Morning journal and courier., 1882-01-16
A Murderer's Strata gem Rolled.
Invention of Q New Instrument ofDeath
 by & Berlin Locksmith. TFrom the London Telegraph.1

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 1 BERLIN, Dec 26.-A new system of garrot ing has been invented here by. most dan gerous criminal of the name of Wilke who, | fortunately, is safe in the hands of the police. ! On Thursday last two men, conscience strick- \ en- presented themselves before the authori- ] ties, accusing themselves of having conspired with locksmith (the man Wilke) to hire fur nished rooms in different parts of the town for the purpose of eXtortlng money In the fol lowing manner. One of them was to go to bed pretending to be ill, and send for doctor. As soon as the physician arrived and bent over the bed an iron collar of a special contrivance, hid beneath the counter pane, was to be applied to his neck until he signed bill of exchange then he was to be strangled and thrown into canal which was close at hand. Wilke had devoted much ingenuity to the construction of this instru- ment which they described something
 like pair of tongs or pincers fixed on the end of long iron tube, with a winch at the bottom, by means of which the tongs could be made to close as tight as one liked. The peculiar virtue of this nefarious invention was to consist in preventing the victim from crying for help by immediately depriving him of the power of utterance. Wilke had also constructed two steel traps for the vic- tim's feet. The conspirators had begun by hiring room at 59 Elisabeth Ufer, where the Schfffahrts-K -Kanal has an unusual width, huu WOu1u Iacl1GaUo IQ6 u1SpOSftl OI uodu bodies. That very evening, the aceomplices declared, had been agreed upon for commit ting the first murder, and Dr. Lehrs, living close by on the Kaizer-F Franz -Greaedier- -platz, was selected as the victim.
 As soon as this confession had been made policemen were sent to the house mentioned, ] where they were told that a man who pre- tended to be employed at the government office for weights and measures had few days ago hired room and paid fortnight's rent in advance, but that he had not shown l himself since he had, however, sent @ trunk into his room the day before. The | directory having been referred to, and show | ing that no person of the name of Wilke was l employed at the office in question, the con- | stable proceeded to open the trunk, in which 1 they found two mantraps and all the compo- l nent parts of the garroting machine. The l trunk carefully reclosed and the land 1 lady warned not to say word about the | visit. An agreement was then come to be- ! tween the police and Wilkes two accompIces l that the latter should at first assist their 1 comrade in carrying out his diabolical plan, 1 and only turn around upon him when the ] victims life was in danger. Several consta- bles were concealed in neighboring room, and at seven Wilke appeared, entered his bedroom with his confederates, went to bed, 1 and sent for Dr. Lehrs. Instead of the latter, policeman came in disguise, and inquired
 
 sprang up, and applied his pincers to the physicians neck. The latter having managed to make Wilke understand that he had very little money about him, he was re- quested to fill up check. On his refusal Wilke turned the winch, until the victim be- 1 gan to be afraid for his life, and began stamping on the ground This was thesignal for the accomplices to let the constable's hands loose, and for the police to enter and seize the criminal in the very act
 Thus arrested, the scoundrel has since con- fessed that he intended procuring himself sum of money, of which he was in great need, by garroting, but denies having had any in- tention of taking his victims life. He pre- tends that he purposed to abscond with his after committing the deed and cashing the check, leaving the doctor to the chance of being released from his iron collar in course of time. Willxe turns out to be 2S years old, native of Austria, and possess ing wife and children, who live separated ] from him. He has been for two years con- structing his garroting instrument, and ever since Dec. has been bent on executing his , plan. The instrument is described as being ,leverly constructed after principle deriv- sd from 8 medieval instrument of torture ( contained in the Markische Museum. Dr. | member of the Prussian Parlia- nent, was selected to be the second victim, I lnd member of the Reichstag as the third.