The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-05-18

into tne wagon alonkslde OF the chest, huuoH
then took his seat aud drove away. Not far
from his house he came up with some children
going to school; he iavlted them to ride, and
they got in, almost filling the wagon. They
laughed and chatted, and Rulloff whistled and
sung, and IL was q rare scene of animation. 30
they went on, the fun often uproarious.
But Rulof did not go to Motifs Corners. He
drove direct to Ithaca, and thence to the inlet of
Cayuga Lake. There the wagon stood, with
the chest in it, during the day. Rulloff was
absent He was not noticed. When evening
came on the wagon moved down the inlet
towards the lake, but from that point trace of 1t
was lost.
Rulloff was not observed by any person until
about ten o'clock of the next day, when he re-
turned with the wagon and the same chest. 1t
was an emigrant box. On Rulloff stopping at
his door q son of Mr.. Robertson approached to
take the horse, and Rulloff took hold of the
chest to lift it out. The boy said, "Let
me assist you" He at once noticed, on
taking hold of the chest, that it was
empty. Rulloff went into the house, and
the' boy drove away with the horse. The
shutters remained closed. After this the wife
and child were never seen again, nor we're their
bodies or any portions of them ever found. With
this want technically known as the corpus de-
icti a verdict of "guilty of murder could
not be legally obtained, matter how strong
the circumstantial evidence might be- The only
thing for which he could legally be tried under
this circumstance was for the abduction of the
child, and for this, as will be Been, he served a
sentence Of ten years.
WHAT WAS IN THE CHEST.
Though it was impossible to prove what had
been the disposition of the bodies of the muir
dered woman and child, the family of the
Schutts ascertained positively, for themselves
that Mrs. Rulloff was not alive. The chest
which went to the 'inlet" contained the
body of Mrs. Ruloff; it was wrapped
with untempered wire, which was passed through
the ring of heavy iron mortar, weighing
twenty-five pounds, which Rullof possessed.
The wrapping was such that the bones were
covered by the wire in such manner that none of
the large ones would be likely to become
loosened in years, If ever. The consummate tact
of the murderer was thus proved. Had his
management otherwise since then been as
effective he would never have reached the
gallows The child was, in like manner, at
tached to flat-irons. Together they were sunk
in Cayuga Lake, whence subsequent dredging
was wholly unavailing to bring them up.
The associate counsel for the defense of Rul-
loft at his first trial for abduction has since given
additional information relating to the killing of
| Mrs. Rulloff. This gentleman afterwards re-
! fused to engage in the defense of Rulloff at the
second murder trial. owing to the facts which
had come to his knowledge. According to these
facts it appears that the killing of Mrs. Rullof
was not by strangulation, as was reported, but
| by Rulloff knocking her senseless. He then raised
board in the floor, opened vein or veins and
| bled her to death. In opposition to this state
ment we may say that the cellar of the house
farf
close measurement would be necessary to pre-
vent letting the blood into the cellar. But Ru-
loft may be supposed equal to the work. This
account, which is said to come from private
confession made by Rulloff to his counsel goes
| on to say that the cries of the child caused Rul-
loft to "repent," and that she shed tears" This,
of course, is Rulloff's story, one of them, and
should be so accepted. 1t is added that he saw
no way of concealing the murder, except
by killing the babe and that he did this by
strangulation and bleeding also. The account
ends by the statement that he rowed out upon
Cayuga Lake and sunk the bodies, as already
described.
Those who choose to do so may believe that
Ruloff was surprised in his bloody work by the
cries of his child.
1t was well known that Rulloff was in the
habit of inquiring about the depth of Cayug a
Lake and of sailing on it in small boat
THE DEPARTURE OF RULLoFF.
In the afternoon of the day on which he re-
turned, Rulloff came out of his house with bum
die under his arm, and passed Mr.. Robertson's
garden, where Mr.. Robertson was at work. Ru-
loff spoke to him in a careless way-"By-bye,
Mr.. Robertson, bY-bye; don't be alarmed If we
don't come back in two or three weeks. l and
my wife talk of going on visit between the
lakes" Chat is, Cayuga and Seneca Lakes). He
added jocularly, "Please don't let any man carry
away our house while we are gone" He then
walked away.
Rulloff went directly to Ithaca procured a
horse and wagon and drove back to his own
house late in the night of the same day, and
took the chest he had left away from his own
house, without the knowledge, at that time, OF
any person. He drove to the stage office in
Ithaca, where he left the chest. The stage
started for Geneva at four o'clock in the morn
ing, and he, with his chest was on board. On
that passage he registered his name as John
Doe. He was seen by relative of the Schutt
family in the stage at point not far from Jack
sonVille, place not far from Geneva. The
chest was seen, and there was no passenger ex-
cept Rullof. He was finally traced, with hic
chest, to Ovid, where he crossed Seneca Lake
and then to Crooked Lake; up that lake tC
Hammondsport, and then by stage to the Gsnesee
Valley Canal. Here the trace was lost wholly
at that time. We should say, however, that the
chest was taken to Chicago, as is now well es-
, tablished.
FAMILY COURTESY.
few days passed, when one of the Schutt