GHOST MURDER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 243, 14 October 1933, Page 4 (Supplement)

GHOST MURDER.

CRIME IN BAVARIA. FOUR NEPHEWS CHARGED. MONEY OF AGED WIDOW. With a fourth arrest in what is known as the ghost murder plot, the way has been cleared for one of the most remarkable murder trials in the history of Bavaria. The arrested man, Anton Bruhl, is one of four nephews of an SO-years-»ld widow who was found dead in her bed some time ago in the lonely farmhouse near Hochsladt, Bavaria. She lived the life of a hermit, having got rid of all the servants and cut off all communication with her neighbours. There were no wounds of any kind on the body, and the autopsy revealed that the woman had died from heart failure following a severe shock. Local tradition had it that the house was haunted by the ghost of a former owner who had been killed by his brother after a quarrel about his wife. The old lady, Erau Groener, was known to be a firm believer, in the ghost story, and dreaded the appearance of the "spook." The local theory was that she died from the effects of shock after a visit from the ghost, and, among others, the four neplrews came forward with a story that they had seen the ghost on several occasions prowling around the house.

"Practical Joke." The gliost theory of the tragedy was generally accepted by the neighbours, but the police inclined to the view that a more mortal agency was responsible for the death and, unknown, to the nephews, watch was kept on the house by the police. One night Anton Bruhl was cauglit coming from the house with, the old-fashioned Bavarian costume the ghost was popularly credited with wearing, and a wig and mask to resemble the "spook." His explanation was that he bad designed a practical joke to scare revellers passing that way; but the police claim that the real object of his masquerade was to lend colour to the suggestion that the old woman had in fact, died with terror on receiving a visit from the "spook." They allege that the four nephews, knowing the frail state of her health, and her terror of the ghostly visitor, had plotted to hasten her end by staging the "apparition," and that Anton Bruhl had been made up to play the part of the ghost. The motive for the crime assigned by the police is haste to inherit the aunt's hoard. Even if the nephews rebut the police charge oE murder, however, they have over-reached themselves, because the old woman's will shows that she had disinherited the nephews in favour of the local Nazi organisation.