in the name of Froie, and soon became ill. Hoch is said to have given her a white powder, which made her ■worse. Her father's suspicions were aroused, and he administered the powder to some cats, which died. There are now five known •instances of administering white powder.

Most careful search failed to disclose any poison in the possession of Hoch, until a white powder was found cunningly concealed in the upper portion of a fountain-pea belonging to Hoch. , The police state that they have plenty of evidence, given by the families of Hoch's dead wives, that he was in the habit of carrying this powder with him. They believe that the discovery is one of the most important in connection with the case.

HYPNOTISM. One New York woman, who barely escaped marrying Hoch, gave the police an account of how he swindled her, and has satisfied them that he used hypnotism. Under his influence, she handed over to him £200, a transaction about which she had afterwards _no recollection. It is .known that Hoch was a close student of hypnotism. He denies the 'charges' of murder, and also that he married wholesale while other wives were alive. He states, however, that on one occasion when he advertised for the acquaintance of a widow of small means he got 1200 replies. Mrs. Kummerle, of New York, who rejected Hoch when he proposed to her after three days' acquaintance, says that he always looked her straight in the eyes, and seemed to exercise a hypnotio influence. Other women insist that Hoch is an accomplished mesmerist.. Do what they could, they say, it was impossible to resist his fascinations. "When he looked into my eyes and held my wrists," said onewoman, "it was all over with me. It was only the intervention of Providence that prevented me going to church with him." Other accounts of a similar character imply that Hoch pursued hypnotic methods of wooing with the policemen in gaol.

Hoch is on his way to Chicago. It is not certain how many of his wives will be waiting to identify him, but seven of them who are now in Chicago have given remarkable evidence as to the arts which he used to allure them. One of them, Who, spoke with much vigour and denounced Hoch as a horrible man, declared that he had hypnotised her. In no other way could she account for falling a victim to a man whom she loathed. The others, however, admit that Hoch had fascinated them in one way or another. l, He told mo he was a millionaire," said ouo pretty little woman, " and that I should never have to work again." One German lady admitted that it was Hoch\s singing which had Avon her heart, and indeed his musical accomplishments seem to have been of influence in many quarters. A more intelligible reason seems to be that of one of the Chicago-women, who says: "He seemed to me to be so ardent— fact, an ideal lovemakor. When he was proposing marriago to me he knelt and kissed my hand." One victim admitted that she was touched by the man's gentleness and consideration, and this is corroborated by a widow, who said, "My heart went out to him when he told me he proposed to put a monument on the grave of my first husband, and even made me go out with him to select it before we were married." The last of the seven simply s ays that she pitied Hoch because he seemed so lonely When he was informed that he would be confronted with a long line of his victims, he laughingly replied that he hoped he would be able to remember all their Christian names.

A further development is the announcement that one of Hooh's wives had herself married three men, one of whom she is alleged to have murdered.

Hoch continues in the most cheerful mood. and, whilst stating that he onlv married two women, though he has courted many, he volunteered to. the detectives guarding him the following advice based on his unequalled experience: —

"Kino out of every ten women can be won by flattery. Never let a woman know her own shortcomings. Always appear to a woman to be solicitous regarding her. Women like to be told pleasant dungs about themselves, When you make love, be ardent and earnest. The average man can fool the average woman if he only lets her have her own way at the start."

In the course of their efforts to procure evidence against Hoch, the Chicago police, says the Telegraph correspondent, have discovered another man somewhat resembling him, who has been operating along the same lines in Chicago, ami it is thought that many of the women now calling themselves the wives of Hoch may be mistaken. Albert Bushteberg. or Bnschberg, is a name believed to have been used at one time by Hoch. The police have discovered another man, also a. German, who advertised for wives in the German newspapers on the Hoch plan, and used, that alias. This discovery may considerably curtail the list of forty odd wives, and when the elimination is complete it is thought that possibly only a dozen wives will remain to Johann Hoch.

Koch's real name, it transpires, says the Leader, is Jacob Schmidt. He was born in 1862 at Horrweiler, in the Palatinate, where, after his marriage, he opened a little general dealer's shop. ".Subsequently he became a wine dealer, and in this capacity carried out such clever swindles that lie soon lived in great style. Wher the neighbourhood became too hot for him he cheated his business connections of a large sum of money, with which ho decamped to America in 1895. leaving a wife and three children destitute, ■ > „- j