Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-23
BILLIk ESCAPES
DEATH PENALTY
MURDERER OF SIX OF VZRAL
FAMILY SAVED
Case Without Parallel in Criminal
History of llIinois-Has Had
Five Stays of Exc
cution

SPRINGFIELD, ILL.,, Jan. 22.-Gov-
ernor Deneen tonight commuted to life
Imprisonment the sentence of death
imposed on Herman Billik, the alleged
murderer of Mary Vzral.
The Communication is made on recon-
mendation of the state board of par
donS after the supreme court had re-
fused to interfere, saying that the
records showed no reversible error and
after affirming the judgment of the
criminal court of Cook county.
he state board of pardons in maxi
ing the recommendations to Governor
Deneen for Communication of sentence
says that after the final action of the
supreme court, jerry Vzral, brother of
Mary Vzral, and one of the principal
witnesses for the state. at the trial of
Billik, appeared before the state board
of pardons and swore that all his tes-
timony at the trial against Billik was
false except as to unimportant facts.
The state board Of pardons in it's rec
ommendation said that the body was
of the opinion that owing to the state
ment of the jurors, the jury would not
have inflicted the death penalty if
VzraPs testimony had been eliminated
during the trial instead of afterward
Reason of Communication
The trial judge in a communication
to the state board of pardons recon-
mended communication of the sentence,
saying that the enforcement of the
death penalty under these circum-
stances of Jerry Vzral recanting his
testimony at the trial would not, in his
judgment, meet with general approval.
The legal battle Of Herman Billik to
escape the sentence of death first i'm
posed upon him on July Is, 1907, is
without parallel in the criminal records
of Illinois. Five times BilIik was
granted respites or stays of executions,
the reprieves coming twice within four
days of the dates set for his execution
and once when the death march to the
Scaffold was about to start.
The case has been fought through
the criminal, appellate and supreme
courts of the state, from the federal
district court to the United States SUI
preme court and to the Illinois state
board of pardOns, which with Governor
Deneen sitting as presiding official,
held special session in Chicago to
consider it.
Ii was made an issue in the political
battles of Cook county and the cham
pions of Billik insist that their efforts
were in greater part responsible for
the defeat of States Attorney Healy,
who had opposed new trial for Billik,
and who failed of denomination.
Accused of Poisoning
The crime for which Billik was con-
victed was the poisoning of 22-year-
old Mary Vrzal. Indictments accusing
him of causing the deaths of six mem-
bers of the Vrzal family had been re-
turned and he was convicted on the
first of the charges.
After the conviction of BilIik, Jer.
Solbat Vrzal, a 17-year- old brother of
the victim, and the chief witness
against the accused man, repudiated
the testimony he had given in the trial
and declared he had been coerced by
the police and officials of the states
attorneys office into giving false tes-
timony against the defendant.
The youths declaration was the
basis for the long struggle made by
believers in Billil1's innocence to pro-
cure a retrial or a Communication of his
sentence
The revelations of the poisoning of
the Vrzal family startled Chicago, fol-
lowing the arrest of Billik on Decem-
Der 4, 1906. The suicide of Mrs. Rose
Vrzal, Billilxs alleged conspirator, in
her home, 1886 Fiftieth street preceded
his arrest by few hours. Billik later
was accused of inducing the woman
TO commit suicide. The man was an
itinerant fortune teller and admitted
swindler who lived upon the credulity
of Bohemian residents of the western
section of the city. Billik came from
Bohemia to the United States in 1886.
For several wears he resided in Cleve-
land. Ohio. where his mother. Barbara
Rillik. had been a fortune teller for
many years and where she died recent
" hrcke3-hearted but believing in her
eon'e iarecence TO the last Billik
worked as butler and chef before
corning TO Chicago.