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 <A\^E
 
 NARRATIVES 
 
 OF REMARKABLE 
 
 GEIMINAL TRIALS, 
 
 TRANSLATED FBOM THE GERMAN OF 
 
 ANSELM RITTER VON FEUERBACH, 
 
 LADY DUFF GORDON. 
 
 N E W - Y R K : 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 62 CLIFF STREET. 
 
 1846.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following trials are selected and abridged 
 from a work consisting of 1300 closely-printed 
 pages, by Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, a man 
 celebrated as a judge, a legislator, and a writer. 
 He was for many years President of the highest 
 criminal court of Bavaria, and the penal code of 
 that country was chiefly framed by him ; his 
 exposition of the criminal law is a text-book for 
 the whole of Germany, where the present work, 
 which was the last he wrote, excited great at- 
 tention. 
 
 For ten years Feuerbach was President of 
 the Central Criminal Court of a province of 
 Bavaria, containing several towns, and inhabited 
 by half a million of souls differing in faith. In 
 the exercise of his judicial functions many re- 
 markable cases were brought before him, and 
 ample opportunity was afforded him, by the 
 form of criminal procedure in Bavaria, for the 
 exercise of his extraordinary power of penetra- 
 ting the recesses of the human heart, and of 
 divining the secret motives of human action. 
 In Bavaria, on the discovery of any crime, the 
 Untersuchungs Richter (examining judge) — 
 and Feuerbach himself once filled that office, 
 which, in fact, combines the duties of public
 
 IV PKEJbACli. 
 
 prosecLUor vvitli that ot" judge — instantly sets 
 about collecting evidence. Those against whom 
 he finds any reasonable grounds of suspicion are 
 at once apprehended, and kept in prison until 
 their guilt or innocence be proved. The judge 
 meanwhile endeavors to trace back the priso- 
 ner's life to his very cradle, to make himself 
 thoroughly acquainted with his character and 
 disposition, in order thence to infer whether he 
 be or be not a man likely to have committed the 
 crime imputed to him. To this end witnesses 
 are examined. 
 
 Children under eight years of age, persons 
 directly interested in the result of the trial, or 
 who have been convicted or even strongly sus- 
 pected of perjury, falsehood, or suppression of 
 evidence, are incompetent witnesses. Suspi- 
 cious witnesses are persons under the age of 
 eighteen, accomplices, the injured party, in- 
 formers, except such as are officially bound to 
 inform, persons of doubtful character, and per- 
 sons in any way connected with or hostile to 
 the party affected by their testimony. 
 
 The evidence of two sufficient witnesses 
 (those against whom none of the above-men- 
 tioned objections can be raised), as to facts 
 which they have seen with their own eyes, is 
 taken as proof; that of one sufficient witness as 
 half proof 
 
 The testimony of two suspicious witnesses, if 
 agreeing, is equal to that of one sufficient witness. 
 
 Circumstantial evidence amounts to proof
 
 PREFACE V 
 
 when all the circumstances are fully proved by 
 witnesses, and cannot be reasonably accounted 
 for except on the supposition of the prisoner's 
 guilt ; but while any other explanation is possi- 
 ble the evidence is deemed imperfect ; and even 
 when circumstantial evidence is complete, the 
 conviction of the prisoner, in cases of capital 
 oftence, is not followed by sentence of death, 
 unless he confess his crime. 
 
 By far the most important evidence is that 
 given by the prisoner himself; he is questioned 
 by the examining judge, in the presence only 
 of a notary employed to take down his replies. 
 The judge begins by exhorting him to tell the 
 truth, hinting that a full confession may soften 
 his punishment. He then asks him whether he 
 knows why he has been arrested ; and if the 
 prisoner affects ignoi'ance or gives a false rea- 
 son, he is again admonished. Should he persist 
 in his assertions the judge closes the examina- 
 tion for that day. At the next examination he 
 reminds the prisoner of the duty of truth and of 
 the danger of persisting in falsehood, and then 
 begins a series of questions calculated to entrap 
 him into admissions inconsistent with innocence. 
 If on the other hand the prisoner states the true 
 cause of his arrest, he is called upon to tell all 
 he knows of the matter. His statement is writ- 
 ten down, and the judge afterwards questions 
 him upon every circumstance of his story, im- 
 portant or trifling, taking care that he shall not, 
 if it can be avoided, perceive which questions 
 
 a 2
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 are important, and that no time be allowed him 
 to consider his replies. During the inquiry the 
 prisoner is kept in ignorance of the charge 
 against him, and any endeavor on his part to 
 gain information on the subject is an oflence in 
 Jaw. He is not allowed to see a copy of his 
 own evidence or of that of the witnesses. But 
 when the judge has failed to obtain a confes- 
 sion, the prisoner is unexpectedly confronted 
 with one or more of the witnesses against him, 
 or with an accomplice, if there be one, in the 
 hopes of surprising him into a confession. 
 Should the prisoner refuse to answer, he is put 
 on a diet of bread and water. In cases of mur- 
 der, the accused is led to the spot where the 
 crime was committed, and the bleeding corpse, 
 or, it may be, the mouldering remains are sud- 
 denly shown to him. Feuerbach remarks that 
 in cases of infanticide this expedient has never 
 been known to fail ; but it is manifest that such 
 terrors can have little or no eflect on hardened 
 and resolute criminals. A confession must be 
 formally made before the examining judge, and 
 that not during the first examination ; a confes- 
 sion made then cannot be followed by convic- 
 tion ; and a confession made before two suffi- 
 cient witnesses in the absence of the judge is 
 only half proof, and requires to be confirmed by 
 other evidence. 
 
 But even when a confession has been extorted 
 it affords no proof of the That hestand, the cor- 
 pus delicti, or fact that the crime has been com-
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 mitted : it is evidence that the prisoner commit- 
 ted the actions which he describes, but it does 
 not prove what were the results of those actions. 
 The That hestand must be proved beyond all 
 reasonable doubt, and in cases of murder it must 
 be shown that the injuries inflicted were un- 
 doubtedly mortal. 
 
 It is the duty of the examining judge to col- 
 lect evidence for the prisoner as carefully as 
 against him ; but when he has got together all 
 that he can find, the prisoner is furnished with 
 a legal defender, who is allowed to confer with 
 him in private, having first sworn to undertake 
 no unrighteous defence. This advocate makes 
 a minute of his objections to the course of pro- 
 cedure, and composes a written defence, which 
 is sent by the examining judge, together with a 
 full report of all the proceedings, to the central 
 criminal court of the district. This court decides 
 by majority upon the guilt of the accused, the 
 nature of his crime, and the punishment to be 
 inflicted ; when the punishment is death, or im- 
 prisonment exceeding twenty years, the sentence 
 is sent for revision to the high court of appeal, 
 and in other cases the prisoner may appeal, if he 
 desires it. When the appellate court has given 
 its decision, the prisoner, if the sentence be 
 reversed, is instantly set free; if confirmed, it is 
 executed within twenty-four hours. 
 
 If, in cases of capital crime, proof fails from 
 mere technical insufficiency, the prisoner escapes 
 the punishment of death ; but imprisonment of
 
 Vm PREFACE. 
 
 greater or less duration and severity is in- 
 flicted. 
 
 The Bavarian system of inquiry and of ap- 
 peals occasionally prolongs a trial over a space 
 of several years. In one case described in this 
 work, that of Riembauer, the reports filled forty- 
 two folio volumes, and the trial lasted five years, 
 whereas in England it would have been con- 
 cluded in as many days. The reader, who may 
 be inclined altogether to condemn this German 
 prolixity and dehberation, should remember that 
 in the year 1827 no fewer than six persons, who 
 had been convicted of capital crimes at the Old 
 Bailey, and left for execution, were proved to 
 be innocent, and saved by the zeal and activity 
 of the sheriff.* In the last century the Bava- 
 rian criminal procedure was anything but slow. 
 Torture was not abolished until 1806, a reform 
 chiefly owing to the humane exertions of Feuer- 
 bach, and extremely distasteful to the judges of 
 the old school, who could not forgive him for 
 having put an end to so simple, expeditious, and 
 easy a mode of obtaining evidence. " What," 
 said they, " could be the use of making so many 
 difficulties about hanging a pack of criminals ?" 
 The time lost by the abolition of torture was at 
 first regained by a total disregard of the very 
 slight means of defence afforded to the accused 
 by the Codex Juris Bavarici Criminalis de anno 
 1751. The doctrine that the sooner criminal 
 cases were disposed of the better, was acted 
 
 ♦" CriminnI Law Report," vol. viii.
 
 PaEFACE. IX 
 
 upua until the IGlh of May, 1813, when the 
 criminal code, composed by Feuerbach for the 
 king-dom of Bavaria, received the roval assent. 
 This code was adopted by the duchy of Olden- 
 burg, and forms the basis of new criminal codes 
 for Weimar, Wurtemburg, and other German 
 states. 
 
 The defects of the mode of procedure used in 
 the foUowinar trials are of a kind which cannot 
 fail to strike every English reader — its advan- 
 tages are far more likely to escape his notice. 
 The minute and searching investigation into the 
 secret motives and inmost feelings, as well as 
 the external actions of the criminal, must give 
 to a Bavarian trial an interest which would be 
 sought in vain in our own courts of law. 
 
 Perhaps nothing in the following trials will 
 appear more surprising to English readers than 
 that the criminals should almost always confess 
 their crimes in the most circumstantial manner. 
 Feuerbach was himself so much struck by this 
 circumstance, that he has devoted a chapter of 
 the book from which the following trials have 
 been selected, to an examination of the subject. 
 A few, he says, very few, confess from remorse, 
 some from inability to evade the searching inter- 
 rogatories of the judge, some from indifference 
 to their fate, others from a desire to put an end 
 to a state of anxiety and suspense ; but by far 
 the greater number from dislike to the strict 
 discipline and compulsory silence of a Bavarian 
 prison. One criminal, after three days' impris-
 
 PRliFACE. 
 
 onment, confessed, saying, " That he could no 
 longer hold his tongue ; that he had been accus- 
 tomed to social pleasures, and would rather tell 
 all than be condemned to perpetual silence." 
 
 Those among my readers who are interested 
 in the comparison of the criminal procedure of 
 Bavaria with ihat of England, will find the 
 information which I want both space and ability 
 to offer, in the 'Law Magazine,' vol. ix., p. 277; 
 the ' Foreign Quarterly Review,' vol. viii., p. 
 267 ; and the ' Edinburgh Review,' vol. Ixxxii., 
 p. 318. 
 
 I have selected those trials which appear to 
 me to possess the greatest general interest, and, 
 in obedience to the suggestions contained in a 
 most interesting article in the last-named journal, 
 I have abridged them to little more than half 
 their original length. I hope that I have never- 
 theless succeeded in preserving the main outline 
 of every trial, filled up with just so much of 
 detail as will serve to give a tolerably faithful 
 picture of crimes common to all nations, treated 
 in a manner very widely differing from our own. 
 
 L. D. G. 
 December. 1845.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER ; or, tlie Twofold Murder 1 
 
 THE ANTONINI FAMILY ; or, the Murder on a Journey ... 44 
 
 FRANCIS RIEMBAUER, the Tartuffe of Real Life 62 
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER ; or, the Police at Fault. ... 101 
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER, the German Brinvilliers .... 128 
 
 JAMES THALREUTER ; or, the False Prince 163 
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY ; or, the Parricides of the Black 
 
 Mill 184 
 
 JOHN GEORGE SORGEL, the Idiot Murderer 212 
 
 GEORGE WACHS ; or, the Sudden Temptation 229 
 
 GEORGE RAUSCHMAIER ; or, the Telltale Ring 258 
 
 ANDREW BICIIEL. the Woman-Murderer 271 
 
 JOHN HOLZINGER ; or, Manslaughter, Murder, and Suicide, from 
 
 Love and Jealousy 286 
 
 CASPAR FRISCH, the Murderer from Vanity 307 
 
 LUDWIG STEINER the Murderer from Revenge 318
 
 REMARKABLE 
 
 GERMAN CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 
 
 THE TWOFOLD MURDER. 
 
 Christopher Baumler, a worthy citizen of 
 Niirnberg, lived in the Konigsstrasse^ a wide an-d 
 much-frequented street, where he carried on the 
 trade of a corn-chandler, which there includes the 
 right of selling brandy. He had lately lost his 
 wife, and lived quite alone with only one maid- 
 servant, Anna Catherina Schiitz. He had the 
 reputation of being rich. 
 
 Baumler was in the habit of opening his shop at 
 five o'clock in the morning at latest. But on the 
 21st of September, 1820, to the surprise of his 
 neighbors it remained closed till past six. Curios- 
 ity and alarm drew together a number of people 
 before the house. They rang repeatedly, but no 
 one came to the door. At last some neighbors, 
 with the sanction of the police, entered the first- 
 floor windows by a ladder. Here they found 
 drawers, chests, and closets burst open, and pre- 
 senting every appearance of a robbery having been 
 committed. They hastened down stairs into the 
 shop, where they discovered in a comer close to 
 the street-door, the bloody coi-pse of the maid ; and 
 in the parlor they found Baumler lying dead be- 
 side the stove. 
 1 A
 
 2 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 The house stands on the left hand in going along 
 the Koaii^sstrasse from the Frauen Thor, not far 
 froni tlic cliurch of Saint Laurence. Several houses, 
 chiefly inns and shops, flank it on either side ; on 
 the right, an inn called the Golden Lion stands out 
 several feet beyond it. 
 
 Close to this projecting wall is the door of 
 Biiumler's house, which is entered by one low step ; 
 the hall serves as a shop, and the walls are lined 
 with shelves, chests, &c. The length of this hall 
 from the street-door to the opposite end, where a 
 door opens into a court, is about sixteen feet ; on 
 th« left a staircase leads to the floor above. The 
 breadth is unequal, for on the right hand near the 
 door there is a corner about four feet wide and 
 three feet deep, which forms part of the shop. On 
 one side is the wall of Baumler's parlor ; on the 
 other, the main wall of the house towards the 
 street, where a large bow-window, always closed 
 with heavy shutters at night, admits the light into 
 the shop, and thence into the parlor through a 
 window opening into this corner. About seven 
 feet from the entx'anco to the shop is the door of 
 the small parlor, which is cut off" fi-om the street on 
 all sides, and furnished -with tables and benches for 
 the convenience of the customers for brandy. 
 
 The house-door, as is usually the case in shops 
 of this kind in Niirnberg, is formed of two wings 
 joined together, one of which folds back upon the 
 other, and is fastened by a simple contrivance to 
 the wall. During the day a glass door is fixed in 
 the half of the doorway thus loft open, which in 
 the daytime serves to light the shop, and in the 
 evening to show passers-by that the host is ready 
 to receive customers. The door of Baiimler's 
 shop, behind the wing of which a man could per- 
 fectly conceal himself from any one entering, opens 
 towards the left, exactly opposite to the corner we
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. d 
 
 have already described, so that any one coming in 
 would turn his face towards the corner ; and in 
 the event of being attacked by a person hidden 
 behind the door, would naturally run towards it. 
 A bell hangs over the entrance which rings when- 
 ever either the glass or the wooden door* is 
 opened. 
 
 As soon as the police were informed of the mur- 
 der, a commission was appointed to visit Biiumler's 
 house. Immediately on entering the shop, to the 
 right of the door in the corner, between two bins 
 of meal and salt, the maid-servant Schiitz lay on 
 her back, with her head shattered, and her feet, 
 from which both her shoes had fallen, turned to- 
 wards the door. Her face and clothes, and the 
 floor were covered with blood ; and the two bins, 
 between which her head lay, as well as the wall, 
 were spnnkled with it. As no other part of the 
 shop showed any marks of blood, it was evident 
 that she had been murdered in this corner. Not 
 far from the body they picked up a small comb, 
 and at a little distance from that a larger one, with 
 several fragments of a second small one. In the 
 very farthest corner of the parlor, between the 
 stove and a small table, upon which stood a jug, 
 they found the body of Baumler stretched on his 
 back, with his head, which was resting on a small 
 overturned stool, covered with wounds and blood. 
 A pipe and several small coins lay under the body, 
 where they had probably fallen when the murderer 
 ransacked the pocket, which was turned inside out 
 and stained with blood, for money or forkeys. The 
 floor, the stove, and the wall were covered with 
 blood, the stool was saturated, and even the vault- 
 ed ceiflnof, which was nine or ten feet high, was 
 
 ♦ Without this dry description it would be almost impossible 
 to understand the manner in which this complicated murder was 
 perpetrated.
 
 4 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 sprinkled with it. These circumstances, especially 
 the stool on which Biiumler's head still rested, and 
 the pipe which lay under his body, showed that the 
 murderer must have suddenly attacked him una- 
 wares and felled him to the earth, as he sat drinking 
 his beer and smoking his pipe on that very spot. 
 
 One drawer of the commode in the upper cham- 
 ber was pulled out, the doors of two cupboards in 
 the adjoining room were open, and everything lay 
 scattered about the floor. Several other presses, 
 however, had not been opened, and many things* 
 of value, such as clothes, silver ornaments, a gold 
 repeater, &c., were left in them, and even in those 
 which had been opened. The rooms on the second 
 story were found in their usual state. 
 
 On the table, in the parlor, stood a wine-glass 
 witli some red brandy at the bottom, and a closed 
 clasp-knife stained with blood on the back and 
 sides. Two newly-baked rolls were found near 
 the entrance-door. 
 
 The baker Stierhof stated that Baumler's maid 
 had fetched these rolls from his shop the evening 
 before, at about a quarter to ten. His wife, who 
 was examined the next day on this point, recog- 
 nised the rolls as those bought by the unfortunate 
 maid-servant on the evening of the 20th of Septem- 
 ber, adding, " The evening before last, at nearly a 
 quarter to ten, the maid came to my house and 
 asked for two half-penny rolls, which I gave her. 
 I did not recognise her till she was going away, 
 when I said, * It is you, is it 1' She answered 
 sulkily, ' Yes.' I asked if they still had guests 
 with them ; and she said, ' Yes, there are a few 
 fellows there still.' I then looked out of the win- 
 dow for a while : there was a death-like silence 
 in the street, so much so that I remarked it to my 
 people. At a quarter to ten exactly I closed the 
 shop."
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 5 
 
 This evidence afforded a strong presumption that 
 some person or persons who were still in B'aum- 
 ler's shop at a quarter to ten had committed this 
 murder. Furthermore it was certain that the 
 murder of the maid-servant could not have taken 
 place earlier than a quarter to ten ; the two rolls 
 which she had fetched about that time from the 
 baker Stierhof, and which were found on the floor 
 near the entrance, showed that the murderer had 
 attacked her as she entered the shop on her return 
 from the baker's, that she dropped the rolls in her 
 fright, was driven into the corner of the shop, and 
 there murdered. There could be no doubt that 
 Baumler was murdered before the maid-servant, 
 for he was found beside the stool on which he 
 usually sat smoking his pipe by the stove. Had 
 he been alive when the murderer attacked his 
 maid, he would have been alarmed by the noise, 
 and liave gone out into the shop ; at any rate he 
 would not have remained quietly seated for the 
 murderer to dispatch him at his leisure. It was 
 also evident that Baumler must have been mur- 
 dered during the maid's absence. Now the dis- 
 tance from Baumler's house to the bakei's shop is 
 at most a hundred steps ; thus, even supposing that 
 Schiitz, angry at being sent out so late, went very 
 slowly, the walk there and back, including the 
 short conversation with the baker's wife, could not 
 have occupied above five minutes, and during this 
 interval the murder of Baumler must have been 
 completed, and that of Schiitz prepared. This 
 was proved by the following circumstance : — as 
 long as the glass door was there the murderer 
 could neither attack Schiitz on her entrance nor 
 murder her within the threshold, as he could not 
 possibly hide himself behind the glass door, which 
 would moreover have exposed him to the risk of 
 observation from every passer-by, and even to the 
 
 A 2 ■
 
 6 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 chance of some stray guest of Baumler's entering 
 the shop and surprising him in the act. It was 
 therefore necessary to take the glass door off" its 
 hingcsr and to shut the street-door, before attacking 
 Schiitz on her return to the liouse — and this he 
 accordingly did. Baumler's house was not usually 
 closed till eleven, but on the night of the murder a 
 chandler of the name of Rossel, who lived op- 
 posite, happened to look out at about a quarter to 
 ten, and saw, to his surprise, that Baumler's housa 
 was then closed — no doubt by the murderer. It 
 was a quarter to ten when Schiitz was at the 
 baker's shop ; at the same hour Rossel saw Baum- 
 ler's house shut : we may therefore infer that the 
 murderer killed Baumler soon after his maid's de- 
 parture, quickly unhinged the glass door, lay in 
 wait for the maid behind the street-door, opened it 
 for her, and attacked her as she came in : the con- 
 curring evidence of two witnesses thus distinctly 
 proves that the murder of Bilumler and his maid 
 must have taken place during the few minutes be- 
 fore and after a quarter to ten. 
 
 We must further remark that the bell over the 
 entrance-door did not ring when the police entered, 
 and was found to be stuffed with paper. Neither 
 Baumler nor his maid could have had any motive 
 for doing this ; but the murderer had every rea- 
 son : the ringing of the bell might have drawn tlie 
 attention of a neighbor or a passer-by to Baum- 
 ler's house at the very moment when the horrible 
 crime was being committed just within the door. 
 
 It further appeared that the murderer stayed 
 till at least half-past ten, occupitul in ransacking 
 the house, and probably in washing himself and 
 changing his clothes ; for a shoemaker of the name 
 of Piihler, who passed by Biiumlcr's house at that 
 hour, saw a hght in the ilrst lloor, while the win- 
 dow over the shop-door was quite dai-k.
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 7 
 
 Although the two houses adjoining Biiumler's 
 were both inhabited, and two watchmen were 
 guarding some loaded waggons in the street close 
 by — and although the murders were committed at 
 a time when very few people are in bed and asleep 
 — and, as the baker's wife stated, when death-like 
 silence prevailed in the street — not a single person 
 could be found who had heard any outcry or other 
 noise in Baumler's house. 
 
 , On examining the body of the maid-servant, a 
 handsome well-shaped girl of twenty-three, the 
 head was found completely shattered ; there wei'e 
 also several wounds upon the neck, breast, and 
 hands, and the breast-bone and three of the ribs 
 were fractured. Baumler's skull was broken into 
 eleven pieces; and although there were no exter- 
 nal injui-ies upon the chest, the stei'num and ribs 
 were fi-actured, as in the maid-servant. There 
 could not be the slightest doubt that the wounds 
 were mortal. The surgeons gave it as their opi- 
 nion that the wounds on the heads of both victims 
 had been inflicted with a heavy instrument having 
 a flat surface with sharp edges, probably the back 
 of a hatchet. The I'ibs did not appear to have 
 been broken with the hatchet, but rather by stamp- 
 inar on the bodies. 
 
 The evidence of the baker's wife had led to the 
 conclusion that some man who had stayed until 
 late in the evening at Baumler's house must have 
 been the murderer. Accordingly, all those who 
 had been at Baumler's house on that evening 
 were examined, and concurre,d in saying that a 
 stranger had entered the shop very early, had sat 
 at the farther end of the table, alternately smoking 
 and drinking red brandy out of a wine-glass ; and 
 that he had remained there alone at nine o'clock, 
 when the others went away. All agreed in their 
 description of his person ; that he was about thir-
 
 8 REiMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 ty, of dark complexion, and black hair and beard ; 
 that he worn a dark-colored coat (most of the wit- 
 nesses said a blue one, which afterwards proved to 
 be a mistake), and that he had on a high beaver 
 hat. With the exception of one witness who had 
 conversed with the stranger about the hop trade 
 and other like matters, and had found him a well- 
 informed, agi-eeable man, they all staled that he 
 had kept his hat pressed over his face, and his 
 eyes constantly fixed on the ground, and that he 
 had said little or nothing. He stated himself to 
 be a hop-merchant, and said that he was waiting 
 at Baumler's for his companion, another hop-mer- 
 chant, who had gone to the play. The witnesses 
 recognised the glass produced in court, as exactly 
 similar to that out of which the stranger had been 
 drinking red clove-brandy. 
 
 Meanwhile suspicion had fallen upon a certain 
 Paul Forster, who had lately been discharged 
 from the bridewell at Schwabach, and who had 
 been observed for several days before the murder 
 walking about in a suspicious manner before 
 Baumler's house. His father, a miserably poor 
 day -laborer, lived with two daughters of infamous 
 characters in a cottage belonging to a gardener 
 named Thaler, in the suburb of St. John. Forster 
 did not live with his father ; but on the morning 
 after the murder he had left the suburb of St. John 
 quite early, and had gone to Diesbeck, where he 
 lived with a woman called Margaret Preiss, who 
 had been his mistress for many years. At her house 
 he was an-estcd by the jDolice on the 23d of Sep- 
 tember, the third day after the murder. In her 
 room were found, among other things, two bags of 
 money, the one containing 209 florins 21 kreuzers, 
 the other 152 florins 17 kreuzers. Besides these 
 Preiss's illegitimate daughter, a girl of about four- 
 teen, gave up a small purse containing some medals
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 9 
 
 and a ducat which Forster had given to her when 
 he returned to Diesbeck. 
 
 On the following day, when the gens d'armes 
 were escorting Forster and his mistress through 
 Fiirth, the waiter of the inn recognised the prisoner 
 as the man who had come to the inn at about eight 
 or nine in the morning of the 21st of September, 
 dressed in a dark grey cloth greatcoat, went away 
 again in about an hour, and then returned dressed 
 in a dark blue coat, and gave him a brown one 
 which he can'ied under his arm to take care of, re- 
 questing him to keep it safe and to be sure not to 
 show it to any one ; adding that in a week he would 
 return and claim it. The waiter now informed 
 the magistrate at Fiirth of this circumstance, and 
 produced the greatcoat, which was much stained 
 and in some places soaked with blood. 
 
 The description given of the suspicious-looking 
 stranger, who had sat out all the others on the 
 evening of the 20th of September, exactly resem- 
 bled Forster. 
 
 As soon as the prisoners reached Niirnberg, at 
 about 4 P.M. of the 24th, they were conducted, ac- 
 cording to legal practice, to view the bodies lying 
 in Baumler's house. The coi-pses were laid in 
 their coffins, with the faces exposed and the bodies 
 covered with their own bloody gaiTnents ; Baum- 
 ler on the right, and the maid-sers'ant on the left 
 hand, thus leaving a passage open between the 
 coffins. 
 
 Paul Forster was brought in first ; he stepped 
 into the room, and between the two coi-pses, with- 
 out the slightest change of countenance. WTien 
 desired to look at them, he gazed stedfastly and 
 coldly upon them, and replied to the question 
 whether he knew the body on the right, '^ No, I 
 know it not ; it is quite disfigured : I know it not." 
 And to the second question, " Do you know this
 
 10 REiMARKADLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 one to the left 1" he answered in the same manner, 
 " No, she has lain in the grave ; I know her not." 
 When asked how he knew that the body had lain 
 in the grave, ho replied, pointing to the face, 
 " Because she is so disfigured ; the face is quite 
 decayed here!" On being desired by the judge 
 to point out the exact spot which he thought so 
 decayed, with a constrained air, but with the coars- 
 est inditlerence, he grasped the head of the murder- 
 ed woman, pressed the brow, the broken nose, and 
 the cheeks with his fingers, and said quite coolly, 
 " Here : you may see it clearly !■" He attempted 
 to evade every question addressed to him by the 
 judge, by affecting that the idea of murder was so 
 utterly foreign to him, that in all innocence and 
 simplicity he mistook the deadly wounds for the 
 result of decay. 
 
 All the endeavors of the judge to wring some 
 sign of embarrassment or feeling from this man, as 
 he stood between his two victims, were vain : his 
 iron soul was unmoved. Only once, when asked, 
 •' Where, then, is the corn-chandler to whom the 
 house belongs V he appeared staggei'cd, but only 
 for a moment. The judge went so far in his zeal, 
 as to desire him to hold the hands of both corpses, 
 and then to say what ho felt. Without a moment's 
 hesitation, Forster grasped the cold hand of Baum- 
 ler in his right, and that of Schiitz in his left hand ; 
 and answered, *' He feels cold — ah, she is cold too ;" 
 an answer which clearly contained a sort of con- 
 temptuous sneer at the judge's question. During 
 the whole scene, the tone of his voice was as soft 
 and sanctimonious, and his manner as calm, as his 
 feelings were cold and unmoved. 
 
 His mistress's behavior was very different ; she 
 was much shaken on entering the room. When 
 desired to look at the dead bodies, she did so, but 
 instantly tui'ned away shuddering, and asked for
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 11 
 
 water. She declared that she knew nothing of 
 these persons, or of the manner of their death. 
 She said that she had learned that she was sup- 
 posed to be implicated in the horrible deed from 
 the populace, who crowded in thousands round the 
 can-iage which brought them from Fiirth to Niirn- 
 berg, calling her a murderess, striking her with 
 their fists and sticks, and ill-using her in eveiy way. 
 But that God would manifest her innocence, and 
 that she could bring witnesses to prove that she 
 had not left her home at Diesbeck for some weeks. 
 Her evident coinpassion for the victims, and horror 
 of the crime, spoke more in favor of her innocence 
 than her tears and protestations. An alibi was 
 subsequently most clearly proved. 
 
 On Forster's examination, he professed himself 
 totally ignorant of the cause of his arrest, adding 
 that he conjectui'ed from the shouts of the mob 
 that he was suspected of a murder. He said that 
 he had been at Diesbeck from the 21st to the 23d 
 September ; and that if the murder was committed 
 before that day, he should be as little able to prove 
 his innocence as others would be to prove his guilt. 
 He had never known the murdered persons. He 
 had passed the ISth, 19th, and 20th September in 
 Nuraberg in search of employment, and had gone 
 on the last-named day through the Frauen Thor to 
 the suburb of St. .John. He had not been able to 
 sleep in his father's house on account of the fleas, 
 and had lain in the hay in Thaler's open shed, 
 which he left at one o'clock in the morning when 
 the people got up to begin threshing, and went to 
 Diesbeck, which he reached at about 4 p.m. on the 
 21st; he gave his mistress two bags of money to 
 keep for him. This money came into his posses- 
 sion in the following^ manner : — While he was in 
 the bridewell at Schwabach he had formed a most 
 intimate friendship with a certain Xavier Beck, a
 
 12 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 jeweller, who was confined there for bigamy, and 
 who subsequently died in prison. This man con- 
 fided to him that in a particular spot between 
 Fiirth and Farnbach he had buried a large sum of 
 money, half of which he promised to give to him. 
 After his release, he, Forster, searched for and 
 discovered the treasure, which, however, instead 
 of amounting to eight or nine thousand florins, as 
 Beck had repi'esentcd, was at most two hundred 
 and fifty. This money he had concealed in a 
 stack of wood close by the Frauen Thor at Niirn- 
 berg, but on the evening of the 20th September he 
 had taken it out again, and had earned it on the 
 following day to his mistress. The court was 
 forced to rest satisfied with this tale for the present ; 
 but in the mean time one suspicious circumstance 
 after another rose up in black aiTay against Paul 
 Forster. 
 
 Two of the men who had been drinking at 
 Biiumler's house on the 20th September, identi- 
 fied Forster as the suspicious-looking stranger 
 already described ; the rest would not affinn this 
 on oath, which was perhaps owing to his having 
 since that day shaved off' his thick beard, and 
 had his hair cut close. Yet even these de- 
 clared that " they thought he was the unknown 
 guest ;" or " that he appeared to be one and the 
 same person;" or that "he was exceedingly like 
 him." 
 
 Margaret Preiss declared that on Thursday the 
 21st Forster returned home at about 4 p.m.; that 
 instead of his usual brown coat, in which he had 
 left her a few days before, he had on a new blue 
 one ; that he wore a pair of large nankeen trowsers 
 which she had never seen before, over his old ones, 
 and new-fashioned Suwarrow boots. He broutrht 
 some money in his handkerchief, and gave it to 
 her to keep for him, observing that it was not his,
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 13 
 
 but only entrusted to his care ; he then took from 
 the pocket of his trowsers a Niirnberg thaler and 
 a ducat, which he gave to her daughter. He was 
 very tired and his feet were blistered, and, con- 
 trary to his usual habit, seemed thoughtful and out 
 of spirits ; when she asked him the reason, he an- 
 swered her drily, that nobody could always be 
 cheerful. On the next day he ate nothing, and 
 continued silent and gloomy. On the following 
 Saturday, when they heard a noise and several 
 men came into the room to apprehend him, he 
 turned red as scarlet ; and when she said " You 
 have been about some mischief," he merely an- 
 swered, " Nay, I have done nothing." 
 
 Dorr, a poor lead-pencil maker, who lived in the 
 same cottasre with old Forster and his dausfhters, 
 gave evidence as follows : " On Thursday the 21st 
 September, at two o'clock in the morning, Paul 
 Forster came to the window and called for his 
 father to come out to him. Old Forster was in the 
 barn threshing ; but Forster's sister AValburga, on 
 hearing his voice, exclaimed, ' That is my brother 
 John,' jumped out of bed and fetched her father. 
 They then all three stood at the back of the house 
 for about half an hour, talking together in a low 
 voice. Next morning Walburga told his (Doit's^ 
 wife that her brother was gone hop-picking, and 
 had given her his old boots, as he had bought some 
 new ones. Old Forster also told witness that his 
 son had paid him an old debt of two or three flor- 
 ins." It further appeared that Paul Forster could 
 not have slept in the shed till one in the morning, 
 as he stated, as Thaler and his son swore that it 
 was invariably locked at night. His mysterious 
 nocturnal visit at his father's house, tallied with the 
 time when the murder had been committed ; and 
 his long conversation with his father and sister ap- 
 pears the more suspicious as the reason which 
 
 B
 
 14 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 Walburga assigned for calling her father out of 
 the barn, was totally untrue. 
 
 In a very short time the instrument was discov- 
 ered with wliich there was every reason to suppose 
 the crime had been committed, and which furnished 
 a fresh link in the chain of evidence against Forster. 
 On the 20th September a certain Margaret Wolf- 
 lin saw Catherine, Forster's youngest sister, go into 
 the churchyard in the suburb of St. John's, come 
 out again and fetch her elder sister Walburga, who 
 then went into the churchyard, where Paul Forster 
 was standing. After talking with him for a short 
 time in an under-tone, she went home, and soon 
 returned carrying an axe under her arm as if to 
 hide it. Margaret VVolflin asked her what she had 
 under her arm, and she then carried the axe more 
 openly, and gave it to her brother with the words 
 " Be so good as to take this axe into to\vn to be 
 gi'ound forme." Forster took it and went towards 
 Niirnberg, after exchanging a few words and cast- 
 ing an angry glance at Margaret. 
 
 On the following morning Walburga met Mai*- 
 garet Wulflin and told her that the chandler Baum- 
 ler had been stabbed the night before. She had 
 her brother's boots in her basket, but they had been 
 60 washed and rubbed that she could not find a 
 purchaser for them at any price. On the same day 
 Walburga met a certain Roth and told him that 
 her brother had given her the boots, which she 
 was forced to wear herself, adding, " If things go 
 well, it will not be long before I have a new petti- 
 coat too." 
 
 As soon as the police had received information 
 of these facts, they searched Forster's house, and 
 found behind the stack of wood an axe, which one 
 of the police identified as one which he had seen 
 the night before (26th September) lying behind the 
 stove wrap])ed in a wet rag : there was some red
 
 JOHN PAUL F0K3TER. 15 
 
 moisture on the hatchet just where the handle 
 joined the blade. Margaret Wolflin recognised 
 this as the same which Walburga had given to 
 her brother by a flaw in the steel, and the physi- 
 cian declared the reddish stains on the handle 
 just below the blade to be half-effaced marks of 
 blood. 
 
 Forster's two sisters, Walburga and Catherine, 
 were apprehended and examined. On her first 
 examination Walburga confessed that her brother 
 had borrowed the axe exactly as Wolflin had 
 stated, under pretence of wanting it for a burglary ; 
 that between two and three in the morning he 
 brought it back to her partly cleaned, and at the 
 same time made her a present of his boots, which 
 had been washed up to the ancle, telling her that 
 he had not been lucky in his burglary, but that 
 whenever he got any money he would send her 
 some. At Forster's desire she then fetched their 
 father, to whom he paid 1 fl. 38 kr., which he had 
 bon-owed of him a fortnight before. On her second 
 examination, however, when pressingly admonished 
 by the judge, she confessed that her brother had 
 said to her on that night, " I have committed a 
 crime — I have done a great thing — I have mur- 
 dered a man! Fetch my father quickly, I am 
 going hop-picking. Do you wash the axe and the 
 boots, and take care of them for me, so that no 
 one may know anything of the matter." On 
 the boots she had observed large spots, which dis- 
 appeared on washing, and which she supposed 
 must have been blood. She added in a subsequent 
 examination, that the silk tassels of both boots 
 were quite glued together with blood. 
 
 The circumstantial evidence against Forster now 
 appeared conclusive. The dark brown coat worn 
 by the accused on the day of the murder, and left' 
 vnth the waiter at the inn of Fiirth, was found to be
 
 16 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 irrnch stained with blood. It was further prove I 
 that over it he wore a good grey greatcoat, which 
 he exclianged at Fiirth with a Jewess for the blue 
 one in which he was apprehended. This grey 
 coat had belonged to Baumler, and the white lining 
 was much stained with blood : the nankeen trow- 
 sers and the Suwan-ow boots were also identified 
 as Baumler's property by the tradesmen who had 
 made them for him. All these things, and the 
 money-bags, which could have belonged to no one 
 but Baumler, were stronger evidence of his guilt 
 than the testimony of the most unsuspected wit- 
 nesses. 
 
 Such was the state of the case when Forster 
 sent to request an audience of the judge. The 
 solitude of the prison had afforded him leisure to 
 reflect that a number of damning circumstances 
 were clearly proved against him. His natural 
 acuteness and long experience of such matters 
 taught him that by persevering in the affectation 
 of ignorance as well as innocence of the crime laid 
 to his charge, he would expose himself to the dan- 
 ger of being compelled step by step to deny man- 
 ifest truths, in the teeth of the most conclusive evi- 
 dence. This, he saw, would be a difficult and 
 dangerous game, in which he must be diiven fi-om 
 one retreat to another, and end by being entangled 
 in snares woven of his own answers and admis- 
 sions. He therefore resolved to disarm the judge 
 by making a confession, which, while it should 
 throw the guilt on others, might nevertheless ac- 
 cord with the evidence already in the possession 
 of the judge, or likely to be still produced. He 
 opened the audience on the 3d November by 
 asking " pardon of the judge for all the untruths 
 of which he had been guilty on the first examina- 
 tion, and by declaring that he would now relate 
 circurastances which must lead to the discovery
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. ITt 
 
 of the murderer." His statement was shortly 
 this : — 
 
 "On Monday the 18th September he had gone 
 from Diesbeck to Langenzenn, determined in con- 
 sequence of his misfortunes to leave his native 
 country and to enlist as a soldier in Bohemia. 
 While sitting in a melancholy mood by the road- 
 side near Langenzenn, two men, followed by a 
 couple of dogs, came up to him, asked what was 
 the matter, and, on hearing his distress, expressed 
 great interest in his fate. They told him that they 
 were hop-merchants, of the name of Schlemmer, 
 from Hersbruck ; that they were brothers, and had 
 rich relations in Bohemia, whither they were going 
 with a cargo of hops, and offered to take him with 
 them to Bohemia, where he would be sure to find 
 employment. They added that on the moiTow 
 or the next day (Wednesday, the day of the mur- 
 der) they should be going with a hop-cart into 
 Niirnberg, where they had a cousin, a corn-chand- 
 ler, of the name of Biiumler, who lived near the 
 church of St. Laurence. On the following day, 
 the 19th September, he went to Niirnberg, walked 
 up and down the street near the church of St. 
 Laurence, inquired of a barber for Baumler, and 
 asked ' who the woman in the house might be.' 
 He was told it was the maid. He waited in vain 
 till six in the evening for the Schlemmers ; and 
 tlien returned to the suburb of St. Johns, and slept 
 in the shed. On the following morning, the 20th 
 September, he again went into the town, and after 
 wandering about until four in the afternoon, the 
 thought struck him that he would go and take leave 
 of his sisters before starting for Bohemia. On this 
 occasion his sister Walburga gave him an axe, with 
 the request that he would take it to the grinder 
 at Niirnberg, whence she would fetch it herself. 
 At about five o'clock, as he was going with the 
 2 B 2
 
 18 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 axe to the grinder, he met the Schlcmmers, who 
 asked him to carry a letter to the post for them as 
 quickly as possible, offering to take care of the 
 axe in the meantime, and to wait for him where 
 they then stood. After putting the letter into the 
 post he returned to the spot, but did not find the 
 Schlemmers, and passed the time in walking up 
 and down the street until about six o'clock, when 
 he went into Baumlor's house and drank some red 
 clove-brandy. At a quarter before ten, when all the 
 other guests were gone, the Schlemmers at length 
 arrived, and Baumler greeted them as cousins. 
 Soon after they sent him to wait in the Carolino- 
 strasse for their cart, which was coming from 
 Fiirth, drawn by two white horses. This he did ; 
 and soon after a quarter to ten the two Schlem- 
 mers came to him, carrying a trunk between them, 
 and one of them with a white parcel under his ami. 
 At this moment the cart drove up with two men 
 in it, to whom the Schlemmers said that ' they had 
 had great luck ; they had won the great prize.' 
 They then made him get into the cart with them. 
 But at the gate of the town they told him that as 
 they had had such luck they should not go into 
 Bohemia ; but that, in order to show him how 
 kindly they felt towards him, they would give him 
 something which might assist him in his own coun- 
 try. They then gave him the white parcel which 
 one of them had under his arm, and at the same 
 time returned the axe to him. He then went back 
 to the suburb of St. John, and on opening the par- 
 cel found in it a greatcoat, a pair of boots, a pair 
 of trowsers, and three bags of money." 
 
 During the whole of this examination, which 
 with the questions and answers took up six full 
 hours, the prisoner stood in the same position, 
 without once sitting down on the chau- which the 
 judge offered him. The story flowed from his
 
 JOHN PAUL FOUSTER. 19 
 
 lips as glibly as thougli it had been learnt by rote, 
 and he looked the judge full in the face the while ; 
 but when he was cross-examined about the ap- 
 pearance, figure, dress, &c. of the two Schlem- 
 mers, he became emban-assed, spoke more slowly, 
 hesitated and considered, and avoided the eyes of 
 the judge. 
 
 That no such people as the brothers Schlemmer 
 were to be found at Hersbruck or elsewhere was 
 of course to be expected. But that Forster had 
 accomplices was in fact implied in this statement. 
 This had been suspected by the judge from the 
 very beginning ; and indeed it seemed scarcely 
 credible that one man should be able to murder 
 two people almost at the same moment, and in so 
 public a street. Besides, the mere act of killing 
 was not all ; several other arrangements and pre- 
 cautions were necessary to prevent interruption 
 and discovery. At the very moment when the 
 maid was in all probability on her way home, a 
 few seconds after the murder of Baumler, the glass 
 door had to be taken off, the other door to be 
 placed on the hinges, and the bell to be stopped, 
 and then the maid was let in and murdered. The 
 commodes, chests, and closets up-stairs were to be 
 broken open and rifled. This apparently requir- 
 ed several pairs of hands. Moreover Forster him- 
 self had said, while sitting in Baumler's shop, that 
 he was waiting for his companion, who was gone 
 to the play. The maid too, when she bought the 
 rolls, spoke of several fellows who were still at her 
 master's house. One of the watchmen set to guard 
 the waggons stated that he saw a suspicious-look- 
 ing man standing with folded arms gazing at Baum- 
 ler's house ; and Walburga, Forster's sister, de- 
 clared that when her brother gave her back the axe 
 she saw, at a distance of fifty paces, a person with 
 a white api-on, whom she took for Margaret Preiss.
 
 20 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 A few days after Forster had been confined in the 
 fortress at Nurnborg, on the 28th September, at 
 eleven o'clock at night, two men were seen by the 
 sentinel looking up at the window of Forster's room, 
 and on his approach they ran away. Another time 
 the sentinel saw two men lying under a tree on the 
 bank of the river close beneath the fortress ; on his 
 calling out " Who's there V they only answered 
 the challenge by a volley of stones : the sentinel at 
 length fired, whereupon they ran away. 
 
 The presumption that the murders and rob- 
 bery were committed by several accomplices was 
 strengthened by statements made by some of Biium- 
 ler's acquaintances, that he had at that time a sum of 
 1500 or 2000 florins in his house in ready money, 
 for the purpose of purchasing a stock in trade; 
 whereas after the murder little or no cash was 
 found in the house, and the whole sum in Forster's 
 possession did not amount to much more than 360 
 florins. All these circumstances certainly encou- 
 raged the idea that he must have had accomplices 
 who shared the booty with him. 
 
 The judge was accordingly called upon to exert 
 all his sagacity in endeavoring to discover Fors- 
 ter's accomplices, as well as in examining the evi- 
 dence against the prisoner himself An extensive 
 correspondence was set on foot, witnesses were ex- 
 amined, journeys undertaken, as far even as Frank- 
 fort-on-the-Main ; the faintest shadow of suspicion 
 was eagerly pursued ; all persons of doubtful char- 
 acter, all who had been in any way connected with 
 Forster or his sister Walburga, all the convicts who 
 had been acquainted with him in prison or since 
 his release, were examined, and many arrested. 
 But after the court and the police had resorted to 
 every possible means of detection, and had exhaust- 
 ed all their ingenuity in the pursuit of evidence, 
 they found themselves at exactly the same point
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 21 
 
 whence they had started. In most cases the inno- 
 cence of the sus^^ected persons immediately appear- 
 ed upon investigation ; and all those to whom the 
 slightest suspicion could attach proved most satis- 
 factory alibis. In short, we are persuaded that if 
 so much zeal and ingenuity failed in making any 
 further discovery, it was solely because there was 
 nothintr to discover. 
 
 O 
 
 The remarkable coincidence between the wounds 
 upon both corpses, renders it in the highest degi'ee 
 probable that they were inflicted by the same hand. 
 
 The danger and difficulty of such an entei-prise 
 vanish as we become better acquainted with the 
 character of Forster, a villain who united to great 
 bodily strength, and a hand trained to strike, very 
 uncommon acuteness and a determined \\'ill — one 
 who perceived at a glance whatever opportunities 
 offered themselves, and instantly seized them ; 
 who pursued his purpose with a clear head and a 
 cold heart — whom no impediments could discon- 
 cert, no horrors dismay. To such a man the 
 greater and more daring the scheme, the more in- 
 viting it would appear. But the whole can be ea- 
 sily explained without supposing either the exist- 
 ence of accomplices, or of any very extraordinary 
 courage in the one murderer. Forster had devo- 
 ted several days to watching Baumler's house and 
 finding out his habits. His long stay in the shop 
 on the evening of the murder made him thoroughly 
 acquainted with the place, and gave him an oppor- 
 tunity of observing everything, and of seizing the 
 most favorable moment for the execution of his 
 purpose. As soon as the maid had left the house, 
 Forster suddenly attacked Baumler, who was sit- 
 ting upon his low seat by the stove, and felled him, 
 dead or dying, to the ground, with one blow of the 
 axe which he had hitherto concealed. He must 
 then have hastened to the entrance of the shop,
 
 22 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 bent back the bell, stuffed it with paper, taken the 
 glass door off its hinges, sliiit and locked the fold- 
 ing-door, and hidden himself behind it. On Shiitz's 
 return he opened the door to let her in, and must 
 have struck her from behind with his murderous 
 weapon, as was shown by the fracture in her skull, 
 and then dispatched her in the comer of the shop. 
 Biiumler's house was so small, and everything so 
 conveniently placed, that to unhinge the glass door, 
 to fix the wooden one, and to prepare everything 
 for the murder of the maid, would scarce require 
 more than half a minute. Besides, Forster had so 
 often walked up and down the sti'eet, and so care- 
 fully examined the ground, that he could exactly 
 calculate the time it would take the maid to go to 
 and return from the baker's, and his cool head was 
 not disturbed by the sight of blood. It can easily 
 be exjjlained why none of the neighbors heard a 
 scream ; the blows aimed by the steady hand of 
 the murderer ^vith the heavy axe, were so sudden 
 and so tremendous, that they must have instantly 
 deprived the victims of consciousness, if not of life. 
 Another circumstance strongly corroborates the 
 opinion that only one person was concerned in the 
 murder and robbery : many articles of value, be- 
 longing to Biiumler, were found in his house. 
 Several accomplices in robbery and murder would 
 not have left such booty behind ; but Forster, to 
 whom time was valuable, took only what he most 
 wanted — money, and such clothes as first fell into 
 his hands. That Baumler had as much as 1500 or 
 2000 florins in the house was a mere supposition. 
 If even he had wanted so much for the purchase of 
 stores, it does not follow that he would have kept 
 such a sum in hard money by him. After his 
 death, too, it appeared that common re2:>ort had 
 greatly magnified his wealth. 
 
 It was clearly proved that Forster was the only
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 23 
 
 guest left in Baumler's house after nine o'clock. 
 Had one or more accomplices joined him then, 
 they would have called for brandy as an excuse 
 for staying; but on the following morning, only 
 one glass — that out of which Forster had drunk 
 — was found upon the table. 
 
 Moreover, Forster had been seen about Niim- 
 berg by many persons for several days before the 
 murder, especially in the street near Baumler's 
 house, and always alone. During this time no one 
 came near him who could be in the slightest degree 
 suspected of being his accomplice, either at Dies- 
 beck, before he went to Niirnberg to commit the 
 murder, or after he had returned to Diesbeck by 
 way of Fiirth, after accomplishing it. We must, 
 indeed, except his sister Walburga, and Margaret 
 Preiss, but both completely proved alibis. 
 
 If he had accomplices, it is strange that all clue 
 to them was lost, while every species of e^^dence 
 accumulated against Forster. 
 
 It is true that Forster told Baumler and the other 
 guests that he was waiting for the return of his com- 
 rade from the play ; but a stranger requires some 
 excuse for staying from six till nine in the same 
 tavern. 
 
 The baker's wife, fi'om whom Anna Schiitz bought 
 the rolls, certainly understood her to say that there 
 were still several fellows at Baumler's house, but the 
 poor girl was already several paces distance fi-om 
 the shop when she answered ; and if we consider 
 the unimportance of the question and answer, and 
 the allowances to be made for the ti'eachery of 
 memory, it seems very uncertain whether the 
 baker's wdfe accurately heard or remembered what 
 the maid had said. Moreover, she said that Anna 
 Schiitz was very angry at being sent out so late, 
 and anger is not apt to measure words very 
 coiTCCtly.
 
 24 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 The suspicious-looking fellow, whom the watch- 
 man Wei-smuller saw in the street ojiposite Biium- 
 ler's house, at a quarter past nine, was in all prob- 
 ability Forster himself" who may have made some 
 excuse for leaving Ejiumler's shop for a moment, 
 in order to see whether there were many people 
 about, or to fetch the axe, which he may have 
 hidden somewhere near the house, 
 
 Walburga's statement, that on the night of the 
 murder she saw some one at a distance of about 
 fifty yards behind her brother, deserves little at- 
 tention, not only because it was dark at the time, 
 but also because she evidently wished to gain im- 
 portance in the eyes of the court by making inter- 
 esting revelations. 
 
 The accidental circumstance of two men looking 
 up at the Bridewell at eleven o'clock at night, on 
 the 28th September, could only be of consequence 
 if it were j)rovcd that they looked up not from 
 mere curiosity, but with the knowledge that it was 
 Forster's window at which they were looking. 
 The second occurrence on the 31st October pro- 
 bably had no connection whatever with any of 
 the prisoners : the two men who were then lying 
 under the tree by the Pegnitz were most likely a 
 couj)le of drunken fellows who amused themselves 
 by throwing stones at the sentinel, but who naturally 
 ran away when he discharged his musket. 
 
 The special inquisition to which Paul Foi'ster, 
 his sister Walburga, and Margaret Preiss were first 
 subjected, on the 7th November, 1820, produced 
 nothing of importance against Forster. He undei'- 
 went thirteen long examinations, in which he had 
 to answer one thousand three hundred and thirteen 
 questions, besides confi-ontations with innumerable 
 witnesses ; but no confession could be wrung from 
 him. Animated by a spirit as powerful and endur- 
 ing as his bodily frame, he often stood during his
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 25 
 
 examinations fox* five or six hours on the same spot, 
 and nothing: ever made him flinch or waver. Once 
 in the Bridewell he said to some of his companions, 
 that " if he ever got into trouble again, he would 
 persist in denial until his tongue turned black and 
 rotted in his mouth, and his body was bent double." 
 After his discharge he said the same thing to his 
 sister and to Wolflin. Indeed, he combined in his 
 person all the qualities which could enable him to 
 resist truth even when most evident. He was a 
 man whom no question could embarrass and no 
 admonition disconcert. He had considered before- 
 hand the whole array of evidence against him as 
 carefully as the judge himself. Thus nothing took 
 him by surprise ; there was nothing for which he 
 was unprepared. He clung to his fable of the two 
 hop-merchants like the shipwrecked sailor to the 
 jDlank which is to convey him to shore. This tale, 
 in which he never varied the smallest circumstance, 
 although he admitted that unfortunately for him no 
 one would believe it, always afforded him a loop- 
 hole by which to escape from the most convincing 
 facts or fi'om the clearest evidence. His presence 
 in Baumler's house, the axe with which the murder 
 was committed, Baumler's clothes found upon him, 
 did not, according to his version of the matter, 
 criminate him, but the two hop merchants. His 
 confession of the murder to his sister, and the fact 
 that his boots were bloody, rested merely on her 
 testimony, and he positively denied both to her face. 
 He accounted for the blood on his brown coat and 
 that on Baumler's green one by some incredible 
 fiction. All means of attack recoiled from his 
 iron soul ; neither the bloody clothes, nor the axe, 
 nor confi'ontation with his sister and other witness- 
 es, could shake him. If a passing flush or pale- 
 ness, or a downcast eye, occasionally betrayed 
 surprise and cmban'assment, it was but for a nio- 
 
 C
 
 26 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 ment, and he quickly recovered his self-possession. 
 When the axe was produced, his changing color 
 and rolling eye betrayed the fearful emotion with- 
 in ; but his voice and his answers remained un- 
 shaken. Upon being confronted with his sister 
 Walburga, he seemed confused, his color fled, and 
 his hands trembled ; but he still preserved so com- 
 plete a command over himself as to look her full 
 in the face whilst he denied the most manifest 
 truths. During the whole special inquisition, the 
 emotions he exhibited were those of a wild beast 
 suddenly caught in a net, vainly seeking an outlet 
 by which to escape from the hunters who surround 
 him. When the judge animadverted upon his 
 changing color or his embarrassed air, he replied 
 with perfect truth, " It is quite possible for an in- 
 nocent man to seem more embarrassed than a guilty 
 one : the latter knows exactly what he has done ; 
 the former feels that he cannot prove his inno- 
 cence." He concealed his obstinacy under an 
 assumption of calmness, gentleness, and piety, as 
 if humbly submitting to a fate he did not desei-ve. 
 " I see plainly," said he in his last examination, 
 " that I cannot escape unless the Schlemmers are 
 taken. I have therefore nothing to do but to pray 
 to God that he will enlighten my judges and enable 
 them to distinguish between guilt and innocence, 
 between the possible and the impossible. In this 
 case guilt and innocence touch, and I have no means 
 of proving my innocence." The following cir- 
 cumstance will give some idea of his cunning, hypo- 
 crisy, and dissimulation : — During the trial a cer- 
 tain John Wagner, who had formerly been in prison 
 with him at Schwabach, was confronted with him 
 to give evidence touching expressions which Forster 
 had dropped concerning some scheme for future 
 crimes. Wagner, on this occasion, accused him of 
 stealing a pair of silk braces. Forster denied the
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 27 
 
 charge, and even when the braces were produced 
 in court and identified by Wagner, he persisted 
 in his denial. But in the solitude of his prison he 
 reflected that he could turn this incident to good 
 account in giving an air of truth to his falsehoods 
 respecting the murder. Accordingly, after an in- 
 terval of two days, he requested an audience and 
 appeared before the judge, with downcast looks 
 and trembling hands, like one bowed down by 
 shame and remorse, and confessed in a circumstan- 
 tial manner that " he had given way to the tempta- 
 tions of Satan and had stolen Wagner's silk braces." 
 This repentant confession was doubtless intend- 
 ed to convince the judge that one whose tender 
 conscience could not bear even the burden of a 
 stolen pair of braces would be still less able to 
 endure the remorse which must follow a double 
 murder. 
 
