The Lampasas Daily Leader. (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 3320, Ed. 1 Friday, August 16, 1912 Page: 3 of 4
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PARALLEL
STORIES
sT FAMOUS
CRIMES
the CRIMINAL Tells
How He Planned the
Deed and Sought to Close
Every Avenue of Knowl-
edge Leading to His Guilt.
The Detective Shows How
Futile These Efforts Were and
How the Old Adage, Murder
Will Out, “Always Holds Good.”
* jrank, drank until I could drink no
more. There did not appear to be
any way in which I could be con-
nected with the headless body that
would be found some ‘day in the ex-
press otice in Baltimore,, and I actu-
ally felt happy. I began to scheme
how to get $1,600 out of the bank
that was in Bohles’ name. Then with-
out warning the blow fell. I was ar-
rested oh the charge of murder.
INSPECTOR BYRNES' STORY.
GREAT NEW YORK TRUNK
MYSTERY.
VERY criminal believes that
that he is shrewder than the
police. If he saw certain
detection confronting him
crime would be rare. The
very care taken by a mur-
ijderer to conceal his tracks often leads
(to his discovery. Such was the fate
jof Capt. Edward Unger, whose murder
of August Bohles, and The elaborate
(methods he took to throw the police
joff the track rank as one of the great-
jest “trunk mysteries” this country has
iproduced. In the following fascin-
lating parallel Capt. Unger tells of his
(crime. Inspector Byrnes then tells
(of his following step by step the
(tracks of the murderer, until the
■crime was fastened upon him.
M
CAPTAIN
UNGER'S
STORY.
I was a murderer. I had killed my
('best friend. I pressed my hands over
iiny eyes and tried to shut out from
them the horrible truth. Ugh! There
■was blood on my hands. This then
(was the end, the end of Capt. Ed-
ward Unger. No it was not the end.
“Never,” I cried in my agony,
•“shall it be said that the honorable
•career of Capt. Edward Unger, the
medal of honor man of Wilson’s
Zouaves, who won his spurs on a
dozen bloody battle grounds under
the old flag has ended like that.
My honorable career. Long since
the war I had bartered it for the life
of the low dives along the Bowery
for the association of thieves, for a
quandam alliance with the police
who learned that when information
was needed of a certain crook or a
certain crime, Capt. Edward Unger
was the man to seek. And for this
reason they did not inquire too close-
ly into my own dark actions.
The man* I killed was August
Bohles, Whom I had known intimately
for three months. In October, 1886,
II was running a little saloon on Eld-
ridge street. The business was not
good. I advertised for a partner with
some money to go into some other
'business. Bohles answered it. He
was a fine looking fellow, a German,
Who had been in this country several
years and had made money in the
(butcher business in Chicago. I liked
him Worn the first glance. He seemed
•to reciprocate the feeling. He was at
that’time in the sausage ^business, and
offered to put up the money if I would
,go into a scheme to make sausages of
Iborse meat with him. I agreed, and
ihe came to my house to live. I was
then living in two rooms on the fifth
floor front of 22 Eldridge street with
tmy son Edward, a lad of seventeen.
Bohles and I got along very well
together, but we did not do much in
the sausage line, and I was trying to
sell my saloon. He had money in the
bank, and paid half the household ex-
penses. Things ran along smoothly
I with us until the night of Jan. 20,
| -1887.
It was a bitter cold night, and the
fire got low. Bohles woke up shaking
and growling about the cold. I jumped
up quickly and began fixing the fire.
The stove was near the head of the
sofa. I had to bend on my knees to
stir up the coals with a poker. Bohles
said that he had a bad dream. He
seemed to be angry. I spoke to him
quietly, but he replied with an oath,
I rebuked him and kept poking at the
fire.
(Copyright by F. L. Nelson
He leaned toward me so that his
face was close to mine and hissed an
insult in my ear. I pushed his head
away and he sunk back on the sofa. I
thought that would be the end of it,
but he jumped up suddenly and
caught bold of the poker. He was
stronger than I, and took it from me.
He struck at me with it, and at the
same time grabbed a carving knife
that had cut the food for both of us.
