The Placer herald., 1856-05-31
Cnrinsities of Crime.

Ahc iVilOWliiH SlltIuidI CdsS VI d llduu WIN
,nitted in Berlin, on two insurances in Lon
don and Copenhagen, disc after con-
cealment of four years, we find related in
foreign paper, and although two years has
since elspsed, it retains its interest among the
remarkable cases of crime. 1t is rarely that
she shrewd agents of those very useful nsti-
buttons, the Life Insurance Companies, are
imposed upon, but in this case the plot was
too deep for them
An extraordinary case of fraud has Just
been discovered here, the details of which are
almost incredible; but as the police have act
ed on certain information, and the parties
have been arrested. there is no doubt of their
truth On the evening of 2Sth of Septem
Der, the priest of the Catholic congregation
and the sexton of the burial ground belong
ing to the Catholic church, were surprised by
an intimation from the criminal police, that
one of the graves was to he opened and the
coffin officially examined suspicious having
arisen as to its contents. At the appointed
hour on the 2Sth, Judge of the city court,
NJ. Rchlottke, NJ. Meier the staatsanwalt, or
public prosecutor, NJ Steber, the pol-zei-rath
and body ofconstables, arrived at the ground
outside. the Oranferher gate. The clerger
man and sexton were also in attendance.
After searching the grave was found in
which, on the l4th of November, 1913, a
certain Franz Thomatscheck, a master tailor
was buried. The coffin was found in good
preservation. According to the information
the police had received; it was stated it con-
tanned no body, and when opened, the suppo-
sition WAS fully confirmed. Instead of a
corpse an old board, wisp of halfrotte straw
and some stones were all that were visible.
Yet the sexton remembered that the coffin
had been inferred with all religious ceremo-
nes, amid circle of weeping friends and re-
lations of the supposed detunct. The regis
try of the burial had been regularly made,
and no one connected with the church had
any doubt that real interment had taken
place.
Before the police searched the ground, they
had arrested several persons in the city,
among them the medical man who had at
tended the supposed deceased in his last i'll
ness and had written the certificate of his
death, on the faith of which the funeral rites
had been performed
The ground of the deception was an exten-
in London, aud the other in Copenhagen
two distant establishments having been cho
sen to render the cheat more practicable. The
parties to it were Anton Tomatscheck, also a
tailor, who, in lS46, resided in Il house on |
the Linden, and his brother Franz who in /
that year had returned from Copenhagen, and |
lived with him, They were both in needy |
circumstances, and to procure money they |
formed the plan which was so successfully /
carried out, and so long concealed. Anton |
insured the life of Franz in a London Office |
for 5000 thalers, and the other at Copenha- !
gen for 1000 more.
Shortly afterwards, Franz was reported to be |
dangerously i'll, was attended by surgeon,
and duly died. The surgeon, for a bribe OF
100 thalers $50 drew up and signed the GER
tticate of the DEATH on which the premiums
were paid to the surviving brother. The
coffin prepared as described was committed
to the earth with all the ceremonies; and, |
impeled by strange curiosity, Frantz who |
shortly before his death had left the house |
of mourning in disguise, watched his own bur-
ial at distance, and heard the funeral service
read over himself
Immediately afterwards he fled from Ber-
tiA dio iASu MS lcSIIcuCc III u ouldIl lONII
in Bohemia where, by the aid of the telegraph
and the Austrian government, he has been
arrseted before he could receive information |
Of the discovery Of the fraud. Anton was
paid the insurances, which he divided with |
his brother. When this part Of the transac-
ton was arranged, the disconsolgte widow
Of the (in double sense) departed man, also
left Berlin, and joined him in his Bohemian
retreat
After nearly four years, the crime is discov
cred, and all the parties to it are in the hands
of justice. The dead alive" will have to
stand at the bar, together with the doctor
who killed him, and the process, it is antici
pated, will be in the highest degree interest
ing
A VOICE FROM THE GREAT WEsT.-1he
following bugle noteis from the Nation. Flag
an ably edited paper in Bloomington Iowa.
On every hand the people are aroused to
the Importance of the coming struggle and
there will be such turn out at the polls in
November, as has never been witnessed in
the State. Black Republicanism will be
so completely smashed up that its owners
and keepers will never be able to recognise
it again; and Hindooism will be no-where.
Democrats, mark the prediction Up and at
them!