Albert Fish: Killer of Children

On Sunday June the 3 – 1928 I called on you at 406 W 15 St. Brought you pot cheese – strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her, on the pretense of taking her to a party. You said Yes she could go. I took her to an empty house in Westchester I had already picked out. When we got there, I told her to remain outside. She picked wild flowers. I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off. I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them. When all was ready I went to the window and called her. Then I hid in a closet until she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she began to cry and tried to run down stairs. I grabbed her and she said she would tell her mama. First I stripped her naked. How she did kick – bite and scratch. I choked her to death then cut her in small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms, cook and eat it. How sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body. I did not fuck her, though, I could of [sic] had I wished. She died a virgin. ~ Albert Fish

Excerpt taken from a letter sent by Albert Fish to the mother of Grace Budd.

Albert Fish was born Hamilton Howard Fish on May 19, 1870 in Washington D.C., the youngest of four children. His father was an American of English descent, and his mother was Scots-Irish American. At the time of his birth, Albert’s father was 75 years old, 43 years older than his wife.

The Fish family had a history of mental illness, with his uncle suffering from mania, and one of his brothers was confined in a state mental hospital. His sister, as well as another three relatives, were diagnosed with a “mental affliction.” Even his mother suffered from mental illness, as she had “aural and/or visual hallucinations.”

His father had been a river boat captain, and from 1870, a fertilizer manufacturer. Unfortunately, when Albert was just five years old, his father had a heart attack at the Sixth Street Station of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Washington D.C.

Unable to care for all her children after the death of her husband, Albert’s mother placed him into Saint John’s Orphanage, where he adopted the name “Albert,” after one of his dead siblings, as he was tired of being called “Ham & Eggs” by the other children. He was frequently abused, so much so that he began to enjoy the physical pain his beatings brought him and got sexual gratification from them.

“I was there ’til I was nearly nine, and that’s where I got started wrong. We were unmercifully whipped. I saw boys doing many things they should not have done.”

Albert Fish on his time at Saint John’s Orphanage.

By 1880, Albert’s mother had secured a government job, and was able to take him back home. But he would never fully recover from his time in the orphanage.

When he was just 12, he started a relationship with a telegraph boy. This boy introduced Albert to urolagnia (a tendency to derive sexual pleasure from the sight or thought of urination.) and coprophagia (the consumption of feces.). He began spending time in public baths, where he could watch other boys undress.

At the age of 20, Albert arrived in New York City, where he worked as a male prostitute. But that wasn’t enough, as he began to rape young boys. He also picked up the practice of writing obscene letters to women, whose information he acquired through classified advertising, and matrimonial agencies.

In 1898, Albert’s mother arranged a marriage for him with Anna Mary Hoffman, who was 9 years younger. Together they had six children, Albert, Anna, Gertrude, Eugene, John, and Henry. He picked up work as a house painter and handyman, though he continued molesting young boys, primarily those younger than 6.

He participated in extramarital affairs with other men, one of whom took him to a waxworks museum where Albert saw a bisection of a penis. He was fascinated, and soon became obsessed with sexual mutilation.

In 1903, Albert was arrested for grand larceny, and was sentenced to incarceration in Sing Sing (a crime which, today, holds a maximum sentence of 6 months). Jail time, however, did nothing to dissuade him from his illicit activities.

Around the year 1910, Albert had secured work in Wilmington, Delaware. It was there that he met 19 year old Thomas Kedden. He took Thomas back to the place he was staying, and the two of them began a sadomasochistic relationship. However, after about ten days, Albert needed more. He took Thomas to an old farm house where he began to torture him for the next two weeks. Eventually, Albert tied him up and cut off half of his penis.

“I shall never forget his scream, or the look he gave me,”

Albert Fish on his torture of Thomas Kedden.

Although he originally intended to kill Thomas, cut up his body, and take it home, he opted not to, fearing the hot weather would draw unwanted attention. He decided his best option was to pour peroxide over the wound, and wrap it in a Vaseline-covered handkerchief. Albert left Thomas a $10 bill before kissing him goodbye. “Took first train I could get back home. Never heard what become of him, or tried to find out,” he later recounted.

In January 1917, Albert’s wife, Anne, left him for John Straube, a handyman who had been boarding with the family. She took nearly every possession they owned, but left the children behind. Now a single parent, he had to raise all six of his children on his own, while his own mental illness started to take shape.

