St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-06
A CHICAGO LABORER MURDERS HIS
WIFE, PARENTS AND LITTLE
ONES,
AND THEN KILLS HIMSELF.
THE WORK WAS THOROUGHLY
DONE AND SEVEN PEOPLE ARE
FOUND DEAD.
TROUBLES TOO MUCH FOR Hin,
He Thought Death Was Better fog
Them Than Life of Cold and
Hunger.

CHICAGO, Feb. 5.-An entire family
of six, father, mother, wife, and tree
children, were murdered last night by
Richard Klattke, Lake View car
penter, who then completed his work
by killing himself The dead are:
RICHARD KLATTKE, carpenter, thirty
eight years of age.
KATE KLATTKE his wife.
JOHN KLATTKE, his father, aged seventy
three years.
WILHELMINA KLATTKE, his mother, aged
seventy-one
NINA KLATTKE, daughter, aged nine.
ANNA KLATKE daughter, aged eight.
EMMA KLATTKE, daughter, aged seven.
The members of the Klattke family
were found dead early this morning
in their little cottage at 207 Berseau
avenue, two blocks from Cuyler sta
ton, a suburb on the Chicago & North
western railroad. The discovery was
made by Matthew Brown, a saloon
keeper Mr.. Brown, 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 that the
Klattkes were early risers, he became
suspicious, called neighbors and broke
in.
In the house he found the seven
corpses. Each had a bullet wound
in the head. In each case the ball had
penetrated the brain and death had
evidently been instantaneous. Beside
the body of Richard Klattke lay re-
volver and empty cartridge shells were
scattered about the rooms. One pc
culiar feature was the lack of any In
dication Of struggle on the part or
the victims and a heavy odor which
appeared to be that Of chloroform pre-
vaded the house. From this 1t was
surmised that Richard had first chloro-
Go, nd hnd fhay
put bullet into the brain of each.
Mr.. Brown took a hasty survey only
of the premises and then FASTENED to
send word to the police. detail OF
officers were sent to the scene in
patrol wagon and a more careful eX-
animation was made Of the surround
ings. There seemed but little more to
complete the tale told by Brown
Everything pointed to a deliberately
planned murder by the head of the
family and a desire to place himself
and family beyond any further earthly
troubles.
Klattke was respondent. His family
were cold and hungry. Since Christ
mas he had been out Of work and he
ended his troubles just as relief was
in sight. This morning his nextsdoor
neighbor, Adolph Schmidt, called at
the cottage with the joyful news that
he had found job for Klattke. At
the same time Matt Brown arrived on
the same Grand They came too late
just how much no one knows, for the
bodies were cold when discovered.
A close examination Of the remains
showed that one Of the victims alone
had any warning Of her fate. This
was Mrs. Kate Klattke, the wife Of
the murderer. She. 1t appeared, had
STRUGGLED WITH HER HUSBAND
before the fatal shot was fired. Her
hands were scratched and her clothing
torn. She had evidently been overpow-
cred and thrown on the bed beside the
dead body Of her little seven-year-old
daughter Emma. Both were found in
the rear room of the three, which COM
prise the one-story above the basement
OF the little frame cottage where they
lived. The pillow and bed clothing
were saturated with blood which had
flowed from the wound in the right
cheek, just below the eye of each. The
bullets had been fired at close range,
and the faces Of the victims were burn
ed and torn by the force of the powder.
The spot for the reVolver's mark was
carefully chosen, and was the same in
each of the victims.
On chair lay milestone and
two knives, each of which had been
Sharpened to the keen edge of a razor.
1t was evident that Klattke had pre-
pared for possible failure of his re-
volver and had arranged for a sure sub
stitute if needed.
The police theory as to the use of
chloroform is not borne out by Dr.
Friend, who was called in. The doctor
failed on his arrival to notice the char
acteristic odor of the drug.
A search was made for bottles which
might have contained chloroform, but
none were found nor any traces of cloths
which might have been saturated with
it. If a soporific was used, it was prob
ably administered in food, and it is con-
sidered that morphine was probably the
agent selected.
Neighbors of the dead family say that
Klattke was driven to desperation by
his misfortune and inability to get
work.
A quantity of potatoes and other pro-
visions were discovered in the house and
in the bureau drawer were 81. The po-
lice and physicians reached the conclu-
sion that Klattke was mentally I'M
sounds and his act was the result of
brooding over recent similar crime in
this city, the perpetrator Of which was
Jens Hansen, Danish fugitive from
justice.
This is the third time husband has
killed his entire family in Chicago with
in less than year. July last, Fritz
Holman, stone mason, living at gu
Cornelia street, turned on the gas and
destroyed the lives of himself, his wife
and four children. Hellman had been
sunstruck, and this is believed to have
unsettled his mind. Less than a month
ago came the crime of Jens Hansen,
alias Peter Hougaar. Hansen, by turn
ing on the gas, wiped out family Of
wife and five children and added to
the crime of murder that of suicide
Business troubles were responsible for
Hansen's desperation.
1t turns out that Klattke, the murder
er-sucide, was an anarchist He had
been drinking prior to the commission
of his wholesale crime. The house
where the tragedy took place contains
a number of anarchistic Autographs