GERMAN GHOUL TO DIE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18888, 22 December 1924, Page 11

GERMAN GHOUL TO DIE.

GUILTY OF 24 MURDERS.

YOUNG RECRUITS BUTCHERED.

A. and N.Z. LONDON. Deo. 19. ■Haarman, the German butcher charged with the murder of 27 youths, has had the "death sentence imposed in 24 of the cases brought against .'aim.

Some alienists estimate that his atrocious and loathsome crimes number at least 60.

Haarman, in most esses, made most detailed confessions. Do spent clays giving a grim narrative of how he cut up the bodies of his victims and disposed o the fragments.

The judgment was pronounced in unparalleled circumstances.. The police had received news that a notorious fanatic was on his way to Court avowedly intending to shoot Haarman after sentence had been passed, in order to prevent any appeal for mercy.

Every person altering tho Court was searched for arms, and when the Judges entered, armed gendarmes took up a position in front of the dock.

Haarman listened to his sentences unwincingly and replied: "I accept judgment fully and without reservation. Condemn me to death. I'm not mad, though often in a state when I know nothing. Make it short and! deliver mo from a life which is a tormeni. I won't petition for mercy or appeal. I've made things easy for you; make it easy for me."

Haarman will long puzzle criminal psychologists. The evidence indicated that in ordinary life he was good-natured and friendly, yet the bulk of his grisly narrative was delivered in a tone of cheerful complaisance. He spoke for hours of the foulest and most atrocious things without revealing a trace of moral consciousness, but he faltered when he mentioned his mother.

The murders with which Haarman was charged extended back to 1918, when he was recruiting agent for the Black Reichswehr. A number of youths who were recruited for service in East Prussia novor returned to their homes. Relatives re-

ceived no news of their fate, but concluded this was duo to the exigencies of war. Suspicion fell on Haarman when first skulls and later bloodstained clothing were found near his house. Some of tho laiter was identified when Haarmau confessed to the crimes. He said he took the youths home to supper'and, after killing them, cut up the bodies under revolting circumstances. Throughout the trial Haarman displayed tho utmost indifference, giving terrible details without los 3 of composure. His counsel pleaded mental irresponsibility, but Haarman himself showed no desire to escape the extreme consequences of his crimo. A former experience of an asylum had apparently left a lasting impression, and Haarman asked for death rather than a similar incarceration.