The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-30 00:00:00

The Execution of Anton Probst.

It is generally accepted that in America events
assume a magnitude that seem to be borrowed from
the gigantic features of the country ; nothing small
is done there, whether it be the accumulation of a
National debt or a murder.
One of the most horrible cases ever recorded in
the annals of crime was the murder of the Dearing
family, near Old Point House, Philadelphia, by the
German, Anton Probst. In default of battles and
sensational telegrams a murder in this country is
generally made the most of. If all that was written
in relation to Muller were piled together it would
form a very big affair. Indeed a great campaign
might be conducted with less eXpenditure of paper.
If Muller could only have got one-tenth of the
sum expended by the Government, by newspaper
proprietors, and in a variety of other ways, conse-
quent on the act ho had committed, before that
act was committed, he probably would now be a
respectable member of society. At any rate the
murder for which he would eventually have been

hung would have assumed another type, the thought
being generated by other circumstances and ne-
cessities. _ _

Anton Probst was a German of another genus
than Franz Muller. The former was au unmiti-
gated, undisguised ruffian, and as such broadly
stamped by nature. He was born at Baden in 1842,
and was therefore only 24 years of age. Although his
father was a carpenter he never learned any trade. He
was of that class, lazy, improvident, and grossly
sensual, that nothing can keep from poverty and
degradation. Instantly on landing in New York

he accepts the bounty and enlists in the 12th
cavalry, but only to desert to re-enlist for another
bounty. Eventually he was received into Mr.
I)earing's house, where he remains for three weeks,
just long enough to discover that money is kept on
the premises. lie then deserts his employer, and
returns with the fixed idea of perpetrating a rob-
bery. The manner in which he accomplished this
is almost unequalled in atrocity in the records of
guilt. In the words of his own confession, " I
made up my mind to get some of the money, and
that is what I went back for." First the scheme
is turned in his mind, and then comes the appalling

history of its accomplishment. Day by day he lies
in wait, axe in hand, to carry out his purpose. But
even in such a mind conscience is heard, and a
struggle takes place between the monitor for good
and the spirit of evil. But the training of a life
of debauchery gives too strong a hold to the evil
principle, and the opportunity for the premeditated
crime comes surely, if slowly. Saturday, the 7th
April, dark, rainy, and cold, Mr. Dearing leaves the
house for the city—this is his opportunity. Ile
first murders the boy who sleeps with him, and
then, one by one, assassinates the whole family.
Having turned the peaceful farm into an Aceldama,
he leisurely commences to riflo the house, bolts the
doors and windows, feeds the chickens and cattle,
and then hurries away under cover of the black
night to drown these scenes of horror in drunken
debaucheries. But the career of the murderer is
short. Four days pass away and the bodies are
discovered. On the next day Probst is arrested,
a fortnight more his trial commences, on the 28th
the verdict of guilty is brought in, and the criminal
is sentenced to be hanged on June Bth. Thus in
nine weeks the tragedy is complete : the crime, the
conviction, and punishment.
The Anglo-Saxon race is fond of striking con-
trasts. First we have the hideous, naked, deformed
crime, and the fit instrument doomed to death, and
hid in his condemned cell. Then emerges the re-
pentant criminal, crucifix in hand, andeyes raised to
Heaven. What a change is here ! The man who
perpetrated these diabolical murders comes forth to
die, declaring that lie ought to die eight deaths,
and recording in a letter to his parents the sure and
firm hope he holds of meeting them in eternity in
a holier and better place, and rejoicing with his
whole heart in this conviction. Ile sleeps placidly,
eats his eggs, bread, and butter, and coffee with a
hearty appetite, and then walks forth to his doom
without betraying a sign of fear, or flinching even
on the gallows.

In the account of his death given by the America"
papers, this man who but a few hours before bad
eaten heartily and conversed freely is placed as a
corpse in a chair, and galvanic currents applied to
the lips and temple, when the body passed through
a spasm of gasping, breathing, and trembling.
Thus in death this man without nerves was made
to exhibit those signs of fear which in life no para-
phernalia of gallows or doom could force him to
betray,—Anglo-American Times,