The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-21 00:00:00

A NEW YORK MURDER,

(Front aa American paper.)
The Fenner murder case promises to be as inte
resting as the Burdell tragedy was a few years ago.
The manner in which the murderers performed
their bloody work, the amount of property involved,
the fact of a pretty and designing woman being in
the case, and the suicide of one of the suspected
parties, all go to make up a most tilt illing narrative
of metropolitan crime. To-day we have to record
another chapter in this extraordinary affair, which
is nothing more nor less than the attempted suicide
of Mrs. Marks, by severing an artery in her left
arm. Fortunately the movements of the prisoner
were detected in time, or the resalt would have
been most damaging to the ends of justice. With-
out going into the details attcnding Mrs. Marks'
attempt at self-destruction, we now propose to give
a full and complete narrative of the whole affair,
from the time of the arrival of the murdered man in

this city up to the present time.
We find that Sigismund Fellner, a citizen of
Mayence, Gram! Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt, arrived
in this port in the steamship Bavaria about the
10th of October, and registered his name at the
Prescott-house, in Broadway. On the voyage out
he became acquainted with a very pretty Jewess
named Albertina Phlaum, whose pleasing manners
and personal charms soon rendered him an easy
captive. It is true Feltner was a married man, and
had left an interesting wife behind him in Ger-
many, but in a fatal moment he broke his marital
vows, and allowed himself to be carried away by
the fascination of Miss Phlaum.

During his stay at the Prescott-house ho was on
ntimate terms with the fair charmer, and visited

her daily at the house of her sister, Mrs. Marks, No.
45, East Broadway. Feliner was well off, with
plenty of ready money in his possession, so he was
welcome at Mrs. Marks's. During his visits he
was indiscreet enough to mention the fact of his
having some 33,000 dole. worth of diamonds in his
possession, as well as 9,000 dols. or 10,000 dols. in
cash. He stated that he always carried the dia-
monds and money about his person for fear of being
robbed, and on one occasion he exhibited the whole
of his treasure to the gaze of the sisters, Feliner
was exceedingly attentive to Miss Phlaum during
these visits, and made her many valuable presents
in the shape of money and jewellery. Things went
on swimmingly, and it was thought there would
certainly be a marriage, when Feliner took a sud-
den dislike to the young woman and left off visit-
ing her. When Mrs. Marks heard of the estrange-
ment she started for the Prescott-house, and

threatened to kill Feltner if he did not make an

honest woman of Albertina.

When confronting

.•
him she had a dagger in her hand, and so violent
was she in her gestures that poor Feliner was
scared to death almost. Finding that he was cor-
nered, he promised to make all the reparation in his
power, at the same time secretly determining to
leave the city rather than experience a second in-

terview with Mrs. Marks.
Through the advice of a young man named
Ratzki, whose acquaintance he had made during
his stay at the Prescott-house, Fellner, started
for Brooklyn on the 13th ult., and took lodgings
at No. 4, Carroll-street, near Hamilton-avenue.
There he remained for two days, when he disap-
peared, leaving behind him his. clothing and bag-
gage. Much uneasiness was expressed by Fellner's
friends at this sudden disappearance, and an anxi-
ous look-out was kept for newspaper paragraphs
concerning drowned men. Nothing was heard of
the missing man, however, until the 23d ult., when
his body was discovered floating in the water near
Port Monmouth, N.J. From the appearance of the
corpse it was evident that decease had been foully
dealt with. In the region of the heart there were
no less than 19 stabs, seven of which penetrated the
heart itself. Deceased's gold watch and chain, his
diamonds, and all his money, with the exception of
110 dols., were found to be missing, and the natural
inference was that the murder was committed from
avaricious motives. It was not until several days

