The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-03-02
A MURDERER CONFINED IN THE
KNOX COUNTY JAIL

A brief account of the Holmes county
wife murder was published in last weeks
Banner. On Friday last Sheriff Nelson,
of Holmes county, came to Mt. Vernon
with the perpetrator of the deed, and
lodged him in our Jail until the April
term of the Court of Common Pleas for
that county sits, the Jail in Millersburg
not being deemed safe enough for the
confinement of prisoner charged with
the crime of murder. On Monday Of
this week, in company with Sheriff
Armstrong and an interpreter, we visited
the Jail for the purpose of eiciting the
facts of the horrible deed for the bene-
fit of the readers of the Banner.
The prisoner is German, unable to
peak any comprehensive English,
named Henry Mosenbach; is 43 years of
age; about five feet eight inches in height;
wears chin whiskers of a sandy hue;
small grey eyes set far back beneath pro-
truding eyebrows, and low, receding
forehead. His countenance, although not
very prepossessing, is not as repulsiye
as one would expect to find in a man
who could perpetrate so brutal q murder.
We found Mosenbach in a very good hui
NOR, considering his situation, and light
ing his pipe, he expressed willingness
to answer all questions put him relative
to the matter.
He came to this country some eight
years since and settled in Baltimore. He
soon after married, and in few years
his wife died He claims to have met his
late wife while she was tramp on the
road with two children. Her lineage was
Irish, but she had knowledge of Ger
man. He made proposal of marriage
to her if she would dispose of her chill
dren, and she left them with parties in
Pennsylvania. He kept his agreement,
and in 1874 brought her to Ohio, and set
tied in Berlin township, Holmes county,
where he worked small farm of %
acres on shares. He was not addicted to
drinking, and says he got along very well
with his wife until within few months
past, when he observed an undue init
macy between her and neighbor. Some
two weeks before the murder she left his
house for several days, and took up her
abode beneath the roof Of the man whom
he suspected was the cause of her inf
deity. He went to the house and en-
deavored to persuade her to return, but
without success. She came back Of her
own accord, however, few days AFTER
sick, and was compelled to 60 to bed,
with her young babe, four months old,
by her side. Mosenbach was not at home
at the time, and when he came in, at
the sight of her, a fiendish spirit seemed
to take possession of his reason, and de-
spite her cries for mercy, the brute seiz-
ed rung of ladder and beat her over
the head and body, and, with fingers
clutching her throat, strangled her until
life was extinct. He then left the house
and started for Berlin, as he says, to give
himself up to the authorities, but was
overtaken on the road by pursuers. He
says he did not intend to kill her; that
his conscience does not trouble him
about the act, and that he is prepared
for any punishment the law may inhict
upon him, even if it be the penalty of
hanging, which, in all probability, will
be the verdict when his case goes to the
jury. In religious faith he processes to
be Lutheran.-M. Vernon Banner.