The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-06-19

before bis death been in the habit OF supply
ing Mehrbach with game for his summer
visitors. This he ha no right to do as all
the game OF the forest was strictly preserved;
but keller's tastes were too extravagant to
be gratified by his simple salary as forester,
and he sdded the proceeds of his depreda-
tons OF the very property be was employed
to guard to the sum. OF course the discov-
cry of this would have led to his dismissal
as well as that OF Mehrbach, who by offering
a market for the spoil abetted him. Conse-
quently the ties of selfish interest drew the
poacher-forester and the warden closer to-
gether until sclose intimacy existed between
them.
THE FATAL PASSION OF BERTHA MEHRBAcH
for the handsome Keller dated back from
her first acquaintance with him, and the
licentious lover soon made himself master of
her honor. The result was that the girl be-
came enciente
The amour had been kept so profoundly
secret that when his child's altered figure
revealed the truth to him, the revelation
descended on old Mehrbach like thunder
bolt. Bertha, when taken to task, acknowl-
edged he culpability, and divulged the name
OF her seducer. She had appealed to him
she said, over and over again, to repair her
wrongs by marrying her, but his invariable
reply to her supplications and tears as well
as her threats to inform her father, had been
a jeering No"
This revelation was made on the 18th of
January. On the 18th Keller came to the
castle with a message from the sgent of the
Won SchilliDgs, who was stopping at his
fathers house on his quarterly visit to the
estate. Mehrbach invited the forester to
drink, and then repeated the demand his
daughter had so often and Intellectually made
that Keller should wed her. Although
nd kon sarvo !, e.
was no more compliant with the father than
he had been with the child. In fact, the
only answer old Mehrbach received was
A BURST OF JEERING LAUGHTER.
This was too much for the already strained
patience of the savage old man. He attacked
Keller, while his son, who had been watch
ing at the door, fell upon him Also The
wretch struggled fiercely, and it was not
until they stunned hum with billet of
wood from the fire place that he succumbed
What followed is best told in the old man s
own words.
"At first" he says in his deposition, I'VE
merely intended to kill him, or, rather, that
idea suggested itself to us when we found
him bound at our feet Then the question
arose, How was he to dier
Joseph 1.-THE SOM proposed to lock him in
one of the dungeons, and abandon him to
perish OF famine and frost. But | opposed
ibis, as IL WOulO nave taken 100 long, ana
he might be sought for and rescued Then
we thought OF shooting, of hanging, of
stabbing him, but such deaths were all too
easy. If we could have combined them
in one they might have served. Finally
Joseph said, Since we can think OF nothing
else, why not throw him into the fire and
give him
TASTE OF THE HE'LL HE WILL GO TO?
''While we were talking Bertha came in.
L. IL
hand, and since the day | spoke to her she
had eaten little aud wept much. When she
saw him she became frantic. She OWNED
our intentions and besought US to spare him.
While this was going on the scoundrel re-
covered, and, discovering that he was
bound, began to curse her who was at that
very moment pleading for his worthless life,
with frightful oaths. Joseph Kicked him in
the face and broke his jaw, when he became
silent.
s'This made Bertha i'll. She tainted and
was carried to her bed, where, with fr1ghtful
commissions, she gave birth 10 dead child.
She was so utterly exhausted that we
thought 1t safe to leave her. An hour later
she leaped from the bed and fell dead on the
floor.
Now all resson abandoned u.s. We were
like two mad and ferocious beasts. We beat
and kicked him till he became ssnseless and
were about to throw him in the fire when
thought of the torture. We carried him to
the vault. The screws of the rack en- which
we intended to stretch him were rusted, and
it would not work. We had no oil in the
castle or l would have started fire under
the great caldron and
BOILED HIM ALIVE,
as many less atrocious criminal had been
boiled before him. Finally We found that
the wheel turned easily, and we tore his
clothing from him and bound him to it. He
came to again while we were doing this, and
wept ana begged US TO spare him. He
might as well have spoken to the walls them
selves. We only laughed. He promised
even to marry Bertha. We brought her
body and the child's and laid them on the
ground where we could see them.
Then he knew that all hOI e for him was
ended. He became mad in his despair, and
howled and cursed. sang scraps of songs and
laughed, and seemed as merry, in fact, as If
it had been his wedding eve instead of his
last day on earth.
For an hour we allowed him to go on.
Then we grew tired even of his feasting on
his punishment. We took two of the bars
that belonged to the wheel and set it revolv.
ing. We stood on each side OF the wheel, as
l had read of its being done when they exc
cuted criminals on it in the past. As he
whirled by us we struck him with the bars.
His screams were deafening We drowned
them with shouts OF triumph. his blood
spurted on us like rain. We laughed as the
hot drops struck our faces.
WE HEARD HIS BONES BREAK
under our blows, and roared with glee. AS
have already said, we were no longer hui
man beings but beasts. But even beasts be-
come wea,y of blood, and we dropped our
bars at last not, however, until they had
done their work and left him dead.
although his cries had long since per
ished, they still seemed to ring in our ears.
A strange horror came over us, and we fled,
taking few articles of clothing and some
money. We had put Bertha's and the childs
bodies where they were found. No one Wis
tied the castle in winter save people who
came TO see us on business, and they we're
very few and far between indeed. So We
hoped that many days might pass before we
were discovered to be absent 1t was or
dained otherwise, and here we are"
After weeks trial, which was witnessed
by thousands of morbidly curious people of
all rs1a war sanfancpA N