San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-02-05
MURDER OF SIX
sE3F EEabClTg IEENEEtf4
A DESPERATE CHICAGO. GARPEN-
0.'s TER's TERRIBLE CRIME.
OhlorOformed His Entire Household, Then
70 Deliberately and Carefully Killed
All Painlessly. .sgag gdf

All Painlessly. s-g2E gdf
CHICAGO, Feb. 5. An entire
family of six, father, mother, wife
and three children, were murdered
last night by Richard Klattke, a
,Lakeyiew, carpenter, who then
completed hiswork by killing HIM
self. The dead are; = Richard
Klattke, carpenter, SO years old;
Kate Klattke, his Wife, John
Klattke, hfs father, aged 70; Nina
iKlattke, HIS mother, aged II;
Nina ,Klattke, aSoiiis y daughter,
iaged'9;7 Anna Klattke, his daugh-
ter, aged s Emma Klattke, daugh.
ter, oagedd7. The bodies Of the
dead were found early this morn
ing in their little cottage, No. 273
Bercaud avenue, two blocks from
Cuyler station, .s.suburbl on then
Chicago and, Northwes tern IA H
way,ioT The discovery was made by
Matthew Brown, a saloon Keeper,
Tho, wishing some work done,
called at the ,Klattke residence to-
secure the services OF the carpenter.
He raped on the door but there
was no response. knowing the
Klattkes, We're early risers, he be-
came suspicious and called in the
neighbors and broke in. In the
house were thelu seven eorpses.
Each had bullet wound in the
head, and IN each case the ball had
penetrated the brain and death
was evidently Instantaneous. Be-
side Richard Klattke lay a re-
volver and empty cartridge shells
were scattered about the rooms,
One peculiar feature was the
lack Of any indication OF a struggle
on the part OF the victims and q
heavy odor like that of chloroform
prevailed the house. 81 From this 1t
was. surmised that Klattke' had
first chloroformed the entire fami.
ly and then at his leisure had
taken deliberate aim and put a
bullet in the brain of each. Brown
Immediately sent word to the po-
lice and detail Of officers was
sent to the scene in a patrol wagon
and a careful examination was
made or the surroundings There
seemed to- but little more to COM g
pletel the tale told il by Brown.
Everything pointed to deliberate
ly planned murder by, the head of
the family and a desire to place
himself and II family byond any
further earthly troubles, .ldJ.uo.
Klattke was ,despondent. His
family were cold and hungry.
Since Christmas he had been out
OF work and he ended, his troubles
just as relief was in sight. This
morning his, next, door neighbor,
Adolph ,Schmit, called at the cot
tage with the. joyful riows that he
had found a job for Kslattke.9 AT.
the samen time Matt Brown ar
rived on the same errand. They
came too-late. An examine
ton Of ojthe remains showed
that 0,one yaof the III six victims
alone had any warning of her
fate. This was Mrs. Kate lKlattke,
the wife OF the murderer, She had
struggled with her husband before
the fatal shot was fred. Her hands
were scratched and clothing TORI.
She had evidently been overpow-
cred and thrown on the bed beside
the dead body Of her little. seven
year-old daughter. The bed cloth
ing was saturated with blood,
which had flowed from a wound in
tho right cheek just below the eye
of each. The bullets had been fired
at close range and the faces OF the
victims were burned and torn by
the force Of the powder. The spot
for the revolver's mark was care
fully chosen and was the same on
each Of the victims. uisE8nu aaI
On a chair lay a milestone and
two knives, each of which had
beeno sharpened to- the keen edge z
of a d razor. 1t was evident that
Klattke had prepared forlthe pos
sible failure of his revolver and
had arranged for 2 sure substitute, Z
II heeued' siD9G 9dl mon s9aa#q 3
~ n ~ , =. 81 =, al1 HEt|U'. %.