 Towards the close of the trial he must have seen, 
 and indeed he acknowledged as much, that, in spite 
 of his courage, obstinacy," and cunning, truth could 
 not be overpowered by fables and evasions. His 
 obstinate perseverance in denial must therefore be 
 attributed not only to a hope of thus avoiding cap- 
 ital punishment, but also to pride. Impressed with 
 a con\'iction of his owai mental superiority, and 
 ambitious of a character for dauntless courage and 
 immovable strength of will, he was resolved not 
 to allow the judge to gain the slightest advantage 
 over his feelings or his understanding. If be must 
 fall, at least he would fall like a hero. If he could 
 not avoid the fate of a criminal, he would avoid 
 the disgi-ace of a confession wrung fi-om weakness 
 or cowardice. Men might shudder at him, but his 
 fearful crimes should excite wonder, not conternpt. 
 The murder of Baumler and his maid was a crime 
 which any common villain might commit ; but to 
 stand unmoved by all the dangers which followed
 
 28 REMARKAULE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 the deed, to bid defiance to truth, to the skill of 
 the judge — to behold the most tciTiblo sights 
 with a steady gaze, and without one feeling of 
 pity ; to turn a deaf ear to the admonitions of con- 
 science ; to remain firm in the dreadful solitude of 
 the cell, as well as in the presence of the court ; — 
 this it was which raised him, in his own estimation, 
 far above the common herd of criminals. 
 
 Forster escaped capital punishment in spite of 
 the strong circumstantial evidence against him, as 
 no confession could be extorted from him, and as 
 there were no competent eye-witnesses to the mur- 
 der. Sentence to this effect was accordingly passed 
 upon him on the 22d July, 1821 : — 
 
 " That John Paul Forster is convicted of the 
 murder of the chandler Baumler and of his maid- 
 servant, on the night of the 20th September, 1820, 
 and that he is condemned to impi'isonment for life 
 in chains." 
 
 His sister Walburga was convicted of aiding 
 and abetting the murder committed by her brother, 
 and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment 
 in the house of correction. Margaretha Preiss was 
 acquitted. 
 
 Imprisonment in chains annihilates civil exist- 
 ence, as completely as death puts an end to physi- 
 cal life. It deprives a man forever of his rights 
 as a citizen, a husband, and a father ; of honor, 
 property, and freedom ; nothing is left him but 
 bare life passed in slavery and chains. Evidence 
 of guilt strong enough to justify such a punish- 
 ment ought to entail that of death. In case of er- 
 ror, the hardship is equally great, as it is no more 
 possible to restore a man to civil life after the exe- 
 cution of this sentence, than to resuscitate him after 
 his head has been cut off. The Bavarian code 
 affords no means of relief for the man dead in law ; 
 how, indeed, could he recover his property fiom
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 29 
 
 his heirs, or claim his wife then living in lawful 
 wedlock with another 1 In a word, in cases in 
 which the State hesitates to award capital punish- 
 ment, it should equally refrain from inflicting this 
 sentence of death in life. 
 
 The Bavarian law directs that the criminal be 
 previously exposed for one hour, if possible, on the 
 spot where the crime was committed, in chains, 
 and with a tablet on his breast specifying the na- 
 ture of his oflence and the sentence passed upon 
 him. Thus a man convicted on the clearest evi- 
 dence instructs the people from the pilloiy by the 
 inscription on his breast, " Imprisonment for two- 
 fold murder," that a man may be convicted of such 
 crimes as these, and yet not have deserved death. 
 The popular sense, utterly unable to distinguish 
 between the niceties of legal evidence, and believ- 
 ing with blunt simplicity that conviction is convic- 
 tion, and that guilt is guilt, must be strangely puz- 
 zled and disturbed in its faith in the justice of the 
 laws and the impartiality of those who administer 
 it. The most ignorant of the people are aware 
 that the guilty occasionally escape, from want of 
 evidence ; but that a murderer publicly and sol- 
 emnly denounced as guilty should escape the pun- 
 ishment incurred by his crime, owing to some mere 
 technical objection, is far beyond the comprehen- 
 sion of the most intelligent among them, and utterly 
 repugnant to their sense of justice. 
 
 John Paul Forster was born on tne 22d Janu- 
 ary, 1791, and professed the Lutheran faith. His 
 father and his sisters Walburga and Catherine lived, 
 as we have before mentioned, in the suburb of St. 
 John, and the whole family belonged to a sect of 
 chosen brethren who do as little work as possible, 
 in order that they may have more time for praying, 
 
 c 2
 
 oil REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 singing hymns, and reading the Bible, and who 
 compound with heaven foi' their vices by tlieir so- 
 called piety. 
 
 Forster has given a very circumstantial account 
 of his own life and character, not only in his evi- 
 dence before the court, but also in a MS. composed 
 by himself in 1817-18, during his imprisonment at 
 Schwabach, and entitled " The Romance of my 
 Life and Loves." In this autobiogTaphy truth and 
 fiction are so closely blended, that it is scarce pos- 
 sible to say where the one begins and the other 
 ends. But the manner in which he speaks of him- 
 self, and of his real and fictitious adventures, gives 
 an exact picture of the inmost workings of his 
 mind, and serves as a key to his character. 
 
 As a child, his quiet prudent behavior distin- 
 guished him, as he assures us, from other boys. 
 While his brother was running about the streets, 
 playing or fighting with his companions, and often 
 returning home with torn clothes or a bloody 
 nose, Forster's delight was to sit in a neighboring 
 pubUc-house where the good burghers of the town 
 were wont to spend their leisure hours at the game 
 of loto. Here he would do them small services, 
 by which he not only gained many a penny, but 
 also the " respect of the whole company, and the 
 name of good little Paul." When he was in his 
 eighth year a Prussian nobleman came to live in a 
 house in the garden which Forster's father cul- 
 tivated. Baron von D had two children of 
 
 the same age as Paul Forster, and the " good little 
 Paul" occasionally had the honor of associating 
 with these young nobles. He earned their toys, 
 fetched their bread and butter, and insinuated 
 himself into their good gi'aces by waiting upon 
 them "as if he had really been theii- sei-vant." 
 He seems to have been as proud of acting tlie 
 part of a lackey to these boys as if he had become
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 31 
 
 a baron himself. "My conduct," says he, "pleased 
 the noble parents so much, that they every day re- 
 newed their invitation to me. My other compan- 
 ions now began to treat me with indifference, and 
 even with contempt. My brother Christopher 
 looked at me coldly, and said, ' Go ! I am not good 
 enough for you now ; I see you mean to be a fine 
 gentleman, since you will not play with us any 
 longer,' I excused myself civilly, and continued 
 my owTi way of life." In his self-satisfied account 
 of himself we trace the character of an idle effemi- 
 nate boy, who prefers loitering about public-houses 
 to the natural enjoyments of youth ; a prematui'e 
 hypocrite, who cringes and flatters in order to 
 worm himself into the favor of strangers, and who 
 reckons it a high honor to be the menial slave of boys 
 of noble birth, while he despises his own equals. 
 The mixture of pride and meanness, of vanity and 
 coarseness, and the desire to bask in the sunshine 
 of nobility, even in the most servile position, still 
 appear in the further account of his early life. 
 When he had left school, he says that " the noble 
 
 Baroness von D begged his father to permit 
 
 the boy to enter her service." His father's consent 
 obtained, Forster was in the seventh heaven. He 
 was no longer called Paul, but John ; and, as a 
 reward for his attention and care, dressed in a 
 grey livery, so that " he might accompany his noble 
 master and mistress to balls and assemblies, and 
 thus learn the manners of the fashionable world." 
 This felicity did not, however, last long. " My 
 father," he says, " from a regard to the welfare of 
 my soul, recalled me, and endeavored to impose 
 upon me the task of learning the profession of a 
 shoemaker ; but my attachment to the nobility was 
 too strong, and I threatened to run away." At last 
 Forster chose the trade of a gardener, because "a 
 gardener frequently comes into contact with gen-
 
 32 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 tlefolks." He speaks in liigla praise of his own 
 proficiency in gardening ; and, indeed, nothing is 
 known to his disadvantage before he entered the 
 army. About this time the rector of the parish 
 gave him the character of being active, industrious, 
 and well-behaved. He himself states that he so 
 entirely gained the confidence of the owner of the 
 garden rented by his master, that after the death 
 of the latter it was entrusted to his management, 
 which he exercised for two years " with gi-eat 
 applause," at the end of which time he was forced 
 to leave the place by the tender importunities of 
 the gardener's widow, a woman of fifty, who con- 
 ceived a violent passion for this " half-blown rose- 
 bud of seventeen." He next sei-ved as gardener 
 in a family where Babetta, the cook, " subjugated 
 him by the channs of her person, and still more by 
 the graces of her mind." The romance with Ba- 
 betta was approaching its catastrophe when, in 
 1807, " the voice of his country summoned him to 
 the musket of military life ;" that is to say, he 
 was drawn on the conscription, and enrolled in a 
 regiment of the line. 
 
 At this time Forster seems to have entered ujion 
 his career of vice and crime : the fact is, that he 
 wanted patience and fortitude to endure a life 
 which thwarted his inclinations and inortified his 
 pride. The day on which he joined his battalion 
 was his " first day of humiliation;" for his Babetta 
 signified to him that she did not consider it com- 
 patible with her honor to associate with a common 
 soldier. But the worst was still to come. After 
 his first drill, he exclaims "Ah, this was the real 
 begiiming of my misej-y ! From the earliest dawn 
 until the close of day a merciless corporal was 
 busied in beating military ardor into me, in twist- 
 ing me about like a puppet, and making me as lank 
 and as supple as a greyhound. He scarce allowed
 
 JOUN PAUL FORSTES. 33 
 
 me time to swallow my scanty rations ; and when 
 I stretched myself at night upon my sack of straw, 
 I felt as if I had been broken upon the wheel. 
 Bavarian blows and Bavarian rations are an in- 
 fallible remedy against love ! During the first 
 few weeks I seldom thought of my lovely Babetta, 
 but often enough of running away. I envied every 
 cobbler his golden leisure, and tottered through the 
 streets at midday like a hunted stag seeking a 
 spring of fresh water." The life of a soldier never 
 ceased to be an intolerable burden to him. How 
 was an efteminate libertine to endure privations 
 and hardships, or sleep on hard boards, instead of 
 on his mistress's bed ] Was one so fond of ex- 
 istence to expose his person to cannon-balls 1 or 
 one so vain to submit to the rude contact of a 
 corporal's stick, and to be confounded with thou- 
 sands of other men in the dress of a common sol- 
 dier 1 His ill-regulated passions were fretted and 
 increased by control, and his powers of dissimula- 
 tion called forth by the severity of the discipline 
 under which he was forced to bend. As his 
 desires increased in violence, he grew more reck- 
 less as to the means by which he gi-atified them; 
 and the frequency of his trials, imprisonments, and 
 corporal punishments only taught him indifference 
 to the penalty of his crimes. 
 
 In 1808, when his regiment was encamped at 
 Fiirth, he contrived to steal out of his tent and 
 through all the outposts, and went to Niirnberg, 
 where he sjjent the night with Babetta, and crept 
 back early the following morning to his tent. But 
 the same day, on parade, he was called out of the 
 ranks and questioned as to his absence during the 
 night. At first he denied the charge. But when 
 he found that the proofs were strong against him, 
 he confessed, making excuses for his conduct, " but 
 not," he adds, " until he saw that he was cleai'ly 
 3
 
 34 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 convicted." Twenty lashes were immediately in- 
 flicted on him. 
 
 He made the campaign in 1809 against Austria; 
 was, according to his own account, taken prisoner, 
 ransomed himself, and returned to Niirnberg. In 
 1810 he left his barracks, but returned aftereighteen 
 days' absence, and was placed under aiTOst. In 
 that year he became acquainted with Margaretha 
 Preiss, who already had an illegitimate daughter 
 by a married man, but for whom he conceived the 
 most violent and lasting passion. In 1811 a fur- 
 lough was gi'anted to him for an indefinite time, 
 during which he acted as gardener and tavern- 
 keeper at a small property near Adlitz which Mar- 
 garetha rented ; and he endeavored, but without 
 success, to obtain his discharge, in order to marry 
 his mistress. In 1812 he was summoned to join 
 his regiment. At Adlitz he committed several 
 petty thefts. He stole an umbrella and a shawl 
 from one of the guests in his garden, for which he 
 was punished in the following year by order of his 
 commanding officer. It is extremely probable that 
 he committed gi'eatcr thefts, as he relates that he 
 was able to lend out at interest two sums, one of 
 600 florins, another of 250. In 1813 he deserted, 
 and wandered about for eleven weeks, living chief- 
 ly in the woods : at the end of which time he went 
 back to Margaretha, who then rented a small pub- 
 lic-house at the suburb of St. John at Niirnberg, 
 where he was discovered soon after. He was con- 
 demned for desertion and theft to run the gauntlet 
 three times backwai'ds and forwards through one 
 hundred and fifty men, and to six additional years 
 of military service. On the very day of his pun- 
 ishment he deserted again, was again taken, and 
 again received the same sentence. This lesson 
 also was vain. In 1815 he was again subjected to 
 a criminal trial for desertion, theft, and conspiracy
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 35 
 
 with a younger sister of his mistress to extort mo- 
 ney, and was drummed out of the regiment. 
 
 This long wished-for dismissal from the service, 
 disjn-aceful as it was, at length rewarded him for 
 the indomitable obstinacy and indifference to dis- 
 grace which he had displayed for so many years, 
 in a stubborn neglect of his duties. 
 
 From this time forward he led an idle and disso- 
 lute life, occasionally working as a day-laborer, 
 but much oftener stealing and squandering the pro- 
 ceeds, which were considerable, with his mistress, 
 until, in 1816, he was an'ested and tried before the 
 criminal court at Niirnberg for theft and house- 
 breaking, and sentenced to three years and six 
 months' imprisonment in the House of Correction. 
 In consequence of his good conduct in confine- 
 ment, he was released at the expiration of three- 
 fourths of his term, on the 21st of August, 1820, 
 exactly four weeks before the murder. He left 
 this high school of iniquity firmly resolved to find 
 the means of enjoying permanent happiness in the 
 undistm'bed possession of his mistress, and fully 
 convinced that no way to this object save that of 
 crime was open to him. He had long since 
 broken with virtue and honor, and Margaretha 
 was his last remainins: link with mankind. As he 
 was to depend upon crime for his subsistence, it 
 was indifferent to him what form it took. He was 
 disposed to run any risk in order to obtain a large 
 sum of money, which he might share with Marga- 
 retha. He periled his freedom ; his life he felt sure 
 of saving by his cunning, boldness, presence of 
 mind, and by the fixed determination never to con- 
 fess. The wonderful stories he had read of heroic 
 robbers and remarkable criminals, who escaped the 
 vengeance of justice by their boldness or their cun- 
 ning, and of celebrated captives who in the end 
 obtained their liberty by some miraculous accident,
 
 36: REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 made him see his plan of life in the light of a ro- 
 mance, and hope to enroll his name in the list of 
 those heroes whose fame he so much envied. Fill- 
 ed with these hopes and schemes, he awaited with 
 impatience the day of his release, and contrived by 
 hypocritical submissiveness, repentance, and hu- 
 mility to shorten the time of imprisonment. Thus 
 resolved for the worst, he was thrown back upon 
 society its bitter foe ; and before a month had 
 elapsed, he signalized himself by a deed which, 
 for the cruelty, cunning, and boldness with which 
 it was planned and executed, has few parallels in 
 the annals of crime. 
 
 The bare fact of writing his own life, proves 
 how important a personage this man considered 
 himself. It is true that, according to the preface, 
 the work was intended as a legacy for his beloved 
 Margaretha, in the event of his death ; but it is 
 manifestly written with a view to other readers — 
 nay, perhaps, even to an honorable place on the 
 shelves of a circulating library. 
 
 This work, allowing for several faults of spell- 
 ing, shows a degree of information, cultivation of 
 mind, and power of comj)osition, very unusual in 
 Forster's class. Several anecdotes — for instance, 
 the account of his childish amour with a girl of 
 eleven, of the name of Wilhelmine, and of his steal- 
 ing out of the camp at Fiirth to visit his mistress 
 Babette, at Niirnberg — are told with a clearness, 
 simplicity, and truth, that would do credit to many 
 a practised pen. But by far the greater part, and 
 especially the long diffuse preface, is WTitten in the 
 pompous inflated style of the worst romances. In 
 many places he has introduced songs and poems 
 borrowed from the best German authors, which, 
 according to his ovm account, he sang or recited 
 on various occasions, and which he pretends to 
 have composed himself. His head seems to have
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. St 
 
 been crammed with sentimental phrases and ro- 
 mantic images, which excite disgust and hon'or in 
 the mouth of such a being. This tiger, who, with 
 a hand reeking with the blood of an old man, could 
 murder an innocent and beautiful girl, can talk " of 
 departed souls that hold constant communion with 
 him ;" of the " soft murmur of the evening breezes, 
 and the melting harmony of the senses, which, af- 
 ter his death, would inform his beloved Margaretha 
 that he was near her ;" of his " name, which would 
 die away in the shadow of the gi'ave, like the echo 
 of the songs of love ;" of the " glancing of the moon- 
 beams upon the silver stream of the Pegnitz :" and 
 of himself, in his seventeenth year, as " a half-blown 
 rose on a beautiful morning in spring." Who 
 could have recomised the murderer Forster in the 
 following passages ] " Ah ! for one thing I praise 
 God," says he in his preface, apostrophising Mar- 
 garetha ; " for this, that our child, the first fruit of 
 our love, sleeps the sleep of peace ! When he was 
 torn fi-om me I accused Heaven, and could not un- 
 derstand the inscrutable ways of God, but munnur- 
 ed against him. But now I shed tears of joy that 
 he is safe, and I pluck the flowers of the valley to 
 weave fresh garlands for his grave. Ah ! do you 
 remember how I planted the forget-me-nots upon 
 his little green gi'ave ] Then my heart knew not 
 God, and my tears flowed in the violence of my 
 sorrow. I thought myself the most miserable of 
 men. I now understand things better." No man 
 who really feels thus can murder. Passages like 
 these — and there are many such — merely prove 
 the utter corruption of one who, cold and harden- 
 ed as he was, could use the language of the most 
 devout piety and ape the most tender sensibility. 
 The high principle and love of virtue, of which he 
 boasts, are as false as his sentiment. He could not 
 have forgotten, while writing, that he was then in 
 
 P
 
 88 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 prison for theft, and yet he has the shameless ef- 
 frontery to write these words in his preface : — 
 " Oh, Margaretha ! tell our daughter what present 
 help in trouble is the innocence of the heart : how 
 it inspires us with heroic strength to support the 
 heaviest afiliction." Who would not attribute the 
 following phrase to a philosopher rather than to a 
 housebreaker ] "I know not which best deserves 
 the name of heroism, — that courage which enables 
 a man to conceal his woes within his own breast, 
 in order to spare pain and sorrow to others ; or 
 that which induces him to sacrifice himself for the 
 preservation of another." 
 
 Religion had no real influence on his mind. 
 His conviction, as he declared to a fellow-prisoner, 
 was that religion was necessary for the sake of 
 public order. He neither hoped nor wished for 
 a future life, for all his desires centred in the 
 pleasures of this world. " Had I but money and 
 my mistress, I should wish to remain forever in 
 this world, and never think about another. The 
 wisest philosophers and the greatest naturalists 
 and magicians have ever devoted their skill and 
 tlieir knowledge to the art of prolonging human 
 life. They would not have done this, had they 
 thought there was a future life." This was the 
 confession of faith made by him to another fellow- 
 prisoner. Nevertheless, his knowledge of the 
 Bible might shame many a clergyman, and in his 
 autobiography he quotes passages from the sacred 
 volume, just as he does phrases from romances and 
 stanzas from love poems, but more frequently and 
 with gi-eater ostentation. When he wishes to 
 marry, but resolves first to consider the matter 
 more deeply, he refers himself to the twenty- 
 seventh and following verses of the twenty-fifth 
 chapter of Jesus Sirach. When in prison, he 
 complains with Job x. 19. When released from
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 39 
 
 jail he exclaims wth Daniel xvi. 22, " My God 
 hath sent his angels and hath shut the lion's mouth, 
 that they have not hurt me : forasmuch as before 
 him innocency was found in me ; and also before 
 thee, O king, have I done no hurt." Once, he 
 informs us, as he was going through a wood with 
 a man who intended to rob him — or, as is far more 
 likely, whom he intended to rob — he recited the 
 fourth verse of the seventy-first Psahn : " Deliver 
 me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked ; 
 out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel 
 man." He then suddenly called to mind the pas- 
 sage in the second book of Moses, xxi. 23-25, 
 "And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give 
 life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth," &c. ; 
 and encouraged thei'eby, he took the initiative in 
 attacking the robber. Two other robbers then 
 came to their comrade's assistance, and began 
 unmercifully to belabor the pious Forster with 
 their clubs, while he sang Luther's hymn — 
 
 " I know not, Lord, where I may die, 
 Nor where my grave may be." 
 
 But at length, though tembly bruised, he es- 
 caped, and reached a village, where a peasant 
 whom he entreated to give him a night's lodging, 
 refused him without mercy ; whereupon he with 
 the greatest civility recommended the man to read 
 and carefully consider the nineteenth and follow- 
 ing verses of the sixteenth chapter of St. Luke. 
 
 But false as he is in everything else, his entire 
 devotion to Margaret Preiss cannot be doubted. 
 She occupies a place in the romance of his life as 
 prominent as his own. Neither time, misfortune, 
 absence, disgrace, nor imprisonment was able to 
 overcome their mutual attachment. In spite of 
 all impediments he had never abandoned the inten- 
 tion of making this woman his wife. He had 
 tattooed on his breast in red letters these words,
 
 40 KEMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 " My heart is Margaretha's." In the fortress of 
 Lichtenaii, where he was to pass his hfe loaded 
 with chains, he said to a felloAV-prisoner, " There 
 ia but one thing I wish — to see my mistress once 
 more, and die." In his Life he apostrophises her 
 as " his wife ;" " his noble, true-hearted creature ;" 
 " the beloved wife of his youth ;" "a pious, gentle 
 spirit, who loved him as only angels love ;" " the 
 faithful companion of his journey through life." 
 In his preface he longs " to be buried by her side, 
 bedews her hair with his tears, and presses it to 
 his parched lips." 
 
 For years Forster has borne in dogged silence 
 the hardships of imprisonment, the misery of civil 
 death, the burden of his chains, and the still 
 heavier burden of a troubled conscience. This 
 unbending obstinacy is no doubt owing partly to 
 great want of sensibility, partly to prodigious 
 bodily power of endurance, and partly to a cow- 
 ardly clinging to life, however wretched and de- 
 graded, characteristic of the most contemptible 
 sensualists. He may perhaps also have flattered 
 himself with the vague hope that his punishment 
 was only inflicted in order to extort from him a 
 confession, and that determined silence would in 
 the end tire out the patience of the court and 
 procure his liberation. But what chiefly strength- 
 ened him in this resolution were his romantic 
 ideas of the heroic greatness displayed in his own 
 person. At Lichtenau, before his solitary cell 
 was ready to receive him, while he was with the 
 other prisoners, one of them exhorted him to con- 
 fess ; but he replied, " Stodfastness of purpose is 
 the chief ornament of a man ! He should not 
 easily give up life : however wretched, life is a 
 noble thing. Believe me, comrade, whenever I 
 look upon my chains and the ball attached to them, 
 I feel proud to think that even oi; my death-bed .
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 41 
 
 my last breath shall be drawn with courage. In 
 my earliest days, whatever I undertook, that I did. 
 As I said before, stedfastness and secrecy are 
 what adorn a man." He treated his heavy chains 
 as a badge of honor, and polished them in his 
 leisure hours till they shone like silver. During 
 the early period of his imprisonment at Lichtenau, 
 where the most distinguished villains enthusiasti- 
 cally admired and revered him, he condescended 
 to amuse them with stories of enchanted princes 
 and princesses, fortunate robbers, &c., to shorten 
 their long dreary evening hours. But one even- 
 ing he suddenly declared, " Gentlemen, from this 
 time forward I shall tell you no more stories ; in 
 future I will say nothing but yea, yea, nay, nay. 
 I see plainly that things look ill with me, and that 
 among the worst I am supposed to be the worst of 
 all." One of his fellow-prisoners asked him 
 whether any one had forbidden him to speak, or 
 whether he had taken offence ] But he answered, 
 " No one but my own soul, and that has never 
 counselled me amiss." Pride kept him true to 
 his word : from that time forward he told no more 
 stories, and answered only in monosyllables. Thus 
 he stood alone, distinguished from the common 
 herd of malefactors. He maintained this sullen 
 silence for years in his solitary cell, asking nothing, 
 and uttering no complaint. He took what was 
 offered to him, suffered anything to be taken 
 from him, bore everything in sullen silence and 
 with apparent calmness. He even managed to 
 give an appearance of quiet submission to the 
 obstinate resistance which he offered to the orders 
 of his superiors. Some task which was imposed 
 upon him seemed to him too hard ; he left it 
 untouched. On being asked the reason, he quietly 
 answered that he was unable to perform it. When 
 told that if it were not done they would be com- 
 
 d2
 
 42 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 pellcd to punish him, he rephcd with perfect cool- 
 ness that he could not perlorni impossibilities, and 
 that they might do as they pleased with his body. 
 He oli'ered his back to the lash with perfect indif- 
 ference, received the severest blows without mov- 
 ing a muscle or uttering a sound, returned to his 
 cell just as if nothing had happened, and left the 
 work undone as before. Exhortations and repeated 
 chastisements were of no avail ; the authorities 
 were at length forced by his iron obstinacy to give 
 him some other work that he liked better, and 
 which he most regularly performed ever after. 
 He frequently read the hymn-book in prison ; 
 listened to the sermon on Sundays, though without 
 much appearance of interest ; received the sacra- 
 ment like the other convicts, whom he far sur- 
 passed in religious knowledge ; and, with a double 
 murder on his conscience, played the part of a 
 patient, humble, and resigned martyr to trutli. 
 He carefully avoided making any statement re- 
 specting his crime ; and whoever questioned him at 
 all on the subject was either civilly yet earnestly 
 entreated to refrain from all such inquiries, or was 
 put off with mysterious complaints of the ten-ible 
 destiny which forced him forever to conceal a 
 dark secret, on the revelation of which his inno- 
 cence would instantly shine forth like the sun at 
 noonday. When hard pressed, he sometimes 
 began to relate the romance of the Schlemmers, 
 and accused the Niirnberg people as the real 
 authors of his misfortuTie, because the cry of mur- 
 derer ! murderer ! with which they assailed him 
 had induced him to pretend ignorance of what 
 had happened, which first and only falsehood had 
 induced his judge to disbelieve his subsequent 
 true narrative, and had finally brought him to 
 these chains. Hardened as he was, however, it 
 appears that he did not altogether escape from
 
 JOHN PAUL FORSTER. 43 
 
 the pangs of a guilty conscience : he frequently- 
 sighed deeply ; and once, when a lawyer well 
 acquainted with the whole case \'isited him in 
 prison, vividly represented to him the heinousness 
 of his crime, spoke to him of the heavy burden on 
 his conscience, far heavier to bear in silence than 
 the weight of his chains — and then proceeded to 
 describe the bloody scene of the 20th September, 
 1820, and to bring before him the victims bleeding 
 under the axe, and trodden under his feet, the 
 sullen countenance of the prisoner suddenly flushed 
 scai'let, and one present thought he saw tears in 
 his eyes. Some months after this visit, an organ 
 was placed in the chapel of the prison, and the 
 sacrament administered on the occasion. Forster, 
 who had hitherto always displayed the most cal- 
 lous indifference, was now deeply affected. On 
 approaching the altar, supporting his chains and 
 the bullet in both arms, he trembled in every limb, 
 tears gushed from his eyes, and his loud sobs 
 filled the chapel. What he thought or felt, whether 
 the notes of the organ pealed in his ear like the 
 " Dies irae, Dies ilia," could not be discovered. 
 When he returned to his cell he was sullen and 
 impenetrable as befoi'e. 
 
 Forster's countenance is vulgar and heavy. 
 The lower part of his long nari'ow face is of a 
 length strangely disproportioned to the upper; 
 this gives a revolting animal expression to his 
 whole countenance, which is singularly harsh, and 
 so unvarying that his head is like a marble bust, 
 lifeless but for two large prominent eyes, which 
 are usually fixed on the ground, and filled with 
 rage and despair.
 
 THE ANTONINI FAMILY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE MURDER ON A JOURNEY. 
 
 At four o'clock in the evening of the 26th No- 
 vember, 1809, Joseph Antonini and his wife The- 
 resa, both dressed as postilions d'armee in the 
 French service, drove up to the door of the post- 
 house at Maitingen near Augsburg, accompanied 
 by a beautiful young woman called Dorothea 
 Blankcnfeld. They arrived in a can-iage, had a 
 French passport [fcuille de route), and took rooms 
 at the inn. The landlord showed them into two 
 adjoining rooms on the first floor, one of which 
 was occupied by Blankcnfeld, the other, contain- 
 ing two beds, by the Antoninis. Shortly after their 
 arrival a boy joined them, who was not, however, 
 again seen in the house imtil the following morn- 
 ing. This was Carl Marschall, the brother of An- 
 tonini's wife. 
 
 About three or four in the morning, the post- 
 master and a postboy heard a piercing shriek, 
 like that of a child. The former jumped out of 
 bed and listened at the door, but lay down again 
 on hearing nothing further. Soon after, the boy 
 Carl Marschall ran hastily down the stairs, cover- 
 ing his face with his hands as if he were crying, and 
 complained to the postboy that his master (Anto- 
 nini) had beaten him. At about six Antonini went 
 into the post-boy's room with a light, and requested 
 him to make a large fire in the stove above stairs,
 
 THE ANTONINI FAMILY. 45. 
 
 as it was bitterly cold. His hand was stained with 
 blood, but the postboy thought nothing of this, and 
 merely supposed that Antonini had made the boy's 
 nose bleed by striking him. 
 
 On the previous evening the strangers had an- 
 nounced their intention of starting at five in the 
 morning. But it was past nine before they were 
 ready to go. The postmaster, who was standing 
 at the window, obsei'\'ed how busy they were ; and 
 his attention was attracted by a lai'ge strangely 
 shaped bundle which Antonini and the boy dragged 
 out of the house and flung into the carriage : it 
 looked, he thought, just like the carcase of a dead 
 dog, or of a human being. At last Antonini, the 
 boy Carl Marschall, and Theresa Antonini, who 
 was now dressed in women's clothes, got into the 
 carriage and drove away. At that moment the 
 thought sti'uck the postmaster's son, who was al- 
 ready surprised by Theresa's change of dress, that 
 the young woman who had an-ived with the party 
 on the evening before, had not got into the car- 
 riage. This alarmed the people of the house, who 
 hastened to the two rooms which had been occu- 
 pied by the strangers. The first look showed 
 them, by the stains of blood on the floor, the wall, 
 and the bed, that a murder had been committed. 
 They instantly informed the local authorities of the 
 fact, and the carriage, which had scarcely gone 
 more than four hundred yards from the door when 
 the discovery was made, was immediately followed, 
 and overtaken under the gates of Augsburg. The 
 suspicious-looking bundle wrapped in a blue cloak, 
 which had been put inside the carnage at Maitin- 
 gen, was now tied up behind it. When opened it 
 was found to contain the body of a woman covered 
 with wounds. 
 
 When it was shown by the police to the three 
 prisoners, they recognised it as the body of Doro-
 
 46 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 thea Blankenfeld, who had travelled with them as 
 far as Maitingen, and on seeing it the boy at once 
 confessed that he and his brotlier-in-law Antonini 
 had murdered the woman. Antonini and his wife 
 denied that they had any share in the crime. They 
 said that the boy had murdered her from hatred, 
 and without their knowledge ; and that it was only 
 out of charity to him that they had concealed the 
 deed, but that the boy was a hardened villain, who 
 had already attempted to kill his father and to 
 stab his sister, and that Antonini had taken him 
 away from Berlin in the hope of reforming him. 
 
 On inspecting the body, the hands were found 
 much bruised and swollen, the collar-bone broken, 
 and nine wounds, apparently inflicted with some 
 blunt instrument, on the brow and other parts of 
 the head — quite suflicient, in the physician's opin- 
 ion, to cause death. He nevertheless asserted that 
 the wretched woman had not died immediately of 
 her wounds, but had perished gradually under con- 
 tinued violence. 
 
 The boy had openly confessed his share in the 
 murder, but for a long time the Antoninis obsti- 
 nately persisted in denial. Carl, they said, had 
 done it all. They continued to deny everything 
 save the concealment of the murder, of which they 
 were convicted by the clearest proof. At last, 
 after nineteen long examinations, Theresa Antonini, 
 on being confi-onted with her brother, confessed the 
 main points of her own share in the deed. Anto- 
 nini, whose cunning equalled his obstinacy, en- 
 deavored, after long though vain denial, to deceive 
 the judge by a variety of false confessions, till at 
 length he was confronted with his wife, and forced 
 to confess the truth, though still in a disjointed 
 manner. 
 
 Joseph Antonini, a man about thirty years of 
 age, was born, according to his own account, at
 
 THE ANTONINI FAMILY. 47 
 
 Messina, where his parents carried on the trade of 
 cloth- weavers. He stated himself to be a barber 
 by trade. He related that in his eleventh or 
 twelfth year he sailed to Naples to be present at 
 the feast of the Holy Grotto, and that during this 
 voyage he was unfortunately taken by an Algerine 
 corsair, which was again captured in the roads of 
 Alexandria by a French ship of war. He thus 
 obtained his freedom, and was landed in Greece, 
 The first portion of his life was as romantic as the 
 rest was strange, dark, and varied. At one time 
 he was a dmmmer in the Corsican battalion under 
 the French, then a laquais de place, then a sutler, 
 and lastly a French postilion d'armee. He had 
 been twice in prison at Berlin : once on suspicion 
 of theft, by command of the French authorities, 
 who transfen-ed him to Mayence ; and a second 
 time, together with his wife, by order of the Berlin 
 police, for having in their possession various articles 
 of which they could give no satisfactory account. 
 They were, however, released after eight days' 
 confinement : and within a few weeks they com- 
 mitted this cruel murder on the unfortunate 
 Blankenfeld. The following circumstance, how- 
 ever, joined with the history of his checkered life 
 and the character he bore before the mvu'der of 
 Blankenfeld, shows that in all probability this was 
 not the first crime Antonini had committed. 
 Whenever Antonini and his wdfe quarrelled, the 
 latter always called him a thief and an incendiary, 
 and the passionate Sicilian bore it in patient silence. 
 He told his companions in jail that he had once 
 stolen three hundred louisd'or and some valuable 
 rings, and had not only broken out of prison at 
 Erfurt, but had also effected the escape of his 
 fellow-prisoners. His conduct on examination, 
 and during his imprisonment at Augsburg, showed 
 boundless cunning and malice. To relate how by
 
 48 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 cunning, force, and bribery he endeavored to effect 
 his escape, — how he contrived to steal out of his 
 cell in order to ascertain the state of the proceedings 
 against him, — how he plotted with his fellow- 
 prisoners to escape, — how he wrote to his wife, 
 urging her to persist in a denial of her guilt, — and 
 how he at length attempted to destroy himself, — ■ 
 all this would be beyond the scope of the present 
 work. 
 
 Carl Marschall and Theresa Antonini, the former 
 not quite fifteen, the latter about twenty-six, were 
 the children of a certain John Christian Marschall, 
 a very poor but honest workman in a manufactory 
 at Berlin. Carl, according to the unanimous testi- 
 mony of his parents, schoolmasters, and acquaint- 
 ance, was a good-humored and remarkably docile 
 boy, always anxious to please and to do what he 
 was bid. On the other hand, Theresa was describ- 
 ed by her own parents as a wild, obstinate, malig- 
 nant, and dissolute girl. Advice and punishment 
 alike failed to bend her stubborn will or to mend 
 her morals. She showed neither love nor honor to 
 her parents, nor obedience or respect to those she 
 served. At Berlin she became acquauited A\ith 
 Antonini, then a postilion d'armee in the French 
 service, and married him at Kustrin, in 1806. 
 Their life is involved in mystery from that time till 
 1809, when they visited Theresa's parents and were 
 aiTested by the Berlin police for having in their 
 possession suspicious property. From Berlin An- 
 tonini wished to return home to Messina with his 
 wife, and persuaded Carl to accompany them and 
 to take care of his horse during the journey. The 
 parents refused their permission ; but the boy, thus 
 placed between obedience to his father and mother 
 and the more attractive scheme of the Italian, natu- 
 rally chose the latter, and was taken fi-om his 
 parents against their will and almost by force. It is
 
 THE ANTONINI FAMILY. 49 
 
 worthy of notice that the old father, when informed 
 of the charge against his children, wrote a touch- 
 ing- letter to the mas^istrates of Aufjsbure:, becfginflr 
 the life of his poor misguided boy, and of the boy 
 alone ; even the father's heart could find nothing to 
 say in favor of his daughtei'. 
 
 Dorothea Blankenfeld, born at Friedland, of 
 parents in the middle class of life, was a beautiful 
 girl, scarce four-and-twenty, of spotless reputation, 
 and a kind and gentle disposition. She left Danzig 
 in November, 1809, on her way to Vienna to join 
 her lover, a French commissaire ordonnateur, to 
 whom she was about to be married. The secre- 
 tary to the French commissaire, Mons. Gentil, to 
 whom she was recommended at Dresden, had taken 
 a room for her at the Hotel de Baviere, and there 
 she waited for a convenient opportunity to continue 
 her journey. This soon presented itself, but — for 
 her destruction. 
 
 Two persons, giving their names as Antoine 
 (Antonini) and Schulz, and stating themselves to 
 be French postilions d'armee, appeared before the 
 above-named secretary, provided with the proper 
 recommendation from the commandant at Dresden, 
 and demanded a passport for the army. Mons. 
 Gentil immediately acquainted Dorothea Blanken- 
 feld with this cheap and safe opportunity for con- 
 tinuing her journey, and offered to insert her name 
 in the feuille de route. She gladly accepted the 
 offer, and after staying three or four days at 
 Dresden, she started in a carriage with these 
 people. 
 
 The feuille de route named Sieur Antoine, Sieur 
 Schulz, and Dame Blankenfeld. Meanwhile Carl, 
 who had first assumed the name of Schulz, changed 
 characters with his sister, who was not mentioned 
 in the passport, and she now got into the carriage 
 ilressed in men's clothes, under the name of Schulz ; 
 4 E
 
 5d REMARKABLE CRIMINAL' TRIALS. 
 
 while Carl acted as a servant to the party, in which 
 capacity he contrived to get through everywhere 
 with the rest. 
 
 Dorothea Blankenfeld was well provided with 
 money and property. Her trunk was full of good 
 clothes and hne linen, and she had 2000 thalers 
 sewed in her stays. The Antoninis did not know 
 this at first, but Blankenfeld's fashionable dress, 
 and the rank of her acquaintances at Dresden, led 
 them to suspect enough to be a strong temptation 
 to villainy. 
 
 Antonini and his wife were very ill provided 
 with money for their journey. They wanted to 
 reach Messina, and Antonini had but a few thalers 
 in his pocket. It is impossible to avoid suspect- 
 ing that in undertaking the journey with such ut- 
 terly insufficient resources, they must have relied 
 on obtaining money by dishonest means on the 
 road. One cannot believe that Antonini, who bad 
 not nearly enough for himself and his wife, would 
 have burdened himself with the additional expense 
 of young Carl, merely for the sake of giving the 
 boy pleasure, or for the use he might be of as a 
 groom. Was it not far more likely that he took 
 the boy with the intention of making him a tool 
 and a scape-goat for his crimes 1 The feigned 
 name of Schulz which was given to Carl, There- 
 sa's disguise and subsequent change of parts with 
 her brother, make this extremely probable. This 
 masquerading and changing of names and persons 
 was excellently contrived to help them through 
 difficulties and to mislead the police. Moreover, 
 the thought of murdering Blankenfeld seems to 
 have struck the Antoninis so soon, and to have 
 been so quickly resolved into a settled plan, that 
 one can hardly resist the inference that the idea of 
 procuring money for their journey by some crime 
 had been all along firmly fixed in their minds, and
 
 THE ANTONINI FAMILY. 51 
 
 only waited for an opportunity to be cairied into 
 execution. 
 
 They had left Dresden but a few posts behind 
 them, when Antonini acquainted his wife with his 
 intention of murdering Blankenfeld in order to ob- 
 tain possession of her property. Theresa, far from 
 raising any objections, approved highly of the plan. 
 They immediately took young Carl into their con- 
 fidence, telling him in a few words that " Dorothea 
 Blankenfeld must and should be murdered." 
 
 The docile boy had nothing to say against it, 
 and was ready to do their bidding in all things. 
 Thus the main point was settled at once, and no- 
 thing remained but to detennine the how, when, 
 and where. 
 
 On so long a journey some favorable opportunity 
 could not fail to present itself, and to that they re- 
 solved to trust. From this time foi-vvard these 
 three people were incessantly occupied in seeking 
 opportunities and devising means of murder and 
 concealment of their crime. Each strove to sur- 
 pass the others in zeal, activity, and ingenuity. 
 The whole journey was one continued attempt to 
 destroy the innocent and unsuspecting Blanken- 
 feld. Each succeeding failure incited them to 
 fresh attempts. Their night quarters were always 
 selected with a view to the execution of their 
 project ; and every night, while the ill-starred girl 
 slept unconscious of her impending fate, death 
 threatened her in one fonn or another. Noth- 
 ing but accident diverted the murderers from their 
 plan, until it was executed at Maitingen. 
 
 At Hof, Antonini devised a plan for stifling 
 Blankenfeld with smoke while she slept. But his 
 wife raised some objections to it. She thought the 
 idea a good one, but too uncertain. This plan, 
 therefore, was not even attempted. 
 
 The next sleeping-place between Hof and Bair-
 
 53 REMARKABLE CRIMINAI, TRIALS. 
 
 euth, probably Berneck, appeared peculiarly well 
 suited for the execution of their scheme. The 
 village itself lies in a hollow at the entrance of the 
 Fichtelgebirge ; the inn was lonely, out of the way, 
 and stood just at the foot of a mountain covered 
 with wood. Thus the deed might have been com- 
 mitted in security, and the dead body buried dur- 
 intj the nifjht on the mountain. But Theresa 
 Antonini had appeared at Berneck in women's 
 clotlies, and not as a postilion, so that the people 
 of the inn had seen two women arrive ; and the 
 Antoninis feared that if only one left the inn on the 
 following moniing it might excite suspicion. This 
 excellent opportunity was thus lost. 
 
 On the following night, at Baireuth, matters be- 
 came still more serious. Antonini returned to his 
 original scheme of stifling Blankenfeld with smoke, 
 and talked of making holes in the stove of her 
 room, and then heating it with damp straw.* But 
 Theresa repeated her former objection, that the 
 result was uncertain ; Blankenfeld might awake, 
 and open her window to get rid of the smoke. It 
 was therefore finally resolved to kill her by blows. 
 Carl was ordered to provide himself with a good 
 club, and to have plenty of water ready to wash 
 away the blood. But Blankenfeld was again pro- 
 tected by some chance which prevented the mur- 
 der. 
 
 The Antoninis had thus lost three days. Expe- 
 rience had taught them that the execution of their 
 design was not so easy as they had at first imag- 
 ined. They saw difficulties and dangers before 
 them to which they did not choose to expose 
 themselves for a trifling gain. They accordingly 
 determined, before proceeding with their perilous 
 undertaking, to convince themselves that their risk 
 
 * The German stoves are supplied with fuel outside the 
 room.
 
 THE ANTONINI FAMILY. 53 
 
 and trouble would be sufficiently rewarded. A 
 little village between Baireuth and Niirnberg — 
 most likely Leopoldstein — was selected for this 
 purpose. Blankenfeld here ordered some negus, 
 into which Antonini contrived to pour opium. 
 When she was in bed and fast asleep, the keys 
 were taken from under her pillow, and her trunks 
 opened and examined by Antonini and his wife. 
 They found in them no money, but plenty of fine 
 linen, good men's and women's clothes, and a few 
 jewels. " At all events," said Antonini, " it is 
 worth while to kill her." Hereupon they re- 
 placed every thing with the utmost care, locked 
 the trunks, and put back the keys under her pillow. 
 This was sufficient for that night. 
 
 The following day found them at Niirnberg, 
 again debating how they might kill Blankenfeld. 
 The many streams of water which run through the 
 city afforded favorable opportunities for getting rid 
 of the body ; but a sentinel, who stood opposite the 
 inn, was an insurmountable obstacle. Carl, who 
 endeavored to deserve the trust reposed in him, 
 not only by obedience, but occasionally by advice 
 and suggestion, proposed to mix pounded glass 
 in Blankenfeld's soup, and thus to do the deed 
 quietly. But Antonini rejected the scheme as 
 inefficient ; he had often swallowed broken glass 
 himself in sport, Avith no ill effect. Blankenfeld 
 thus escaped once more. 
 
 From Niirnberg they went to the small manu- 
 facturing town of Roth, which they reached to- 
 wards nightfall. The active, watchful Theresa 
 discovered a mattock, with three ii'on prongs, in 
 the loft, and showed it to her husband and Carl 
 with the words, " That would give a deadly blow." 
 Carl, who was the one selected to do the deed, 
 secretly conveyed this instrument into the bed- 
 room, and hid it behind the stove. His sister, 
 
 e2
 
 Si REMAUKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 meanwhile, instructed him how to use it. An- 
 other sleeping-draught was administered to Blan- 
 kenfeld, and nothing more was Avanting but to find 
 a place of concealment for the dead body. Carl 
 and Antonini went out separately to reconnoitre : 
 the former discovered a hole in a field, which 
 might do ; the latter chose a pool of water in the 
 neighborhood. But all was again in vain. Acci- 
 dent had brought a number of earners to the inn, 
 whose eyes and ears might have been awkward 
 witnesses : the murder was, therefore, again de- 
 ferred. 
 
 They encountered similar impediments on the 
 two followings nights, which they passed at Weis- 
 senberg and Donauworth, on the road between 
 Roth and Maitingen. 
 
 Time now pressed, for Blankenfeld was to 
 leave them at Augsburg, and they were to pass 
 only one more night on the road before reaching 
 it. Now, then, or never, the plan must be can-ied, 
 into execution. 
 
 During the last post before Maitingen, Antonini 
 exercised all his ingenuity to asceitain from Blan- 
 kenfeld whether she had money or valuables con- 
 cealed elsewhere than in her trunk. He turned 
 the conversation on the Tyrolese insurgents, and 
 the dangers which she might encounter. He said 
 that the Tyrolese had already penetrated into 
 Swabia and Bavaria, where they committed all 
 sorts of cruelties and murders for the sake of the 
 most trifling booty. By these exaggerated state- 
 ments, he excited the imagination of the unsus- 
 pecting girl to such a degi-ee, that at length, losing 
 all prudence in her terror, she put her hand to her 
 breast and said, "Ah ! I will give the Tyi-olese all 
 this most willingly, if they will only spare my 
 life !" Had any scruples still lurked in the mhids 
 of the Sicilian and his wile, this discovery would
 
 THE ANTONINI FAMILY. 55 
 
 have dissipated, tliem. The prospect of a rich 
 booty determined them to run all hazards, and 
 they arrived at Maitingen firmly resolved that their 
 intended victim should die that night. 
 
 Antonini and his wife had calculated that if so 
 young a lad as Carl committed the murder alone, 
 he would relieve them of the greater jiart of the 
 guilt, without incun-ing capital punishment him- 
 self. They hoped to secure themselves by throw- 
 ing the whole blame upon him. They had ac- 
 cordingly drawn him into the plot from the very 
 betrinning, and the execution of the murder was 
 now entrusted to him at Maitmgen, as it had been 
 before. At this last place they did everything in 
 their power to inflame his young blood, and to in- 
 spire him with courage and determination. The 
 boy, equally docile for good or for evil, blindly 
 followed Antonini's orders, and regarded the mur- 
 der of an innocent girl as a commonplace event. 
 No feelings of compassion, no pangs of conscience, 
 seem to have touched him in favor of one who had 
 treated him with unifonn kindness during the jour- 
 ney ; nor had he any fear of detection or punish- 
 ment. He only hesitated from fear that his 
 strength was not equal to the undertaking ; but 
 his sister promised him all her husband's clothes 
 as a reward for the deed, and Antonini said he 
 would assist him, if necessary, as soon as the first 
 blow had been struck. 
 
 Carl had discovei'ed in the post-house a large 
 roller weighing about four pounds, which he 
 thought might serve the purpose, and had con- 
 cealed it in Antonini's bed-room. He was then 
 sent out to dig a hole in a dunghill, in which to con- 
 ceal the body ; but in this he did not succeed. An- 
 tonini secretly bought some candles, so as to have 
 a light all night, and some brandy. After supper 
 he pursuaded her to drink some of the brandy,
 
 50. REMARKABLK CUIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 with which he had mixed laudanum ; and at about 
 eight o'clock she went halt" stupified to bed in hex* 
 own room, leaving the door open between herself 
 and the Antoninis. Warm water was then pro- 
 cured, under the pretence of a foot-bath, to wash 
 away the blood, and the outer door was locked and 
 bolted. 
 
 About midnight Carl stole into Blankenfeld's 
 room to see how she lay. She slept heavily, but 
 her position was by no means favorable for their 
 purpose, as her face was turned towards the wall. 
 
 While the murderers Avere waiting for her to 
 move into a moi-e convenient posture, it struck 
 Antonini that it would be better to kill the sleep- 
 ing woman by less violent means than blows on 
 the head, and he proposed to pour melted lead 
 into her ears, or, as Carl suggested, into her eyes. 
 They broke a pewter spoon into small pieces, 
 which they melted in an iron one over the candle. 
 But a drop which fell upon the sheet and merely 
 Bcorched it, proved to the murderers that melted 
 pewter cooled too soon for their pur])ose. This 
 plan was therefore abandoned, and they deter- 
 mined to abide by their original intention. 
 
 At about four Carl again stole into the room, 
 and found Blankenfeld lying on her back asleep, 
 with her head towards him. " Now," said Anto- 
 nini, " is the proper moment," and went up to the 
 bed. Carl followed him witli the heavy roller, and 
 when urged to strike the blow, he raised the mur- 
 derous instrument, but hesitated, trembled, and 
 drew back in alarm. Antonini whispered to him 
 some words of reproach, seized his hand which 
 clasped the weapon, gave it a proper direction over 
 their victim's head, and the first blow fell upon the 
 forehead of Blankenfeld, who exclaimed, " Jesus ! 
 my head !" and raised herself in bed. At this 
 moment Antonini seized her by the shoulders, and
 
 THE ANTONINI FAMILY. 67 
 
 Theresa by the feet ; the unhappy girl now began 
 to cry, and offered her murderers everything she 
 possessed, if tliey would but spare her young life. 
 Pity, fear, and horror seized upon Carl, who hast- 
 ily flung the weapon upon the floor, and ran to the 
 door to escape ; but Antonini's wife rushed after 
 him, dragged him back into the room, and, placing 
 the roller in his hand, ordered him to complete his 
 task. He again stepped up to the bed, and aimed 
 a second blow at Blankenfeld's head, which struck 
 Antonini's forehead at the same time, and Carl 
 again threw down the roller and ran away, while 
 tlie pain of the blow forced Antonini to let go 
 Blankenfeld, who collected all her strength, jump- 
 ed out of bed, and rushed towards the door of the 
 outer room. But Antonini fiercely pursued her, 
 and stnick blow after blow on her head till she 
 sank upon the floor, where he still continued to 
 strike her. As she lay on the ground with the 
 death-rattle in her throat, Antonini tore oft' her 
 clothes and the stays which contained her money. 
 He then lifted the dying woman on his shoulders, 
 intending to cany her out into the yard and bury 
 her in the dungheap. But the weight was too 
 much for him, and Theresa dissuaded him. They 
 therefore took her back into her own room. But 
 the wretched woman still breathed and again began 
 to gi'oan. " The carrion is coming to life again," 
 exclaimed Theresa. Antonini then stood upon 
 Blankenfeld's body and trampled on it with both 
 feet until she was dead. The cor|3se was then by 
 Theresa's advice thrust into a sack and rolled up 
 in a coverlet. In order to be perfectly secure An- 
 tonini took the further precaution of tying a cord 
 tightly round her neck, while Theresa was busily 
 employed in washing away as much as she could 
 of the bloody stains. She then prepared for the 
 journey by taking off' her postilion's dress and
 
 53 REMAEKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 putting on the clothes which Blankenfeld had worn 
 on the previous day. 
 
 This is the connected narrative of the transac- 
 tion, as repeatedly and circumstantially confessed 
 by Carl Marschall. 
 
 Theresa Antonini acknowledged the truth of 
 Carl's statement on most points; but, when con- 
 fronted with her brother, she so stoutly denied 
 having held Blankenfeld's feet, as to make Carl 
 hesitate and conclude himself mistaken. But on 
 his fourteenth examination he returned to his for- 
 mer charge, and confidently asserted that his sister 
 held Blankenfeld's feet, at all events, while he 
 struck the second blow. On a second confronta- 
 tion, Theresa persisted in her denial ; and when 
 Carl rejjeated his statement she grew violent, at- 
 tempted to strike him, swore she would be re- 
 venged on him, and cursed him and her parents. 
 We can only account for Theresa's denial of this 
 one circumstance, on the supposition that she en- 
 tertained the vulgar notion that the other charges 
 aeaiiist her, the truth of which she had confessed, 
 would not be punished with death, provided she 
 could prove that she had not laid hands upon the 
 murdered woman. 
 
