FIENDISH TREATMENT OF BROTHER

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 128, 24 February 1930, Page 11

FIENDISH TREATMENT OF BROTHER

ANOTHER CASE OF REVOLTING CRUELTY

WEALTHY GERMAN FAR- ' MER ARRESTED

(United Preje Association.—By Electric 1 Telegraph.—Copyright) (Rec. February 23, 5.5 p.m.)

London, February 22.

A ease of fiendish cruelty, even eclipsing the Mont Sevello case, is reported from Berlin.

The police discovered a creature that once was a man, with long hair and fingers and-toes resembling claws, on a farm near Frankfort, on the Oder, following receipt of an anonymous letter. The creature is fifty-five years old. His brother, a wealthy farmer, kept him for twenty-.ive years in captivity in a back loft, the window of which was not only barred, but plastered up. He was fed with pigwash, and when found was in the filthiest condition, utterly naked, and unable to speak an intelligible word.. He resembled an ape rather than a human being. As his rescuers entered his prison he shrank back, covering his face with his hands,'and uttered a series of pitiable, inarticulate sounds He could not walk, and had to be carried to hospital. When fed on a dish of bread and milk, he plungdd both hands into the basin, and the nurses had to feed him with a spoon like a baby What makes the crime worse is that his mother’s will specifically allotted the wealthy brother £6OO to help maintain the half-witted son. Neither the brother’s wife nor three daughters manifested the least pity for the prisoner. Even the villagers who were aware of the man s existence, had not reported the matter. The brother was arrested after he Imd threatened three detectives with a shotgun. ... , e The doctors say the victim has suffered so much mentally and physically from his confinement that it is impossible that he will ever be an intelligent human being again. The Mont Sevello ease referred to in the message was Reported on Saturday. A woman aged 30 was locked up for three years in a small, dark cellar, which was in an indescribably foul condition and was unheated. The. unfortunate creature was clothed in a few rags which had to be soaked in water before being cut off with a pair of scissors. She is the merest skeleton and her hair is quite grey. Her scanty food supply was pushed through a small hole in the wall. Her parents were arrested.