A MURDERER'S SUICIDE

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 29

A MURDERER'S SUICIDE

♦ | ESCAPING THE GALLOWS. BERLIN, March 3. Captain yon (Joeben committed suicide in hi® cell at the Allenstein Prison. His friends had secured for him the opportunity to escape the gallows. Captain yon Goeben, of the 73rd Field Artillery Regiment, stationed with the East Prussian garrison at Allenstein, near the Russian frontier, was arrested on December 28 in connection with the death of a brother officer, Major yon Schoenebeck, of the 10th Dragoons, who was found shot dead early on Boxing Day. s Captain Goeben, who was only 37, fought under Botha and De Wet, and subsequently in South-West Africa. In 1902 he was selected to carry out a secret military mission to Macedonia, with the view of ascertaining the real strength and character of the revolutionary movement, and hie reports were made privately to the Imperial Chancellor. At the end of a rigorous examination before a court-martial of his brother officers, lasting from noon to 3 o'clock. Captain yon Goeben made a full confession of tlie murder. i The. major had caught the captain leaving his house after a clandestine visit to his wife. The noise of closing a corridor door by Captain yon Goeben as he was leaving awakened .the major, who caught hold of his revolver. The captain, realising that he must_shoot first to save his own life, fired at Major yon Sohoenebeck point blank, killing- him almost before the major had recognised the intruder's identity. A few minutes after Captain yon Goeben had made his sensational confession Frau yon Schoenetock was arrested and placed in gaol. During her examination before the court-martial she confessed that a number of young. officers were* accustomed, to visit her, and tha-t- they always met in the corridor entrance farthest from hex

-husband's -sleeping quarters. .Captain" voift ' Goeben confessed further - that he had f re* quently visited Frau yon Sohoenebeck, an<£ that he had always gone armed, fearing » sudden confrontation by her husband. Frau yon Sohoenebeck is a dashing, slim brunette, 30 years old, witfc a Madonna* like countenance. She marrifcd the Major 13 years ago at the age of 17, he being 20. years her senior. Her early married lifi was happy, but in more recent years incompatibility of temperament showed itself^ Their domestic troubles were the talk of th*, garrison. ' ' Among the younger officers of the garri« • 6on ehe had many champions, and among them Captain yon Goeben, whose receni years have been , passed more in rough active service than in drawing rooms, was the foremost-<and most favoured. Although, h© had been barely six months in -Allen*" 6tein his colonel had found it necessary -to tell him that the attentions he wae openly paying to Major yon Schoenebeck's wifa could end only in disaster. . • Commissary Wannowski, before whom thft" captain confessed, stated that the confession was wrung from hjm after he was confronted with the charred regains of his mask. The captain thought that this had been . de- . strbyed when he tossed it into- a stove.-.," When he saw the remnant his foldierly figure oojiapsed, and, breaking down- completely he said that he was v ready to admit everything. Frau yon Schoenebeck overwhelmed him with entreaties "to free . her *ftom her husband." At first He , declined to listen to her "appeals," but-, she gradually won hini over. When -the major -*ried -with his revolver, which had -previously been- rendered useless, to shoot what he supposed, to. be a masked burglar, the captain fired the fatal shot.