The Sun. — 1868-02-20 (London, England)

WHOLESALE MURDERER.  The following is an account, literally translated from the German papers, of a murder of an exceptionally barbarous nature, committed last August in Schleswig-Holstein, the perpetrator of which has recently been condemned to ' death : " Timm Thode, a peasant's son, 23 years of age, murdered with unequalled barbarity his whole household—viz., his parents, his four brothers, his sister, and a maid-servant. Timm Thode's confession, made without a sign of repentance, gives full explanation of the motive for and mode of carrying into execution the crime. The accused related that he had been on an unfriendly footing with his brothers Johann, Martin, and Cornils ; his r.dations, also with his father had not been of the best kind. As regarded the rest of the family, he thought they were ` middling.' In the spring of 18GG he took the resolution to kill his family, in order to put an end to the continual disputing, then to sell the farm, which would come to him after their death, and thus to come into the sole possession of a considerable fortune. The thought of accomplishing the deed occurred to him repeatedly ; he busied himself, therefore, not exclusively with the plan of action, but thought only now and then of its possibility. The plan of killing them all one after another in their beds he gave up, as he was afraid the noise resulting from it might awaken the rest, and he would not arrive at the wished-for result. On the Gth August he had already laid ready to hand a five-foot long handspike to kill his brother with. ' I would decoy them one after another into the barn and strike them dead there,' said he. This intent:on was not carried into execution, as he did not succeed in executing the plan in the way related. On Tuesday, the 7th of August, his parents left home with a neighbour, Schwarzkopf, in order to pay a visit to some acquaintances. Timm Thode easily managed to go behind his brothers, Martin, Cornils, and Reimers, one at a time, as they were engaged in work, and then struck the brothers one after the other from behind with the 5-foot handspike, which was thick at the lower end. Martin falls first by his brother's murderous hand, then Reimers and Cornils. He strikes Johann over the head. This one staggers to and fro, and cries to his brothers. The murclorer brandishes the handspike anew, and then strikes him dead. Now the father must be disposed of. Timm, by telling him the oxen have broken loose, gets him to come out before the front door, and strikes him down in front of the farmyard. He brings the remains of his father back to the house in a cart, and removes the stains of blood by digging pp the earth, which he throws into the cart as well. Two watchful dogs are in the courtyard of Johann Thode. These might prove dangerous to the murderer; therefore he must dispose-of them. The dogs are attached to him. He entices them to him, places a knot round the throat of the first, and hangs him up. Thereupon he calls the other dog ; the animal obeys his call. With his razor he attempts to cut its throat. He does not quite sueceed, and, ne howling,dr. asksthhe tehdeo reason mothereea sxtornicoaft tehs appearsl the in withmo isseel Iriolgmth, sttenhdoete ahhainnndgdl,es, Timm. Now follows the account of the terrible tf a the e amdi nouoerdrd, rible combat in the small room between sister and brother. The mother lies on the floor, stunned by a blow from the hatchet. The sister springs out of bed in order to save the mother. He strikes out at the sister with a knife, and then strikes her dead with the hatchet. The _mother still groans ;he strikes her dead also. Finally, he runs to the servant girl's room, feels about in the darkness for the head end of the bed, strikes upon it twice with the hatchet, and the last murder is 'accomplished. 'The girl dies without a sound. ' There, I have them all dead !' are his only words. He then sets fire to the barn to conceal the deed, and places the corpses in such a way that they must be destroy ed at the breaking out of the fire. The conflagration was nevertheless discovered too early, and led, besides other facts, to so many grounds of suspicion against Thode that he himself in the course ?f ti examination was driven to confess. Timm Thode, lately tye.c„ondemned manbrought indescribableto death. p; a c placidity."