 Antonini himself, in all his examinations and 
 confrontations with Carl and Theresa, never made 
 a clear and connected confession. 
 
 In his first twelve examinations he threw the 
 whole blame on Carl, and asserted that he himself 
 had had no share in or even knowledge of the murder. 
 
 In his thirteenth audience, which he demanded, 
 he unintentionally confessed something by relating 
 the following tale: " That he had been awakened 
 in the night by his wife, who told him there was a 
 noise in the next room, and that she thought some 
 (me was attempting suicide. He jumjied out of 
 bed, and on entering Blankenfeld's room receiv-
 
 THE ANTONINI FAMILY. 5& 
 
 cd a blow on the head. While in the act of par- 
 rying a second, the club Avith which he had been 
 struck fell into his hand. He seized it and gave a 
 violent blow, he knew not to whom, for the room 
 was pitchy dark, and he was half stunned. He 
 then struck towards the other side of the room, but 
 encountered nothing. He shortly afterwards dis- 
 covered that Blankenfeld had been murdered by 
 Carl." 
 
 In his fourteenth examination, which he also de- 
 manded, he gave a second version totally different 
 from the first. He said that at about five in the morn- 
 ing a chaise arrived at the post-house : thinking it 
 was theirs, he awakened Carl, and told him to call 
 Blankenfeld. Soon after he heard angry words, 
 and then blows. He jumped out of bed and went 
 into her room, where he found her fighting with 
 Carl. He tried to separate them, but received a 
 kick from Blankenfeld which sent him reeling 
 against the bed. He called out, 'Carl, help me!' 
 and the lad then redoubled his blows. Anger then 
 took possession of me," said Antonini, " and I 
 wrested the club out of Carl's hands and struck 
 Blankenfeld three or four blows, whereupon she 
 fell dead on the floor." It was not till afterwards 
 that he discovered — for desire of gain was not the 
 motive of his crime — that Blankenfeld had money 
 concealed about her person, which however he ap- 
 propriated to himself. He confirmed this confes- 
 sion in his fifteenth examination ; adding, that he 
 had no intention of killing Blankenfeld ; that he 
 had struck about him wildly, and might have hit 
 her on the body as well as the head. This he im- 
 proved into a statement that his agitation had pre- 
 vented him from seeing whether he struck Carl or 
 Blankenfeld. 
 
 In his nineteenth examination he came somewhat 
 nearer the truth. He stated that " During the
 
 00 UKMAKKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 journey they liatl constantly quarrelled with BUin- 
 kenfeld. As he had spent his own money, and had 
 fi-etjuently paid for her, Carl suggested to him that 
 * As Blankenfeld had a good deal of money in her 
 possession, why not kill her on the road 1 No one 
 would observe it, as Theresa might pass for her.' 
 But he ( Antonini) and his wife had refused to agree 
 to this, ^vhenever it was proposed. At Maitingen, 
 Carl came to him during the night with the club 
 in his hand, and awoke him, saying, * that he was 
 determined to kill Blankenfeld, come what might.' 
 He (Antonini) represented to him that this was 
 not to be done in a place where it would be sure 
 to be discovered, and to get them all three into 
 mischief Hereupon he went to sleep, but was 
 awakened by the sound of blows, and on running 
 into Blankenfeld's room he caught hold of some 
 one, who turned out to be BlaTikenfeld, and found 
 his hands covered with her blood. Carl still con- 
 tinued to strike her, but he (Antonini) exclaimed, 
 'My God! my God! Carl! and, let go Blanken- 
 feld.' He then wrested the weapon out of Carl's 
 hands, and struck Blankenfeld three blows more, 
 which felled her to the gi'ound, but did not inten- 
 tionally strike her on the head. He must, howev- 
 er, confess that during the journey he had thought 
 of killing her, in order to possess himself of her 
 money ; but his wife had always dissuaded him, 
 and that he certainly should not have killed her, 
 had not Carl struck the first blow. He added, 
 that on his entrance into Blankenfeld's room, he 
 had stumbled; and, half stunned by that, and by 
 a knock he received on the head when he quitted 
 his hold of Blankenfeld, he only discovered, after 
 giving the third blow, that it was Blankenfeld whom 
 he had struck. It was not until after she was dead 
 that he knew anything of the money concealed 
 about her person."
 
 THK ANTONINI FAMILY. 61 
 
 The twentieth examination elicited from him the 
 foUowinsT circumstance : — That at Maitinwn, im- 
 mediately before the deed, Cai'l represented to him 
 their wretched condition, and again urged him to 
 kill Blankenfeld, and take her money. When he 
 objected from fear of discovery, Carl proposed to 
 him to pour melted pewter into Blankenfeld's ears. 
 He agreed; but on attempting to hold the spoon 
 over the candle, his hand shook so violently that 
 the spoon fell upon the ground, and he told Carl 
 that he never could do such a deed. He then re- 
 peated much the same version of the murder as 
 before. 
 
 Neither the subsequent examinations nor repeat- 
 ed confrontation with Carl, produced a clearer con- 
 fession. It was only on being brought face to face 
 with his wife, who coaxed him to confess the truth, 
 that he conceded some few points : but he never 
 made a complete and repentant confession. 
 
 Joseph Antonini and his wife Maria Theresa 
 were sentenced by the court at Niirnberg to death 
 by the sword. Carl Franz Ludwig Marschall, in 
 consideration of his youth, was condemned to ten 
 years' imprisonment with hard labor. 
 
 Antonini escaped his well-deserved punishment 
 by dying in prison ; but his Avife mounted the scaf- 
 fold, and died as she had lived, bold, hardened, and 
 unrepentant.
 
 RIEMBAUER, 
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 
 
 Francis Salesius Riembauer was bom on the 
 27th January, 1770, in the market-town of Lang- 
 quaid (circuit of Pfaffenber^). He was the son 
 of a poor day-laborer, and began hfe as a shep- 
 herd-boy : he early displayed considerable talents 
 and a strong desire for knowledge, and soon con- 
 ceived the ambition of studying for the church. 
 In his thirteenth year he fell upon his knees before 
 the priest of his parish, whom he implored to give 
 him the instruction required to prepare him for 
 the gymnasium of the town. The boy made such 
 rapid progress that within the year he was received 
 into that school. After remaining there a short 
 time he was admitted into the gymnasium of Ratis- 
 bon. Here his good behavior, diligence, and rapid 
 progress, gained him the character of an admirable 
 student who would one day do honor to the church 
 and to himself. His knowledge of ecclesiastical 
 law and history was considerable. He chiefly 
 devoted himself to the study of dialectics and cas- 
 uistry, in which he selected as his guide the works 
 of P. Benedict Stattler. In 1795 he took holy 
 orders at Ratisbon, and for many years served dif- 
 ferent parish churches in succession. At Christ- 
 mas, 1805, ho was translated to Pirkwang, where 
 he had charge of the Filial Church at Ober-Lau- 
 terbach. He remained there for two years ; and 
 in 1807 passed his examination, as candidate for
 
 THE TAETUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 63 
 
 a cure, with great honor at Munich, and was ap- 
 pointed parish-priest at Priel on the 18tli March, 
 1808, from wlience, two years later, he was trans- 
 lated to Nandelstadt. 
 
 From the commencement of his ecclesiastical 
 career, he was so remarkable for his talents and 
 virtues as to be held up as a model to other priests. 
 His stately figure and handsome face, his persua- 
 sive eloquence and insinuating manners, gained 
 him general good-will. He performed his clerical 
 duties with punctuality, dignity, and grace, and 
 his outward demeanor was decorum itself. His 
 leisure hours — at least until his removal to Pirk- 
 wang, where the purchase of a small property in- 
 volved him in agi'icultural pursuits — were passed 
 in reading and study. And when those priests to 
 whom he was attached as chaplain, expressed their 
 admiration of his zeal for learning, he replied that 
 this was the pi'oper calling of the clergy, who 
 ought not to concern themselves with worldly 
 affairs. His preaching was distinguished for fire 
 and unction, and out of church, as well as in it, he 
 declaimed against the coiTuptions of the world : 
 his soft words and gentle manners seemed those 
 of a saint living in communion with God, and in 
 charity with his neighbor. He always walked 
 out of church smiling, with his head on one side, 
 his eyes half closed and fixed upon the ground, 
 and his hands folded. Even those who felt a per- 
 sonal dislike to him, or distrusted his character, 
 praised his merits as a priest, and his eloquence 
 in the pulpit. " He was," said one Niedermeyer, 
 " really a most charming preacher, and would have 
 converted us all to righteousness, had he stayed 
 longer at Hof kirchen : he cast his eyes towards 
 heaven, and preached most powerful doctrine." 
 Besides this, the common people believed — and 
 he encouraged the idea — that he stood in close and
 
 64 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 constant communication with the invisible world- 
 The (lead came from purgatory to visit him in his 
 chamber, and entreat liim to say a mass lor the re- 
 pose of their souls, and when this was done they Were 
 released. Even before the mass was over, he saw 
 the beatified spirit Hy towards heaven in the form 
 of a white dove. When his spiritual duties called 
 him abi'oad by night, the distressed *ouls of the 
 departed flitted before him in the shape of small 
 flames, probably to obtain his benediction, and fol- 
 lowed the direction of his hallowed finger as he 
 pointed to the right or to the left. For some time 
 he was honored almost as a saint by the people, 
 and many would eagerly rush to seat themselves 
 upon the chair he had just left, in the hopes of 
 feeling something of his holy influence. 
 
 Some of his clerical brethren, indeed, beheld in 
 him a hypocrite and a pharisee. It was whispered 
 at Hirnheim that the parish priest had received a 
 letter fi-om his brother priest at Hofkirchen, where 
 Riembauer had acted as chaplain, warning him 
 against the new-comer as a wolf in sheep's cloth- 
 ing ; and telling him that he had obtained his re- 
 moval on this account. Nor did all his penitents 
 implicitly believe in the piety and virtue of this 
 holy man : some of thom ]>rivately doubted whe- 
 ther a man who flattered all alike, and looked no 
 one in the face, were not a very great hypocrite. 
 There were many good, prudent fathers of fami- 
 lies, who, while they felt highly honored in receiv- 
 ing the pious young ecclesiastic in their houses, 
 nevertheless took es])ocial precautions for the se- 
 curity of their daughters, to whom Riembauer 
 invariably paid particular attention, whenever he 
 passed the night under their roofs. 
 
 It was not until many years later, when other far 
 more irapoitant discoveries had been made, that the 
 following circumstances in the life of this holy man
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 65 
 
 became public. While he was chaplain at Hof- 
 kirchen, he seduced the piiest's cookmaitl, Maria 
 H — , and afterwards gave her the means of retiring 
 to Landshut, where, in ISOl, she was delivered of 
 a son, who died soon after. Dui'ing his residence 
 at Hirnheim as chaplain, he lived with Anna 
 Eichstadter, the kitchen-maid at the manse, and in 
 1803 he had a daughter by her, which was born 
 and christened at Ratisbon, both parents giving 
 false names. While he was chaplain at Pfarrkofen, 
 in 1803, he seduced a sempstress, Walburga R — , 
 who bore him a daughter, named Theresa, who 
 also was alive at the time of the trial. It was also 
 loimored that the cookmaid of the parish priest of 
 Pfan-kofen was in the same state by him. He was 
 then chaplain at Pondorfin 1804, where, according 
 to his own account, he received great offence from 
 the wickedness of the world, and the coiTuption of 
 the young clergy ; for some of the other chaplains 
 paid particular attention to the youthful cousin of 
 the parish priest, to which she did not appear in- 
 sensible. He was hereby compelled to procure his 
 removal to some other curacy. He was translated 
 to Pirkwang ; and at Lauterbach, a small village 
 within his cure, he selected as his mistress a 
 farmer's daughter, named Magdalena Frauen- 
 knetch, whose history we shall have to relate here- 
 after. x\fter the death of this mistress, he lived 
 with his last cookmaid, Anna Weninger, by whom 
 he had no less than three children. 
 
 In order to quiet the conscience and secure the 
 fidelity of those concubines with whom he intended 
 to live for any length of time, Riembauer used to 
 perform the marriage service over them, uniting in 
 his own person the characters of priest and bride- 
 groom. Catherine Frauenknecht asserted that, 
 hidden behind Riembauer's bed, she witnessed the 
 strange espousals of her sister Magdalena ; that 
 5 F 2
 
 66 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 Riembauer repeated all the usual ])rayers and 
 exhortations, and placed a gold wedding-ring on 
 her sister's linger. Anna Weninger said that the 
 same thing took place at her union with him, but 
 was not sure whether the priestly bridcgi'oom j)er- 
 formcd the ceremony clad in his stole and Avith 
 burning candles, or not. He himself denied having 
 thus profaned his sacred functions, but confessed 
 that he liad instructed his mistresses in the duties 
 of the married state, and then given and received a 
 formal promise. He was very earnest in par- 
 suading his female ])enitents that they might safely 
 permit themselves certain sins with the saints of 
 the Lord. Many other charges were pi'oved 
 against him which we will pass over in silence, the 
 more so as we want nothing further to convince us 
 that the whole of his ecclesiastical career was a 
 perfect illustration of the well-known and popular 
 maxim — 
 
 Le nial n'est jamais que dans I'eclat qu'on fait. 
 Le scandale du mondc est ce qui fait I'off'ense, 
 Et ce n'est pas pechcr quo pechcr en silence.* 
 
 Without having read Moliere, Riembauer tho- 
 roughly understood not only how to sin in secret, 
 and to appear before the woi'ld as a saint, but also 
 how to keep an amicable account with heaven for 
 sins already committed, or to be committed here- 
 after. 
 
 Le Ciel defend, do vrai, certains contentements ; 
 Mais on trouvc avec lui des accommodements. 
 Selon divers besoins, 11 est une science 
 D'ctendre les liens de notre conscience, 
 Et de rectitier le inal de Paction 
 Avec la purete de notre intention. f 
 
 These errors and frailties were not his sins, but 
 the sins of celibacy ; and casuistry furnished him 
 with arguments to prove that in procreating illegi- 
 
 * Le Tartuffe. t Ibid.
 
 THE TARTUFFE OP REAL LIFE. 67 
 
 timate children he was instrumental in extending 
 the kingdom of God; that, therefore, this conduct, 
 far from being reprehensible, was praiseworthy, 
 and agreeable in the sight of heaven. " I consid- 
 ered," these are his words, " 1st, That reason tells 
 us that it cannot be unlawflil to beget a child ; for 
 to call into existence an immortal and rational being 
 is a good deed. It is thus that a man becomes in 
 a peculiar manner the image of God, -with whom 
 he co-operates in the creation of a human being, 
 as is said by Saint Clement of Alexandria; 2nd, 
 That it cannot be contrary to God's ordinances, for 
 thus it is that the number of the elect is increased ; 
 3rd, Neither is it against the decrees of the church, 
 if the child be educated in the Christian faith ; 4th, 
 Nor against the interests of the state, provided this 
 member of it receive moral and civil instruction, 
 so as to become a good citizen and faithful subject, 
 and pro-vided the mother of the child be not for- 
 saken. I frequently considered all these arguments, 
 which were supported by the history of the church,* 
 and by my own experience. My conscience was 
 thus made easy mider these en'ors of celibacy." 
 
 Riembauer, impelled by feelings of duty and 
 kindness, or by prudential motives, did everything 
 in his power to provide for his children and to keep 
 their mothers quiet and contented, so that they 
 might do nothing to injure his reputation. 
 
 The child of Anna Eichstiidter was educated at 
 his expense at Ratisbon, and he kept up a constant 
 and friendly intercourse with the mother, who serv- 
 ed in various places as housemaid or waiting-maid. 
 He coiTesponded with her, and provided her with 
 linen, money, &c. ; occasionally visited her, and 
 
 * It is probable that the learned Riembauer refers to those por- 
 tions of ecclesiastical history which treat of the lives of Sergius 
 III., John XII., Innocent II. and VII., John XXIII., Alexander 
 VI., Julius II., &c.
 
 68 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 held out hopes of taking her to Hve with him per- 
 manently as l)is cook, whenever he should have 
 a parsonage of his own. Anna Eichstiidter, the 
 daughter of a cai-penter at Fiiith, was a well-shap- 
 ed, tall, strong, broad-shouldered woman, remark- 
 able, among other things (which is important in the 
 sequel), for two rows of most beautiful teeth. The 
 intimate and fi-iendly connexion subsisting between 
 her and lliembaucr received a considerable shock 
 about a year after his removal as chaplain to Pirk- 
 wang : this shock eventually caused her cruel 
 death. 
 
 Riembauer, as we have already said, had the 
 charge of the church at Ober Lauterbach, where 
 the Franenknecht family lived at a farm called the 
 Thomashof. The Frauenknechts, by their industry 
 and frugality, their benevolent and Christian spirit, 
 and their pious conduct, had gained the respect 
 and love of all their neighbors. When Riembauer 
 began his ministry there at Christmas, 1805, the 
 family consisted of the father, who died two years 
 after, his wife and two daughters — the eldest of 
 whom, Magdalena, was born in 1788 ; the second, 
 Catherine, in 1796. The former was described by 
 all who knew her, both high and low, as a most 
 pious, gentle, amiable girl ; and, imtil Riembauer 
 came near her, of spotless reputation. The latter, 
 who was then but a child, was generally said to be a 
 frank and honest girl, with an understanding be- 
 yond her years. 
 
 Riembauer's cupidity was soon excited by this 
 family, and he determined to possess not only the 
 daughter, Magdalena, but likewise the property of 
 these simple-hearted people. He obtained their 
 entire confidence, not only by his air of sanctity 
 and the superiority of his education and profession, 
 but also by laying aside in his intercourse with them 
 the outward honors of his station, and becoming, in
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. G9 
 
 pure, Cliristlan humility, their equal. Whenever 
 his duties or his pleasure took him to Ober Lauter- 
 bach, he assisted the Frauenknecht family in their 
 husbandry, doing for them, to the astonishment of 
 the neighbors, the work of a common day-laborer. 
 He who could find in his theological code a trium- 
 phant apology for every action, frequently quoted 
 the deci'ees of the Council of Carthag^e, the testi- 
 mony of Saint Epiphanius, and the example of 
 many bishops and priests of ancient times, who 
 united the offices of preachers and common la- 
 borers, to prove that an ecclesiastic forfeited none 
 of the dignity of his sacred calling by following the 
 plough or carting dung. Without having any 
 money, he bought the farm called the Thomashof 
 from the Frauenknecht family in December, 1806, 
 for 4000 florins, fraudulently inserting into the con- 
 tract a recital that 2000 florins had already been 
 paid : and after the death of old Frauenknecht he 
 presented to the Avidow a false bill of expenses, 
 amounting to 2000 more, which she, in her good- 
 natured simplicity, admitted. After thus gaining 
 possession of the Thomashof, where, however, the 
 Frauenknecht family continued to reside, he remov- 
 ed to Lauterbach, and lived there, dividing his time 
 between his professional duties and agricultural la- 
 bor. This conduct procured for him the reputa- 
 tion of a patriarch among some of his neighbors of 
 the higher class ; but the peasants, whose good com- 
 mon sense was shocked by the impropriety of this 
 proceeding, called him the farmer of Thomashof. 
 
 Soon after the fraudulent purchase of the farm, 
 the eldest daughter, Magdalena, found herself 
 about to become a mother by this reverend patri- 
 arch, and was sent by him to Munich, nominally 
 to learn cooking, but in reality to conceal her preg- 
 nancy. There she serv^ed for six or seven months 
 in the house of the Registrar Y , and was
 
 70 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 afterwards delivered of a son in June 1807, while 
 living in the same house with lliembauer — at the 
 very time when he passed his examination for 
 priest's orders with great honor. The expenses 
 of Magdalena's stay at Munich — which was entirely 
 owing to Riembaucr — wore put down by him at 
 500 florins, and deducted, with other charges of a 
 similar nature, from the sum owing to the widow 
 Frauenknccht for the Thomashof. 
 
 During KioTiibauer's stay at Munich, from about 
 the yth to the loth June, Anna Eichstadter, who 
 was then in sex'vice at Ratisbon, came to Lauter- 
 bach to extract from her lover the money for her 
 child, which Ricmbauer's embarrassments had 
 prevented him from paying as heretofore ; and 
 possibly also to take him to task about his connex- 
 ion with Magdahma, and to compel him to fulfill 
 his promise of taking her as his cook. When she 
 learnt from Catherine Frauenknecht that Riem- 
 bauer was absent, she demanded the key of hi* 
 room, saying that she was his cousin. Here she 
 acted as if she were mistress of the house, ransack- 
 ed all the chests and drawers in her search for 
 money. On finding none, or at any rate not 
 enough, she wrote him a threatening letter, which 
 she left; and after sleeping at Thomashof she re- 
 turned to Ratisbon. After Riembauer's return 
 to Munich he received a second and still more 
 angry letter from her, threatening him with legal 
 proceedings if he did not fulfill his en<TaQ:ements 
 towards her. 
 
 Shortly after, Riembauer went to visit Anna 
 Eichstadter at Ratisbon, and satisfied her for the 
 present. On his departui'e she accompanied him 
 with her child as far as Kumpfmiihl, and urged 
 him to break oft' his connexion with Magdalena, 
 and not to forsake herself. She sat on the bank 
 by tlio ro;ul-'?ido with her child, and implored him
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 71 
 
 with uplifted hands and tears in her eyes, to keep 
 the promises he had made her. But the pious 
 priest raised his stick with a threatening gesture, 
 struck it angrily upon the ground, and — went his 
 way. 
 
 Anna Eichstiidter had lived hitherto with a 
 horse-dealer at Ratisbon, but in October, 1807, she 
 quitted his service for that of the parish priest at 
 
 P . On the 1st of November she went to the 
 
 house of her new master, but requested permission 
 to visit her relations before entering upon her du- 
 ties as cook. As a pledge of her promise of ser- 
 vice she left with her master her silver necklace, 
 and several other articles of value. As it was rain- 
 ing, he lent her a green cotton umbrella, on the 
 handle of which were engraved his initials, J. O. 
 Several days passed, and she did not return. Her 
 master, who had reason to suspect that she had 
 gone to Riembauer, wrote to him, requesting him 
 to tell Anna Eichstiidter, if she did not like to en- 
 ter his service, at any rate to return his umbrella. 
 Riembauer answered that he was unable to give 
 any information about her, as he had neither seen 
 her nor the umbrella. Anna Eichstadter never 
 appeared again from the 1st of November, the day 
 she left her master's house ; she neither returned 
 to Ratisbon, nor went to her native town, Fiixth. 
 Her relations and friends could not discover her 
 place of abode, or whether she were alive or dead. 
 It was supposed either that she was drowned, or 
 had fallen into the hands of a notorious robber, 
 who was executed in the following year ; and, at 
 length, nobody thought any more about her. 
 
 Some months after the disappearance of Anna 
 Eichstadter in 1808, Riembauer was appointed to 
 the living of Priel. Hereupon he sold at a profit 
 the ill-gotten farm of Thomashof, and the widow 
 Frauenknecht and her two daughters accompanied
 
 72 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 him to his new home, where INIagdalena sensed 
 him as cook. But in tlie foUowing year both she 
 and lier mother were stuzed witli a sudden illness, 
 and died, the daughter on the IGtli, the mother on 
 the 21st of June, 1809. 
 
 The younger daughter, Catherine, had quitted 
 the parsonage some time before her mother's and 
 sister's death, partly on account of quan'els with 
 her sister, partly from confinned dislike to Riem- 
 bauer. She first went into ser\ace at his bro- 
 ther's house, after which she lived with different 
 masters. Wherever she went, though generally 
 even-tempered and cheerful, she was subject to fits 
 of terror and despondency. Solitude filled her 
 with horror ; she was afraid to sleep alone : she 
 seemed to be haunted by fearful visions, and her 
 terrors increased with her years. Some dreadlul 
 secret appeared to weigh upon her mind. Occasion- 
 ally she let fall expressions about some woman, 
 whose image pursued her wherever she went. 
 She once told a certain Catherine Schmid, with 
 whom she slept at Ratisbon, of a hojrid murder 
 committed by the priest Riembauer, Afterwards, 
 
 when she was in service at D , she told the 
 
 same story to her mistress, who advised her to 
 open her heart to a confessor. She accordingly 
 applied to a priest, to whom she related that 
 Riembauer, by whom herfamilyhadbeen defrauded 
 of 2000 florins, and she herself deprived of her 
 home, had cut the throat of a woman who visited 
 him at Lauterbach in November, .1807; that he 
 had also destroyed her mother and sister by jioison, 
 on account of their knowledge of the murder ; and, 
 lastly, that he had endeavored to get her into his 
 power, doubtless with the intention of putting out 
 of the world the only living witness of his crime. 
 The confessor dissuaded her from laying any infor- 
 mation against Riembauer in a court of justice, and
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 73 
 
 advised her to leave him, if he wei'e guilty, to the 
 judgment of God. He afterwards assured her 
 that he had secretly consulted several other eccle- 
 siastics on this case, and that this advice had been 
 approved by them all. Another priest. Co-operator 
 
 S , to whom Catherine subsequently told the 
 
 same tale, also recommended silence, but took the 
 opportunity of endeavoring to serve both her and 
 Riembauer, by writing to the latter an anonymous 
 Latin letter, threatening him with the revelation of 
 some terrible seci'et if he did not satisfy the person 
 knowing it by a full restitution of her property.* 
 The co-operator had previously asked advice upon 
 this casum conscientla, of the parish j^riest, who 
 was of opinion that the affair should certainly be 
 laid before the proper tribunal, but approved the 
 generosity of the motives which had dictated the 
 threatening letter. 
 
 At length, in 1813, Catherine Frauenknechtlaid 
 a formal accusation against Riembauer, first at 
 Ober Lauterbach, and afterwards at a criminal 
 court at Landshut, specially held for this case. 
 The evidence she gave was nearly as follows, and 
 she repeated it upon oath in the following year, 
 when she became of age. 
 
 " During the summer of 1807, while my sister 
 Magdalena and the Reverend Mr. Riembauer were 
 at Munich — the former to learn cooking, the latter 
 to pass his examination — a woman of about twenty- 
 two, tall, handsome, with an oval face, and light 
 brown hair, in a peasant's dress, with a gold cap 
 on her head, came to our house ; my mother was 
 at work in the field. She told me that she was a 
 
 * Theletterwhich Riembauer afterwards repeated from memory 
 was as follows : — " Habeo casum mihi propositum, quem tantum- 
 modo tu solvere potes. Vir quidam, quem tu bene noscis, debet 
 alicui persouae 3000 florenorum circiter. Si conscientia tua vig- 
 ilat, solve hoc debitum. Nisi intra quatuor hebdomedas respon- 
 deas, horrenda patefaciet ista persona. Hannibal ante portas .'" 
 
 G
 
 74 KEMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 cousin of Riembauer's, and on hearing that he was 
 at Munich for his examination, she requested, me to 
 give her the key of his room, which I refused. But 
 when my mother returned home she obtained it 
 from her, went into Riembauer's room, and search- 
 ed it thoroughly, just as though she were in her 
 own house. She remained with us that night, and 
 said that she had found no money, and had there- 
 fore left a letter for the priest, sealed up in a cover. 
 In about a week Mr. Riembauer returned from 
 Munich. I told him what had happened, and he 
 said, ' that she was a cousin of his, to whom he 
 owed some money.' 
 
 " In the November of the same year, I do not 
 know exactly on what day (it was afterwards dis- 
 covered to have been All Souls' Day, the 2d of 
 November), the same cousin came again to 
 Thomashof, just as Riembauer had carted home 
 turnips from the field. My sister was at home with 
 him, but my mother and I came in from work some- 
 what later. As we drew near the house we heard a 
 voice up-stairs in the priest's room — whether cry- 
 ing or laughing we could not at first distinguish — 
 but we soon perceived that it was wailing. The 
 moment we reached the threshold of our house, 
 my sister ran towards us, all in tears, and hastily 
 told us, ' that a strange woman who called herself 
 his cousin, had come to see the reverend gentle- 
 man ; that Mr. Riembauer had taken her up into 
 liis own room, and had there told her that he was 
 going to fetch some beer : that under this pretext 
 he had come down-stairs, fetched his razor, and 
 gone up-stairs again with it in his hand : that he 
 had then approached the woman, who was sitting 
 on a chair (as INIagdalcna, who had crept up-stairs 
 after him, saw through the key-hole), and catching 
 hold of her neck, as if to kiss her, had pressed her 
 head down towards the floor and rut her throat.'
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 75 
 
 " While my sister was telling us this on the door- 
 step, we still heard the wailing noise, and Mr. 
 Riembauer's voice saying, ' Nanny ! make a clean 
 breast, for you must die.' AVe then heard a 
 moaning voice saying, ' Franzel ! don't do it ! only 
 spare my life, and I will never again come to you 
 for money.'* 
 
 " My mother and sister instantly went into the 
 room below, but from curiosity I ran up-stairs, and 
 distinctly saw, through the key-hole, Mr. Riem- 
 bauer sitting or kneeling upon the body of the 
 woman, who lay upon the floor kicking and strug- 
 gling. He held her head and throat with both hands 
 while the blood gushed from her. 
 
 " I then went down-stairs, and told what I had 
 seen to my weeping mother and sister, who still 
 hesitated whether they should not call for help. 
 When I went out again into the passage I met 
 Mr. Riembauer coming down -stairs, dressed in his 
 usual brown jacket and a white apron ; his hands 
 and the apron were covered with blood, and in his 
 right hand he held the bloody razor, which he laid 
 upon the small chest by the door; he then went 
 into the room where my mother and sister were. 
 I listened at the door, and heard him tell them 
 ' that this woman had had a child by him ; and was 
 always plagviing him for money ; that she had now 
 asked him for between 100 and 200 florins, and had 
 threatened him with an action if he refused ; and 
 that as he could not raise the money, he had cut 
 her throat to get rid of her.' 
 
 " I afterwards slipt into INIr. Riembauer's room, 
 
 * An attempt was afterwards made to impugn the credit of 
 Catherine's evidence on this point. It was said that if Riem- 
 bauer had already cut the woman's throat before Magdalena had 
 come down stairs, it was impossible she could speak loud enough 
 to be heard on the door-step. But Von Walther gives it as his 
 opinion that even when the windpipe is cut, it is possible for a 
 person to speak with the head beut forward.
 
 70 UKMARICABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 and there I saw the same person who had been at 
 our house the previous summer, stretched on the 
 ihKjr, iu a pool ot" bhxxl, withher throat cut through, 
 her hair dishevelled, and her clothes torn. I 
 screamed and let fall the candle from fright. 
 
 " When I came down-stairs again, 1 saw the 
 reverend gentleman washing the blood from his 
 hands, and told him that I had seen the person wlio 
 had come in the summer lying dead in his room. 
 He then coaxed me, told me I was mistaken, and 
 promised me quantities of fine clothes if I would 
 not mention what I had seen or heard to any one. 
 My mother still continued to weep, and to declare 
 that she must inform against him. But Mr. Riem- 
 bauer thre^v himself at her feet, and entreated her 
 not to betray him. My mother still insisted, add- 
 in"- that her silence w^ould be of no avail, as the 
 neighbors must have seen the stranger and heard 
 the noise. Mr. Riembauer at last said that nothing 
 then was left fur him but to destroy himself. 
 
 " He then put on his coat, fetched a rope out of 
 the outhouse, and ran with it towards the wood. 
 My mother and sister, who followed him at a dis- 
 tance, saw that he was really in earnest, and 
 thinkintr that it would only make matters worse if 
 Mr. Riembauer were to hang himself, they ran 
 after him, and by pi'omises of secrecy prevailed 
 upon him to relinquish his design. 
 
 " When he had returned home with my mother 
 and sister, he debated in my presence about a 
 safe place where he might bury the body, and 
 chose for the purpose the little room on the left 
 hand in the newly built outhouse. He quieted 
 my relations by assuring them that he would bury 
 the body himself, and that nothing would be dis- 
 covered if only I, then a child of twelve, could be 
 prevented from talking. 
 
 "At midnight, between tw^elve and one. he took
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 77 
 
 a lontern and a spade, and went into the closet in 
 the outhouse, where he dug a hole. After a time 
 I heard a noise overhead, opened our room-door, 
 and saw a light near the cellar-door, and Mr. 
 Riembauer dragging the body, which was com- 
 ])letely dressed, down-stairs by the shoulders, so 
 that the head huno: down backwards. A shudder 
 came over me, and I cannot tell how he then con- 
 veyed the body into the outhouse. But I after- 
 wards went thither, and looking in at the open 
 door, my mother and sister and I saw that the 
 reverend gentleman had already put the mui'dered 
 woman into the hole, and was covering her over 
 with earth. 
 
 *' He washed away the blood which stained the 
 ground froin the house to the outhouse the same 
 night, and on the following morning he cleansed 
 the house with his own hands, first using cold, 
 then hot water. 
 
 " But in his own room the blood was alx'eady 
 dry, and washing was of no use ; I was therefore 
 sent to borrow a plane from our nearest neighbor, 
 Michael the cai-penter ; with this Mr. Riembauer 
 planed the floor till the stains disappeared, and 
 threw the shavings into the grate. 
 
 " On the morning after the murder, as I was 
 going to school, I saw our dog dragging a wo- 
 man's bloody shoe about the yard. I mentioned 
 this to Riembauer, and he told me to cany it into 
 the room down-stairs. 1 took it up on a stick, as 
 it made ray blood run cold, and threw it on the 
 floor of our room : I do not know what became of 
 it afterwards. 
 
 " When our neighbors inquired what had hap- 
 pened in our house to cause such disturbance and 
 crying, we answered, as the reverend gentleman 
 had instnicted us, that we had wept about our 
 father's death and the loss of the 2000 florins which 
 
 g2
 
 78 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 Mr, Riembauer had squeezed out of us, as all the 
 village knew. 
 
 " The mui-dered woman had brought with her a 
 
 green umbrella belonging to the priest at P . 
 
 Mr. Riembauer kept it, and still had it when he 
 was parish priest of Priel. 
 
 " About fourteen days after the body was buried 
 there was a dreadfiil stench in the outhouse. The 
 women who were threshing complained of this to 
 Mr. Riembauer, who told them he could not con- 
 ceive the reason. Soon after, one of the women, 
 who had gone into the little side-room, stumbled 
 against something in the dark, and called for a 
 light, that she might see what it was, as she was 
 sure that it could not be a stone. Mr. Riembauer 
 prevented her, and instantly fetched a padlock out 
 of his own room, and fastened the door, which un- 
 til then had always stood open. He told us all 
 this down-stairs, adding that it was one of Nanny's 
 feet sticking out of the earth. That same eveninjr 
 he fetched more sand, and covered the gi'ave over 
 with it." 
 
 Catherine then proceeded to give an account of 
 the sickness and sudden death of her mother and 
 sister in June, 1809, when she was at the vicarage, 
 having been fetched from school at Ralisbon to 
 take charge of the kitchen during her sister's ill- 
 ness. She confidently asserted that Mr. Riem- 
 bauer had poisoned her mother and sister, and 
 added that they had frequently quarrelled with 
 him, and that her sister had even threatened to 
 leave his service, for which reason Riembauer 
 lived in constant dread of discovery. That during 
 tlieir illness he did not allow tliem any medical or 
 religious attendance, and himself gave her sister 
 medicines, which he got from a barber-surgeon, 
 and even forced her to take them. She herself 
 was sent to fetch some drugs from the barber,
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 79 
 
 which Ricmbauer gave next morning to her sister, 
 who shortly after swooned and died. " The body 
 of my sister," said Catherine, "was exceedingly 
 swollen and covered with spots; blood ran from 
 her nose and mouth. The barber supposed her to 
 have been with child ; the village people said the 
 same, and pointed out Riembauer as the father. 
 All wondered that my mother and sister should 
 both have died so suddenly." 
 
 Lastly Catherine maintained that Riembauer had 
 several times expressed an intention of killing her 
 also. Her sister once warned her that he had said 
 that he would not mind giving two or three hun- 
 dred florins to any one who would put her out of 
 the way : adding, " the girl is gi'owing taller and 
 more sensible every day, and at last no dowry will 
 be large enough to keep her silent." After her 
 sister's death he begged her not to leave him, and 
 promised to give her eight thousand florins as her 
 mairiage-portion if she would but stay. But after 
 four weeks she left his house, and because ho ap- 
 propriated to himself all her sister's money, clothes, 
 and letters, she said to him as she went away, " Re- 
 verend sir, I do not forget the past;" whereupon 
 he answered, " It will go harder wth you tlian 
 with me: I have made up my mind what to say; 
 your mother and sister are dead, and can tell no 
 tales, and I shall say it was they who murdei-ed 
 the woman." But he did not lose sight of her, 
 and several times afterwards attempted to get her 
 into his service, or rather into his power. 
 
 This accusation, brought by a girl of seventeen 
 against a clergyman of high consideratioii, was so 
 sti-ange in its details, so improbable and extra- 
 vagant, that at first it was regarded as the inven- 
 tion of a diseased imagination. But the narrative 
 was so consistent, so circumstantial and so clear, 
 and the girl showed so much sense, and was so
 
 80 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 unembaiTassed and confident, that it was impossi- 
 blo to let the matter rest. 
 
 The larm-houso of Thomashof, in which the 
 event was said to have taken place, and the body 
 of Anna Eichstiidter to be buried, had fortunately 
 passed into other hands, and the accused priest 
 was living at a distance. It thus was possible 
 without exciting attention to make the necessary 
 investigations on the spot. 
 
 Directions were accordingly given at Lauter- 
 bach to examine the Thomashof The new out- 
 house described by Catherine was found, and 
 within it on the left-hand a small closet. On dig- 
 ging, they found, very near the surface, one shoe 
 and a female skeleton, the skull of which contained 
 two rows of beautiful white teeth. On th-e floor 
 of the room formerly inhabited by Riembauer 
 stains were found, which on being wetted with 
 warm water, clearly showed themselves to be 
 marks of blood ; several of the boards bore traces 
 of having been planed by an unskillful hand, evi- 
 dently for the purpose of effacing similar spots. 
 Tlie carpenter Michael remembered that the 
 Frauenknecht family had borrowed a plane of him 
 some six years before. 
 
 Upon this Ricml>auer was apprehended and 
 conveyed to Landshut. He showed but little 
 sui-prise, and indeed seemed fully prepared for 
 the occurrence. At the first examination, of the 
 27th October, 1813, he did not affect ignorance of 
 the cause of his apprehension, but immediately 
 mentioned Anna Eichstiidter. He said he had 
 made accpiaintance with her at Hirnheim, but that 
 nothing improper had passed between them : that 
 she had had the greatest confidence in him, had 
 entrusted to his care 50 florins of her savings, and 
 had begged him to take her as his cook, which he 
 promised to do, on condition of her future good
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 81 
 
 conduct. That since he had left Hirnlieim he had 
 heard nothing more of her, excepting at Pirkwang, 
 where she had twice sent or written to him for 
 pait of the 50 florins. That during the summer 
 of 1807, while he was at Munich for his examina- 
 tion, she had come to Lauterbach to see him, and 
 had told the Frauenknecht family, to their great 
 annoyance, that he had promised to take her as his 
 cook. 
 
 "It was," said Riembauer, "about the 3d, 4th, 
 or 5th November, 1807 (he purposely misstated 
 the day), that I returned from celebrating a funeral 
 at Pirkwang to Thomashof, the farm which I had 
 lately bought. It was just twilight. I went straight 
 up to my own room, and found the door open and 
 a person lying upon the floor. I imagined it to 
 be one of the women belonging to the house, and 
 called out ' How now — what is the matter ]' On 
 receiving no answer, I touched her, and found, to 
 my horror, that she was dead. I ran down-stairs 
 in utter dismay, and in the room below I found 
 the mother and her daughter Catherine chnging 
 to each other and trembling like aspen-leaves. 
 Upon asking them what had happened, they seized 
 my hands and implored me amid tears and lamenta- 
 tions to keep everything secret. I then learnt that 
 Anna Eichstadter, who had been to see me once 
 before, while I was at Munich, had arrived at 
 Thomashof that afternoon, and had insisted upon 
 going up into my room ; that both mother and 
 daughter had quarrelled violently with this woman, 
 Avho had attempted to stab them, and that Magda- 
 lena had seized my razor and cut her throat. The 
 dispute which led to such teirible results had been 
 caused by Eichstadter's assertion that she was 
 come to be my cook, and that the Frauenknechts 
 would be forced to leave the house. 
 
 " I afterwards lighted a candle, and in the per- 
 G
 
 82 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 son lying in my room recognised Anna Eiclistiid- 
 ter. 
 
 " I wished to quit Tliomasliot" immediately, and 
 told the Frauenkuechts that I could no longer stay 
 with them. But they held me by both hands, im- 
 ploring me with tears and groans, by all that was 
 must sacred, to stay, tluit they would give me any- 
 thing I might ask, and deduct as mucli as 1 pleased 
 from the purchase money which I still owed tliem 
 for the farm. At last 1 suti'ered myself to be per- 
 suaded to stay, brought my bed down into the pas- 
 sage, and slept there. 
 
 " I went out early the next morning, leaving 
 the dead body in my room. When 1 returned in 
 the evening, it was lying on a litter, and the Frau- 
 enkuechts told me that they wished to bury it in 
 the left-hand room in the outhouse. I told them 
 that they might do as they pleased, that I could 
 not assist them. 
 
 " Between eight and nine at night, tlie mother 
 and daughter carried the body on a litter into the 
 little closet and covered it with the earth, which 
 had already been dug out. 
 
 " The following morning I went to the spot 
 myself, and found the earth loosely heaped over 
 the body. Upon calling their attention to this, 
 and remai'king, that should any man or beast enter 
 the outhouse, the thing must be discovered, they 
 took some sand and rubbish and covered the grave 
 with it. 
 
 "I continued to sleep down-stairs in the passage 
 some few nights longer, and then returned to my 
 own room after it had been cleaned." 
 
 These Avere the chief points of a statement by 
 which he attempted to prove that he had, at his 
 own peril, consigned this horrible event to the 
 keeping of his priestly conscience, out of compas- 
 sion for the criminals, whose spiritual director he
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 83 
 
 was, and because tliat which was done could not 
 be undone, and the women deeply repented of 
 their crime. 
 
 Unlike meaner criminals, who usually deny 
 everything, Riembauer pursued the highest line 
 of policy, freely admitting all the facts which were 
 already proved, but endeavoring to arrange them 
 in such an order that the certainty of their truth 
 need not bring with it a conviction of his own 
 guilt. Upon this system Riembauer repeated the 
 statement made against him, the tenor of which 
 he could easily guess, almost word for word as 
 Catherine had related it, with this one important 
 difference, that he changed the persons, accusing 
 Magdalena and her mother of the crime, and as- 
 suming for himself the part of spectator, which 
 had belonged to Catherine. That which he really 
 did, he pretended only to have seen ; and to have 
 concealed, from Christian charity, that which in 
 fact Magdalena and her mother had concealed for 
 him. 
 
 This change of pei'sons at once converted the 
 account of the murder at Thomashof — the main 
 facts of which were acknowledged by the accused 
 to be true — from a fearful romance into a manifest 
 absurdity. Who could imagine such a deed pos- 
 sible to a gentle kind-hearted woman, who, as 
 Riembauer said, had the soul of an angel 1 What 
 circumstances could be strange enough, what ex- 
 citement sufficiently strong, suddenly to transform 
 a woman so sweet-tempered, and at the same time 
 so timid and nervous, as Magdalena is represented 
 to have been, into a bloodthirsty fury 1 Eich- 
 stadter was tall, strong, broad-shouldered, and 
 powerfully made; Magdalena, on the contrary, 
 was small, thhi, and weak : how could it have been 
 possible for her to cut Eichstadter's throat 1 In a 
 contest, such as that described by Riembauer, a
 
 84 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 few wounds might have been inflicted ; but it is 
 impossible thus to cut tlie tliruat of a person hav- 
 ini; the free use of her limbs. 
 
 Thus by admitting the fact of the murder, Riem- 
 bauer confirmed the truth of the accusation against 
 himself, indirectly, it is true, but still conclusively. 
 
 His conduct in prison afforded convincing proofs 
 of his guilt. He began by bribing his jailers. 
 He wrote long letters to a number of persons of his 
 acquaintance, directing them what evidence to give 
 in his favor; especially to affirm that the deceased, 
 Magdalena Frauenknecht, had confessed to them 
 that she had murdered the woman.* He gave 
 especial orders to his mistress, Anna Weninger, to 
 get rid of the green umbrella as speedily as possible. 
 Some of these letters reached their destination, 
 among others that addressed to Aima Weninger, 
 who punctually executed liis commission. Riera- 
 bauer went so far in his system of corruption as to 
 endeavor, though without success, to gain a sight of 
 the documents, or at any rate to ascertain the 
 precise charge brought against him. 
 
 Hereupon his jailers were changed, and himself 
 removed to another prison, whence he inferred 
 that his letters had been intercepted. He there- 
 fore endeavored to weaken the presum{)tion which 
 his conduct might have raised against him, by in- 
 forming the judge that he had a disclosure to 
 make, namely, that distress had thrown him into a 
 state of temporary madness, during which he had 
 written without consciousness or design letters 
 which might appear like the production of a sane 
 
 * In one letter, addressed to a priest of his acquaintance, he 
 endeavored to induce him to give such evidence : — 1. In consider- 
 ation of our brotherly love ; 2. For the sake of the worthy Nanny 
 (his cookmaid Weninger) ; 3. On account of our friends, who 
 are grieved for me ; 4. On account of the clergy, who are thereby 
 cast into the shade ; 5. On account of the faithful, who are of- 
 fended.
 
 TUB TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 85 
 
 and guilty mind. He then endeavored to explain 
 to his judge, accordn)g to some Jesuitical theory, the' 
 difference between the human scnsus cxternus, in- 
 ternus, and intimus ; and that this very bribery, &c. 
 proved that he possessed the sensus cxternus and 
 intcrnns, but that the sensus intlmns, upon which 
 everything in fact depended, was totally wanting to 
 him when he wrote the letters in question. 
 
 Notwithstanding the absurdity of his first state- 
 ment, it remained for four years — during which 
 he underwent ninety-nine examinations, besides 
 countless confrontations with witnesses — the 
 theme to which, with few variations, he constantly 
 adhered. He persisted in the assertion that he was 
 not the murderer of Anna Eichstadter; that the 
 day of the murder was the 3d, not the 2d of No- 
 vember ; that INIagdalena Frauenknecht committed 
 the crime from jealousy and anger, and that he had 
 nothing to accuse himself of but an error in judg- 
 ment in suffering himself to be led by christian 
 charity and a mistaken sense of duty as a priest, to 
 conceal her hon-id deed. This, he said, was the 
 truth, from which he could not depart, even though, 
 like Saint Bartholomew, he were flayed alive ; and 
 which, even on the scaffold, and sun'ounded by a 
 thousand devils, he would still proclaim to the 
 world with his latest breath. 
 
 During most of the examinations he affected the 
 resieuation of a martyr, and usually answered the 
 judges with a sweet smile. If occasionally assum- 
 in tr an air of injured innocence and honor, he burst 
 forth in vehement words or gestures, he suddenly 
 stopped short, and " with bated breath and whisper- 
 \v.<y humbleness" begged pardon for this warmth, 
 intelligible in one who saw the most manifest truths 
 always contradicted, who was like " a defenceless 
 sheep worried by savage dogs." When closely 
 pressed, he sometimes attempted to overawe the 
 
 H
 
 80 KliMAKKABLE CRIMINAJ. TKlAJ.ti. 
 
 judge by the assumption of" a pulpit style ; at other 
 times he burst into a laugh at the " unheard-of lies 
 which the devil invented against him ;" and then he 
 would strain his face into an appearance of sorrow 
 and dejection, and vainly sti-ive to shed tears. All 
 the endeavors of the judge to overcome the obsti- 
 nacy of the accused by representing to him the 
 improbability and the absurdity of his tale, were 
 foiled by his matchless self-possession and his dia- 
 lectic skill. He had a solution for every difficulty ; 
 an hypothesis for every conflicting statement; there 
 was nothing, however impossible, which he did not 
 attempt by dint of his psychological and meta- 
 physical learning to demonstrate into probability. 
 When it was urged how incredible it was that 
 Magdalena, whom he represented as remarkable for 
 kindness and gentleness, should commit such an 
 action, he launched out into a disquisition upon the 
 influence of jealousy and anger in general, and upon 
 the excitability of the female sex in })articular, 
 under the influence of which Magdalena, hardly 
 conscious of what she was about, might have done 
 the deed. If his attention was called to the phy- 
 sical impossibility of the action as narrated by 
 him, he was ready with the suggestion that Mag- 
 dalena's mother might have come to her assist- 
 ance, or, with his hal)itual smile, he bared his own 
 throat, and showed upon it how easily the opera- 
 tion might have been performed. When it was 
 objected that the weak and unpractised hand of a 
 woman could not, under any circumstances, inflict 
 so deep a wound with a razor, he bi'ought out of 
 his store of metaphysical learning the theory of a 
 certain motus jyrario 2>rimus, by which, when once 
 the razor was set in motion, it acquired unusual 
 force in a particular direction. 
 
 He loft no means imtried to cast suspicion upon 
 Catherine's character and evidence. The testi-
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 87 
 
 mony of others who proved the falsehood of many 
 particulars of his statement was seldom able to 
 shake his confidence or to induce him to retract 
 any of his assertions. When confronted with wit- 
 nesses, he always gave them to understand what 
 he wished them to say, and endeavored to work 
 upon their feelings of compassion or of reverence. 
 Sometimes he would try to overawe them by elo- 
 quence, and by the dignity of his spiritual charac- 
 ter, or to confuse and lead them into contradictions 
 by candidly and eloquently reminding them how 
 easily man may be deceived by the imperfection of 
 his nature, delusion of the senses, or want of mem- 
 ory, as in all honesty to mistake falsehood for truth. 
 When these wiles had, as usual, failed, he accused 
 the witnesses of gi'oss error or of impudent deceit, 
 invoked all the persons of the Godhead and all 
 the saints in Heaven to testify that he had spoken 
 truth ; or, in holy wrath at the coiTupt nature of man, 
 he called down upon their heads the just ven- 
 geance of offended Heaven. Once, when clearly 
 convicted of a falsehood by the evidence of several 
 witnesses, he exclaimed with flashing eyes, " Quis 
 contra torrentem ? If thirty thousand men stood 
 there, and said the devil is white, 1 would ever 
 maintain him to be black, and in the same manner 
 I must still affiiTn," &c. Occasionally, but very 
 seldom, he altered his course, and confessed the 
 truth of some fact, which, for months and in spite 
 of all proof, he had obstinately denied ; but then 
 either the action of melancholy on the scnsus inti- 
 mus, or some innocent confusion of his ideas — an 
 involuntary deception caused by the associatio 
 idearvm — had to bear the blame of his former as- 
 sertions, which were instantly replaced by others 
 equally false. He was inexhaustible in hypocriti- 
 cal figures of speech, by which he endeavored to 
 pei*suade the judge of his innocence. He assured
 
 88 REMAKKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 him " that his heart was Hke tliat of a dove, with- 
 out gall ;" " that he wished him a magic minor in 
 which he might behold the purity of his soul." 
 That he had hitherto invariably shown himself to 
 be one of the most good-natured of men ; how 
 therefore could any one suspect him of so horrible 
 an action 1 cum nemo repente fiai pessimus. " My 
 heart shudders," says he, " at the bare accusation. 
 In order that you may perceive how improbable 
 it is, I beg of you to consider my priestly charac- 
 ter. You know, 1, that by committing murder a 
 priest becomes irregularis ; 2, cxcommunicatwneni 
 majorem ipso facto illatani incurrere ;* 3, that 
 though David did severe penance for the murder 
 of Uriah, he was no longer worthy to build the 
 Temple. How then could it be possible for me to 
 forget my God, my future happiness, eternal and 
 temporal punishment, and, with hands still reeking 
 with innocent blood, to grasp God's image, admi- 
 nister the sacred mysteries of religion, and thus 
 cast myself headlong fiom one abyss to another r' 
 As Riembauer could not be moved by admoni- 
 tion, exhortation, argument, or evidence, the judge 
 
 * Riembauer is perfectly correct in his canon law ; but this 
 knowledge only made his character appear still more atrocious 
 when he subsequently confessed the murder. Since the 2d No- 
 vember, 1807, he had become irreg^daris, i. e. incapable of admin- 
 istering any sacred function, and still he continued to do so (Van 
 Espen, ' Jus Eccl. Un.,' tom. II. p. ii. tit. 10, c. i. and vii. ; Rieger, 
 ' Instit. Jurisprud. Ecclesiasticae,' p. ii. ^ 125-144). No fastmg, 
 no penitence, can remove irregularity on account of murder ; and 
 he who, conscious of this irregularity, contmues to administer the 
 sacraments, is guilty of deadly sm ('Add. Silvestri ad Van Es- 
 pen,' I. c. 7). A dispensation from the pope was alone able to 
 remove it, upon which one learned in the Catholic canon law 
 (Pyrrhus Corradus) remarks : — "■Pontifex in dispensalionibiui hujus- 
 modi concedendis, non parum difficilon se reddit ; rum abominabile sit, 
 quod effundens sanguinem humiinujn, ojferat sanguinem Ckristi el hos- 
 tiam immaculatam, vel ojjicium Deo ad altaris ministerium pr(Bf!tet." 
 VV'hat a priest, then, was Riembauer, and what a man ! More- 
 over, he afterwards owned that he had never confessed his crime 
 to any other priest, but, as he expressed it, referred the whole 
 matter to God alone.
 
 TUli TAUTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 89 
 
 attempted to find a way to his conscience thiough 
 his imagination. The tiial had now lasted two 
 whole years, when the judge appointed All Souls' 
 Day in 1815, the eighth anniversary of the murder, 
 for a new examination, the eighty-eighth in number. 
 It commenced at 4 p.m., and was intended to con- 
 vince him, by the overwhelming mass of evidence 
 collected against -him, of the inutility of further 
 denial, and to work upon his feelings more power- 
 fully than usual, by admonition and appeal to his 
 recollections. But he remained unmoved as ever. 
 At midnight the judge, after addressing the accused 
 in the most moving language, suddenly raised a 
 cloth, under which lay a skull upon a black cush- 
 ion. " This," said the judge, " is the skull of Anna 
 Eichstadter, which you may easily recognise by 
 the beautiful teeth." Riembauer started from his 
 seat, stared wildly at the judge, then smiled in his 
 usual manner, and stepped aside to avoid looking 
 straight into the empty sockets of the eyes, but 
 quickly recovered himself, and said, pointing to the 
 skull, " Could this skull speak, it would say, ' Riem- 
 bauer was my friend, not my murderer!'" He 
 added, " I am calm and can bi'eathe freely, but I 
 am pained by being exposed to such scenes, and 
 by the charge brought against me. To-moiTOw" 
 (for Riembauer still asserted that the murder took 
 place on the 3d November) " is the anniversary of 
 the day on which, some years ago, at my return 
 from Pirkwang, I found the whole body lying dead 
 in my room as now I find this skull. As a citizen 
 I ever stand in need of the king's mercy, but not 
 as a criminal." AVhen the report had been read 
 and signed, the judge again led him up to the skull, 
 which he held before his eyes while he exhorted 
 him to confess. Riembauer betrayed some emo- 
 tion, but with his usual hypocritical smile thus ad- 
 dressed the skull in a solemn tone, " Oh ! if thou 
 
 h2
 
 90 ULMAKKAULi: CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 couklst lout speak, thou wouldst confirm the truth 
 of my asseitions !" 
 
