The Lady Killer

John Hoch hung for the murder of one woman, but is believed to have killed dozens. He was known as the Chicago Bluebeard

John Schmidt was born in 1855 in Horweiler, Germany. He immigrated to the United States in the last years of the 19th century. He took advantage of this and changed his surname, and became known as Johann Otto Hoch after the murder of one of his first victims. He then went on to marry several different women. Without benefit of a divorce from his previous bride (unless he had poisoned them) he would marry a new woman, swindle her out of money, and if she were lucky he would just leave instead of killing them with a dose of arsenic. Then he would start the process all over again.

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Chicago's Lady Killer left a string of murders that even today have never been compiled against him.

In the span of 15 years he married at least 55 women, stealing their money and then murdering them. The actual number of how many he actually killed is not certain. By the time he was arrested, Chicago police dubbed him, "America's greatest mass murderer." Despite suspicion of a higher number the police were certain of only 15, and ultimately he went to trial and hung for only 1 murder. It was for his first and only legal wife, Christine Ramb. They had three children, and he abandoned them in 1887.

Hoch's Trail of Horror
In 1895 he was using the name of Jacob Huff, and wed Caroline Hoch, a middle-aged widow living in Wheeling, West Virginia. They married in April 1895, and three months later she became very ill. Rev. Haas who attended the suffering woman on her death bed, saw her husband administer a potion that was later suspected to be poison. She died a few days later. He took $900 in her bank account, sold their house and received $2500 from a life insurance. Covering his tracks he left his clothing, watch and a note on the bank of the Ohio River, where suicide was suspected. A body was never recovered.

He moved on to Chicago and worked in a meat-packing plant. Rev. Hass in West Virginia sent a letter to the police, and Police Inspector George Shippy started digging into Hoch's background. He found more than he suspected initially. There were dozens of reports of missing or deserted women ranging from New York to San Francisco.

Caroline Hoch was exhumed but strangely enough the body had been gutted and her vital organs were missing. Only trace evidence of arsenic was found in her body.

Despite knowing that he was suspected of bigamy and murder he found new victims in the lonely hearts columns of the local newspaper. Once he killed his new wife, he use embalming fluids with their high arsenic content to cover his tracks and the ingestion of the poison prior to their death.

He married Marie Walcker on December 5, 1904, and poisoned her quickly. On the night of her death he proposed to his sister-in-law Amelia and they married within a week of Marie's funeral. She gave him a gift of $750, and he promptly disappeared with the money. She called the police, but at least she was alive to do so.

Hoch's luck ran out when morticians started using a new embalming fluid with no arsenic in it. Exhumation of Marie Walcker's body found point in her system and he was charged with her murder. His picture was featured in all the major newspapers across the United States.

He was arrested and stood trial for the murder of Marie Walcker. During the proceedings he whistled, hummed and twirled his thumbs enjoying the limelight.

He went to the gallows on February 23, 1906, claiming his innocence, He stated, "I am done with this world. I have done with everybody."

As his body swung, a local newspaperman quipped, "Mr. Hoch, but the question remains: What have you done with everybody?"

Not until (1935 or 1955) did the answer to that question become evident. Human bones were found inside the wall of a Chicago house where Hoch once lived. The remains were unidentified, and the total number of his victims to this day remains a mystery.

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Marie Walcker proved to be Hoch's undoing. He was convicted of her murder and hung for it.

Partial Report of Hoch's victims (due to poor record keeping, some could not be confirmed):

• 1881, Austria – marries Annie Hock
  
• 1883, New York – Hoch arrives with wife Annie an invalid who dies several year later
  
• 1888, New York – After arriving from Wurtemburg, Hoch said to have married an immigrant servant girl who "died" prior to two months passing. At the time of his 1905 New York arrest it was also alleged Hoch had married and either left/killed women in Vienna, Austria; London, England and Paris, France.
  
