Revealed by a Flash of Lightning. term of court before Judge David Wilmot, the author in Congress of the famous "Wil mot proviso." . But the Commonwealth was unable to prove the corpus delicti, for even if there had been a human body under the tree, there was no proof that it was Vitengruber's. The attorneys for the Commonwealth were at their wits' ends, and it looked as though the defendants would be acquitted, when a new and sensational turn in the case occurred. The last witness called by the Common wealth was the four-year-old son of Mrs. Vitengruber. Jirlge Wilmot was at first in clined to rule out the witness, on account of his extreme youth, but finally decided to hear his testimony. During the interval between the time of Mrs. Vitengruber's arrest and her trial at court, the boy had been in charge of a minister of the gospel, and his appearance in court was the first time the mother had seen her child for two months. She was much agitated when he was placed on the stand, and soon began to sob convulsively. The boy was called to testify as to several articles of wearing apparel. One was a coat, which the lad said belonged to his father. Then the lawyer held up a pretty red cap and immedi ately the child cried: "That's mine, that's mine! My mother made it for me," and ran, with extended hands to seize the cap. But before he had crossed the space be tween the witness stand and the attorney's
179
table, Mrs. Vitengruber had rushed towards him and caught him in her arms. She kissed him over and over, and then suddenly turn ing, and pointing at Ramm, she shrieked: "He done it! He killed my husband and threw him in the lake! Oh, my God, help me! The priest, the priest!" With these tragic words the woman fell to the floor, her boy still clutched in her arms. She soon became unconsious and was car ried from the court-room. So intense was the excitement which fol lowed that Judge Wilmot adjourned the court until Monday morning, it then being late Saturday afternoon. That night Mrs. Vitengruber made a full confession, acknowl edging her relations with Ramm, and her assistance in burying her husband's remains under a tree, after he had been killed by Ramm. Subsequently, after the storm had uncovered the body, they rolled the corpse into a bed-tick and took it out into the lake and threw it overboard. Before court con vened on Monday morning, Ramm had also confessed, telling how, during a quarrel about Mrs. Vitengruber, he had struck her husband on the head with an axe and killed him. Ramm was hanged in the jail yard at Laporte, Sept. 14, 1856. Mrs. Vitengruber escaped the fate of her paramour, because she became insane. Her dramatic confession in the court room caused her collapse.
