Mysteries of Police and Crime, Vol. 1 (of 3)Griffiths, Arthur
History
Mysteries of Police and Crime, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Griffiths, Arthur
Crime; Police
Other arrests were made, Rupprecht's maid reported that three troopers
belonging to the regiment in garrison had called on her master the very
day of the murder; one of them owed him money which he could not pay,
and the others, it was thought, had joined him in trying to intimidate
the usurer. But the case of these troopers, men who could handle the
very weapon that did the deed, broke down on clear proof that they were
elsewhere at the time of the murder. The one flaw in the otherwise acute
investigation was that the sabres of all the troopers had not been
examined before so much noise had been made about the murder. But from
the first attention had been concentrated on axes, wielded by
woodcutters, and the probable use of a sabre had been overlooked. After
the troopers, two other callers had come, and Rupprecht had given them a
secret interview. One proved to be the regimental master-tailor, who was
seeking a loan and had brought with him a witness to the transaction.
Their innocence also was clearly proved; and although many other persons
were arrested they were in all cases discharged.
[Illustration: "HER BODY ... WAS FOUND IN THE WATER" (p. 40).]
The murder of this Rupprecht has remained a mystery. The only plausible
suggestion was that he had been murdered by some aggrieved person, some
would-be borrower whom he had rejected, or some debtor who could not pay
and thought this the simplest way of clearing his obligation. The
authorities could not fix this on anyone, for Rupprecht made no record
of his transactions; he could neither read nor write, and kept all his
accounts "in his head." Only on rare occasions did he call in a
confidential friend to look through his papers when there was question
of arranging them or finding a note of hand. No one but Rupprecht
himself could have afforded the proper clue; and, as it was, he had led
the police in the wrong direction.
Numerous murder mysteries have been contributed by American criminal
records. Special interest attaches to the case of Mary Rogers, "the
pretty cigar seller" of New York, who was done to death by persons
unknown in 1840, because it formed the basis of Edgar Allan Poe's famous
story, "The Mystery of Marie Roget." The scene of that story is Paris,
but the murder was actually committed near New York. Mary Rogers had
many admirers, but her character was good, her conduct seemingly
irreproachable. She was supposed to have spent her last Sunday with
friends, but was seen with a single companion late that afternoon at a
little restaurant near Hoboken. As she never returned home her
disappearance caused much excitement, but at length her body, much
maltreated, was found in the water near Sybil's Cave, Hoboken. Many
arrests were made, but the crime was never brought home to anyone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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