• 1892 Chicago - Mrs. Hoyle Hoch died
  
• 1892, Chicago – May: Hoch under name C.A. Meyer rents flat and has a new wife {wife reportedly died after three weeks}
  
• 1892, Chicago – June: Hoch under name H. Irick rents flat and has a new wife {wife reportedly died a month later}
  
• 1893, Milwaukee – Hoch under name "Dr. James" marries Lena Schmitz who died
  
• 1893 Milwaukee - Hoch marries Lena Schmitz sister Clara {died}
  
• 1894 Chicago - Under a new alias Hoch rents flat with a new wife {wife reportedly died after two months}
  
• 1895 Chicago - Arrested under alias "C.A. Calford" and charged by Mrs. Janet Spencer with having eloped; married and deserted her with a few hundred dollars of her money; he is identified as abductor of a Hulda Stevans and a participant in a diamond robbery
  
• 1895 April: Under the name Jacob Huff, Hoch marries Karoline/Caroline (Miller) Hoch, widow, Wheeling, WV. She died June 15, 1895. He faked his death, took her surname Hoch and went to Chicago.
  
• 1895 July 5: Arrives in Chicago
  
• 1895, July 15: Buys a saloon in Chicago
  
• 1895, August 5: AKA Jacob Hoch he marries Mrs. Maria Steimbucher of Chicago-she died four months later; Hoch sold property for $4,000. Before dying she makes declaration that she has been poisoned but no notice is taken of her statement.
  
• 1895 November: Hoch marries Mary Rankin of Chicago; Hoch disappeared with her money the next day. About 1895 Hoch aka Schmidt went back to Germany but fled from a warrant charging that he was not only a bankrupt but also owning 3,000 marks
  
• 1896 April: Hoch aka "Jacob Erdorf" marries Maria Hartzfield of Chicago; Hoch disappeared with $600 of her money after four months.
  
• 1896 September 22: Hoch aka "Schmitt" marries widow Barbara Brossett of San Francisco. "Schmitt" disappeared 2 days later with $1,465 of her money; she is so affected by losses she dies afterward.
  
• 1896: Hoch proposes to landlady Mrs H. Tannert of San Francisco, who refuses him.
  
• 1896 November: Hoch marries Clara Bartel of Cincinnati Ohio; she dies three months later.
  
• 1896 a Mrs. Henry Bartel dies in Baltimore {Bartel being a Hoch Alias; It is also alleged Hoch married two other times in Baltimore-to a Mrs. Nannie Klenke-Schultz; Mrs. Henrietts Brooks-Schultz; an unnamed Boston woman married to a "Louis/Charles Bartels" came to Baltimore and seized his furniture}
  
• 1897 January: He marries Julia Dose of Hamilton Ohio-in Cincinnati; Hoch disappears same day with $700 of her money.
  
• 1897 July 20 - Hoch aka "Henry F. Hartman" marries in Cincinnati
  
• 1897 December 6 - Hoch marries a woman in Williamsburg New York and disappears with $200.00
  
• 1898 January 16 - Hoch aka "William Frederick Bessing" marries Mrs. Winnie Westphal in Jersey City-Hoch disappaers with $900.00
  
• 1898 Buffalo-New York-a Mrs. Wilhelmina Hoch died
  
• 1898 March - Chicago Hoch appears aka "Martiz Dotz" with a wife who died June 1898.
  
• 1898 June: Hoch aka Adolf Hoch aka Martin Dose arrested Chicago for selling already mortgaged furniture; gets one year.
  
• 1899 Milwaukee: Hoch marries an unnamed sister of Mrs J.H. Schwartz-Marue; bride dies and Hoch disappears with $1,200
  
• 1899 Norfolk Va-A Mrs Hoch died suddenly
  
• 1900: Allegedly Hoch aka "Albert Buschberg" married Mary Schultz of Argos, Indiana; Schultz, her 15-year-old daughter Nettie and $2,000 "Disappeared".
  
• 1900, A "Jacob Hoch" married Anna Scheffries of Chicago (LDS record).
  
• 1900, December 12 – Hoch aka "John Healy" marries Amelia Hohn of Chicago; deserts her after getting $100.00
  
• 1901, November: Hoch marries Anna Goehrke; he deserts her.
  
