The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-02-02
IO DR[YF|)S.
innocent German in Prison
for Seventeen Years.
REAL CULPRIT CONFESSES
But the Judges Silence Him
Lest They Lose Prestige.

New York. Jan 81 The Worlds
special correspondent from Paris says;
A case OF punishment suffered by an In
nocent man for period far longer than
Captain Dreyfus spent on Devils Island
has aroused the wrath OF Herr LEO
knecht, the venerable Parliamentary
member. at Berlin. The victim IN this
case is Albert Zeithen. who FOR seventeen
years has been in jail for a crime he did
not commit. Herr Leibknecht, who is
now in Paris, gives the Sunday World
this account of the case:
ION the night of October .. 1883 the
wife OF Albert Zeithen, hairdresser.
was murdered at EIberfeId. manufaet-
uring town on the Cologne-Berlin Rail-
road, at No. 81 Bachstrasse. a house dis
tant about i've minutes walk from the
depot. The voman's skull had been beat
en- in by blows from heavy instrument
willis a stab in the neck showed that the
murderer had also used knife. II was
p.cved that Madame Zeithen knew that
her husband was flirting with a servant
girl who had been in their employ. and
that he had visited her at Cologne Let
ters from Zeithen speaking in disparag-
ing terms OF his wife were found IN the
girls pockets. Now. during the whole
afternoon of the day OF the murder Zei-
then was at Cologne. He left Cologne
by the 9 p m. train. which reached FL
berfeld at 11:1S. Precisely at HIS 2. m.
a storekeeper named Klees and a woman
named Heinrichs, while passing the
Town Hall, which Is fitted with two
clocks, remarked casually that IL was
11:15 p. m. by both clocks. This they
swore to. Five or six minutes later they
found themselves in front of Zeithen's
house. 1t would then be 11:21 p. m They
heard groans, and then Zeithen's voice
crying out loud: What is 1t. Marie. dar-
ling? What has 71appened7 Speak,
Immediately Zeithen appeared at his
front door and rushed into the street cry
Ing for a doctor and screaming that his
wife had been killed. Zeitheu reached
home at HIS p. m, at the earliest. al
lowing that ne covered the distance from
the station in FIVE minutes which would
be quick walking. At 11:21 p. m. the
groans of his wife and the husbands cry
were heard. The prosecution would have
it that Zeithen lit the lamp. stabbed and
battered his wife. effaeed all traces of the
horrible struggle. hid the blood-stained
weapon and awakened his apprentice and
maid servant all in three minutesl
1.-THE Judge questioned the poor victim
while she was lying. lght-headed and de-
ferrous, at deaths door. Thus questioned
the poor creature accused every one In
turn-her husband, Roosbach the artist.
the chief of police, anyone and everyone
whose shadowy image fitted across her
wandering mind.
The day after the murder Gottschalk.
the police commissary, discovered ham
mer in a drawer and claimed to have
found 5ioodstains on the wristbands %
the accused. But DR.. Berger. who ex-
amned these clothes reported: 4 have
examined the sleeves and wristbands and
find no trace OF blood Zeithen's linen
Is of irreproachable whiteness' But
Gottschalk presently produced some linen
Of Zeithen's literally bespattered with
spots OF scarlet. but an analysis discov-
red these to be red ink.
THE verdict was passed. the awful
sentence Of life imprisonment was pro-
nounced, when Up rose Dr. Berger with
the following startling statement: I am
irresistibly impelled to the conclusion that
Zeithen is innocent and that the evidence
against him has been manufactured by
the officers OF the crown
THE real murderer beyond doubt "a
Aaguste Wilhelm, a barber apprenticed |
TO Zeithen. This yunog man celebrated |
his eighteenth birthday no the day Of the |
crime. Taking advantage OF his mas
ter's absence. Wilhelm proceeded 10 eel |
citrate and arrived home fun Of 'schnaps' /
and bad brandy IN advanced intoxlca- !
ton. No one was about save Madame !
Zeitnen, to whom the drunken man made /
smoros advances. These were not well
received. AuEusts Wilhelm was seen By /.
a passerby standing at the street door
about II p. n. muttering imprec7 tons A /
fellow apprentice testified TO having seen
Wilhelms knlfe-a murderous weapon
with heavy iron handle-lying open IN I
his trunk
'Zelthen on his return home after go I
ing for the doctor was confronted by /
welnreich. an inspector OF police. who 4
said to him: You are the murderer. 7 +
arrest your
Wilhelm started forwa-1, crying: /
How dare you arrest my master lie +
never did K know itT
" You know 81 replied the ofhcer. Won
know too much then. and III take you
along. III De damned 4 I'm 80 sure that /
Zeithen did do II"
Then the young man vehemeutIy ae- (
cused his master. But the inspectors
mind was made I'd ard AuEusts Wilhelm
vas marched OF 20 the station. Zeithen
proved that on the night o. the murder /
ne had brought home for Madame Zei-
then sn aheurd valentine with = p5sys6 +
inscription adjurinE tire lady 70 Keep her
hair on lie had also brought nuts eh3c-
cate and Ereetmesfz FOR The children
Nevertheless. ne jury convicted hin. and
E cquitted wilhelm
In the year iss7. when Zsfthen has
been three years n prison. during ztirh
as never ceased protesting his fnBocenee
hss brother Henri discovered Wilhelm.
re interviewed wiIhslrn's .rnplsye-. 70
= bonn ae conH6ed rs suspacson. Thsss
tao. 9orziaE With police funct,enary
= high sanding. got torsfhsr ~vle~nee
which thsy considered warranted fhe-n
n charEtnE Wilhelm with n crime. To
ibsT Ga IN uso@i ssrBp; fashion I'D
"a wrstcbed creature burst fro tesrs
md confessed He WIS arrested lie -
Seate1 bss confession b>So-s Ire criminal
commission % 1fesrochsis- Nsle~<n 81
ne sth o June. IssT. Re confessed that
n 'hat night hs hs6 reformed bone
s-vnk. thai - hzs murdered ais mistress
e~-zuSs 90 declined 70 listen 70 SIS p-o-
,oszia. ard that tse E@s50a ~ hzd Esd
Ess - heavy knife H- had srRr r.st-
- RS victim and fasn. terrified a. he
light % bsooa brsInea hsr 49, boss
'ro-a the iron haRa1e