VIENNA MURDER TRIAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 138, 10 June 1905, Page 13

VIENNA MURDER TRIAL.

;AX OLD MAX KILLED AND ROBBED. I A sensationaJ trial commenced at Vienna ! 'on April 26th before the criminal court. : The accused, a married pair, named Heinrich and Franziska Klein, are alleged to have perpetrated a fearful murder in October of last year. j Both belong to the upper middle class, , I Klein being a partner Ln a firm of eugrav- ■ ers. Pitseh and Klein, while his wife is the ! daughter of a well-to-do man in Bohemia, I and is well educated. Though stone deaf. j she occupied a post as governess for some 1 time. Iv order to obtain a husband she advertised she hail a dowry of 60,000 kronen, liiein answered the advertisement and married her in September. KKJ4, but seme weeks I later discovered that she had nothing, j j Reckoning on the money, he had made a Ic< nsiderabU; outlay Iv his business, and was consequently very embarrassed. j His wife promised to procure money, and I for this purpose is alleged to have renewed ' acquaintance with a rich old man named , Johann Sykora, aged "o. whom she invited Ito her house, and it is alleged that she ' strangled him. j Then the accused are alleged to have j I stripped the body, t.iklug the dead man's , : valuables and his keys, and to have gone j to his house neit morning and stolen valu- 1 able securities and a large sum of money. 1 The legs and arms of the corpse were i chopped off with an nx<\ and the body put liv a sack under a sofa. Two days later the pair fled to Paris, where they hid themselves in a garrrt in j an old house at 200. Rue Si. Heuls. where the greater part of the property was found 1 j concealed under tlte boarded floor. The i fugitives were discovered through the por- 1 traits published In the illustrated journals. I : Sykoras tiody was found eight days after thy miirrier It.v the police, who broke open I ■ th" Kleins' dwelling with difficulty. j At first the woniatl took 1 he entire blame ! UP)>U herself. Now she declared that she was not even in the room (It the time of the murder, but that her husband killed the old man while sleeping. This he denied. When the proceedings opened the galler- 1 ies of the court were crowded with well- I dressed ladies belonging to Vienna society. Franziska Klein, the female prisoner, sur- j prised everybody br her appearance. She is almost youthful in manner, possesses an ' elegant figure, a tiuo. expressive face, anrl ! 'in abundance of fair, carefully-dressed hair. Her husband. Heinrieh Klein, is tali. ' with regular features, a well-kept black heard, and a moustache with the points i 1 rushed upward. Fur the use of the female ; prisoner, who is deaf, three ear-trumpets ; lay on an adjoining table. In examination it was shown that tbe pair had planurd that Friinziska. should attract a certain creditor named Bauer, to whom Ileinrich Klein owed a large sum of money. li was arranged that the husband should catch Bailor tete-a-tete wilh Franss-i-ka ami force him to withdraw his claim. The |*loi failed. :is Bauer would not accept the wife's invitation. Her last hope lay ! with Sykora, who had promised to lend her I noon kronen. The president produced a short, sharp j j hatchet, and said: "Thin is the hatchet , I wiili which you chopped off his hands and : f*—l." Prisoner stepped forward, sei3ed the hatcher, aud raised her hand as if about to swoar. crying. "No; my husband did it." \ Two boxes wore then brought into court aud placed before the jury. One had been intended for the body of Sykora. and the other for the prisoners' travelling necessities. In reply t <j a remark of the president, ■ that Uie prisoner bad declared in Paris that ' her hnsband was perfectly inoocem. and | had known nothing r.f the murder. Franziska said-. "Upon second thoughts I refjpcteil that if he were free he would marry again. I loved him too much for that, and therefore resolved to toll the real truth— namely, that he was the assassin." In reply to a question whether he acknowledged the crime. Heinrieh Klein replied that lie was in no point guilty. He gave a detailed acconnt of how he came ! home late at night and found the corpse 1 of Sykora. A dramatic sce.ne occurred as I the puir faced each other. The wife hnrlcd fearful accusations at him. and said he had arranged trfe entire affair alone, and had : murdered Sykora. She cried all this ont in ' a high, shrill voice. Tbe president said: ' "Say this to your man's face." Frauziska started up and shouted to her \ husband. "Vmi alone are the murderer." 1 Ileinrich turned towards her and said: ', "Have you tinishe.d?" "Yes," she said, "I , have finished." Klein, with raised voice: "All that my i wire says is a shameless lie." Turning to j his wife he added: "You don't hesitate on ; the top of one crime tr. add another. Yon represent mo. an innocent man. as a thief and an assassin." Franziska: "Yon are an unprincipled scoundrel. You alone are guilty. I speak n.»w the entire truth. If you had only had one spark of self-respect, yon would have turned mc out before all this After this scene the trial was adjourned.