Murder without scruples

The year is 1854. At that time, the widow Jacob lived with her delightful daughter Marie in a house on Breiten Gang in the Neustadt district of Hamburg. The widow, who worked as a laundress, was extremely popular in the neighborhood. She and her daughter, who received many marriage proposals but rejected them due to her young age, were hard-working women who lived a secluded life. Widow Jacob was considered wealthy, as she was able to live alone with her daughter in a house. It was May 7, 1854, when the widow Jacob took her daughter on a Sunday outing, as the beautiful spring weather was simply inviting. She met her immediate neighbor, master turner Vernimb, a respected citizen and family man who was a loyal customer of the laundress. After her outing, Marie set about cleaning the stove. At around 9:30 p.m., the 15-year-old apprentice of the gunsmith Mayer knocked on the widow Jacobi’s front door. He had been asked by the master’s wife to deliver a bundle of laundry to Mrs. Jacobi. But even though the light was on, no one opened the door. The young lad then knocked wildly on the door again. This attracted the attention of the neighbors. After he had explained his errand, they sent him away, as the two women were probably already in their nightclothes and didn’t feel like opening the door for him. So the boy left without having accomplished anything. The next morning, none of the neighbors saw the two women, who always left for work on time and stopped at the bakery to buy bread beforehand. Since the lights were on but no one opened the door, the neighbors alerted the police. Two officers went to the house. But no one opened the front door for them either, so the police broke it down. Shortly after entering the house, they made a gruesome discovery. The laundress was lying dead on the floor with her head smashed in and knife wounds to her neck and throat. Next to her lay a blood-stained knife, which, as it later turned out, came from her own household. But where was her daughter Marie? They found her at the bottom of the basement stairs, lying in a large pool of blood. Like her mother, her head had probably been smashed in with a hammer, and she also had knife wounds to her neck and throat. The investigation revealed that the women had been victims of a robbery-murder, as all their cash was missing. During a search of the house, the officers found a second bloodstained knife that did not belong to the household and a men’s undershirt that was lying on the floor and not in the baskets of dirty laundry. Just a few days later, the funeral of the two women took place, attended by many Hamburg residents who came to pay their last respects. Among them were their neighbor, master turner Vernimb, and his 19-year-old apprentice Arnold Wilhelm Timm, who was the son of a respected widow and lived with the master in his house. Shortly after the funeral, Timm informed his master that he was quitting to work for his brother. However, he wanted to stay with his master until May 9. The police investigated intensively and questioned many people, including master Vernimb. They showed him the knife and the undershirt, which the master identified as belonging to his apprentice. Since the police knew that the apprentice Timm was close friends with the shoemaker’s apprentice Bonneck, they turned to him. They wanted him to spy on his friend Timm. As luck would have it, Timm brought his boots to Bonneck for repair. When Bonneck had finished his work, he demanded his wages from Timm. Since Timm had no money with him, he had to go and get it first. A quarter of an hour later, Timm returned with a handful of Prussian talers with dirt stuck to them. Bonneck showed these to the police, who believed that they came from the robbery and that Timm had buried them. Bonneck was instructed to continue shadowing Timm. The two of them now often went to pubs, where Timm, who was now unemployed, always paid. He claimed that his brother had given him the money as an advance. Timm was summoned to the police station for questioning. On the second day, he made a full confession based on the knife, the undershirt, and the money. He had been planning for a long time to rob the widow, who was considered wealthy. He put his plan into action on May 8 at around 9 p.m. He knocked on his neighbor’s door to give her his undershirt for cleaning. Suspecting nothing, she let him into the house, where he killed her with a hammer from his master’s workshop. Then he stabbed her in the neck with a knife from the workshop. Marie had heard her mother’s screams and ran to her. When she saw her mother lying dead on the floor, a fight ensued between Marie and Timm. He hit her on the head with the hammer and stabbed her in the neck, causing her to fall down the basement stairs. Timm wanted to look for cash. But suddenly the young boy knocked, only to be sent away by the neighbors after a while. Timm now searched for the cash, but found only 100 marks in Prussian talers, as the widow had deposited her money in the savings bank. Disappointed, he left the apartment, locking it with the key he had taken. He then went to the “Pfannkuchenkeller” restaurant, where he dined like a prince before really letting loose at the “Ehebrechergang” brothel. Arnold Wilhelm Timm was sentenced to death by guillotine by the lower court. This sentence was upheld by the higher court nine months later. An appeal for annulment and a petition for clemency from his mother were rejected. On April 10, 1856, the sentence was carried out. Before his execution, Arnold Wilhelm Timm smoked eight cigars and ate a beefsteak. Then the double murderer was executed with the mechanical guillotine in the backyard of the prison. Thus ended the young life of the robber and murderer Arnold Wilhelm Timm.