 After a long series of examinations, during which 
 the documents had swelled to a bulk of forty- 
 two folio volumes, on the 13th October, 1817, 
 the prisoner requested an interview, in which he 
 stated to the judge " that he had reflected more 
 deeply on the subject, and had besought the Holy 
 Ghost to assist his memory, whereupon it had be- 
 come clear to him that he had made a mistake in 
 his former statement." He then withdrew the 
 assertion, which he had maintained for four years, 
 that Anna Eichstadter had been murdered by 
 Magdalena Frauenknecht, and affirmed that he 
 had heard one day fi'om INIadame W. that a certain 
 Catherine Schmidt had told her that she had been 
 told by Magdalena Frauenknecht that it was not 
 she who had murdered the woman, but her mother. 
 This new story gave rise to fresh judicial proceed- 
 in sfs. 
 
 It so happened that on the 20th November, 1817, 
 a Jew called Lammfromm was executed at Land- 
 shut for murder. Rienibauer saw him led out to 
 execution, and was stnick by the tranquillity and 
 cheerfulness with which this man went toward his 
 bloody end. On expressing his wonder that this 
 man, a murderer, and moreover a Jew, should 
 meet death vrith so much composure, he was told 
 that ever since Lammfromm had eased his con- 
 science by confessing his crime, he had been in a 
 most happy frame of mind, in which he continued 
 till his death. From that moment the Christian priest 
 grew more and more restless and anxious, ate and 
 drank less, and on the 26th requested another in- 
 terview, " as he thouQfht he was suflTerino: from a 
 diseased conscience, the pangs of which might be 
 eased by a full confession." In this inlendew, which 
 \vas the hundredth, he fell upon his knees, begged
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL. LIFE. 91 
 
 ihat the trial might be brought to end, said that 
 lie was weary of" life, and talked of all manner of 
 phantasms — how he received visits from strangers 
 and from persons whom he knew ; and how for 
 the last three nights, after the Ave Maria, he had 
 heard the sad and solemn roll of a fimeral drum. 
 Even now he could not at first resolve upon mak- 
 ing a full confession. When the judge observed 
 that his distress of inind was entirely owing to his 
 guilt, he replied that " he was exhausted by sleep- 
 less nights, but that he had told his story as he 
 knew it and as it occurred." The judge once 
 more recapitulated all the falsehoods, improbabili- 
 ties, and contradictions contained in his statement, 
 animadverted upon his strangely pusillanimous and 
 confused demeanor, and concluded with the re- 
 mark that his feelings seemed deeply touched, and 
 that he had better, by a free and full confession of 
 the truth, endeavor to obtain some peace of mind. 
 Upon this the criminal at last exclaimed, — " Yes ! 
 I feel deeply shaken ; my health is broken ; and 
 you, sir, are perfectly right when you say that I 
 cannot do better than make a repentant confession. 
 But before I take the decisive step, let me implore 
 the royal protection for my innocent children, and 
 for my last cook, Anna Weninger." He then gave 
 directions for the disposal of his property. " And 
 now receive my sincere confession : Catherine has 
 spoken falsely on many points, but her assertions 
 are in the main true, for it was I who deprived 
 Anna Eichstadter of life." 
 
 After this the criminal gave, in thirteen several 
 examinations, a narrative of the whole transaction. 
 His motive to the crime was the dread lest Anna 
 Eichstadter should unmask him before the world, 
 rob him of his honor and good name, and ruin his 
 prospect of preferment. Anna declared, said Ri- 
 embauer, " when I met her at Ratisbon, that she
 
 92 KE.MAUKAUliK CKI.MIAAI, TRIALS. 
 
 Avoulcl not part fiom me. I represented to lier 
 most strongly that it was impossible for mo to take 
 her, but all in vain. INIy position, my reputation, 
 everything that was sacred and dear to me, would 
 bo endangered by her coming to Lauterbach. 
 1 thought within myself, ' What is to be done 
 should she come V and I suddenly remembered 
 the maxim laid down by Father Benedict Stattlor 
 in his Ethica Christicma* according to which it is 
 lawful to deprive another of life, when honor and 
 reputation cannot be otherwise maintained ; for 
 honor is of higher value than life, and the law of 
 necessity holds good against those who attack our 
 honor, as much as against robbers. 1 thought 
 over this maxim, which Professor St used for- 
 merly to explain to us young ecclesiastics in his 
 lectures; and finding that it exactly applied to my 
 own predicament, I took it as my dictamen practi- 
 
 * The chief passages from wliicli Riembaucr selected his dic- 
 tamen practicum are the ISS'Jth, 18'Jlst, and 18'J3d paragraphs of 
 this truly aiiticlirislian Ethica Christiana, which appeared in 1789, 
 in six thick volumes. In the above-named paragraphs a christian 
 is allowed to prevent a " contumelia gravis certo provisa, ant purquarn 
 dolore molcsta, aut magnopere ignominiosa^^ or a " calumnia," by the 
 murder of the " injusti aggressoris," or " injusli rahtmriiatoris." 
 This species of morality would clearly justify a man in secretly 
 murdermg any one who might be suspected of designing a secret 
 attack on his honor. This is further proved by the 1893rd para- 
 graph, in which a man is permitted to rid himself of an enemy : — 
 " .S'j >io?i ipsa occisione iyijusti calumniatoris tantundem periculi infa- 
 rnieB incurramus, quantum vitare declinatione calumni<r. intendinms :" 
 also " Si tantundem periculi nobis ex occisione calumniatoris immincat, 
 proficto utile remedium occisio esse nan potest, ac proinde nee licitum," 
 — that is, the murder should only take place when it can be com- 
 mitted with secresy and security. There is nothing, however 
 infamous, for which Father Stattler's christian ethics do not af- 
 ford a justification. The 1891th jiaragraph permits calumny to 
 be met by calumny : Licet cerlam gravcm calumniam quiF nulla alio 
 remedio, hoc uno autem ccrto et ejjicaciter, de pelli potest, enervare im- 
 ponendo caluinniatori falsum crimen prwcise tale, nee inajus quam tie- 
 cesse sit, et sufficiat ad elidendum calumniatoris auctoritatem ac fidem, 
 etfamam propnam dependendam ! Riembauer, of course, reckoned 
 Anna Eichstadter among his ivjustos aggressores. Father Stattler's 
 book is printed cum permissu superiorum, and is still used in several 
 places as a manual for ecclesiastics !
 
 TUK TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 93 
 
 cum. My honor, thought I, will be lost, should 
 this wicked woman come to Lautcrbach and carry 
 her threat into execution. 1 shall be suspended 
 by the consistory, my property will be forfeited, 
 and my name will become a repi-oach and a by- 
 word thouffhout the diocese. Although I had 
 considei'ed this maxim of Stattler's for some time 
 past, and applied it to my outi position, still it was 
 but an idea, and I had not yet formed any plan 
 for putting it in practice." 
 
 While he was engaged in these meditations, the 
 month of November, 1807, found him in arrear 
 with his payments to Anna Eichstadter for the 
 support of her child ; and as he had no ready 
 money, he lived in daily dread lest she should 
 come or write to Lauterbach. 
 
 On All Souls' day, the 2d November, towards 
 evening, as he was carting home turnips accom- 
 panied by Magdalena Frauenknecht, he recognised, 
 to his utter dismay, Anna Eichstadter entering 
 the house at Thomashof. 
 
 He found her in the lower room, and after a 
 short conversation took her with him up-stairs. 
 " I at first intended," said he, " to hide her in l4ie 
 loft, so that Magdalena might not see her. But it 
 was already too dark, and we turned back half 
 way. I must confess that for a moment I thought 
 of throwing her down the stairs, and I don't ex- 
 actly know why I did not ; I was filled with terror, 
 and perhaps 1 thought within myself that she 
 might only break a limb in the fall, and that then 
 matters would be worse than before," 
 
 In his room Eiclistadter told him that she 
 was resolved to know what she had to expect, 
 and insisted on his taking her as his cook, and 
 getting rid of Magdalena. Riembauer endeavor- 
 ed to pacify her by explaining the nature of his 
 connection 'with the Frauenknechts, and the im-
 
 94 REMARKABLE CUIMTNAL TRIALS. 
 
 possibility of complying with her demands, but in 
 vain. 
 
 He then left her under pretence of fetching her 
 some beer, went down stairs — where, he asserts, 
 contrary to all probability, that Magdalena persua- 
 ded him to murder Eichstiidtcr — took a bread 
 knife and his I'azor, and returned to Eichstiidter, 
 who reiterated her demands with great violence 
 and many threats of denouncing him to justice and 
 before the consistory, and of publishing his true 
 character eveiywhere. At this critical moment 
 Father Stattler's maxim again recurred to his 
 mind, and he seized the bread-knife and stabbed 
 Eichstiidter with it on the right side of her throat; 
 but finding the knife too blunt, he dropped it, and 
 she endeavored to defend herself; he then held 
 her by the throat, gave her a heavy blow on the 
 back of her head, thrust his fingers into her mouth, 
 and tried to choke her, exhorting her in the mean 
 time to repentance and confession, as she must die. 
 She replied by earnestly entreating him to spare 
 her life ; " then," said he, " I took the razor out of 
 my pocket, embraced her from behind, and with my 
 right hand put the blade to her throat, while with 
 my left I forced it into her windpipe. I instantly 
 perceived by her sobs that 1 had made a deep in- 
 cision, and I dropped the razor. She remained 
 standino: for three or four minutes, during^ which I 
 said to her, ' Mariandel, I pray to God and to you 
 for pardon : you would have it so. Pray to God 
 for forgiveness of your sins, and I will give you 
 absolution.' I accordingly gave it her, as it was 
 in casu necessitatis. She then tottered, as if her 
 knees were failing under her ; and I took her 
 under the ai'ms, and let her down gently ; for a 
 few minutes longer I gave her religious consolation 
 as she lay on the lloor, until she began to kick and 
 struggle, and presently breathed her last."
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL. LIFE. 95 
 
 After the murder, he went down-stairs to the 
 Frauenknechts, upon whom he enjoined silence, 
 and washed the blood from his hands ; but all at 
 once he heard a noise of tramjjling and scuffling 
 overhead. " One of the Frauenknechts," continued 
 the prisoner, "cried out, 'Jesus and Mary! the 
 woman is come to life again ;' and I hastened up- 
 stairs in continued evil disposition, firmly resolved 
 on no account to suffer Eichstadtcr to return to 
 life, as she would be still more formidable to me 
 after this catastrophe ; so I drew her necker- 
 chief tighter, partly to hasten her death and partly 
 to shorten her sufferings : whether she then moved, 
 I cannot determine." 
 
 He maintained, in direct contradiction to Cath- 
 erine's statement, that the corpse lay the whole of 
 the next day in his room, and that it was not until 
 the night of the 3d November that he buried it in 
 the closet in the outhouse. He owned that he 
 himself had dug the hole, but asserted that Magda- 
 lena and her mother had helped him to carry the 
 body down the stairs and into the outhouse, and to 
 bury it there ; this scene we will describe in Riem- 
 bauer's own words: — "The grave which I had 
 dug was too short and too shallow, so that the 
 head and the arms, which had stiffened in an atti- 
 tude of entreaty, projected far above the sand. 
 I therefore stamped with both feet, and with the 
 whole weight of my body upon the corpse, in 
 which I heard a strange i'umbling noise. I then 
 covered it with more sand, and some time after- 
 wards with brick rubbish, because a woman who 
 had come to thresh stumbled over one of the hands 
 which protruded from the eai'th." 
 
 He afterwards confessed that in cai-rying Eich- 
 stadter's body down the stairs one of her shoes fell 
 off", which he chopped in pieces and threw upon 
 the dunghill ; likewise that he appropriated to
 
 96 REMARKABLIi CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 himself her silver buckle, her purse containing 
 about two florins, and the green umbrella belong- 
 ing to the priest at P , and that he effaced the 
 
 bloody stains partly by washing them with warm 
 water and partly by planing the boards. " And 
 now," he continued, " I have nothing further to 
 tell about this sad story, save my silent grief and 
 soiTow, and that I have applied * frequent masses 
 for the soul of Anna Eichstadter." 
 
 Even after confessing every circumstance of the 
 crime, he showed no true repentance ; but con- 
 tinued to exert his skill in casuistry to justify or 
 extenuate the murder. Sometimes he would main- 
 tain that his hands had been impelled by terror, 
 fear, and sudden impulse, and that the gash had 
 thus been inflicted without the consent of his rea- 
 son. When it was objected to him that this excuse 
 stood in direct contradiction to his assertion of 
 having acted upon the maxim of Father Stattler, 
 he attempted to prove that his reasoning powers 
 were lulled to sleeji by the maxim in question, 
 while horror and dread rendered all further action 
 merely mechanical. Another time he wonld quote 
 the doctrine that all means are justified by the end, 
 and would prove that his purpose being noble, his 
 action could not l)e criminal. " I had no object 
 but that of preventing the many evils and sins 
 arising from public scandal, and of upholding the 
 honor of the clergy and the reverence due to my 
 sacred calling. Had I not stood in such high con- 
 sideration with the pcojile, I might juore readily 
 have submitted to the disgrace. But I foresaw 
 that the discovery of my crime would bring with 
 it a train of evils ; that many men would hence- 
 forth think all sins permitted ; some would cease 
 
 * An expression which shows the estimation in which this priest 
 hnlil the holy ofliccs of his cluirrh : he talks of applying a mass 
 as an apothecary would of ap|)lying a blister,
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 97 
 
 to believe in God, others would no longer hold 
 anything sacred." Thus Iliembauer not only com- 
 mitted murder ad majorem Dei gloriam, but for 
 the same cause persevered for four long years in 
 denying his crime. "It was," said he, "only in 
 order to preserve the honor of the clergy in my 
 person that I pined so many years in captivity 
 vdthout confessing my crime. But as soon as I 
 perceived that it was the will of God that I should 
 reveal the deed, I made a full confession." So 
 utterly perverted and corrupt was the mind of this 
 Tartuffe, that he actually boasted that he had de- 
 served well of the State by his deceit and hypo- 
 crisy. " I have openly confessed," says he, " my 
 manner of life, and I think myself entitled to some 
 indulgence for so governing my conduct as to cause 
 no public scandal." 
 
 With regard to the alleged poisoning of Magda- 
 lena Frauenknecht and her mother, no proof was 
 forthcoming. The bodies were exhumed in 1813, 
 but no trace of poison was discovered, and every- 
 thing led to the conclusion that they died of a 
 nervous fever which at that time raged in the 
 district of the Danube, and which killed many 
 persons in the neighborhood, among others an 
 Austrian soldier, who, from charity, was taken 
 into the manse, and nursed by Magdalena herself. 
 Riembauer denied having any hand in the death 
 of these two women. 
 
 Several other circumstances appeared . during 
 the course of inquiry ; among others, a charge of 
 forging a document for 635 florins, in which the 
 gi'ounds of suspicion were very strong against the 
 prisoner, although he did not confess. In his 
 107th examination, he related that once when the 
 innkeeper of GrafenlTaubach refused him a loan 
 of money, he had meditated burning his house 
 down. This was to prove that sinful thoughts are 
 7 I
 
 98 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 not crimes. Ho also said, in another examination, 
 in order to show his sincerity, that he had once 
 fervently prayed to God to destroy some man who 
 was hateful to him, and that the man had died, 
 probably from the effect of his prayers. 
 
 However, the murder of Anna Eichstadter was 
 the chief point under consideration of the court. 
 
 So long as Riombauer denied his guilt, the 
 whole force of the examination was directed, to 
 cumulate evidence against him. Catherine's testi- 
 mony was on some points defective. Riembauer's 
 confession removed all difficulties, and changed the 
 whole posture of affairs. 
 
 It was confirmed beyond doubt by the evidence 
 of Riembauer's own brother, who up to this time 
 had resolutely denied, in the face of several wit- 
 nesses, all knowledge of his brother's crime. He 
 now made the following statement : — 
 
 " I am indeed in a most terrible position : Riem- 
 bauer is not only my brother, but has also been 
 my constant benefactor 5 gratitude and fraternal 
 love have induced me hitherto to deny all knowl- 
 edge of the murder of Eichstlidter, but now that 
 my brother has himself confessed the di-eadful 
 deed, I may speak without incurring the reproach 
 of ingi-atitude. I once visited my brother at his 
 parsonage at Priel, and stayed there three or four 
 weeks : one evening his cookmaid, Ma^dalena 
 Frauenknecht, a good quiet girl, came to my bed- 
 side, and began to weep bitterly. I asked her 
 why she cried, and she answered, ' Ah ! brother, 
 if you knew what I know, you would cry too !' " 
 
 Riembauer's brother then repeated Magdalena's 
 statement, which exactly coincided with that of 
 Catherine, save only that she admitted that she 
 herself was present at the murder, and helped her 
 master to carry the body into the outhouse, and to 
 bury it there. Her reason for confiding the story to
 
 THE TARTUFFE OF REAL LIFE. 99 
 
 Riembaucr's brother was, that the farmer who had 
 bought Thomashof of him was then digging in the 
 outhouse, and she was afi-aid lest the body might 
 be discovered. '' I knew not what to say," con- 
 tinued his brother, " save my hoiTor of the crime, 
 and that I could advise her nothing, but to let 
 things take their course." 
 
 Riembauer's confession is complete, consistent 
 in all its parts, and legally sufficient. It tallied 
 with a number of facts which were proved by 
 other witnesses. It was certain that Anna Eich- 
 stiidter had a child by Riembauer, that she pressed 
 him for money, and that at the time of the murder 
 he had none to give to her. It was further proved 
 that Eichstadter had left Priel on All Souls' day, 
 1S07, and might easily have reached Lauterbach 
 the same day, and that she was never after seen 
 alive. On the very spot described by Riembauer 
 himself the skeleton of a woman was found, which 
 was recognised by the teeth as that of Anna Eich- 
 stadter. Six years after the murder there were 
 spots of blood upon the floor of Riembauer's room, 
 as well as marks of the plane, evidently made in 
 endeavoring to obliterate the traces of the murder. 
 Only one shoe was found— Riembauer mentioned 
 having chopped the other in pieces. 
 
 According to the common law of Germany, the 
 proof of a murder having been committed, con- 
 firmed by the confession of the murderer, justifies 
 sentence of death ; * and in Riembauer's case the 
 fact had been fully proved and the confession 
 made; nor were there any extenuating circum- 
 stances which should mitigate the severity of the 
 usual punishment. 
 
 Nevertheless, on the 1st August, 1818, the court 
 passed the following sentence on the criminal : — 
 
 * Stiibel liber den That bestand der Verbrechen.
 
 100 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 " Francis Salesius Riembaucr is found guilty of 
 murder, and is condemned to imprisonment of the 
 severest kind in a fortress for life," 
 
 The reasons assigned for so lenient a sentence 
 •were, first, that tlie fact of the murder was not 
 clearly proved, as the skeleton, which had lain six. 
 years in the damp earth, bore no marks of violence ;* 
 and secondly, that Riembauer's character was not 
 notoriously bad.t 
 
 * Art. 271 of the Bavarian code. 
 
 t When the fact of a murder having been committed rests 
 chiefly on the murderer's confession, the Bavarian penal code 
 (art. 209, i} 2) requires that " the accused should be either a noto- 
 rious crimmal, or one proved by the clearest circumstantial evi- 
 dence to be a person from whom such a crime as that of which 
 he is accused may be expected." Feuerbach adduces several ex- 
 cellent but obvious arguments against this law, and states hi-s 
 opinion that in this particular case every condition required by 
 law was fulfilled, and every defect in the evidence supplied by the 
 confession.
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE POLICE AT FAULT. 
 
 In the year 1817 there lived in the town of 
 
 M a goldsmith of the name of Christopher 
 
 Rupprecht. He was between the ages of sixty 
 and sixty-five, and in easy circumstances. He had 
 been twelve years a widower, and had but one 
 child living, a daughter, married to a furrier named 
 Bieringer, a brother and two sisters. Rupprecht 
 could neither read nor write, and therefore kept no 
 accounts either of his trade or of the money he lent 
 out at intei'est, but trusted entirely to his memory 
 and to the assistance he occasionally received from 
 others in arranging and drawing up his bills. He 
 was a man of vulgar mind and coarse habits, fond 
 of associating with people of the very lowest class, 
 and of fi-equenting alehouses, Avhere his chief de- 
 light was in slang and abuse, and where he suffered 
 himself to be made the butt of the roughest jokes 
 and the most vulgar witticisms. His niling pas- 
 sion was avarice, and his favorite business the 
 lending money at usurious intei-est. Though rich, 
 he deprived himself of necessaries, and was glad 
 when his sister or his dausrhter sent him a dinner ; 
 and for a long time after his wife's death he kept 
 no servant, in order to save food and wages. Two 
 days before the occurrence which caused the pre- 
 sent inquiry, he had taken one into his serv^ice. 
 Hard, morose, and repulsive, as a miser is apt tq 
 
 i2
 
 102 REMARKART-E CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 be, and at the same time crotchety, violent, and 
 ready on the most trifling occasion to use abusive 
 language, he kept most of his family at a distance. 
 His daughter and his sister Clara visited him reg- 
 ularly, but his brother, with whom he had a law- 
 suit, and his other sister, avoided his company; 
 he had also quarrelled with his son-in-law several 
 months before, and had ceased to see him from 
 that time. He was cross-grained and quaiTel- 
 some, continually at law with his neighbors, and 
 on bad tenus with a number of people, though no 
 one could be pointed out as his declared enemy. 
 
 For about a year he had been in the daily habit 
 of frequenting a small beer-shop, commonly called 
 the Hell. To this place, which was scarce fifty 
 yards distance from his own house, Rupprecht went 
 on the 7th Febi'uary, at half-past eight in the 
 evenino' in his dressincr-gcown and with a leathern 
 cap on his head. The party assembled there, con- 
 sisted of eleven respectable burghers, who sat talking 
 and drinking together till about half-past ten, when 
 Kupprecht called for another glass of beer, and the 
 host left the upper parlor where his guests were 
 assembled, and went down into the tap to fetch it. 
 
 As he was going up-stairs with the beer, and had 
 almost reached the top, he heard the bell over the 
 street-door, and on asking what was wanted, he 
 was answered in a strange voice by the inquiry 
 whether Mr. Rupprecht was there. Without 
 looking round, the host answered that he was, and 
 the stranger requested him to desire Rupprecht to 
 step down to him for a moment. The host deliv- 
 ered the message to his guest, who instantly rose 
 and left the room. Scarcely a minute had elapsed, 
 when the other guests were alarmed by hearing 
 loud groans like those of a person in a fit of apoplexy. 
 They all hastened down-stairs, and found Rup- 
 precht lying just within the door, covered with
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. 103 
 
 blood, which was pouring out of a large wound on 
 his head. About a foot and a half from the body- 
 lay his cap, cut evidently by a sharp instrument. 
 He was only able to mutter the words " Wicked 
 rogue! wicked rogue! with the axe!" When 
 asked whether he knew who had done it, he made 
 an efibrt to speak, but no one could understand 
 what he said. The guests carried him into the 
 parlor, where he began to moan and mutter un- 
 intelligibly. Excited by the questions of one of the 
 guests as to whether he knew the man, he dis- 
 tinctly said "My daughter! my daughter!" 
 which was understood to mean that he wished to 
 see Madame Bieringer: she was accordingly in- 
 formed of what had happened, and brought to the 
 house by one of those present ; but Rupprecht 
 apparently did not recognise her ; he was insen- 
 sible, and. lay moaning like one in a fit, with his 
 head drooping upon his breast and his limbs 
 paralysed. 
 
 The physician and surgeon attached to the 
 Criminal Court were sent for, and found a wound, 
 four inches long, which had penetrated the skull. 
 This they attributed to a blow from some sharp 
 heavy instrument — according to all appearances a 
 large sabre, wielded by a practised hand. 
 
 The Hell Tavern stands in the end of a nan-ow 
 dark alley, from which there is no outlet. The 
 side on which is the door forms an angle with the 
 opposite house, so deep that no light falls into it by 
 night. Two stone steps lead up to the house-door, 
 of which one wing only opens, and is provided with 
 a bell. Outside the door, on the left of these steps, 
 is a stone bench. The hall within is small, narrow, 
 and little more than six feet high } the wound 
 could not therefore have been inflicted upon Rup- 
 precht in the hall, as space and height were re- 
 quired to give force to the blow. It would more-
 
 104 REMARKABLE CRIMmAL TRIALS. 
 
 over have been madness to attempt the deed in a 
 passage which was hghted hy an oil-lamp, which, 
 though dim, would have enabled the victim or a 
 passer-by to recognise the murderer. In the hall, 
 too, Rupprecht coming down the stairs would have 
 met his enemy face to face, and must have seen 
 him pi'cpare for the attack, from which he might 
 easily have escaped by running to the rooms 
 above. 
 
 Supposing the wound — which slanted down- 
 ward, and had evidently been inflicted from behind 
 — to have been given during Rupprecht's flight up 
 the stairs, those who ran down on hearing his 
 screams would have found the wounded man on 
 the staircase, or at any rate close to the foot of it. 
 But he was found just within the house-door, and 
 it is far more likely that, after receiving the wound 
 outside, he tottered back into the hall and fell 
 there, than that he should have attempted to reach 
 the house-door after being wounded in endeavoring 
 to escape up the stairs. 
 
 Again, the wound was on the left side of the 
 head, and the dark comer we have before men- 
 tioned is on the left hand of any one leaving the 
 tavern. The probability therefore is that Rup- 
 precht received the wound on the very door-step. 
 In this case he had but to totter one step back to 
 fall on the spot where he was found. It would 
 have been scarcely possible for one in Rupprecht's 
 condition to retain suflicicnt strength to crawl up 
 the steps from the street into the hall. 
 
 On the other hand, it would have been impossible 
 for the murderer, standing in the street, to have 
 struck Rupprecht from behind, while he stood on 
 the door-steps. This difficulty is, however, com- 
 pletely removed by the stone bench on the left of 
 the door, which we have already mentioned. 
 
 Thus all circumstances combine to make us conr
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. 105 
 
 elude that the occurrence took place as follows : — 
 As soon as the murderer had requested the land- 
 lord to send Rupprecht down to him, he went into 
 the dark corner on the left, mounted the stone bench 
 near the door-steps, and stood there in readiness to 
 strike. Rupprecht went down-stairs, expecting to 
 find some one who wanted to speak to him on 
 business, and seeing no one in the passage, went 
 outside the door and turned to look down the 
 street after the man who had sent for him, when 
 he was struck a well-aimed heavy blow from the 
 stone bench behind him. 
 
 Nothing was found on or near the spot that 
 could throw the slightest suspicion on any one, nor 
 could any person present form a conjecture as to the 
 author or the motive of the deed. 
 
 Something, it was hoped, would be learnt from 
 the wounded man himself when he should have 
 recovered consciousness. On the evening of the 
 following day, the 8th of February, the judge and 
 two other officers of the court accordingly visited 
 him, and found him sensible. He frequently said 
 "Oh, dear ! Oh, dear !" and when he wished for 
 something to drink, he pronounced the word beer 
 plainly enough. Conceiving him to be in a fit 
 state to give information, the judge asked him the 
 following questions, which were thus answered by 
 the wounded man : — Who struck you the blow? — 
 " Schmidt." Wliat Schmidt 1 — " Woodcutter." 
 Wliere does he live 1 — " In the Most." With what 
 did he strike you 1 — " Hatchet." How did you 
 recognise him 1 — " By his voice." Does Schmidt 
 owe you money 1 — He shook his head. What then 
 could have induced Schmidt to do such a thing 1 — 
 " Quarrel." As Rupprecht was unable to speak 
 connectedly, no questions were asked about the 
 nature of this quarrel. But when the first and 
 second questions were again put to him, he distinctly
 
 106 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALH. 
 
 repeated the words " Schmidt — woodcutter." The 
 judge ordered that an officer of the court should be 
 in constant attendance on the wounded man, in 
 order to gather every word that might fall from his 
 lips. In this man's presence Rupprecht continually- 
 repeated " Schmidt — woodcutter," whenever any 
 one, his maid-servant, his daughter, his sister, or 
 his son-in-law asked him who the murderer was. 
 Only when his sister Clara asked him if he knew 
 who had struck the blow, he muttered something 
 apparently in the negative. 
 
 The first though not the sole object of the judge 
 now was to discover the Schmidt of whom Rup- 
 precht was thinking. But in this town, as every- 
 where else, there were a vast number of people 
 called Schmidt, several of whom were woodcutters. 
 Three of these especially engaged the attention of 
 the court : the first was a certain Abraham 
 Schmidt, who lived in the Hohes Pflaster, and who, 
 it was rumored, had once been taken up with a 
 band of robbers and been sent to the House of 
 Correction. The second was one John Gabriel 
 Schmidt, commonly known as "big Schmidt," who 
 lived in a sti'eet called the Walch, and had for- 
 merly been on friendly terms withRupprecht, whose 
 favor he had lately lost by some evidence which 
 he gave against him in an action for defamation. 
 The third was big Schmidt's half-brother, distin- 
 guished from him by the name of" little Schmidt :" 
 he also lived in the AValch, and was one of Rup- 
 precht's acquaintance. 
 
 This seemed to point out the direction in which 
 investigation shoidd be made. On the 10th Febru- 
 ary the physician announced that Rupprecht had 
 been trepanned the day before and was now sen- 
 sible, and a commission of inquiry with two wit- 
 nesses accordingly went to his house. The judge 
 seated himself beside the bed and greeted Rup-
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. 107 
 
 precht, who opened his eyes, looked about him, and 
 distinctly answered " Yes" to the judge's question 
 whether he knew him. The judge, convinced by 
 this and other appearances that the wounded man 
 was in the possession of his faculties, desired him 
 to remember that, when asked about his wound, 
 he had always mentioned a name in connection 
 with it, told him that the commission was now 
 come to take down his deposition in the presence 
 of witnesses, and adjured him to reflect upon the 
 danger in which he lay, the infinite knowledge and 
 justice of God, and the awful consequences of 
 every false word. Then came the following 
 questions and answers. " Do you know who 
 struck the blow ]" Rupprecht repeatedly moved 
 his right hand, imitating the motion of striking, and 
 answered " Schmidt." " Have I understood you 
 aright] did you say Schmidt r' "Yes." "Who 
 is this Schmidt ?" " Woodcutter." " How do you 
 know that it was Schmidt, since it was dark V 
 E-upprecht endeavored to speak, but could not 
 utter a sound. He then moved his right arm with 
 increased vehemence. " But there are several of 
 that name ; can you tell me whether you mean the 
 big or the little Schmidt V Rupprecht made vain 
 attempts to answer this and the question where 
 the Schmidt lived to whom he refeiTed. When 
 asked whether he lived in the Walch, the Schutt, 
 or the Most, Rupprecht was silent. At last, when 
 asked whether Schmidtlived on the Hohes Pflaster, 
 he distinctly answered " Yes." Hereupon he sunk 
 into a state of stupor, and the inquiry had to be 
 postponed. 
 
 As equal suspicion attached to the three 
 Schmidts above named, Abraham, as well as the 
 big and the little Schmidt, were an-ested that even- 
 ing ; and notwithstanding the alarming condition 
 of the wounded man, they Avere severally taken to
 
 1C8 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 his bed-side on the chance that the murderer might 
 be recognised by Rupprecht, or that fresh cause 
 for suspicion might appear against him on the oc- 
 casion. Rupprecht appeared sensible, but could 
 not open his eyes, so that the main object entirely 
 failed. Both the big and the little Schmidt ap- 
 peared perfectly unembarrassed : the former ex- 
 claimed several times, " Poor Christopher ! how ill 
 you have been served — poor fellow, many's the 
 good jest we have had together. He must have 
 owed you a powerful grudge who could serve 
 you so." He likewise called to him repeatedly, 
 " Christopher ! Christopher ! your Hans is here," 
 &c. Abraham Schmidt behaved far differently: 
 when asked whether he knew the man in bed, he 
 at first answered, " I do not know him," but imme- 
 diately added, " That is Mr. Rupprecht, I know 
 him well ; what is the matter with him ]" When 
 asked why he at first said he did not know him, he 
 answered, " Because that is Mr. Rupprecht." He 
 was then desired to give a proper answer, but only 
 exclaimed, " I can give no answer ; I did not do 
 it ; ah ! good Lord ! I did not do it ; I am not the 
 man ; as I hope for mercy, I am innocent. I am 
 a poor woodcutter. You may ask my neighbors, 
 my wife, and my mother. On Friday night I was 
 cutting pegs at the house of my mother-in-law, till 
 eleven o'clock, and on Saturday and Sunday I was 
 at home." On being asked at what hour he had 
 gone home on Friday night, he said, " I stayed 
 until past nine with my mother-in-law." When 
 the manifest contradiction in his statement was 
 pointed out to him, he only repeated, " From nine 
 to eleven." These strange contradictoiy answei-s 
 and the agitation and confusion exhibited by the 
 prisoner, together with the circumstance that Rup- 
 precht had that morning mentioned Schmidt on 
 the Holies Pflaster, seemed to point suspicion to-
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. 109 
 
 wards Abraham Schmidt, who was accordingly- 
 placed in arrest. 
 
 The following morning, at about five o'clock 
 (the 11th February), Rupprecht died, without hav- 
 ing recovered his speech or consciousness. 
 
 Meanwhile suspicion strengthened against Abra- 
 ham Schmidt. The police handed the hatchets 
 belonging to the three suspected men into court, 
 and that of Abraham Schmidt was spotted appa- 
 rently with blood. 
 
 On his examination he stated that he was about 
 six-and-thirty, a Lutheran, and the son of a nail- 
 maker, and that he had at first learnt the trade of 
 pinmaking, but that finding it insufiicient for his 
 support, he had become a woodcutter. He had 
 been married five years, and had had two children, 
 of which one, a boy a year and a half old, was liv- 
 ing. He had once been in prison, about twelve 
 or fifteen years before, for carting some stolen veg- 
 etables into the town for other people. He asserted 
 that he was perfectly mnocent of the murder of 
 Rupprecht, whom he had neither known nor seen. 
 Hereupon he was reminded that when the wounded 
 man was showTi to him, he had at first said that he 
 did not know him, but had immediately after re- 
 cognised him as Rupprecht : how was this ] He 
 then replied, " I do not know why I said that, and 
 I said it was Rupprecht directly, but I never 
 saw him in my life before." He was then asked 
 how then he had recognised him, and answered 
 that " every one was talking of the murder, and 
 that he had heard of it at the public-house." 
 Whenever he was questioned as to where he was 
 on Friday evening at the time of the murder, he 
 invariably involved himself in contradictions. The 
 judge questioned him as follows : — " Where were 
 you last Friday ■?" "I went to the house of my 
 raother-in-law at nine o'clock in the morning, to 
 
 K
 
 110 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 help her to cut pegs. I dinetl with her, and did not 
 leave her house till nine o'clock at night, when I 
 took my little boy home, went to bed directly, 
 and did not get up again until seven o'clock on 
 Saturday morning." " When did your wife leave 
 your mother's house V " At ten o'clock." *' Why 
 did you not go together ]" " Because she was 
 still at work, and as the boy would not go to sleep, 
 she asked me to take him home, which I did." 
 " At what o'clock, then, did you go home on Fri- 
 day ?" " At nine o'clock." " Yesterday you 
 said it was at eleven ; how is that V After some 
 hesitation, " I don't know what you want of me : I 
 went home with my wife at eleven." " Just now 
 you asserted that you went home at nine 1" " All 
 my neighbors can testify that I always come home 
 at nine." " That answer will not suffice ; first you 
 say nine and then eleven : which is the truth V 
 " At nine o'clock, with my wife and my child. No, 
 my wife stayed a little longer with her mother." 
 " Who took the child home 1" *' I took him home 
 with me at nine o'clock." " When did your wife 
 come home?" "After ten o'clock." "How do 
 you know that V " Because she always comes 
 home at that time ; I was asleep when she came, 
 and can't tell exactly when it was. I did not wake, 
 though I sleep in the same bed with her and the 
 child." " Have you a key of the house V " Yes, 
 but my mother has got it." " How then did your 
 wife get in 1" " My wife took the key with her." 
 " You said at first that your mother had the key 
 the whole night through 1" " Yes, it lay upon the 
 table." " Then your wife could not have used it 
 to let herself into the house V " So I said, for my 
 wife went homo with me and put the boy to bed, 
 and then she took the house-door key and went back 
 to her mother." " How long did she stay there 1" 
 " Till eleven." " You said before that she carao
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. Ill 
 
 home at ten V " I was asleep, I can't tell whether 
 it was ten or eleven when she came home." 
 
 At first the accused did not seem embarrassed, 
 and answered readily, but appeared anxious to 
 avoid entering into details ; and on being told that 
 he contradicted himself, he grew impatient, hesi- 
 tated, coughed, and stamped. He did not encoun- 
 ter the searching gaze of the judge, but looked 
 down or on one side. 
 
 The same evening Rupprecht's dead body was 
 shown to him, and he was asked whether he recog- 
 nised it. " This," he answered, " is Mr. Rupprecht. 
 I can swear to you by my conscience and my honor, 
 and to Almighty God by my hope of salvation, that 
 I never injured this man ; for I never saw him be- 
 fore in all my life." " You say you never saw him 
 before now; how then do you know him'?" "I 
 heard of him from the people here and in the pub- 
 lic-house ; besides, I saw him yesterday. My heart 
 and my soul are free from guilt : I never banned this 
 man. I am in your power, and you may do with 
 me what you will. I am a child of innocence." 
 When the accused first entered the room, he ap- 
 peared much oppressed and overcome, but while 
 asserting his innocence his fimmess soon returaed. 
 
 The person of the prisoner had been carefully 
 examined when he was first taken to prison, but 
 no stain of blood Avas found upon his body or his 
 clothes. His house, and that of his step-mother, / 
 were rigidly searched, and in them were found to- 
 kens of great poverty, but not of crime. 
 
 He accounted for the blood on his hatchet by 
 Baying that his hand was chapped with the cold, 
 and had bled the day before, and that this might 
 have caused the stains. But these stains were 
 close to the blade, and it was his right hand which 
 was chapped, whereas, in chopping wood, the left 
 hand would naturally be nearest to the blade of
 
 112 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 the axe, while the right hand grasped the handle. 
 On further inquiry, liowever, the accused was found 
 to be left-handed, which solved the difficulty. 
 
 A comparison of the axe with the wound and 
 the cut in the leathern cap rendered it, to say the 
 least, very doubtful whetlier such a weapon could 
 have been the one employed : the edge of the axe 
 was only three inches and one-third in length, 
 while the wound measured four inches, and the 
 cut in the cap nearly four inches and a half; and 
 an axe cannot be drawn in striking. 
 
 As the murderer had called to the landlord of 
 the tavern to send Rupprccht down to him, the 
 trial was made whether Abraham Schmidt could 
 be recognised by his voice as the assassin. The 
 landlord at first doubted the possibility of such a 
 recognition, as he had paid no jjarticular attention 
 to the voice at the time, and the subsequent fright 
 had driven all recollection of it out of his head — 
 the experiment could, however, do no harm. The 
 judge sent for Schmidt into the audience-chamber, 
 while the landlord was placed in an adjoining 
 room, where he could hear, but not sec, the pris- 
 oner. He declared without hesitation that Schmidt's 
 voice was much rougher than that of the person 
 who came to his house on the night of the 7th Feb- 
 iniary, which was like the voice of a woman. 
 
 The Avitnesses who were examined as to where 
 the prisoner was when the murder took place, in 
 great part removed the suspicion which He had 
 raised against himself by his confused and contra- 
 dictory statements. His mother-in-law, Barbara 
 Lang, said that " Schmidt, with his wife and child, 
 had come to her at half-past seven in the morning, 
 as they usually did when he had no chopping to 
 do, in order to save fuel and candles. They stayed 
 all day, and at half-past nine or a quarter to ten 
 he went away with his little child and his wife,
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. 113 
 
 who lighted him home. The latter returned and 
 stayed with her another horn- or hour and a lialf, 
 making pegs." The wife's account did not exactly 
 tally with this in point of time, as she said that they 
 left Barbara Lang's house at a quarter to nine ; 
 but in other respects her statement agreed with 
 her mother's, with the further addition that 
 "when they got home she waited while her hus- 
 band undressed and went to bed with the child, as 
 she wanted the lantern to lisfht her to her mother's 
 house and back again home. When she returned, 
 at about ten, she found her husband asleep, and 
 woke him, as he took up too much room in the 
 bed. He asked what o'clock it was, and she told 
 him it was ten. He certainly did not leave her 
 side after that." She added, " This is as true as 
 that my poor child is now at my breast" — she had 
 brought the child into court with her. The woman 
 in whose house the Schmidts lodged confirmed this 
 statement in every particular. 
 
 The discrepancy between the assertions of the 
 several witnesses as to the time when Schmidt and 
 his wife returned to tlysir lodgings is easily account- 
 ed for, when we consider that they were poor peo- 
 ple who had no clocks or watches, and that it was 
 in the imonth of February. It is true that there 
 was an intei-\'al of about an hour between the time 
 of Schmidt's cominsf home and his wife's return. 
 But the distance fi-om the Hohes Pilaster to the 
 Hell Tavern is above a mile, and a murder requires 
 some preparation. Here, however, was a com- 
 monplace good sort of man, who passed the whole 
 evening with his old mother-in-law, employed with 
 his wife in cutting pegs to eani a crust of bread — 
 returned home with his child in his arms, his wife 
 carrying a lantern, and went to bed witli his child 
 — whom we must then suppose to have jumped 
 out of bed the moment his wife's back was turned, 
 8 k2
 
 114 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 to have seized an axe, and, leaving his child, to 
 have hastened to the spot vv^here he committed a 
 murder remarkable for cunning and cnielty, hur- 
 ried back into bed, where he was found shortly af- 
 terwards by his wife, fast asleep. All this, too, 
 without any one in the house hearing any noise, 
 and without leaving a trace of the murder on his 
 person. The only way to account for this would 
 be to suppose the wife to be an accomplice, a sup- 
 position for which there was not the slightest foun- 
 dation. 
 
 The evidence of one Anna Keinitz, an old wo- 
 man of seventy-eight, proved that on the 8lh of 
 February Abraham Schmidt was in all probability 
 ignorant of the murder committed on the previous 
 evening. Returning from market she passed Rup- 
 precht's house, where she heard the news. On 
 her way home she stepped in at neighbor Barbara 
 Lang's to warm herself, and found Schmidt and 
 his wife were cutting pegs, as he had no chopping 
 to do. Anna Keinitz related what she had heard. 
 Schmidt asked her who this Rnpprecht was 1 She 
 answered that he lived nea:c the butchers' stalls; 
 and the mother-in law added, " It is Rnpprecht who 
 so often comes to the tavern — do not you know 
 him ]" Schmidt replied carelessly, " I do not." 
 
 On the 9th February, Schmidt was at a tavern 
 called the Sow, where several guests were discuss- 
 ing the murder. Schmidt said nothing, and showed 
 no emban-assment ; his manner wae, as usual, quiet 
 and reserved. 
 
 The evidence of the two men who by turns 
 watched the dying man, completely overtlu-ew one 
 of the chief causes of suspicion agaiiLst Schmidt. 
 They slated that when the maid or Rupprecht's 
 daughter asked the wounded man where Schmidt 
 lived, he answered indifierently, " On the Hohes 
 Pflaster," or " In the Walch."
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. 115 
 
 Schmidt's bad repute, owing to a vague recollec- 
 tion of some former transo^-ession which vulvar 
 exaggeration had magnified into a great ci'ime, 
 disappeared on further inquiry. All who were 
 questioned about Abraham Schmidt's conduct — 
 his landlord, his neighbors, and the superintendent 
 of police of the district — described him as a very 
 poor, hard-working, peaceable, good-natured man, 
 and a good husband and father. 
 
 His sti-ange conduct in the presence of the dying 
 man, and his contradictory statements, were thus 
 accounted for. According to his mother's testimo- 
 ny, he was hard of hearing, timid, and awkward. 
 The smallest trifle made him lose all presence of 
 mind, and he was often so confused as to say the 
 very opposite of what he meant about things the 
 most familiar to him. " I believe," said the magis- 
 trate of his district, " that there is not any one in 
 my whole district who is so blundering. For in- 
 stance, he seldom calls any one by his right name ; 
 and when he does not understand what is said to 
 Kim, or cannot express his meaning, he is apt to 
 be angi'y." And this poor blockhead — he knew 
 not why or wherefore — was suddenly dragged into 
 the presence of a dying man, whom he found him- 
 self accused of having murdered, and, while agi- 
 tated and dismayed by a scene so strange, solemn, 
 and terrible, questions were put to him about the 
 most minute and trifling circumstances — questions 
 the drift of which he was too stupid and confused 
 to, understand. 
 
 The contradictory statements which he made 
 concerning many important details, were manifestly 
 the result of the prisoner's habitual confusion of 
 ideas and defective memory. His recognition of 
 Rupprecht, joined to his declaration that he did not 
 know him, would have appeared perfectly consist- 
 ent had he possessed the power of expressing him-
 
 116 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 self intelligibly. Without having ever seen Rixp- 
 precht he must have guessed that the wounded 
 man lying before him could have been none other 
 than the Rupprecht whose accident was in every 
 one's mouth. 
 
 Nothing now remained which could throw any 
 suspicion on Abraham Schmidt, and the coui't en- 
 deavoi'ed to follow out the slight traces of suspicion 
 against John Gabriel Schmidt and his half-brother 
 Erhard Diiringer. The former, commonly called 
 big Schmidt, was a married man of forty, with one 
 child ; the latter, generally known as little Schmidt, 
 was twenty-seven, also married, and had two chil- 
 dren. Both were woodcutters, and lived together 
 on excellent terms in the same house. Both were 
 boon comjjanions of Rupprecht's, who was much in 
 their company, paiticularly in that of John Gabriel, 
 whom he familiarly called his Hans, and with whom 
 he amused himself with all sorts of vulgar pranks and 
 coarse jokes. This intercourse had, however, been 
 interrupted a few months before Rupprecht's death 
 by a dispute between the quarrelsome jeweller and 
 the overseers of the district, Fi'icdmann and Gotz. 
 The last-named men were accordingly aiTcsted 
 on the suspicion that if they did not actually 
 murder him themselves, they might have induced 
 one of these woodcutters to become the instrument 
 of their vengeance. The quarrel had arisen one 
 evening when Friedmann, the two Schmidts, and 
 several other persons were sitting together in a tav- 
 ern, on which occasion Rupprecht used some very 
 offensive expressions with regard to the other over- 
 seer Gotz, accusing him of gross partiality and in- 
 justice in the administration of his office. Fried- 
 mann and Gotz complained to the police, and the 
 two Schmidts were summoned as witnesses. Rup- 
 precht was condemned to an imprisonment of 
 eight and forty hours on bread and water, and to
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. 117 
 
 make an apology to Gutz. He endeavored to re- 
 venge himself by bringing an action for defamation 
 against Friedmann and Gotz, which was still pend- 
 ing when Rupprecht was murdered. 
 
 But on examination these suspicions melted 
 away, and Rupprecht appeared to have acted the 
 part of a revengeful, angiy, insulting foe, and the 
 others that of quiet, peaceable citizens. No one had 
 perceived any bitter feeling in either Friedmann 
 or Gotz ; on the contrary, they both expressed regret 
 and indignation when they heard the manner of 
 his death. Gotz had been from eight till eleven on 
 the evening of the murder at a tavern, where his 
 manner was grave and quiet as usual ; and both he 
 and Friedmann were well known as just and upright 
 men, incapable of committing any bad action, much 
 less a crime of this magnitude. Finally, Rup- 
 precht himself, when asked on the morning after 
 his accident whether he did not suspect one of the 
 district overseers of the deed, had distinctly an- 
 swered " No." 
 
 John Gabriel Schmidt and his half-brother Er- 
 hard Diiringer had the reputation of well-con- 
 ducted, hard-working men, of spotless integrity, 
 who only visited the tavern on certain days in the 
 week, and then only for a few hours. Kunigunda 
 Pfann gave evidence on oath that Erhard Diiringer 
 could not have been at the Hell Tavern on the 
 evening of the 7th February, as she had stayed 
 with him and his wife from half-past eight till ten, 
 and had only left their room as they were prepar- 
 ing to go to bed. This evidence was confiiTned 
 by the misti-ess of the house in which they lived, 
 who inhabited the rooms above them. She stated 
 that although she had not been in Diiringer's room 
 she was satisfied that he had remained at home, 
 as Friday was not the day on which he and his 
 half-brother went to the tavern. With regard to
 
 118 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 John Gabriel Schmidt she said, " As I live up one 
 pair of stairs, and he just above mc, and I hoard 
 no one come down-stairs after eight o'clock, and 
 all was quiet in their room, I feel convinced that 
 after that hour they were in bed." Besides, 
 she was stirrins: till eleven, and even later, and 
 she heard no suspicious knocking or rmging at 
 the door. Kunigunda Pfann, whose room was 
 near the Schmidts', said that as she was return- 
 ing home at about half-past eight, she looked up 
 at their ^vindow and saw no light ; moreover the 
 key had been taken out of the door, as was their 
 custom when they went to bed ; neither had she 
 heard any noise during the night. Martin Haas, 
 the landlord, confirmed these statements, adding, 
 " I take it for orranted that the Schmidts were at 
 home on Friday, as they never go out on that day." 
 
 In order to leave nothing untried, two other 
 woodcutters, whose names were Schmidt, were 
 examined: they did not live in either of the streets 
 mentioned by Rupprecht, nor even in the town, 
 but in the suburbs. These two men, John and 
 Godfrey, were nearly connected, and generally 
 came to Niirnberg for work : and one of them was 
 usually employed by Rupprecht's son-in-law. But 
 in this case also the inquiry led to the same result. 
 
 Thus, when every woodcutter of the name of 
 Schmidt in the town and neighborhood had been 
 examined, it became evident that the court, by 
 trusting to the unconnected words of the dying 
 man, had suffei'ed itself to be led in a totally 
 false direction. His disjointed exclamations were 
 but the expression of his vague, confused suspi- 
 cions, or perhaps even mere cegri somnia, engen- 
 dered in his shattered brain by delirium. A man 
 so severely wounded in the head as almost entirely 
 to lose the power of speech cannot be supposed 
 to be in the true possession of his faculties even
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. 119 
 
 when consciousness appears for a moment to return. 
 It is not difficult to explain how his fancied suspi- 
 cions were directed ao^ainst the Schmidts, when 
 we consider that so deep a gash, even if inflicted 
 with a sabre, would feel as if it were made with 
 an axe. The mere association of ideas would 
 naturally connect a woodcutter with the axe, and 
 every throb of the wound would recall to Rup- 
 precht's disordered imagination the image of the 
 Schmidts, with whom he had lately quarrelled. 
 
 The judge, while carrying on the inquiry with 
 the utmost zeal in a direction which eventually 
 proved to be a wrong one, had not in the mean- 
 time neglected to follow up all other indications. 
 He had from the first kept his eye upon John 
 Bieringer and his wife, who was Rupprecht's owti 
 daus^hter. 
 
 Rupprecht, soon after he was wounded, had 
 exclaimed, "My daughter! my daughter!" which 
 those who were present had interpreted as the 
 expression of a natural desire on his part to see 
 her ; but which might have referred to the same 
 event as the words he used shortly before- — " The 
 wicked rogue ! with the axe !" This supposition 
 received weight from the circumstance that Rup- 
 precht usually called his son-in-law " the wicked 
 rogue." 
 
 One of those who were present went, after fetch- 
 ing a surgeon, to Bieringer's house and infonned 
 him of what had happened, and of Rupprecht's 
 wish to see his daughter. Hereupon Bieringer, 
 with extraordinary coolness, said to his wife, " You 
 must go to the Hell Tavern directly ; something 
 has happened to your father ; one really has no- 
 thing but trouble with him." 
 
 When Rupprecht's daughter saw him lying 
 wounded, she wept and lamented : but several 
 witnesses thought that she did not show so much
 
 120 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 interest and sympathy for him as might have been 
 expected from a daughter on such au occasion. 
 
 One witness asserted that soon after she had 
 seen her father, disfigured as he was with blood 
 and wounds, she asked for his keys, and said, 
 "she woukl look whether they were in his pocket, 
 or whether the murdei'er had taken them to open 
 her father's lodo-ins: and rob it." As soon as she 
 recovered his keys, she went on before to his 
 lodo^ing. 
 
 The same witness further said, " When her 
 wounded father lay in his owni house, the daugh- 
 ter appeared not only composed, but eveii careless. 
 When I went to see him on the following day, I 
 observed that she showed great indifterence to her 
 father's fate ; she ate iip, in my presence, a whole 
 basin of soup which would have more than satisfied 
 most people." 
 
 Meanwhile she manifested the greatest anxiety 
 to fix susjsicion on Jolm Gabriel Schmidt, and on 
 the district overseer Gotz. On the 8th February 
 she suddenly exclaimed, that her father had named 
 Schmidt as the murderer; adding, that it was like- 
 ly enough, as this man was an intimate friend of 
 Gotz's, who had been involved in a lawsuit with 
 her fother. This she repeated so often and so 
 loudly, that the officer appointed to note down 
 every expression that fell from the dying man, 
 was forced to order her to be silent. 
 
 She further stated, at her examination on the 9th 
 February, that her father, on coming to himself, 
 had accused the woodcutter Schmidt of the deed ; 
 and added that, on her repeatedly asking who had 
 struck him, her father had answered, " He was a 
 big fellow." As no one else had heard Rupprecht 
 say this, it looked as if she had invented it in order 
 to avert suspicion from her husband, who was of 
 small stature.
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. 121 
 
 On the following clay, the 10th February, when 
 the three woodcuttei's of the name of Schmidt were 
 })rought into the presence of the wounded man, she 
 pressed the judge, when it came to John Gabriel's 
 turn, to allow her to be present, and to speak to 
 him ; saying, " This John Gabriel Schmidt was 
 the man whom she alluded to in her yesterday's 
 examination ; and that she "wished to speak to him, 
 and to remind him of the omniscience of God, as 
 he might then, perhaps, confess. The others, she 
 was sure, were innocent. 
 
 Bieringer, a well-bred and well educated man, 
 of about five-and-thirty, was perfectly composed 
 and unconstrained during examination ; only once 
 he started from his seat, complained of illness, 
 and walked up and down; he then sat down again, 
 and quietly continued to answer the questions put 
 to him. 
 
 The principal ground for suspicion against him 
 was, the terms on which he lived with his wife and 
 his father-in-law. 
 
