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Show oISTORiC Rausehnialer stilt lived in town ar'l nt was arrested at once, although there was no other reason for connecting him with the crime tlian the lact thai he was living in the house when the woman disappeared. He was not at all disturbed by his arrest. In fact, being be-ing possessed of a sense or numor, lie seemed much amused, and remarked that the stupidity of the police was ridiculous. He was taken to the morgue anil shown the remains of the woman, and muttered some words of sorrow and sympathy. Not Dy the quiver of an eyelash did he show any symptom of guilt or uneasiness. The olticers who accompanied him on this grisly errand were convinced that ku was innocent. He was examined over and over by the magistrate, and he never varied from his original story, except that h i admitted having stolen several smali articles before leaving the womau'a house. 'He was desperately hard up at the time, was his excuse. At last the magistrate seemed discouraged. dis-couraged. He had laid all kinds of traps for George, and they had failfxi. The man couldn't be confused or rattled rat-tled by any manner of questioning. So the magistrate said: "I believe you are guilty, but it seems impossible to prove it, so I suppose you must be turned loose, hut for the present the court will retain these ariclea of yours." The articles were certain ctieap pieces of jewelry which had been found in Itausehniaier's room after his arrest. Among them the magistrate had placed the brass ring. George protested at once against this injustice. The articles were his. own, and the court had no right to keep them. He made a great fuss, and the magistrate looked embarrassed and dubious. "You are positive these things ar your own?" he inquired, indifferently. "Absolutely," replied George. "That brass ring, for instance?" "It is mine. I wore It for years." George slipped it on his finger, which it fitted loosely. "You have confessed !" said the magistrate, mag-istrate, sternly. The facts wore explained to him, and the dilemma he found himself in did what all the questioning and THE BRASS RING. Anna Holzmnn, fifty years old and with the face and manners of a Gypsy, lived in a rented house in the outskirts out-skirts of Augsberg. Anna moved in a mysterious way and her neighbors didn't knbw what to make of her. She was always asking charity, for one thing, yet it was generally believed that she had saved a large sum of money and had it hidden away somewhere. some-where. The house she occupied was larger than she needed, so she furnished a large room and took two lodgers, young men named George Rauschmaier and Joseph . Steiner. It was in April, 1821, that the neighbors neigh-bors began to wonder where Anna was. It occurred to them suddenly that they hadn't seen her for two weeks. Inquiry revealed the fact that George and Joseph had changed their lodgings, and they were hunted up and questioned. They had no idea where the woman-was, they said. She had She Screamed "Murder" at the Top of Her Voice. badgering had failed to accomplish. He broke down and made a full confession. con-fession. He had faith in the stories that Anna Holzmnn was rich, and had a large sum of money concealed in her house. He watched her for a long time, and finally concluded that she kept her money in a strong chest which was always carefully looked. His original orig-inal idea was merely to steal the money, but he concluded after a time that this couldn't be don without removing re-moving the woinan. So he waited for an opportunity. One day Steiner went out to be gone a considerable time, and Rauschmaier Rausch-maier felt that his chance had come. He stepped up behind the poor woman and placed his big muscular hands about her neck. She was small and weak, and died in his hands with but little struggle. Then he carried the body to the garret and dismembered it and concealed the fragments, where they had been found. The head he threw into the canal. That head had been found by a farmer shortly after the crime, but he threw it back into the canal, fearing it would get him into trouble. Having committed one of the most cold-blooded murders ever recorded in criminal history, Rauschmaier went to the chest to get his reward. The only valuables in the chest were eight kreutzers. So he had done his hideous work for a few coppers. Steiner was found and testified for the prosecution and Rauschmaier was convicted. He was sentenced to stand in the pillory for several hours, and then to have his head cut off with a sword. Appeals of clemency were made so the court generously remitted remit-ted the pillory sentence, and nothing more serious than decapitation happened hap-pened to him. The probability is that the crime would never have been brought home to him but tor that worthless brass ring. disappeared suddenly and they supposed sup-posed she would be back In a day or two; but time went on and she didn't return, so they left the house, after reporting re-porting her absence to the landlord. They were not much surprised by her disappearance, they said, as she was forever doing strange and unaccountable unaccount-able things. The neighbors knew that this was true, so no suspicion was aroused. Anna's brother appeared on the scene, and, after going through the house with the officers, declared that many small articles had been stolen. Here proceedings halted. It seemed Impossible to shed a ray of light upon the mystery. Rauschmaier and Steiner Stein-er were questioned over and over, but all that they could tell was unimportant. unimpor-tant. Time passes at Augsberg, as elsewhere, else-where, and a new year was ushered in before a solution of the problem appeared. ap-peared. The house occupied by Anna had stood vacant since her disappearance disappear-ance and one day in January, 1S22, a laundress of the neighborhood wanted to dry some linen, and it occurred to her thnt the garret of the vacant houce would be a good place. She went into the house slyly but calmly, with her basket, and ten minutes min-utes later she emerged from it as though shot from a gun She screnmed "murder!" at the top of her voice, and the neighborhood was aroused. She had made a hideous discovery in the old giutet, nnd when she had told bet story the officers were sent for and a procession climbed the stairs of the Holzmr.n home, and proceeded into the attic. There the body of the missing woman was found, but in such a condition con-dition that even the officers, who were old soldiers, were shocked. The unfortunate woman had been dismembered. Portions of her body were found in an old heap of rags in one corner; another part in the chimney; chim-ney; another under a loose board in the lloor. For some reason decomposition decom-position bad not occurred, and it was easy to identify the scattered body as that of Anna Holzmnn, although the head had disappeared. A medical officer found under a heap ot rubbish the left arm ot the woinan. It was doubled together at the elbow Joint, nnd when he tried to straighten it, a bniss ring fell to the floor. It was the first uud only valuable clew to the murderer. The doctor reasoned that It hnd fallen from his finger while he worked, and had been held in place on the arm by muscular contraction. The ring was turned over to the magistrate vho took charge of the case. Btelnor bad disappeared, bat |
