Francis Hermann

Serial Killer

Francis Hermann: The Priestly Butcher

Early Life and Background

Francis Hermann, born around 1851 in England, was an English-born American pastor who later became infamous as a suspected serial killer. Little is known about his early life, except that he was well-educated and married to a wife who later died under mysterious circumstances. In 1891, Hermann immigrated to the United States, initially settling in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he married Bertha Wagner. Bertha was mentally unstable and was set to be moved into an asylum. Curiously, hours before her departure, she also died under mysterious circumstances; no action was taken to investigate. One year later, Hermann married a Miss Lommen of Iowa, with their wedding ceremony being performed in Minneapolis. By this time, he had moved to Superior, Wisconsin, and had become the pastor of the First Norwegian-Danish Methodist Episcopal Church. Hermann was a respected figure in Scandinavian social circles and was even a central figure in the Ministers' Association. He and his third wife lived in Superior until the fall of 1893, when they decided to relocate to Salt Lake City, Utah. Shortly after their arrival, a baby was born, but both it and the mother died under suspicious circumstances as well.

Confirmed Victims

• Henrietta Clawson
  • Date: September 1895
  • Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Details: A native of Sweden, Henrietta Clawson (or Clauson/Clausen) first arrived in the United States via Denmark in 1887. Having no relatives in the U.S., she settled in with a family named Johnson in Omaha, Nebraska. However, due to an illness, Clawson was brought over to Salt Lake City by Tillie Anderson. Anderson later returned to Omaha, but Clawson decided to remain, maintaining contact with her friends in Omaha through letters. Soon after Hermann arrived in Salt Lake City, her letters frequently contained allusions to their great friendship. In September 1895, while Hermann was attending a church conference in the east, the 25-year-old Clawson was hired to look after his parsonage in the church. When he returned, business went on as usual until a few days later, when Clawson remarked to Mrs. H. H. Peterson that she was going to visit a Mrs. Hanson on Center Street. She also added that she would return in the evening and attend services before leaving the following day to visit a female acquaintance in the country. However, Clawson was never seen again. Clawson's friends made several inquiries about her whereabouts to the church, and some to Hermann himself, to no avail. The case was highly unusual, as she often contacted them through letters. To their surprise, Hermann wrote them a letter claiming that he had solved the mystery and had seen Mrs. Clawson in a brothel in Butte, Montana. The church's janitor, a Mr. Johnson, recalled that on the day after Clawson's disappearance, Hermann asked him to clear the pipes of the basement furnace and prepare it for a fire. The furnace hadn't been used since it had caused a blaze several years previously, but the pastor told Johnson he needed to check the pipes. Johnson followed the instructions, and when he was about to start the fire, he was stopped by Hermann, who told him that he wanted to attend to the matter by himself. During the night, Ed Johnson, a young worker who occupied a room upstairs, was overcome by the intense heat and a putrid stench coming from the furnace. He fell into an unconscious state and had to be splashed with water in order to come back to his senses. His parents complained to Hermann about the fire, but he continued with it until 6 o'clock in the evening, when it was finally put out. The incident was soon forgotten. Hermann suddenly left two weeks after Clawson's disappearance, claiming that he had to visit a religious conference in the east. He called upon a friend from Provo to replace him for the services, but the young man, who was an associate of Clawson, decided to examine the basement. To his surprise, in the furnace he found several items under the grate in the ash receiver: two razors, an English-made butcher knife which Hermann kept in his kitchen, a garter buckle, a belt buckle, and, most shockingly, human bones.

Suspected Victims

• First Wife
  • Date: 1889
  • Location: England
  • Details: Died under suspicious circumstances. No other information is available about her death.
• Bertha Wagner and Child
  • Date: 1891
  • Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Details: Married Hermann after his arrival in 1891. Wagner was determined to be insane and was about to be shipped off to an asylum when she and her child died mysteriously.
• Third Wife and Child
  • Date: 1893
  • Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Details: Shortly after their arrival in Salt Lake City, a baby was born, but both it and the mother died under suspicious circumstances.

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Confirmed Victims: (5)

First Wife , Date of Death: 1889

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Francis Hermann - Wikipedia

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