Contra Costa County CA Archives History - Books .....Murder-Suicide Of Langbhens 1882
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Book Title: History Of Contra Costa County, California

MURDER OF ____ LANGBHEN.—The following particulars relating to this tragedy,
which occurred near Marsh Landing on May 16, 1879, are an excerpt from the San
Francisco Bulletin of the time: The tules in the vicinity of Antioch were the
scene of a horrible tragedy last Friday morning, consisting of the murder of two
children, aged respectively six and four years, by their father, and the
latter's suicide. Some six weeks ago he took up his quarters on a vegetable
ranch owned by his nephew near Marsh Landing, a place about five miles from
Antioch. Langbhen and his family were fresh from Faderland. They were quiet and
industrious people, the most affectionate relations existing between husband and
wife and between parents and children. For the want of anything better to do
Langbhen worked on his nephew's ranch, cultivating small fruits and vegetables,
which the nephew took to Antioch and sold. The nephew boarded with the family.
While working in the fields Langbhen was usually accompanied by his two
children, who whiled the time away in playing and weeding. At half-past four on
Friday morning Langbhen got up and prepared breakfast for his nephew, as was his
wont, and after the latter left for Antioch with a load of strawberries, he went
to the field to work; soon after his children followed him. At about eight
o'clock Langbhen was seen by Max Klein, a neighbor, who was at the time cutting
potatoes in his barn, a few rods from the Langbhen residence, to tie the
shoe-lace of the little girl. He was then seen to take the two children to the
adjacent tules; soon after he was observed coming out of the tules without the
children, and walking rapidly toward his house. Immediately after he reached it,
Mrs. Langbhen rushed out in an excited state, throwing up her hands in despair,
and talking excitedly in German. This was followed quickly by the discharge of a
gun. The neighbors naturally enough rushed to the scene. A Mr. Fleckaman, a
next-door neighbor to the Langbhens, reached the house first, and entering it,
he beheld a horrible sight. Langbhen was leaning against the wall, almost
doubled up, and dead, with a double-barreled shotgun grasped firmly in his hands
and the muzzle in his mouth, with his toe against the trigger. The charge had
passed into the unfortunate man's head and spattered his brains all over the
room. After partly recovering from the shock a search was begun for the
children, who were missing. About an hour later the two were found by a
Portuguese gardener, lying dead, side by side, in the tules, not far from where
Langbhen had been seen to emerge. The little girl's skull had been smashed with
a heavy blunt instrument and her throat cut from ear to ear, severing the
jugular vein, and a piece of flesh had also been cut out of one of her hands.
The boy's body bore no marks of violence, excepting that his head was nearly
severed from the trunk. Near the bodies were found the apron worn by Langbhen at
the time he slaughtered his children, and the heavy bludgeon with which it is
supposed he beat in the skull of his little daughter. Both articles were covered
with blood. The throats of the little ones are supposed to have been cut with a
scythe-blade or some similar instrument, as in each case the frightful wound had
been inflicted with one blow. But no such weapon, or any other corresponding to
it, could be found, although a most careful search was made in the neighborhood.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA,
INCLUDING ITS GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION;
TOGETHER WITH A RECORD OF THE MEXICAN GRANTS; THE BEAR FLAG WAR; THE MOUNT
DIABLO COAL FIELDS; THE EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT, COMPILED FROM THE MOST
AUTHENTIC SOURCES; THE NAMES OF ORIGINAL SPANISH AND MEXICAN PIONEERS; FULL
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY; SEPARATE HISTORY OF EACH TOWNSHIP, SHOWING
THE ADVANCE IN POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE;
ALSO,
Incidents of Pioneer Life; and Biographical Sketches
OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
AMD OF ITS TOWNS, VILLAGES, CHURCHES, SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO: W. A. SLOCUM & CO., PUBLISHERS
1882.




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