The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-03-24
Murder by Who'esale-I'ssee, py..
Vorue@iasa landtt--TmcnsS-' 'i'e fA''-
s.s.sas In Four Years.

Tbcrc nrc few lovclier cities IN thc W".Iu
.han Christiau,a, the capital OF the NOW,
..;a, Kinpflom. The population, a!,nouSa,
ss.s, 90 exceedingly moral and oraer'y, '"
10 sn,,saouance crimes are of very IAt. w
'a 60 much the more prolouno h"'
!, s,.a snnssfrnn which was producca py .'c
Z .ns of numerous murders, colu'
pp,;ttnd under peculiarly atrocious citeuu-
stances. during the past four years.
:" Within that space OF time twen's.oae per.
cons lost their lives, either IN Christ'anla OF
in enyirons, by being knocked down IN Tue
streets with club or some oiher btuht III"
Eminent or by being burned in houses, to
which the unknown assassins set tlre IN the
dead of night. Vainly did the Ioiice OF
Christiania endearor to ferret oat inc asst ,
sins. Their efforts remained frniticss, ai az
would, perhaps, not have led YET 10 lLS az, Us.
corery Of the guilty party tor !" ';sF'icI Nv, "','
eventually that all the murders iiau r gor
committed by one mani put ioi va ''>'
aud fortunate accident. ..-o 49,, c,,,oIc
AN The 17tb of November, 1872, the lc'halc
: seminary. s;t,1ated in suburb Of Chf!st'nn,''
burne5. and a lady teacher and three o. luz
,S,,n;ls nnr;shed. II was the WORN Oh ill l'l'
cnnd;ary. In the afternoon Of November 10
a MON vas found hidden in the forest OIL IRE
rpst. six miles from Christiana. lie gave
h;s name rs Albrog GcrScn, and stated mat
no had ,been attacked, robbed, and hrutaliy
beaten by highwaymen, who bad lclt nih ~
sensible ocndarmc who heard OF the Dis
eoyery Of the man in the woods, hasscheu 10
the place where he was lying, and iound tiial
his clothes were half burnt, that MS tanoS
and face were b!stcyed a i! Dy lire, and jhat
Sne of his legs was broken.
The officer asked the man TO repeat his
story to hin, and then, although hot su'-
nfciine vet that be had before Tim me
wretch who had caascd the burning OF the
seminary. remarked carcleSSly, My frlead,
yo,, looi; ms if YOU bad been at the fire yes
fcrdey" Gersen, upon hearing these words.
srrye \ violent start, and this OF course
aroused the suspicious Of the gcndarihc.
Without waiting for any explanation from
the man be said to him, "Os, come, conc;
don't deny it; we know you set fire TO the
seminary yesterday" Gcf>cn turned very
pale, but did not utter word.
A wagon was sent for, and The gendarlhc
took him to the Jail ut Christ!ana, where
GerSen was recognized by some persons WHO
had seen him during the preceding Gay III
the neighborhood of the seminary. lie was
very weak, ana after some rrcFa'icadon,
broke completely down. and co"trSscu tl!it
he did sci tire to tie seminary building. Lie
made in regard to it the following startling
statement:
"My name is Alhro- Gcr>cn. My father
was the late Swedish General h!GderS@S.
was educated Tor the array, but was e&-
neIled from the military academy fer COM
Knitting arson. escaped punishment, how
eyer, and obtained, under all assumed na'nt,
emplovmcnt us an engineer in the Dame
mora mines. During that time repeatedly
felt an uncomfortable disposition To commit
orscn. bit always ovcrcaule il. An old
clssmutc OF mine recognized me one Gay,
aud wits mt once discharged from my posi-.
ton. | was resolved to take q terrible re-
vcngc on him.
Hearing tia! he lived at Christiania, fol-
lowed him to This city, but never yet had an
opDcrtunity to meet him so as to be able to
xiii him. Four years long dreamed OF my
revenge night aud day. / set tire to bulid-
iucs where believed that he or any OF his
relations were. have killed several people
OH the streets and Oh the ncighDorng high
ways, believing that they were JI>lus DTi-
pos. NV enemy. Finally, OF the day before
Yesterday, found that Driso's elaushtcr was
n pupil ut the seminary. resolved to burn
it 10 the ground.
/ concealed myself in the building, and
heaped up a pile Of rubbish, which | satu-
rated with coal oil and then set Oh fire.
was, however. not quick enough III trying
to make my escape, and my clothes got
isnitcd. 1 had the utmost difficulty in DIS.
tinsuishing the flames, and then jumped
from a second-story window, breaking my
leg. dragged myself toward the forest,
where was found to-day. am guilty, but
could not help it,"
49, Gcrscn was tried for his crime in the AsSize
Court, and sentenced to De behcaded on Tie
Sd OF February. When he was led out u
the place of execution the culprlt presented
o most rcpulsiyc appearance, his face being
still covered with large SEARS. He "died
game" however, and lie did not llnch even
when the hcadsman, trying to iastcn his
neck to the fatal block, found it too short.
The wretched culprt had to rise to his feet
again, and then knelt down on the left side
Of the block. One OF the eXecutioner's as
siytants pressed his neck sideways upon the
block, and thus he WAS decapitated with the
axe,