[Bigg Jonn]

On magazine page 17 in the article entitled "Can You Help?" they mention trying to get a prisoner named Joseph Wendling a pardon or parole for a child murder conviction based on circumstantial evidence - the little girl's body was found in the basement of a church where Wendling worked as a janitor - it is now believed that the priest, Father Hans Schmidt, was the real murder. Father Schmidt was executed at Sing Sing for the murder of his mistress/spouse, whose throat he slashed while she slept and after chopping her up and disposing her body parts wrapped in sheets and pillowcases over the side of a Manhattan ferry. Father Schmidt was eventually tracked down, convicted and executed in the electric chair, being the only priest in US history to meet such a fate. Joseph Wendling was eventually paroled in about 1934 (remember this magazine was published in 1928) and deported back to his home country of France. He had to pay his own way to France with money he earned during his 22 years in prison. He might have been paroled earlier but he escaped from two different prisons in the early 1920s. When he was released he was accompanied to New York City by the prison warden and they shared accomodations for a week while awaiting the ship that would return Wendling to France, taking in movies and visiting other typical tourist sights of tge day. The warden escorted Wendling to his stateroom and watched from the dock as the ship sailed away.

Link to the book: *** Link No Longer Exists: True Detective v10 03 ***