St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-08
A TRIO OF MONSTERS.
Father, Son and Grandson Make
Murder a Business.

There will shortly go to the gailows
here as unique and villainous a trio as
ever were captured by the net of justice
These three persons bear to each other
the relationship of father. son and
grandson, a clear case of inherited de-
pravity, which has linked them together
in the commission of series of diaboli-
cal crimes, all OF which are pre-
cisely of the same character. forming
sequence so fiendish and unique as to
be unprecedented in the annals OF VII
lainy. The victims of these monsters
in the guise of men are six women. all
of whom have been successfully mar
ried and murdered for their fortunes,
which have been carefully boarded to
build up the wealth of the family of
fiends. How long this horrible slaugh-
ter would have been continued cannot be
surmiSed. as the police were not reSpon-
sble for the discovery, being urged to
an investigation by jealous lover, for
the hand and fortune of whose mistress
one of the trio was negotiating. A story
with so many characters in it is Datu
rally to a certain extent complicated, but
may be summarized in this manner: A
man named Peter VladiSh. engaged in
commercial ventures in the town OF
Orel, had laid the foundation of his fort
unes many years ago by marrying an
heiress who, after bearing him son,
died suddenly. The money which he
had made by his marriage enabled him
soon to capture the heart of another
wealthy lady, who after while also
died suddenly, all her money going into
her husbands Golfers. The son had
meanwhile grown up, and, at the advice
of his father, looked around him for the
80 afriF ,I1l
nection which would be satisfactory
from financial point of view. In this
point he succeeded, marrying a lady
who brought handsome dowry to him,
and, like the first wife of his father.
also a son. In due course this lady died,
also suddenly, and as soon as another
opportunity presented itself the son
| succeeded in marrying another
wealthy woman, who, in the course
of events, also died suddenly.
Peter Vladish, who was now grand
| father, succeeded in marrying again for
third time, making another profitable
match, and securing another accession
to his fortune by the untimely demise
of the lady. While these events had
| been progressing the grandson had
grown up to manhood. and he, in his
turn. moved presumably by the same
devilish impulse as had dominated
| his progenitOrs, commenced looking
| for wife and a victim.
| His search was successful, and
ere long he had married an heireSs,
| who, after year or two. Succumbed in
the same way as the wives of his father
and grandfather had done to the effects
of the malign influence of the family.
Again the grandson, having become a
widower, looked around him for wife,
bearing carefully in mind the inevita-
BILE purpose of acquisition which had
| now become motto with his race. This
object was duly attained, and for sec
ond time Peter Vladish, the grandson,
was a benedict, having secured the
hand of q woman whose financial status
satisfied his aspirations. Then again
the fearful drama of demolition was
enacted and the grandson became Il
widOwer, the weather. for another fort
une obtained by matrimOny and mur
der
And yet these Unsuitable demons
were uhsatistied; another victim was
craved, although their accumulated
wenlth was beyond the dream of ava
rice, and they had escaped not only
punishment for their crimes, but appar-
emily had not even aroused suspicion
by their remarkable experiences.
Alike with all sins, however,
the day of reckoning must inev-
VIadishes had now become SO immense,
supplemented by the profits of their
commercial transactions, that, viewed
from financial point, they were valu-
able catches in the matrimonial market.
Therefore. when the grandson, looking
around after his second bereavement
for third wife, made proposals to a
young lady of Orel whose heart
had already been captured by a
gallant young officer wearing the
cars uniform and who was
away in Riga with his regiment,
she forgot her vows and listened to the
aliuring whispers of young Peter Vlad-
ish. The facts of her coquetry were not
long in reaching the young officer, who
was acquainted by friend residing in
Orel of the turn affairs were taking
with his betrothed, and who III his COM
munication suggested the first suspicion
which had ever vet been breathed, I'M
less, indeed, privately, against the char
acter of the VladisheS and their matri-
monial methods.
To a Jealous lover this hint was like a
spark to a barrel of gunpoWder. The
young officer Immediately set about a
secret investigation of the records of
the Vladish family, which, when accom-
| plished, bore upon it so palpably the
evidences of grim suspicion that he
had little difficulty in persuading the
| police to take this matter in hand. The
| first step was to diSinter the bodies
of the two wives of the grand
son and TO make an examination
of them with a view to determin-
ing if. as suspected, the ladies had
persisted from the administration of
poison. The examination justified the
step taken by the police, and showed in
disputably that the deaths of the two
unfortunate women has resulted from
poison. The grandson was the first of
the infamous trio TO be arrested, but
his admissions and determinations, ac-
CELEBRATED by the moduS operando of the
Rus sian prison system, which, If
too rigorous in other cases, was
not too much so in this one, soon
led to the arrest of his father and grand
father and the pushing of the investiga-
ton into more remote channels. Follow
ing upon the discovery of their crimes
seems to have come the OverW helming
flood of long pent-up remorSe which
will make death even to such hardened
reprobates welcome, if not a salts
factory release from the terrible haunt
ings of conscience which refuse to
be longer suppressed. 1t is said
that the cries of these wretched
creatures, whom all hope has now ut
terly abandoned, are so terrible that
their keepers, hardened as they are by
the sights of cruelty which they have to
witness daily, keep as far away from
where they are confined as circum-
stances will permit, and that the most
rigorous precautions have to be taken
to prevent them from accomplishing
their own self-destruction, The case
against the prisoners has not yet come
up for trial. but it is already GER
tain that the facts related will be
fully established. and. owing to the
wealth and influence of the accused,
coupled with the mOnstrous character
of their crimes, the judicial proceedings