The Washington times., 1921-04-10
SLAYER HAU TO.
Be RELEASED
D. C. Teacher, Who Killed
Mother-in-L In Germany,
Gets Term COMMITTED.
HAD BRILLIANT REPUTATION
Capital Shocked by News of
Killing in Baden Fourteen
Years /Ago.

DR.. Karl Hau, former professor of
Roman law at George Washington
University and member of the Dis
trict bar, who was sentenced to
death at Karlsruhe in 1907 for the
murder Of his mother-in-law, Frau
Molitor, and whose sentence later
was commuted to life Imprisonment
, by the Grand Duke of Baden. will
be released April 1, 1925, according
to information from Berlin which
has just reached his former associ-
ates here. H.
| CASE IS WORLD FAMOUS.
The murder which DR.. Hau was ac-
cused attracted international attsn-
iion because of it's sensational a.
tails. After making a desperate legal
guilty OF the crime In July, 1907. An
examination into his mental condit'Np
brought the verdict that he was sane.
The story of the crime and of tns
| circumstances surrounding it Is an
intensely interesting one. More than
| twenty years ago the summer gemut-
ichkeit of Baden Baden was littIe
runfled by an elopement. Lem Molt-
| tor. daughter of the late Herr Dr.
clan to the grand duke and ~prira;
pundit of the local chirurgical broth ..
erhood. had fed to Paris with a yoIn,,
and none too circumspect student ut
the neighboring university of Frei-
burg.
The name OF this brash schoolroy
was Karl Hau. His parents had been
excellent, even distinguished. persons 8.
but they had left their young sor
| ntan nd ha
had not improved his lack OF opptr-
tunity. He was. indeed, male
vamp" and blade. whereas. the girl
who had fled with him was b Nh
respectable and prospectively wealthy
entirely aside from being thp
daughter of medizinarat and body
physician. Worse yet, she was five or
six years cider than her gallant. who
had just touched the febrility "f
twenty.
TOPIC FOR INDOLENT JEST.
| Such episodes disturb the orderly
| life of small communities everywhere.
The stiff Journalism and ludicrous
petty rank precedence of a small Ger
man town were convulsed. To the
thousands of visitors crowding this
ancient watering place. sacred to the
theapeutic bath since Roman times,
|
with a recreant student was perhaps
only a topic for indolent jest But TO
the citizens Of the Baden summer
capital, more especially the trivial
| aristocracy, with whom Lena Molitor
and her family had a place, the elope-
ment was a scandal portentous Of dis
aster. Frau Molitor, the widowed
mother. was prostrated. Her friends,
the Frau Baronin A. and the Frau
Professorin b.. were tremulous, tear
| full, and full OF misgiving. Such
matches were the spawn of tragedy.
Ruin was certain. Oh. that poor, mis-
| guided girl--of twenty-six!
| In Paris and other parts. where
they were, celebrating their freedom.
| the young man and his young woman
were quite oblivious of all this hula
baloo until money got to be short, as
money will. From Paris they were
| finally forced to open negotiations
| with the brides wealthy mother.
DISCOVERED NERVOUSNESS.
Now, for the first time. they dis
covered the true Nervousness of nat
ural attraction and instructive mating.
The cowardice and caddishness of the
man and the ingratitude of the un-
natural daughter were made clear.
| In the surge of penitent feeling Karl
Hau and his bride pacted suicide and
set out to commit it. The boy was
first to kill his wife. then himself.
| He wasn't used to such things at the
time, ,fumbled his aim, and only su-
perfcially wounded the girl. She
begged for a second and lethal pellet.
but the tint of her blood had undone
him. Their emotional volcanoes died
away and there was no suicide.
Soon afterward there was a surface
reconciliation with the iron-souled
outraged mother. The daughter was
given a dowry OF about 500. 00O and
| the Information that she and her hus-
band were not recognized in the Moli-
| tor set.
SET OUT FOR AMERICA.
Karl Hau and his wife set out for
won his NJ. A. and LII. D.. and was
George Washington University as a
student, acquitted himself brilliantly,
and their young child, and sailed for
| offered the chair OF Roman law in
his school, which he at once occu-
pied. The young man who had been
too much OF a blade for Freiburg and
Baden Baden, had evidently settled
down and began to show his high
cerebral gifts. Those who knew him
at George Washington recognized him
as a scholar OF genuine attainment.
His knowledge of antique and mod
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