had elapsed that the body was identified and the
facts in relation to Fellner's cruel assassination be-
Came generally known.
It was Mr. Loewenthal, of this city, who first
identified the body of the murdered man. Hewes an
intimate friend of Feltner, and, seeing a paragraph
in one of the morning newspapers in relation to
the finding of an unknown man at Port Mon-
mouth, he repaired to the spot, and, stating that
a friend of his had been missing for several days,
requested
..to. see the body. The authorities,
who had removed the remains to Middletown,
and preserve& them on ice, readily granted his re-
quest. Mr. toewenthal, on examining the body,
at once pronounced it to be that of Sigis-
mund Feltner. The affair created quite an excite.
ment through Monmouth county, and every effort
was made to find some clue to the murderer, but in
vain. No ono in that part of the country had seen
deceased before, and the coroner was compelled to
give the case up in despair. Not so with Mr.
Loewenthal, however. On his arrival back in New
York, he procured the services of detectives Tieman
and Farley, and expressed a determination to spare
neither pains nor expense until the guilty parties
were brought to justice.
Of Fellner's intimacy with Miss Phlaum, Mrs.
Marks, and young Ratzki, Mr. Loewenthal knew
nothing. The deceased had never mentioned their
names in his presence, or in any way alluded to
them. The detectives made the discovery, however,
before they had the case 24 hours. A pocket hand.
kerchief marked "Albertina Phlaum," found on the
person of the deceased, afforded the officers the valu-
able information. Thinking that this might lead
to something important, they preserved the hand-
kerchief, and upon their return to New York they
instituted a vigorous search for Miss Phlaum. With
no little sagacity they succeeded at last in finding
the object of their search at the residence of her
sister, in East Broadway. Mrs. Marks was present
when the detectives entered the house, and acted
so suspiciously that it was deemed prudent to take
her into custody. Miss Phlaum was also arrested,
and conveyed with her sister to the detectives' office,
corner of Broome and Elm streets.
A personal examination of the prisoners resulted
in the discovery of a gold watch and chain upon the
person of Miss Phlaum, and a thousand francs note
upon the person of Mrs. Marks, which was evi-
dently a portion of the property stolen from de-
ceased. The prisoners denied that they had come
into possession of the property dishonestly, how-
ever, and stated that deceased had made them pre-
sents of it. Upon inquiry the officers learned that
the day after Fellner's disappearance Mrs. Marks,
accompanied by young Ratzki, called upon the land-
lady in Brooklyn, and stated that she had been
sent to get some papers which were in deceased's
trunk. The lady, believing her story, allowed her
to have access to Fellner's baggage, which was
thoroughly overhauled. In a few days afterwards
Mrs. Marks and Ratzki called a second time, and
saying that her sister was about to marry Fellner,
requested that the matter of searching the trunks
should be kept a profound secret. The landlady
promised to do as requested, and as a reward for
her secrecy she received 2,000 f. The police were
now convinced who the guilty parties were, and
strained every nerve to secure Ratzki; but the
latter got wind of the proceedings, and has
managed to secrete himself ever since. They are
quite sanguine of his ultimate capture, however,
and calculate on arresting him before many days.
The suicide of Albertina Phlaum, which occurred
in the Fourteenth-precinct station house on Satur-
day morning, formed the second chapter in the
mysterious tragedy. Albertina was evidently afraid
to face the investigation into the circumstances at-
tending Fellner's murder, and determined to com-
mit self-destruction rather than submit to the slow
ordeal of a bid.. Daring her incarceration she ap-
peared cheerful, and no one had the slightest idea
that the gay and laughing Albertina contemplated
hanging herself. Mrs. Marks was not apprised of
the tragic end of her sister until she was conducted
to Bellevue Hospital, and shown into the dead-house.
When requested to look at the corpse she readily
complied, and gazed upon the palid features of her
sister without the slightest emotion. She was then
asked if sho could recognise the corpse, when she
coldly replied that she could, and said it was that
of her sister... Subsequently, when the officers asked
her if Aibertina was concerned in the murder of
Mr. Fellner, she replied in the negative, and ex-
claimed " Oh, no ! she was innocent. Mrs. Marks
was then conducted to the Eighth-precinct station-
kouse, and placed in charge of a watchman, for fear
that she too might commit suicide. It was very
fortunate indeed that a watch was kept upon the
movements of Mrs. Marks, or she, too, would have
succeeded in destroying herself. Unknown to the
police she managed to secrete a small penknife about
her person, and on Sunday morning about 6 o'clock,
while the back of the female attendant was turned
for a moment, she: managed to sever one of the
arteries of her left arm. She then covered herself
with the bed clothes, so as to avoid detection, and
lay down with the idea of quietly bleeding to
death. Fortunately, however, the attendant die-
covered the attempt in time to save the prisoner's
life, and, a doctor being called in, the wound was
bound up. She was quite feeble all day, but
towards evening she was sufficiently recovered to
converse with her keeper. She expressed great re-
gret at not having succeeded in her effort to commit
suicide, and hoped she would soon be 1 beside
her deceased sister. It is not likely, however, that
she will be permitted to do herself any further harm,
as a strict watch will be kept upon all her move-
ments until the investigation is concluded.
The rnisillg Jew, against whom suspicion is
directed, is about 25 years of age, and is said to
have served as a private in the 28th Regiment of
Brooklyn, under Colonel Bennett. lie is a dark-