 Bieringer's domestic quarrels had occasionally 
 been to violent as to draw together a crowd before 
 his house ; and his wife had once been sent to pri- 
 son for eight and forty hours, in consequence of a 
 complaint laid by her husband before the police. 
 Bieringer accused her of violence of temper and 
 love of finery ; and her father of always supporting 
 her against her husband. The imprisonment, it is 
 true, had produced a wholesome effect, and Bier- 
 inger's domestic peace had remained unbroken for 
 some time. But the quaiTel between Rupprecht 
 end his son-in-law was iiTeconcilable. Rupprecht 
 would not see him ; and on the very day before 
 his death he had said to his maid, " Bieringer is a 
 cursed rogue, who shall never come into my pres- 
 ence." Rupprecht thought him a careless fellow, 
 who worked less and spent more than he ought ; 
 
 L
 
 122 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 and who, moreover, did not show him sufficient 
 resjiect. He had long intended to make a will 
 leaving liis whole property to his daughter, and 
 placing it entirely out of the reach of her husband. 
 He had mentioned this plan to his daughter some 
 months before. He had also told his fellow-lodger 
 Hogner, who was more in his confidence than any 
 one else, that " he would make a will, in which he 
 would not forget his good friends, and would settle 
 his money in such manner u})on his daughter that 
 his rascally son-in-law should not be able to touch 
 it, so that his daughter might have something to 
 live upon in case of a separation. On Friday the 
 7th February, at about 3 p.m., only a few hours 
 before he was murdered, he sent to his familiar 
 friend Hogner, and requested him to " look out 
 from among his papers some acknowledgments of 
 debts, amounting to 1200 florins, as he must take 
 them directly to the magistrate's office. The 
 search took up some time, as his papers v/ere in 
 disorder, and he i"equested me to come on the fol- 
 lowing Sunday, and sort them for him, as he wished 
 to alter and anange several matters, and to make 
 a will. His maid was in the room at the time." 
 Had Bieringer been aware of this, he would un- 
 doubte41y have had the greatest interest in pre- 
 venting Rupprecht from executing his intentions ; 
 and the circumstance that Rupprecht was mur- 
 dered at ten o'clock at night of the same day on 
 which he had talked about making his will, would 
 no longer appear merely as a strange coincidence. 
 But here again everything which at fii'st ap- 
 peared suspicious was explained away. 
 
 The hostess of the tavern proved that Rup- 
 precht's words, " My daughter, my daughter," un- 
 doubtedly expressed his desire to see her. She 
 stated that on seeing his dangerous condition, she 
 cried out " Fetch his daughter," whereupon Rup-
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. ] 23 
 
 precht repeated the words " My daughter." Fur- 
 thermore his sister Clara and his famihar fiiend 
 Hogner testified that was Rupprecht's custom 
 to send for his daughter every time he had even a 
 pain in his finger. 
 
 This habit again accounted for Bieringer's cool 
 impatience when he told his wife to go to her 
 father : he very naturally thought that matters were 
 not so bad as they afterwards turned out. 
 
 The small sympathy which the daughter appar- 
 ently felt with the fate of her father proves but 
 little ; not to mention that several other Avitnesses 
 who had ample oppoitunity of observing her con- 
 duct stated the very reverse, and asserted that she 
 showed oT.'eat feclino:. 
 
 The taking possession of her father's keys was 
 no more than what any other daughter would have 
 done under the circumstances. They were es- 
 sential to prepare for his reception in his own 
 house. Moreover it afterwards appeared that she 
 only took the keys at the suggestion of the physi- 
 cian, who suspected that some one might attempt 
 to rob the house, in consequence of which suspicion, 
 and at her request, two police officers accompanied 
 her to her father's house. 
 
 Her loud and eager announcement that her 
 father had named the woodcutter Schmidt as his 
 murderer, and her endeavors to fix the guilt on 
 the so-called big Schmidt, would certainly have 
 been suspicious, had not old Rupprecht really 
 named him. But her anxiety to force the man 
 whom her imagination represented to her as the 
 only possible murderer to confess his guilt, cannot 
 surely be construed as evidence of her participa- 
 tion in the murder. Nor need we conclude that 
 she put expressions into her father's mouth about 
 the murderer being a tall fellow in order to shield 
 her husband; it is veiy possible that her father
 
 124 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 may have used them during the absence of other 
 witnesses. 
 
 It is quite obvious that it was not her interest, 
 while living on bad terms with her husband, to get 
 rid of her father, who hated his son-in-law, and 
 was her constant refuge and support against him, 
 at the very moment, too, when she knew that her 
 father was about to make a will which should 
 secure her indej)endence of her husband. Rup- 
 precht's dying intestate was as great a loss to his 
 daughter as it was a gain to his son-in-law. 
 
 On further examination, everything was cleared 
 up in Bieringer's favor also. 
 
 Bieringer's comparatively polished manners 
 rendered him most unsuitable to his coarse father- 
 in-law, whose avarice and meanness were shocked 
 by his son-in-law's more generous manner of living. 
 Bieringer was considered by his fellow-citizens as 
 a well-conducted and upright man, who loved 
 society, without neglecting his business, and was 
 not addicted to drinking or gaming. The chief 
 cause of dissension between him and his wife was 
 rather her love of dress and quan-elsome disposition 
 than any fault of his. All who were acquainted 
 with him said that they knew of no stain upon his 
 honor or good name. 
 
 Even if Rupprecht's intention to deprive Bier- 
 inger of all power over his daughter's fortune 
 appeared a sufficient motive for the murder of his 
 father-in-law, it remained to be pi'oved that Bier- 
 inger was aware of the pi'ojcct. But on examination 
 it appeared the old man confided his thoughts to 
 none but his friend and his daughter, who cer- 
 tainly could have no interest in betraying the 
 secret to her husband. Neither his brother nor 
 his sisters knew anything whatever of the matter. 
 It is true that on the day he was murdered his 
 maid was present when he talked of making hia
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. 125 
 
 will, but he mentioned it quite vaguely without 
 entering into any particulars. 
 
 It was proved beyond doubt that Bieringer 
 could not have committed the murder himself. On 
 the evening of the 7th February he was at a 
 tavern called the Golden Fish, distant full ten 
 minutes' walk from that frequented by Rupprecht. 
 He was dressed as usual, and carried no weapon, 
 not even a stick. Here he remained till a quarter 
 past ten o'clock at night, and at half-past ten he 
 came home and took off his clothes. He was 
 found undressed by the man who went to his house 
 in order to fetch his wife to her father. It was 
 therefore impossible that he could have stayed at 
 the Golden Fish until a quarter past ten o'clock, 
 have murdered his father-in-law at a tavern some 
 distance off, and be back in his own house, which 
 was distant at least a mile from the scene of the 
 murder, by half-past ten. 
 
 At the commencement of the inquiry the judge 
 had endeavored to discover with whom Rupprecht 
 had dealings, and more especially who had been 
 with him on the 7th Februai'y. The evidence 
 given by Rupprecht's maid seemed important. She 
 stated that among others three trumpeters belonging 
 to the regiment quartered in the town had been 
 with Rupprecht on business on the very day of 
 the murder, and had been told by him to call 
 again on the following day : they did not return, 
 having probably heard what had occurred. These 
 three men were immediately aiTested and ex- 
 amined. Although their depositions agreed on 
 every point, and each one separately stated where 
 they had been at the time of the murder, it never- 
 theless appeared as if one of these three trumpeters 
 must be the murderer. One of them owed Rup- 
 precht money, which he had no means of paying, 
 and his two comrades had accompanied him to 
 
 l2
 
 126 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS, 
 
 Rupprecht's house, nobody exactly knew why. On 
 the same evening Rupprecht received a deadly 
 blow, and the wound presented the appearance of 
 a sabi-e-cut inflicted by a practised hand. 
 
 But this was " like the lightning, which doth 
 cease to be ere you can say it lightens." Alibis 
 were most cleaily proved : two of them had been 
 at their barracks, and the third had been sitting 
 from eight till eleven in some taveni, whence he 
 went straight to the hospital. 
 
 One means of detection, however, seems to have 
 been forgotten. The physicians stated that the 
 wound was to all appearance inflicted by a sabre, 
 and it is probable that some discovez-y might have 
 been made, had the arms of the ganison, and of 
 the burgher guard, been examined on the morning 
 after the murder. But when the court began the 
 inquiry, it was already too late to hope for any 
 results, even had this suggestion, made by the 
 judge, been attended to. His colleagues were so 
 completely possessed by the idea that the mur- 
 derous blow had been inflicted by an axe wielded 
 by a woodcutter, that they negatived a pj-oposal 
 founded on a supposition that Rupprecht had been 
 killed by a sabre-cut. 
 
 Meanwhile two men, whose names were un- 
 known, became the subject of inquiry. On the 
 day after the murder, Rupprecht's confidant and 
 fellow-lodger, Hogner, laid information before the 
 court as follows : " At about half-past five in the 
 afternoon of the fatal Friday, Rupprecht came to 
 me and requested me to allow his maid to spend 
 the evening in my rooms, as two gentlemen were 
 coming to him, with whom he wished to be alone. 
 The maid came and stayed about an hour and a 
 half, when Rupprecht retimied and gave her the 
 key of his rooms, saying that he was going to the 
 tavern." The maid confirmed this statement,
 
 THE UNKNOWN MURDERER. 127 
 
 aJdinc: that as she went down stairs to fetch her 
 supper she had seen through the window which 
 looks from the kitclien into Rupprecht's room two 
 young men, who were busied with something on 
 the table. But this mysterious affair was soon 
 cleared up : the two gentlemen were the regi- 
 mental tailor and a shoemaker, the former of whom 
 borrowed of Rupprecht the sum of 600 florins for 
 three months, giving a bill for 650 florins, and 
 leaving a large quantity of cloth as a pledge in 
 Rupprecht's hands. His friend the shoemaker 
 merely acted as a witness in the transaction. 
 
 Several other men were arrested on divers sus- 
 picions, but all brought forward witnesses who 
 completely disculjjated them. The court was 
 therefore forced to rest content after releasing 
 Abraham Schmidt from his provisory arrest, and to 
 close the proceedings until fresh suspicions should 
 arise. 
 
 Ten years, writes Feuei'bach in 1828, have 
 since passed, and the manner of Rupprecht's death 
 is still involved in mystery. 
 
 Most likely the old userer was murdered out of 
 revenge or hatred by some disappointed suitor for 
 a loan, or by a debtor who thought this the easiest 
 way of paying his debt, and whose name was 
 never known owing to Rupprecht's habit of keep- 
 ing no regular accounts and trusting chiefly to his 
 memory. Not one even of his nearest relations 
 knew the exact state of the old man's affairs ; even 
 Hogner was only admitted to his confidence in 
 cases of absolute necessity, when he wanted to 
 have a note of hand looked out from among his 
 papers, or to get them put in order. Thus proba- 
 bly the only clue to the discovery of Rupprecht's 
 murderer was buried with him.
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER, 
 
 THE GERMAN BRINVILLIERS. 
 
 In the year 1807 a widow, nearly fifty years of 
 age, calling herself Nanette Schiinleben, lived at 
 Pegnltz in the territory of Baireuth, supporting 
 herself by knitting. Her conduct gained her a 
 reputation which induced Justice Wolfgang Gla- 
 ser, who was then living at Rosendorf separated 
 from his wife, to take her as his housekeeper, on 
 the 5th March, 1808. On the 22d of the follow- 
 ing July, Glaser was reconciled to his wife, who 
 had been living with her relations at Grieshaber 
 near Augsburg. Soon after her return to her hus- 
 band's house, though a strong healthy woman, she 
 was suddenly seized with violent vomiting, diar- 
 rhoea, &c., and on the 2Gth August, a month after 
 the reconciliation, she died. 
 
 Anna Schonleben now left Glaser's sei-vice, and 
 on the 25th September she went to live as house- 
 keeper with Justice Grohmann at Sanspareil. 
 Her new master, who was unmarried, was thirty- 
 eight years of age, and though a large and power- 
 ful man, had suffered from gout for several years, 
 and was often confined to his bed. On these oc- 
 casions Anna Schonleben always nursed him with 
 the utmost care In the spring of 1809 ho was 
 seized with an illness more violent than any he 
 had had before, and accompanied by entirely new 
 symptoms, violent vomiting, pains in the stomach, 
 dian'hoea, heat and dryness of the skin, inflammation 
 of the mouth and throat, insatiable thirst, and ex-
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER. 129 
 
 cessive weakness and pains in the limbs. He 
 died on the Sth May, after an illness of eleven 
 days, and his housekeeper appeared inconsolable 
 for his loss. Every one, the medical men included, 
 took it for granted that Grohmann, who had long 
 been aihng, had died a natural death. 
 
 Anna Schonlebeu was once more out of place, 
 but her reputation for kindness, activity, attention 
 and skill as a sick-nuise soon pi-ocured her a new 
 home. At the time of Grohraann's death the wife 
 of the magistrate Gebhard was just expecting to 
 be brought to bed, and asked Anna Schonleben 
 to attend her as nurse and housekeeper during 
 her lying-in. Anna Schonleben, always willing to 
 oblige, readily agi-eed, and from the day of the 
 conhnement she resided in Gebhard's house, di- 
 viding her time between the care of the household 
 and of the child. Madame Gebhard was confined 
 on the 13th May, 1S09, and both the mother and 
 the child were doing very well until the third day, 
 when the mother fell ill. Her illness became 
 more alarming every day ; she was seized with 
 violent vomiting, nervous agitation, distressing 
 heat in the intestines, inflammation in the throat, 
 &c. ; and on the 20th May, seven days after her 
 confinemeiit, she died, exclaiming in her agony, 
 " Merciful Heaven ! you have given me poison !" 
 As Madame Gebhard had always been sickly, and 
 moreover had died in childbirth, her death excited 
 no suspicion, and, like Madame Glaser and Groh- 
 mann, she was buried ^vithout more ado. The 
 widower, embarrassed by his household and the in- 
 fant which was left upon his bauds, thought that 
 he could do nothing better than to keep Anna 
 iSchonleben as his housekeej^er. Several persons 
 endeavored to change his i-esolution. They said 
 that this woman carried death with her wherever 
 she went ; that three young persons whom she had 
 
 9
 
 130 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 eerveJ, bad died one after the otlicr within a very 
 shoit time. No one made the smallest accusation 
 against her : their warnings arose from a mere 
 superstitious dread of an unfortunate sympathetic 
 iuHuence exercised by her upon those with whom 
 she lived : her obliging deportment, her piety, and 
 herair of honesty, humility, and kindness, protected 
 her from every breath of suspicion. Thus she re- 
 mained for several months in Gebhard's service 
 unsuspected and imaccused. 
 
 During her residence in Gebhard's house, vari- 
 ous suspicious events occurred, without, however, 
 exciting attention. On the 25th August, 1809, a 
 certain Beck, and the widow Alberti, dined with 
 Gebhard. Soon after dinner they were both seiz- 
 ed with violent vomiting, colic, spasms, &c., which 
 lasted until late at ni"-ht. About the same time 
 she gave the messenger Rosenhauer a glass of 
 white wine, and not long after he had swallowed it 
 he was attacked in precisely the same manner, and 
 was BO ill as to be forced to go to bed. On the 
 very same day she took Rosenhauer's porter, a lad 
 of nineteen, named Johann Kraus, into the cellar, 
 and gave him a glass of brandy. After drinking a 
 small quantity he perceived a sort of white sedi- 
 ment in it, and therefore left the rest, but in a short 
 time he felt very sick. During the last week of 
 August, one of Gebhard's maid-servants, Barbara 
 Waldmann, with whom Anna Schonleben had had 
 several trifling dispvites, was taken ill after drink- 
 ing a cup of coffee, and vomited every half-hour 
 during the whole day. The most remarkable oc- 
 currence, however, took place on the 1st Septem- 
 ber. Gebhard, while playing at skittles with a 
 party of his fiiends, sent for a few pitchers of beer 
 from his own cellar. He and five other persons 
 drank some of the beer, and were seized soon 
 after with sickness and internal pains; some of
 
 ANNA MAUIA ZWANZIGER. 131 
 
 the party, among whom was Gebhard, were so ill 
 as to require inedical aid. 
 
 This first inspired distrust and dislike of Anna 
 Schonleben. On the following day, chiefly at the 
 instigation of one of his fellow-sufferers at the 
 skittleground, Gebhard dismissed her fi-om his 
 service, but gave her a written character for hon- 
 esty and fidelity. 
 
 She was to leave Sanspareil for Baireuth on the 
 next day — 3rd September. She expressed her 
 surprise at so sudden a dismissal, but was civil 
 and obliging as usual, and busied herself during 
 the whole evening in various domestic arrange- 
 ments. Among other thino-s she took the salt-box 
 out of the kitchen (which was no part of her usual 
 duty), and filled it from a barrel of salt which stood 
 in Gebhard's bed-room. Wlien the maid-servant 
 Waldmann commented upon this, Anna Schon- 
 leben said, in a jesting manner, that she must do 
 so, for that if those who were going away filled 
 the salt-box, the other servants would keep their 
 places the longer. On the morning of her depar- 
 ture she affected the greatest friendship for the 
 two maid-servants, Hazin and Waldmann, and 
 gave each of them a cup of coffee sweetened with 
 sugar which she took out of a piece of paper. 
 While the caiTiage was waiting for her at the 
 door she took Gebhard's child, an infant five 
 months old, in her arms, gave it a biscuit soaked 
 in milk to eat, then let it drink the milk, and fin- 
 ally parted from it with the inost tender caresses, 
 and got into the carriage which was to convey her 
 to Baireuth, and which Gebhard paid for, besides 
 giving her a crown dollar and some chocolate. 
 
 She had been gone scarce half an hour when 
 the child became alarmingly ill and vomited terri- 
 bly, and in a few hours more the two maid-ser- 
 vants were attacked in the same manner; and
 
 132 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 now, for the first time, suspicion was excited. On 
 hearing from his servants how Anna Schonleben 
 had busied herself, Gebhard had the contents of 
 the kitchen salt-box analysed by a chemist, and a 
 large quantity of arsenic was found among it. The 
 salt-barrel was likewise found at the trial to con- 
 tain thirty grains of arsenic to every three pounds 
 of salt. 
 
 To these facts were now added a number of 
 hitherto unnoticed reports of persons who had 
 been taken ill immediately after eating or drinking 
 at Glaser's and Grohmann's houses, whilst Anna 
 Schonleben was in their service. Moreover it 
 came out that Schonleben was only her maiden 
 name, and that she was in fact the widow of a 
 notary called Zwanziger, who had lived at Num- 
 ber"-. 
 
 It is strange that after all these discoveries it 
 was not till the 29th September that Gebhard 
 laid information against her at the criminal court 
 of Baireuth, which immediately apjiointed chief 
 magistrate Brater to conduct the inquiry. He 
 went at once to the spot, where the charges 
 against her of various cases of poisoning were 
 confirmed, and increased in number. 
 
 The most important point was to discover the 
 causes of the sudden and unexpected deaths of 
 those three persons whom Anna Schonleben had 
 served in succession since 1808. The body of 
 Madame Glaser Avas dug iqi on the 23d October, 
 in the churchyard at Rasendorf. It presented in 
 a very remarkable manner all those appearances 
 which the discoveries of modern science have 
 tauglit lis to regard as the peculiar sym]:)toms of 
 death from arsenic. Although the body liad been 
 buried for fourteen months, it was very little de- 
 composed, dried up and hardened like a mummy, 
 and the skin was the color of mahogany. Tlio
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER. 133 
 
 abdomen was rather swollen and gave a peculiar 
 hollow sound when struck. The coats and muscles 
 of the stomach were converted into a substance 
 resembling cheese in appearance and smell, and 
 the whole body emittecl the same peculiar odor. 
 On the following day the body of Madame Geb- 
 hard and that of Grohmann, which had lain in the 
 earth for nearly 'six months, were disinterred in 
 the churchyard at Wonsers, and presented exactly 
 the same appearances as that of Glaser's wife. 
 On investigation the intestines of the two female 
 corpses were found to contain arsenic. In those 
 of Grohmann the presence of the poison was not 
 discovered, although his body exhibited every 
 symptom of it. 
 
 Meanwhile, Anna Schonleben, or, as we will 
 henceforth call her, Zwanziger, felt perfectly se- 
 cure. On quittmg Gebhard's service she had left 
 a letter for him in which she I'eproached him with 
 exaggerated sensibility for the ingratitude with 
 which he had repaid her care of him, and her de- 
 votion to his child. " If," says she, " the child 
 should be restless and unhappy, my guardian 
 angel will say to you, ' Why didst thou take from 
 her that which she held most dear?' If, six weeks 
 hence, you should ask for me, you will hear, ' She 
 is no more,' and then woe to your heart, f<jr it will 
 break ; woe to those who have calumniated me to 
 you." She then jirays God to reward him for his 
 kindness, begs him to continue his friendship to 
 her, and promises to write to him every fortnight. 
 This promise she faithfully kept ; and both from 
 Baireuth, where she actually quartered herself for 
 a month upon the mother of Gebhard's dead wife, 
 and afterwards from Niirnberg, she sent him seve- 
 ral letters, in which she tells him the state of her 
 health, how well she was received, and how soon 
 she hoped to get a place, and then recommends 
 
 M
 
 134 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 herself to the " kind recollection of her revered 
 master;" or talks about "her darling child," sends 
 it kisses, and asks after its health. It is clear that 
 she hoped no less than to be recalled by Gebhard, 
 and that the true purpose of her letters was to put 
 this into his head by every means in her power as 
 frequently as possible. She was equally lavish of 
 her letters to several other persons. Among others 
 she wrote to Glaser and offered him her services 
 again as housekeeper. After waiting in vain both 
 at Bairouth and at Niirnberg for a recall, she went 
 to Mainbernheim in Franconia, where she hoped 
 to be received by her son-in-law, a bookbinder 
 called Sauer. But he had meanwhile divorced 
 her daughter, who was in the house of coiTection 
 for stealing and swindling, and was celebrating his 
 second marriage on the very day on which his 
 former mother-in-law arrived at his house. This 
 disagreeable coincidence soon caused her to leave 
 Mainbernheim, and retiu-n to Niirnberg, where she 
 was immediately airested on the ISth October, 1809. 
 On searching her person two packets of tartar 
 emetic and one of arsenic were found in her pocket. 
 We will postpone for the present the history of 
 her life, which came out on her examination at 
 Cuhnbach and at Niirnberg, though only piece- 
 lueal and in very general terms. Neither would 
 it answer our purpose to follow the long course of 
 examination, as it would be impossible to describe 
 the cunning and adroitness with which the crimi- 
 nal contrived to evade all questions and remon- 
 strances, or the patience, prudence, and skill with 
 which the judge enclosed her within narrow and 
 narrower circles, until she was no longer able to 
 resist the truth. From the 19th October, 1809, till 
 the 16th April, 1810, she resolutely denied every 
 accusation connected with the charge of poisoning. 
 On the last-named day she appeared before her
 
 ANNA MARIA ZVVANZIGER. 135 
 
 judge with perfect composure, believing that all 
 the evidence against her was exhausted, when he 
 opened the proceedings with the unexpected an- 
 nouncement that the body of Glaser's wife had 
 been dug up ; that upon minute investigation she 
 was found to have been poisoned with arsenic, and 
 that there was the strongest gi'ound for suspicion 
 that the poison had been administered by the pris- 
 oner. After the judge had represented this to her 
 in various forms during two whole hours, her 
 courage at length gave way. She wept, wrung 
 her hands, protested her innocence, and endeavored 
 to mislead the judge in broken and unconnected 
 sentences which she uttered with great rapidity 
 and in evident terror, and at length confessed that 
 she had twice given poison to Glaser's wife, at the 
 same time interweaving with her confession an 
 atrocious calumny. The woids had scarcely pass- 
 ed her lips when she fell as if struck by lightning, 
 rolled upon the floor in sti'ong convulsions, and 
 had to be carried out of court. 
 
 The poisonings which Anna Zwanziger partly 
 confessed and partly was proved to have commit- 
 ted, were as follows : — 
 
 Justice Glaser, a man upwards of fifty, had lived 
 for several years separate from his wife, fi-om no 
 fault of his own, when, on the 25th March, 1808, 
 he took Anna Zwanziger into his service, at the 
 recommendation of his son. She soon contrived 
 to ingi'atiate herself with her master, and to place 
 herself upon a footing almost of equality with him. 
 She had not been long in his sei-vice before she 
 began to be very officious in endeavoring to effect 
 a reconciliation between him and his vdfe, partly, 
 indeed, without Glaser's knowledge or consent. 
 Not satisfied with using all her powers of persua- 
 sion to induce Glaser to take back his wife, she 
 opened a secret correspondence with the latter,
 
 13G REMAR ABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 who was living with her brother at Grieshaber, 
 wrote to several tnenfls of the fainily in order to 
 induce them to assist in the Avork of reconciliation, 
 among others to the neighboring Catholic priest at 
 Holfekl, enclosing a piece of money, with the re- 
 quest, Protestant as she was, that a mass might be 
 read for the success of her undertaking. 
 
 She at length succeeded in jiersuading the wife 
 to return, and the husband to receive her. Mad- 
 ame Glascr left Griesliaber, and a few days before 
 her arrival in Kasendorf, she wrote to one of her 
 relations to announce that on the followinsf Wed- 
 nesday a formal reconciliation would take place 
 between her husband and herself. 
 
 On the 22d July, 1808, Glaser went to meet 
 
 his wife at Holfeld, and on returaing with her to 
 
 Kasendorf, he was met by a brilliant reception 
 
 which had been prepared by Anna Zwanziger to 
 
 celebrate the reconciliation. All Kasendorf was 
 
 in commotion : the floors of the house were strewed 
 
 with flowers, and the doorposts and walls hung 
 
 with garlands ; the bed was decorated with wreaths, 
 
 and on it was pinned an ornamental sheet of paper 
 
 with the words — 
 
 The widow's hand 
 Hath joined this band. 
 
 The poetry and the writing were Anna Zwanziger's. 
 
 The real motive for her uncalled-for interference 
 in this aftair is obvious. In spite of her age and 
 ugliness, she ex2)ected no less than that Glaser 
 would marry her in the event of his wife's death, 
 and she herself confessed that she hoped by this 
 murder to secure a provision for her old age. 
 
 Thus she acted the pious part of a peace-maker 
 merely with the view of getting Glaser's wife 
 into her power, and welcomed and caressed her 
 victim in order the more quickly and safely to sa- 
 crifice her.
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER. 137 
 
 Madame Glaser had been only a few weeks in 
 the house of her husband, who treated her with the 
 greatest kindness and aflection, when Anna Zwan- 
 ziger began to put her scheme into execution. On 
 the 13th or 14th August, she put, as she declared, 
 half a teaspoonful of arsenic into some tea which 
 stood at the fire, and gave it to Madame Glaser, 
 who drank it, and soon after was seized with vom- 
 iting. " "Wlien I gave her the arsenic in the tea," 
 said Zwanziger, " I said to myself, I must make 
 my old age comfortable, and if the poison does not 
 do her business this time, Avhy I will give it her 
 again till it does." And accordingly a few days 
 afterwards, on the 15th August, between four and 
 five in the afternoon, she dissolved a large dessert 
 spoonful of tartar emetic in a cup of coifee, and in- 
 vited Madame Glaser into her room to drink it. 
 She did so, and drank her death. That night she 
 was seized with vomiting and pains in the intes- 
 tines, which increased in violence, and in ten days 
 she was a corpse. " When," said Zwanziger, " I 
 had mixed the poison in the cup, and saw how 
 thick it was, I said to myself, Lord Jesus ! this 
 time she must surely die." 
 
 It is highly characteristic of Zwanziger that in 
 her confession she endeavored to implicate Justice 
 Glaser in crime ; she accused him of having insti- 
 gated her to murder his wife, of being privy to the 
 attempt with the tea, and of having given her the 
 tartar emetic to put in the coffee, with the words — 
 " There, do you give it to her; such carrion is no 
 loss." In consequence of this statement. Justice 
 Glaser was aiTested and involved in the examina- 
 tion ; which, however, terminated in his complete 
 acquittal. 
 
 About a week before the first attempt on Gla- 
 ser's wife, a certain Wagenholz, with his wife and 
 son, came to call on the Glasers, and stopped to 
 
 m2
 
 138 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 Slipper. Soon after, the whole party were taken ill 
 willi sickness and vomiting. Next day Zwanziger 
 gave the remains of the food to the son of Harbach, 
 the watchman, and he too was so sick as to be con- 
 fined to his bed for some time. It is uncertain whe- 
 ther her object was merely to try the eft'ect of her 
 poison preparatory to her more important scheme, 
 or whether the guests were unwelcome to her, and 
 she wished to punish them for coming uninvited, 
 and her master and mistress for receiving them too 
 graciously. However this may be, she denied the 
 charge altogether, at the same time taking the op- 
 jiortunity of throwing fresh suspicion upon Glaser. 
 " He was," said she, " as savage as Satan himself 
 against Wagenholz and his wife, and I thought at 
 the time that he must have put something into the 
 food, fori was very sick and ill myself" 
 
 After Madame Glaser's death, on the 25th Sep- 
 tember of the same year, 1808, she was taken into 
 Justice Grohmann's service. Here her envy and 
 jealousy were immediately excited by the two 
 messengers Lawrence and Johann Dorsch, who, 
 besides their official duties, rendered various 
 domestic services to Grohmann. Moreover she 
 asserted that they constantly teazed and laughed at 
 her, and it vexed her that they drank too much 
 beer. " I determined," said the prisoner, " to spoil 
 their appetite, and took four pitchers of beer, 
 two of which I mixed with tartar emetic, and the 
 other two with a larger dose of arsenic ; my inten- 
 tion was to give them the contents of these pitchers 
 by degrees, not in order to kill them, but only to 
 make them sick. I once set one of these poisoned 
 pitchers before them, but they did not like the 
 taste of the beer, and drank very little of it, after 
 which they emptied another pitcher, which con- 
 tained no poison." 
 
 The two Dorschs felt no bad effect whatever, and
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER. 139 
 
 Zwanzlger never repeated the attempt, probably 
 because her attention was speedily directed to a 
 more important object. 
 
 In the spring of 1809 Justice Christopher Hoff- 
 mann, of Wiesenfels, visited Grohmann, who was 
 then ill in bed. A few glasses of beer, which tasted 
 flat and unpleasant, were given to him, but he 
 cannot remember by whom, and immediately after 
 he went to see Gebhard. Scarce had he anived 
 at Gebhard's house, when he felt very sick and 
 went out into the air, whereupon he was seized 
 with violent vomiting. The prisoner denied hav- 
 ing poisoned him intentionally, but said that she 
 l^ut the pitchers which she had mixed with poison 
 for the Dorschs into the cellar with the rest of the 
 beer without marking them, and that she was un- 
 able to distinguish the poisoned from the unpoison- 
 ed beer. " Thus then," said she, " it is possible 
 that he may have drunk some of the poisoned beer 
 by accident, but it certainly was never my intention 
 even to make him sick, for he was a very respec- 
 table and excellent man, for whom I had a great 
 regard, and who had always shown me every re- 
 spect, as also had his wife." 
 
 One day Madame Scliell and her husband went 
 to see Grohmann, and she drank a cup of coffee. 
 During the course of her visit at Grohraann's she 
 fainted and vomited — the prisoner denied having 
 given her any poison, and there was room for doubt, 
 as Madame Schell did not remember distinctly 
 whether she was taken ill before drinkincr the coffee 
 or after. 
 
 It was not juridically proved that Grohmann 
 died by poison, but the unusual symptoms that 
 appeared during his last illness, the ti'aces of arsenic 
 found in the exhumed corpse, and the opinion of 
 the physicians attached to the court, rendered it 
 not only possible, but highly probable. A pro-
 
 140 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 bability, amounting almost to certainty, pointed 
 out Anna Zwanziger as the poisoner. A person 
 who had ah'eady poisoned one woman, wiio was 
 in the constant habit of dealing with poisons, and 
 who kejit a large store of poiscjncd drink ready in 
 Grohmann's house, which she had, according to 
 her own confession, already used to the injury of 
 two persons on the very slightest provocation, — 
 such a person would look upon such a deed as a 
 commonplace occun-ence. Moreover she was con- 
 stantly about her master while suffering from gout ; 
 sought to keep away those who wished to wjiitupon 
 him and was angry when others gave him his medi- 
 cines. These suspicions were strengthened by 
 her violent demonstrations of grief at Grohmann's 
 death, and the cries and lamentations with which 
 she made the whole house resound, more esjjecially 
 whenever any stranger came into the room. Nor 
 are her motives for murdering him difficult to 
 guess. Ill as he was, Grohmann intended to many 
 the daughter of the neighboring Justice Horrgott, 
 at Dachsbach. Grohmann's courtship and the 
 prospect of his marriage were highly distasteful to 
 Anna Zwanziger, and she showed this in various 
 ways. Every letter that went to or came from 
 Dachsbach was watched, waylaid, and examined. 
 Grohmann once told Madame Schell that he was by 
 no means satisfied with his housekeeper; that "she 
 imagined every letter he received contained some 
 offer of marriage, and that, old as she was, she had 
 actually taken it into her head that he would man-y 
 her." John Dorsch also said, " Whenever I went 
 to the house, and asked after the health of her 
 master, her constant answer was ' Why, he is al- 
 ways ill, and yet, to be sure, he wants to marry.' " 
 She talked in the same strain to Grohmann's sis- 
 ter: " Your brother's intended is accustomed to 
 a merry life, and will never be happy in such a
 
 ANNA MAIUA ZVVANZIGEK. HI 
 
 quiet place as Sanspariel, with nothing to do but 
 to be always mixing draughts." At length there 
 was a report in Grohmann's house that the banns 
 had actually been published, and that the bride 
 ■was expected in eight days ; this threw Zwanzi- 
 ger's tongue and temper into a state of extraordi- 
 nary excitement. Just at this time Grohmann 
 was taken ill, and in a few days he died. If we 
 consider these circumstances and the woman's 
 character, the following explanation appears ex- 
 tremely probable : — That she, who never entered 
 any man's service without reckoning upon him 
 as her future husband, indulged like hopes of Groh- 
 mann. But when, spite of all the flattery and 
 subservience by which she had hoped to worm her- 
 self into his good graces, she found herself disap- 
 pointed, anger against her master, envy of the young 
 girl whose good fortune she envied, hatred of them 
 both, and of the marriage which she foresaw would 
 cost her her place — these were sufficient to induce 
 a person of her disposition to resolve upon punish- 
 ing Grohmann by death, and his intended binde by 
 depriving her of her bridegroom — and thus to 
 avenge her jealous fury upon them both. The 
 most charitable interpretation of which her conduct 
 admits, is, that she administered the poison to him 
 with the object of keeping him continually so ill 
 as to prevent the marriage, and by making herself 
 necessary to him as a nurse, of securing the per- 
 manence of her situation. She denied having 
 poisoned Grohmann intentionally, but admitted 
 that he accidentally drank some of the poisoned 
 beer, Avhich she kept ready for the Dorschs. 
 When she set the poisoned pitcher before them, 
 they refused to touch it, and placed it on a table with 
 the other pitchers intended for Grohmann and his 
 visitors. " The three remaining poisoned pitch- 
 ers," she continued, " I placed in the cellar with
 
 142 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 those containing the sound beer, and, as I had not 
 mnrkod them distinctly, the pitchers got mixed, so 
 that 1 could no longer distinguish between those 
 which were poisoned and those which were not. 
 It is therefore very possible that Grohmann may 
 have drunk some of the poisoned beer, in the same 
 manner as Hofl'mann also did. I cannot deny 
 that he vomited very often. But Grohmann was 
 much too valuable to me that I should injure him 
 2)urposely ; he was all in all to me ; and what he 
 ate, that I ate too. He was my best friend, and 
 never offended me, so that I had nothing to revenge 
 upon him." 
 
 According to the strict letter of the law, the in- 
 tentional poisoning was not clearly proved, but no 
 unprejudiced person could entertain any doubt of 
 it. How improbable is the statement by which 
 she attempted to explain away her crime ! Groh- 
 mann is "her all in all; her best friend;" and yet 
 she leaves a pitcher of poisoned beer in his way ; 
 she knows that the pitchers of poisoned and sound 
 beer are mixed together in the cellar, and yet, re- 
 gardless of the consequences, she places those 
 which may possibly be poisoned before her sick 
 and "highly treasured best fi-iend!" 
 
 On the 24th May, 1810, the body of Madame 
 Gebhard was asrain disintei'red and shown to Zwan- 
 ziger, in the churchyard at Wonsers. She touched 
 the righthand, saying, "Peace be with your ashes! 
 I wish I lay in the grave by yovxr side ; I should 
 there be freed from my woes !" She was then led 
 to Grohmann's grave. "Yes," said she, "this is 
 the grave of Justice Grohmann ! With his death, 
 as with Madame Gebhard's, I had nothing to do." 
 Madame Gebhard, however, was, as she afterwards 
 confessed , actually poisoned by her. She therefore 
 probably had as much to do with Grohmann's 
 death as with Madame Gobhard's ; and her assov-
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER. 143 
 
 erations at his grave may be considered as a sort 
 of veiled and halt-ironical admission that she was 
 as innocent of his murder as of Madame Gebhard's. 
 
 In Gebhard's house, which she entered on the 
 13th May, 1809, as hovisekeepcr and monthly 
 nurse, her career of guilt was still more rapid. 
 
 Scarce had, she been in the house four days 
 before she selected the lying-in woman as her vic- 
 tim. "Because," said the prisoner, "Madame 
 Gebhard. was very cross, treated me roughly, and. 
 scolded me for having, as she said, neglected the 
 housekeeping, I resolved to poison her." On 
 Wednesday, the 17th May, Zwanziger accordingly 
 went into the cellar, where she poisoned two pitch- 
 ers of beer, one with as much tartar emetic as she 
 could take up between the fingers of her right 
 hand, and the other with a still stronger dose of 
 arsenic. On the same day a glass jug was filled 
 out of the first j^itcher for the lying-in woman ; and 
 Gebhard himself, unconscious of what he was 
 doing, repeatedly handed the poisonous draught 
 to his wife. On Friday, the 19th May, the day 
 before her death, the contents of the second pitch- 
 er were placed before the sick woman, who drank 
 but little. "I did not give her the poison to kill 
 her," said Zwanziger, "but only to plague her by 
 making her sick, because she had plagued me. I 
 knew very well that the beer could do her no harm. 
 Had I thought that Madame Gebhard died by my 
 fault, I would have laid myself in the grave beside 
 her ; for she had always been fond of me ; she was 
 my best friend, and always helped me by word 
 and deed ; she praised me wherever she went, and 
 was invariably kind to me. We were like two 
 sisters; we constantly met and talked about eco- 
 nomical matters." The malice and duplicity ex- 
 hibited in this statement surpass all one can believe 
 of human depravity, and it presents a vex*y remark-
 
 144 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 able parallel to her declarations about Grolimanii. 
 She confessed that she intentionally gave poison to 
 her " best friend — her sister — her friend in word 
 and deed," — Madame Gebhard; and on the other 
 hand she asked, "how could she have wished to 
 poison Grohmann, who was her "best friend — her 
 all in all." 
 
 No one can doubt that her assertion that she did 
 not give Madame Gebhard poison with the inten- 
 tion of causing her death, was a mere lie. Why, 
 if she did not want to destroy her, did she, after 
 the first pitcher was exhausted, give to her mis- 
 tress — already dangerously ill — the beer contain- 
 ing a still larger dose of poison 1 Nor does her 
 assertion that she did it to revenge insult and un- 
 kindness at all agree with any other part of the 
 evidence. It was completely proved by the evi- 
 dence of a number of witnesses, and by several 
 passages in letters found in her commode, that she 
 had conceived the same washes and formed the 
 same scheme with regard to Gebhard as she had 
 already done with regard to Glascr and Grohmann ; 
 and although she had no ground for hope that 
 Gebhard would marry her, still there was always 
 the possibility that if left a widower he might be in- 
 duced to do so ; and to a pei'son of her character 
 this was sufficient reason for putting his wife out 
 of the way. 
 
 Towards the end of August, as we have already 
 stated. Beck, a shopman, and the widow of the 
 secretary Alberti, dined with Gebhard, and were 
 poisoned. The jirisoner confessed this charge. 
 She said that Beck had occasionally teased and 
 laughed at her, and that she gave him some beer 
 mixed with arsenic out of the same pitcher from 
 which Madame Gebhard had been poisoned, and 
 which, when half empty, she had mei'ely filled up 
 with fi-esh beer. She declared that it was never
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER. 145 
 
 her intention to kill him, but only to punish him 
 for laughing at her. " 1 must confess," said she, 
 " that it was good fun to see people who had 
 teased me made very sick." She also acknow- 
 ledged that INIadame Alberti drank out of the same 
 pitcher, hut added, that it was not her intention 
 that she should do so, for that she dissuaded her 
 from it, and gave her a cordial and some coffee 
 after she had been made sick by the poisoned beer. 
 
 She denied having poisoned the messenger Ro- 
 senhauer with wine, but confessed having done so 
 with beer. She said that she had an antipathy to 
 Rosenhauer because he told tales against her, and 
 that she gave him some of the same beer that she 
 gave to Beck a few days later, in order to punish 
 him ; adding that on both occasions she did no 
 more than fill up the pitcher fi'om which Madame 
 Gebhard had been poisoned. 
 
 With regard to the charge of poisoning Rosen- 
 hauer's lad, she did not deny the deed, but only 
 the means alleged. She said that " it was con- 
 trary to common sense to suppose that any one 
 could be poisoned in brandy, which is so clear that 
 the least grain of dust could be seen in it ; but that 
 as Kraus had always been very rude to her, she 
 gave him a glass of the poisoned beer to make him 
 sick." Her statement is in direct contradiction to 
 the fact that Kraus was taken ill after drinking 
 some muddy-looking brandy given him by Zwan- 
 ziger ; whereas he affirmed that she had frequently 
 given him beer, from which he had never perceived 
 any ill effects. 
 
 It is likewise proved that on the 1st September, 
 Gebhard, Beck, his brother, who had been poi- 
 soned by Zwanziger only a few days before, the 
 burgomaster Petz and the clerk Scherber, who 
 were assembled on the skittle-gi'ound, were all 
 taken ill after drinking some beer which was sent 
 10 N
 
 14G REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 by Zwanziger, at her master's desire, and out of his 
 cellar. Zwanziger resolutely denied any criminal 
 intention ; she asserted that she did not know how 
 it happened ; " that perhaps some sediment might 
 have remained in the bottom of the two pitchers 
 originally prepared for Madame Gcbhard, that 
 they may have been filled up afresh, and that she 
 may have sent them by accident." Nothing can 
 be more improbable than this statement, and nothing 
 more certain than her guilt, according to all the 
 rules of experience and common sense. She, to 
 whom, according to her own confession, it was 
 " great fun" to watch the torments of the people 
 whom she had poisoned, might think it vastly droll 
 to spoil the sport of a whole party and be enter- 
 tained by the mere thought of their pains, contor- 
 tions, and wry faces ; not to mention that among 
 them was Beck, whom she hated, and on whom she 
 had played the same trick only a few days before. 
 Nor is her statement that she did all this with 
 the same two pitchers, into which she had put 
 poison on the 17rh May, without adding any fresh 
 ai'senic to the old sediment, at all more credible; 
 if it were true, they must have strangely resembled 
 the widow's cruse of oil. First, Madame Gebhard 
 was destroyed by their contents ; next. Beck and 
 Madame Alberti each drank several glasses, after 
 which they were both violently ill ; then, Rosen- 
 hauer and Ki-aus ; and finally a party of five per- 
 sons, who were all taken ill, and most of whom 
 felt the effects of the poison for months. The fol- 
 lowing circumstance gives the key to a far more 
 probable exj)lanation : — On the evening before 
 her departure from Gebhard's house, after he had 
 taken the keys from her, sho went into the cellar 
 with Scherber, the clerk, in order to show him, 
 what he could easily have found without her, the 
 place where the candles were kept. As Scherber
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER. 147 
 
 was going out again with the canJles, she took up 
 a little earthen jar, saying that she would take it 
 with her, for that it had stood there for a long time 
 past. She then gave it to the housemaid, and told 
 her to wash it ; and in doing so the latter perceived 
 a hard white deposit, about one-eighth of an inch 
 thick, in the bottom of the jar. This was in all 
 probability the vessel in which she prepared the 
 poison for the beer as often as she wanted it. She 
 denied any concern with the sickness which at- 
 tacked the two-maid-servants, Hazin and Wald- 
 man, after drinking the coffee. On the other hand, 
 she confessed that she put poison into the salt-box 
 in the kitchen on the evening before she left Geb- 
 hard's house. " I must confess," these are her 
 own words, " that on the evening before my de- 
 parture I mixed the contents of the salt-box which 
 is used in the kitchen with arsenic, in order that 
 after I was gone everybody who stayed in the 
 house might get some of it, and also in order to 
 get the maid into trouble. I took a pinch of arse- 
 nic out of my pocket, went v^dth it from my bed- 
 room into the kitchen, whence I carried the salt- 
 box into the servants' hall, and dropped the arse- 
 nic into it while I stirred the salt three times, and 
 made some joke about it." 
 
 Now the store of salt in the barrel was likewise 
 found to contain a considerable admixture of arse- 
 nic, and out of this very barrel Zwanziger had 
 with her own hands filled the kitchen salt-box. 
 There is scarce room for doubt that she who put 
 poison into the one put it into the other ; and yet 
 she asserted her innocence in the face of all this 
 evidence. " I can only suppose," said she, " that 
 several persons have conspired to destroy me." 
 
 With regard to Gebhard's child, an infant six 
 months old, " her darling," as she called it, to which 
 she was accused of having administered arsenic in
 
 148 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 a biscuit and some milk, mider pretence of affec- 
 tion, she stated that she did not give it anything 
 in the biscuit, but that she put "just the least bit 
 of tartar emetic" into a coft'ee-cup full of milk, of 
 wliich she gave the child a few spoonfuls, and then 
 threw away the rest, on perceiving that the taitar 
 was not entirely dissolved. She says that she had 
 no design upon the child's life, but only wanted 
 to make it feel sick, so that it might cry and be 
 uneasy, and thus induce Gebhard to send for her 
 back from Eaireuth to quiet it : she then adds, that 
 she waited in tliis hope at Baireuth for four weeks. 
 That her account of the motives which led her to 
 commit this crime is in the main true, is proved, 
 by various passages in several of her lettei-s to 
 Gebhard ; but her endeavor to extenuate her guilt 
 is as evident in this instance as in all the preceding 
 ones ; for the maid-servant Hazin states that Zwan- 
 ziger gave the child a biscuit soaked in the poi- 
 soned milk, which filled not quite half a coffee-cup, 
 instead of a whole one, and which she let the child 
 drink right off, instead of, as she said, giving a few 
 teaspoonfuls. 
 
 It appears strange that this woman, after con- 
 fessing, as she well knew, more than enough to 
 ensure her sentence of death, should have endea- 
 vored till the very last to explain away and gloss 
 over her chief crimes, and, in the face of the most 
 complete evidence, have altogether denied her 
 lesser offences. It seemed impossible to her false 
 and distorted nature to be quite sincere, or to utter 
 a truth without associating with it a lie. 
 
 When Anna Zwanziger fell into the hands of 
 justice, she had already reached her fiftieth year; 
 she was of small stature, thin and deformed, her 
 sallow and meagi'e face was deeply furrowed by 
 passion as well as by age, and bore no trace of 
 former beauty. Her eyes were expressive of envy
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER. 149 
 
 and malice, and her brow was perpetually clouded, 
 even when her lips moved to smile. Her manner 
 was cringing, servile, and affected, and age and 
 ugliness had not diminished her craving for admi- 
 ration. Even in prison and under sentence of 
 death, her imagination was still occupied with the 
 pleasures of her youth. One day when her judge 
 visited her in prison, she begged him not to infer 
 what she had been from what she then was, for 
 " that she was once beautiful, exceedingly beauti- 
 ful." 
 
 The following story of her life is founded partly 
 on the testimony of witnesses, and partly on her 
 autobiography, which filled eighteen closely-written 
 folio sheets. 
 
 Anna Schonleben was born at Niirnberg, on the 
 7tli Auofust, 1760, at the sign of the Black Cross, 
 an inn belonging to her father, whose name was 
 Schonleben. He died only a year and a half after 
 her birth, and before she was five years old, she 
 lost her mother and her only brother. After her 
 mother's death she was put to board with an old 
 maid at Niirnberg, and two or three years later 
 she went to live with an aunt at Feucht, who, she 
 says, was a second mother to her ; at the end of 
 two years more she was sent back to Niirnberg, to 
 live with the widow of a clergyman. At last, when 
 she was about ten years old, her guardian, a rich 
 merchant, took her into his house, where she re- 
 ceived a very good religious education, and learnt 
 writing, reading, arithmetic, and the rudiments of 
 the French lano^uage, besides all kinds of needle- 
 work, in which she acquired extraordmary skill. 
 
 She had scarcely completed her fifteenth year 
 when her guardian detennined to marry her to a 
 notary named Zwanziger. She did not like her 
 future husband, who was already psfct thirty, and 
 for a long time she avoided him and rejected all 
 
 N 2
 
 150 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 his offers. At ]en<^th, however, her guardian's 
 persuasitMis subdued her resistance, and in the 
 nineteenth year of her age, she became Zwanziger's 
 wife. 
 
 Married to a man whom she feared and disHked, 
 and who moreover was always engaged either in 
 business or in drinking, leaving her to lead a life 
 of solitude and monotony, which contrasted most 
 disagi'ecably with the gaiety of her guardian's house, 
 she endeavored to divert her melancholy by read- 
 ing novels. " My first novel," said she, " was the 
 * Sorrows of Werther,' and it affected me so much 
 that I did nothing but weep ; if I had had a pistol, 
 I should have shot myself too. After this I read 
 ' Pamela,' and ' Emilia Galeotti.' " Thus unculti- 
 vated and frigid natures excite their imaginations 
 to represent as really felt emotions they are inca- 
 pable of feeling. Such natures strive to deceive 
 themselves as well as others by a mere grimace of 
 sensibility, till at last it becomes so habitual to 
 them, that they are really incapable of distinguish- 
 ing truth from falsehood, and end by poisonin'g the 
 very source of truth, the natural feelings. Hypoc- 
 risy, falsehood, and malice, are fruits easily pro- 
 duced, and fearfully soon matured in a soul accus- 
 tomed to disguise its real feelings under assumed 
 ones ; and thus it is that sentimentality is perfectly 
 consistent with total hardness of heart, and even 
 with cruelty. 
 
 The pleasures of sensibility were soon superse- 
 ded by enjoyments more congenial to her charac- 
 ter ; she came of age, and her projierty was deliv- 
 ered into the hands of her husband, who spent it 
 in amusements, in which, as was but fair, he* per- 
 mitted his wife to take part. They gave dinners, 
 concerts, balls, and fetes champetrcs, and spent 
 their days ai*l nights in a constant round of dissi- 
 pation.
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER. 151 
 
 A few years of this kind of life exhausted her 
 fortune. She now had two cliildren to support, 
 and her husband was a confirmed drunkard, who 
 often drank ten bottles of wine a day, and always 
 wanted to be at the tavern ; he was as ixTitable 
 and tyrannical when money for this pui-jiose was 
 not forthcoming, as he was obliging and indulgent 
 when he got it. The admirer of ' Pamela,' she 
 who had wept over the ' Sorrows of Werther,' now 
 offered her person for hire. " But," said she, " I 
 always had the delicacy to admit none but men of 
 rank and discretion ; for from my youth upwards, 
 my principle has ever been to stick to those who 
 could advance my fortunes ; and thus, I had the 
 good luck to receive a great deal of assistance from 
 many distinguished men." 
 
 After about two years, Zwanziger contrived a 
 scheme for a lottery of watches, which for a time 
 restored their fortunes. This improvement in their 
 circumstances immediately brought with it a return 
 to habits of dissipation ; the course of life which 
 Zwanziger had entered from want of money, she 
 now pursued from habit and inclination. A scan- 
 dalous and expensive connection with a Lieutenant 
 
 von B gave rise to a violent domestic quaiTel. 
 
 Zwanziofer left her husband, and went to her lov- 
 er's sister at Vienna, but soon returned to Niirnberg 
 in consequence of her husband's representatations, 
 where, at her lover's instigation, she commenced 
 an action for divorce against her husband, and ob- 
 tained it after a short suit. On the very day after 
 the proclamation of the divorce she reraan-ied him, 
 and, according to her own statement, lived with 
 him very contentedly till the day of his death. 
 She says that she ended by being positively attached 
 to him, for that on several occasions he had shown 
 " a very noble way of thinking, an(4 a susceptible 
 heart."
 
 152 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS 
 
 On the 20th January, 179G, Anna Zvvanziger 
 was left a widow, after eighteen years of mamage. 
 Her husband died after a short ilhicss, and slie was 
 suspected of having poisoned him, hut this suspi- 
 cion was not confiimed on investigation. 
 
 Ever since her husband's death, Zwunziger's hfe 
 was one tissue of misfortunes, folhes, vices, and, 
 finally, crimes. Her patrimony was consumed, 
 and every other source of income dried up. She 
 was unable to collect in all more than 400 florins. 
 With this sum she went to Vienna, as she gave out, 
 to establish herself as a confectioner. Failing in 
 this, she became housekeeper in several considera- 
 ble families. She then grew intimate with a clerk 
 in the Hungarian exchequer, " of very fine sensi- 
 bilities," by whom she had an illegitimate child, 
 which she put into the foundling hospital, where it 
 died soon after. She returned to Niirnberg after 
 an absence of a year and a half 
 
 She had at first no intention of remaininar lonjj in 
 her paternal city. But one day a certain Freiherr 
 von W called upon her, and offei'ed his pro- 
 tection, his friendship, and his love. She perceived, 
 as she said, that in the Freiherr she had found a 
 " very noble man," and thereupon hired a private 
 lodging. Here she was constantly visited by her 
 protector, who provided her with money ; but, ac- 
 cording to her own account, respected her virtue. 
 She added to her means by making dolls. 
 
 This connection lasted about three months, when 
 the place of housekeeper to one of the ministers 
 resident at Frankfiut was offered to her. Her no- 
 ble protector at Niirnberg was so generous as not 
 to stand in the way of her promotion, and she set 
 out for the place of her destination with 100 florins, 
 which he gave her. She did not, however, remain 
 m this situation above; two or three months, chiefly 
 owing to her dirty habits and want of skill in cook-
 
 ANNA MAFvlA ZWANZIGER. 153 
 
 ery. According to her own statement, indeed, she 
 stayed there a year and a half, and left her place 
 for quite different reasons. 
 
 She then hired an apartment over a hairdresser's 
 shop at Frankfurt, for a month : entered the ser- 
 vice of a ti'oop of equestrian performers, whom she 
 quitted at the end of eight days, as they were going 
 to Bamberg, and returned to the hairdresser at 
 Frankfurt, where a merchant took her for a short 
 time into his family as nursemaid — all this within 
 the space of a few months. So many misfortunes 
 in succession, added to the insupportable thought 
 of having fallen from her station as mistress of a 
 house and family to the condition of a servant, 
 worked so strongly on her feelings as to cause her 
 to behave like a mad woman. She wept, laughed, 
 and prayed by turns. She received her mistress's 
 orders with a laugh, and went obediently away, but 
 never executed them. 
 
