Smith returned, found the
place just as he had left it the day before; called Perry again, but
again got no answer. Surprised, he went upstairs, and in the back room
of the second story the morning sunshine, streaming through the window,
showed him the dead body of a man, his face charred beyond recognition,
lying with his feet to the window and his head to the door. There was
evidence of some sort of explosion: a broken bottle that had contained
an inflammable substance, a broken pipe filled with tobacco, and a burnt
match lay by the side of the body.

The general appearance of the dead man answered to that of B. F. Perry.
A medical examination of the body showed that death had been sudden,
that there had been paralysis of the involuntary muscles, and that the
stomach, besides showing symptoms of alcoholic irritation, emitted a
strong odour of chloroform. An inquest was held, and a verdict returned
that B. F. Perry had died of congestion of the lungs caused by the
inhalation of flame or chloroform. After lying in the mortuary for
eleven days the body was buried.

In the meantime the Philadelphia branch of the Fidelity Mutual Life
Association had received a letter from one Jephtha D. Howe, an attorney
at St. Louis, stating that the deceased B. F. Perry was Benjamin F.
Pitezel of that city, who had been insured in their office for a sum of
ten thousand dollars. The insurance had been effected in Chicago in the
November of 1893. Mr. Howe proposed to come to Philadelphia with some
members of the Pitezel family to identify the remains. Referring to
their Chicago branch, the insurance company found that the only person
who would seem to have known Pitezel when in that city, was a certain
H. H. Holmes, living at Wilmette, Illinois. They got into communication
with Mr. Holmes, and forwarded to him a cutting from a newspaper, which
stated erroneously that the death of B. F. Perry had taken place in
Chicago.

On September 18 they received a letter from Mr. Holmes, in which he
offered what assistance he could toward the identification of B. F.
Perry as B. F. Pitezel. He gave the name of a dentist in Chicago who
would be able to recognise teeth which he had made for Pitezel, and
himself furnished a description of the man, especially of a malformation
of the knee and a warty growth on the back of the neck by which he could
be further identified. Mr. Holmes offered, if his expenses were paid, to
come to Chicago to view the body.