I saw that he was not himself by the
look on his fate. When he came to-
ward me I retreated to the rear room.
Unfortunately there was a hammer
on a chair; Mechanically I picked it
up. I told Bohles he was making a
fool of himself, and had better go
back to the sofa- He thrust at me
With the knife, and I hit him in the
head with the hammier.
It must have been fully a half hour
before I realized that he was dead and
I had killed him.
How was l to get rid of the body?
I thought of burning it up, selling it
to medical students, throwing it over-
board. Then I hit upon what I thought
Was the best plan, but in my excite-
ment I overlooked the very things
that would have saved me harmless.
I thought I was cool, but, in fact, 1
must have been at a white heat. On
the day following the murder I went
out and bought a saw and a large rub-
ber cloth. I drank whisky to steady
my nerves. I pulled out the body, and
laid it on the rubber doth, which I
had spread on the kitchen floor. The
very carving knife which Bohlei had
intended to stick me with I used to
cut off his head. It made me sick
at first, but I had a flask of whisky
which helped me.
I put the head out of sight, as the
eyes, which were wide open, made me
uneasy. Then the work was easier
for me. I used the knife and saw to
cut off the legs and arms. Then I
took the body and forced it into Boh-
les’ trunk. I put the legs and arms
on top of the body.
The head I carefully wrapped up
in old clothes and newspapers, and
put in a bureau drawer.
I got the room cleaned up late in the
afternoon, and went out With the trunk
on my back. It was heavy, but I
managed to carry it to a liquor store
in Grand street, where I arranged to
leave it over night. Then I went to
the room mid got the head. I thought
as I walked along the streets that
everybody was looking at the' head. I
could hear the voice of Bohles in my
ears all the time. I got on the Will-
iamsburg ferryboat at Grand street,
and stood in the cold in the rear of
the boat until the middle of the river
was reached. Then I dropped the
head overboard. I thought I heard
a cry as it sank out of sight. When
the head was disposed of I felt that
the crime could never be discovered
I slept easy at home that night.
The next day was Saturday. I got
an Italian to help me carry the trunk
to Henry Bense’s saloon at 395 Kent
avenue, Brooklyn. I got a label mark
ed “John A. Wilson, Baltimore, Md.,
to be called for,” and pasted it on the"
trunk. Then I made arrangements to
ship the trunk. I called upon Mr.
Siegel in Brooklyn, a friend of Boh-
les, and told him Bohles had gone to
Chicago to live. I had examined ev-
erything in the trunk, and did not
find any thing that would lead to iden-
tification, in my opinion. I returned
to Bense’s saloon on Sunday, and
learned that the* trunk had been sent.
I felt safe then. In the reaction I
When the attention of the officials
in the Adams Express office in Balti-
more was directed to the trunk
marked “John A. Wilson, Baltimore,
Md. To be called for,” by the dis-
agreeable odor which emanated from
it, there Was a suspicion that some-
thing was wrong. The trunk was put
in an open room and was kept for
three days. No one called for it, and
the advice of Chief of Police Frye was
asked.
The trunk was broken open. The
mutilated body of a large-sized man
was found in it. . There Was no head.
The legs and arms, which had been
cleanly cut off close to the body, were
lying on top of the remains, with a
lot of bloody paper and clothing
around them. The body and frag-
ments were carefully examined for
marks that might lead to an identifi-
cation. All that could be found was
a crooked little finger on the left
hand. Matters were at a standstill
so far as the police investigation, was
concerned, when the attention of In-
spector Byrnes was called to the case.
“I was about going home.
§■!■ _ „ _ said In
spector Byrnes, “on a Wednesday aft-
ernoon when I received a telegram
from Chief Frye of Baltimore. A
headless body! That was certainly a
novelty, and I became greatly , inter-
ested. I telegraphed for further in-
formation. In the answer were three
important items. The first was the
address of a butcher anamed Siegel, in
Throop avenue, Brooklyn; the sec-
ond, a label of Westcott’s Express, in
this city; and third, a label of The
London and Manchester Plate Glass
Company, 73 and 75 Wooster street.
