Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-10-12
A RAREN SLAUGHIER.
Reported Murder Of rhirtesn Womsa BIZ
the sultaa's Orders
Cincinnati Com u ercisi
Cincinnati Com nercisl

NEW YORK, Oct. IA strange, wild
tale comes over the sea from the land Of
the uuspeakable TUX A story Of such
sirocious crime and cruelty that 1t reads
more Ike 8 romance CT the days CT the
Arabian Nights than real happening of
he year Of our Lord 1888 As 1t is the
story Of the foul murder c! fourteen
unhappy women, one OF the n
al American VINO, not many years
ago, stood 81 the portals OF fame, it Will
be read with peculiar interest IN This
country and the United States govern
ment may not pass /: by without rigid
bit Of international investigation. L. has
Just crept out through friends In Milan,
where che WIS known as ola Bells Pima
Donna" that Lsrrs S;hirmer, Bcsion
girl, ard not many years sgo rising and
popular singer On the American opera
stsge, hss been poisoned with thirteen
other inmates 4 the harem If the Sultan
OF Turkey, In Constantinople, CT course,
where for centuries the SACK or the bow
string have been the prerogstives CT the
Sultan and no one has ever been the
wiser. The matter has been kept COM
pletely secret, but The friends OF the ul-
happy cantatrlce In Milan cisim to have
undoub ed evidence of this frig1tful
crime, and leading Mllane5e paper has
Boldly stated 1t rs fact.
POISONED IN THE HARaM.
According to the story, the Sultan Is
believed to have been Inc nsed st the at
tempts Of TIE American Minister to Tur-
Key, working ON behalf CT L.ura's friends,
to get the woman out Of her gllded esp
sivi.y, and so one night poison was placed
in tle ice-cresm furnished TO the occu-
pants OF the imperial saraslio, and four
teen poor women. including the American
girl, were found dead In the morning. OF
course there was no inquest, no corcneI's
INQUIRY, no verdict. The bodies Of she
victims we're hurried away 10 nnmeless
graves, and the curtain dropped. When
CRY fellows eat their carcssiee, and wo-
dogs there, for the latter keep the streets
clean and keep out pestilence.
Ten years egc, when shs WAS only
eighteen, Laura Schirmer Lad already
won p.oud plsce among Boston's con-
ce,t singers, aud bright future seemed
to betoken her to yes higher pace. She
vas known then as the Beautiful Lsura
Schirmer she hsd q handsome face
and fsscinatirg manner. and her voice,
s light soprano, was OF an exquisite
quality. Her mother, q Boston woman,
WAS well do, and the daughter was
reared in luxury sud had the best musical
training that Boston sn)rded. The
mother even boosted among hsr friends
that "Meine liebe Laura" was no6ly born,
she being connected with the Dutch no
biltty. Before her twentieth year Laura
hal made SO marked q, success on the
concert stage tas.~ her f;lends all urged
her TO study for the operate stage. and
sfa rls years. study Sic sang at the G.abe
Tneater with Charles R Adams In Ella
Juive" and the "Crown Diamonds "
Later on she Travelled through the U1ited
S:atss under S:rskosch, singing in Son
nambuls," Lucia di Lammermocr," and
other well known operas
MET HER EVIL GENIUS.
1t YVES then she met her evil genius,
the English tenor Byron. Sac fell IL
love with in, aud went 10 Europe with
! him. Her friends say he married her
A! any rate they went to milsn to sing
and s:ucy, snd she made her Italian
debut there. But il was not lorg before
the American colony there began to tall
about her unhappy life. Her husbands
| greatest JOY, they sac, appeared 10 De &c
degrade the lovely woman who had licke1
her fortunes with bis. He made he,
perform the most meniSl Offices, blsck
his boots, cook his food. and othel
things far worse, sid she loving
him, fell essily Into the slough
of 5womsnhood. She grew COARSE and
r ckiess In sps ch and action. Her voic5
lost its f xibilitY, and her face and form
show d the effects Of her degraded life
Sac and Byron took thea.er and tried
management, but made i.iiure of IT,
Then they went to Constantirople, and
tried II agaiu, snd, under the fsvoring
smiles # the Sultan, they succeeded bet
ter. List winter the American colony a,
Milan hesrd that LAURA had become In
inmate Of tie Sulsan's harem. Some
said she had been ADDICTED thither. 5ui
others, who knew her tastes and tenden.
Sk1es, believed that che nsd gone willingly
tfnto thjs cantivitv Ard now conlss this