Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-10-19
BGYISH DEPRAVITY
Dreadful Crime of a Youth Near
Milwaukee.
EE MURDERS A GIRL OF FIFTEEN,

And Is Believed to Have Tried to Poison
Whole Fanily-The DiaboIfcaI Cool
ness Of the Young Felon Makes Even
the Police Wonder-A Watchman's
Brave Resistance to Gang of Robbers
Other Burglars "Get Left.'
| MILWAUKEE, Oct. 19-The finding of
the body of young Annie kodatz yester-
day morning has resulted in the discovery
OF a boy murderer who for cool indiffer-
ence rivals Jesse Pomeroy Oct. Henry
kodatz, who lives with his family on
| dairy farm north of the city limits, called
upon the city police. stating that an at
Tempt had been made to poison his house,
hold with paris green, which had been
placed in soup. Detectives made a thor
ough investigation, but were unable to
find any person likely to have a motive
for such crime.
Young Girl Disappears.
Balf an hour before the officers arrived
at the farm Annie Kodatz, the oldest
child, aged Is years, was last seen, and
the next day her disappearance was re-
ported to the officers. who made second
visit to the farm. Everybody declared
there was not the slightest reason for the
girl having desire to kill anybody, and
there was nothing which would inspire
her TO leave home. Nothing more was
heard of the girl, and the police concluded
that she must have committed the deed
and fled in fear of discovery.
Body Found in the Cowshed.
A strange odor was noticed about the
barn Saturday, and yesterday Mr.. Ko.
| datz pulled up the floor of the cowshed
and found the body of Annie Then
young Albert Kolls, who works for Ko-
datz, was arrested and confessed the
crime. He said that Annie had been his
helpmate about the farm for two years,
and last May he became criminally init
mate with her. When he found month
ago that this fact would be revealed he
determined to kill the girl. On the day
after the poison was discovered, half an
hour before the officers reached the farm,
the boy says he was engaged in patching
the stable floor. The girl was assisting
him as usual. Her mother was at work
outside not twenty feet away.
A Cool Young NIiscreant
As the girl stopped to place plank he
struck her in the temple with a hammer,
| threw her body into the hole, piled
of replacing the boards Then he went
out and met the detectives looking up the
poisoning affair, and unconcernedly an
| swered the questions put to him. He was
not suspected, and continued his duties
about the place as usual. Both Mr.,
Brown, who was the nearest neighbor,
and Mr.. kodatz had the utmost conf.
| dence in the lad, who is of quiet, pre-
possessing character
A Marvel to the Police.
The police consider Kolls a criminal
phenomenon. He is so cool about the
matter. He seems to have no moral sense
to speak of. When confronted at the sta
| ton with evidence of his guilt, he cried a
| little, but to the correspondent he frankly
| told of his act and the motive for it with
out quiyer, although he is intelligent
and clearly understands the enormity of
his offense. Asked last night if his crime
did not worry him, be cooIly answered
that he sometimes thought of it at night.
but he guessed it was better to kill the
girl than to have the other trouble. He is
only 16 years old.
Was Probably the Poisoner, Too.
There is no doubt that Kolls put the
poison in the soup on the same day that
he killed his victim. Mr.. Kodatz ate of
the broth, but il made him sick almost
Immediately, and he warned other mem
bers of the family against eating of it.
There was 50 much poison in the mixture
| that it acted as an emetic, else Mr.. Ko-
datz would probably have died from its
effects. kolls persists in his denial of
having any knowledge of the poison. but
does not accuse any one else of the crime