Year: 1869

A Murderer's Statement of n Horrible Crime.


Writes correspondent to the New York Times,
rom Spring Valley New York.


The murder of Joachim Fuerter, near the station
in this village, in March last has been a prolific
the first discovery of that crime The Coroners in
quest, with the arrest of Antoine Maurer, and the
recovery of the murdered mans effects, rather in
creased and aggravated, instead OF allayng,
the universal excitement and now that the
assassin has received his impartial trial
and has heard his sentence--to be hanged by the
neck for his cTime-the people are even yet un-
satisfied with their knowledge of the circumstances
that attended the perpetration OF the deed Maurer
was consigned to his cell in the County jail at New
City, preserving still the coof indifference and
making positive denial OF gut-a denial that was as
Circumstantial and clear as the proofs against him
were direct and conclusive. Gradually he has adj
mitted TACT after fact, until last evening he made
confession recitng the entire story.


When the sentence was pronounced, Maurer eX-
but as the days wore on he became more and more
affected, and he began gradually to let the story out
Last evening one of the Deputy Shertfs visited his
cell when, in answer to inquiries, Maurer gave the


fiI heard a loud voice last night oct. 2s) telling
me that / must own up. / don't want to be left
alone again till tell somebody the truth. did Kill
Fuerter, and am very sorry for it. But had help.
/ will not tell who helped me- We went to krausS'
house and struck Fuerters window with pole. lie
came to the window, and we told him if he would
come down would give him some money-the
money that owed him. Pretty soon he came down,
and we walked off together We sat down in a little
while, about 10 O'Clock, and my friend had bottle Of
whisky We each of drank from it, and Fuerter got
pretty drunk. Then my friend aud | led him to-



] carried in my hand. We took off his clothes and
got some water and washed him. Then we put
some clean clothes on him and carried him out into
the field. We took what we supposed was all the
money he had. We killed him to get his money, for
we were both very hard up. My friend took the
money, twenty francs and took the clothes, which
. j afterwards pawned. We then washed ourselves
\ and went away"


The refusal of Maurer to tell who helped him do
the deed seems to be impossible to overcome, but
clue is said to be possessed which there is every
reason to hope will end in the arrest OF his co-mur-
derer To-day officers from our county are in New
York, where the guilty man is supposed TO be, hunt
ing the trail which they think they have obtained


I have thus given you the first and last of one of
those deep tragedies such as Germans and French
men such as Maurer-for he has the blood OF both
nations in his vens-had, until recently, almost the
monopoly. Hard, almost unconscious villainy such
as this man has shown in his crime and in his persis
tent denial of it, has but few parallels in the history
OF murder here, but they have their Counterpart
might say their highest eXempl1cation-in the ira
gedy that now eXcites France. To compare Maurer
with Traupmann would be study interesting to the
student Of the worst phase of mankind, and to some
of them it may yet furnish theme There is, If the
supposition of Traupmann's guilt be correct, the
same cool, wel-devsed, and well-matured plan, the
same hendishness in the commission Of the crime.
the same end in view-which was the prospect OF
gain alone. The oversights by which they were both
detected similar, and indeed characteristic
of every grade and character Of assassin.