THE MURDERS AND OUTRAGES IN AUSTRIA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2339, 5 April 1892, Page 4

THE MURDERS AND OUTRAGES IN AUSTRIA.

The trial of Frank Schneider and his wife Rosalie for a series of horrible outrages and murders in the suburbs of Vienna, the victims being servant girls out of employment, was begun on Monday. The large hall of the Courts of Justice, where the trial is being held, was crowded to suffocation before the proceedings began, about a thousand persons being present. Schneider is a powerfully-built man of oft 7in. The expression of his face is one of repulsive ferocity. When he entered the court he was deadly pale and walked with a faltering step. On recovering his self-possession he glared round at the audience in a sullen and resentful manner. The female prisoner is a miserable-looking under-sized woman not more than 4ft 4in in height. She has piercing black eyes, and must at one time hove been fairly good looking. The prisoners are defended by two eminent advocates—Schneider by Dr Richard Pried, and his wife by Dr Gustave Fried. The reading of the indictment occupied half an hour. There were no lady visitors on the bench,but in the dimlylighted gallery in the rear were many fashionably-dressed women with operaglasses, through which they followed every movement of the wretched pair in tho dock.

When called upon to plead the woman Rosalie answered in a clear, calm voice that she was not guilty; but when pressed on tho point she modified this plea to the extent of declaring that in respect of many of the matters charged against her she was innocent. The Public Prosecutor then proceeded to interrogate and crossexamine her with great severity. She avowed participation in Schneider's past misdeeds, but declared that of the crimes set forth in the indictment her husband alone was guilty. As she continued her explanations the male prisoner became increasingly nervous and uneasy. He brushed the perspiration from his forehead with the palm of his hand, and then suddenly losing all self-possession broke down and cried bitterly, writhing on his seat in abject terror. The cross-ex-amination of his wife lasted an hour and forty minutes. Schneider's examination and cross examination, which followed, occupied about twenty minutes. He confessed himself guilty of the outrages of which the girls Stoiber and Djuris were the victims, on May 26th and June Ist respectively last year; and he also admitted that he was guilty of the first murder, that of Rosalie Kleinrath, which took place on June 4th in a wood .it Christofen, near Neu Lengbach. Wiping the tears from his eyes he declared in querulous tones that it was his wife Rosalie who had perpetrated the other two murders with which the couple are accused. Pressed upon the point, he stated that Rosalie held his victims' hands and passed him the bottle of chloroform, which was used in depriving them of consciousness. This was an entirely new suggestion and created a sensation in court. Then followed an extraordinary scene. The judge treated the prisoner's assertion with incredulity, and the woman Rosalie burst into loud laughter. She then turned to her husband and —hissing out the words betweon her clenched teeth —said, " If you admit having donepne murder without my aid could you not have donethe others also?" This vehement exclamation evoked applause in court, which was suppressed. An angry altercation between the prisoners ensued. Standing in the open space before the bench in the well of the court, they mutually accused eftclj. other of the crimes laid to their charge, (Schneider was no match for the cool, deliberate questions addressed to him in rapid succession by his wife, and he looked as if he would like to strangle her there in open court had he not been restrained by the presence at his elbow of an a*med p.oji Cfsijuya. The girl Johanna >Sj;qibe{yi short pleasant looking young woman of twenty-eight, wearing a red shawl over her head'.'iioid how .Schneider on the 2Gth of May met her in the Reimweg, a busy street in Vienna, and indi< &«d her to go with him to Nue Lengbach by pretending jthafc he would introduce her to an exellent in the house of a lady of title, and how, hav?r/.g lured he; into a secluded part of a wood, he assaulted her. Regardless of her tears and entreaties, he did not allow her to escape from his i aUomiruibJe maltreatment until daylight ! appealed, a»d then it was only by fleeing for her life' sia|; £b<s wag delivered from ! further violence, i Evidence was given with regard to the third crime set forth in the indictment — ' that of the 4th of June, when a girl named Ivosjalio Kleinrath was robbed and murdered in a wo.od"afc jOhristofen, near Neu Lengbach. i In the outseji of -the interrogatory the judge invited Schneider to continue, arid, if pos- [ sible, supplement the explanation lie ga,ve j the previous day as to the employment of I fcliJ r oroform in the despatch of his victims, i The prisoner's reply was to the effect that ; this expianfttkni was a hoax, and then, amid :l of intense ejf ci(;ement, he proceeded to describe how thy hifd actually been accomplished. His wife, he decked, held the hands of the victim while he the girl's throat with his rfcht hand and strangled her. While this evidence was being given all eyes were turned upon tho | female prisoner, who, for the first time since the proceedings began, seemed terribly agitated. The woman ve- I hemently denied that she had had any part j in the murders, and, addressing her husband kept crying out, "I am your blind victim." This pa'nful scene in the well of j the eourt was almost as dramatic as that of the previous day, and the judges were j evidently impressed with Schneider's con- j tension. The witnesses called were sworn before a crucifix, in front of which were two ] lighted topers, the witness holding up his ] right hand after the Scotch fashion. Both the judges and the audience stood up while this ceremony was proceeding. In front of the prisoners was a big black trunk, which had belonged to the girl Kleinrath and when a young woman, a domestic

