BERLIN APPALLED

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 278, 14 February 1928, Page 9

BERLIN APPALLED

FRIVOLOUS INDIFFERENCE OF GIRL WITNESS BOY’S TRIAL FOR MURDER By Cable. —Press Association. — Copyright. BERLIN, Monday. The trial of the youth Kranz on a charge of murdering a boy friend is still creating great interest. The revelations made as the case proceeds continue to appal the public. The frivolous indifference and the brazen mendacity with which the girl. Hildegarde Scheller, has answered questions put by the vlce-Prefect of Police are regarded as most shocking when it is remembered that her brother and her boy lover were killed practically in her presence. The callousness of the girl is partly explained by a discovery made by a policewoman, who went to the Scheller home to inquire about Hildegarde’s antecedents. This official found the girl’s father bent over a table, his head resting in his hands. He was not bowed down by grief, however, but was trying to solve a crossword puzzle. Elinor Ratti, a girl friend of Hildegarde’s, who visited the house on the night of the murders, was ruthlessly cross-examined when she attempted to exonerate Kranz at the expense of Scheller. —A. and N.Z. Leading sociologists, doctors, authors, lawyers and professors have attended the trial analysing the psychology of the drama. Kranz states that Scheller shot Stephan and then committed suicide. Kranz was about to commit suicide also when the girl snatched his revolver out of his hand. Some of the evidence suggested that Stephan being found in Hildegarde’s room precipitated the tragedy.