Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-01-04
Herman Billik Sim yly
Murder for Business

urRT have been men who have
n murdered for revenge, for pas
sion. FOR money, for love.
ant Herman Billik didn't
COR any of these reasons. He
p .,, murdered as business a IRE
JUS mean $1,000 for him, or only
nlh" rhot ,yas all the same to him. lie
WV caro whether 1t was little
dal grown man, flied with tne
Gnu" uvinp. He needed the money.
~ death meant 20 him just as m ,a
sale 10 a hard working safes
@ case TO u lawyer or a new pa
MS" physiclan. lie killed SIX
tent w. no was caught, and now he Is
befofo ~ his own dcath-this meaneSt
aW air that ever lived
Gems almost possible TO torblNe
w who kills another in the neisht
. passion. There Is sympathy soilie
o. pfor a murderer VINO Stays peea Us.
unle' tealous and repents his act Tue
lament 1t Is done ,. ,,,. ,,ur.
pnt Billik didn't go ABOUT mo "'"'
Bog in that way. a..
detuins killed carefully, methoo@caliy'
noine IN something more than ) l.
ayerasit'Ffes He netted $4,000 before the
", "srit,cs OF Chicago took NAM
au.' Closed up his business. Now he Is
$40 ,In, hangman's moose, because
tN do. kill 10y electricity In llil-
i asis H..
,,yp,NEp MURDER WITH FOR
e0'N TUNE-TELLING.
anti, ,sn't like Hoch, who married
Zen TO Kill them. Nor was ne
WIVES the philadelphia mulu-ihul
I Ter. He hadn't the genius OF eltiist
oe'. .tor They did their murders III
n broad way. biii'S was Wv '''
do It that way -, ea,,n,, md
..,sS 10 kill three more.
wv taorh life there was insurance
anil rot 1t all. He absorbed all the
g,,al fortune, allowing the surViVors
IT. , he tried to Kill, too--only enough
W nav the funeral expenses OF their
u' Tho crime for which Billik was trlou
o,d for which he has been sentenced
- death was the murder or MARY
Wrpal the eldest daughter, 70 years
"a He has been charged also WITH
o ~ aaatb of Martin Vr2al. the father.
T mn The 1S-year-old daughter; Rose
.,bo was IA. and Ella, who was IL, Mrs
Wal died too, but she might nave
,sken the poison herself.
nIluk killed the father first because
ma owed him money--s2,O0 900. he wlpeu
his out and got his insurance money
hsside. Then he set about killing OH
ne rest of the family systematically.
Martin vrzal was milk dealer. he
wanted to win out over a rival, anu
ne consulted Billik, who said he was
nrtune teller. Billik saw his opportun,
itv TO murder and he took II. He had
made friends with Vrzal, who was
making $4,000 year; he got loans
from him amounting to $4,000. so he
nroceeded to put the head of the fam-
ily out of the way rather than pay
back the money.
BIllik went TO Chicago from Cleve.
land about three and one-half y"pTs
ago His business, according to tho
sign he hung out when he went TO I'VE
in a building a few doors fro'A the
home OF the Vrzals. was that OF u Cafd
reader and seer. He had learned tha
fortune telling business from his moth
er. She had found It an easy means
Of livelihood and quick road to af-
nuence. 1t was not rapid enough for
Rnk, however, and even that work
he found to be too hard to suit him.
But he piled his vocation steadily for
some time after coming to Chicago.
4 II was shortly after his arrival in
sChIcago that he became acquainted
with the Vrzals Martin Vrzal was a
. hard working man. He owned milk
store and had accumulated few thou
sand dollars by strict economy.
HIS CAREER OF CRIME.
Billik, with his family, coiuIsting of
his wife, two sons and small dausn-
ter moved into a house few doors
nom the Vrzals and became custom
Ter at the milk store. From that day
the Vrzal home was turned into a house
OF mystery and death.
Today there is no Vrzal home, only
three OF the family are alive, and Billik
is awaiting his sentence OF death to
be carried out.
When Billik began TO buy milk at tho
Vrzal store the members of the family
were all In excellent health.
Shortly after Billik made the ac-
Quaintance of Martin Vrzal he told
him that a rival milk dealer was his
enemy. The fortune-teller offered to
cast spell that would protect Vrzal
from harm and destroy his rivals
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS