CRIME IN GERMANY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 226, 23 September 1922, Page 19

CRIME IN GERMANY.

AN AMAZING MURDERER. l A strange problem in criminal psychology has Just confronted the German police. Ou bis own apparently gratultious confession— which, however, is confirmed by subsequent s inquiries—he is the perpetrator of two of n the most cold-blooded of the many atrocious murders committed in Berlin since tbe war. He Is also, according to the testimony of d his acquaintances, a man of culture, con- T siderable literary gifts, great Industry, and el a social charm which expressed Itself par- c tlcularly in devotion to children. S The name of this curious monster is Wilhelm Blume. Both his Berlin victims d were postmen, and one of the crimes ' caused more than the usual stir because it t was carried out In the Hotel Adlon. gen- t erally regarded as the city's most dis- ' tingulshed guest house. In Germany money I sent by post is delivered to the consignee in i hit* dwelling, and the officials who do thl6 a work, and who In certain districts must £ carry very large sums, have long been the ravourite quarry of the garrotter. j The method usually adopted by the ' robber Is to waylay them in v lonely street c or on an unfrequented staircase, but Blume s had a more elaborate plan. He lured them actually Inlo bis own room by sending c himself money through the post. On the c occasion of his first known exploit he was in furnished apartments. His landlady had ' the misfortune to enter his room while he l was killing the postman, so he cut her ': throat. In the Adlon he persuaded his « victim to sit down, found some pretext for £ getting behind him, and then slipped a <■ noose over his head and strangled him. Last year, when the police were begin- ' nlng to forget lo look for the murderer, he < was playing i|iilte a prominent part in the 1 literary life of Dresden. Thanks to his I mastery of onr language, he was able to ' pass himself off as an English author and i the owner of large plantations In Brazil. In this disguise he played the part of the generous owner of high-valued currency, ' and children were the special beneficiaries of his largesse. He worked Industriously ' at the translation of English plays, one of which was produced at Dresden with great success. ! These activities, however, were not yet yielding enough to cover Bluiue's reckless expenditure, and he attempted to repeat | his old trick in the entrance hall of a i Dresden house. This time his plan was not so carefully laid, and his preparations aroused the suspicions of one of the tenants, who sent for the police. Blume met them with a revolver In each hand. shot one of them, and bolted. Finding his retreat cut off he tried to commit suicide. bnt after he had wounded himself in the ! hand his weapons both missed lire, and he I was overpowered. I Blume Is unlikely to live to expiate bis atrocious crimes on the scaffold. When | taken before the examining Judge and asked to show his identification papers, he instead produced a revolver. This started a life and death struggle, during which a policeman received three bullets In his body before be snereeded in grappling Blume by the throat and flinging him down a Bight of stairs in a half-strangled condi- lon. By his fall the murderer w;is so seriously injured In the spine that he Is not expected to recover. Another bestial crime has Just been cleared up in Bavairia. One evening last winter six Inmates of n lonely peasant farm were enticed out of the house, one by one to a barn, and there slaughtered with .axes. Recently an old woman admitted in j the confessional box that the murder was committed by her two sons, young men ! known in the neighbourhood for their I violence. The priest urged on the woman that it was her duty to give Information to the police. This she eventually did. One of the murderers was arrested, but the other managed to escape."