A HORRIBLE CRIME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8472, 24 January 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

A HORRIBLE CRIME.

New York, December 7.—From a correspondent at Guatemala particulars were received of a murder story that contains all the features of the famous Eyraud case. One of the best-known residents of the Central American capital for years had been a retired Spanish banker named Carlos Santibanez. He was a man of considerable wealth and had so many eccentric traits that he grew to be one of the recognised characters of the place. One of the most striking of his peculiarities was his mania for always carrying a largo amount of money and valuable jewellery on his person. iNo matter where he went, his pockets were always stuffed with a small-sized fortune. On" November 12th the Spaniard suddenly disappeared. Ho had been murdered for his money, as had been so often prophesied, and in the most shocking manner. The first inkling of the truth came out on the morning of the 19th, when a Cuban living on outskirts of Guatemala offered to sell a very handsome topaz ring to a man named Cardenas, who had been an intimate friend of Santibanez. The friend recognised the ring at once as having formed one of the most valuable articles in the Spanish banker's collection of jewels, and as the Cuban offered to sell the gem for less than one-fourth of its true value, Cardenas' suspicions were instantly aroused. By filling the fellow with liquor ho learned the following horrible story :— On the night of November 12th a woman called at Santibanez's residence and on some pretext enticed him away to a house in Grito Lane, a notorious thoroughfare. In this house three assassins lay in wait, and almost as soon as the Spaniard crossed the threshold the Cuban and his two accomplices jumped en their victim. One choked aim to prevent any outcry, while the others itabbed him to death. The woman stood by while the murderers finished their work, and when the banker sank to the floor a corpse all four conspirators pounced on his body to secure valuables. Nearly £1000 in cash and a large number of valuable jewels were found in his pockets. The problem as to how the body should be disposed of was quickly solved. With a big butcher knife the body was hacked into three parts and packed into a trunk. This trunk was shipped out of the city the next day, where, the Cuban said, he did not know, but he thought that it was probably sent to the coast and out of the country on one of the American vessels. The police found evidence to corroborate the tale, and are now searching for the body and the Cuban's accomplices.