The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1878-03-07
THE MASSACRE or THE MILL.
story Of "a Recent Terrible TTaEsdy Ia SsN-
onJ faBstiy -iaaahtered - A tAttir
GsiFi's CsaTaKe brsaaht 80 Jsstico.

/ Sentence ut death has Just Dceh in1
posed un two men 10y the Dresden Ar
hiEcs, foI one ci the most Sensational
and atrOciuus murders Of the century
/ On the evening Of August 2bth, Gustav
T Tungef, the miller oi VogalSberg, was
smoking his after supper pipe IN front ol
his mil. Ii Mas quite dark, but the mil
Was still busy, for a heavy stock of corn
bad to be ground mp, and the clattcr oi
the machinery echoed far out Cn the
! breaihless summer night. Through this
cOmmotion the miller fancied he could
distinguish some one calling him from be
hind his garden hedge, aud approaching
the barrier he found he was not deceived.
Two men we're standing on the other
side OF the hedge, bnt before he could
question them the mnzEle Of rifle was
set against his forehead, anal bullet
went crashing through his bra l.. As he
fell, stone dead, his limp figure was
caught, dragged over the hedge, and
thrown into drain which intersected
the potato field from which the assas-
sins had fred the fatal shot. His body
had been scarcely thus disposed Of, when
the figure Of tue murdered mans work
man, Ernest Reinhar,it. appeared in the
door Of the mill One of the murdererS
called him.
What 10 ynu Wantg Who In il T.
demanded the Workman.
"Mr. Tunger, come here; / have
found something" was the reply.
Utterly unconscious. Reinhardt eAllesl
: 90 his masters son, a lad OF sixteen, 20
have an eye 10 the mill. and obeyed the
fatal summons. As he reached the
hedge two shots we're fired, and he, too,
fell a corpse. The aSsassins then went
systematically to WORK 10 rob the bodies,
removing even the shoes from their feet,
and rifiiug their pockets Of everything
they contained. Prom Reinhardt's ears
even "A couple OF almost valneless ear
rings we're violently torn. This task
completed, they dug shallow grave
under the ledge with a spade which had
been left ihere by workman that day,
and tossed their victims a.. After filing
the grave and neatly leYelhng the earth
over IL, they advanced 90 the mill. just
as they set foot on the lower step, young
Tunger came 20 the door In the dark
ness he mistook the figures for those Of
his father aud Reinhar,lt, and asked;
"Whht have Won been doingg"
" This. responded one Of the mis-
creants. firing IN his face.
The had staggered back with shattered
Jaw, and a moment later, was beaten
down and literally pounded 90 death
upon the threshold. His mother and
little sister. the latter child Of nine,
were in one 81 the bedrooms. The
sound Of the shots attracted the Atten.
ton OF the little one, who said 10 her
mother
WHAT noise is that? ?"
"I DO not know, child, responded
Madame Tungrr. Go aud see.
The child sprang TO obey, and ran into
one OF the scoundrels in tie dark pas
sage outside the bedroom door.
II is Won. then. papa !" she cried.
Kill the accursed brat ." responded
a deep voice. "vhile / attend 30 the
old woman.
The girl was seized and thrust into a
room whose door was locked on her,
and. cruuchng there IN the darkness,
she heard the sounds Of a terrible con-
test in the ur1t apartment II was the
struggle for life Of her mother. Fierce
aud irighiiul WAS the struggle. After
fring thre,. shots into her. the assassins
found the woman still clinging 10 life
with the tcDaciiy OF despair, and one II
them struck her over the head. The
force of the stroke beat the unfortunate
woman down on her knees. Then the
girl heapl her give ono great shrek. and
the silence was only hroken further 10y
the muttered curses oi tire murierers.
and heavy humping sound Ii was
the humping Of their rifle stocks, with
which the butchers were beating ont
Madame TuDger's brains Iu spite
Of her fright, the child preserved her
presence Of mind, and appreciated the
necessity Of identifying the murierers.
In the partition OF plank which sepa-
rated the room in which she was
prisoner. from the one in which her
mother had met her end, was n crack.
II was 50 high mp, however. that il was
only by standing on q chair, placed on
the bed, that she could reach IL.
Through IL she saw the men plundering
the room. Three thousand ihalers
which her father kept in bureau were
moved from the bed and every article
Of value about thrown into H. The
miIler's new Sunday suit. heavy woolen
petticoat his wife had on. even n pair Of
chiliren's shoes were thrown into the
heap, and then made into a large bundle.
One man at last took up this bundle and
stumbled off under IL, while the other,
after breaking some furniture and piling
il into n pyramid in the centre Of the
room threw the kerosene lamp into il,
and without waiting TO see il IL would
burn, went out The lamp only burst,
showering a rain of burning oil over the
be,lstead, which took fire, but was too
hard 20 continue burning long. The
house filed with smoke. nevertheless,
and the child beating helplessly at the
door of her prison. would have undouht-
edly sufFocated but for her own ready
wit and bravery. Finding il impossible
10 open the door, she managed 10 smash
the lock away with nm iron bar, which
was used TO secure 4 on the inside, and
wrapping herself in a blanket she
fought her way through the smoke into
the open air.
Of her mother and brother 10 n woodshed
alongside Of the mill door, and after
throwing them in had fired the structure.
The flames of this conflRgration swept
across the doorway in q sheet OF fire, but
the intrepid child rushed through IL with
no further injury than a few barns, and
made her way up the little valley in
which the mill lay, 10 the village shout
ing for help. The aroused neighhors
responded 10 the call, and a search was
made, but without definite result. No
traces Of the miller and his workmen
conld be discovered, and the murderers
had vanished, The only description the
child could give OF them was that they
we're large, powerful men, and that one
OF them had only a finger and thumb on
his left hand. The absence Of Reinhnrdt,
the workman. directed suspicion 10 him.
II was believed that he had murdered
his master, and then, with some associ-
ate, made the descent upon the hoiise
for the purpose OF obtaining the money
he knew to be there. In November last,
however, this theory was disproved by
the discovery OF the bodies in the potato
field, far gone in decomposition. but still
susceptible 10 identification. The little
girl had been sent to her aunt at Stutt-
gart, and was now summoned 10 assist nc
the examination. In coming from the
railroad 10 the village, her aunt hired a
vehicle from the inn nj Krauthein sta
ton. This wagon was driven by Johann
Weber, hostier of the inn. In the
rntlrga of tho awnmIpatton this man az