A GERMAN GIRL CRIMINAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue LIII, 16 April 1908, Page 3

A GERMAN GIRL CRIMINAL.

There are some pretty problems in heredity and criminology in the case of Fraulein Grete BeieV, the daughter of the late Burgomaster of Brand, in Silesia. .Under a demure and well-bred appearance Fraulein Grete appears to have concealed a nature quite devoid of moral responsibility. An amazing story is told of her exploits by the Berlin correspondent of the Daily j Telegraph. It appears that this pretty j and captivating damsel, who is only 23 j years of age, called one day on an engineer named Pressler, to whom she was engaged, and, having induced him to blindfold his eyes and open his mouth on the pretext that she had brought him a surprise from the fair, placed a revolver between his teeth , and blew out his brains. She then ' secreted among his papers a forged will in which he was made to bequeath to her his entire possession^. ' The trial of Grete' s mother, who was this week sentenced to two years' penal servitude for subornation, threw some interesting sidelights on the ut1 terly reprobate character of the daughter, besides showing what strange secrets the respectable house-front of a highly-esteemed burgomaster can hide. It appeared that both during and long before h<v engagement to Pressler the girl hacii vvith the connivance of her mother, tarried on a liaison with a merchfr-.i' r.amed Merker. To facilitate their nv-' : :ings the pair had hired a room in the little town of Brand, which, nevertheless, seems not to have had the slightest suspicion that Fraulein Beier was anything but a demure and well-behaved young woman. As the result of her relations with Merker the girl gave birth to three children, all of whom it is believed she at once murdered. The burgomaster was much trusted by the inhabitants of the town, and one of them confided to his keeping a small safe, containing a savings bank book, with a credit of £200, and I other valuables." The enterprising Grete procured a duplicate key to the safe, abstracted the book, and drew every penny out of the bank. When the., theft was discovered she and her mother attempted to fix the guilt on ■ j another woman, stating the exact spot in her house in which the key of the safe would be found. It came out in the "trial, however, that it had been placed there through their instrumentality. • Frau Beier further attempted to persuade one of the witnesses tb say that she had overheard the woman in question admit the committal of the theft. The most interesting point brought out, however, was that the girl had [ written to Merker on a scrap of paper [ that was smuggled out of the gaol sewed up in a blouse, telling him to go in disguise to^the principal witness against her, render her unconscious with chloroform, and then murder her. It was also shown that on the evening after the killing of Pressler she joined a party of merrymakers at Freiberg, and telephoned home that she was enjoying herself so much that she would not return, till the last train. Merker and Frau "Beier are now both serving sentences. Grete has yet to stand her trial.