Mystery of A Voice.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 18 February 1911, Page 4

Mystery of A Voice.

BTCttLTN POLTOE BAFFLED BY ITS OWER&

The police of Berlin on December 15 were no nearer tho discovery of the owner of the voice which ' was heard in tlie flat of the eccentric old lady, Fran Hoffmann, who was later found dead, hidden in her bedroom .

The police, summoned by tho neighbours, wh'o had hoard a scream and the sound of a fall in the flat, had to force their way in. Each door was looked, and'as each was broken when the police heard a voice protesting in the room beyond. Finally the mysterious wrson is supposed to have escaped by the bark stairs. The mystery was pursued no further, the" body not being discovered by the police until a week later.

Tlio result of an investigation 'has been rather to shake the theory that the criminal was a woman." Hhe policemen and the neighbours who lieard the murderer through the closed doors were convinced that the yrneo was that of a woman But a police officer tested the trustworthiness of their observations by snealnTijr to them himself from heiimd tho closed doors of the flat in a squeaky imitation of a woman's voice. All agreed that the man's voice seemed as genuinely feminine as the unknown voice they heard on December 7.

Tho t murderer must have been well acquainted with the old woman and her habits. She was so suspicious that she would admit nobody whom she did not know well. The murderer must haro been able to gain access to her sittingroom without opposition. A large sum stated to amount to £10,000. chiefly in securities, has been found in a drawer in the flat. ProbaMy it was this that the murderer was looking for. His actual booty was a tew rings and trinkets and a little cash.

Researches have elicited another fact exemplified the extraordinary s avinK Of tllG crim '" jal. After he was disturbed hy the polico. ami the neighbours he remained m the flat hunting for the hidden treasure, and did not attempt to escape till the police returned with a locksmith to break open flie doors fully two hours later, ihe police' and the neighbours, completely deceived, were convinced that Fran Hoffmann had been enddonly seized with illness, which they thought sufficiently accounted- foV the Ml and the scream they heard, and that she left the flat rather than admit straneers. This -would Jiave been quite in accordance with her character.