Albert began to experience auditory hallucinations. In one instance, he wrapped himself in a carpet, claiming he was following the instructions of John the Apostle. He began to indulge in self-harm, inserting needles into his perineum and abdomen. X-rays later taken showed at least 29 needles lodged in his pelvic region.

He would hit himself repeatedly with a nail studded paddle, and inserted wool, doused with lighter fluid, into his anus then light it on fire. While he never abused his own children, he did encourage them, and their friends, to paddle his buttocks with his nail studded paddle.

Soon, he became obsessed with cannibalism. He began to prepare himself a dinner comprised solely of raw meat. Sometimes he even served it to his children.

His depravity escalated, and in 1919, he stabbed an intellectually disabled boy in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. He chose people he believed would not be missed, such as the mentally handicapped, or African-Americans. He would pay boys to find him other children, whom he would torture, mutilate, then murder with his “implements of Hell:” a meat cleaver, a butcher knife, and a small hand saw.

At the age of 54, Albert’s psychosis led him to believe that God was commanding him to torture and sexually mutilate children. He did as he was commanded, and on July 11, 1924, he found 8 year old Beatrice Kiel playing alone on her parents’ Staten Island farm. He offered her money to go away with him and help look for rhubarb. She was ready to go with him when her mother came outside and chased him away. He returned to the farm later, where he tried to sleep in the barn, but was discovered and forced to leave.

Just three days later, on the evening of July 14, 9 year old Francis McDonnell was reported missing by his parents after he failed to return home after playing catch with his friends in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Staten Island. A search was quickly organized, and his body was found. Francis was hanging by a tree in a wooded area near his home. He had been sexually assaulted, then strangled with his suspenders. The autopsy showed that he had also suffered extensive lacerations to his legs and abdomen, with his left hamstring almost entirely being stripped of its flesh.

Francis’ friends told police that he was taken away by an elderly man with a grey moustache, and a neighbor reported that he had seen the boy with a similar looking man, walking along a grassy path into the nearby woods. Then Francis’ mother reported seeing the same man, “He came shuffling down the street mumbling to himself and making queer motions with his hands … I saw his thick grey hair and his drooping grey moustache. Everything about him seemed faded and grey.” This description earned Albert the nickname, “The Grey Man,” although he initially denied involvement, then later claimed that he intended to castrate the boy.

On February 11, 1927, 3 year old Billy Beaton and his 12 year old brother were playing in the hallway of their apartment building in Brooklyn, with 4 year old Billy Gaffney. Shortly after the 12 year old left for his apartment, both of the younger boys disappeared. Later, Billy Beaton was found on the roof of the apartment building. He was asked what happened to Billy, he said, “the boogeyman took him.” Young Billy Gaffney’s body was never recovered, and Albert had received yet another nickname, “The Boogeyman.”

Joseph Meehan, a motorman on a Brooklyn trolley saw a picture of Albert Fish in a newspaper and was certain he had seen him on February 11 on the trolley. He said the old man was trying to quiet a young boy sitting with him. The boy had no jacket and was crying for his mother. The man dragged him on and off the trolley. Detectives determined that Albert had been a house painter by a Brooklyn real estate company that month, and was working only a few miles away from where Billy had been abducted on that day.

Later, in a letter to his attorney, Albert wrote:

