1896 The Crämer Case - Seattle History - Famous 19th Century Double Murder Trial

Description

"The house of the brewery worker Müller was seen burning, and when the neighbors put it out, they found that Frau Müller and her child had been murdered. The murderer had cruelly smashed both skulls and faces with a hammer. Large pools of blood were found, stains of blood on the wall and stove. Some suitcases had been broken into and a sum of money stolen."
The Crämer Case:
A Drama from German-American Life - How To Fabricate Evidence Against a Helpless German Worker - Authentic Representation of the Famous Criminal Case - Based on a Lecture by Mr. O. F. Wegener of Seattle, Wash., on May 18, 1896 in Philadelphia, in the hall of the German Society of Pennsylvania.
Otto Frederick Wegener. Tacoma, Wash.:
"WACHT AM SUNDE",
1896. First Edition. German text. Rare 8vo. 21 pages. Includes appendix: omissions, new evidence of Crämer's innocence obtained since the above lecture (p. 15-16), and news about Crämer's alibi witnesses (p.17-21).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Original wrappers, stapled. Exhibits chipping at extremities, dusted - call number penned at foot of cover wrap - textblock clear and unmarked - acceptable condition overall.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Concerns the famous criminal case of Henry Craemer, a German immigrant accused of the brutal murder of Phillipina Mueller and her child on August 13, 1894, as told by his defense attorney O. F. Wegener, of the Seattle law firm Wegener, Lace and Pratt. His conviction, which carried the death penalty, was based entirely on circumstantial evidence, and the sensational crime that shocked the nation would go through several appeals.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The defense noted Craemer's untarnished reputation within the German community, and especially focused on the ongoing corruption within local politics at the time, which they claimed led to his arrest, as the incoming Chief of Police, Bolton Rogers, used the case to deflect attention from his past misdeeds and pinned the case entirely on Craemer, employed at the time at Seattle's Bayview Brewery.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         "Since the whole area of South Seattle is notoriously unsafe, the depository of numerous tramps and suspects, and is close to the water, where the criminals can easily escape by boat without a trace, the public demanded the discovery of the perpetrator of this most brutal double murder, and that he be brought to justice....For years the ruling party in Seattle has made it a rule to elect a man as chief of police who has a political "pull" in the city's Whitechapel district. This part of town with its prostitution, dance and gambling halls, and cheap liquor bars and hotels are the abode of a great majority of the unmarried men who are constantly flowing in and out of the cities of the northwest, and cast a large number of votes on election days, most of which are controlled by the owners of the playhouses, who turn a blind-eye or both eyes from the frequent transgressions of these people, can dispose of the votes for his party that are controlled from within, and becomes a great nuisance through this political bull."