 In her extreme need she applied by letter to her 
 noble friend the FreiheiT, who accordingly again 
 offered her his protection, and on her aiTival at 
 Niii-nberg received her with open arms. " But, to 
 her astonishment" — so she would have it believed 
 — " she now found a great alteration in his manners. 
 He, a married man, grew free in his speech and 
 conduct, and at last so far forgot his dignity " as to 
 cause her to have the prospect of becoming a 
 mother."* As soon as her protector was informed 
 of this fact, his manner became colder and his 
 visits less frequent, and she soon ascertained that 
 he paid far greater attention to an actress of con- 
 siderable reputation in Germany, who was then at 
 Niiraberg. This shock, as she pretended, brought 
 on a miscai-riage : and not content with this, on 
 the following day she bonowed a lancet from the 
 
 * This was probably a mere pretext to attach her lover to her 
 more firmly.
 
 154 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 people of die house and opened a vein in each arm, 
 but, as she said, " was stopped in the execution of 
 her purpose, and lost only a teacu})ful of blood." 
 The owner of the lodging called upon Freiherr von 
 
 W , told him what had hap[)cncd, and showing 
 
 him the fatal lancet, induced him to visit this 
 female Werther on the following day. The Frei- 
 herr appeared, but not as a penitent. When the 
 teacupful of blood was shown to him, he laughed 
 at her folly, and after a scene of violent reproaches 
 on her side he turned his back upon her, and 
 never saw her again. Burning for revenge, she 
 collected his letters and sent them to his wife. She 
 then went with Siegwail in her pocket, and ac- 
 companied by her maid, to the Pegnitz, resolved, 
 as she asserted, to drown herself. She seated her- 
 self on the bank of the river, and read Siegwart, 
 till she came to the song " Mein leben ist so 
 ti"aurig," &c., whereupon she jumped into the 
 stream. Two fisheiTnen who were near at hand, 
 rescued her, with no other injury than a thorough 
 wetting. A change of clothes was immediately 
 brought her, and the wet ones were carried to the 
 Freiherr as evidence of her second attempt at 
 suicide. The maid who conveyed them received 
 from the Freiherr 25 florins, with the recoiiimen- 
 dation to her mistress to quit Niirnberg as soon as 
 possible. She accordingly went to Ratisbon that 
 very night, without even returning to her lodging. 
 It is evident that the object of these two attemjits 
 at self-destruction was the same. She let herself 
 blood with no intention to bleed to death ; and 
 jumped into the water merely that she might be 
 pulled out again. Nevertheless she ascribed, and 
 no doubt truly, her hatred of mankind to the 
 faithless and hard-hearted conduct of her protector. 
 She said in one of her examinations, " It is all 
 Freiherr von W 's fault that my heart is so
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER. 155 
 
 hard. When I opened my veins and he saw my 
 blood, he only laughed. And when I reproached 
 him with having once before ruined a poor girl 
 who drowned herself and her child by him, he 
 laughed again. My feelings were terrible, and 
 when I afterwards did anything wicked, I said to 
 myself, No one ever pitied me, and therefore I will 
 show no pity to others," 
 
 At Ratisbon she lay ill for three weeks of a 
 fever ; she then went to Vienna, thence back to 
 Niirnberg, and finally into Thuringia, where in 
 1804 she entered the service of Kammerherr von 
 
 S at Weimar, as housemaid. According to 
 
 her account all the servants in the house were hard 
 worked and ill paid, for which reason she soon got 
 tired of it and resolved to leave it secretly without 
 giving warning, and to carry away something " to 
 make herself amends." " My plan," says she, 
 " succeeded admirably. One day while my master 
 and mistress were at dinner, I was told to play 
 with the child to keep it quiet. I accordingly 
 went vpith it into the drawing-room, where there 
 was a small round table with a drawer, in which 
 were a diamond ring, a number of pearls, eari-ings, 
 jewels, and other such trinkets. Where, thought I, 
 such things as these are left for a child to play with, 
 it is clear that they are not much valued ; if they 
 were, they would be locked up. At that moment 
 the claild was playing with a ring-case, and, after 
 rolling it to and fro, put it into my hand ; I opened 
 it, and on seeing the ring I felt as if some one 
 stood beside me and said ' Keep it !' I obeyed the 
 inspiration, put the child to sleep, and quitted the 
 house and the town before my master and mistress 
 had left the dinner-table." This ingenious ro- 
 mance, in which she ascribes a deed which she had 
 unguardedly owned to be premeditated, to the 
 sudden inspiration of an evil spirit, and which is
 
 156 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 moreover calculated to give an unfavorable idea of 
 the habits of order and care of her mistress, is 
 utterly inconsistent with the very prosaic account 
 of the affair given by the latter, who declares that 
 the ring was taken out of a locked escritoire, 
 the key of which was kept in her owii work- 
 basket. 
 
 Having escaped fi'om Weimar with her booty, 
 Zwanzigor took refuge with her son-in-law Sauer, 
 a bookbinder, at Mainbernheim. Scarcely, how- 
 ever, had she been three days in his house, when 
 a newspaper fell into his hands containing an adver- 
 tisement from Weimar for the apprehension of his 
 mother-in-law on the charge of having stolen a dia- 
 mond ring. He immediately turned her out of his 
 house, and on the same day she went to Wiirzburg, 
 whence she had the audacity to write to the master 
 whom she had robbed, reproaching him for bringing 
 her into misfortune by this public advertisement. 
 And indeed it had fallen upon her like a thunder- 
 bolt ; her name was dishonored, she was outlawed 
 and civilly dead ; and in order to be tolerated 
 among men she was forced as it were to cease to 
 exist in her own person, and from this time forward 
 she exchanged the name of Zwanziger for her 
 maiden name of Schonleben. 
 
 She wandered about Franconia for some time, 
 staying now in one place and now in another, and 
 finding temporary shelter and assistance chiefly 
 among people of rank and education. At length, 
 in the year 1805, she found a provision in tha 
 little town of Neumai'kt, in the upper Palatinate. 
 She established herself there to teach needlework 
 to young girls, got a number of pupils, besides 
 earning a good deal by sewing, and, according to 
 the testimony of the magistrates, won universal 
 good-will by her industry and her decorous be- 
 havior. But her fate, or rather her restless dis-
 
 ANNA MARIA ZWANZIGER. 157 
 
 contented spirit, would not suffer lier to remain 
 quiet. Unhappily for her, old General N. came 
 to stay a while at Neumai"kt. She contrived to 
 insinuate herself into the old gentleman's favor, 
 who descended to the closest familiarity with her, 
 and on one occasion promised to provide for her. 
 She was again filled with the memory of bygone 
 days, in which she enjoyed the pi-otection of "dis- 
 tinguished noblemen," and fancied that, old as she 
 was, those days were now about to return. She 
 already dreamed of going to Munich as the mis- 
 tress of " his Excellency." She indulged these 
 visions with feelings of perfect security, as she 
 had " always heard that the Catholics nearly 
 always kept their word." General N. left Neu- 
 markt, and soon after she wrot-e to him, but re- 
 ceived no answer. Some time after she wrote 
 again, and falsely told him that she was with child. 
 But instead of an answer, she received, through 
 the hands of a clergyman, a trifling sum of money 
 to stop her importunities. Not yet discouraged, 
 she left Neumarkt, where she had found peace 
 and support for a whole year, and went to Munich 
 to present herself in person before his Excellency, 
 but was refused admission. She wrote a letter to 
 him from the inn, but received a verbal answer 
 tlirough a secretary or servant to the effect that 
 she was no longer to trouble his Excellency with 
 her foolish impertinence ; he also sent her a small 
 sum of money for her traveling expenses. 
 
 Thus forced to leave Munich, she went to several 
 different places in succession till her destiny led 
 her to Pegnitz in 1807, and from thence to Ka- 
 sendorf and Sanspareil, the scene of her greater 
 crimes. 
 
 In her youth this woman showed herself irre- 
 solute, coquetish, superficially accomplished, and 
 pervexted by reading sentimental novels. Always
 
 158 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 the slave of circumstances, she at fii'st gave herself 
 up to folly and dissipation, until she giadually 
 sank into vice, and at last sold her person for 
 money ; and thus, with honor and self-respect, she 
 lost her last social restraint and support. 
 
 Her vanity, which she dignified with the name 
 of delicate sensibility, drew her towards the higher 
 classes ; she was often compelled to please and 
 attract men whom she did not like, to assume a 
 cheerful countenance among strangers by whom 
 she was repulsed and humbled, and to smother 
 the passions which were raging within her. She 
 was too restless to live honestly by the work of 
 her hands in quiet and retirement, and too proud 
 to be satisfied as a mere domestic servant ; she 
 therefore affected great zeal in the service of her 
 various masters, and endeavored to place hei'self 
 upon such a confidential footing with them as to 
 preclude all exercise of authority on their part. 
 Tlius, always acting a part, and forced to appear 
 different to what she really was, she learnt the art 
 of accommodating herself to those with whom she 
 lived, and lost what little truth and honesty was 
 still left in her. She became false, cunning, 
 smooth-tongued, and hypocritical. There was a 
 smile upon her lips, while within there was burn- 
 ing hatred ; her mouth spoke of God, while her 
 heart took counsel of Satan ; she sowed hatred, 
 while she spoke the words of conciliation ; her 
 praises were calumnies, and her calumny was 
 concealed in praise ; when forced to speak the 
 truth, she invariably coupled with it a lie. But 
 she was not yet prepared to become a poisoner, 
 and a compounder of poisons, as she showed her- 
 self at Kasendorf and Saiis])areil. With no worse 
 a character she mi"-ht still beloncr to the world ; 
 with these vices a man may command a dis- 
 tinguished place in the best society, as they
 
 ANNA MARIA ZVVANZIGER. 159 
 
 frequently foi-m the basis of what in fashionable 
 life is called knowledge of the world. 
 
 But Zwanziger thought herself unfortunate, and 
 in her this feeling severed all the ties of human 
 sympathy. Persecuted by destiny, or rather by 
 the consequences of her own faults and vices, her 
 ever ready self-love led her to ascribe every hope 
 deceived, and every evil that befel her, to the 
 malice or the cruelty of mankind. With such 
 dispositions as these, is it surprising that her heart 
 should soon be filled with envy and mischief? 
 
 After being for twenty years a wanderer on 
 the face of the earth, nearly fifty years of age, and 
 still homeless, friendless, and only endured among 
 men by concealing her real name, she now anxiously 
 sought a resting-place and a provision, and that 
 not as the maid-servant she now was, but as the 
 mistress of a house which she had formerly been. 
 She could no longer endure to belong always to 
 others, and never to herself; continually to cringe 
 and flatter, and to affect zeal in the service of 
 those whom in her heart she hated ; to be always 
 dependent and 8ubsei-\ient, while her soul was 
 filled with the recollection of bygone days, in 
 which she was the object of attention and flattery. 
 She was resolved to escape from this position, or 
 at all events to find some compensation for it. 
 
 But no means of acquiring iriaependence pre- 
 sented itself to her -within the pale of social order, 
 till at length she discovered the secret of a hidden 
 power, by the exercise of which she might not 
 only emancipate herself from restraint, but also 
 rule unseen and uncontroled. This seci"et power 
 was poison. 
 
 As Zwanziger never made a complete and sincere 
 confession, we have no means of knowing at what 
 time and on what inducement the idea first oc- 
 curred to her — whether suddenly or by slow de-
 
 IGO REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS 
 
 grees — whether she at onco foiTned a systematic 
 plan, or whether it developed itself little by little 
 and almost unconsciously in her mind. Her con- 
 fession almost always leaves us in the dark with 
 regard to the secret springs which guided her 
 actions, but the actions themselves are so numerous 
 and so clear, that we may trace them to their 
 source with perhaps as much certainty as the most 
 open confession could do for us. 
 
 Thus much is clearly proved by her whole 
 course of action — that we cannot attribute it, as in 
 the case of ordinary criminals, to any one ruling 
 passion, or to one especial motive. Her attach- 
 ment to poison was based upon the proud con- 
 sciousness of possessing a power which enabled 
 her to break through every restraint, to attain 
 every object, to gratify every inclination, and to 
 determine the very existence of others. Poison 
 was the magic wand with which she ruled 
 those whom she outwardly obeyed, and opened 
 the way to her fondest hopes. Poison enabled 
 her to deal out death, sickness, and torture to all 
 who offended her or stood in her way — it punished 
 every slight — it prevented the return of unwel- 
 come guests — it disturbed those social pleasures 
 which it galled her not to share — it afforded her 
 amusement by the contortions of tho victims, and 
 an opportunity of ingratiating herself by affecting 
 sympathy with their sufferings — it was the means 
 of throwing suspicion upon innocent persons, and 
 of getting fellow-servants into trouble. If she flat- 
 tered herself with the prospect of marrying an al- 
 ready married man, at her will wives descended 
 into the grave, and left their husbands free for her. 
 She grudged the bride her bridegroom, and the 
 wedding-feast was held in vain. In time, mixing 
 and giving poison became her constant occupa- 
 tion ; she practised it in jest and in earnest, and at
 
 AiWA MARIA ZVVANZIGER. 161 
 
 last with real passion for poison itself, without re- 
 ference to the object for which it was given. She 
 grew to love it from long habit ; and from gratitude 
 for its faithful sei-vices, she looked upon it as her 
 truest friend, and made it her constant companion. 
 At her apprehension arsenic was found in her 
 pocket, and when it was laid before her at Culm- 
 bach to be identified, she seemed to trembl-e with 
 pleasure, and gazed upon the white powder with 
 eyes beaming with rapture. This love for poison 
 may perhaps in some degree explain why she, 
 who had confessed the most atrocious crimes and 
 was under sentence of death, in her written mem- 
 oirs speaks of her deeds as "slight errors," accuses 
 of cruelty and injustice those who could bring 
 destniction upon her for the sake of such " trifling 
 offences," and boasts of her " piety" as only " too 
 great," and as the origin of all her misfortunes. 
 So true is it that habit reconciles us to everything, 
 and that we are inclined to excuse the most atro- 
 cious crimes when they are committed by one we 
 love. 
 
 On the 7th of July, 1811, the court at Bamberg 
 sentenced Anna Margaret Zwanziger to have her 
 head cut off" by the sword, and her body to be after- 
 wards laid upon the wheel. 
 
 The sentence of death received the royal con- 
 fiiTnation, accompanied by the command that the 
 exposure of the body on the wheel be omitted. 
 
 Zwanziger received her sentence without any 
 perceptible emotion, and signed the papers pre- 
 sented to her with a firm hand. She passed the 
 three days which remained to her of life with per- 
 fect composure. She confessed to her judge that her 
 death was fortunate for mankind, for that it would 
 have been impossible to her to discontinue her trade 
 of poisoning. On the day before her execution she 
 wrote, in the j)i"esence of the judge, a farewell 
 
 11 o2
 
 162 REMAKKAULE CRIMINAL, TRIALS. 
 
 letter to one of her friends at Niimberg, in which 
 she thanks her in measured tenns for the friend- 
 ship she had shown her, begs her forgiveness and 
 sympathy, sends her love to other persons, and 
 concludes thus : — " I must now end ; the hour will 
 soon strike at which my woes will cease. Pray for 
 me. The 17th of September is the day fixed for 
 my death, on which I shall receive from God the 
 reward of my actions. I have already ceased to 
 belong to this world." She wished to prove to 
 the judge her sense of the kindness he had shown 
 to her by the strange request that he would allow 
 her, if it were possible, to appear to him alter her 
 death, and to give him ocular demonstration of the 
 immortality of the soul. She remained constant 
 to her character on the day of her execution. She 
 listened to her sentence with the greatest com- 
 posui-e, and without sheddhig a tear. While it 
 was read she held her handkerchief before her 
 face, as the crowd put her to shame ; and when 
 the wand was broken over her,* she took courteous 
 leave of the judge and officers of the court, as of 
 some every-day company. 
 
 A short time before her execution, the judge 
 appealed to her conscience to confess the in- 
 nocence of Justice Glaser ; but she persisted in 
 her slanderous accusation that he had participated 
 in her first murder, and with this lie U2)on her soul 
 she laid her guilty head upon the block, 
 
 * " Breaking the wand" in Germany answers to " putting on 
 the black cap" in England. — Trans.
 
 JAMES THALREUTER; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE FALSE PRINCE. 
 
 James Thalreuter was the illegitimate son of 
 Lieut.-Colonel von Reschei* and Barbara Thalreu- 
 ter, the daughter of an exciseman : he was born 
 at Landshut, on the 10th September, 1809, and 
 acknowledged by his father. His mother died the 
 same year, and before he was three years old his 
 father was forced to leave him in order to join the 
 Russian campaign. The old Baron von Strom- 
 waiter, who enjoyed a retiring pension as assessor 
 of the council, was an intimate friend of the lieut.- 
 colonel, and with his wife's consent took the des- 
 erted boy under his protection ; and although he 
 had two children of his own, a married daughter 
 and a son in the army, he always treated Thal- 
 reuter as if he were his son. 
 
 The Baroness von Stromwalter bore absolute 
 sway over her family and household : her husband, 
 who was a goodnatured, weak, and foolish man, 
 knew nothing but what his wife allowed him to 
 know, and took no part in any affairs except where 
 his signature was necessary, and this he never 
 ventured to refuse. In addition to this, the whole of 
 the property was hers except her husband's pension, 
 which was very small. She possessed funded pro- 
 perty to the amount of 11,000 florins (about 900/.), 
 a small estate called Schwaig, and some rents, 
 tithes, &c., from which, however, several debts had
 
 164 REMAUKAULE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 to be deducted. The fact that letters addressed to 
 the old baron were opened and answered by his 
 wife, proves how little he was regarded in his own 
 house. The baroness was in the habit of treating 
 him with cool contempt, even in the presence of a 
 third person. 
 
 The bai'oness soon conceived the most extra- 
 vagant affection for the lively young Thalreuter ; 
 she was charmed with tlie amusing rogueries of 
 the mischievous boy : with her, his rudeness passed 
 for pi'etty ways, his knavery for innocent childish 
 tricks, and a lying disposition for the mark of a fer- 
 tile, precocious, and promising genius. 
 
 His foster-parents lived for a long time on their 
 estate of Schwaig, where farmers' sons and plough- 
 boys wei'e the sole companions of the spoiled boy, 
 who thus had ever before his eyes examples of 
 plebeian coarseness, vulgar habits, and still moi'e 
 vulgar ways of thinking. 
 
 The foster-mother sent him to the Catholic 
 school, where he is said to have been quiet and 
 diligent. As he was intended for the army, he 
 afterwards received, according to his foster-moth- 
 er's account, instruction in French, drawing, and 
 mathematics. But it afterwards appeared that 
 Thalreuter had not the slightest tincture of learn- 
 ing or accomplishments ; indeed he had made but 
 little progress in the most elementary parts of in- 
 struction. He wrote a bad hand, and made the 
 grossest mistakes in spelling. But when only fif- 
 teen or sixteen years of age he possessed suqiris- 
 ing knowledge of commercial and pecuniary aflairs, 
 added to an inexhaustible talent for the invention 
 of the most various, specious, and complicated lies, 
 perfect in their smallest details, and worked up 
 with masterly skill. This talent was combined 
 with and assisted by a singularly comprehensive 
 and accurate memory.
 
 JAMES THALRKUTER. 165 
 
 The older the boy grew the more firmly did he 
 establish his ascendancy over those who lived but 
 to minister to his pleasures. He was on the most 
 familiar footing with his foster-mother, towards 
 whom he felt neither affection, respect, nor grati- 
 tude. He only looked upon her as the person 
 who was able to afford him the means of grati- 
 fying his desires. The baroness on her side did 
 everything she could to please her darling. She 
 gave her money with equal readiness for excur- 
 sions and pleasure parties, and for the payment of 
 his debts, or of any damage he might have willfully 
 done. Nothing in the house remained closed or 
 secret from him : he had free access even to the 
 closet in which the baroness kept her money. In 
 short, the blind love of his foster-mother rendered 
 him absolute master of her person and property. 
 " He did what he liked with the baroness," says 
 one of the witnesses, " sometimes by fair and 
 sometimes by foul means." His conduct to the 
 poor weak old baron, who was now seventy years 
 of age, and who had treated him like his own child, 
 was the worst of all. He never mentioned his 
 foster-father but in terms of contempt ; even in 
 the presence of others and in the public streets he 
 addressed to him the most degrading insults ; nay 
 more, some witnesses had even seen him strike the 
 old man. 
 
 Thalreuter employed the liberty with which his 
 foster-mother indulged him, not only in making 
 considerable debts on her account, but also in 
 plundering her to a large amount. He carried 
 away a number of things out of the house, and at 
 short intervals of time stole from her bureau, to 
 the keys of which he had free access, as much as 
 700 florins. Wlien the baroness at length dis- 
 covered this deficiency, she determined to let her 
 foster-son feel the whole weight of her displeasure,
 
 166 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 but she soon relented, forgave liim this youthful 
 peccadillo, and merely took the precaution of 
 keeping the keys of her bureau out of his way for 
 the future. This circumstance, added to the re- 
 flection that he could only gain possession of 
 trifling sums by mere pilfering, led him to con- 
 trive a scheme whereby he hoped to prevail upon 
 his foster-parents to place their whole property 
 at his disposal for the indulgence of his extra- 
 vagance. 
 
 In the beginning of the summer of 1825, Thal- 
 reuter let fall first some mysterious hints, and then 
 some more definite expressions, with regard to his 
 own birth, by which he said that he was destined 
 to be something very different from what he now 
 appeared. The inquisitive old baron was forced 
 to content himself with the information that he, 
 Thalreuter, was the son of a noble count, but in a 
 confidential moment he disclosed the vvondei'ful 
 secret to his foster-mother. He told her, with 
 tears of joy, that " he was the son of the reigning 
 
 duke of B ; that his father had already lost 
 
 one son by j^oison, and lest this should happen to 
 him also, the duke had had him conveyed, as soon 
 as he was born, to Colonel von Reschei', his es- 
 pecial favorite, who had undertaken to bring up 
 his grace's second son. Von Rescher had accord- 
 ingly passed for his father, and had observed the 
 most inviolable secresy." He related many other 
 circumstances ; talked about a certain Count von 
 
 Rosenthal, and a General von D , and spoke 
 
 with the greatest affection of a certain Lieut.- 
 Colonel vonHautbing, also afavoriteof the reigning 
 duke, who had acquainted Thalreuter with his real 
 origin. 
 
 Notwithstanding the improbability of the whole 
 of this story, which stood in direct contradiction 
 with all that the Strom waiters knew of Thalreuter 's
 
 JAMES THALREUTER. 1G7 
 
 real origin— and they even possessed his certificate 
 of birth — the weak heads of the worthy couple 
 were too easily turned by the grandeur of the 
 romance, and the desire of increasing their limited 
 means, not to give implicit belief to the tale. From 
 time to time Thalreuter showed to Baron or 
 Baroness Stromwalter letters, always brought to 
 himself, from his royal father the duke, or from the 
 imaginary Von Hautbing. In one, the foster- 
 parents were thanked for their care of the boy ; in 
 another, 10,000 ducats and many other fine things 
 were promised as a reward for their services : the 
 time of his grace's arrival was said to draw near, 
 by which the good foster-parents would be deprived 
 of their darlins;- James. On one occasion Von 
 Hautbing announced the arrival of some money : 
 on another, specious excuses were sent to account 
 for the non-arrival of this sum, which, however, 
 might very shortly be expected. All these letters, 
 of which there were about twenty from his grace 
 alone, were such illegible scrawls, and so wretched 
 in composition and style, that the merest schoolboy 
 could not have failed to detect the imposture. But 
 the very circumstance of the letters being so illeg- 
 ible afforded young Thalreuter the excuse for 
 always reading them himself aloud to his foster- 
 mother, and he thus had the opportunity of ex- 
 plaining away any momentary doubts which might 
 arise in her mind. Before long Thalreuter ap- 
 peared with a costly present of six strings of fine 
 large pearls from his ducal father for his dear 
 foster-mother, which was acceptable not only as an 
 ornament, but also on account of its supposed value, 
 to Baroness von Sti'omwalter, who was much em- 
 barrassed for want of money. Thalreuter pre- 
 vented his foster-parents and others fi-om having the 
 pearls examined by persons competent to form an 
 opinion of their real value, by representing how
 
 168 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS 
 
 offensive such a proceeding would be to his grace. 
 They were accordingly letl in pledge with different 
 people for several hundred florins. The fad that 
 Thalreuter had bought mock pearls at a toy-shop 
 for one florin and thirty kreutzers (about 2s.) the 
 string, with money he had stolen — which was dis- 
 covered when the case came before the court — 
 remained carefully concealed from these simpletons. 
 A small jewel-case, containing a pair of earrings, 
 also a present from the imaginary duke, and 
 bought with Baroness von Stromwalter's own 
 money at the same toy-shop, gi'eatly contributed, if 
 indeed anything had still been wanting, to confirm 
 the belief of the Stromwalter family in the distin- 
 guished origin of their foster-son. Thalreuter's 
 inexhaustible fertility in lying kept the credulous 
 old people in a constant state of excitement. He 
 one day showed them a miniature of an officer 
 covered with orders as the portrait of the duke ; 
 on another he brought them landscapes, which he 
 said were views of the estates purchased by the 
 duke to reward his foster-parents. One day when 
 the baroness returned to the house, Thalreuter 
 met her, exclaiming that " it really was most un- 
 lucky that neither she nor the assessor had been 
 at home ; for that he had at length seen his royal 
 father, who had driven up with four horses, and 
 had wished to speak to them, but could not wait, 
 as he was forced to continue his journey immedi- 
 ately." On another occasion Thalreuter told old 
 Stromwalter that Hautbing was staying at the 
 Swan Inn, and wished to speak to him that evening. 
 He tlien gave him a note, in which Hautbing 
 cordially invited Von Stromwalter to crack a bottle 
 of champagne with him. The old baron hastened 
 to di'ess himself in his best suit, in order to pay 
 his respects to the envoy of the duke, but, before 
 the appointed hour was come, Thalreuter, appar-
 
 JAMES THALREUTER. 169 
 
 ently fresh from the Swan, brought tlie message, 
 with many excuses and compliments, that Haut- 
 bing had been compelled to set out upon urgent 
 business, at a moment's notice. 
 
 This extraordinary tissue of lies, transparent as 
 it was, served nevertheless completely to blind the 
 Strom waiters ; and Thalreuter, not satisfied with 
 being treated with increased indulgence and more 
 liberally supplied with money than before, in his 
 character of a prince in disguise, was encouraged 
 by the complete success of his first stratagem, to 
 attempt another still more profitable. He accord- 
 ingly communicated to the baroness, as a profound 
 secret, that the Von Wallers, a distinguished, rich, 
 
 and noble family in the town of , pui'posed to 
 
 arrange a marriage between their daughter and 
 Lieutenant von Stromwalter, and that the betrothal 
 had already taken place, and everything would now 
 be speedily concluded. Now Herr von Waller 
 had never said a word of the matter to Baron or 
 Baroness von Stromwalter, nor had the lieutenant 
 ever mentioned it in his letters to his parents. 
 Nay, more ; the Von Wallers were almost strangers 
 to the Sti'omwalters, and did not now make the 
 slightest overtures towards a nearer acquaintance. 
 But Thalreuter assured his foster-parents that the 
 nature of the transaction made it indispensable 
 to its success that they should behave as if they 
 knew nothing at all about the marriage — that Hen- 
 von Waller was bent upon taking " papa and 
 mamma" by suqjiise. The foolish old people gave 
 ready belief to this most palpable lie, because the 
 
 Duke of B , Herr von Hautbing, and General 
 
 D wished them joy, in successive letters 
 
 forged by Thalreuter, of the highly advantageous 
 match between their son and Fraulein von Waller, 
 Thalreuter had now brought his foster-parents to 
 the point he desired. 
 
 P
 
 170 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 Ere long he informed the baroness that her son 
 the lieutenant must now jiay, previous to his mar- 
 riage, into the military fund the sum of 10,000 
 florins (required in the army as a security for a 
 man's ability to support a wife) ; that his father the 
 duke intended to pay the greater j)art of this sum, 
 and that he expected the parents to contribute only 
 a few thousand florins. The credulous mother, 
 overjoyed at the prospect of her son's man-iage, 
 without a moment's hesitation delivered 2700 flo- 
 rins into the hands of this young rogue, who in a 
 very short time squandered the whole sum in reck- 
 less extravagance. Not long after this Thalreuter 
 brought the intelligence that Lieutenant von Strom- 
 waiter had had the misfortune to be aiTested for 
 seditious practices, and that his release from prison 
 could only be effected by depositing securities to the 
 amount of 1000 florins. The baroness, terrified 
 and distressed, again delivered to the disguised 
 prince 1000 florins for the release of her son. Soon 
 after, Thalreuter informed her that young Strom- 
 waiter was involved in most pressing pecuniary 
 difficulties, and required immediate assistance. 
 The fond mother immediately sold a quantity of 
 furniture in order to raise the required sum, which 
 she intrusted to Thalreuter. A second and still 
 more serious embarrassment of the lieutenant, 
 which unless instantly relieved must break off" his 
 marriage, filled her with anxiety, and levied a fresh 
 contribution on her purse; — a girl, according to 
 Thalreuter's assertion, was with child by the lieu- 
 tenant, and money was immediately required to 
 satisfy her, and to prevent the affair from reaching 
 the ears of the Von Waller family. This inven- 
 tion put several hundred florins into Thalreuter's 
 pocket. Another time he extracted money on pre- 
 tence of buying ornaments for the bride. The 
 supposed marriage of the lieutenant also served as
 
 JAMES THALREUTER. 171 
 
 an excuse for taking a good deal of furniture out 
 of the Strom waiters' house to set up the young 
 couple, which Thalreuter sold on his own account. 
 We may well ask how it was that neither Baron 
 von Stromwalter nor his wife thought of visiting 
 the Von Wallers, so as at any rate to sound them 
 about the marriage. The old baron did indeed 
 once express an intention of so doing ; but Thal- 
 reuter employed all his eloquence to prevent him, 
 and drew such a picture of the danger which his 
 visit would bring upon the intended marriage, that 
 the weak old man gave up the intention, and aban- 
 doned himself with blind confidence to the guid- 
 ance and direction of a boy of fifteen. Again, we 
 may ask how it was that the sou had so little com- 
 munication with his parents, that the latter did not 
 write to ask him a single question concerning his 
 marriage ? How was it that the parents suspected 
 nothing when their own son never let fall a word 
 on such important subjects as his approaching 
 marriage, the money required as a deposit, his im- 
 prisonment, his love affair, his emban-assments, and 
 the money which was sent to satisfy all these 
 claims'? Thalreuter provided against this also. 
 He intercepted all letters from the parents to the 
 son, and fi-om the son to the parents, or he vn-ote 
 in the name of the mother letters to suit his pur- 
 pose, which she, without even reading them, con- 
 firmed by the addition of a few lines in her own 
 handwriting. One letter fi-om the lieutenant, in 
 which he requested his mother to inform him of 
 the truth or falsehood of the reports of Thalreu- 
 ter's unheard-of extravagance which had reached 
 him at D , was, in spite of Thalreuter's precau- 
 tions, given to old Baroness von Stromwalter in his 
 presence. He no sooner saw the handwriting than 
 he snatched the letter out of her hand, and wrote in 
 her name an answer to it, in which he disclosed to
 
 172 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 the lieutenant the secret of his high birth. Bar- 
 oness von Stromwaltcr, who was not allowed to read 
 the letter, added these words : " Tims writes your 
 loving and astonished mother, who rejoices in the 
 
 prospect of going to I) with James's father 
 
 to embrace her beloved son." The son was thus 
 deceived with the aid of his own mother, and Thal- 
 reuter did not fail to nourish his hopes and expec- 
 tations by letters addressed to hiin from time to 
 time. 
 
 Baroness von Stromwalter met the enonnous 
 expenditure caused by Thalrcuter's knavery and 
 extravagance by selling out of the funds, borrowing 
 money, and selling or pawning her jewels, furni- 
 ture, &c. Thalreuter employed other means of 
 obtaining money at his foster-parents' expense. 
 He placed before them a paper, the written con- 
 tents of which he covered with his hand or with 
 a book, and requested them to oblige him with 
 their seal and signatures : this, he added, was 
 merely in jest, and he wanted their signature to 
 this paj^er in order secretly to prepare for them a 
 very great pleasure. Hereupon the papers were 
 signed and sealed without more ado. It appeared 
 on examination that these papers were bills of 
 exchange for 50, Gl, 200, or 275 florins, which 
 Thalreuter instantly contrived to get exchanged. 
 There was nothing in the house which the foster- 
 son did not steal if it suited him to sell or to give 
 it away. Chairs and tables, plate, copper and tin 
 utensils, glass, clothes, bedding, pictures, clocks, 
 watches, telescopes, snuff-boxes and every sort of 
 article, even to a mousetrap, were mentioned 
 among the list of things he had carried away under 
 various pretences. If he wanted to inake a pres- 
 ent of the baron's Cremona fiddle to any one, it 
 was always that convenient nobody Lieut.-Colonel 
 von Hautbing who wished to play upon it; if he
 
 JAMES THALREUTER. 173 
 
 cast his eyes upon a hot-water bottle, Fraulein von 
 Waller suffered fi-om violent spasms, and it was 
 immediately sent to her. After having plundered 
 his foster-parents of all their money, he proceeded 
 to squander the little landed property which still 
 remained to them. He persuaded his foster-mother 
 to sell her small estate of Schwaig, asserting that 
 the sale would only be a simulated one ; that Von 
 Waller was the real purchaser, and would give it 
 as a man-iage portion to his daughter. The sale 
 took place, and the few thousand florins went 
 mostly in the payment of old debts : of the little 
 that remained, Thalreuter took 650 florins for him- 
 self, as he pretended to help the son out of fi-esh 
 difficulties. The old foster-mother still possessed 
 a few tithes and I'ents ; these too were sold soon 
 after, and the few hundred florins which remained 
 to her after the payment of debts were delivered 
 into Thalreuter's hands. The old baroness now 
 became anxious about the state of her property. 
 Her capital was either gone or intrusted to Thal- 
 reuter, and the constantly recurring necessity of 
 borrowing money or pawning her effects, proved 
 to her how desperate her condition really w^as. 
 But Thalreuter was too good a chancellor of the 
 exchequer not to be able to quiet his faithful parlia- 
 ment by a skillfully contrived budget, and he assur- 
 ed Baroness von Strom waiter that her property had 
 never been in so flourishing a condition as it was 
 then. He made out an accurate statement of her 
 possessions (including the estate of Schwaig which 
 Lad been sold, and 10,000 ducats promised by the 
 duke), according to which they amounted to at 
 least 70,000 florins : this Statement completely re- 
 lieved all her anxieties. The last and worst trick 
 he played these unfortunate old people, was to 
 make them believe that his royal father had just 
 bought them a splendid house, or rather palace, in 
 
 p2
 
 174 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 the town of A , in which they were to pass 
 
 the rest of their lives. Without so much as inquir- 
 ing into the existence of this palace, the chiltlish old 
 people instantly gave notice that they should quit 
 the house they then rented, and began to look 
 forward with joyful impatience to the next Can- 
 dlemas, 1826, when they expected the whole mys- 
 tery to be unraveled, and their fortunes to be 
 established. Meanwhile Thalreuter, who by his 
 last lie had cheated his poor foster-parents of the 
 very roof over their heads, took care that their re- 
 moval should not be troublesome. Under pretence 
 of furnishing the new palace a little beforehand, 
 he carried oft' most of the few aiticles of furniture 
 that were left, a yellow damask sofa, six chairs, 
 &c., which we need scarcely inform our readers 
 soon found their way into the pawnln-oker's shop. 
 The money thus obtained was squandered in 
 the most reckless and foolish extravagance. He 
 entertained his acquaintances, who were men of 
 the lowest class, in the most sumptuous manner at 
 different inns and taverns ; the most costly wines 
 were not alone poured out like water at the table, 
 but thrown into the adjacent ponds and dashed 
 against the carnage-wheels ; the most delicate 
 viands were thrown out of the window for boys to 
 scramble for ; splendid fireworks were let off to 
 amuse the guests, among wliom he distributed all 
 kinds of expensive presents with the greatest pro- 
 fusion. One witness even stated that on one occa- 
 sion he moistened the wheels of the carriage he 
 had hired with eau de Cologne. The toyman 
 Stang, who w-as (though not entirely by his own 
 fault) the constant companion of Thalreuter and 
 partaker in his extravagant parties of pleasure, 
 sold him, in one year, goods to the amount of 6700 
 florins, among which were fifty florins' worth of 
 eau dc Cologne.
 
 JAMES TllALRKUTER. 175 
 
 This way of life could not fail to lead him into 
 other kinds of mischief, and accordingly, in April, 
 1825, he was taken up in a drunken brawl and 
 charged with assault and battery, but acquitted, 
 owing to want of e\'idence : two months after, 
 he and several accomplices were tried for poach- 
 ing. 
 
 The company which Thalreuter kept was as 
 low as his own manners, consisting chiefly of 
 coachmen, gi'ooms, &c. ; the only man with any 
 pretension to respectability with whom he asso- 
 ciated was Stang, the toyman, who on first wit- 
 nessing the boy's extravagance thought it his duty 
 to report it to Baroness von Stromwalter, but she 
 replied, "that the expenditure of her James would 
 not appear surprising whenever the secret of his 
 birth and rank should be revealed; that at present 
 she could only say thus much, that he was the son 
 of very gi'eat parents and would have more prop- 
 erty than he could possibly spend :" she concluded 
 by saying " that she was very glad that her James, 
 who had hitherto associated only with peasants 
 and coachmen, should have chosen so good a com- 
 panion and adviser as Stang," The poor toyman 
 was of course overjoyed at the thought of having 
 secured the friendship and custom of a prince in 
 disguise, and no longer felt any hesitation in ac- 
 cepting Thalreuter's presents and joining his par- 
 ties of pleasure, and from this time forward they 
 became almost daily companions. 
 
 Thakeuter's conduct naturally attracted the at- 
 tention of the authorities of the town, but as the 
 usual explanation was given to them by his fos- 
 ter-parents, of course they could do nothing but 
 look on and await the solution of the mystery. 
 
 Nor did they wait long. Thalreuter owed 70 
 florins for coach-hire to a man of the name of Block, 
 whom he had promised to pay at the end of the
 
 176 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 year 1825. On the 29th or 30th December, Block 
 went in search of his debtor, whom he found in a 
 tavern, and demanded his money. Thah'euter in- 
 stantly pulled a check out of his pocket and showed 
 it to his creditor, saying that it was drawn in his 
 favor for 450 florins by the advocate Dr. Schroll, 
 that he was going to get it cashed and would then 
 pay the debt. The coachman Block conceived 
 some suspicion, and immediately informed Dr. 
 Schroll of the whole affair. The latter declared 
 before the local authorities, on the 5th January, 
 1826, that he had never held any communication 
 whatever with Thalrcuter, much less given him an 
 (jrder for money, and that he demanded an exami- 
 nation into the matter, as a draft in Thalreuter's 
 favor must be forcjed. 
 
 In consequence of this accusation upon oath, a 
 search-waiTant was issued, and Thalreuter arrested 
 on the 11th January. Early next morning Baro- 
 ness von Stromwalter hastened to the court and 
 begged that her fostei'-son might speedily be set 
 free. "It was indeed true," said she, "that he 
 had robbed her at vainous times of sums amount- 
 ing to not less than 700 florins, but that she had 
 forgiven him this offence long ago, and did not 
 wish him to be called to account for it." She at 
 the same time declared herself ready and willing 
 to be answerable to the whole extent of her prop- 
 erty for any injury he might have done to a third 
 party. She said that she had already paid 700 
 florins for him, and offered, without hesitation, to 
 pay all his fresh debts, which might amount to a 
 few hundred florins more, and then all that had 
 happened might be as though it had never oc- 
 curred. But the astonishing confessions which 
 Thalreuter made at his first examination soon in- 
 duced the baron and baroness to alter their tone, 
 and to represent themselves as unfortunate victims,
 
 JAMES THALREUTER. 177 
 
 who had slept securely on the brink of a precipice 
 and were only awakened by their fall. They now 
 declared that they had always believed their fos- 
 ter-child to be the son and heir of the reigning 
 Duke of B , but that now he had himself con- 
 fessed that he, whom they had treated like their 
 own son, had deceived them in the most shameful 
 manner, and had cheated and plundered them of 
 all their possessions, and even of their good name, 
 and reduced them to absolute beggary ; that they 
 accordingly renounced all their parental duties 
 towards him, and left him to justice and to his 
 well-merited fate. In spite of this declaration, 
 hopes from time to time re^dved in them that this 
 manifest reality might after all be only an illusion, 
 and that the duke might at last appear as a deus 
 ex machina to release his darling son fi-om durance 
 vile, and them from want and misery. 
 
 Thalreuter confessed with the utmost frankness, 
 but vdthout the slightest remorse or compassion 
 for his poor old foster-parents, not only the forgery 
 of the draft upon Dr. Schroll, but also of an order 
 upon a bank for 445 florins, which, however, he 
 said, was not intended to be presented. He like- 
 wise recounted the long series of deceits and thefts 
 which he had practised upon his foster-parents ; 
 but it was impossible, accurate as Thalreuter's me- 
 mory was, to ascertain the precise amount of that 
 which he had robbed from them, as he very natu- 
 rally had kept no accounts. The old Baron von 
 Stromwalter could give no information whatever 
 vrith regard to the state of his own affairs, and re- 
 ferred everything to the superior knowledge of his 
 wife ; and she, who had blindly committed every- 
 thing to the hands of her James, had nothing to 
 trust to but the vague and general impressions on 
 het own weak memoiy. Thus much, however, is 
 certain, that diu'ing little more than one year, Thal- 
 12
 
 178 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 reuter, by vax'ious dishonest means, got from them 
 between 6000 and 8000 florins. 
 
 Such a varied and ingenious tissue of falsehoods, 
 such a compUcation of deceits so long and so suc- 
 cessfully practised by a boy of fifteen upon two 
 old people of rank and education, seemed impos- 
 sible without advisers and accomplices ; and accor- 
 dingly Thalreuter, with the same apparent frank- 
 ness with which he had confessed his own crimes, 
 now met the questions of the judge by the assertion 
 that Stang, the toyman, had persuaded him to the 
 forgery of all the false documents, that he had dic- 
 tated the false bank order, and fabricated the royal 
 seal upon it, and that he had devised the scheme 
 for cheating his foster-parents and had assisted in 
 the execution of it. That among other things, 
 Stang had once appeared at Baron von Stromwal- 
 ter's, dressed in a brilliant uniform and covered 
 with orders, and had given himself out as an envoy 
 from Thalreuter's pretended father. He added 
 that a considerable part of the money thus obtained 
 had been employed by Stang in increasing his bu- 
 siness and enlarging his shop, and also that many 
 of the things stolen from his foster-parents had 
 fallen to the share of Stang ; and, not content with 
 these accusations, he charged Stang with being a 
 cheat and a forger by trade, with carrying on a re- 
 gular fabrication of forged drafts, lottery tickets, 
 exchequer bills, and tontine scrip, and with selling 
 plated articles stamped with the mark of real silver. 
 All these charges were supported by detailed 
 statements of specific facts. Thus, for instance, 
 he enumerated a long list of bills forged by Stang, 
 specifying the persons by whom they pui-ported to 
 be drawn, the houses on which they were drawn, 
 the persons who accepted them, and the time when 
 the bills were negotiable, accompanying his state- 
 ments with so many minute circumstances that it
 
 JAMES TIIALREUTER. 179 
 
 would have been easier to doubt the Hglit of the 
 sun at noonday than the truth of his assertions. 
 At every fresh examination these charges were 
 strengthened by new disclosures or new accusa- 
 tions, which, according to Tlialreuter, recurred by 
 degrees to his memory. Among other things Thal- 
 reuter even asserted that, in order to open a fresli 
 supply to the failing resources of the Von Strom- 
 waiters, Stang had proposed to poison Baroness 
 von Stromwalter's rich brother, and that he had 
 prepared the poison, which he kept in a bottle in a 
 place which Thalreuter described. 
 
 Stang, a married man, and the father of a family, 
 was not exactly the sort of person whom one would 
 suspect of such actions. He maintained himself, 
 to all appearance honestly, by his business, which 
 he had greatly extended by his activity, cleverness, 
 and economy, and which was quite sufficient to 
 support himself and his family respectably. But 
 previous to the establishment of his toy-shop, which 
 had happened within a few years, his life had not 
 been altogether free from suspicion. He was 
 originally a tailor, and then entered the sei-vice of 
 a merchant, who discharged him in a short time, 
 and gave him but a doubtful character. He then 
 wandered about the country as a conjuror. It was 
 notorious that Thalreuter and Stang were contin- 
 ually together, and that the latter took part in all 
 Thalreuter's dissipations, and also that he lorded it 
 in the Stromwalters' house. Moreover it appeared 
 impossible for a lad of fifteen to have conceived or 
 executed all that has been ali'eady related, without 
 assistance ; and Thalreuter's frank confession af- 
 forded sufficient gi'oimd for presuming that Stang 
 was his accomplice, and for aiTOSting him accord- 
 ingly- 
 
 Thalreuter's accusations were not, however, 
 
 confined to Stang ; several other persons figured
 
 180 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 in this story as accomplices in a gi'eater or less de- 
 gree. Wolositz, a wealthy Jewish merchant, was 
 pointed out by him as the receiver of" Stang's bills, 
 knowing them to bo forged ; and the accusation 
 was sujiported by a statement of circumstances 
 which gave it every appearance of truth. He lik(!- 
 wiso named an innkeeper called lirechtal, as one 
 intimately associated in all Stang's criminal secrets, 
 and whose business it was to travel about and pass 
 these forgeries in the disguise of an officer. Thal- 
 reuter accused both those men, but more especially 
 Brechtal, of instigating him to rob and cheat his 
 foster-parents, and stated that he had bought for 
 the latter out of the stolen money a horse, a butt of 
 wine, &c. ; and that inside of this butt, hung a 
 small watertight baiTel, in which Brechtal kept 
 Stanfj's forcjed bills. Wolositz and Brechtal were 
 accordingly taken into custody, and four other per- 
 sons were involved in the same suspicion by Thal- 
 I'euter's charges. 
 
 In order to obtain proofs of the truth of the va- 
 rious charges, and to secure the articles designated 
 by Thalreuter as belonging to the Stromwalters, 
 the houses of the suspected parties were searched ; 
 Stang's house repeatedly, for no sooner was one 
 search ended than Thalreuter prepared some new 
 charge against Stang which rendered a fresh 
 search necessary. Thalreuter, who was present 
 on these occasions, employed himself in pointing 
 out to the authorities either those things which 
 belonged to his foster-parents, or had been bought 
 with their money, or the materials, proofs, and in- 
 struments of the various forgeries. Each search 
 led to fresh discoveries on Thalreuter's part, until 
 at length the rooms appropriated to the purpose 
 were crowded with effects of all sorts. In Stang's 
 private dwelling the authorities seized silver 
 spoons, tin and copper utensils, glasses, bottles
 
 JAMES THALREUTKR. 181 
 
 and. jai'b, napkins and table-covers, bedding, chil- 
 dren's toys, and even articles of clothing, such as 
 Stang's boots and trowsers. Out of his shop they 
 took all sorts of objects of the supposed plated 
 material, and other articles of value, watches, lace, 
 buckles, telescopes, eye-glasses, ladies' reticules, 
 rouge-boxes, cosmetics, scented pomatums and 
 soaps. The innkeeper Brechtal fared no better : 
 they took from him his gun and a pair of water- 
 proof boots (for Brechtal was also a shoemaker) ; 
 his horse out of the stable, and all the wine out of 
 his cellar. 
 
 While these domiciliary ^^sits were going on, 
 the jailer one day discovered, while changing 
 Thalreuter's prison, seventeen florins concealed 
 in his straw mattress. On examination, Thalreu- 
 ter confessed that he had taken th-e opportunity of 
 one of these visits at Stang's house, to steal this 
 sum out of his writing-desk. When asked how 
 this was possible, as one of the officers of the 
 court constantly had his eye upon him, he replied 
 that the presence of the officer had not prevented 
 his gaining possession of the money by a slight of 
 hand which he had learnt from Stang himself 
 
 When the charg^es atrainst Stang^ and others 
 came to be sifted, many of them proved to be 
 utterly false. A lottery ticket found in Stang's 
 possession, and denounced as a forgery, was pro- 
 nounced at Frankfort to be genuine : several bills 
 which he was accused of having forged and put in 
 circulation, were never presented. It was more- 
 over discovered that no such firms existed as those 
 on which some of the other bills were said to have 
 been drawn. When this was represented to Thai- ' 
 reuter on his twelfth examination, he not only re- 
 tracted a great part of his accusation against Stang, 
 but declared his whole statement about Wolositz 
 and the four others, who were most respectable 
 
 Q
 
 182 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 persons, to be sheer calumny. His motives for mak- 
 ing all these false chai'ges were various. One 
 had excited his hatred at a fight, another had 
 abused him ; a third had found fault with his con- 
 duct behind his back, while a fourth had laughed 
 at his bad riding. Stang and Brechtal did not get 
 out of the scrape quite so easily, but every step in 
 the inquiry was the means of discovering some 
 fresh falsehoods, more especially with respect to 
 Stang. For example, all the articles which Thal- 
 reuter had asserted to be plated were found to be 
 real silver : many of the things said to have belong- 
 ed to Baroness von Stromwalter were not hers, but 
 were proved to have been long in the possession of 
 Stang and his family. The small secret barrel 
 concealed in Brechtal's butt of wine never could 
 be found, and the bottles said to contain poison 
 for Baroness von Stromwalter's rich brother were 
 filled with most innocent scent and hair-oil. 
 Thalreuter, however, retracted only so much of 
 his accusation against Stang as was proved to be 
 false, and although forced to declai'e one charge 
 after another to be mere inventions, he still per- 
 sisted through several examinations in accusing 
 his boon companion of enough to ensure him an 
 imprisonment of several years with hard labor. 
 It was not until his twenty-second examination 
 that he declared all his accusations against Stang 
 to be pure inventions dictated by revenge, adding 
 that he could never forgive Stang for taking advan- 
 tage of his youthful inexperience, and encouraging 
 him in all his debaucheries and excesses. But 
 these excuses for his false accusations were also 
 false. In his twenty-sixth examination he was 
 compelled to retract even this, and to own that he 
 had no other reason for involving Stang in this 
 criminal prosecution, than that Stang liad charged 
 him too much for his wares : neither had he any
 
 JAMES THALREUTER. 183 
 
 cause for accusing Brechtal, beyond, that he had 
 occasionally scored a double reckoning against 
 him. 
 
 Thus it was proved beyond, doubt that this 
 young villain not only had no assistance in effect- 
 ing the ruin of his old foster-parents, beyond that 
 of his own wit and the weakness and simplicity of 
 the old people, but that he had also used the crim- 
 inal court itself as a stage upon which further to 
 display his instinctive talent for stealing and lying. 
 
 Those innocent persons who had been taken 
 into custody upon Thalreuter's accusations were 
 immediately released. Thalreuter, in considera- 
 tion of his youth, was sentenced, on the 25th Sep- 
 tember, 1826, to eight years' imprisonment with 
 hard labor, for his forgeries, thefts, and other de- 
 ceits. He was to receive twenty-five lashes on his 
 entrance into prison as a further punishment, and 
 to have warm food only on every third day. Di- 
 rections were also given that this young criminal 
 should receive all necessary instruction, and that 
 the greatest attention should be paid to his moral 
 and religious training. 
 
 Fortunately for the community and for himself, 
 Thalreuter did not outlive the term of his im- 
 prisonment. He died in 1828, in the Bridewell 
 at Munich.
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE PARRICIDES OF THE BLACK MILL. 
 
 Upon a streamlet called the Sittenbach, which 
 runs at the bottom of a narrow glen enclosed with- 
 in steep mountains, stands the lonely Schwarz 
 Miihle, or Black Mill, at about 340 paces from the 
 last house in the neighboring village. The miller, 
 Frederick Kleinschrot, a strong, powerful man of 
 about sixty, lived there until the 9th August, 1817: 
 he and all his family were Protestants. His busi- 
 ness was a thriving one, and his property, as was 
 subsequently proved, amoimted to a capital of 
 13,577 florins. He had been man-ied for thirty 
 years, and had had twelve children by his wife 
 Barbara, five of whom were still living. His eld- 
 est son, Leonard, was settled as a master miller at 
 a distance, but the second and third sons, Conrad 
 and Frederick, the former twenty-eight and the 
 latter twenty-three years of age, lived in their 
 father's house, the one managing the farm, and 
 the other assisting his father in the mill. The two 
 daughters, Margaret Barbara, aged twenty-three, 
 and Kunigunda, aged eighteen, supplied tlie place 
 of maid-servants. 
 
 In the farm-yard belonging to the mill, and not 
 above twenty paces distant from it, was a separate 
 cottage, rented at a low rate by a day-laborer of 
 the name of John Adam "Wagner. In addition to 
 his rent, he was bound to work for the millt^" when
 
 THE KLEIXSCHROT FAMILY. 185 
 
 required to do so, for six kreutzers a-day and his 
 food. 
 
 Besides the miller's family and that of the day- 
 laborer, a stable-boy of about thirteen lived at the 
 mill. Ho slept in a distant stable, so that he could 
 hear nothing that took place there by night. 
 
 On the 9th August, 1817, the master miller dis- 
 appeared. It was not until the 11th October of 
 the same year that his wife informed the provincial 
 magistrate that her husband had left his home nine 
 weeks ago, taking with him all the ready money, 
 and that they were without any tidings of him. 
 She requested that he might be publicly adver- 
 tised, which was accordingly done, but without 
 success, and that all outstanding claims might be 
 called in. The property of the absent man was 
 accordingly put into the hands of trustees ap- 
 pointed by the court. 
 
 About a year after his disappearance, it was 
 rumored abroad that he had been murdered in 
 the Black Mill. The report no doubt arose out of 
 suspicious expressions uttered by Wagner to one 
 of his fellow-laborers of the name of Wiedman. 
 One day when he was angry with the Kleinschrot 
 family, he said to Wiedman, "If you did but know 
 what I know, you would be surprised : if I were to 
 tell of the miller's family, the mill would be shut 
 up, and they would all go to prison. If I want 
 money, they must give it me ; and if I want the 
 cottage, they must give me that too." 
 
 On the 1st Septembei-, 1818, Metsieder, a gen- 
 darme, informed the provincial court of this ex 
 pression of Wagner's. Suspicion was further in- 
 creased by the knowledge of the domestic quar- 
 rels which had constantly taken place in the Black 
 Mill, and by the strangely embanassed manner of 
 the miller's family and of Wagner and his wife to- 
 wards him (the informer). 
 
 a2
 
 180 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 The provincial magistrate had been aheady 
 made aware, by former proceedings, of" tlie bitter 
 animosity subsisting between Kleinschrot and his 
 family. Two months before his disappearance the 
 old man had laid a complaint before the magistrate, 
 that his wife and sons had possessed themselves of 
 his keys and his money, and assumed the whole 
 management of the house and mill. That they had 
 ceased to treat him with reverence, or to obey his 
 orders, and had even threatened him with blows. 
 The wife and children, on the other hand, replied 
 that the plaintiff was a profligate spendthrift who 
 neglected all the duties of a husband and a father, 
 and wasted his substance on low women. The 
 magistrate ordered them to submit to him as the 
 head of the family, and to restore to him the lawful 
 control over his own household. But on the follow- 
 ing day the miller complained to the magistrate that 
 his family would not abide by the decision of the 
 court, and that his children had actually struck him. 
 A commission was accordingly sent to reinstate old 
 Kleinschrot in his rights as head of the house. 
 But even in the presence of the commissioners, the 
 family expressed the bitterest hatred towards him, 
 and declared their settled determination to obtain 
 redress from justice for his extravagance, profligacy, 
 and cruelty. 
 
