Year: 1876

would leave Immediately and meet him
in Strasburg, at the Southern Railway
Station. Poor woman! little did she
know that in the coupe behind her, all
the way from Vienna to Strasburg, sat
two Austrian detectives with the hand
Ecuffs in their pockets with which they
intended to shackle him. At the rail-


way station, upon her arrival, he was
already there waiting for her, and as
she alighted from the coupe she threw
herself Historically into his arms. Alas!


her dream of reunited love was to be
cruelty dispelled, for the detectives
stepped forth, separated them quietly,


and fastened the handouts upon his
wrists in an instant. 1t was heart
rending scene. She tainted away and
fell on the ground, while he, speechless
and almost paralyzed with surprise and
terror, had to be borne away by main
force. ....,....


Marks return to Vienna, together
with his wife, was the sensational event
of the year. At the railroad depot an


enormous crowd was waiting to see the
alleged murderer of the golden-haired
woman found poisoned in the trunk,
and it was with considerable difficulty
that he was conveyed to the prison.
Marx still stoutly asserted his innocence,
but accident, which unvails SO many
mysteries, meanwhile played the
victory in the hands of u the
police. A woman, poor and ignorant,
called upon the Police Director to inform
him of the mysterious disappearance of
. a Mrs. Wollner, who lived in an out-of-
the-way street of one of the remotest
suburbs of Vienna, and was her next
door neighbor She said that there
must be some foul play in this affair, as
Wollner, her husband, disappearedsoon
after his wife, and told her and other
neighbors that his wife had gone away
ing occasion to visit Linz, made it her
business to hunt up Mrs. Wollner's sis
ter, who declared that she had not seen
her sister for year. When asked to
describe the missing woman she sup
piled a description corresponding exact
| ly to that of the golden-haired female
whose corpse was found in the trunk.
The Police Director was not little
4 startled by this strange discovery, and
Immediately insisted upon having Woll-
ner described to him. The peculiarity
of both their appearance left no doubt
as to the real facts. Wollner and Marx
were the same person, and had lived
with these two ,deluded women as their
husbanI! The woman (who was too
ignorant to have read the newspaper
articles which might have sooner led to
the revelation of the mystery was con-
fronted with Marx in the prison, and
identified him as Wollner.
1t was now useless for Wollnerto still
proclaim his innocence At that time
it was the custom to employ semi-in-
quisitorial means of wringing confess
sion from a prisoner against whom the
testimony seemed clear. For instance,
the prisoner would be shut up in a dark
cell and perhaps at midnight he would
be reused by the clanking of the door
chains and by the glare of lamps, and
see the magistrate before him summon
| ing him grayely to tell the truth. This
| highly dramatic measure was resorted
to in this case, and with complete sue
cess. Marx, who was a craven at heart,


fell on his knees and tremblingly con-
fessed that his other wife, with whom
he had lived under the name OF. Woll-
ner, had suspected him of his duplicity
and followed him on one, occasion to
Baden. She had threatened to surren-
der him to the authorities on the charge


of bigamy if he did not, promise to
abandon his Baden wife, and as she was
already fond of him he soothed her ire
with the promise to do so. A terrible


battle then ragged in his heart. He loved


both women, he said, But he felt that


he must sacrifice one of them. Finally


his greater love of his Baden wife, who
had been the mother of his two chill
dren, overcame his affection for the,
other, and to put her out of the way he
determined to poison her. He admin.
istered the fatal drug in cup Of choco-
late, and how he endeavored to dispose
of the corpse the facts already
narrated sufficiently showed. He was
only married to this woman q year ago,
she being an ignorant but very pretty
girl from the country, whose ruin he,
had attempted but without success, and
whom he finally married to crafty his
base passion. He told her the same
story about being travelling agent for a
large wine house which he had palmed
off on his Baden victim. 3sai4g is3u
Strange to say, after having thus fully
confessed his awful crime, Marx recant-
ed his confession before the court. He
was tried and convicted, however, and
hanged in the presence of 100000 spec
tators. On the very same morning, his
wife, who had forgiven all his deception
and iniquity,. and attended him faith


fully in prison throughout his confne-
ment, fell dead in her room just as she
was dressing to go to the last interview
which she was to have with him in pris-
on before he was led out to the place of