February 18, 1916

Sing Sing Prison February 18, 1916 On September 5th, 1913, two boys fishing off a dock in Weehawken, New Jersey, hauled up a bundle wrapped in oilcloth and weighted with stone. Inside was the upper torso of a young woman. No head. No identification. What followed was one of the most sensational murder investigations in New York City history — a trail of pillowcase tags, bloodstained walls, and forged documents that led detectives from a bare apartment on Bradhurst Avenue to the rectory door of a Catholic church in Harlem. The man they arrested at half past eleven that night was Father Hans Schmidt, a German-born priest with a secret wife, a counterfeiting operation, and a past that stretched across two continents and an unknown number of graves. On February 18th, 1916, Schmidt was electrocuted at Sing Sing Prison. He remains the only Catholic priest ever executed in the United States. This is his story. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support. You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require. We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts: If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything! For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week. This episode includes AI-generated content.