I brought him to the Riker Ave. dumps. There is a house that stands alone, not far from where I took him … I took the G boy there. Stripped him naked and tied his hands and feet and gagged him with a piece of dirty rag I picked out of the dump. Then I burned his clothes. Threw his shoes in the dump. Then I walked back and took trolley to 59 St. at 2 A.M. and walked home from there. Next day about 2 P.M., I took tools, a good heavy cat-of-nine tails. Home made. Short handle. Cut one of my belts in half, slit these half in six strips about 8 in. long. I whipped his bare behind till the blood ran from his legs. I cut off his ears – nose – slit his mouth from ear to ear. Gouged out his eyes. He was dead then. I stuck the knife in his belly and held my mouth to his body and drank his blood. I picked up four old potato sacks and gathered a pile of stones. Then I cut him up. I had a grip with me. I put his nose, ears and a few slices of his belly in the grip. Then I cut him thru the middle of his body. Just below his belly button. Then thru his legs about 2 in. below his behind. I put this in my grip with a lot of paper. I cut off the head – feet – arms – hands and the legs below the knee. This I put in sacks weighed with stones, tied the ends and threw them into the pools of slimy water you will see all along the road going to North Beach. Water is 3 to 4 ft. deep. They sank at once. I came home with my meat. I had the front of his body I liked best. His monkey and pee wees and a nice little fat behind to roast in the oven and eat. I made a stew out of his ears – nose – pieces of his face and belly. I put onions, carrots, turnips, celery, salt and pepper. It was good. Then I split the cheeks of his behind open, cut off his monkey and pee wees and washed them first. I put strips of bacon on each cheek of his behind and put in the oven. Then I picked 4 onions and when meat had roasted about 1/4 hr., I poured about a pint of water over it for gravy and put in the onions. At frequent intervals I basted his behind with a wooden spoon. So the meat would be nice and juicy. In about 2 hr., it was nice and brown, cooked thru. I never ate any roast turkey that tasted half as good as his sweet fat little behind did. I ate every bit of the meat in about four days. His little monkey was as sweet as a nut, but his pee-wees I could not chew. Threw them in the toilet.

On May 25, 1928, Albert saw an ad in the Sunday edition of the New York World paper that read, “Young man, 18, wishes position in country. Edward Budd, 406 West 15th Street.” On May 28, 58 year old Albert, visited the Budd family in Manhattan under the pretense of hiring Edward. (He later confessed that he planned to tie Edward up, mutilate him, and leave him to bleed to death.) He introduced himself as Frank Howard, a farmer from Farmingdale, New York, then promised to hire Edward and his friend Willie, and said he would send for them in a few days. He failed to show up, but sent a telegraph to the Budd family apologizing and set a later date.

When Albert returned, he met Grace Budd and quickly changed his intended victim from Edward to Grace. He made up a story about having to attend his niece’s birthday party and convinced Grace’s parents to let her accompany him to the party that evening.

Grace left with Albert Fish that day but never returned.

On September 5, 1930, Charles Edward Pope was arrested for the disappearance of Grace Budd, accused by his estranged wife. He spent a total of 108 days in jail before he was ultimately found not guilty and released.

Albert couldn’t keep quiet though, and in November 1934, he sent an anonymous letter to Grace’s parents. The unaltered letter reads:

My dear Mrs Budd,
In 1894 a friend of mine shipped as a deck hand on the steamer Tacoma, Capt John Davis. They sailed from San Francisco to Hong Kong China. On arriving there he and two others went ashore and got drunk. When they returned the boat was gone. At that time there was a famine in China. Meat of any kind was from $1 to 3 Dollars a pound. So great was the suffering among the very poor that all children under 12 were sold to the Butchers to be cut up and sold for food in order to keep others from starving. A boy or girl under 14 was not safe in the street. You could go in any shop and ask for steak – chops – or stew meat. Part of the naked body of a boy or girl would be brought out and just what you wanted cut from it. A boy or girls behind which is the sweetest part of the body and sold as veal cutlet brought the highest price. John staid there so long he acquired a taste for human flesh. On his return to N.Y. he stole two boys one 7 one 11. Took them to his home stripped them naked tied them in a closet then burned everything they had on. Several times every day and night he spanked them – tortured them – to make their meat good and tender. First he killed the 11 yr old boy, because he had the fattest ass and of course the most meat on it. Every part of his body was cooked and eaten except Head – bones and guts. He was roasted in the oven, (all of his ass) boiled, broiled, fried, stewed. The little boy was next, went the same way. At that time I was living at 409 E 100 St, rear – right side. He told me so often how good human flesh was I made up my mind to taste it. On Sunday June the 3 – 1928 I called on you at 406 W 15 St. Brought you pot cheese – strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her, on the pretense of taking her to a party. You said Yes she could go. I took her to an empty house in Westchester I had already picked out. When we got there, I told her to remain outside. She picked wild flowers. I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off. I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them. When all was ready I went to the window and called her. Then I hid in a closet until she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she began to cry and tried to run down stairs. I grabbed her and she said she would tell her mama. First I stripped her naked. How she did kick – bite and scratch. I choked her to death then cut her in small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms, cook and eat it. How sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body. I did not fuck her, though, I could of [sic] had I wished. She died a virgin.