“I telegraphed for the trunk to be
sent on at once. I learned that it had
been seen by reporters and concluded
that the fact that I had been notified
would appear in the papers here on
Thursday morning, and if it should
meet the eye of the murderer, In case
he had not left the city, he would do
So at once. It was a case of jump and
get there. I explained the situation
to Detectives Von Gerichten, Titus
and McLaughlin, and started them
separately on the Siegel, the glass
company and the Westcott Express
clues.
‘The Siegel clue fell flat; the glass
company threw a little light on the
mystery, but the Westcott Express
proved to be the turning point in the
case. It was learned from the Brook-
lyn office of the Westcott Express that
a trunk had been sent to Baltimore
from Bense’s liquor, store, at 395 Kent
avenue, several days before. Sense
told Detective McLaughlin that a man,
a perfect stranger to him, had brought
the trurflc to his place With an Italian.
Bense remembered the names of Wil-
son and Baltimore.
“I made up my mind from the fact
that the trunk had been taken to
Brooklyn from this city. That would
be a guilty man’s natural device to
hide a crime.
“I reasoned that the trunk had been
taken probably from the east side,
and from some house near the Grand
street ferry.
“Upon this supposition I sent put a
lot of men to go through the * records
of express companies to see if any of
the expressmen remembered a trunk
like the one Bense had seen. Good
luck attended this effort, and it so
happened that‘ at the very first place
—it was Dodd’s express—at which De-
tective McLaughlin called he learned
that a similar trunk had been taken
from 546 West 40th street to 22 Ridge
etreet.
“At the 40th street house it was
learned that the trunk belonged to
August Bohles, a butcher, and the
receipt for the trunk Sn Ridge street
was signed by Edward Unger.
“I put a watch on the house at 22
Ridge street. It was learned from
the neighbors that Unger—Capt. Un-
ger he was called—-still lived there,
but the man named Bohles had gone
to Chicago. The first real connec-
tion of one of the men with the trunk
was madefwhen the detectives heard
the description of Capt. Unger. It
was the same as that given by Bense.
“The men had only a short time to
wait '-when Capt, Unger came to the
house. He Was arrested, and was
brought at once to police headquar-
ters. He laughed heartily when ac-
cused of murdering Bohles. He said
that Bohles had gone to Chicago, and
he could bring him to this city with
a telegram.
“Unger lived on the fifth floor,
front, and in the room was found
abundant evidence of butchery of
some sort. The carpet was stained
with blood, and a hammer, saw and
knife had particles of blood, on them
near the handles. There was a great
blood stain on a sofa. Bense was
brought from Brooklyn, and positive-
ly identified Capt. Unger as the man
who had brought the trunk to his
place. I learned from Mrs. Siegel the
important fact that Bohles’ little fin-
ger on the left hand Was crooked.
Unger had an iron will and more
nerve than any man I ever met under
similar circumstances.
“I placed the saw, knife and ham-
mer on my table, and I sent for the
captain. He gave a careless glance
at the tools and sat down. I talked
with him, not about the crime, and
at the same time kept handling the
tools. He did not say anything about
them nor did I.
“The trunk with the remains had
arrived from Baltimore, and I had
them and the bloody sofa that was in
Unger’s room brought to police head-
quarters. I let the captain stay in the
dark for awhile, and then I had the
trunk and sofa placed in the corridor
near his cell door.
y\ “After a while I went down to the
cells and stood-in front of Unger’s
door. As I said nothing, this made
him uneasy. After fifteen or twenty
minutes I said:
“ ‘Come out here, Cap. I want to
see you a moment.’
“ ‘All right,’ he responded.
“He stepped slowly out of the cell,
and as he passed me, I slapped him
on the back. He turned quickly, and
tliere I stood, pointing at the open
trunk, with '"its horrible contents in
full view. Unger jumped* put his
hands over his eyes and staggered
backward. I helped him gently to the
bloody sofa. He sat down without
looking. I did not say anything, nei-
ther did he, I could see him pull
himself together to face me. As ha
took his hands from his eyes he saw
the blood spot on the sofa. He jumped
to his feet, and I motioned for a de-
tective to lead him to the cell. Then
I said: ‘Now, Cap, any time that you
wish to talk to me I will be in my
office.’
