Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1871-05-26

young man was dtstrusted by the relatives
Of the girl, and every effort was made to
break off the engagement but, US the
| young lady was determined, all opposition
was finally withdrawn and the marriage
ceremony performed. Before month had
passed, the young man was revealed to his
new klnsmen as thief and coward.
lie made slave of his wife, and he insult
ed and reviled her friends. When the
| place had grown too hot for him, he remov-
ed to Lansing, within few miles of Ith-
AGA, and practiced medicine. After suspi-
cion had been disarmed, he poisoned the
babe of his wife's kinsman, Mr.. w. II.
Schutt of Ithaca Then he tried the moth
err, and she, too, died in convusions-un-
mis- takably the results of poison His
learning was so great, and his character at
that time so unsupported, that no faint of
suspicion rested upon him. On the 22d of
June, 1916, Ruloff attempted to poison his
own child, and when he was prevented by
the mother, he insisted upon her taking
the poison herself. She consented, but
sud denly changing his mind, he snatched
the stuff from her hands and threw 1t into
the fire. Not long after both wife and child
disappeared, and no trace of them has ever
been discovered. A trial for abduction re-
suited In a sentence of ten years to Auburn
State prison. Here the man of blood be-
came a patient, nmiable book worm, aud
pursued with tireless zeal all the volumes
of science and art that the kindness of his
jailer would allow him, and his own limit
ee means could procure, He was employ
ed in every department ofprison industry
To every mechanical task, no matter how
trivial, he applied some new principle.
He finally became pattern designer, and
some beautiful specimens are the result of
his genius. In 1856 his term expired, and
he was released upon society. The people
were more bitter than ever against the
learned murderer, and he was confronted
with new charge of murder instead of
abduction. Skilled in the intrcacies of the
law he laughed in the face of the Sheriff,
ana with great good humor, accompanied
MN TO the Ithaca Jail. lie set to work dill
Zig emily to prepare the argument for his
own case, and when the day of trial came
he astounded bar and bench by his TAMIL
iarily with the principles and rulings of
the legal tribunals. 1t did not need the C.
Elaborate arguments of the accomplished
criminal, however, to convince the District
Attorney that the charge of murder, after
the former trial, was untenable, and reluc-
family the criminal was ordered TO be set at
liberty.
But the people perlinaciously referred TO
the charge in another form. He was in
dicted for the murder OF. his child and was
mnn1p1 n iai1 Tn Ia,
nou need guilty and sentenced to be hang
cd. Here he practiced the same arts for
which he had always been distinguished.
lie so worked upon the feelings of the Jail
or that his escape was a matter of no diff
Guilty. The son of the jailor, promising
lad OF 20 years, was put in charge of the
prison to receive instruction from Ruloff
IN Latin and other studies, and in time fell
completely under the influence of his
teacher. The two fled in May, 1857, and
for months RuloT wandered through the
mountainous disticts of Northern Pennsyl-
vania. Here his career differs in no essen
tal feature from that of any vulgar Grim
inal. Petty thefts and deceits carried him
on until 1858, when sick of The continual
tort ure of the charge hanging over him,
and fully conscious that the law could not
take his life, he gave him elf into the
hands of the law, and after AN exhaustive
trial, he was again released after 10 wears
combat with justice. The people of Ithaca
were enraged beyond expression by this |
final triumph of the murderer and in |
March, 1869, a turbulent mass assembled |
before the prison, resolved TO tear the mon |
ster in pieces before permitting him to es-
cape them again. The Sheriff had antic- |
paied something of the kind, and removed |
= the prisoner before the appointed time. |
AT this time suspicion pointed to the first |
murder committed by Rulof' and the bod
les OF his victims were sent to Prot. Dore- |
mus for analysis. The report eXasperated |
still further the public mind, and the Grim
inal wandered about in secrecy and con-
tnual fear.
From the date of his release in 1859. to |
that Of his arrest in Binghampton in 1870 |
for the murder of Frederick A. Mirrick.
he alternated in the role of a professor of |
languages, lawyer, &c, between the me-
tropolis and the western district of Penn |
sylvania, where his brother Ruloff Ruloff- |
son, a respectable citizen of Ridgcway, re-
sides.
or the crime for which he has at last suf-
Tered the full penalty of the law, it is not
ur purpose to speak in detail. on the
night OF the 10th of August, 1870, the store
OF Messrs. Hallock of Binghampton was
ehterea, and quantity of silks stolen
from the shelves and bundled up as for re-
ihoval, by party of men wearing masks.
Two of the party, there being three in all,
busted themselves in securing the goods
while the third stood guard at the bedside