HUMAN MANIAC.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 179, 30 July 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

HUMAN MANIAC.

TERROR OF A NATION. BLOOD LUST OF KURTEN. SEVENTY CRIMES IN THIRTY YEARS.

Peter Kurten will always be known as " The Monster of Dusseldorf" for bis series of horrible murders which terrified the whole of Germany. He was one of the most abnormal men of history, and his wholesale slaughter of young women earned for him the title of varupire. " The most extraordinary and horrible point about Kurten's nocturnal prowling," says Margaret Seaton Wagner in her book. " The Monster of Dusseldorf," " lay in the association, with the werwolf and vampire of ancient tradition. It was his habit, and his principal satisfaction, to receive the stream of blood that gushed from his victim's wounds into his mouth." Kurten was an extraordinary criminal, and "Jack the Ripper," who scared London with his fiendish murders, was a child in crime compared with him. Apart from cases of theft, brutality, and menaces with intent to do bodily harm, Kurten's record is probably without precedent in history. He was guilty of 09 serious crimes between 1899 and 1930. His first crime was in 1899, when he attempted to strangle an 18-year-old girl. From that moment he had a lust for' blood and destruction. Nearly ill his victims were women. In 46 cases he either killed or attempted to kill people, generally by strangulation, but sometimes by blows of a hammer or an axe or by stabbing with scissors.

Two Hangman's Meals,

Going through his list of murders and attempted murders one is struck by the way in which he kept to one particular form of attack for a long time, and then changed to another. As a relief from murder he found variety in arson, and 22 attempts are to his record. The majority of these were between 1927 and 1029, when there was not a single case of direct human violence. Then began that series of brutal murders of children, women, and men in ' and around Dusseldorf, which startled Germany and eventually aroused the attention of the whole world.

" Peter Kurten was born a Catholic, and died fortified by the rites of his

brought a woman assistant with him upon the whiteness and temptingness of the lady's throat. . "He was in so collected a frame ot mind that he demanded his last meal—the hangman's meal—twice over, after expressing the wonder whether sufficient consciousness remained to the victims of the guillotine to hear his own blood gush forth. He wae a particularly soft-spoken and gentle-mannered man." In the succeeding chapter is given a list of all the crimes that Kurten committed between February 9, 1929, and the date of his arrest in May, 1930. It is extraordinary to read how this man was able to entice girls and young women, and either slay them or maim them tor life. , Historic Hold-up. From all over the world crime investigators repaired to Duseeldorf to try and trace the person responsible for the orgy of murder and maiming. All sorts ot devices were adopted to try and catch the murderer out. One of these was sending a woman through Dusseldorf dressed in the clothes of one of the victims, in the hope that it might lead to someone identifying the wanted man, who might have been seen with her. Relics were exhibited at some of the local theatres, and for nearly twelve montha the whole populace was given up to avoiding the murderer or discovering his identity. A weak-minded man was arrested as being responsible for the crimes. He was locked away, and for a brief period there was no repetition of the murders. The people of Dusseldorf thought that once more they could follow the even tenour of their way. Then suddenly the town was shocked by another murder done in the same manner as the previous ones. Once more there was fear and excitement. Once more the best brains in crime investigation were enlisted to solve the problems which grew more baffling and perplexing every day. Outrage followed outrage. Women and girls were slain and buried. And the murderer, gloating in his triumph, drew plana of the scenes of the murders, and snowed the spots where he had buried the bodies. These were sent to the police and to the local newspaper. At first they were regarded as a hoax, until investigation proved that they must have come from the guilty person, for the bodies were found as described. But every criminal makea a mistake if he goes on long enough. And Peter Kurten at last made the mistake which led to his arrest, trial and execution. He enticed one girl to his room. Then he took her into the woods near Dusseldorf and attacked her, but did not kill her. She went to the police and gave a sufficient description, which enabled them ■to visit the rooms where Kurten lived, and shortly afterwards he was put under lock and key. Kurten was responsible for the greatest "hold-up" in history. In Duseeldorf alone 9000 people were questioned, while throughout Germany 900,000 people were "denounced" as being responsible for the crimes. Kurten delighted in all this notoriety. He was a criminal who will live in history, and bo an object of study among psychologists and sociologists.