DEVIL IN DISGUISE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 49, 20 October 1931, Page 3

DEVIL IN DISGUISE

— By Telegrapli—

"to punish world" AUSTRIAN TRAIN WRECKER'S CONFESSION TO POLICE WATCHED VICTIMS' AGONIES

(Press Assn.

-Copyright).

Rec. Oct. 19, 9.15 p.m. VIENNA, Monday. Sylvester Matuschka's own confession places him amongst the most depraved criminals of modern times. Leading detectives in Germany, Austria and Hungary sat in his cell at the Vienna Police Station throughout Friday night in a desperate effort to extort a confession fearing other death-dealing schemes might be in course of preparation. Matuschka is tall and handsome. He is an excellent business man and a kind hearted father and husband, apparently deeply religious, but really a devil in disguise. While his' wife was visiting her parents in Germany he indulged in the wildest orgies, and associated with the vilest criminals. The climax came when he bought a battery for the preparation of dangerous explosives. He engineered train-wrecking, which seems to have a fascination for him. He would be away from his home for the week-end, returni'ng haggard and depressed. When the blowing up of a train was arranged he hid near the scene, and when the shrieks of the victims told the successful result, he left his hiding place and mingled with the passengers pretending that he himself had had the narrowest escape. Curiously enough Matuschka's last business deal was to buy a tombstone factory. Dr. Robert Jokl, a wellknown alienist, of Vienna, explains: "In buying tomhstones Matuschka unconsciously was visualising the end of his victims. This is a case of sadism comparable to Nero's burning of Rome." In his statement to the police, Matuschka said that he was definitely appointed to punish the world for its materialism, thus confirming the expert's opinion that he is a religious maniac.