 These and other circumstances, added to the 
 statement of the gendarme, were sufficient grounds 
 for a serious inquiry. The provincial judge of the 
 district took steps evincing great zeal in this mat- 
 ter. On the very night in which this infoiTnation 
 reached him, he caused Wagner and Wicdman to 
 be arrested, and went in person to the Black Mill, 
 to examine the miller's wife and her sons. Wied- 
 raan repeated before the court the expression used 
 by Wagner, which we have already mentioned, and 
 the common rumor that Kleinschrot had been
 
 THE KLEIN SCIIKOT FAMILY. 187 
 
 murdered in his mill, and that Wagner had help- 
 ed to hury the body in the saw-mill. On the other 
 hand, Wagner and the miller's family maintain- 
 ed that old Kleinschrot had privately absconded. 
 The elder of the parish, who was examined as to 
 the chai'acter of the Kleinschrot family, declared 
 that he knew nothinor against either them or Waq:- 
 ner ; and a shepherd of the name of Sperber stated, 
 that during the hay harvest of 1817 he had been 
 employed by Kleinschrot to accompany him to a 
 neighboring village, and to cany a bag of money, 
 which from its weight must have contained at least 
 2000 florins. Hereupon the proceedings were ab- 
 ruptly stopped. Wiedman was not examined upon 
 oath, the miller's daughters were not questioned at 
 all, and no search was made in the saw-mill, which 
 rumor pointed out as the spot in which the body 
 had been buried. The provincial judge, contrary 
 to his bounden duty, sent no report of the case to 
 the central tribunal, and thus the matter rested for 
 three whole years. 
 
 In the autumn of 1821 the provincial judge of 
 the district was suspended from his office on sus- 
 picion of malversation. A commission was sent 
 by the central court to direct the inquiry into his 
 conduct, and to install his successor. The com- 
 missioner had scarcely commenced the inquiry, 
 when, on the night of the 11th November, a fire 
 broke out in the record chamber, which was kept 
 constantly locked, and the greater part of the records 
 were destroyed, to the exti'eme injury of many 
 members of the community. Suspicion immediate- 
 ly fell upon the suspended magistrate, who had 
 an especial interest in the destruction of records 
 which might betray his malpractices, and who 
 moreover was alone able to effect it. The com- 
 missioner was directed to inquire into the origin 
 of the fire, and with the view of discovering fresh
 
 188 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 cause of suspicion, and of confirming those already 
 existing, he set on foot a rigid examination of the re- 
 cords which had escaped the flames, in order to dis- 
 cover those which the suspended magistrate might 
 have had a pecuUar interest in destroying. Dur- 
 ing the course of his research he found a small 
 volume of documents i-elating to the appointment 
 of trustees for the management of the absent 
 miller's property. The rumor that Kleinschrot 
 had been murdered by his own family, and that 
 the magisti'ate had received a considerable bribe 
 from them for letting the inquiry drop and hushing 
 up the whole affair, reached the commissioner's 
 ears at the same time. On further search, several 
 other papers connected with the proceedings were 
 discovered. 
 
 These were sufficient gi'ounds for fresh investiga- 
 tion, and on the 6th December, 1821, Wiedman's 
 evidence was taken on oath, and Wagner and Anna 
 his wife were summoned as witnesses. Wiedman 
 repeated his former statement : Wagner renewed 
 his assurances that he did not know what had be- 
 come of the miller ; but his wife immediately con- 
 fessed " that in August or Septembei', 1817, the 
 miller's sons tried to persuade her husband to assist 
 them in getting rid of their father : that she would 
 not suffer it, but that the sons never ceased ursjingf 
 him, till at last her husband went one night into 
 the miller's bedroom, and helped the sons to miu'der 
 him ; whereupon the body was buried in the cleft 
 of a rock near a field belonging to the miller." 
 John Wagner, who in the meantime had been given 
 in charge to a gendarme, in order to prevent any 
 communication between himself and his wife, was 
 examined afresh, and the following confession ex- 
 tracted from him : — 
 
 Old Kleinschrot, who was a mud husband and 
 father, and a man of most abandoned habits, lived
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY. 189 
 
 in constant enmity with his family. One morning 
 in September, 1817, his son Conrad informed him 
 (Wagner) that the Kleinschrot family had determin- 
 ed to put their father to death on the following 
 night, in oi'der to save themselves from utter ruin. 
 Conrad promised to provide for him if he would 
 assist them in the deed, and told him how it was 
 to be accomplished. After much hesitation he 
 (Wagner) agi-ecd. Conrad fetched him at night, 
 and with the help of the younger brother Frederick, 
 they murdered the old man in the kitchen. The 
 body was first buried in the saw-mill, but was after- 
 wards carried away from thence, thrown into the 
 cleft of a rock in a field called the Krumacker, and 
 covered with earth and stones. The miller's wife 
 and daughters were privy to the murder. 
 
 On the 7th December, the court resolved upon 
 the provisory airest of the miller's family, and 
 proceeded that very evening with a proper guard 
 to the Black Mill, where the whole family were 
 found saying gi-ace after supper. When the prayer 
 was ended, the warrant of arrest was shovni to 
 the miller's vdfe and her two sons : every member 
 of the family was then arrested, and confined sep- 
 arately. The mother and her two sons were ex- 
 amined on the spot, but confessed nothing. They 
 asserted that all they knew was that Kleinschrot had 
 been gone for some years, they knew not whither. 
 
 On the following day Wagner was fetched from 
 the pi'ison to show where the body of the murdered 
 man had been buried. He led the authorities up a 
 steep ascent to the left of the mill, and across sev- 
 eral fields, till they came to a cleft among some 
 rocks, which Wagner pointed out as the spot. 
 After removing several loose stones, they came to 
 some leaves and moss, whereupon AVagner re- 
 marked " that they must now be near the body." 
 Under the layer of leaves and moss were found
 
 190 REMARKABLE CRIIVUXAL TRIALS. 
 
 some tattered scraps of linen, part of a skull, seve- 
 ral ribs, and other bones, which the physicians pro- 
 nounced to be those of a man. Wlien these were 
 taken out of the cleft, Wagner said, " These must be 
 the bones of the murdered Frederick Kleinschrot 
 of the Black Mill, for his sons brought his body 
 here in my presence four years ago, and threw it 
 into this cleft ; we then covered it with leaves and 
 moss. Moreover, Kleinschrot had remarkably fine 
 teeth, just like those in the jaw-bone before us." 
 
 The miller's children were then led separately, 
 one after the other, first to the place where the 
 bones had been deposited, and then to the cleft in 
 the rock. As soon as Com-ad saw the bones, he 
 exclaimed, before a question was asked, " That is 
 my father !" and added, after a pause, " but I am 
 not the murderer." Fi"ederick looked at them 
 without betraying emotion or a embaiTassment, and 
 on being asked, "What are these?" answered, 
 " Why, what should they be but bones ; but whe- 
 ther of a man or a beast I cannot say ; I do not 
 know the difference." The youngest daughter, 
 Kunigunda, cried out when led to the cleft, " I 
 know nothing about this: I know that about my 
 father, but of what happened up here I know no- 
 thing ; I am innocent, completely innocent." When 
 it came to the turn of the eldest dausrhter, Margra- 
 ret, she exclaimed, " I am innocent of the deed, I 
 am innocent. I knew nothing about it till I heard 
 my father's dreadful scream, and then it was too 
 late. I have never had a moment's peace since. 
 Oh, God ! what will become of us ?" 
 
 Thus, then, a mystery was brought to light which 
 had been concealed for so many years — a murder 
 committed by a hired assassin on the person of 
 the miller, in which his wife, sons, and daughters 
 were all more or less concerned as instigators or 
 accomplices.
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY. 191 
 
 Barbara, the wife of the murdered man, and the 
 daughter of a miller, was born on the 8th of Ajiril, 
 1764. Her parents were, as the clergyman ex- 
 pressed it, " equally wanting in head and heart." 
 Her memory and powers of comprehension were 
 so defective that she could retain nothing at school. 
 The little intellect she had ever possessed was so 
 much impaired by the constant ill-usage she had 
 received from her husband during her long and 
 unhappy marriage, that she occasionally sank into 
 a state of stupidity bordering on idiocy. Her 
 husband's constant complaint was, that he bad a 
 wife so stupid that she could not manage her 
 ovm household. All the witnesses concurred 
 in describing her as a kind-hearted, patient, 
 well-meaning woman, and of spotless life and rep- 
 utation. 
 
 The same was said of her children by the cler- 
 gyman and many other witnesses, who unani- 
 mously praised their piety, integi'ity, goodness, 
 gentleness, love of order, and industry. But they 
 were all deficient in intelligence, extraordinai-ily 
 ignorant of everythincf which did not concern their 
 own immediate occupation, and filled with the 
 grossest superstition. They believed ghosts and 
 witches to belong to the natural order of things. 
 For instance, they Avei'e firmly persuaded that Wag- 
 ner's wife was a witch, and Frederick took some 
 trouble to convince the judge of it. As positive 
 proof of the truth of his assertion, he related how, 
 after refusing her something, she had plagued him 
 unmercifully with the nightmare on the following 
 night, and how she had once in his presence drawn 
 circles round a haycock with her rake, muttering 
 strange words the while, whereupon a whirlwind 
 suddenly seized the haycock, lifted it high into 
 the air, and bore it away as far as his eyes could 
 reach, which plainly must have been witchcraft, as
 
 192 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 the Other haycocks remained quietly standing in 
 their places. 
 
 Old Kleinschrot was described as a man of con- 
 siderable talent and inlbrmalion for his station in 
 life, and as a good manager in a certain sense. He 
 sent his children to school and communicated reg- 
 ularly twice a year : but his character was in every 
 respect the very reverse of that of his kind-hearted 
 wife and well-disposed children. Coarseness, 
 cruelty, brutal violence, quarrelsomeness, and nig- 
 gardliness, excepting where his own pleasures 
 were concerned, were the principal ingredients ot 
 his repulsive and hateful character. He was an 
 unnatural son, and had frequently raised his im- 
 pious hand against his father, and forced him to 
 take refuge from his violence behind locks and 
 bolts. The son who ill-treated his own father was 
 still less likely to spare either wife or children, 
 whom he looked upon as creatures born to seiTe 
 and sufter under him. All his children on leaving 
 school became his menial servants, and fulfilled 
 their household duties with care and fidelity ; in 
 spite of which ho refused them decent clothing, 
 and allowed them and their mother to suffer the 
 greatest privations, moi-e especially whenever he 
 left home for several days, on which occasions he 
 left them no money for their daily wants. His ill- 
 humor vented itself not only in abuse, but in ac- 
 tual violence. The peasant Roll, who had lived 
 for twelve months in Kleinschrot's service about 
 twenty years before, stated that the old miller 
 never let a day pass without quan-elling with and 
 beating his wife and sons, who were then boys. 
 In his fury he seized the first weapon that came 
 to hand. He once struck his wife such a blow 
 with an axe that she had her arm in a sling for 
 fourteen days. The daughter Margaret asserted 
 that her mother had lost half her wits from a blow
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY. 193 
 
 on the head which she received from her husband 
 some fifteen years ago. The old miller's kept 
 mistress, Kunigunda Hopfengiirtner, who had 
 formerly served at the Black Mill, had once been 
 })resent when the miller flung a hatchet at his son 
 Frederick, which must inevitably have killed him, 
 had he not started forward, so that it only grazed 
 his heel. The schoolmaster once saw him beat 
 his wife and children with a bar of iron. 
 
 The children, who beheld in their father only 
 the tormentor and oppressor of their suffering 
 mother, drew closer around her, and formed a de- 
 fensive league among themselves, united by affec- 
 tion for the oppressed and bitter hatred towards 
 the oppressor. The children felt bound to pro- 
 tect their mother, and to assist each other against 
 the common enemy, whom they not only hated, 
 but also despised ; for they knew that their father, 
 notwithstanding his age, constantly associated with 
 the lowest women, by whom he had several illegit- 
 imate children, and upon whom he wasted his 
 money, while his rightful children were suffering 
 want. Kunigunda Hopfengartner, a worthless 
 creature who was sent to the house of correction 
 soon after Kleinschrot's disappearance, had been 
 kept by him for years, and declared him to be the 
 father of her illegitimate child, born on the 7th 
 April, 1817. When it was known at the mill that 
 she was with child by old Kleinschrot, all the 
 children, with the exception of the youngest daugh- 
 ter, rose up against him, and the quarrel reached 
 such a pitch that the two sons, Conrad and Fred- 
 erick, came to blows \vith him ; one witness stated 
 that Margaret, on being attacked by her father, 
 snatched up a pitchfork with the words, " You old 
 rascal, if you come near me I will stick it into 
 your ribs." This, however, she strenuously de- 
 nied.
 
 194 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 In order fully to understand the character of the 
 murdered man, and the terms on which he lived 
 with his family, it is necessary to hear the descrip- 
 tion which the wife and children gave of him. 
 " You cannot think," said the wife, " what a bad 
 man my hushand was. He knocked my poor 
 head about till I quite lost my memoi-y. Once 
 when he had knocked us down, my son Frederick 
 and 1 lay all night bleeding at the head in the 
 hay-loft. He was a mischievous man, as all who 
 knew him can testify : he ill-used me as no one else 
 would use a beast, and for no possible cause : he 
 was always particulat-ly savage at the holy times 
 of Christmas and Easter, and his fiiiy against every 
 one then knew no bounds ; formerly too he used 
 to go by night to the place where four roads meet, 
 and where they say three things are to be got — 
 money, or help in fighting, or something else, and 
 I therefore believe that my husband stood in 
 communication with the Evil One." The eldest 
 son, Conrad, drew the following picture of his 
 father. " My father was a savage man who never 
 treated us as his children, nor even called us his 
 children, but always rogues and thieves. When I 
 was twelve years old he ill-used me and left me ly- 
 ing in the mill quite senseless, and I bear the maik 
 of one of his blows over my right ear to this day, 
 where there is a scar and no hair. Once during 
 harvest he beat me over the loins so that I was 
 obliged to crawl home and leave the horses stand- 
 ing in the field. I lay in bed for two whole days 
 after it, and my father was cruel enough to forbid 
 my mother to give me any food, as I earned no- 
 thing. No servant could stav with him ; he had 
 three or four in the course of the year, so that my 
 brother and I had to do all the work, and we did 
 it willingly. Every one will allow that we have 
 5mpr(jved our prouerty by our industry to the
 
 THE KLEINSCIIROT FAMILY. 195 
 
 amount of 1000 florins and more; and yet he was 
 never satisfied and constantly abused us, and said 
 that we cost him more than we earned. He never 
 gave us clothes, and we went about in rags. But 
 ill as he treated us, he treated our poor mother 
 far worse. He was a monster in every respect ; 
 ■♦he could not endure our mother, called her by the 
 vilest names, and fi-equently beat her so that she 
 lay in bed for days : she beai's the marks of his 
 cruel treatment on her body to this day. Some- 
 limes he kicked and beat her till she was so cov- 
 ered with blood that no one could have recognised 
 her. Thus Ave lived in constant fear of our lives. 
 INIeanwhile he had three illegitimate children by 
 women upon whom he spent the money which 
 my mother had brought him at their maniage, for 
 all the property was hers. We should have sought 
 our living elsewhere long ago, but that we must 
 then have left our mother exposed alone to our 
 father's cruelty. At length we sought for pro- 
 tection from justice, but found none. Had he 
 been like any other father, he might have been 
 happy with his children, for we were honest, 
 industrious, and well-conducted, as everybody 
 knows. But he was a monster whose only pleas- 
 ure was in tormenting others. He often beat his 
 own father, who endeavored to secure himself by 
 six-fold bolts and locks, as you may see in the mill 
 to this day, as well as the marks of the hatchet 
 with which he tried to break open the door into 
 the room where my grandfather had taken refuge, 
 although it is now above twenty years ago." 
 
 The youngest son, Fredei-ick, expressed himself 
 much in the same manner. " He was not a father, 
 but a monster, who hated us from our youth up, 
 and almost killed our mother by ill-usage. His 
 whole way of life was a shame and a disgrace to 
 us : we had plenty of quarrels and blows from
 
 196 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 morninfT to night, and but little food or clothing'. 
 Six months before he was put out of the way, my 
 father dealt me such a blow on the head with a 
 hoe, that the blood ran down into my shoes, and the 
 wound did not heal for three-quarters of a year : 
 the scar is still there. Once when I was leaving 
 the mill I hcai'd dreadful screams from the kitchen, 
 and on going in I found my father striking my 
 mother with a hatchet and threatening to kill her. 
 He would certainly have murdered her but for me, 
 for she was bleeding violently. I ran forwards, 
 wrenched the hatchet out of his hands, and held 
 him until my mother had escaped. I then let go 
 of him and ran away, but not till I had received 
 one blow on the loins and another on the arm, 
 which prevented my working for several days. 
 IVIy mother and I slept that night in the barn, as 
 we did not dare return to the house. My mother's 
 body is covered with scars. My father's life was 
 scandalous, and had been so from his youth. He 
 had many illegitimate children, although his lawful 
 ones were already grown up ; we even found him 
 in bed with our maid-servant. He stole money 
 from his father to spend in these profligate courses. 
 A short time before his father's death, as I well 
 reinember, he seized the old man by the feet and 
 drasjored him down the stairs and out at the mill- 
 door, so that his head was bruised and battered 
 and covered with blood. Such was the monster 
 we had as a father. Alas ! ever since we were 
 born we have never known peace ; while our 
 father lived we were tortured by him, and now 
 since his death we are tortured by our con- 
 sciences." 
 
 It is true that these statements were made by 
 the murderers ; but the coincidence of their testi- 
 mony with the character given of the old miller by 
 other impartial witnesses, leaves no doubt of their
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY. 197 
 
 truth : indeed it is only on the supposition of such 
 a father that we can comprehend how a wife and 
 children, praised by all for their kindness and 
 integrity, could be driven to commit so fearful a 
 crime. He was himself the cause of all that befel 
 him, and must be held morally answerable for a 
 large share of the heavy guilt of the murder. His 
 fate appears but as the act of avenging justice. He 
 who had ill-treated and struck his own father fell 
 by the hands of an assassin hired by his own 
 children. 
 
 The following account of murder and of its 
 immediate cause is compiled from the confessions 
 of the murderers. 
 
 The mother and sons had several times, in 
 their impatience to be freed from their intolerable 
 domestic oppression and misery, given utterance, 
 even in the presence of strangers, to ideas of 
 murder. Once, about a year or even longer before 
 the murder, one of the sons said to John Schuster, 
 a forester who accidently came to the mill, " that 
 he only wished he would shoot his father for a 
 roebuck ;" and the mother added that " he should 
 not then need to buy flour for some time to come." 
 Schuster did not know whether this was meant in 
 jest or earnest, and went away without answering 
 a word. One evening, before Wagner lived in the 
 cottage near the mill, a laborer of the name of 
 Frederick Deininger was at work for the miller's 
 family, and one of the sons said to him, " ^V^loever 
 would put my father out of the way should be well 
 paid for the job." Deininger is said to have replied 
 that he could not do it, as the old man would be 
 able to master him. The miller's family declared 
 that these expressions fell from them in anger 
 caused by a sense of recent injuries, and not from 
 any preconcerted scheme. Thus much, however, 
 is certain, that the idea of killing the old mijler 
 
 r2
 
 198 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 was not strange to them, and tliat iliey would have 
 been well pleased if any one to whom they had 
 said as much in their anger had offered to do it for 
 them. They wished him to be killed, but not by 
 themselves. 
 
 An expression which the provincial judge im- 
 prudently repeated several times tended to 
 sli'engthen their desire for the old miller's death. 
 When the sons endeavored to obtain protection 
 against the cruelty of their father, or complained 
 of his extravagance, the judge dismissed them with 
 the disheartening observation, " I can neither assist 
 nor advise you ; you have a bad and quarrelsome 
 father ; the best thing that could happen would be 
 his death." The mother and children concurred 
 in saying that these words made the deepest im- 
 pression upon them, and pointed out to them the 
 only way that was open to them. It was evident 
 that nothing was to be hoj^ed from the protection 
 of the law, and that there was no release for them 
 but by their father's death, which now appeared to 
 them to be both necessary and justifiable. 
 
 Subsequently, when the girl Hopfengaitner ac- 
 cused the old miller of being the father of her 
 child, at which the irritation of the miller's family 
 was so great as to cause the sons for the first time 
 to lay violent hands on their father, these thoughts 
 took a sti'onfjerhold of their minds than ever. Just 
 at this time too, unhaj^tpily for them, a man was 
 thrown in their way well able to understand 
 thousrhts of this kind, and who knew how to work 
 upon men and to place their thoughts in a light 
 which deprived them of nearly all their hoiTor. 
 This was Wagner, the day-laborer, a man exactly 
 fitted to suit those "who, without being villains 
 themselves, stood in need of a villain to do that 
 for which they felt themselves too faint-hearted. 
 John Adam Wagner was the son of a day-
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY. 199 
 
 laborer, who was still living when the trial took 
 place. He was born on the 9tli November, 1769, 
 and was a Lutheran. Common report gave him 
 a very bad character, especially for cruelty. One 
 of his childish amusements consisted in catching 
 birds, putting out their eyes, and then letting them 
 fly. He served first in the contingent of an im- 
 perial city, then for twenty years in the Prussian 
 army, and in 1807 in that of Bavaria. He after- 
 wards wandered about Prussia, Hanover, and 
 Bohemia, and returned home in 1808 accompa- 
 nied by a mistress. He then served for three- 
 quarters of a year in the preventive service, after 
 which he married a widow with two children, and 
 supported himself with difficulty as a laborer. 
 Those whom he served found no paiticular fault 
 with him, expecting a certain unwillingness to 
 work, owing probably to his long military career. 
 Another consequence of this was an utter want of 
 feeling added to his originally cruel nature, which 
 he exhibited in the most revolting manner upon 
 this trial. A murder, committed with every pi'os- 
 pect of concealment, and for which he was well 
 paid, was no more to him than any other task ; at 
 least he related all the circumstances of the horrid 
 deed as circumstantially and as coolly as a laborer 
 might do when called upon by his master to render 
 an account of the work done on a particular day. 
 1817, the year of Kleinschrot's disappearance, was 
 a year of famine, and Wagner had a wife and four 
 children to support, for whom his wages were in- 
 sufficient to buy bread, and he and his family often 
 went supperless to bed. AVlien, therefore, a pros- 
 pect was opened to him of present gain and future 
 support, he was ready to do anything. 
 
 It was Conrad Kleinschrot's misfortune to be 
 constantly thrown into the company of this man, 
 and while at work with him he often talked freely
 
 200 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 of the misery of his home and of his bitter hatred 
 towards his father. On the 1st May, 1817, Conrad 
 told Wagner that his father had again left home 
 on the previous night, taking with him all the mo- 
 ney, and that his mother and the family knew not 
 what to do. " The best would be," said Wagner, 
 " for some one to follow him, knock him on the 
 head, and take away his money ; it would be easy 
 to kill him in the Hinterhof " (a dark ravine about 
 three miles from the mill) : " there he might lie, 
 and no one be the wiser." Conrad answered, 
 "Dare you do it]" "To be sure I dare," said 
 Wagner. Conrad then objected that "a mui'dered 
 man, especially one so wicked, would find no rest 
 in his grave, but would walk the earth as a ghost." 
 But Wagner bade him be at ease, for that " he 
 knew how to lay the old man." 
 
 This conversation did not, however, lead to any 
 immediate result ; it was merely an expression of 
 the general feelings and wishes of the family. 
 The same subject was, however, the constant 
 theme of conversation whenever Conrad was alone 
 with Wagner, and the only objections he raised 
 were the possibility of discovery and fear of the 
 old man's ghost. But Wagner was always ready 
 with an answer to every scruple, doubt, or fear. 
 
 About six or eight weeks before the miller's 
 death Conrad and Wagner were again thrown to- 
 gether, and Conrad again exclaimed, " How lucky 
 it would be if the old man were never to return." 
 Wagner, who saw that the family were not yet 
 prepared for violence, endeavored to tempt them 
 to an indirect attempt on their father's life, and 
 proposed to destroy the old man by a sympathetic 
 charm. " He knew," said he, " a piece of magic 
 by which he could make the old man perish like a 
 waxen figure within four weeks. Conrad, who 
 was as superstitious as the rest of his family,
 
 TOE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY. 201 
 
 replied, "It would indeed be best if we could get 
 rid of my father in this way," and entered heartily 
 into the plan. His mother had already consulted 
 Anna Wagner upon a scheme of this nature, 
 and had given her a pair of old Kleinschrot's 
 stockings, which were to be hung inside the chim- 
 ney. The mother and sons waited some weeks 
 hoping that the black art would produce its effect, 
 but at length they informed Wagner that his magic 
 had failed. Wagner, who was not easily discon- 
 certed, rejoined, " Well, if magic fails, I must rid 
 you of him by other means." 
 
 On the 7th June, 1817, when old Kleinschrot 
 complained to the local authorities of the conduct 
 of his family, he also petitioned that, to maintain 
 his paternal authority and the order of his house- 
 hold, his sons should be sent on the Wanderschaft;* 
 and on seeing that his sons did not obey the verbal 
 order of the court, he I'enewed the request in writ- 
 ing. The mother and children were in ten'or lest 
 old Kleinschrot should succeed in this application. 
 She could not endure the thought that her sons, 
 her only protection against her husband's cruelty, 
 should quit her ; and the sons, between whom the 
 greatest unanimity prevailed, could not resolve to 
 leave their mother exposed to the inhuman treat- 
 ment of their father. In addition to this, the fam- 
 ily were informed that the girl Hopfengiirtner 
 publicly boasted that the old miller was going to 
 turn all his own family out of doors and to take 
 her as his housekeeper : they likewise suspected 
 that he intended to procure a formal divorce from 
 his wife. 
 
 During all the early part of August Kleinschrot 
 was busily employed in his own chamber in writ- 
 
 * The custom of traveling for three years, and supporting 
 themselves by occasional work and sometimes by begguig. 
 
 Trans.
 
 202 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 ing something wlii(;h the wife and her children 
 imagined to be intended against themselves. The 
 youngest son, Fx'cderick, probably at his mother's 
 instigation, stole into his father's room on the 9th 
 August to discover v\fhat he had been wi-iting all the 
 week, and found a memorial addressed to the pro- 
 vincial authorities demanding the removal of his 
 wife and sons from the mill. Frederick hastened 
 up-stairs with the paper and read it to his mother 
 and Conrad. Their consternation was extreme, 
 especially that of the mother, who lamented at the 
 thought of being divorced in her old days to make 
 room for a harlot. Wagner's suggestion was 
 mentioned, and it was resolved that he should 
 mui'der the old miller on the following night. Ic 
 is not known who first gave utterance to their 
 common feeling ; in all probability it was the 
 mother; at least so Conrad positively asserted. 
 The mother did not deny that she and her sons 
 had consulted together about putting her husband 
 to death ; but whether, when the murder was de- 
 termined upon, she had told Conrad that he might 
 go and settle the matter with Wagner, was more 
 than she could say, as her memory was so defec- 
 tive. She, however, admitted that if her sons said 
 so, they were probably right ; she could no longer 
 remember the exact words in which she had con- 
 sented to her husband's murder ; but in all her 
 confessions she repeated that the fear of separa- 
 tion fi'om her children, and of being divorced in 
 favor of a worthless woman, had led her to say to 
 her sons, " that she consented to Wagner's being 
 employed to kill her husband." She even added, 
 " If I had not agi'eed to it, the murder would never 
 have happened ; but I did agree, and I said so to 
 my sons." 
 
 The two daughters, Margaret and Kunigunda, 
 had taken no part whatever in the consultation
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY. 203 
 
 upon the murder. When it was ah-eady determined, 
 and Frederick was leaving tlic room, they entered 
 it accidentally and found Conrad with his mother. 
 Their brother then told them what was about to 
 happen, and, according to her own account, Mar- 
 garet replied, " Do not do this. If our father leads 
 a bad life, he will have to answer for it in the next 
 world : let him live, and leave him to his conscience 
 if he has behaved ill." On hearing that Wagner 
 was to put her father out of the way that very 
 night, she said to her brother, " Do not suffer it ; 
 Wagner is a bad man, who will bring you into 
 trouble in order to get money," 
 
 Frederick, the younger son, appears to have 
 taken no part in the transaction until the day of 
 the murder. He had no communication with 
 Wagner, and did not remember that his brother 
 had formerly told him that Wagner had offered to 
 rid them of the old man. On the contrary, he re- 
 peatedly stated that on the 9th August, after read- 
 ing the memorial which he had found in his father's 
 chamber, his mother, as he thinks, proposed that 
 the miller should be murdered by Wagner ; where- 
 upon he had exclaimed, " Oh, mother, that would 
 be a horrid thing ; I would rather go away than 
 that such a thing should happen." But when his 
 brother represented to him that " if they two went 
 away, the miller would marry a worthless woman, 
 and have a number of children, and waste their 
 whole patrimony;" and his mother added, that 
 "there was no help for it;" he at length gave way, 
 saying, " Well, as you please, if you think it right 
 to do it; I agree to anything." 
 
 When the matter was thus settled, Conrad went 
 out, called Wagner, and asked him whether he 
 would still undertake to murder the old man on 
 the following night. On Wagner's replying in the 
 affinuative, Conrad promised to give him 200 flo-
 
 204 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 rins dovvTi, -and never to lose sight of him, but to 
 give him something every year. 
 
 They passed the afternoon together in the fields, 
 talking the matter over, and devising how^ the plan 
 was to be carried into execution. Conrad reiter- 
 ated his former doubts as to whether Wagner 
 really thought it would succeed, and supposing it 
 did, whether his father would rest in his grave, and 
 whether the crime might not be discovered, and 
 their lives endangered. Conrad even desired him 
 to consult his wife on the subject. But Wagner 
 overi-uled his scniples, and it was definitely settled 
 that the murder should take place on the following 
 night. 
 
 On the evening of the 9th August, old Kleinschrot 
 supped in company with his wife, his children, and 
 the Wagners. After supper Wagner and his wife 
 returned to their cottage, and Kleinschrot went 
 into his bedroom, which communicated with the 
 kitchen by a small flight of steps. At about ten 
 o'clock, after his mother and sisters were in bed, 
 Conrad went to Wagner, and told him that every- 
 thing was quiet. Wagner immediately armed 
 himself with a hatchet, and returned to the mill to 
 earn his two hundred florins. Wagner and Con- 
 rad had agreed during their afternoon's walk that 
 old Kleinschrot should be lured into the dark 
 kitchen, and there killed by Wagner. After a long 
 opposition, Frederick consented to ring the mill 
 bell, which would bring his father out of his bed- 
 room. At first he refused, as he knew that his 
 father was in the habit of going into the mill every 
 night, and he thought that Wagner might wait till 
 then. At length, however, he went to the mill, 
 and rang the bell. Meanwhile Wagner stood be- 
 side the steps leading from the bedroom, with the 
 axe in his hand, and ConiTid went to his own room, 
 and sat on his bed waiting the event.
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY. 205 
 
 Wagner stood with his hatchet raised and ready 
 to strike, when the mill bell rang violently. The 
 old miller came out of the bedroom in his shirt, 
 and when he had reached the lowest step, Wagner 
 aimed a blow at his head with the back of the 
 hatchet. He, however, missed it in the dark, and 
 struck him somewhere else. Either from fright 
 or pain the miller uttered a loud scream, which 
 was heard by Conrad and his mother and sisters 
 in their beds, and endeavored to lam back into his 
 room. But Wagner, having missed his blow, threw 
 away the hatchet and seized the miller, who defend- 
 ed himself, occasionally exclaiming, "Oh God! oh 
 God ! let me go," " Let me go, my dear fellow, 
 and I will never injure you again as long as I live." 
 They struggled together for some time, and such 
 was the old miller's strength, that Wagner at one 
 time thought he should be overpowered by him. 
 At length Wagner remembered that he had a 
 clasp knife, and, loosening his hold of the miller 
 for a moment, he drew it out of his pocket, opened 
 it against his own body, and thrust the blade into 
 the old man's side. 
 
 On hearing his father scream, Conrad concluded 
 that Wagner's blow had failed, and rushed out of 
 the house in terror ; he ran round the saw-mill, 
 but soon returned, and, on hearing repeated cries 
 for help, went into the kitchen. His father had 
 received the stab, but still stood upright, moaning. 
 Conrad took a log of wood fi-om the pile in the 
 corner of the kitchen, reached it to Wagner, and 
 then ran out into the road to see if all was safe. 
 
 AVagner, who had dropped his knife in the mean- 
 time, struck the miller on the head with the billet 
 of wood. He staggered, and fell back upon the 
 hearth. 
 
 But this blow lost part of its force, owing to 
 Wagner's proximity to his victim, and the miller 
 
 S
 
 20G REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 Still lived, and lay gi-oaning. Wagner therefore 
 snatched up a brick which lay on the hearth, and 
 struck the miller with it on the head, until the 
 brick was broken to pieces. The miller at length 
 ceased fi'om moanino;-. 
 
 Meanwhile Conrad had gone in again, but he 
 had scarcely lain down on his bed when Wagner 
 came and told him that his father was dead, and 
 requested him to bring a light. Conrad went to 
 the mill to fetch Fredex'ick, and the two brothers 
 returned to the kitchen with a candle. They 
 found their father welteiing in his blood, but still 
 breathing faintly. Wagner then asked Fred- 
 erick for a string: he gave hiin a bit which he 
 liappened to have in his pocket, and went away. 
 Wagner placed it round the miller's throat, intend- 
 ing to sti-angle him, but did not tighten it, as the 
 old man was already dead. 
 
 Wliile all this was going on, Margaret went 
 quietly to sleep, and even after her father's fearful 
 scream had awakened her, she did not ask what 
 had become of him. Kunigunda also went to bed 
 at about ten o'clock, at her brother's request, be- 
 cause, as she said, she had done her work, and was 
 afraid to interfere, lest her brother or Wagner should 
 do her a mischief. Wagner and Conrad dragged 
 the dead body into the bedroom, laid it on the floor 
 near the bed, and locked the door. After refi-esh- 
 ing himself with a glass of brandy, Wagner return- 
 ed to his cottage to rest. Conrad went up- 
 stairs to his mother, exclaiming, " Oh, mother, if 
 the deed were not done, it never should be done." 
 The mother did not shed a single tear; for, said 
 she, her husband had used her so ill that she 
 thought that God himself must have inspired her 
 children and herself with the idea of having him 
 murdered. When asked, on her final examination, 
 whether she beUeved that it would go well with
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY. 207 
 
 her after death, she replied, " Certainly I do be- 
 lieve that I shall be received into God's mercy ; 
 for I have suffered so much in this world, that there 
 would be no such thing as justice if it were not 
 made up to me in the next." 
 
 Early on the following morning, which was 
 Sunday, Conrad fetched Anna Wagner. She 
 washed out the blood-stains in the kitchen, and 
 received the bucket she had used as a reward. Con- 
 rad and his brother went in the afternoon to the 
 fair at Petersau,notfor pleasure, but because they 
 had been invited by their customers, and could not 
 well avoid going. Far fi-om amusing themselves, 
 they stole away to a neighboring hill, fell on their 
 knees, and prayed to God for forgiveness of their 
 crime. 
 
 Early on Monday morning Wagner rolled the 
 corpse in some linen, given him for the purposeby 
 the old miller's wife, and sewed it up in a sack which 
 Anna Wagner had made of some coarse canvass. 
 He then dutr a hole at the back of the saw-mill, 
 whither Conrad and Wagner caiTied the corpse at 
 midday, and Wagner buried it, with the assistance of 
 his wife. Frederick stamped down the loose earth 
 over his father's grave, while his mother stood in the 
 doorway praying. 
 
 Here the dead body lay for nearly a year ; but 
 about Michaelmas, 1818, when it was rumored 
 abroad that the old miller had been murdered, and 
 buried in the saw-mill, it was disinteired by Wag- 
 ner and Conrad. The two brothers carried it on 
 a bier to some rocks in a field called the Weiher- 
 acker, where they and Wagner covered it with 
 stones and moss. Waorier was rewarded for this 
 job with another hundred fiorins.
 
 208 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 This case presented many difficulties; above 
 all, that of tlio That hcstand, or fact of a murder 
 having been committed. 
 
 It was impossible to prove the violent death by 
 inspection of the remains [augenschcin), as the body 
 was entirely decomposed, and the bones so scat- 
 tered, that there were not enough forthcoming to 
 form a complete skeleton. The physician supposed 
 that some of the larger bones lay still deeper and 
 had not been discovered, but it is more likely that 
 a fox or some other animal had gnawed the body 
 and carried away the missing parts. 
 
 The only fact juridically proved was that old 
 Frederick Kleinschrot was no longer alive ; but 
 according to the Bavarian code the confession of 
 one criminal is, under certain circumstances, equal 
 to the testimony of a competent witness ;* how much 
 stronger therefore were the concun-ent confessions 
 of several accomplices, whose statements were 
 evidence not only against themselves, but against 
 each other 1 But this same code further requix-est 
 that when a violent death is not distinctly proved 
 by the remains, the witness or witnesses shall prove 
 that "the injuries were of such a nature that death 
 must necessarily have ensued from them." This 
 was not the case with old Kleinschrot : there was 
 nothing to show that the stab or the blows on the 
 head were mortal. 
 
 Thus, therefore, although no reasonable man 
 could doubt that the miller, Frederick Kleinschrot, 
 died of the injuries which he had received, the 
 legal evidence was incomplete. For although it 
 was certain that he was dead, and moreover that 
 his death had been caused, according to the full 
 confession of the accomplices, by bodily injuries 
 inflicted by themselves, nevertheless it was not 
 
 ♦ Art. 280, No. 3, Part II., of the ' Strafgeselzbuch," 
 t Ibid., Art. 269, 271.
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY, 209 
 
 proved cither from inspeclion of the remains, or 
 by any witness, or by the opinion of the examining 
 physician, that these injuries were fatal. The 
 Bavarian criminal law requires certainty, and does 
 not admit the ordinaiy conclusion from ^05^ hoc to 
 propter hoc. 
 
 As the murder had not been judicially proved, 
 sentence of death could not be passed upon any 
 one of the criminals ; but they were found guilty, 
 according to their several gradations in crime, of 
 attempt to murder.* Wagner had done every- 
 thing in his power to accomplish the mui'der ; no- 
 thing was wanting but the legal proof that his at- 
 tempt had been successful. Conrad also was evi- 
 dently a principal : he had hired the assassin and 
 originated the deed, which in his case was more 
 criminal, as the victim was his own father. These 
 two were accordingly sentenced to the severest 
 punishment short of death — solitary imprisonment 
 for life in heavy chains, involving ci\'il death and 
 previous public exposure. 
 
 Frederick Kleinschrot was considered as acces- 
 sory in the first degree, and was sentenced to im- 
 prisonment for fifteen years. 
 
 The mother, Barbara Kleinschrot, as accessory 
 in the second degree and with extenuating cii'- 
 cumstances, was sentenced to only eight years' 
 imprisonment in the house of cori'ection. 
 
 The elder daughter, Margaret, would have been 
 considei'ed as accessory in the third degi-eef had 
 the evidence against her been clear ; but both she 
 and her younger sister Kanigunda, who appeared 
 to be of very weak intellect, were acquitted for 
 want of evidence. 
 
 Anna Wagner pleaded in her justification that 
 she had acted in obedience to her husband. By 
 
 * Art. 60, Part I., " StrafgesetzDucn. ' 
 t Art. 78, No. 2, ibid. 
 11 sa
 
 210 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 the Bavarian code,* a person who knows that a 
 crime is about to be committed and does nothing 
 to prevent it, which he may do without thereby 
 exposing himself to danger, becomes accessoiy in 
 the third degree, and hablc to imprisonment in the 
 liouse of correction of from one to three years' 
 d uration. 
 
 This was precisely Anna Wagner's predica- 
 ment ; and in consideration of her confession, which 
 produced the discovery of this long-concealed mur- 
 der, the comt sentenced her to the smallest amount 
 of jjunishment, one year's imprisonment in the 
 house of conection. 
 
 The sentences against Wagner and Conrad were 
 sent for confinnation to the central couit of Bava- 
 ria ; the others were only to be sent in case of their 
 being appealed against. 
 
 When Frederick Kleinschrot heard the sentence 
 pronounced on him, on the 12th August, he was 
 violently agitated. " I cannot bear my sentence, 
 but will appeal against it. I can never endure 
 the punishment awarded me, and woidd much pre- 
 fer death to fifteen years' imprisonment in the 
 house of correction. Neither am I convinced that 
 it is just to condemn me to so severe a punishment 
 on account of a man who was so wicked as my 
 father. As long as my father lived my home was 
 a cruel prison, and if I am to live fifteen years 
 more in another, I would rather die." 
 
 His mother also at fiist declared that she would 
 appeal, but eventually they both submitted to their 
 sentence. 
 
 Fredeiick afterwards said, " What determines 
 me not to appeal is, that I shall thus be freed fi-om 
 the misery of suspense, and that I have some hope 
 of being released from prison when 1 shall havo 
 
 * Art. 78, No. Z, " Strsfgesetzhuch."
 
 THE KLEINSCHROT FAMILY. 211 
 
 pi'oved by my conduct that I am only erring and 
 not comipt." 
 
 On the IGth November the supreme court con- 
 firmed the sentence on Wagner and Conrad. They 
 were both exposed in the pillory A\'ith placards on 
 their breasts and the irons in which they were to 
 die riveted upon them. They were then led to 
 their solitary cells. 
 
 In the pillory Conrad's demeanor was as might 
 have been expected from him : conscious of his 
 guilt, he endured his punishment in silence, with 
 his head sunk on his breast. Wagner, on the con- 
 trary, gazed upon the assembled multitude with 
 an air of impudent defiance, and once even held 
 up the placard which proclaimed his infamy, as if 
 to show it to the crowd more plainly.
 
 JOHN GEORGE SORGEL, 
 
 THE IDIOT MURDERER. 
 
 Conrad Eichmuller, of Lenzenberg, a day- 
 laborer seventy-one years old, and feeble with age, 
 had been employed for about a week on a hill in 
 the forest near Hersbruck, in digging and cutting 
 up stumps of trees. He always went to his work 
 early in the morning, and returned home before 
 dark, usually at five o'clock; but on the 7th of 
 September, 1824, night began to close in, and he 
 was not come back. His wife, a woman of sixty- 
 two, became uneasy about him, and sent her son 
 by a former mamage, a young man called Lahner, 
 with some other youths, to look after him. They 
 soon returned with the news that the old man was 
 lying dead in the forest, and took with them some 
 men, and a cart to fetch the body. 
 
 Eichmuller was found about three feet from the 
 Btump at which he had been working, and in which 
 three wedges were still sticking ; he was lying with 
 his face towards the ground ; his skull shattered, 
 and both feet chopped oft"; the left foot still 
 adhered to the body by the boot, but the right lay 
 under a ti-ee at a distance of four or five feet ; 
 traces of blood clearly showed that he had been 
 drao-o-ed from the spot where he was at work, after 
 he had been killed and his feet had been chopped 
 off: his jacket and his two axes were scattered 
 about, and one of the latter was stained with blood 
 in a manner which loft no doubt that it had
 
 JOHN GEOUGE SORGEL. 213 
 
 been used in the murder and mutilation of the 
 unfortunate old man. The wife had charged her 
 son to take possession of the money which her 
 husband had in his pocket, amounting to about 
 two florins, but on searching the body nothing 
 was found upon it save one button in the breeches 
 pocket. 
 
 The deed was no sooner made public than the 
 murderer was known and brought before the tri- 
 bunal at Hersbruck. 
 
 On the 7th of September (the day of the mur- 
 der), Paul Deuerlein, a day-laborer, was driving a 
 cartload of grain from Reichenschwand to Hers- 
 bruck, and at about five o'clock in the afternoon he 
 overtook young Sorgel on the road, and called out 
 to him, " Where do you come fi'om ] the Hans- 
 giirgle, eh 1" Sorgel replied, pointing to the hill, 
 " A year ago some one buried my blood up there : 
 I went to look for it last year, but it had not 
 curdled then, and he who had buried it flogged me 
 soundly. To-day I went up there again to look 
 after my blood, and he who buried it was there 
 again, and had bonis, but I hit him on the head 
 with the hatchet, chopped off" his feet, and drank 
 his blood." Deuerlein, who knew that Sorgel was 
 foolish at times, took no heed of what he said ; 
 meanwhile they came to Hersbruck, where Sorgel's 
 father was waiting for him at the door of the poor- 
 house into which he and his family had been re- 
 ceived. 
 
 Sorgel came quietly along with Deuerlein, who 
 told the father, in the presence of a blind man call- 
 ed Albert Gassner, what his son had been saying. 
 The father scolded his son for talking such non- 
 sense ; but he replied, " Yes, father, it is quite true 
 that I knocked a man on the head, and chopped 
 oft' his feet ; I killed him in order to drink a felon's 
 blood ; and the man had horns upon his head."
 
 214 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 Gassner followed Sorgel into his room, where he 
 added, *' I also took from him a purse of money, 
 but I threw it away again, for I will never keep 
 what is not mine." Gassner said jesting, " Oh, 
 you kept the money, to be sure ;" whereupon 
 Sorgel was angry, and said, " Hold your tongue, 
 or 1 will strike you dead." 
 
 About an hour later Sorgel went into the barn 
 of the inn next door to the poorhouse, laughing 
 heartily, and said to Katharine Gassner, " Now I 
 am well again ; I have given it to some one 
 soundly ; I hit him on the head, and chopped off 
 both his feet, and one of them I threw away." 
 Katharine was frightened at this speech, especially 
 as she perceived blood upon his face : when she 
 asked him how it got there, he answered, " I drank 
 a felon's blood ;" and he went on to tell her that 
 the man was sitting on the ground filling a pipe, 
 and that he (Sorgel) took up the man's hatchet, 
 which lay beside him, struck him with it on 
 the head, and took two florins which he had upon 
 him. 
 
 In the evening he told Katharine Gotz, the 
 daughter of the sick-nurse in the poorhouse, that 
 he had come upon a woodcutter who was digging 
 up stumps in the forest, and that at first he had 
 helped him at his work, but that the man then ap- 
 peared to him to have horns, whereupon he took 
 up the hatchet and hit him on the head, that the 
 man groaned very much, and he then chopped off 
 both his feet, and drank his blood. 
 
 Old Sorgel, who looked upon his son's story aa 
 a symptom of returning insanity, to attacks of 
 which his son was subject, chained him to his bed 
 by way of precaution. The son bore it quietly, 
 ate his supper, and joined in prayer with the rest 
 of the family as usual, and then lay down ; but to- 
 wards morning he broke out in raving madness,
 
 JOHN GEORGE SORGEL. 215 
 
 Stormed, and tugged at his chain, which he endea- 
 vored to break. In this state he was found by the 
 constables when they went to ari'est and take him 
 before the court, and tliey were accordingly forced 
 to depart without him. Soon after, however, he 
 became perfectly quiet, and his own father and 
 another man took him before the court, unfettered, 
 on the 8th of September. 
 
 He was immediately examined in the presence 
 of his father and his father's companion. On 
 being questioned, he stated that his name was 
 John George Sorgel, that he was twenty years of 
 age, a Protestant, the son of a day -laborer, born 
 in the poorhouse at Hersbruck, unmarried, and 
 without property, and that he had learned the 
 trade of a knife-grinder and of a chimney-sweep. 
 On being asked whether he had ever been in cus- 
 tody before, he replied, " Oh, no ; who would do 
 any harm to me — I am an angel." He then re- 
 lated the murder as follows : — "I went yesterday 
 with my father to the wood called the Hansgorgle 
 — I left my father, and saw at a distance an old man 
 digging up stumps of trees — I did not know this 
 man ; but it seemed to me that my owni blood was 
 buried under the stump, and I formerly dreamed 
 that my parents were shut up in that place, and 
 that I must drink the blood of a felon. So I went 
 up to the old man and struck him on the head with 
 his hatchet, and chopped off both his feet. I then 
 drank the blood out of his head, left him lying there, 
 and went home." When asked what could induce 
 him to commit such a deed, he said, "The thing is 
 done and I cannot help it; it was because I thought 
 he was digging up my blood." Sorgel signed the 
 protocol properly, but during the examination he 
 stared about him wildly, showed great restless- 
 ness, and fidgeted with his feet and hands; more- 
 over, he continually expressed a desire of becora-
 
 216 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALJJ. 
 
 ing a soldier, and could only be kept in the room 
 1)y the promise that his wishes should be complied 
 with. 
 
 On the same afternoon he was taken to Lenzen- 
 berg to see the body, which he approached with- 
 out the slightest air of dismay, embarrassment, or 
 remorse. When asked whether he recognised it, 
 he said, " Yes, it is the same man whom I struck 
 yesterday evening, ho is dressed in the same 
 clothes ; I chopped off his tcet so that he might 
 never be laid in chains again." During this scene 
 he displayed the same bodily restlessness as he had 
 done at his examination. He frequently laughed, 
 and said that he was an angel, and that he had 
 known very well that the old man was good for 
 nothing. 
 
 On the following day, 9th of September, the 
 judges went into the prison of the accused to ex- 
 amine him again. When asked how he felt, he 
 said, " My head is very full, and I have bad dreams; 
 among other things I di-eamt that I must go up to 
 the Hansgorgle ; where there is a clock which 
 strikes very loud." You told us yesterday that 
 you had killed a man : how did you do that i " I 
 saw an old man digging up stumps in the Hans- 
 fforsfle, and I went and sat down near him. I took 
 up his hatchet, which lay beside him, and struck 
 him with the back of it upon the head, so that he 
 instantly fell down dead ; then I chopped off both 
 his feet. He had an old wooden tobacco-pipe in 
 his hand, which he dropped when I struck him ; I 
 took the pipe, but threw it away directly. I also 
 took his tlint and steel, and kept them" (these were 
 found upon him by his father, and delivered to the 
 court). Sorgel stedfastly denied having taken 
 any money from the old man, or having confessed 
 to any one that he had done so, nor was a single 
 coin found upon him. Why then did you chop off
 
 JOHN GEORGE SORGEL. 217 
 
 the man's feet ] " In order that he might not be 
 laid in chains." Why did you kill him? "I struck 
 him because I thought he was going to dig up my 
 own blood." He then went on to say that a 
 strange woman had once told him he must drink 
 felon's blood to be cured of the falling sickness ; 
 and he added that he had felt much better since 
 he had drunk the old man's blood. " I knew," 
 said he, " that it was forbidden to kill people, but 
 1 killed the man in order to be cured by his blood. 
 It happened soon before five in the afternoon, and 
 I first drank the blood from the man's head, and 
 then dragged him to a little distance and cut oft" 
 both his feet ; the left foot remained attached to 
 the boot, and the right foot I threw away." The 
 blood-stained hatchet was then laid before him ; 
 he looked at it attentively, and said at last, " Yes, 
 that is the hatchet with which I struck the man 
 and chopped off" his feet." He also recognised 
 the flint and steel which were shown him. The 
 examination concluded with the following ques- 
 tions and auvswers: — Do you repent of what you 
 have done ? " Why, he beat me soundly last year, 
 and that is why he did nothing to me when I hit 
 him on the head." On what occasion did the man 
 beat you last year 1 " 1 went to the woods once 
 before to catch birds, and he beat me then." 
 
 On the loth of September the court was inform- 
 ed that Sorgel had been perfectly quiet for several 
 days, and that he talked coherently, without any 
 mixture of foolish fancies. The judges hereupon 
 repaired to his prison in order to avail themselves 
 (jf this interval of reason for an examination. His 
 appearance and manner were totally changed ; 
 when the authorities came in he took off" his cap, 
 and greeted them civilly, which he had never done 
 before, at the same time addressing the judge by 
 name. On being asked, he said he had felt much 
 
 T
 
 218 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 better ever since he had been bled by order of the 
 physician. That before that he had not been at 
 all well, that his head had been dizzy and full of 
 strange fancies, and that he had dreamt all manner 
 of nonsense. He was then asked if he knew the 
 cause of his arrest. '* My father," said he, " who 
 generally watches beside me at night, told me that 
 I ran away from him in the Hansgorgle and killed 
 a woodcutter, so I suppose that is why I am in 
 prison." Did he remember going to the Hans- 
 gorgle with his father. " No ; 1 should know 
 nothing of the matter had not my father told me 
 about it the other day. I know nothing at all of 
 having killed a man ; and if I did so, it must have 
 been the will of God who led me thither." He was 
 then reminded that he had himself twice told the 
 court that he had killed a woodcutter with his own 
 hatchet. "I remember," said he, "that you were 
 here in my prison, and that somebody wrote at 
 yonder table, but I know nothing of having con- 
 fessed that I killed a man." He as positively deni- 
 ed any recollection of having had a dead man with 
 his legs chopped oft" shown to him, or that a bloody 
 hatchet and a Hint and steel had been laid before 
 him, both of which he recognised. Nevertheless, 
 he knew that he had been imprisoned for about 
 ten days, and that it was Saturday. He admitted 
 having heard, as he added, from his mother, who 
 had heard it from some one else, that the blood of 
 a felon was a cure for the falling sickness, but ob- 
 served that the man he killed was no felon, but 
 rather that he himself must be one. Still he main- 
 tained that he never remembered drinking human 
 blood or killing the woodcutter. " Every one tells 
 me that I did so," said he, "and therefore I am 
 bound to believe it, but I must have been out of 
 my mind at the time." During tlie whole examina- 
 tion his demeanor was quiet and collected he sDoke
 
 JOHN GEORGE SORGEL. 219 
 
 coherently, and without any confusion of ideas, and 
 his look was open and unembarrassed. 
 
 The next examination was defended until the 
 28th September, but nothing new was elicited. 
 Sorgel still answered every question by declaring 
 that he knew absolutely nothing of all that he had 
 formerly related to the court and to other persons. 
 The flint and steel were shown to him, but he de- 
 nied all knowledge of them, or of how they had 
 come into his possession. The axe was likewise 
 laid before him, but he said " I don't know it." 
 The court remarked that during the whole exam- 
 ination the prisoner behaved with composure and 
 propriety, was perfectly easy and unconstrained, 
 and that his countenance was open and cheerful. 
 
