SUPERSTITION AND MURDER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1920, 23 July 1889, Page 3

SUPERSTITION AND MURDER.

A brutal murder, writes a St. Petersburg correspondent, has just been committed in the South of Eussia which bears one or two points of resemblance to the Whitechapel murders, and, as it also is one of a whole class of similar outrages not confined to any one locality, may not prove uninteresting. The motive of these crimes, we may say at once, is superstition, Ajpeasant girl was found lying dead in a wood near Qraivoron (government of Kursk), with evident signs of having been brutally murdered. Moreover, certain portions of the body were missing. For several days all efforts to find the murderers were unaviling. No one was even suspected. Soon afterwards, however, a robbery was committed in the village, and suspicion fell on two peasants, who were at once arrested. On their rooms being searched a handkerchief was found in which something in the nature of tallow—extracted from human fat—was carefully rolled up. The mother of the murdered girl recognised the handkerchief as her daughter’s, and the mystery was soon cleared up. The prisoners at once confessed, and related the history of the crime in all its details. The hand of the corpse, or even the finger, or a candle made of human fat, is firmly believed by the lower classes throughout the length and breadth of Eussia to render the thief who possesses it safe from detection ; and as there are many thieves in Eussia desirous of pursuing their occupation with impunity, the demand for these objects is considerable. These two peasants resolved to secure some “ magic candles ” before entering on a series of predatory expeditions. They at first fixed on a peasant as their victim, but when they came to where he was working alone they found him with an axe in his hand, and, knowing him to be a strong man, they thought it wise to choose another victim. An abnormally stout priest was accordingly fixed upon, but when they called on him he was away administering the sacrament to a dying man. They then espied this healthy peasant girl, followed her to the wood, despatched her, and removed certain parts of the body, which they afterwards boiled. They are now under an unusually strong guard, and tbeir trial will take place in a few weeks.