“He gave me a glance* which re-
minded me of a beast at bay, but
saw that his spirit was broken. It
was only a little while when Detective
Hickey came to the office with the in-
formation that Unger wanted to see
me. I fixed the bloody tools on the
table, and alongside of them a pack-
age of labels of the glass company in
Wooster street, which had been found
in his room.
“The captain looked defiant when
he came in, but it was only the last
bluff.
“ ‘Well, inspector, I can’t beat this
game. What do you want to know?* 1 II
/“‘Who killed Bohles?' I asked
quickly.
“‘I did,’ he replied, and he acted
as if a great load had been lifted from
his mind. Then he told the story of
the butchery, and claimed that it was
done in self-defense. He was sent to
Sing Sing* for twenty years. He told
me that BOhles was looking over his
shoulder all the time, and the spectre
made him insane a short time after
he was taken to Sing Sing.”
CMGOl
l- .....
THE DRUMS
OF MEMORY
m
KgP
fKSTlj ifn
S till I
"•I La-t
m
III
ISm
IjjnrTHij
Beat the drums of memory
In a low and lulling key
Till my feet go marching on
Through the twilight and the dawn,
Backward through the paths of time
Into that enchanted clime
Where the blossoms never fade, ,V:
Where the sunshine and the shade
Dance in dapples on the grass
Of the orchards that I pass. ,
Beat the drums of memory
Till they thrill the soul of me,
And I foot the hazy miles
Into long-forgotten whiles, , '
Find the meadow and the brook 3
And the vine-bid forest nook,
Till the world that was of old—
World aglow with rose-and-gold—r
Lures me with Its hopes, forsooth.
As it did when I had youth.
Beat the drums of memory— < , I
Let the roll a rally be! • 1 • ‘
Call the boys I used to know
In the wondrous long ago—
Call them all from field and foam
Till again we are at home. ,
Let us boast, and do, and dare,
Having neither fret nor core;
Let us laugh at the far page
Where is told the tale of age. >
Beat the druths of memory
Till the old songs come to me,
Till I murmur faded tunes, YJr \SBiAi
Hum contented olden croons, s,
And the boy days all are mine;
Till my veins pulse with the wine
Of the days that were, made new j 'j
As I find my pathway through ,'•
All the ever-calling ways
Of the living yesterdays. 5 h
No, the Lawyer Wasn't a Dentist.
One dull/ day In a law office in a
small Kansas town, the lawyer and
Ris assistant were much surprised to
see entering the door a man with a
badly swollen face tied up in a big
handkerchief. Before saying any-
thing be sank wearily into a chair.
Scenting an assault and battery case,
and perhaps a damage suit, the law-
yer briskly Inquired what be could do
for the weary one, and the answer be
received was:
“Say, is this the place where you
pull teeth?”
“No,” replied the lawyer. “We
sometimes help people to cut their
teeth, but we never pull them.” .
The Choosing of a Wife.
When it shall please God to bring
thee to man’s estate, use great provi-
dence and circumspection in choosing
thy wife. For from thence will spring
* all thy future good or evil. And it Is
an action of life like unto a stratagem
of war, wherein a man can err. but
once. If thy estate be good, match
Dear home and at leisure;; if weak.
»far off and qulokly. Inquire diligently
of her disposition and bow her parents
have been inclined in their youth.
Let her not be poor, bow generous so-
ever. For a man can buy nothing in
the market with gentility. Nor choose
base and uncomely creature alto-
gether for wealth; for it will cause
contempt in others and loathing in
thee. Neither make choice of a dwarf
or a fool; for, by the one thou shalt
beget a race of pigmies; the other
will be thy continual disgraoe, and it
will yirke thee to hear her talk. For
thou shalt find it, to thy gpeat grief,
that there is nothing more fulsome
than a she-fool.—Lord Burleigh.
Way of the Truly Great.
