The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-07-29

HISTORY OF PRUssIAN POISONING
CAsE.-The Berlin correspondent of the
London Daily Ne,os gives the following
account of remarkable criminal trial re-
Gently held in Germany:
One of those causes celebres has just been
tried at Posen which would almost justify
the belief that men are occasionally born
into the world as entirely destitute of all
principle or conscience as others are OF
sight or hearing. The facts ore mainly as
follows: The master bookbinder (Wittman)
was accused of having poisoned four wives
and two children in six years. Whitman
had worked as journeyman for book
binder named Pirsch, of Violin, where he
made the acquaintance of Maria Gehm,
pirsch's housekeeper. Whitman was On q
visit at Violin at the end of 1868 and be-
ginning of 1859 in which year Pirsch
died very suddenly, and Maria Gehm, 'ac-
cording to previous arrangement, came
into the possession of all the property.
Soon after this, William commenced busi-
ness in Violin, and in February, 1860, mar
ried Maria Gehm, who, in addition to
Pirsch's property, had also inherited some
money through the sudden death of an aunt.
Two sons, John and Paul, were the result
of this marriage. Mrs. Whitman died very
suddenly in 1862, leaving all her property
to her husband and two children, of whom
the eldest died in the same mysterious
manner three months later. In June, 1868,
Whitman married his second wife, Char
otte Holm, who possessed some fortune.
The latter made her will in the following
December, leaving everything to her hus-
band, and died a week afterwards. In
April, 1864, Whitman married his third
wife, Augusta Kornotzky, who was richer
than her predecessor. Her fate may be de-
scribed in almost the same words. She
died in August, 1865, leaving her property
between her husband and her mother.
Only two months after her death Whitman
married his fourth and richest wife,
the widow Rose, who had one child by her
first marriage. This child sickened i'm
mediately after its mothers wedding, and
died in a day or two, by which the fourth
Mrs. Whitman inherited its property. Witt
man then removed from Violin to Posen.
1t is hardly necessary to add that the fourth
Mrs. Wi:tman's life was not Of very long
duration, as she died in September, 1866,
having made will in favor of her hus-
band month or two before. Under the
pretext that she had died of cholera, Witt
man had made arrangements for burying
her the day after her death. But the
extraordinary mortality in the Whitman
family had already excited attention.
The police here took the matter up, and
their first suspicious were strength
ened when they found that Witt
man had called in no medical ad-
vice. Whitman was arrested just as the
funeral procession was about to start, and
the burial of the body was prohibited. On
searching the house large lump Of arsenic,
sufficient to poison q hundred persons, was
found locked up in chest. All the bodies
of Wittman's former wives, as also those of
his two children, were then exhumed, and
submitted to chemical investigation. The
result was the same in all six cases; q large
quantity of arsenic was detected, and there
could not be shadow of doubt that Witt
man had poisoned his four wives and two
children. He has been found guilty and
sentenced to death. It is not improbable
that he committed eight murders, as the
very sudden death Of Pirsch during Witt
mans visit, and also of his first wife's aunt,
are extremely suspicious condolences under
the above circumstances. rt @