Police investigated the letter, and although they could not verify all parts, the part concerning the murder of Grace Budd was found to be accurate in its description of the kidnapping and subsequent events. It was never confirmed whether Albert had actually eaten parts of Grace’s body. The letter itself was delivered in an envelope that had a small hexagonal emblem with the letters “N.Y.P.C.B.A.” representing “New York Private Chauffeur’s Benevolent Association.” When questioned, a janitor at the company told the police he had taken some of the stationery home but left it at his rooming house at 200 East 52nd Street when he moved out.

Police questioned the landlady of the rooming house, who informed police that Albert had checked out of that room a few days earlier. She said that his son sent him money and he asked her to hold his next check for him.

William F. King, the chief investigator for the case, waited outside the room until Albert Fish finally returned. He agreed to go to police headquarters for questioning, then brandished a razor blade. King quickly disarmed him and took him to police headquarters.

Albert made no attempt to deny the murder of Grace, instead informed officers that he intended to go to the house to kill Edward Budd. He said it “never even entered [his] head” to rape the girl, but he later claimed to his attorney that, while kneeling on Grace’s chest and strangling her, he did have two involuntary ejaculations. This information was subsequently used at trial to make the claim that the kidnapping of Grace was sexually motivated, allowing them to avoid any mention of cannibalism.

Albert Fish’s trial for the murder of Grace Budd began on March 11, 1935 and lasted only ten days. Albert plead insanity and claimed that he had heard voices from God telling him to kill the children. Several psychiatrists testified regarding his sexual fetishes, which included sadism, masochism, flagellation, exhibitionism, voyeurism, piquerism, cannibalism, coprophagia, urophilia, pedophilia, and infibulation. Albert was considered a “psychiatric phenomenon,” as nowhere in legal or medical records was there ever an individual who possessed so many sexual abnormalities.

The defense’s chief expert witness, Fredric Wertham, a psychiatrist with an emphasis on child development who conducted psychiatric examinations for the New York criminal courts, explained Albert’s obsession with religion and specifically his preoccupation with the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22:1–24). He said that Albert believed that similarly “sacrificing” a boy would be penance for his own sins and that even if the act itself was wrong, angels would prevent it if God did not approve. He claimed that Albert attempted complete the sacrifice once before but was thwarted when a car drove past, and Edward Budd was his next intended victim. Edward turned out to be larger than expected so Albert settled on Grace. Although he knew Grace was female, it is believed that he perceived her as a boy.

Wertham then detailed Albert’s cannibalism, which in his mind he associated with communion. When asked how the doctor considered his mental condition based on this life, he simply answered “He is insane.”

Not one of the jurors doubted that Albert Fish was insane, but ultimately they felt he should be executed anyway. He was found to be sane and guilty, and the judge ordered the death sentence.

Albert Fish arrived at Sing Sing prison in March 1935, and was executed in the electric chair on January 16, 1936. He entered the execution chamber at 11:06pm, and was pronounced dead three minutes later. He was buried in the Sing Sing Prison Cemetery.

One of his last acts was helping his executioner position the electrodes on his body, and his last words were reportedly, “I don’t even know why I’m here.”

At a meeting with reporters after the execution, Albert’s lawyer, James Dempsey, revealed that he was in possession of his client’s “final statement”. This statement amounted to several pages of hand-written notes that Albert apparently penned in the hours just prior to his death. When pressed by the assembled journalists to reveal the document’s contents, Dempsey refused, stating, “I will never show it to anyone. It was the most filthy string of obscenities that I have ever read.”

Albert Fish’s known victims:

• Francis X. McDonnell, age 8, July 15, 1924
• Billy Gaffney, age 4, February 11, 1927
• Grace Budd, age 10, June 3, 1928

Albert Fish’s suspected victims:

• Emma Richardson, age 5, October 3, 1926
• Yetta Abramowitz, age 12, 1927
• Robin Jane Liu, age 6, May 2, 1931
• Mary Ellen O’Connor, age 16, February 15, 1932
• Benjamin Collings, age 17, December 15, 1932

Albert Fish killed children. You know who else did? Mary Bell, and she was just a child herself!