CRIME IN GERMANY.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 271, 13 November 1909, Page 17

CRIME IN GERMANY.

A SEASIDE-TRAGEDY. Attention was recently called to a-Beri_* of murders, or attempted murders, for the purpose of robbery, which 'save-been com- . mitted during the last eighteen months at German holiday resorts".' The morning o* September 30th brings the news'of yet another "■ crime ! of" this "order; • -which 6i_rpa'sses all it's predecessors in "horror and . mystery* if" only because the assassin hat claimed two victims and vanished without leaving, so fir as is known at- present, a. single trace'that might--lead to his detection. •■ -- -.;,- The scene of the tragedy was one of th* . most picturesque and frequented" spot* - on the Island 'of ' Rti_gen", the favonrlttbathing ground of the in___b._".n_s' of Berlin. To the north of Sas-scifc-, which" al--most deserves to be called -the Brighton ot Germany, stretches a 'thlcSly-"woodedi plateau. This" c-iminates'iii a magnificent chalk cliff, known ns which rears' its snowy "face 'a sheer 4Ooft out of the wayes-;of the Baltic. Sea. Tht footpaths rwhich lead to the "cliff form' thi favourite promenade .for Sasshifr-I sun*." met guests. On this afternoon a party hf ,visitor* which had taken this directldtt was horrified to* come across the lifeless bodies of • man and a woman lying In the-clearing ol the woods. The corpses, which were eefarated from one another by 4 distance of some thirty yards, were evidently thds_> of peopT-~l_T_. "good "position in life. Bbt-1 of them were positively riddled with tra--. lets. The . man's body showed five shot wounds in the head and breast, and thi woman's three. •- ■ ;: . . " . -.' ' No signs of a struggle-were apparent. Neither mohey nor valuables of., any sort were to be found oh either of the bodle-i which at once pointed to robbery, as /ti_i motive of the. qrlrde.. No weapon ,could be discovered in few. spent cartridges from a Browning - pistol were lying some-distance away. •-■»

• At first the mystery was deepenea : by lh# absence of any marks of identity on the bodies. They have, however, since beea Identified as those of Pastor Vercnehren and Ms wife, from EetscnoTr, near Doher* atf, in iVfcckienbnrg. Both mjoyed the greatest popularity in their parish, and were renowned for their good works. They hud been spending their fortnight's holiday at Goehren, In Ituegeu. One report mention* witnesses -who saw the pastor *nd *Is wife struggling • with one another, and conjectures that one of them may have killed the otlier and then committed suicide. AIT the other circumstances of the tragedy," however, seem to exclude this possibility. •■