servant, who had been acquainted with the deceased, was called and sworn, the contents of the box—articles of clothing", and other poor belongings—were brought out one by one i'or the purpose of identification. Among- these articles was , a lock of black hair which had belonged to the deceased. The judge next handed to the witness a human skull, and she identified it as that of her dead friend by by means of the teeth, which were 25cculiarly prominent. Medical evidence was then called. It was to the effect that Kleinrath had evidently been strangled in a few minutes by a person of great muscular force, and that Schneider did not require any aid from his wife in executing his purpose. This point brought a smile to Rosalie's face for the first time on Tuesday. Schneider was next interrogated as to whether he had not struck Kleinrath down by a blow on the head with a stick. This he denied, and amid intense excitement he illustrated to the horror-stricken court how he had actually murdered the unfortunate woman, explaining how he gripped her breast with the left hand, and seized her by the throat with the right. Asked why he had not killed the victim of his first outrage, Schneider coolly replied that at that period he had not had so much practice as he subsequently acquired. He now made no secret of the fact that t his was the hand which had deprived all the three girls of their lives. The Court was occupied on Wednesday in investigating the murder of Marie Hottwanger, which was committed on July 22nd, in the Driefohrenwalde, near ISfeu Lengbach. It was shown that in this case very much the same method had been employed as in the others. The girl had been lured away by the promise of a very respectable situation, and it that the female prisoner had been an active agent in the negotiations. It was proved that on July 2nd she went to a service agency and applied for a housemaid, who, according to her representation, was to be employed in the house of a certain baroness in the suburbs. As she did not succeed in obtaining one, however, she went to a second registry office and resumed her quest, Schneider waiting for her outside. It was at this establishment that she found Maria Hottwanger. Having engaged her under the false representation that she would take her at once to her new situation, she induced Hottwanger to return to her lodgings, pack up her clothes in a portmanteau, and set out with her for the suburb where the pretended baroness was supposed to live. While the negotiations were going on the girl's sweetheart, a young man named Karl Hornung, was awaiting her at a small cafe, where, strangely enough, he had been joined by Schneider. They were actually sitting at the same table when the female prisoner entered and said to her husband: " Come, there she is." Schneider then left the cafe, and Hornung saw him and his wife join Hottwanger in the street and walk off in the direction of the railway station. It was the last time he saw the unfortunate girl alive. Early on the morning of the 4th. of July, after the murder had been committed, the female prisoner, it was proved, went to Hottwanger's lodgings, and claimed the girl's box and other effects on the strength of a forged letter dated from Eekawinkel, and representing that the young woman had entered upon a comfortable situation there. The lodging-house keeper, who had no suspicion of foul play, delivered up the goods. After the reading of this letter the presiding judge, addressing the female prisoner in a loud stern voice, said, " Rosalie Schneider, you wrote this letter." The Public Prosecutor added, " And when you wrote it you knew that Maria Hottwanger was already dead." Instead of replying, Frau Schneider broke into a fit of sobbing. She made no attempt to excuse herself. The police, it is said, are firmly convinced that the dark recesses of the Haspen Wald have not yet revealed all their secrets, and that at least two more servant girls who are missing must be added to the list of Schneider's victims. [Late cablegrams have informed us that Schneider was executed for these crimes. The sentence of death passed on his wife was commutted to imprisonment for life.]