Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1899-03-22
STORY OF THE CRIME.
Killed Step-dauGhter, Tried to Stay
Husband and Attem pied SuiCide.


The double crime for which Mrs. Mar
tina NJ Place is to be put to death was
committed on February Z, 1898. Mrs
Place had made all necessary prepare
tons for killing both her stepdaug hte1.
and her husband. She had sent away her
servant and arranged matters so that she
should be alone in the house with her
husbands daughter. Ida.
The exterior of the dwelling, sos Han
cock street, Brooklyn, had a deserted air
when William w. Place, her husband.
entered it at 6:30 p. m.
Place opened the door, wondering at
the silence and darkness, passed into the
hall heard what he described afterwarti
as the rifle OF d dress on the stairs, -
and called Martha" The answer was
4 blow on the head from an axe A sec
ond felled him. He crept to the door,
but lay grooming and helpless in the lob
by.
y neighbor had heard the noise and
came peering through the glass door He
said nothing, but heard the groans. He
called Il policeman.
When they entered the house they dis
covered Mrs Place lying on a bed in her
! room. She had turned on the gas and
was slightly overcome by it. She had
tried TO commit suicide.
In rear room on a top floor the po-
liceman found the dead body of a young
girl. There was the eXcoriation of car
bolic acid on her lips, in her eyes and
uoon her face. This was Ida Mildred
Place. the pretty daughter of her hus-
band by a former marriage.
During the afternoon Mrs. Place had
first blinded the young girl and then had
smOthered her to death with pillows.
When the police looked for a motive
they found an unusual one. Mrs. Place
had grown jealous of her pretty step
daughter. Her husband, she observed,
InJ IT-f ar do Tn, al n,
that her husband refused to allow her
own son, who had been adopted by Will
liam j. Ashenbach, a wealthy harness
manufacturer of Newark. \. J., to be
brought to her home. Mrs. Place had
pOndered over her double grievance. The
cherishinG by Place of his daughter she
contrasted with her own loneliness. Her
resentment grew until it bore the fruit of
murder.
When 2 young woman she had been
married TO man named SavaCOll, and
there was born to them the boy, who is
now Is years of age. Savacoll deserted
his wife and was never heard of. The
woman tried to support herself and her
son by needlework, but succeeded poorly.
She was forced to consent to the adoption
of her son by Mr.. Ashenbach.
She visited the child occasionally, until
the boy OWNED that she was his mother.
Then Mrs Ashenbach, having become at.
IicHeu W ILL., AeAuo0u " Ict IiAeh- met
She saw him secretly. In January, 1898.
Mrs. Place appealed to her husband to
obtain her child from Mrs. Ashenbach
He refused, and his daughter, Ida Mil
dred Place. declined to intercede with her
father in the interest Of Mrs. Places af-
lection for her son.
Mrs Place sent to her brother. Peter
D. Garretson, Of New Brunswick, on the
day of the murder, two bank books,
showing a balance of $1074.4S in the
Howard Saving institution of Newark,
and balance of S213.S3 in the Brooklyn
Savings bank. She sent to him also the
key Of a trunk which she had expressed
to him at the same time. With these
were several letters, saying nothing def
initely, but indicating that she expected
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