Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-12-11
CONF ESSION BARES
MURDER METHODS
Of ARCH-CR|N|NAL.
BY MAMMALIAN HARDEN

(By Radio 10 the Atlanta Journal and the
Chicago Daily News.D
Copyright, 1924, by the Chicago Daily NewsI
. BERLIN, Dec. S.-Interest in Ger
many is conferred, not so much on
the elections on Sunday which are
destined to have the greatest import
ance on the Empires future, but
have degenerated into personal and
party wrangles, as on the Hanover
trial OF Fritz IIaarmann, and his
companion in crime, Hans Grams.
Hanover, once the residence of the
Guelph dynasty, today is a super
modern amusement resort and CAPT
tai of crime.
Boys often vanished without a
trace, and suspicion centered on fat
Fritz But, although blOodstained
clothing was found in Haarman'S
apartment. no serious step ever was
taken against him. He even was
permitted to enroll in the voluntary
police and when in 1928 two women
of the streets whom Haarmann had
sheltered for pay took to the police
q human mouth which they found
boiling in Hartmann soup kettle.
the police commissioner said it might
be a pigs snout.
Skulls of Victims Found
Hartmann appeared to bear al
charmed life. Even when the Wom
en- testified they saw an apparently
dead youth in his bed, he was not
charged with homicide. Only asst
summer, when human skulls and
bones and clothing of his victims
were discovered in the house was
he arrested. He since has confessed
thirty murders, which may be less
than half the number he actually
committed.
Haarmann lured boys and youths
to his apartment and, according to
his own statement, killed them ~
biting through their adams apples
and sold their flesh for food. When
questioned about packages smelling
of raw flesh which he was carrying,
he produced 2, police license as a
foOdstuff dealer.
The French Bluebeard Landau,
seems an amiable fellow alongside
this monster.
Haarmann Man of Forty
Haarmann is d man of forty, with
thin hair, a broad fIattened nose,
deep set, thick broWed eyes, a brutal
protruding chin and wolf-Hke
mouth. Despite his brutality, he has
been effeminate otherwise since
childhood. He is the very prototype
of hysteria, now growing, now
shrieking With his witless smile
and his childish laugh, he talks of
things which make the blood run
cold with horror
The first thing to be done was
to bite through the Adams apple
he says. Then the head must be
wrapped up in paper, because, after
all, it continues to stare at one so.
Even when the eyes are closed, they
do go on staring at you like that,
don't they.
And then g package was made of
the head and set in the corner-ha,
ha, ha,-Why was it-ha, ha, La
that it kept on happening like that,
over and over again?"
Then he calmly continues to show
how he cut the youthful bodies to
pieces.
"Often, when a skull with empty
eyesOcllets was lying beside me, it
seemed as if it was still staring at
me-ha, ha, ha."
Yet all the time Haarmann re
mains self possessed and cunning,
and gives the prosecution no loop
hole. lie keeps open all avenue of
appeal, and counts on a judgment
of insanity, as when tWenty-eight
years ago he was declare of unsound
mind for mistreating children.
Grams Denies knowledge
Grams is the persOnification of
youthful strength, handsome, sen
suous, lazy. With unshakable calm,
he denies all knowledge of the m r.
ders and, like a child, earnestly as
serts his innocence despite the over
Whelming testimony. Haarmann
seems to fear only for this fair hair
ed Hans.
Grams" he repeatedly cries,
knew nothing. He must not suffer
the death penalty
Insane? Every murderer is more
or less insane. No sane person would
assume such gigantic risks"
After all, it is a matter OF indiffer-
ence whether Haarmann is executed
or committed to an asylum for life.
What is more important is whether
Germany will continue to allow the
further propagation of that perVer-
sity which already has spread to an
unimaGinab'e extent among all class
es, and on which TIE press reports
in detail so "objectively."