Omaha daily bee., 1914-05-31
BY WOMEN INCREASE
Open Season for Recreant Lovers in
Germany Extended.
PRESS DEPLoREs TENDENCY
crowd In Court Room cheers Ac-
auittnI Of woman Who Had
Doasted 60 Friends would
shoot Her Lover.

BERLIN, May D.-Berlin appears to
have imported for itself what the French
have called "crmes Of passion" and 20
have extended their range far beyond the
French example. \ series OF recent muir
ders and attempted murders Of men by
women have been so lightly punished that
the entire Berlin press is criticizing crimi-
nal authorities and juries severely.
conspicuous case Of some months ago
aroused the press to protest. A young
woman, informed by her lover that he
did not care for her any more. invited
him to farewell walk in the Tiergarten
and shot him in the back Of the head. Kill
ing him instantly. She was brought 20
trial, not on a charge of murder. but OF
manslaughter, and the public prosecutor
admitted the existence Of the mitigating
circumstances which, under a paragraph
OF the penal code. are present when the
defendant at the time of the commission
OF the action was in such a condition that
he did not realize what he was DONG. or
suffering under a pathologic disturbance
of the senses through which his power of
decision was made impossible"
This condition. the state admitted, was
present, due to the young woman's anger
at being deserted. The sentence was for
year and half in the penitentiary.
Woman Boasts of Crime.
The most striking Of the whole series
of crimes of passion" was the most re-
cent. The woman in the case lived in an
aristocratic quarter OF Greater Berlin in
apartments paid for by an admlrer. The
man began to show a GOODNESS toward
her and finally informed her that he in
tended to sever relations with her There
upon she invited him to restaurant for
a farewell supper In a corner of the
room, behind a screen, she drew a re-
volver from her muff and shot him four
times. He was in a hospital for weeks,
and stll carries one bullet in his body.
In this case. too, the woman was
charged with attempted manslaughter,
which involves a much lighter penalty
than attempted murder. IL was proved on
her trial that she had told her servant
girl that she intended to shoot the man
and that no woman Is punished any more
IN Berlin for killing a recreant lover. She
mad also written in similar vein to
relatives and friends and after the shoot
ing she boasted to her servant that she
had sent four bullets into her victim.
The jury acquitted her and the spec
tators in the court room applauded so
long and so loudly that the Judge ordered
the room cleared and threatened fines for
contempt of court.
The Kruez zeitung, fairly representing
the views of the entire press. comments:
1t is utterly past understanding how
such a person could win such sympathy
that her acquittal should be greeted with
frenetc applause. 1t is perfectly
plain that such verdicts, which we have
seen repeatedly in the recent past, signify
a danger to the security of the empire
In administering the oath to a jury
which began work this week Berlin
judge referred to the recent crimes by
women and warned the jurors against
permitting sympathy in such cases to
warp their judgment