Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1916-12-26
CLAIM CONVICTED
P0|S0NER DIDN'T
MURDER VRZAL'S.
RENEWED EFFORTS BEING MADE FOR
RELEASE OF HERMAN BllLiK,
SERVING LIFE SENTENCE.
CASE WAS ONE OF MOST FAMOUS OF
PAST DECAOE-CAUSED COUNTRY
WIDE SENSATION At THE TIME.
Especial 10 The Herald }

,illthbo. tttt. iltliuiu DiIlih
innocent Of the murders which once
brought him within the shadow of the gal
lows and for which he Is now serving q life
sentence IN the state prison AT Joliet! This
j. the question that is 10 be threshed out
here next Saturday, when the ease that
a decade ago was subject of country
wide discussion is To be reopened on a pc
tition for the pardon of the prisoner.
Billik was a Bohemian magician and
fortune teller. AT his trial he was brand
ed a. multi-murder whose alleged crimes
placed him in class with Johann Hoch.
who was hanged for the murder of several
of his wives. and III. III. Holmes, whose
trail of crime made the world shudder III
the early nineties. All three were alleged
To have ''put their victims out of the way
by the poison route in order that they
might obtain the few hundred dollars or
property which their victims possessed.
OF the three, however, there was none who
spectacular setting as the Bohemian ma
gician.
Two of Billiks wives had died under cir
cumstances that had aroused the suspicion
of the authorities. But the immediate
crime for which he was convicted and SEN
fenced to de-: th was the murder of Mary
Vrzal, the 22-vear-oId daughter of Mar
tin and Rose Vrzal, members of the Chi
cago Bohemian colony. He was charged
also with the murder of Martin Vzral, the
father: of Tilhe, aged 10; Rose, aged IA
and Ellie, aged II. The five crimes were
alleged to have been committee by Biilik
within period of one year and nine
months, and in that time, according to his
own admissions, he had mulcted the fam
ilv, through the medium of Mrs. Vrzal, of
$4,000 IN property and life insurance car
ned by his alleged victims.
Martin Nrzal had made the acquain-
tance of Biihk in the latter's capacity of
fortune teller and magician. Vzral desired
to destroy the business of rval milk
dealer and he consulted Billik In the mat
ter The two families soon became intl7
mate friends. Before long the studied
blandishnieuts of Bilik worked fascina-
ton for him IN the entire Nrzal family
Mrs. Bilhk, is was said. was completely
under the control of his hypnotic person
ality. When Martin Vrzal died his wife
collected $4,000 in insurance and gave him
Bllhk) most of the money.
Two days before Mary Vrzal died her
mother visited Bilhk and obtained from
him some "medieine" The girl died IN
Bllik's arms in the Vrzal home. The all
ment that killed her was the same that
killed her father. Stomach trouble"
When her remains were disinterred and
chemists made an examination Of the con
tents of her stomach they found IT con-
tanned five grains of arsenic. Two grams
are sufficient to kill the ordinary human
being.
Mary's life was insured for $500. The
funeral expenses came ont OF this, ana
Bilhk got the rest from Mrs. Nrzal.
Within the year following Mary's death.
nj intervals of few months. came the
deaths of other members of the Nrzai
family. all from '.stomach trouble Each
of the alleged victims was insured and IN
each instance Billik is said tn have OBJ
tanned the most of the money. Finally
came the death OF Mr>. NTZai. WHO pd>>Su
away with only Bilhk in attendance. She
died BY poison, whether self administered
or not was never definitely settled. One
of the last acts before the woman's death
was the persuasion of her by Billik to sell
her home and give him the money.
Despite what appeared to be the over
whelmine evidence of his guilt there are
many persons who have always held to
the opinion that Bilik was victim Of err
cums,ances. While admitting that he was
q cheap sham, playing scrdidly upon the
ignorance and supersfition of his vie
TINS for his own gains, they are OF the be-
hef that he was entirely innocent OF taking
human life. Most prominent of those be-
|heyinp in Blllik's innocence and now work
ing for his release from prison Is Faith
|er p. j. O'Callaghan, now attached to the
Catholic University at Washington, who
was q parish priest in Chicago in 1907,
and whose duties had brought him into
touch with the principles in the Bilik case.