American Serial Killer: Albert Fish

Albert Fish, born Hamilton Howard Fish, was an American serial killer. He was born on May 19, 1870 in Washington, D.C. He said he had been named after a distant relative named, Hamilton Fish. His father, Randall Fish was 43 years older than Fish’s mother, Ellen. Randall Fish was American of English ancestry and his mother was Scots-Irish American. Randall Fish was 75 years old when Albert Fish was born. Albert Fish was the youngest of the four children. He had three siblings: Walter, Annie, and Edwin Fish. He wanted to be called “Albert” after his dead sibling and to avoid being called “Ham and Eggs.” That was a name given to him at an orphanage, where he spent the majority of his childhood.

His family was said to have a history of mental illness. His uncle suffered from religious mania, his mother had “aural and/or visual hallucinations,” his brother was in a state mental hospital, his sister was diagnosed with a “mental affliction,” and a few other family members were diagnosed with mental illnesses as well.

His father was a River boat captain and became a fertilizer manufacturer by 1870. Fish’s eldest sibling died of a myocardial infarction in 1875 in Washington, D.C. His mother then put him into Saint John’s Orphanage in Washington, D.C. where he was constantly treated “sadistically.” It was when he was being beaten that he realized he enjoyed physical pain. Fish stated, “I was there til I was nearly nine, and that’s where I got started wrong. We were unmercifully whipped. I saw boys do many things they should not have done,” (Princeton University).

In 1890, Fish’s mother was able to find a government job so she took Fish out of the orphanage and was able to look after him. In 1882, at the age of 12, Fish ...

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...l fetishes, including drinking urine and eating feces. Some disagreed however, that if such practices meant he was really insane. Defense's chief expert witness was Fredric Wertham, who was a psychiatrist that focused on child development. He conducted psychiatric examinations for the New York criminal courts. He said that Fish was insane. Mary Nicholas, another defense witness, who was Fish's 17 year old stepdaughter explained how Fish taught her and her brothers and sisters a "game" involving overtones of masochism and child molestation. The jury found him insane and guilty, and the judge ordered the death sentence (Murderpedia).

In March of 1935, Fish had arrived at Sing Sing prison in New York and was executed on January 16, 1936, in the electric chair. He entered the chamber at 11:06 p.m. and was pronounced dead three minutes later (Princeton University).