AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY

Western Star, 27 May 1904, Page 2

AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY

New York journals to hand tell an interesting story of Mr ".■: Peter; ,4 Van Vlissingeu, a Chicago millionaire, who has conducted :.a singular sociokigicarexperiment to ■ unravel a murder mystery. Last August a saloon keeper named Wiltrax was convicted of the murder of Paul Paszkbwski, four years of age, mainly on • ~ thel evidence of Julius Wiltrax, who was the playmate of the murdered, fc 4 Little Julius cenfessed that.! his ?&ft«er W killed Paszkowski, and after the former's conviction the boy was.sent to a school in which Mr Van Vlissingeu was interested. The millionaire was convinced that Wiltr'ax was innocent, and determined upon a novel experiment to ascertain the truth. He took the boy to his home and treated him as one of the family. The best of clothes,, plenty of pocket money,-and; s luxurious food was given the lad, with ■ •:. the result that he became both mentally ... and physically transformed. ! The gutter, I child merged into a liitle gentleman. Then Mr Van Vlissingen endeavoured to discover the truth, and the boy Confessed that the evidence he gave at the trial waa forced from him by the police. They invented the details of the crime, which he learnt by heart, and repeated under threats and intimidation. It is; ; .hoped that a hew trial will be secured for Wiltrax, who everyone, believes is innocent. Should this be granted, little Julius's evidence will be of great importance.