The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-05

t0rney General, Won BONN, for the prosecution,
youth OF the prisoner prevented the case going be-
lore the Assizes. The accusation Is contained IN
the facts ! have narrated, and conclnGes Win the
and then stranged and buried her. several
facts connected with the lie and CHARACTER OF
the accused, adduced during the triai' went
Several witnesses testi1ed TO his unruiy brutal
and rude disposition. How he was exceedingly
quarrelsome; how he had frequently been caugnt
In suspicious attitudes in the cowhouse; how he
had offered coins to girls for rendezvous; now, IN
snort he was one OF those rude nncai,urea p paS
lected and whose mental capacity was NOT much
above that or the horses and cows which he at
tended and with which he slept His answer TO
questions put to him was the stereotyped 'g "a
tceet tct mich J" Il know nothing about III he
had, however, considerable impuuence anu q cet
to fix the crime directly upon MN. Aiter MS
arrest the police had attempted to make MIN
drink, hoping thus TO get him 10 make Q COMES
sion but he refused to accept their offers. telling
them he was not such fool as to lose ms senses
and then blao. He maintained throughout the triai
the child was giving his evidence, and came to the
recital OF the finding Of the CORPSE, and mentioned
the crumpled hat and broken comb, as proving the
TACT OF q struggle he turned to the accused say
ing :-"You Know that very well, YOUTH the
prisoner laughed IN jeering manner ana slmp ni
dence adduced there was nothing brought forward
which could actually fix the murder directly upon
with nat denial The deal roof thatcher, Dure's,
evidence was found TO be yalueIess he had neither
seen nor heard anything, although the muraer
took place in the barn beneath him. The cattle
woman. Drews, told the story OF nndlng the spade
and her questioning Schutt about IT, but she couid
EVIDENCE ABOUT THE GYrsIEs.
The trial did not lack in curious incidents. one
OF the witnesses for the defence was Tue aiore-
mentioned opera singer. Martha Schwencke, Oh
the Berlin Royal Opera but instead OF appearing
herself the general lntendant OF the opera house
sent telegram TO the PRESIDENT o. tne Coat' 10 W
fha affaot NOT sxtfn
appointed time, since she could not be spared
nom the royal service in the performance OF the
Operaln The telegram caused no little sensation
to the learned dispensers OF the law, and the At
torney General Won BONN, Immediately teie-
grabbed the songstress that u she di1 not come at
once she would be heavily fined. Next day sue
arrived at Court but only to make confusion sun
worse In the heads OF justices and law
yers. She deposed that she saw, In the commence
ment of July, 1872 little bonde-haired girl in
q gypsy's wagon in the neighDorhood OF Sch0nan
She swore that the face OF the little chiid re-
sembed that OF the lost Anna BOeckler and That
her suspicious were aroused to the fact OF the
child not belonging to the band by the conduct OF
little gypsy o0y ID n .ne nv % aors
journeyman, named Meyer, testified. too, that ne
had seen the same little girl with gypsy band,
and was positive she was the missing Anna boeck-
ler A still more remarkable witness was an
IL year Old girl, named Minna Rode, VINO, IN the
year 1872, had occupied the position Of maiden Of
jOy - as she styled herself to band OF strolllng
players with whom she journeyed IN Pomeranta
ana Mecklenburg. She said that about the end OF
OF Loitz, and near BY the wagon halted, and the
leader OF the band, Henckel and his paramour
there disappeared for time, but shortly alter
wards returned with q fOur-years-0ld, prett1ly
dressed child, who called herself Anna BOeckler.
few weeks later and Henckle and the woman
when IN the same neignDornood-t Inc me- chdla
never seen 1t again. The testimony OF this girl
was, however, found to be false. The company In
narrative was oy no means straightforward. and
the Court finally excluded her evidence, on the
ground that she was . liar The counsel for the
defence then called for evidence to prove the
whereabouts OF Q person named Drews 1.-THE hus-
band Of the cattle woman employed about the
farm on the afternoon when the child was
missed. Suspicion had first Of all rested on this
man; but he proved his ahot to the satisfaction OF
THE ATTORNEY GENERALS CASE.
The witnesses for the defence, having really
proved as little as those for the accusation, the
General won Degan cs the
girls death, the arrest and punishment Of the
gypsies and the finding OF the corpse. The PROOF
murdered in the barn; that she had been muir
dered on the day Of her disappearance "a fact
apparently proved 6{ the Of q sno e.
boots found on the corpse and that these boots
had not been worn more than day or two) that
mapped the girl, and then brought her back and
buried her afterwards was ridiculous assump-
ton Thee testimony OF Mn 1as Rode ne Gnarac.
OF Meyer and the Berlin songstress as resting on
mis- taken identity. Though there were no direct
proofs OF the murder having been committed, yet
it could not but be assumed that the girl had been
abused IN evil intent, proved by the blood on the
underclothes 1t was also q fact that schutt had
been seen to decoy the grl in the direction of the
barn, and this the last time that the girl had
been seen alive. All the other persons engaged in
ence elsewhere But from four O'Clock till hali-past
five Schultz whose business 1t was to be about, was
not seen; he could not account for this time.
Finally the Attorney General called attention to
the grave moments brought out in the testimony
against the accused. These were especially the
contradictions between Schutt's statement and
that Of all the playmates OF the girl. While
the prisoner asserted that the little victim
had first asked him to show her birds
in question agree that Schutt first OF all proposed
to the girl to go with him. Then the Attorney
General called attention to the strange conduct Of
the accused after the disappearance; his mystic
ri0us hints 70 people that "she was doubtless well
taken care or" and especially to his embarrass-
nrst heard the news that the corpse Of the child
had been discovered. Taking all these things into
consideration. the Attorney General had not the
In view OF the youth or the accused mot being 16,
and in German penal law still minor, he de-
handed the highest penalty that could be pro
nOunced upon hun by this cOurtc16 years. tmprls-
ment
THE CASE FOR THE DEFENCE.
The advocate Tor the defence (Sch0emann) then
sought to clear his client by asserting the incom
potency Of the Court to try the case. which. he
said, should be tried BY jury. He claimed that
o80tAASS
laid stress on the evidence OF the missing child
having been seen In the company OF gypsies-evi-
dence ignored by the Court He said that no PROOF
was there Of the body found being that OF the miss
ing child. Clothes could be put on any corpse.
He asserted that there was not the slightest toun
dalton for the assumption OF the child having been
violated and then strangled, and no proof was
there to the cause OF the blood found on the
nndercothes. He combated the assertion that
the body was placed in the hole on the oath OF
June. He thought that 1t had been placed
there some weeks subsequently. II it had
been there at the time the dogs would
certainly have found 1t, or the .workmen would
have perceived the smell when they were at work
there. For the prosecution 1t was argued that the
m usty odOr peculiar to barns and the covering OF
earth and straw over the corpse would prevent any
smell being perceived.l 1t is a fact, the defence
continued, that Anna Boeckler was seen with gyp-
sizes alter her sudden disappearance. suspicion
had rested, first OF all, he said, on the cattle
feeder Drews, on account OF his embarrassment
when the body was found; but against this is
Urews' abb and the fact that the iather OF the
child gave testimony of this mans good character,
and explained the embarrassment as only the
natural result OF the surprises and the story about
finding the spade first testified by the woman
Drews his wife, laboress on the farm,
was, ne SAID, simply an invention ,, On
that there was no sufficient proof Of the
ehiid ha vino heau ahuaad. that tho hood found