• 1902, April 8 - Marries Mrs Mary Becker of St Louis; she dies 1903
  
• 1902 May - Hoch aka "Count Otto van Kern" marries Mrs Hulda Nagel whom he deserts
  
• 1903 June 18 - Hoch aka "Dr. G.L.Hart" flees after trying to poison Mabel Leichmann-a bride of three days; Hoch flees with $300 worth of diamonds and $200 of her money
  
• 1903 Dayton Ohio - Hoch marries Mrs Annie Dodd (deserts her)
  
• 1903 Dayton Ohio - Hoch marries Mrs Regina Miller Curtis (deserts her)
  
• 1903 Milwaukee - Hoch courts Ida Zazuil but leaves her after a quarrel
  
• 1903 December - Hoch uses marriage license for Zazuil engagement and marries Mrs. T.O'Conner of Milwaukee, deserts her taking $200 of her money
  
• 1904 January 2: AKA "John Jacob Adolf Schmidt" marries Mrs Anna Hendrickson of Chicago in Hammond Indiana, and disappears January 20 with $500 of her money.
  
• 1904 June: Hoch marries Lena Hoch of Milwaukee; she dies three weeks later leaving Hoch $1,500.
  
• 1904 Summer: South Haven, Michigan, a young woman body washes ashore. Wife of Hoch?
  
• 1904 October 8:Hoch alias "Leo Prager" marries Bertha Dolder of Chicago, he disappears after buying $1,200 of rugs from $3,500 she gives him for a furniture store
  
• 1904 October 20: Hoch alias "John Schmidt" marries Caroline Streicher of Philadelphia. He disappears October 31, 1904.
  
• 1904 November 9: Hoch appears in Chicago.
  
• 1904 November 16: Hoch alias "Joseph Hoch" leases a cottage in Chicago from a bank from November 16, 1904 to January 1, 1905; buys $120 worth of furniture.
  
• 1904 December 10: Marries Marie Walcker of Chicago, who sells her candy store for $75.00 and gives Hoch life savings of $350.00.
  
• 1904 December 20: Marie Walcker becomes ill.
  
• 1905 January 12: Marie Walcker-Hoch dies.
  
• 1905 January 15: Hoch marries Marie's sister Mrs. Fischer in Joliet Ill, who gives Hoch $750.00; Hoch leaves after Mrs. Fischer sister denounces Hoch as a murderer and swindler.
  
• 1905 January 30: Hoch alias "Harry Bartells" proposes to his landlady Mrs. Catherine Kimmerle of New York City; she refuses and Hoch is arrested; Hoch claims alias of "John Joseph Adolf Hoch."
  
• 1905 May 19: Hoch tried and found guilty of murder of Marie Walcker; sentenced to death June 23, 1905.
  
• 1905 June 23: Cora Wilson of Chicago advances money so Hoch can appeal sentence to Illinois Supreme Court, which sustains lower court and sets execution date for August 25, 1905.
  
• 1905 August 25 – Hoch execution put off until October session of Illinois Supreme Court.
  
• 1905 December 16 – Illinois Supreme Court refuses to intervene.
  
• 1906 February 23 – Hoch is executed in Chicago. After his execution, several cemeteries refused him burial so Hoch is buried in what was referred to a potter's field adjoining the Cook County (Illinois) Farm at Dunning (Chicago). This is the long forgotten Cook County Cemetery on the grounds of the Cook County Poor Farm at Dunning later to become Chicago State Hospital, and then became Chicago Read Zone. A portion of the cemetery has been preserved as the Read Zone-Dunning Memorial Park on Chicago's Northwest side. One article detailing his burial appeared in the New York Times on February 24, 1906.

Other reported victims
In addition to the above, it is alleged that Hoch was involved with a Mrs. John Hicks of Wheeling WV {died}; Mrs. Emma Rencke of Chicago; Mrs. Palinka of Batavia Ill; a Mrs. Fink of Aurora; Natalie Irgang; Hulda Stevens; Schwatzman of Milwaulkee; and a Justina Loeffler of Elkhart Indiana who "disappeared" in Chicago in 1903. Allegedly Hoch married twice in Cincinnati, Ohio under alias of "Henry Bartel" and "Fred Doess".

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Source - Murderpedia