Chicago's Lady Killer

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
​Johann Schmidt was born in 1855 in Holzweiler, Germany. Born to a minister, ironically he had trained for this profession considering his later exploits. He immigrated to the United States in the last years of the 19th century. He changed his surname, and became known as Johann Otto Hoch after the murder of one of his first victims. 

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

However these truths only came to light years later, in the meantime he went on to marry several different women, most of them widows. Without benefit of a divorce from his last 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. 

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, that of his last victim. 

His only legal wife was Christine Ramb. He abandoned her and their three children in Germany, deciding instead to embark on a murderous rampage in the United States.

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Johann Hoch, (arrow), is shown entering the patrol wagon in New York for his return to Chicago to face prosecution in slayings of Maria Walcker Hoch

Hoch's Trail of Horror

He arrived in Wheeling, WV in February, 1896 where he used the name of Jacob Huff. Hoch opened a saloon in a German neighborhood where he led customers in drinking songs. He was immediately on the lookout for widowed or divorced women. His choice was Caroline Hoch.

They married three months after his arrival in Wheeling and Caroline Hoch (the surname of her dead husband), a middle-aged widow with some money, would serve as his victim profile. 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. That was because holding a sack aloft, he walked up the river in neck-high water for 100 yards until he reached a rowboat.

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. Later it was determined Hoch had taken her organs in the sack when he faked his suicide, so that evidence could not be found of her poisoning.

Despite knowing that he was suspected of bigamy and murder, he continued to hunt for new victims in the lonely hearts columns of the local newspaper.

Hoch married Maria Steinbrecher, a wealthy widow on August 5, 1895. She was dead four months later. Hoch sold her property for $4,000. As she lay dying she said she had been poisoned, but no one paid attention. She was buried in an unmarked grave in Graceland Cemetery.

He killed another wife, Mary Becker in 1902, and used embalming fluids with their high arsenic content to cover his tracks. This masked the ingestion of poison prior to her death.

In a well-rehearsed pattern, on December 3, 1904 he published a short ad in the Chicago Abend Post, a German paper which read: "Matrimonial—German; own home; wishes acquaintance of widow without children; object, matrimony.  Address M 422, Abend Post."

Marie Walcker who owned a candy shop at 12 Willow Street responded to the ad as follows: "Dear Sir:—In answer to your honorable advertisement I hereby inform you that I am a lady standing alone. I am forty-six years and have a small business, also a few hundred dollars. If you are in earnest I tell you I shall be. I may be seen at 12 Willow Street. MARIE WALCKER."

On their first meeting, her sisters Bertha Sohn and Emilie Fischer acted as chaperones. They found him charming, with "hypnotic" eyes.

Hoch married Walcker on December 5, 1904, and she died on January 11, 1905 after complaining of excruciating pain in her abdomen. On the night of her death he proposed to his sister-in-law Emelie, and they married within a week of Marie's funeral. He romanced Emelie while his wife was dying, by saying he would have married her instead if they had met before his marriage to Maria, and that he could not stand being alone.

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.

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Johann Hoch would hide the arsenic in a fountain pen he carried

Exhumation of Marie Walcker's body found poison in her system and he was charged with her murder. Contrary to the death of Catherine Hoch, Walcker had been buried without being embalmed, and her internal organs were intact. This was important, since even though it was discontinued, morticians had been using embalming fluid with arsenic in it. There could be no doubt how the poison got in her body.

Hoch was arrested, and a search of his room found money, several wedding rings with the initials filed off and a fountain pen filled with arsenic. He would later claim he meant to use it on himself. He stood trial on the charge of murder. His picture was featured in all the major newspapers across the United States. Reports came in from around the country from different women claiming Hoch had romanced and robbed them. The detectives suspected there were others who were too embarrassed to come forward with a complaint.

He later admitted to a detective he did not love any of the women he targeted, and specifically picked older women since they were easier to separate from their money.

Hoch also imparted the rules he used to win over women so thoroughly they would marry him only days after meeting him:

• Nine out of every 10 women can be won by flattery.
• Never let a woman know her own shortcomings.
• Always appear to a woman to be the anxious one.
• Women like to be told pleasant things about themselves.
• When you make love, be ardent and earnest.
• The average man can fool the average woman if he will only let her have her own way at the start.

During the court proceedings he whistled, hummed and twirled his thumbs enjoying the limelight. He was housed at the old Cook County Jail at the corner of Illinois and Dearborn streets. Eventually Engine Co. 42 firehouse would occupy the address after 1968. For years the firemen complained of weird and paranormal occurrences which were chalked up to those who met their end at the site.

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?"

Hoch ended up being buried in a potter's field adjoining the Cook County Farm, since several cemeteries refused to receive his body for burial.

After his execution Inspector Shippy continued investigating how many women were duped, and lived to tell of his betrayal and there were scores of them, especially across the Midwest. 

What is surprising is how easily the physicians treating some of these women would write off their deaths to natural causes or a fast acting illness. The only times Hoch fell under suspicion, was when a family member contacted the authorities.

The true amount of Hoch's victims until today is unverified due to the various alias he adopted, and the places he traveled to. What has been documented started in 1881 when he married his wife, while living in Austria, and up to the date of his execution in 1906.

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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 years later
• 1888, New York – After arriving from Wurtemburg, Hoch is 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's 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 a widow, Wheeling, WV. She died June 15, 1895. He faked his death by suicide, and took her surname of 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 Steinbrecher (wealthy widow) 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 owing 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" who 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
• 1898 January 16 - Hoch aka "William Frederick Bessing" marries Mrs. Winnie Westphal in Jersey City-Hoch disappaers with $900
• 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 in 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's 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.
• 1904 December 20: Marie Walcker becomes ill.
• 1905 January 12: Marie Walcker-Hoch dies.
• 1905 January 15: Hoch marries Marie's sister Mrs. Emelie Fischer in Joliet Ill, who gives Hoch $750.00; Hoch leaves after Mrs. Fischer's sister Mrs. Sohn 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. 
• In addition to the above, it is alleged that Hoch was involved with: Mrs. John Hicks of Wheeling WV (died); Mrs. Emma Rencke of Chicago; Mrs. Palinka of Batavia Ill; 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".