OCR Text |
Show BISfORK CRIES iYSIRS THE MASSACRE AT THE MILL. It was a hot August night in 1877, and Horr Weidlg of Vogelalierg, couldn't Hleop. Mo lay In bed abusing tlio climate, and wishing morning would come. Thud being wide awake, ho lost no time when ho heard a frantic fran-tic rapping at the outer door. He put his head out ot the window and behold be-hold a IILtle girl at the door beneath him. "Illmmel!" he crlod; "If that is not little Bertha Yungor, with nothing on but her shirt. Was 1st los, meln Kind?" Little Bertha, In a panic of terror, gasped out that her mother and broth-or broth-or wero murdered, and the house burning burn-ing down. Herr Weldig looked away In the direction of the Yunger home and saw a rod glare, growing stronger every moment. He lost no time, but alarmed the village, and in a short tlmo every villager able to walk was headed for the fire. Arrived there some of them rushed boldly into the burning house, and rescued the baby, s'.oeplng calmly In his crib. And in doing bo they stumbled over two dead bodies, that of Mrs. Yunger and her eldest non. Ludwig Yunger was a prosperous man. He owned the Spring Oil Mill, close to the village of Vogelsberg, and was discovered that Ludwig had drawn a large sum of money from the bank the day before the tire. Perhaps, in collusion with Reinhardt, he had left tie country and abandoned his family. Hut there was no reason why ha should murder his wife and son, even If he did that. So one theory after another an-other was taken up and abandoned, and meanwhile every square foot ol the countryside was being searched for evidence. And it throws an interesting light upon circumstantial evidence as an in btltution that the belief In Keiuhardt's guilt grew into a certainty, and everything every-thing tile man had said and done since his coming to the neighborhood became be-came proof, as of holy writ, that he was the malefactor. Everybody re niembered something which, in the light of the murders, demonstrated his evil Intentions. Had Bertha remained in her disturbed mental condition, it is almost a certainty that the truth would never have been known. But Bertha regained her faculties under the wise ministrations of the physicians, and when she was able to speak the cloud was lifted from Rein-hardt's Rein-hardt's reputation She had seen her mother and brother murdered, and the slayers were Langoltz and his son. Her father and Reinhardt had gone away from home early in the evening, and the rest of the family retired at the usual time. Bertha heard a knock at the door and went to the head ot the stairs to see who the visitor was. Her mother opened the door, and there stood Langoltz. He struck her down with a clubbed gun. Herman, hearing the noise, emerged from his bedroom and Btarted down the stairs, when Langoltz sho' him. Then the poacher entered the house, went to Ludwig's desk, pried it open, and took a roll of gold from it He saw Bertha, but paid no attention, to her; she soon realized why. Tu son came with an armful of Inflamnible stuff, scattered It over the floor, and set fire to it. They meant to burn her alive. When the murderers left the house the brave little girl she was only ten years old tried to leave after them, but the floor was all ablaze; with great presence of mind she took blankets from the beds, and spread them before her on tho floor, and thus managed to get out of the house, badly scorched, when she ran. to Weldlg's and then she romembered no more. Langoltz and his son, against whom there had been no breath of suspicion up to that time, were arrested, and in N-ff Mitel fA3v i .ii i ii ii ,. nn? i - , fffn hi "- :Jga,3fc' He Struck Her Down With a Clubbed Gun. a short distance from Weimar. His fnmUy consisted of his wife, four sons and the daughter Bertha. Two of the sons attended school at Weimar; the eldest, Horman, assisted in the mill, and the fourth was tho baby. All the Yungers were Industrious and economical, econom-ical, and highly respected throughout v the countryside. Ludwig had but one ; weakness, and that was hunting, i Whenever possible he took his gun I and went to the woods, and his com panion on such expeditions was an elderly man named Langoltz, who was a notorious poacher. In the summer of 1S77 the water behind be-hind tho dam was low, and there was not enough power to run the mill steadily, so Ludwig decided to have tho machlnei v thoroughly overhauled. So he engag yl an expert machinist named Reinhardt, who was a stranger In the neighborhood. Reinhardt boarded board-ed with the Yunsers, and soon became a fsvorite of the family. He had fo'ifrht in the recent war, and had many good stories to tell. He was good to the children, and excellent company for them all. But he was extremely ex-tremely reserved about his own history, his-tory, am1 ilttle was known about him, even w'ien he had been In the neigh-Vrniood neigh-Vrniood for weeks. fhts was the condition of affairs at tho oil i-iill before the fire. That fire destroyed the house and barn, and part of the mill itself; and when the startled star-tled neighbors and the authorities had investigated everything, they confronted con-fronted a baffling mystery. There were the bodies of Frau Yunger and Herman. They had been murdered. The son had been shot, and the mother's moth-er's skull had been 'crushed. But where were Ludwig and Reinhardt? There was no sign of them anywhere. Little Bertha, after giving the alarm, had sunk into a condition approaching Imbecility, and the doctors refused to havo her questioned saying that her reason would be permanently impaired If she wera molested at that time. The days went by, and still there was no clue to the whereabouts of Ludwig Yunger and the machinist. All eurts of theories were framed up It their house was found a quantity of gold coin to which their title was not clear. They both protested ttieir innocence inno-cence when arrested, but the old man practically confessed b committing suicide in his cell. His dead body wa3 found swinging behind the door when the jailer entered his cell, the morning after his arrest. For a time the younger Langoltz stuck to his story, to the effect that he knew nothing of the murders. And still tho fate of Reinhardt and Ludwig remained a mystery. But the solution came in October, two months after the crime. A farmer, plowing one of his fields, turned up a human hand. Then he got a spade and dug and turned up the bodies of the two missing men They had both been shot, and the machinist's ma-chinist's head had been beaten in. When Langoltz learned of this discovery, dis-covery, and was accused of the murder, mur-der, he broke down and confessed the whole story, only trying to throw the responsibility on his father. The two of them had learned of the money Yunger had drawn from the bank, and determined to have it. But they were afraid to try robbery at the house while all the members of the family were at home; so they went to Yunger and Reinhardt and told them of a deer they had seen, and invited them to go along and try to get it. Always eager for that variety of sport, Yunger gladly glad-ly agreed, s:Cs induced Reinhardt to go along, '.'"ion they reached a secluded p'-tce. the two poachers lagged behind j 8 ad shot their victims from the rear. Ludwig dropped dead, but Reinhardt i was only wounded, wherei.jion the Jlder Langoltz clubbed him to death. Then they buried the bodies, and went back and robbed the house, after slaying slay-ing the mother and son. This crime shocked the country as it had not been shocked In a hundred yeais; and in order to efface, as far as possible, all traces of it, the commune of Vogelsberg bought the Yunger property frcm the heirs, razed all the ruinee buildings to the ground, filled up th mill dam. and planted the place to fues. TLe younger Langoltz was tried, convicted and beheaded. |