It is easy In this world to live aft-
er the world’s opinion; it is easy in
solitude to live after one’s own; but
the great man is he who in the midst
of the crowd keeps with perfect sweet-
ness the independence of solitude.—
Emerson.
Libraries in Navy*
The navy department spends (every
year $30,000 for libraries for its ships.
Ehch “ship’s” library includes 300
books, mostly technical and more or
less expensive on that account. A
“crews’ ” library is usually made up
of about five hundred books on fiction
and of such character suitable for en-
tertainment.
About one-third of the books are re-
placed each year. The changes are
made upon recommendation of those
in charge of the ships, but it has de-
veloped that this is not a satisfactory
method, as much depends upon the
points of view on literature possessed
by the responsible persons. So it is
proposed to standardize the libraries
by making the changes in Washington,
applying them generally to all ships.
It is further held that this plan would
work for economy, effecting a saving
of from $10,000 to $15,000 a year.
One minute spent in appealing for
divine guidance appears to have been
one minute well spent.—Rochester
Herald.
this is why the pawnbroker of today
has the three balls as his sign, which
appears to be an evolution of the
three-leaf lily.
Certainly foF No Other Reason.
In China women carry their chil-
dren from baskets that bang from a
bar that crosses the mother’s shoul
ders. : Twins are desirable as pre-
serving the balance of weight, if not
for other reasons.
Nature Kind to the Giraffe.
/ Besides its long neck, the giraffe has
a useful tongue, which can be greatly
elongated, and in this state can be coil-
ed around branches for the purpose
of drawing them down..
curb
times
Information.
Aunt Sofchronia simply can’t
her curiosity, and there are
when people think she asks too many!
questions. One of these times was the
other day when she saw a man carry-
ing an old, rusty length of iron pip-
ing. It was apparent that the pipe
was no good for any practical use, and
Aunt Sophronia stopped the man and'
asked:
‘Would you mind telling me what In'
the , world you^ntend to do with that
old, wornout pipe?”
“No’m,” courteously replied the man.
“I'm a-goin’ to make bung holes for
cider barrels out of it.”
In the Good Old Days.
“Good morning, Mrs. Yvetot,” said ?
Mrs. Stonehenge, leaning over the wall
of the moat between their houses.
“Could you lend me your heavy ham-
mer, your pincers and four or five riv-
ets, and your cold chisel?”
/‘Certainly,” replied Mrs. Yvetot, go-
ing Into, the house and fetching out:
the desired articles. “Are you doing!
some sewing for the children?1’
“No. Mr. Stonehenge ripped his
Sunday trousers yesterday on a hal-
berd, and I want to mend them. Luck-
ily, I have kept the samples of the
iron they are made of.”
Origin of Pawnbrokers’ Sign.
On the doors of early Florentine
bankers was the three-leaf lily sign,
the lily being the emblem of Flor-
ence, and claim -is now made that
Men of Various Pursuits.
A policeman, a quarryman :nd a
roadmender were among the prize
winners at an arts and crafts exhibi-
tion held in Yorkshire (England) vil-
lage recently.
One cannot improve on nature. The
universal is not to be corrected b/
the partial.
Enterprising Wooer. |
“Young Winnem keeps abreast of the
times,” remarked Mr. Gooph.
“He seems to be enterprising,”
agreed Mr. Wooph.
“Enterprising? Well, 1 should say
he is. He is courting my daughter,
and he has employed a press agent to
boom him.”
Unreasonable Man.
“John is so unreasonable,” said Mrs.
Muchwedd. “Why, would you believe
it? He talked just dreadfully because
I wanted to give a little party in cele-
bration of the fifth anniversary of my
first diyorce.”
One Resemblance.
“No,” said Mr. Meddergrass to the
restaurant man, “No, I’ll not say your
pie is jest like mother used to make,
but I’ll say this, it’s purt’ nigh as
crusty as she used to git.”
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Vernor, J. E. The Lampasas Daily Leader. (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 3320, Ed. 1 Friday, August 16, 1912, newspaper, August 16, 1912; Lampasas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth889278/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Lampasas Public Library.