Read Online Serial Killers: Confessions of a Cannibal by Robert Keller - Free Book Online
Authors: Robert Keller
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those days) to examine Fish. The two men interviewed Fish separately in his cell in The Tombs and delivered the diagnosis expected of them by the D. A., that while Fish was undoubtedly a deeply disturbed individual, he understood the implications of his actions and was, for that reason, legally sane.
On the same day that that diagnosis was delivered, Fish was indicted for kidnapping in Manhattan. A few days later, he was transported to Greenburgh to face a Grand Jury. It took that body less than two hours to return an indictment for the murder of Grace Budd. Fish was then transferred to the jail in Eastview to await trial.
Over the next week, Fish received several visits from detectives hoping to clear up unsolved child murders in their jurisdictions. There were also witnesses who came forward to identify Fish as the man who had attacked or tried to attack them. Typical of these was the story of Benjamin Eiseman.
The 26-year-old Eiseman had encountered Fish ten years earlier, when he was 16. Eiseman had been sitting on a bench in Battery Park when Fish sat down beside him and struck up a conversation. He told Eiseman that he was a house painter and could use a “strapping young lad” like him as an apprentice. Unemployed at the time and desperate for any sort of work, Eiseman had agreed to accompany Fish to a job in Staten Island.
They had traveled by ferry to the terminal at St. George and from there by train to another location. After alighting, they had walked to a deserted cabin where Fish had instructed Eiseman to remain outside while he went into the house to fetch his tools. While he was waiting, Eiseman was approached by an elderly black man who had warned him to leave. “I seen many kids go into that house,” the man had said, “But none of them ever came out.” Eiseman was alarmed enough by the stranger’s warning to heed his advice.
What is remarkable about this story is the startling similarity to the Grace Budd case. Grace, too, had been taken on a train journey and lured to a deserted house. But for the stranger’s warning, Eiseman would likely have met a similar fate to her.
Another accuser was a Staten Island farmer named Hans Kiel. In February 1924, Kiel’s eight-year-old daughter, Beatrice, was approached by an elderly stranger with a gray moustache. The man offered Beatrice a nickel if she would go into the woods with him to pick wild rhubarb.
Fortunately, Kiel’s wife had witnessed the scene through the kitchen window and went outside to confront the stranger, who promptly fled. Later that night, Kiel found the old man sleeping in his barn and ran him off. Kiel was absolutely certain that the man was Albert Fish. Three days after the Kiel incident, Francis McDonnell had been murdered less than a mile away, by a man answering to the same description.
And then there was the Billy Gaffney case. Billy, as you will recall, disappeared from his home on February 11, 1927, and was spotted that same evening on a trolley, accompanied by an old man. Conductor Anthony Barone and driver Joseph Meehan had both seen the pair and had remembered them because Billy had cried throughout the journey. After seeing Fish’s picture in the paper, Meehan was sure that Fish was the man he’d seen with Billy. Barone was less certain, but felt that it “could have been” Fish.
Fish, of course, denied all of these charges. But in each case there was circumstantial evidence linking him to the crimes. He’d either been working or living in the areas where the murders occurred, or the M.O. matched what detectives knew about the Grace Budd abduction. And many of the details checked out. Benjamin Eiseman’s story for example had been reported to the police and the description Eiseman had provided at the time was an exact match to Albert Fish.
On Thursday, December 27, Richmond County D.A. Thomas J. Walsh announced that he intended filing charges against Albert Fish for the
On the same day that that diagnosis was delivered, Fish was indicted for kidnapping in Manhattan. A few days later, he was transported to Greenburgh to face a Grand Jury. It took that body less than two hours to return an indictment for the murder of Grace Budd. Fish was then transferred to the jail in Eastview to await trial.
Over the next week, Fish received several visits from detectives hoping to clear up unsolved child murders in their jurisdictions. There were also witnesses who came forward to identify Fish as the man who had attacked or tried to attack them. Typical of these was the story of Benjamin Eiseman.
The 26-year-old Eiseman had encountered Fish ten years earlier, when he was 16. Eiseman had been sitting on a bench in Battery Park when Fish sat down beside him and struck up a conversation. He told Eiseman that he was a house painter and could use a “strapping young lad” like him as an apprentice. Unemployed at the time and desperate for any sort of work, Eiseman had agreed to accompany Fish to a job in Staten Island.
They had traveled by ferry to the terminal at St. George and from there by train to another location. After alighting, they had walked to a deserted cabin where Fish had instructed Eiseman to remain outside while he went into the house to fetch his tools. While he was waiting, Eiseman was approached by an elderly black man who had warned him to leave. “I seen many kids go into that house,” the man had said, “But none of them ever came out.” Eiseman was alarmed enough by the stranger’s warning to heed his advice.
What is remarkable about this story is the startling similarity to the Grace Budd case. Grace, too, had been taken on a train journey and lured to a deserted house. But for the stranger’s warning, Eiseman would likely have met a similar fate to her.
Another accuser was a Staten Island farmer named Hans Kiel. In February 1924, Kiel’s eight-year-old daughter, Beatrice, was approached by an elderly stranger with a gray moustache. The man offered Beatrice a nickel if she would go into the woods with him to pick wild rhubarb.
Fortunately, Kiel’s wife had witnessed the scene through the kitchen window and went outside to confront the stranger, who promptly fled. Later that night, Kiel found the old man sleeping in his barn and ran him off. Kiel was absolutely certain that the man was Albert Fish. Three days after the Kiel incident, Francis McDonnell had been murdered less than a mile away, by a man answering to the same description.
And then there was the Billy Gaffney case. Billy, as you will recall, disappeared from his home on February 11, 1927, and was spotted that same evening on a trolley, accompanied by an old man. Conductor Anthony Barone and driver Joseph Meehan had both seen the pair and had remembered them because Billy had cried throughout the journey. After seeing Fish’s picture in the paper, Meehan was sure that Fish was the man he’d seen with Billy. Barone was less certain, but felt that it “could have been” Fish.
Fish, of course, denied all of these charges. But in each case there was circumstantial evidence linking him to the crimes. He’d either been working or living in the areas where the murders occurred, or the M.O. matched what detectives knew about the Grace Budd abduction. And many of the details checked out. Benjamin Eiseman’s story for example had been reported to the police and the description Eiseman had provided at the time was an exact match to Albert Fish.
On Thursday, December 27, Richmond County D.A. Thomas J. Walsh announced that he intended filing charges against Albert Fish for the
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