Frederick Mors

Mors immigrated to New York City from his native Austria-Hungary in June 1914. 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 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 and chloroform 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. The district attorney declined to prosecute Mors, finding him to be criminally insane, and committed him to the Hudson River State Hospital, pending deportation to Austria. ==See also==