Year: 1876

The Vienna Mystery of 1S25-A Golden


Haired Female Found Packed i'm a


Trunk-The Capture and Confession Of


tho Mus derer.


The recent trunk murders, which have
caused so great sensation, lend par
ticular interest to the great Vienna trunk
mystery of 1925, which has already
passed out of the memory of all but the
most ancient inhabitants of the gay cap
ital of Austria.


In the spring of that year the Super
intendent of the Pesth and Vienna Steam
boat Line was greatly annoyed by the
peculiar stencil which pervaded the bag
gage depot, on the dock at Pesth. Bag
gage shipped on the beautiful Danube
STEAMBOATS, which ply between Vienna
and .Pesth was generally left here until
claimed by its owners After consuIta-
ton, its~was determined to" make a
search, and a new trunk, rather larger
than the rest, was singled out as the one
from which the stencil must have emit
ted. 1t was opened, and, to the intense
horror OF the spectators, the body of
beautiful young woman, in perfectly
nude condition, was found in it. There
were no marks of violence on her per-
son, and the supposition Immediately
arose that she must have been poisoned.
A chemical analysis of the stomach
showed that such was undoubtedly the
fact-that the victim had been poisoned
with arsenic, which appeared to have
been given her in very small quantities
in chocolate. 1t was the opinion of the
chemist that the exceeding delicacy of
her structure was the only cause of so
small quantity of poison having pro-
duced death.


Here was undoubtedly murder, and
the Austrian police were not slow to use
every effort toward unraveling the mys-
terry. One thing which the detectives
considered as being greatly in their
favor was the striking appearance of the
woman. She was exceedingly small,
with tiny hands and feet, and features
OF remarkable delicacy. While her eyes
were dark her hair was of light gold
en- hue. If this beautiful young woman
she appeared to have been about
twenty-five or twenty-three-had lived
in Vienna, a great many people must
have observed her. The first thing they
did was to insert description of the
body in all the Viennese papers, but
without success. Nobody came forward
to volunteer any information as to her
identity. The body was meanwhile bu-
ried in Pesth, as it was in too advanced
state of decomposition to be preserv-
ed. The trunk was sent to the Vienna
police to aid them in their inquiries.


The trunk, which, as already previ-
ously stated, was a new one, was mark
ed ''E. L." This was clew, though a
slight one, to be sure. The Police Di-
rector who took personal charge of the
affair was puzzled to tell whether these
were the initials of the owner or of the
maker. If they were those Of the latter,
then perhaps clew might be obtained
to the purchaser of the trunk. Direc-
tories were then in their infancy, and
the Vienna police had to visit every
trunk-making establishment in that
great city. 1t was tremendous under
taking, but it was crowned with sue
cess at last. Emil Zendler, who lived in
an out-of-the-way cul de sac in one of
the suburbs, declared that these initials
were painted by his own hand, and that
he sold the trunk about three weeks
ago to a tall young man whose appear
ance had at that time impressed itself
upon his memory. He described him
as young man of about twenty-six, of
herculean proportions, about six feet
two or three inches tall, and proportion
ately broad, and of luxuriant reddish
side-whiskers, which, he said, he wore
like an Englishman. He was rather flash
lily dressed in light trousers and velvet
coat, and wore diamond pin of consider
able size in his shirt bosom. The man, he
said, impressed him at the time as a
gambler or sporting man. The police
director was of course highly elated at
thessuccess of his search. He strained
every nerve to obtain clew to the
whereabouts of this man. The steam
ship agent at Vienna remembered him
distinctly. He took ticket for Pesth,
but whether he really went along on the
boat, or not, he was unable to say. The
officers of the boat, however, declared
emphatically that no man correspond
ing to the description above given was
seen by them.. In fact, nothing further
could be learned. and the Police Direct
or was completely batfled in following
up the important clew he had obtained.
From careful comparison of dates and
the books of the steamboat company, it
appeared that the trunks lay about five
days in Pesth, and the chemist had said
that the poisoning must have been done
seven or eight days before the examina-
ton made by him. From this, the infer
ence was natural that the man, if he
was murderer, poisoned his victim
Just before he bought the trunk


Several days after the trunk maker
had been discovered, and when the Po-
lice Director and his detectives had al