The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-07-24
KILLED HIS
AUNT To GET
HER WEALTH
Young Eberhard Is Captured
Near Paterson, Lying
Wounded on Lawn.
HAD SHOT HIMSELF TO
MAKE HIS STORY GOOD
UNDER SEVERE GRILLING STORY
OF MOST BRUTAL CRIME
WAS DRAWN OUT.

New York. July 23.-Drawn back 10
the scene of his crime by a force he
could not resist, Auguste Eberhard,
self-confessed murderer of his aunt.
Mrs. Ottillie Eberhard. a Viennese
widow, whom he lured to lonely spot
in New Jersey few days ago and shot
to death, was captured near Paterson.
n. j., today and is now a prisoner in
the Hackensack Jail.
The reason Eberhard gave for COM
hitting the crime was that he was in
love with a New York girl and he
needed money TO marry her, SO, know
ing that his aunt had $500. ne plotted
TO kill her and steal the money. Eber-
hard says he also intended to kill his
pretty cousin, Ottilllie Eberhard. to
whom he was engaged, so that moth
ing would be in the way of his mar
riage to the New York girl. The po-
ice have the name of the girl. The po-
toned by Eberhard, and she will be
brought in Hackensack to tell what
she knows of the murderer.
Found Wounded on Lawn.
Hollow-eyed. cheeks drawn, and with
the look of a hunted animal on his
face. 'Eberhard was found lying on the
lawn of a residence just outside of
wound on his right leg. which the
murderer first said had been made by
Italians who attacked him, but which
he afterward confessed was inflicted
by himself so as to make the police
believe he had been wounded on the
night his aunt was killed. Morbid
brooding over his inhuman crime had
apparently unbalanced the mind of
Eberhard. but he showed some of the
r,,,s, 10. 1, -,
der plot when the police questioned
him about the murder.
Evasive at First.
Eberhard did not Immediately con-
fess TO the police. When he was
placed under arrest he expressed sur
prise that he should be suspected of
the foul deed, and told an ingenious
story TO account for his disappearance
after the shooting of his aunt. that on
the night of the murder he had tried to
defend his aunt against the attack OF
a party of Italians. He said he made
his cousin run away, and then re-
turned to help his aunt. but the muir
derers oVerpowered him after shooting
him in the leg. Then. he said. he lost
consciousness and remembered MOTH
ing until he came to his senses in the
Preakness mountains.
Finally Weakened and Confessed.
The inquisitOr did not believe this
story. and they kept Eberhard on the
grill until he weakened and made a
confession. The murderer seemed to
feel relieved when he had finished his
remarkable narrative of the murder.
He asked the prosecutor, to whom he
confessed. for a cigar. and when ii was
given to him he smoked it as though
. l. 10 - h.
An important point in the confession
was the statement by Eberhard that
he had an accomplice in the murder
plot. He said. however, that his ac-
complete had no hand in the killing Of
Mrs. Eberhard. This man. who was
one of Eberhard's friends, has fed to
the west, and the police are looking
for him. They have his name.
Murder Long Planned.
Eberhard told the police that he had
| planned the murder two months ago.
| He wrote many letters to his aunt in
! his efforts to induce her to sell her
home in Germany and come TO this
| country to live. He even promised
that he would marry her daughter and
make a comfortable home for her here.
Then Eberhard recounted the arrival
OF the aunt and his cousin Ottillie. and
/ in West TWenty-third street, of the
| trip to New Jersey and the fatal walk
/ up the railroad tracks. A binding
rainstorm came up while they were
/ walking up the Susquehanna tracks,
and this aided the murderer in his pur-
| pose. AS the two unSuspecting women
were plodding along in front OF him
| he drew his revolver, took careful aim
and fired. Mrs. Eberhard fell at the
| first shot, but TO make sure of her
death the assassin fired another bullet
| into her body as il lay on the tracks.
Tried to Kill Girl.
| Then he went in pursuit of his cou-
sin and tried TO kill her. The poor girl
| believed he was trying to protect her.
and even up to yesterday she had in
sisted that she did not believe that her
cousin had murdered her mother. She
accounted for his disappearance by the
| theory that he probably was shot by
Continued on Page 2.