© Copyright 2020 - The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. TEL (215) 546-3181 FAX (215) 546-5167
For inquiries, please contact our IT Department
- Title
- View of the farm where the murder of the Deering [sic] Family was committed by the fiend Antoine Probst on April 7th 1866
- Description
- News print showing the farm at Jones Lane in South Philadelphia of the Philadelphia family murdered by their farmhand Anton Probst on April 7, 1866. The victims included Christopher Dearing, aged 38 years; his wife, Julia Dearing, aged 45 years; their son, John Dearing, aged 8 years; their son, Thomas Dearing, aged 6 years; their daughter, Anna Dearing, aged 4 years; their daughter, Emily Dearing, aged 2 years; family friend Elizabeth Dolan, aged 25 years; and fieldhand Cornelius Cary, aged 17 years. Depicts (left to right) "1. The Haystack" where the headless body of the first murdered, field hand Cary, was hidden; "2. The Dwelling" Probst ransacked for money and in which he shaved, changed, napped, and ate after the murder; "3. The Stable" where Probst fed the animals before his departure; and "4. The Barn" where the family was lured one by one, killed, and discovered by neighbors a few days later. Individuals walk the property, including spectators and police, and a cow stands across from two policemen in a field tilled for planting in the foreground. Also shows barren trees, carts, wagons, and other farm equipment. Probst, a German immigrant and swindler, was a disgruntled former farmhand of the Dearings who murdered the family by hammer and ax for revenge and money. He was convicted in May 1866 and executed the following month at Moyamensing Prison for the largest murder in Philadelphia at that time., Not in Wainwright., pdcp00022, Manuscript note on verso: In the ‘neck’ Philada a farm close to the Delaware River., Key to buildings depicted printed below the image., Philadelphia on Stone, Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphiana - Farms
- Date
- [1866]
- Location
- Free Library of Philadelphia. | Print and Photograph Collection. FLP Philadelphiana - Farms
- Title
- An accurate sketch from nature, of the exterior and interior of the house no. 39, Nth. Fourth St. Philadelphia, where the atrocious murder of Mrs. Rademacher was committed on the night of the 23d, March 1848, her wounds, and exact position when discovered
- Description
- Sensational print containing two views of the murder scene of Catherine Rademacher, sister-in-law of lithographer Augustus Kollner. Her husband, Charles L. Rademacher kept a bookstore and medicinal shop on the first floor of the Fourth Street address, and his residence with the Kollner family on the second and third floors. On March 23, 1848, the Rademachers were awakened by an intruder searching their bedroom who beat Rademacher unconscious and slain his wife. A broken knife, resembling a shoemaker's tool, but not the only instrument used in the slaying, was found at the scene. A recently released inmate from Eastern State Penintentiary and German shoemaker, Charles Langfeldt was convicted, and executed on October 20, 1848 for the crime despite his declaration of innocence. Upper view shows the murderer, dressed in black, including a top hat, on the rear shed roof of the red brick residence and store. He approaches an upper floor window with a shutter half open. The lower windows of the building are shuttered and a partial view of a leafless vine climbing an arbor (neighbor's yard) is visible in the left of the image. Lower view shows the bedroom and scene of the crime. The murdered woman, attired in a night dress, lies on the floor, face up, with blood surrounding her upper body. The victim has cut marks on her face, chest, and arm., Her husband lies face down on the bed. His head is positioned near the foot of the mattress. Blood stains his shoulder and the pillows at the head of the bed. Blood splatter is also visible on the wall above and the knob of a door near a dresser in the left corner of the room. Other furniture includes a chair on one side and a night table with wash bowl and pitcher on the other side of the bed. Near another door to the room, the leg of the murderer is visible as he flees through a window adorned with drapery., Manuscript note on recto: Langfelt, pdcc00017, Philadelphia on Stone, POS 9, Free Library of Philadelphia: Castner 19:11
- Date
- [1848]
- Location
- Free Library of Philadelphia. | Print and Picture Collection. FLP FLP Castner 19:11