The Topeka state journal., 1908-07-20
Austrian Woman and Daughte
Enticed to America
By Relative Who Promised to
Marry the Girl.
BROUGHT $4,000 CASH.
Dead Body of Elder Woman
Found on Railroad Track.
The Younger is Suffering From
Three Bullet Wounds.

New York, July 20.-The tale Of
crime so revolving and replete with
cruel craftinesS as to be almost un
believable is told in the case of Mrs.
Ottillie Eberhard, well to do Vienesse
widow, whose body was found on the
railroad track in a lonely section Of
Hackensack, N. ]. At first it was be-
lieved that the woman had been struck
by train and killed. Subsequent in
vestigation, however. revealed that she
had been murdered and her body
placed upon the track in an effort to
destroy traces of the crime. 1t was
with this discovery that there came the
first intimation of the deeply laid and
cunningly executed plot, which places
the case almost in a class by itself in
the history of crime.
AS a result of investigation the po-
lice are now searching for August Eb
erhard. the dead woman's nephew, who
had importuned Mrs. Eberhard to come
to this country and to bring with her
her little fortune of $4,000 and her 20
year old daughter, whom August had
promised to marry. 1t was largely due
to the story told by the daughter after
the finding of the older woman's body
that the search for August was begun
and the police in every city in the
eastern section of the country have
been asked to take him into custody
If found. He is wanted to tell what
he knows of the circumstances related
by the girl, who was to have been his
wife. The young woman herself, how
ever, refuses to believe that August
had any part in the tragic death OF
her mother; but despite her protesta-
tions detectives have gone to the home
of the mans parents who live on
farm near Dutchess Junction, in
Duchess county, N. Y. and the search
for him is being prosecuted in many
other quarters.
According to the police Eberhard
had been at work for months care
fully plotting the crime to gain
possession of the little fortune that
his aunt in Austria possessed. He
wrote many letters painting in glow
ing cofors the riches that would be
hers If she would only leave the old
home in Austria and come to this
land. The woman's daughter, also
bearing the name Ottillie Eberhard,
was promised marriage If they
would but come to America.
Sail for America.
Finally yielding to his opportunities,
Mrs. Eberhard and her daughter set
sail for this country. They arrived in
New York last Thursday the mother
carrying $4,000 in the bosom of her
dress. Eberhard who had been en-
ployed in grocery store in ST.
Nicholas avenue, asked his employer
for a vacation on the day of the
woman's arrival and met them at the
pier. After settling them temporarily
at little hotel at Tenth avenue and
Twenty-third street. he took the elder
to a money changer, where her little
store of wealth was quickly converted
into American notes.
the intense heat of Yesterday
afternoon which furnished the pre-
text for the trip to the country with
its tragic end, according to the story
told by the daughter. Eberhard sug-
gested a trolley ride In New Jersey.
Mrs Eberhard consented to the trip
and the three crossed the Hudson by
ferry on their way to the country. At
Rochelle park miles west of Hack
ensack, the nephew suggested that
they take a walk and the three left
the car to stroll through the fields.
Evening found them at a lonely spot
on the tracks of the New York, Sus-
ouehanna & Western railroad. Eber-
hard told the women he had lost his
vay The storm broke and the trio
pushed ahead down the track until in
a deafening crash of thunder the elder
woman stumbled.
She Saw a Flash.
1T have been struck by lightning,
she screamed as she fell in heap by
the track. At the same 1nStant MISS
Eberhard says she saw a flash coming
evidently from behind car on sid
ing nearby and then a second and
third AS her mother fell to the
tracks, the girl felt a bullet Craze her
own neck, cutting a thin gold chain
from which a locket was suspended.
suddenly. Eberhard urged her to run.
as a second bullet ploughed into her
shoulder she started down the track
screaming Once she turned back to
see If her mother was following her
and again there was a shot which
passed above the bridge of her nose.
the blood from the wound half blind
ing her.
Through the darkness and the storm
the wounded girl kept up her flight un
til she reached a cottage where she
was taken in and cared for until Sum
day when the storm had passed. Then
the Hackensack police were notf1ed- |
In the meantime an engineer on
passing milk train had seen the body |
of a woman on the track and when he
arrived in Jersey City he telephoned
the coroner of Hackensack. Upon Wis |
itins the spot indicated by the engi-
neer the coroner found the body of
Mrs Eberhard. horribly mangled.
Close examination. however. showed
that the woman had been shot twice
and was dead when the train struck
her The murderer must have shot the
woman as she lay PROSTATE on the
track in order to make sure of her
death before dragging her body across
the rails.