Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1907 — BILLEK IS HANG. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BILLEK IS HANG.

tHICAGO WIZARD CONVICTED OF KILLING MARY VRZAL. Crime for Which He Will Par Penalty with Ilia I.ifc Only One of Serlca——Quick Derision by the Jury. Herman Blllek, self-admitted faker and mixer of mysterious potions, was found guilty of murdering Mary Vrzal, 20 years old, by arsenical-poisoning, and liis punishment fixed at death, by a jury in Judge Barnes’ court in Chicago, ~ - - ■ ‘ * v ' • 1 Four other members of the Vrzal family niet death by poisoning. They were Martin, the father Tillie, 18 years old, Rosie, 14 years old, and El la, 12, years old. Five indictments were returned against Billek, and this was the first case to be tried. When the verdict was read, Billek, who was standing.against a wall near the jury l>ox, staggcml ami put his hand against a pillar for support. After the usual motion for a new trial was entered the prisoner was led from thecourt roomlcf jail. He refused! oma ke a statement. IVhen the verdict was read Edna Billek, 9 years old, daughter of the convlc toil hi an, between solmexcla iured~: ; “They have deaded my papa!” Mrs. Billek fainted and wits escorted from tin* court room by her sons, Frank rind Her mail. On the other side of the court room Mrs. Emma Vrzal Niemann, the eldest Vrzal child, stood with Jerry and Bertha Vrzal. They cried when the verdict was 5 ad. Illntory of the Crimes. Martin Vrzal was a milk vender, liv-

ing with his family at 677 West 19th street When he met Billek in the summer of 1904 Billek informed. Vrzal that a rival milk vender was his enemy nnd offered to -cast a spell that would protect Vrzal from harm. Vrzal agreed, and a potion of white fluid was brewed on the Vrzal stove and strewn across the gateway of the Do nosky home across the way. For this service Billek accepted a loan. Shortly afterward Vrzal became ill and Billek administered medicine to him. Vrzal suffered from symptoms resembling the effects of arsenic poisonlug and died in a few days. In July, 1905, Mary Vrzal, the eldest daughter, and for whose murder Billek was convicted, visited Billek and told him she was 111. He gave her medicine and she died from arsenic poison. In rapid succession the deaths of other members of the family followed. Charged by her neighbors with a guilty knowledge of the manner of the deaths, Mrs. Vrzal swallowed chloroform and died Dec. 5, 1906.