A few months ago a certain Frau Gimble, of Munich, was cruelly
murdered by a man. The evident motive of the deed was robbery, and
that the crime was planned and premeditated there was sufficient
evidence. Every clew and circumstance pointed to Franz Holz. He
was known to have been at or near the scene of the murder shortly
before its commission. He knew the woman, and had knowledge that she
kept a considerable sum of money in her home. He was known to have
been without money for days prior to the murder, and immediately
after the deed, and before the body was discovered, he had appeared
with a quantity of money, made some purchases, bought drinks for
acquaintances, and then disappeared.
The police were on his trail within a short time after the finding
of the body of the murdered woman. Holz had fled toward Berlin, and
a warning was sent in all directions, containing descriptions of the
fugitive.
The awfulness of the deed attracted the more attention because of
the locality and the ruthless and cruel manner of its commission.
While the police were making a rapid search for the fugitive Holz,
Hugo Devel, a well-to-do tradesman in Lubeck, surrendered himself to
the police of his home town and confessed that he, and not Holz, had
committed the crime. Devel had been in Hamburg at the time the crime
was committed. His confession, which destroyed all the evidence and
all the theories implicating Holz, staggered the detectives.