Frederick Mors (born Carl Menarik, 2 October 1889 – 1918?) was an Austrian

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

. Mors killed eight elderly patients by

poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

while employed in a nursing home in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He was very cooperative, readily admitting to the murders when questioned by police. After being arrested, Mors was diagnosed as a

megalomaniac Megalomania is an obsession with power and wealth, and a passion for grand schemes. Megalomania or megalomaniac may also refer to: Psychology * Narcissistic personality disorder * Grandiose delusions * Omnipotence (psychoanalysis), a stage of ...

and committed to an insane asylum. He later escaped.

Immigration

Mors

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to New York City from his native

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

in June 1914. The

German-speaking German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...

Mors gained employment as a porter for the German Odd Fellows' Home in Unionport, New York (now the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

) through the Immigrant Free Employment Bureau. The home housed 250 orphans and 100 elderly men and women. Inexplicably, though he terrified the older residents, both the younger residents and visitors seemed to like him and enjoy his company. Mors exhibited signs of megalomania soon after beginning to work at the nursing home: he would wear a white lab coat with a

stethoscope The stethoscope is a medical device for auscultation, or listening to internal sounds of an animal or human body. It typically has a small disc-shaped resonator that is placed against the skin, and one or two tubes connected to two earpieces. ...

around his neck, and insisted that the elderly residents address him as "Herr Doktor."

Murders

In the four-month period from September 1914 to January 1915, 17 residents—an unusually high number—died at the Home. Fearing foul play, the administration called the police in to investigate. Mors had used

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...

and

chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane, is an organic compound with chemical formula, formula Carbon, CHydrogen, HChlorine, Cl3 and a common organic solvent. It is a colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to ...

to murder at least eight of the elderly residents. He later claimed he was "putting them out of their misery". He committed his first murder using arsenic, purchased from a local druggist. Encountering some difficulties with this method, he later switched to the use of chloroform.

Victims

*Carl Hitzel, 78, by administering morphine *Henry Haensel, 67, by giving arsenic *Carl Garf, 65, by giving arsenic *Mrs. Katherine Piazza, 75, by giving chloroform *Mrs. Frederick Drey, 75, by giving chloroform *Mrs. Elizabeth Hauser, 70. by giving chloroform *Henry Horn, 68. by giving chloroform *Ferdinand Scholtz, 77, by giving chloroform

Investigation

Early in the investigation, police learned of the fear the elderly patients and staff had of Mors. On these grounds, he soon became the primary suspect of the investigation. When questioned, Mors readily and calmly admitted to killing eight of the seventeen patients who had recently died. He claimed that these were mercy killings and that they had been nuisances. In detail, he described his method as:

First I would pour a drop or two of chloroform on a piece of absorbent
cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
and hold it to the
nostrils A nostril (or naris , plural ''nares'' ) is either of the two orifices of the nose. They enable the entry and exit of air and other gasses through the nasal cavities. In birds and mammals, they contain branched bones or cartilages called turbi ...
of the old person. Soon my man would swoon. Then I would close the orifices of the body with cotton, stuffing it in the
ears An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists o ...
, nostrils, and so on. Next I would pour a little chloroform down the throat and prevent the fumes escaping the same way.

Mors also claimed that the home's superintendent had encouraged him to kill the more ill and more elderly patients. The

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

declined to prosecute Mors, finding him to be criminally insane, and committed him to the

Hudson River State Hospital The Hudson River State Hospital is a former New York state psychiatric hospital which operated from 1873 until its closure in the early 2000s. The campus is notable for its main building, known as a "Kirkbride," which has been designated a National ...

, pending deportation to Austria. Mors escaped from the institution in May 1916. In 1917 he surfaced in Torrington, Connecticut living under the alias Frederick Maurice Beno working in the first aid department of Turner & Seymour Company. He used the same birthday as Mors in a World War I draft registration. He also sent three letters saying he was the same person that had killed 8 people in New York. He left notes of suicidal intent and disappeared in April 1918. A skeletonized corpse was discovered in May 1923 that was identified as his by officials who examined the remains at the time. The remains had been there for at least four years and was identified partially based on the type of shoes both Mors and Beno were known to have worn. Two bottles that were presumed to be poison were found nearby. "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZFK-5QL : 24 August 2019), Frederick Maurice Beno, 1917-1918.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mors, Frederick 1889 births 1914 murders in the United States 1918 suicides 1918 deaths American escapees American serial killers Austrian serial killers Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States Escapees from New York (state) detention Fugitives Medical serial killers Murder in New York City People from Vienna People with narcissistic personality disorder Poisoners Serial killers from New York (state) Suicides by poison Suicides in Connecticut

Immigration

Murders

Victims

Investigation

See also

References