The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-20
OF HIGH DEGREE.
AUSTRIAN NoBLEMAN is WANTED
FoR A MURDER.
A Career of Glory and Honor That
Blanther Is Caught.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 19.-Josef
! Blanther, the suspected murderer Of
Mrs. Philippine Langfeldt, is a knight
of the Austro- Hungarian empire, en-
titled to place the aristocratic Won"
before his name. He was a lieutenant
in the army of Emperor Franz Josef
and served with such distinction that
he received as special tokens of inn
perial favor at least four crosses and
decorate tons of knightly orders. In the
possession of Captain Lees are the de-
corations themselves and the docu-
ments accompanying them, all found
among the effects of the missing man,
which establish these facts beyond a
doubt
The most important of these dqcu-
ments is the highly Illuminated i'm
perial order of December II, 1878. con-
fering knighthood, a crest and
A COAT OF ARMS
upon Josef Blanther, who is described
as first lieutenant in the Sixty-fifth
Austrian infantry, commanded by no
less an important parsonage than the
Arch Duke Ludwig Victor. This docu-
ment interests the police in this city
mostly from the fact that it fixes be-
yond a doubt the age of Blanther at
y
year 1852 at Rankerburg, in Steirmart
He must have entered the army at
a very early age and have been des-
cended from a good family to get such
a berth as first lieutenant in the arch
dukes regiment when only nineteen
years old. Previous to that he had
evidently done some peculiarly note
worthy action, for the highly priced
iron cross of the third order had al
ready been conferred upon him. Later
on. from other papers found among
Blanther's effects it would appear that
he was with his regiment at Bangkok,
Siam, with the title of major By some
SPECIAL ACT OF BRAVERY
the attention of King Humbert was at
tracted to the knight Won Blanther
Among other documents found by the
police is one bearing the royal seal of
Italy, whereby knighthood in the order
of the crown of Italy is conferred. This
was in November, 1881, and in obedi-
ence to the royal will the golden in
sigma Of the order, the double-headed
eagle of the house of Savoy and
patent comforting the right to wear it,
was dispatched to Blanther, who was
then lieutenant in the Thirty-second
infantry regiment of Austria.
With such a record in the army, the
wearer of so many highlyp priced de-
corationS drifted into other walks of
life, for which a reason is not known.
During the four years following his
service in Siam, he possibly Travelled
in the Orient and became
TINGED WITH THAT MYSTICISM
which his acquaintance have noticed
cropping up in his works 1t is more
than likely that his action in leaving
the army was not altogether voluntary
That at one time in his career Blanth-
er was very proud of his uniform and
his decorations is attested by photo
graph of himself in that uniform,
wearing those decorations. The photo
graph was found among his papers 1t
was taken in Vienna about fifteen
years ago and shows a very handsome
young man.
Blanther arrived in the United States
about ten years ago and has resided in
this country continuously ever since
He resided in New York. Chicago and
towns in Florida Blanther
arrived in San Francisco on February
2. and with the exception of a short
trip to Portland, Ore, has remained in
this city ever since.
He is now in the shadow of the gal
lows. The web of circumstantial evil
dence that is being woven around him
is drawing closer and closer 1t has
been left to the man himself to supply
the most damaging testimony of his
guilt, and although he has not vet
been caught, the energies of the police
have been redoubled in the last twenty
four hours