 It is evident that the utter ignorance of all he 
 had done, which Sorgel professed during the ex- 
 aminations of the 15th and 2Sth August, was not 
 aft'ected. Falsehood is never so perfectly consis- 
 tent as were his declarations in the two last ex- 
 aminations, nor can dissimulation ever appear so 
 frank and unconstrained as the demeanor of this 
 young man, who was, moreover, described by all 
 who knew him as a simple, kind-hearted, pious lad 
 when in his right senses. At both the two last 
 examinations he showed himself perfectly sane, 
 whereas if he had had any reason for wishing to 
 deceive the judge, nothing would have been easier 
 for him than to continue playing the part of a mad- 
 man. If his ignorance at the two last examinations 
 was affected, his former madness must necessarily 
 have been equally false, a supposition which is con- 
 tradicted by all the evidence. None but a Garrick 
 could have acted madness with such fearful truth 
 and nature. Nor was a murderer at all likely first 
 to confess his crime in the assumed character of a 
 madman, and then to affect forgetfulness of the 
 past upon pretending to recover reason. If, again,
 
 220 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 he were really mad when he committed the crime, 
 when he related it and when he recognised the 
 corpse and the blood-stained axe, he could have no 
 conceivable motive tor acting forgetfVilness of deeda 
 committed and words uttered during a paroxysm 
 ' of" insanity. 
 
 His behavior in court on the 3d November, when 
 his advocate's defence was read to him, confii-med 
 the truth of his statement. His advocate pleaded 
 for an acquittal on the ground that he was not ac- 
 countable for his actions. During the reading of 
 this paper Scirgel's manner was unconstrained and 
 almost indifterent: he listened to it attentively, but 
 without the slightest emotion. On being asked 
 whether he was satisfied with the defence, whether 
 he had anything to add, and if so, what ] he an- 
 swered, " I have nothing to add, and what yonder 
 gentleman has written is quite to my mind. As I 
 have often said, I know nothing about killing any 
 man, and if I did so, it must have been while I did 
 not know what I was about. If I had been in my 
 right mintl, as I am now, I certainly should not 
 have harmed any one." To the inquiry how he 
 felt, he replied, " Very well, but a few days ago 
 my keeper tells me I was very crazy again and 
 talked all manner of nonsense, but I do not know 
 a word of the matter." 
 
 As yet we have confined ourselves merely to 
 Sorgel's murder and trial, but in order to under- 
 stand his state of mind and the event to which it 
 gave rise, we must examine his previous history, 
 as collected from the evidence of his parents and 
 other persons who observed him shortly before 
 the trial. 
 
 John George Sorgel was the son of a very poor 
 day-laborer who lived in the poorhouse at Hers- 
 bruck. He received a proper school education, by 
 which he profited very well: he was fond of read-
 
 JOHN GEORGE SOUGEL. 221 
 
 insT and wrote a fair lecjible hand. From his ear- 
 liest youth lie was always vciy industi'ious, help- 
 ing his father in his work to the utmost of his 
 power, civil and gentle towards every one, and 
 very piously inclined. His leisure hours were oc- 
 cupied in reading religious books, especially the 
 Bible, in which he was well versed : his mind thus 
 became filled with vasrue imasfes of angels, devils, 
 hell, heaven, divine revelations, and the like, mixed 
 up with a large stock of vulgar superstition. These 
 images formed the basis of the world of dreams 
 into which he was thrown by madness. In the 
 year 1820 he was apprenticed to a chimney-sweep- 
 er. His master gave the highest testimony to his 
 industry, good- will, attention, and morals ; but at 
 the end of a year he was compelled to leave his 
 work owing to a violent attack of epilepsy, which 
 forced his master to release him fiom his appren- 
 ticeship and to send him home. From that time 
 he remained subject to that disease in its most 
 virulent form : he not unfrequently had several fits 
 during the day, once even as many as eight. These 
 constant fits weakened his undex'standing without 
 in the least blunting his imagination, and he fell 
 into a state of morbid melancholy, arising partly 
 from bodily infirmity, and partly from the thought 
 that his illness kept him at home a burden to his 
 family, and deban-ed him from the possibility of 
 occupation or enjoyment. 
 
 In the spring of 1823 the disorder of his mind 
 broke out for the first time into positive madness. 
 He lay in bed, ate nothing, stared at one corner of 
 the room, spoke little, except at times when he 
 poured out wild and incoherent speeches, almost 
 entirely upon religious subjects, saying that the 
 Savior had appeared to him, and had talked and 
 eaten with him, that his father and mother would 
 go to heaven, where there was no water to drink, 
 
 t2
 
 222 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIAL?. 
 
 but only wine, and sweet things to eat. The con- 
 stable, Andreas Lauter, who visited him during 
 this attack, said, " Sorgel shouted, preached, and 
 sang hymns without ceasing for twenty-four hours 
 together. He told us that he had been with God 
 and had talked to him. When I entered the room 
 he called to his mother to withdraw, for that I was 
 the devil : he was lying in bed at the time. I re- 
 minded him of it since, but he remembered nothing 
 at all of the matter." In this condition he remained, 
 according to his mother's account, for a week ; ac- 
 cording to his father's, for a month. He then re- 
 covered completely, talked rationally and cohe- 
 rently, and went to work again as before, and for 
 nearly a year he had no relapse ; but in the spring 
 of 1824 he had fresh attacks, which did not at first 
 last long, but gradually increased in frequency and 
 in violence. 
 
 " This spring," says Katharine Gassner, an eye- 
 witness, " three young men of the town passed the 
 poorhouse singing and hallooing on their way to 
 foreign parts. This perhaps vexed young Sorgel, 
 who stood at the gate and began as if he were 
 preaching — ' I am the collier lad. They go forth 
 rejoicing, and I have the falling sickness, and am 
 left behind in grief and sorrow.' He instantly be- 
 came restless and uneasy, and we saw that some 
 change was taking place in him. The wife of Gotz, 
 the attendant on the sick, tried to quiet him and to 
 persuade him to go back to his room, but he struck 
 her twice on the face and went out upon the high 
 road, where he walked up and down with a dis- 
 turbed and angry air. At this moment a stranger 
 came along the road, and Sorgel went up to him, 
 knocked his hat off his head, struck him with his 
 fist, and ti'ampled the hat inider foot. The stran- 
 ger, surprised at this unexpected attack, was going 
 to beat him, but his mother, Gotz's wife, and I,
 
 JOFIN GEORGH SORGEL. 223 
 
 ran up and pacified him by explaining that the 
 young man was out of his senses." Another wit- 
 ness gave the same account of this occuiTence, 
 with the addition that he said in a preaching tone, 
 " I am a little hare ; I am the Lord Jesus, and 
 make the grass to gi'ow." 
 
 In the course of the following night he secretly 
 got out of the window and ran in his shirt to the 
 churchyard of the neighboring village. 
 
 In the month of May he was working with his 
 father in a hop-ground, when he suddenly began 
 to thrust the iron bar with which holes are bored 
 for the hop-poles violently into the ground, saying, 
 " Now I am thrusting down into hell." He then 
 ran home to his mother and told her that he would 
 tie no more hops, as he was floating between 
 heaven and earth. He then ran away to Scherau, 
 a wilderness surrounded with fish-ponds : on his 
 way he pulled off his boots, and left them on a hill. 
 At Scherau he jumped into a pond, pulled off his 
 trowsers and stockings, and threw them into the 
 water. At nine o'clock at night on the 14th May 
 he came in his shirt to a farmer's house and shouted 
 through the window, "Which way must I go to 
 get upon earth again ?" The farmer's son came 
 out and asked him who he was and what he was 
 about, and he replied that he had run away from 
 home because the earth gave way under his feet 
 while he was binding hops. He rejjeated this an- 
 swer next day before the magistrate at Altorf, to 
 whom he was taken by the farmer's son, and who 
 sent him home to his parents. 
 
 For several months after this he was quite sane, 
 but in the first week of September he exhibited 
 
 J. 
 
 the first symptoms of a fresh and far more terrible 
 attack. " On the Wednesday preceding the mur- 
 der," said Margaret Gotz, to whom Sorgel was se- 
 cretly attached, "he complained of a great weight
 
 224 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 upon his heart, but did not seem at all wrong in 
 his mind. On the Thursday, as I was sitting at 
 my work in the couvt of the poorhousc, he said to 
 me, 'Margaret, this weight is terrible ; 1 never felt 
 anything like it before ; I think I must be going to 
 die.' On Friday I observed that he talked wildly. 
 He did not come and sit with me and the other 
 women, but sat apart by himself; he stared wildly, 
 laughed like a madman, and said he was going 
 down into hell. His friend, the blind Albert Gass- 
 ner, came in ; he seized him by the forehead, pull- 
 ed open his eyelids, and said, ' Now you vdll see ;' 
 and when Gassner said that he could not see now 
 nor ever should, Scirgel replied, 'Wait a bit; I 
 will take a knife and cut your eyes open, and then 
 you will see ;' which frightened Gassner so that ho 
 ran away. On Saturday, 4th September, he stayed 
 nearly all day in my parents' room, where there 
 was a soldier lying sick. He did not seem to like 
 this, and frequently asked the soldier to get up and 
 go away with him. I turned him out at the door 
 several times, but he always returned, and once 
 he gave me such a terrible look that I was quite 
 frightened. On Sunday (5th) he told me that ho 
 had a hair in his mouth that reached down into his 
 stomach, and begged me to pull it out. I was 
 going to do so, but his mouth was so full of foam 
 that I was frightened. He then went to the well 
 and rinsed his mouth, saying all the time that he 
 felt so ill he must be going to die. In the even- 
 ing ho lay upon the bench in my room and hung 
 his head down backwards, which I forbid him sev- 
 eral times, but he always did it again. On Mon- 
 day aftei'noon he kept walking up and down in the 
 passage, and at last threw himself violently upon 
 his face, crying 'Kill me, kill me!' and in the 
 evening he threw himself dowTi in the same man- 
 ner under a tree, so that his father had to cany
 
 JOHN GEORGE SORGEL. 225 
 
 him away." Katharine Gassner and Elizabeth 
 HeckHn gave evidence to precisely the same ef- 
 fect. 
 
 After his father had taken him home on Monday 
 evening, he again tried to escape through the win- 
 doAV, whereupon old Siirgel sent to the constable 
 for a chain and padlock, and chained his son to 
 the wall beside his bed, to which he quietly sub- 
 mitted. 
 
 On Tuesday moi-ning young Sorgel appeared 
 perfectly tranquil, and begged his father for God's 
 sake to unfetter him. His request was complied 
 with, and he prayed and breakfasted with his 
 parents. At last he proposed to his father to take 
 a walk with him up the old hill, about three miles 
 from Hersbruck, as it might divert his thoughts 
 and do him good. His father consented, and they 
 set out together at about eight o'clock. When 
 they reached the very top of the mountain, young 
 Sorgel jumped down a steep bank, broke through 
 the thicket and disappeared. His father, seeing 
 that it was impossible to follow him, went home, 
 in order to prevent mischief there. What fol- 
 lowed our readers already know. 
 
 Nothing is more remarkable than that Sorgel's 
 confessions, which were made during his fits of 
 madness, should, with one single exception, tally 
 so accurately in every point with the real facts of 
 the case. His statement was as connected and as 
 intelligible a one in every respect except the fan- 
 tastic motives which he assigned for the deed, as 
 could have been made by a perfectly sane man. 
 The only one of his assertions which was contra- 
 dicted by the evidence of others is this, that before 
 the court Scirgel denied having ever told any one 
 that he had taken the murdered man's purse. It 
 was nevertheless certain that the woodcutter had 
 had two florins in his possession, and that this 
 15
 
 226 REMAUKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 money must have been taken by SOrgel, This 
 was proved by the declaration of the widow and 
 her son, and by the confession made by Sorgel 
 that very evening to tlie bUnd Gassner and to 
 Katharine, both parties agreeing exactly as to the 
 sum. It is, however, equally certain that Soi-gel 
 did not keep this money ; in all probability he 
 took it in a fit of childish avidity, and afterwards 
 threw it away as a useless or forbidden possession. 
 The perfect unconcern with which Sorgel re- 
 lated the whole transaction, as if it were the most 
 ordinary event, as well as several inational ex- 
 pressions which he made use of in court, prove 
 him to have been mad, not only when he commit- 
 ted the murder, but also when he underwent the 
 first two examinations. The most remarkable 
 light is thrown upon his condition by the change 
 which took place in him when the fit of madness 
 had passed away. With the madness every trace 
 of the imaginary world which it had called into 
 existence disappeared from his mind. His re- 
 covery was like waking from a deep sleep, which 
 left no impression but a vague sense of bad and 
 friojhtful dreams. So loner as his soul was dark- 
 ened by madness he was as perfectly conscious of 
 his own fancies, motives, resolutions, and actions, 
 as of the real external circumstances of the deed, 
 and was able clearly to describe all that had 
 passed. But these images, motives, and recollec- 
 tions vanished as soon as the spell of madness was 
 broken, and he heard the account with as much 
 surprise as he would have listened to the recital of 
 the strange deeds of some unknown person. He 
 knew only thus much of a period of several days, 
 " that his head was very confused, and that he 
 dreamt all manner of nonsense." He did not even 
 remember the substance of his dreams ; only one 
 or two circumstances i-emained in his memory ; for
 
 JOHN GEORGE SORGEL. 227 
 
 instance, that the judge had visited him in prison, 
 and that some one had written at the table. He 
 was not aware either that he was himself the prin- 
 cipal person conceraed on that occasion, that the 
 subject of the inquiry was his own deed, or that he 
 had confessed it. 
 
 It is well known that in madness or delirium 
 the patient often appears to himself to be a third, 
 person, or ascribes his own feelings and actions to 
 some one else. Thus a fever patient begs his 
 imrse to remove that troublesome guest out of his 
 bed, pointing all the while to himself, or says that 
 a fi-iend sitting by his bedside has a violent pain 
 in the side, or is thirsty, and requests that some- 
 thing may be given him to drink ; while it is he 
 himself who feels the pain and the thirst which he 
 ascribes to another. This singular confusion of 
 persons occurs twice in Sorgel's madness, and 
 proves its reality and the truth of his confession : 
 and also that the confessiou was made during the 
 paroxysm of insanity, as in it he relates these delu- 
 sions as positive facts. 
 
 The first instance of this delusion was that 
 which prompted him to drink the blood of the 
 murdei-ed man. After he had recovered his sen- 
 ses he was perfectly well able to distinguish a 
 felon from a murdered man. Thus his application 
 of the vulgar superstition that the blood of an exe- 
 cuted felon is a cure for the falling sickness, to the 
 man he had himself killed, was no doubt entirely 
 the result of this delusion. His imagination trans- 
 ferred to the person of the murdered man that 
 which he knew himself to have become by the 
 deed he had committed. 
 
 We find exactly the same conflision in the motive 
 which Induced him to chop off the feet of the mur- 
 dered man. He constantly asserted that he had 
 done this in order to prevent their laying the old
 
 228 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 man in chains again. Now Sorgcl had of late been 
 freqviently chained himselt", and indeed had but just 
 been released from the chains in which he had 
 lain all night, and possibly still felt the pressure of 
 the rings upon his ankles ; and here again his dis- 
 turbed imagination confounded his o\vn feet with 
 those of the dead man, and in order to secure him- 
 self from the danger of being laid in chains in 
 future, on the presumption that a man who has no 
 feet cannot be chained by them, he chopped off 
 both the feet of the dead wood-cutter. 
 
 The physicians declared their opinion that Sor 
 gel had committed the murder in a paroxysm of 
 madness, when he was not accountable for l)is 
 actions, and accordingly the court, on the 23d 
 November, 1824, acquitted him of murder. 
 
 For the safety of the community he was confined 
 in the madhouse of Schwabach, where he died in 
 the course of a few months.
 
 GEORGE WACHS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE SUDDEN TEMPTATION. 
 
 About two miles beyond Vilsbiburg, in the dis- 
 trict of the Isar, on an eminence at two hundred 
 paces from several mills, stands a solitary cottage 
 called the Raschenhiiuschen. This belonged .to a 
 poor honest shoemaker of about forty-two years of 
 ao-e, named James Huber, who lived there with his 
 wife Elisabeth and his three children — Catherine, 
 a girl of nine ; Michael, a boy of three ; and a baby 
 of two months old. One half of the cottage, with 
 a separate entrance, was let to a day -laborer called 
 Maier, and his family. 
 
 Maier returned from his day's labor with his 
 wife at about half-past six in the evening of Maun- 
 day Thursday, 8th of April, 1819, and was sur- 
 prised at the unusual quiet of his neighbor's cottage ; 
 none of the shoemaker's family were to be seen or 
 heard. Maier's sister-in-law, Maria Wieser, who 
 had stayed at home all day, had seen the shoe- 
 maker's wife leave her house at about three and 
 return home at six : she had heard her knock at 
 the door and laugh aloud when it was opened to 
 her, as if she was astonished at finding the door 
 locked so early in the day, or as if some unexpect- 
 ed guest had advanced to meet her as she crossed 
 the threshold. Since that time Maria Wieser had 
 seen nothing of the shoemaker's family. On the 
 following morning, too, the Hubers gave no token
 
 230 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 of their existence : no smoke came out of their 
 chimney, the house-door remained closed ; nothing 
 stirred within, and continued knocking and calling 
 produced no effect. 
 
 At length, the daughter Catherine, with her face 
 hloody and disfigured, looked out of the upper 
 window, but was too much frightened to come 
 down. After many earnest entreaties she at length 
 opened the house-door. The first object that met 
 the eyes of those who entered was the corpse of 
 Elisabeth Huber bathed in blood. The body of 
 little Michael was next found rolled up like a hedge- 
 lion- between the lowest step of the stairs which 
 led to the upper floor and a chest near them. The 
 shoemaker's large iron hammer lay on the floor of 
 the workshop, which w^as covered with blood, more 
 especially all round the bench, which was upset : 
 on the floor of the bed-room, near the bed, Huber 
 was found lying dead with his face towards the 
 ground. On the bed, near its father's dead body, 
 the infant slept unhurt, though half-starved with 
 cold. All the bodies were in their usual dresses, 
 and the shoemaker had on his leathern apron. 
 
 As there were no traces of violence on the out- 
 side of the house which might lead to the supposi- 
 tion of housebreakers, the first impression was that 
 the family might have done the deed themselves ; 
 but the ovei'turned stool, round which was a pool 
 of blood, and the awl drawn half through some 
 leather which lay upon the table — these and sev- 
 eral other circumstances clearly proved that the 
 shoemaker must have been struck down suddenly 
 while seated at his work, and afterwards dragged 
 into the bed-room ; besides, the appearance of the 
 upper rooms proved that a robbery had been com- 
 mitted there. Several closets had been broken 
 open with some sharp instrument, their contents 
 tossed about in great disorder, and a hatband and
 
 GEORGE WACHS. 231 
 
 buckle, which was probably of silver, cut off the 
 shoemaker's hat. The first glance, therefore, 
 proved beyond doubt that this triple murder must 
 have been committed by one or more robbers, who 
 had either stolen into the house during the day, or 
 found some pretext for staying there openly. 
 
 The fullowing was the result of the post-mortem 
 examination of the bodies which took place a few 
 hours after the discovery of the mui'ders. 
 
 The corpse of Elisabeth Huber, a healthy wo- 
 man of about six-and-thirty, bore no trace of injury 
 except upon the head. Two deep triangular 
 wounds, each three inches in diameter, which pen- 
 eti'ated the skull, disfigured her swollen face — one 
 at the corner of the left eye, the other just above 
 the left temple : the forehead and the bridge of the 
 nose were likewise completely crushed — the heavy 
 iron hammer found on the floor of the workshop 
 exactly fitted the wounds. 
 
 The corpse of James Huber also showed no 
 traces of injury save about the head, the back of 
 which was completely shattered. 
 
 Neither the head nor the face of the boy Michael 
 had any external wound, but were much swollen : 
 the skull was as soft as dough : the frontal bone, the 
 temple, and the occiput were broken into innumer- 
 able fragments ; the rest of the body was uninjured. 
 
 The daughter Catherine was severely but not 
 dangerously wounded. The left side of her face 
 was swollen and covered with blood, and her eye 
 closed up ; an oblique flesh wound, about an inch 
 and a half in length, and a gi-eat deal of blood, ap- 
 peared on the back of her head, and also a contu- 
 sion on the left shoulder. 
 
 There could not be the slightest doubt as to the 
 mortal nature of the injuries inflicted on the three 
 dead bodies. The medical men were unanimous 
 in their opinion that all three had been murdered
 
 232 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 with the shoemalver's hammer : this was of iron, 
 weighing about two poiuuls, and the handle was a 
 foot long. 
 
 The strongest suspicion against the perpetrator 
 arose simultaneously with its discovery. The 
 daughter who had escaped gave the first link in the 
 chain of evidence. She could not, indeed, as yet 
 be judicially examined, as she was still suffering 
 from fever, and was always either asleep or in a 
 state of stupor ; meanwhile, however, the neighbors 
 and others extiacted thus much from her, " that 
 she had been struck down in the house by a man 
 with a blue coat and a high hat ; that this man had 
 frequently been at her father's house before; that 
 he had been there on the previous Thursday, and 
 had sat for a lonar time with her father in his work- 
 shop." This information was confirmed by the 
 statement of Maier's sister-in-law. She said that 
 on Maunday Thursday, towards three o'clock in 
 the afternoon, she had seen a young man answer- 
 ing to Catherine's description enter the shoemaker's 
 
 house. Soon after, the miller's son, James S , 
 
 went into the house, as she heard, to cut the shoe- 
 maker's hair. She had seen the yoinig man, whose 
 name was unknown to her, but who, as she had 
 heard, lived with Schneeweisser, the carpenter, in 
 the village of Soiling, some fourteen days before in 
 the shoemaker's shop, where his boots were being 
 mended : she had likewise heai'd from the children 
 of the miller that at five o'clock in the evening of 
 Maunday Thursday he was still at the shoemaker's 
 cottage. The above-named miller's son, James 
 
 S , related at his examination of the 10th of April, 
 
 " that at about three o'clock on the Sth of April, he 
 had at the shoemaker's request gone to him, and 
 had cut his hair ; besides the shoemaker, his wife 
 and children, he had found a young man who he 
 believed lived with Schneeweisser, the carpenter,
 
 GEORGE WACHS. 233 
 
 at Soiling. The shoemaker begged the lad, who 
 had already taken off his boot, to wait until his hair 
 was cut, when he would serve him. The young 
 man said nothing while witness was present, but 
 stared wildly about him, and seemed rather drunk. 
 He had seen the same man at the public-house 
 (the Post) at Vilsbiburg on the day when the mur- 
 der was discovered : everybody there was talking 
 about it : this lad only said nothing, but kept his 
 eyes fixed upon high, and " I thought," said wit- 
 ness, " that as he took no part in the conversation, 
 it must be disagreeable to him. I don't know 
 what to make of him, but I can't help thinking that 
 he must be the man, otherwise he would surely 
 have lamented over such a misfortune, like every 
 one else : he alone said nothing, althouQ:h he had 
 been with the shoemaker the day before." 
 
 It was immediately discovered, fi-om the accu- 
 rate descriptions, that the unknowTi person could 
 be no other than George Wachs, an apprentice of 
 Schneeweisser, the carpenter, at Soiling. He was 
 arrested during the night of the 10th of April, and 
 several suspicious articles, particularly two silver 
 hat-buckles, were found concealed in his trowsers. 
 Early next morning (Easter Sunday), when the 
 jailer entered his cell, the accused came forwards 
 of his own accord, and said, " I must own that I am 
 the murderer of the shoemaker and his family : it is 
 all over with me : I should have confessed to-day, 
 and then have given myself up to justice." He 
 was forced to make his Easter confession to the 
 judge, instead of to his confessor. 
 
 George Wachs, bom of Catholic parents at Sol- 
 ling, in the circuit of Moosburg, on the 17th of 
 April, 1800, and, accordingly, only nineteen years 
 of age when he committed this crime, was the son 
 of a small farmer, who also worked as a day- 
 laborer. His parents, who were both living when 
 
 V 2
 
 234 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 their only son was brought to trial, were gener- 
 ally described as very worthy people, who had 
 sent him to school from his earliest youth, and had 
 endeavored to keep him straight by their advice 
 and example. His moral conduct as a boy was 
 not worse than that of others. On leaving school 
 he was bound apprentice to a miller at Freising, 
 who was perfectly satisfied with him, and who gave 
 him his freedom after three years' service, on the 
 7th of April, 1817. He then served as a miller's 
 boy at several places in the district of the Isar, 
 everywhere earning a character for diligence and 
 good conduct. But his eighteenth year was the 
 turning point in his moral life. He was out of 
 work from the 16th of August, 1818, and either 
 stayed at home with his parents or wandered about 
 the countiy seeking employment, and working 
 now and then as a day-laborer. In the following 
 October, while working under a stone-mason at 
 Moosburg, he stole from the wife of his employer 
 fifty florins (according to her account ninety-eight 
 florins), and would have been delivered over to 
 justice, had not his father — perhaps unfortunately 
 for him — been induced for the sake of his own 
 honor, as well as by affection for his son, to make 
 full restitution. At length, on the 25th of Decem- 
 ber, 1818, he entered the service of the miller 
 Ingerl, at Gerzen, who dismissed him after three 
 months. " I turned the fellow off"," says Ingerl, 
 *' simply because his labor was not worth a farth- 
 ing, and he was always ruiming after women ; 
 besides, he was a reckless, dissolute, riotous fellow, 
 who had no regard for Christianity, and was disa- 
 greeable to me on account of his impudent and 
 licentious conduct." This young man's immoder- 
 ate taste for women fully accounts for the sudden- 
 ness of the change in his moral nature. Wanton- 
 ness made him riotous, disorderly, and lazy ; love
 
 GEORGE WACHS. 235 
 
 of women made him vain and fond of dress, and 
 vanity made him rapacious, until he became first 
 a thief, and then a murdei'er. 
 
 After Ingerl, the millei-, had dismissed him from 
 his service, on the 17th of March, 1819, he all at 
 once gave up his business, and bound himself 
 apprentice to a master carpenter at Soiling, of the 
 name of Schneevveisser, in the hope of succeeding 
 better in that line. But scarce had he been a 
 fortnight in his new trade when he, who had 
 till then been known merely as a wanton, jovial, 
 reckless youth, proved, by a deed of which no one 
 suspected him capable, the truth of the old saying, 
 that there is no propensity, even one apparently 
 harmless, which may not, when fostered by cir- 
 cumstances, grow into an irresistible passion, and 
 hurry a man into the commission of monstrous 
 crimes. 
 
 With his master's leave, Wachs left home at eight 
 o'clock in the morning of Maunday Thursday, the 
 8th of April, with the intention of making his 
 Easter confession at Vilsbiburg. On his way he 
 met Matthias Hingerl, a peasant's son, who was 
 g-oiiig- to the same village to fetch his watch, which 
 he had left to be mended at a watchmaker's, and 
 which he wanted to wear during the approaching 
 Easter festivities. 
 
 George Wachs having unexpectedly found an 
 ao^reeable companion, thought that any other day in 
 the week would do as well for confessing, and 
 spent the greater part of the morning at Vilsbi- 
 burg, not in church, but in the public-houses, drink- 
 ing beer, and talking chiefly about women and his 
 own adventures. Hingerl showed him his watch, 
 which he had fetched from the watchmaker ; and 
 although George Wachs said nothing at the time, 
 we may infer from what subsequently happened, 
 that the sight of this enviable possession painfully
 
 236 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 recalled to his recollection that although he cer- 
 tainly had good clothes for the next Easter Sun- 
 day, ho was still without a watch. 
 
 At about noon they both went merrily towards 
 home, but stopped by the way at a village, where 
 they drank three quaits more of beer, and then 
 continued their journey. George Wachs, who, as 
 well as his companion, had drunk a good deal, but 
 not enough to affect his senses, was exceedingly 
 merry and noisy, sung and rolled his hat along be- 
 fore him, ran after it, and played all manner of 
 childish tricks. After accompanying Hingerl about 
 two miles farther, he took leave of him, and said 
 that he was going to turn back, but did not say 
 whither he was going or what he wanted. Hin- 
 gerl had, however, previously remarked that Wachs 
 walked lame, and on asking the reason, Wachs told 
 him that he had cut his foot with a hatchet, and 
 must have his boot mended before Easter Sun- 
 day. 
 
 With this object only, so at least the accused 
 declared on every examination, he turned back 
 and went to the shoemaker's house, which he 
 reached at about three, and where he found the 
 shoemaker's wife and children, and some girls 
 from the neighboring mill. Before long, James 
 
 S came in and cut the shoemaker's hair, after 
 
 which he went away again. It was not till then 
 that the shoemaker set to work upon Wachs' 
 boot; Wachs meanwhile played with the children, 
 and took particular notice of little Michael, to 
 whom he gave a carnival-cake. After his boot 
 had been mended, and he had stayed some time 
 with the shoemaker, he wished, according to his 
 own account at least, to go away at about four 
 o'clock, and asked the shoemaker whether his 
 clock was right ? whereupon the latter told him 
 that it was too slow by a f{uarter of an hour, and
 
 GEOllGE WACHS. 237 
 
 desired his wife to fetch him his silver watch from 
 up-stairs that he might wind it up. After bringing 
 the watch to her husband, who wound it uj:), and 
 hung it upon a nail in the wall beside him, she left 
 the house and went to Soiling to buy fish for the 
 next day. The children also went out to play in 
 the garden with their companions, and George 
 Wachs was left alone with the shoemaker in the 
 workshop. Wachs asserted that he would have 
 gone away with the wife, had not the shoemaker 
 detained him, saying, " Stop a bit longer ; you can- 
 not do much more to-day, and I shall be dull all 
 by myself" 
 
 The wife was very unwilling to leave the stranger 
 alone with her husband. At Soiling, she told Mary 
 Z , that " Schneeweisser's apj^rentice had al- 
 ready been three hours at her house ; that the young 
 man was drunk, and that she disliked his way of 
 talking, which was so strange that it made her 
 laugh at one moment, and frightened her the 
 next." A fortnight before this, Wachs had been 
 at the shoemaker's on a Sunday morning to have 
 his boots mended, and she now said to Mary 
 Wieser, " That fellow is at my house whom I 
 dislike for comino' durins: church time — I cannot 
 bear him." This foreboding was soon terribly 
 fulfilled on her husband, her children, and her- 
 self. 
 
 " Wlien the woman was gone" — these ai-e the 
 criminal's own words — "we talked over a variety 
 of indifferent matters, and for a long while no evil 
 thought crossed my mind, although the watch was 
 hanging before my eyes the whole time. All at 
 once it struck me how beautiful the watch was. I 
 took it from the wall, examined it closely, opened 
 it, and asked the shoemaker how much it had cost. 
 He told me that, with a silver chain and seal, the 
 watch had cost fourteen florins, but that the chain
 
 238 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 was up-stairs in the cupboard, as he only wore it 
 on hoHdays, when I should be able to see it. I 
 remarked that 1 had a mind to buy them, if I 
 could ever get together enough money, and he ap- 
 peared quite willing to sell them. 1 could not get 
 the watch out of my head : I walked up and down 
 the room with my eyes fixed upon it, and the 
 thought struck me that I would run oft' with it as 
 soon as the shoemaker had left the loom. But he 
 never stirred from his seat, and continued hard at 
 work upon the upper-leathers of a pair of shoes. 
 The desire for the watch gi-ew upon me every 
 inoment, and as I walked up and down the room, 
 1 turned over in my own mind how I could get 
 possession of it ; and as the shoemaker still sat at 
 his work, it suddenly came across me — suppose I 
 were to kill him ] There lay the hammer : I took 
 it up before the shoemaker's face and pretended to 
 play with it ; but I did not hit him directly, be- 
 cause I kept thinking to myself that I ought not to 
 kill him. I walked up and down behind his back 
 for some minutes with the hammer in my hand, but 
 still in doubt. Then my longing after the watch 
 gained the upper hand, and I said to myself, Now 
 is the time, otherwise the wife will be here too ! 
 And just as the shoemaker was most busily at 
 work, I raised the hammer and struck him with it 
 as hard as I could on the left temple : he fell from 
 his seat covered with blood, and never moved or 
 uttered a sound. I felt sure that I could kill him 
 with one blow. I should think that a quarter of an 
 hour must have clasped while I went up and down 
 the room thinking how 1 could got the watch ; at 
 length I struck the blow, and this was my last and 
 worst thought. 
 
 " It must have been in an unlucky hour that the 
 desire for the watch took so strong a hold of me. 
 I had never thought about it before ; nor should I
 
 GEORGE WACHS. 239 
 
 have entered the shoemaker's house, but for my 
 torn boot. 
 
 " As soon as the shoemaker was down, I put the 
 watch into my pocket and went up-stairs to look 
 for the chain. The key was in the door of the 
 closet in the upper bed-room ; and as I thought 
 that they were sure to keep their best things there, 
 I looked in it for the chain, which I did not find ; 
 but there were two sheep-skins, which I took. 
 Just as I was going down-stairs with the sheep- 
 skins, I saw two other closets on the landing ; I 
 therefore turned back and broke them open with a 
 hoe : thinking that perhaps I should now find the 
 chain which belonged to the watch, I turned every- 
 thing over, but did not find the chain ; however I 
 did find six florins in half-florin pieces, thirty 
 kreutzers, and a silver hat-buckle. In the same 
 place also was a hat with a silver filigree buckle, 
 which I cut off", and put in my pocket." (He 
 then enumerated all the articles which he had 
 found in the second closet, and which he had 
 taken ; the value of all he stole, including the 
 watch, which had cost nine florins, amounted to 
 about thii'ty-three florins, or 21. 15s.) He then 
 proceeded : — "My chief object still was to find the 
 silver chain, and it was only during my search for 
 it that the other things fell in my way, and that I 
 took them. 
 
 " When I had got all these things, I returned to 
 the workshop to take a piece of leather, and per- 
 ceived that the shoemaker still breathed ; I there- 
 fore gave him a few more blows on the temple 
 with the hammer, and then I thought that I had 
 better remove him into the bed-chamber, so that 
 his wife might not see him immediately upon enter- 
 ing the house. I accordingly dragged him out of 
 the shop into the chamber near the bed." 
 
 George Wachs had now attained his object, with
 
 240 RKMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 the exception of the missing chain. There was 
 nothing more to be got ; but one crime leads to 
 another. In this case the words of Macbeth proved 
 but too true — 
 
 " Things bad begun, make strong themselves by ill." 
 
 After dragging the murdered man into the 
 chamber, and tilHng his own pockets with leather 
 enough to make a pair of boots, in addition to the 
 other articles, George Wachs was on the point of 
 leaving the house, when the two children met him 
 at the door on their return fi-om play. These 
 childi-en had seen him during nearly half the day, 
 and knew him : if they remained alive he was be- 
 trayed. There could be no doubt as to what his 
 safety i-equired : no choice was left him : the thought 
 and the deed were one. He seized the little boy, 
 and dashed him upon the ground at the foot of the 
 stairs with such violence, that the death-rattle was 
 in his throat in a moment. He then flung Catherine 
 with equal violence under the stairs among a mass 
 of wood and iron ; but the gii'l, after lying stunned 
 for a short time, got up again and endeavored to 
 reach the inner room to seek protection from her 
 father : the murderer then took up the hammer 
 from the ground, struck the child with it about tlie 
 face and head, and again threw her under the 
 stairs among a heap of old wood and iron, where 
 she lay motionless, and he concluded her to be 
 dead. Little Michael, however, still breathed. 
 " When I saw," continued the murderer, "that 1 
 had thrown him with such violence that he could 
 not survive, I gave him a few blows on the head 
 with the hammer to put him out of his miseiy. I 
 then threw him between the steps and an old chest, 
 BO that they might not find him directly." 
 
 This second business was now over ; but, before 
 ho was well aware of it, a bloody haiTest had
 
 GEORGE WACHS. 241 
 
 sprung up under bis hands from the seeds he had 
 sown. 
 
 As soon as the children had shared their father's 
 fate he again prepared for flight, but first looked 
 out at the window to see whether any one was 
 near who might observe him. Just then a man 
 drove by in a cart, and he was forced to wait until 
 it was out of sight. At last he thought he might 
 escape in safety, but on putting his head out at the 
 door to see if any one was near, he beheld the 
 shoemaker's wife returning from Soiling : she had 
 already turaed off the road into her garden, and 
 was only a few steps from the house, which he 
 could not leave without running directly into her 
 hands. It was clear, then, that he must stay and 
 murder her too, as he had already murdered her 
 husband and children. " When I saw the woman 
 comhig, I said to myself, Now I cannot escape; I 
 am lost, and must kill her too. So I shut the door, 
 seized the hammer, and held it with one hand 
 hidden under my coat, while I opened the dooi- 
 with the other : the shoemaker's wife entered 
 laughing, and said, Why, you have locked yourselves 
 in ! I made no answer. As soon as she entered 
 the room she turned towards the chest which 
 stood near the entrance, and which I had left open 
 after my search for the chain. I stood behind her, 
 nearest the door, and before she was aware of it I 
 sti-uck her such a heavy blow Avith the hammer on 
 the left temple, that she instantly fell close to the 
 chest, and only cried in a low voice, Jesus Maria ! 
 I saw that she could not recover, and gave her 
 several more blows as she lay on the floor, to put 
 her out of her misery. I then dragged her on one 
 side towards the inner room, so that people should 
 not tread upon her as they entered the house. 
 
 " I then went into the inner room, threw a nap- 
 kin full of eo-o-s, which the woman had brought, 
 1(3 " X
 
 242 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 behind the grate, and the hammer on the gi-ound, 
 hastily took up tlie little baby which was lying on 
 the bencli, and laid it upon the bed in the back 
 room for fear it should lull and be hurt. I then 
 left the house in perfect security, locked the front 
 door, and went straight home to my master's house, 
 whei'e I annved at about half-past six.* 
 
 " The whole affair could not have lasted an hour. 
 It was past five when I struck the shoemaker, and 
 by six the wife was killed. 
 
 " If it had not been for the watch-chain, I should 
 not have got into all this trouble, and nobody would 
 have been killed but the shoemaker. I never once 
 thousfht of killing: the wife and the children." 
 
 That he was at the time in perfect possession of 
 all his faculties, and not in a state of furious drunk- 
 enness, is proved by the nature of the crime itself, 
 as well as by his own confession. " I felt a little 
 the worse for liquor, but I knew all the while what 
 I was about, otherwise I could never have done all 
 I did. I cannot tell what possessed me, but I was 
 very meiTy and joyous all that day." 
 
 An eyewitness was present at the murder of the 
 woman and of the little boy, upon whom the 
 criminal had by no means reckoned — this was the 
 daughter Catherine, who gave her evidence before 
 the court on the 30th of April, after she had suffi- 
 ciently recovered from her injuries. It will be in- 
 teresting to hear the most important part of the 
 testimony given by this child, though legally an 
 incompetent witness. After giving a detailed ac- 
 count of the arrival of the carpenter's apprentice at 
 her father's house, her mother's departure for 
 Soiling, and the children's going into the garden 
 
 * It is strange that all these murders left no mark of blood 
 either on the clothes or the body of the murderer; there were 
 only, as he says, a few spots on his boots, which he easily wiped 
 away.
 
 GEORGE WACHS. 243 
 
 to play, she proceeded thus : — " We children 
 stayed out together a long time, and as we entered 
 the house the carpenter's man came towards us 
 and threw us against the stairs : my brother 
 presently began to move, and the man hit him on 
 the head with my father's hammer. I got up 
 again and tried to get to the inner room to seek 
 help from my father ; but the man caught hold of 
 me, and struck me over my eye with the broad end 
 of the hammer, and on the back of my head and 
 shoulders with the shai-p end, and threw me once 
 more under the stairs. I did not dare to move 
 again, and pretended to be dead. The man then 
 went to the door and looked out, but came back in 
 a minute and shut the door, and then I heard my 
 mother call. Open the door ! The man let her in 
 directly. I was still in a great fright, and lay as 
 still as a mouse, and all at once the man struck her 
 such a blow upon the head with the hammer that 
 she fell, and I only heard her cry out "Help !" 
 He then dragged iny mother towards the inner 
 room, and soon after went out of the door, which 
 he shut after him." 
 
 In all the subsequent examinations the accused 
 adhered to his first confession, and only repeated 
 his first statements, confirming them by additional 
 details, so that a perfectly consistent account of 
 the whole transaction could be collected fi'om his 
 various confessions. On one point only the ac- 
 cused attempted to depart fi-om his first confession, 
 somewhat in his own favor. In the first general 
 examination he confessed in so many words that 
 he had assaulted the two children Avith intent to 
 murder them. " I should have murdered only 
 the shoemaker," said he, "had not the children 
 come in just as I was about to leave the house ; 
 and as they knew me, I was forced to kill them, 
 lest thev should betray me : the same thing
 
 244 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 happened with the shoemaker's wife." It was 
 evidently from shame of his own inhumanity that 
 he afterwards maintained that he wished only to 
 stun the children so that they should not betray 
 him, and that he afterwards killed the little boy out 
 of pity, on seeing that he had hit him too hard. 
 The deed itself, and the motive to it which he 
 had so frequently declared, sufficiently refute this 
 wretched prevarication. In order to prevent the 
 children from betraying him, it would not suffice 
 to stun them : the dead alone tell no tales. 
 
 The truth of his assertion that he entered the 
 shoemaker's shop without any criminal intention, 
 and that it was not until the watch was so temjit- 
 ingly exhibited befjre his eyes tliat the idea of 
 murder entered his mind, seems somewhat doubt- 
 ful. It certainly looks suspicious that the same 
 man should have murdered another for the sake 
 of his watch at five in the afternoon, who on the 
 morning of the same day feasted his eyes on a 
 watch in his comrade's possession. And as it ap- 
 pears by the indictment that he had seen the shoe- 
 maker's silver watch hanging in his workshop a 
 fortnight before, it seems natural to conclude that 
 the desire of possessing it was then excited, and 
 subsequently much increased by the sight of his 
 comrade's watch. By this presumption we may 
 also easily account for his suddenly turning back 
 on the road from V'ilsbiburg, his unusually long 
 stay at the shoemaker's house, and, lastly, for his 
 wild looks and his strange way of talking. 
 
 These conjectures, however, lose all their weight 
 on closer examination. From first to last the 
 criminal never seems to have acted upon any prede- 
 termined ])lan, but merely to have obeyed the in- 
 spiration of the moment, and to have yielded to the 
 temptation of an opportunity created by the coin- 
 cidence of several accidental circumstances. It is
 
 GEORGE WACHS. 245 
 
 impossible to calculate chances and least ot all a 
 chance made up of a variety of accidents. Who- 
 ever lays a scheme for some predetermined object, 
 if he be not less than half-witted, will found it upon 
 circumstances more or less within his control, and 
 not upon events entirely beyond it, and merely 
 dependent upon chance. The shoemaker's cottage, 
 though lonely, was no hermit's cell. One half of 
 it was inhabited by the day-laborer's family as well 
 as by his own : the accused must also have known 
 that the shoemaker was likely to be visited by a 
 number of customers just before the Easter holi- 
 days. He could not have entertained the slightest 
 expectation of finding Huber quite alone, or of 
 remaining with him for hours undisturbed by the 
 pi'esence of a third person. When he entered 
 Huber's workshop at about three in the afternoon, 
 he could by no means have guessed that the wife 
 would go to a distant village, or that both the chil- 
 dren would leave the house and stop out at play 
 above an hour. A man who goes with the deliber- 
 ate intention to murder is sure to determine before- 
 hand in what manner and with what instrument he 
 will commit the crime. He does not trust to the 
 chance that when he is on the spot luck will pro- 
 vide him with a knife, a dagger, a pistol, a hammer, 
 or some other instrument of death. The prison- 
 er's statement that he went to the shoemaker's 
 house merely to get his boots mended was by no 
 means a mei'e pretence. Matthias Hingerl, who 
 accompanied him on his way to and from Vils- 
 biburg, saw a hole in his boot, and heard him 
 say that he must get it mended before Easter. 
 Thus his return to the shoemaker's house has in it 
 nothing suspicious. The long stay of a fi-ivolous, 
 lazy young man, willing to idle away his time, is 
 nothing unusual, especially when we consider that 
 he had already passed the greater part of the day 
 
 x2
 
 24G REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 in idleness, drinking, gossip, and all sorts of follies, 
 and would not feel disposed to spend the remain- 
 der of so glorious a holiday under the eye of his 
 master, and perhaps even at work. The wild 
 look which one witness (James, the miller's boy) 
 says he observed in him from the first, is to be at- 
 tributed rather to drinking and rioting, than to the 
 effect of any wicked design in his mind ; not tcj 
 mention that a peasant lad's judgment in physiog- 
 nomy does not deserve implicit confidence. The 
 antipathy which the shoemaker's wife felt towards 
 him had been shared by others long before he could 
 possibly have had any thoughts of committing mur- 
 dei" : indeed the miller, Hingerl, dismissed him 
 from his sei'vice for no other reason. George 
 Wachs, by nature coarse, frivolous, and dissolute, 
 and at that moment heated by drinking, brought 
 the uncouth merriment in which he had indulged 
 dui-ing his walk from Vilsbiburg with him into 
 the shoemaker's house, where he gave a loose to 
 his coarse nature in vulgar loquacity, and in foolish, 
 wanton jokes. This conduct especially on a sacred 
 day, and in a person who had already wearied her 
 by his long stay, must have been disgusting and 
 frightful rather than laughable to a quiet, pious 
 mother of a family. 
 
 We may therefore accept his confession exactly 
 as he gave it: all the circumstances agi'ee so well 
 with each other, and form so accurate a picture 
 of the workings of his mind, that it would be next 
 to impossible lor a mere peasant to invent a state- 
 ment so pei'fectly true to nature. 
 
 The events of the forenoon had already filled his 
 imagination with the idea of a watch. Hingerl had 
 gone to Vilsbiburg on purpose to fetch home his 
 watch from the watchmaker's, and George Wachs 
 had to wait at the public-house while his companion 
 transacted this business. When Hingerl rejoined
 
 GEORGE WACHS. 247 
 
 Wachs he naturally talked about the watch, the 
 possession of which gave him double pleasure now 
 that it had been mended and was to go particularly 
 well. In order to make his companion share his 
 pleasure, Hingerl took the watch out of his pocket 
 and allowed him to examine it, boasting of its ex- 
 cellence all the while. George Wachs said no- 
 thing, but it was impossible that so vain a young 
 man should not envy his more fortunate companion, 
 and long for the possession of a similar treasure. 
 Thus, without any guilty thoughts or criminal in- 
 tentions, George Wachs was prepared, by what he 
 had seen, heard, and felt that morning, for the 
 temptation which afterwards met him in the shoe- 
 maker's house. An unhappy chance placed before 
 the eyes of one whose thoughts and wishes had on 
 that very morning been directed towards a watch, 
 just such another, and the tempter, opportunity, 
 stood by. This second watch was not merely 
 shown to him and then returned to its case, but 
 was hung against the wall, where it continued to 
 excite his desires : he could not avoid seeing it, 
 and the longer he looked the more inviting did it 
 appear. A silver chain and seal likewise belong- 
 ed to this watch, which the shoemaker told him 
 were so fine that he only wore them on holidays. 
 This watch, with its fine chain, was far better than 
 that which he had coveted in his companion's pos- 
 session. To be the owner of such a treasure, to 
 appear before the women thus adorned, to outshine 
 all his companions, was indeed a tempting vision 
 for a vain lad of nineteen ; and in this vision he in- 
 dulged until liking became longing, and longing un- 
 governable passion. For a time his yet undefined 
 wishes hovered round their object ; he took down 
 the watch from the wall, examined it more closely, 
 and talked of buying it. But when the shoemaker 
 agreed to sell him the watch, thus placing it at his
 
 248 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 disposal, fresh fuel was added to the llames whicli 
 burned -witliin him. Nothing now intruded itself 
 between liis desires and their object but the want 
 of a small sum of money, which he did not possess 
 and could not hope soon to obtain. But was the 
 most intense passion of his heart, the object on 
 which his mind was fixed, and which he already 
 fancied his own, to be resigned for such a trifle? 
 The passions always choose the shortest ])ath. 
 There hung the watch before his eyes ; he had but 
 to stretch out his arm and it was his : no one was 
 there to prevent him but the shoemaker, who 7nust 
 quit the room or die. Thus the choice lay be- 
 tween theft and murder; the former, indeed, rather 
 than the latter, but he was equally prepared for 
 the one or the other, according to opportunity and 
 circumstances. 
 
 The most sti'iking feature in this case is the fear- 
 ful spectacle of a sudden passion, which seized on 
 his imagination like a whirlwind and hurried him 
 on to perdition. The blinding, maddening influ- 
 ence of the passions was exhibited in a remarkable 
 manner in his conduct. All his thoughts, wishes, 
 and actions, considered as means for accomplish- 
 ing his ends, were so foolish and senseless, that we 
 might call them childish but for their extreme 
 cruelty. He was so completely wrapped up in the 
 object of his desires as not to perceive objections 
 which could scarce escape the observation of an 
 ordinary child. He first waited for the momentary 
 absence of the shoemaker in order to seize the 
 watch and run off with it, wliich would have been 
 much the same thing as to take it before the very 
 eyes of its owner : the thief would have been as 
 certainly known in the first as in the latter case. 
 But this youth was exactly like the stupid savage, 
 who, incapable of resisting a sudden impulse, runs 
 away with a string of beads before the very faces
 
 GEORGE VVACIIS. 249 
 
 of the ship's company, and hides behind a tree, 
 where he thinks himself and his booty safe so long 
 as he does not see those by whom he is seen. The 
 murder which George Wachs planned in case the 
 shoemaker should not leave the room, was quite as 
 ill-contrived. None but a man blinded by passion 
 could avoid seeing that detection was as certain 
 as the muixler was easy. He was well known to 
 the fainily, and indeed to the whole neighborhood : 
 the miller's lad James had met him at the house, 
 and the shoemaker's wife and children had left 
 him alone with his victim, and must therefore, im- 
 mediately upon discovering the murder, have fixed 
 upon him as the murderer. Nothing but the most 
 reckless and blind rapacity, incapable of fore- 
 thought and reflection, would have perceived the 
 mere physical possibility of the deed and overlook- 
 ed its real impracticability, and the certainty of 
 immediate detection. 
 
 A stranQ^e contrast to the heat of his desires is 
 presented by the coolness and presence of mind 
 with which this youth of nineteen, who probably 
 f )und himself for the first time exposed to such 
 temptation, conceived, determined on, and per- 
 formed so frightful a deed. No sooner had it oc- 
 curred to him to take advantage of the shoe- 
 maker's absence in order to obtain possession of 
 the watch, or should he not leave the room to 
 murder him, than he was fully prepared with a 
 plan which cost him not a pang to conceive and 
 determine. The veiy hired murderers sent by 
 Richard to kill Clarence in the Tower shrink 
 back on beholding their victim, and one of them 
 says, " Faith, some dregs of conscience are yet 
 within me." They feel within them " that danger- 
 ous thing which makes a man a coward ; a man 
 cannot steal but it accuseth him 'Tis a blush- 
 ing shame-faced spirit that mutinies in a man's
 
 250 REMARKABLE CKIiMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 bosom; it fills one full of obstacles."* But 
 George Wachs, though a mere novice in crime, 
 does not appear from his own account to have felt 
 any such "dregs of conscience," or any such "mu- 
 tiny in his bosom." His continual walking up 
 and down betrayed, it is true, some inward unea- 
 siness ; but this seems to have been caused by 
 nothing but the mixture of hope and fear, the im- 
 patience of desire, and anxiety as to the success or 
 failure of his plan. He felt no distress, no hesita- 
 tion at the thought that he could only gain posses- 
 sion of a miserable watch by destroying a poor 
 father of a family, who had never injured him, and 
 with whom he was at that moment engaged in 
 friendly conversation. It is true that he delayed 
 for a while committing the murder, in the expec- 
 tation that the shoemaker would quit his work for 
 a moment and leave the room, and in this delay a 
 certain amount of humane feeling may have had as 
 large a share as the very natural dislike of adopt- 
 ing the more troublesome and dangerous mode of 
 proceeding, so long as ah easier road to his wishes 
 was open to him. The choice between theft and 
 murder by no means depended on his original re- 
 solution — for he was equally prepared for either 
 alternative — but simply on the accidental turn of 
 circumstances. On being asked at the final exam- 
 ination how he could murder the shoemaker for a 
 watch of trifling value, when he must have known 
 that such a crime would be punished \vith the ut- 
 most i-igor, he answered, " I certainly did think 
 of it, but I don't know what came over me. 1 felt 
 all at once the strongest desire for the watch, and 
 instantly determined to kill the shoemaker. The 
 watch I must have, and the only question was 
 what to do next : upon this 1 struck him. The 
 
 * King Richard III., Act. I. Scene 4.
 
 GEORGE WACHS. 251 
 
 longing after the watch was too strong for me ; I 
 struggled all along against my desires, for I knew 
 very well that it was wrong to kill any one for such 
 a cause." However ready we may be to believe 
 that he was aware that murder, especially such a 
 murder as this, was a crime deserving heavy pun- 
 ishment, we much doubt whether this knowledge 
 involved him in any contest between his consci- 
 ence and his desires. Deep as is the insight given 
 us by the prisoner into the secret origin of crime 
 by repeated and connected statements, we find no 
 circumstance which might induce us to believe 
 that his determination and its execution cost hira 
 any particular effort or qualm of conscience. He 
 speaks only of the beginning of his desire, its 
 growth, and final mastery over him. Throughout 
 all these bloody thoughts and deeds, the prisoner 
 retained such perfect coolness and self-possession, 
 that he was able not only to describe the whole 
 tragedy, but even the workings of his own mind, 
 as accurately as could have been done by a dis- 
 passionate obsei'ver able to look into his soul. 
 Men whose natures have even a moderate share of 
 the milk of human kindness, can seldom bear to 
 look upon a horrid deed so closely : before they 
 can think of it with composure, they must blunt or 
 deceive their natural feelings, unless indeed the 
 struggle between desire and loathing hurries them 
 on to that desperate fury in which they are readv 
 to say with Macbeth, 
 
 " Let that be 
 Wliich the eyes fears, when it is done, to see."* 
 
 But George Wachs was not so chicken-hearted as 
 to flinch before any teiTors of the imagination ; he 
 was so strong in purpose, that he needed no assist- 
 ance save that of his o\vn good clear understanding, 
 
 Macbeth, Act. I. Scene 5.
 
 252 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 which served him admirably, so far as pointing out 
 the shortest means to a given end. AVith dchberate 
 cunning he took up the hea\y iron hammer before 
 the eyes of the shoemaker, tossed it to and fro in 
 his hands as if in play, stood a step or two behind 
 his victim, and " as he had heard that the most 
 certain ^vay was to hit a man on the temple," he 
 aimed directly at that place, which he struck with 
 such a firm and unerring hand, that the murdered 
 man instantly fell without speech or motion at his 
 feet. 
 
 His cool rapacity led him at once to his real ob- 
 ject, unmoved by the bloody sight before him : he 
 first seized upon the watch, and then sought for 
 the chain in every part of the house ; he broke 
 open and ransacked every chest and cupboard, 
 took Avhatever could possibly be of use to him — 
 money, clothes, silver buckles, even a piece of 
 leather for boots — and concealed them in his 
 pockets. Such was his coolness, that he returned 
 once more to the workshop before quitting the 
 house : such his cruelty, that he comjiletely shat- 
 tered the head of his victim, who still lay in the 
 death-struggle : such his deliberate, but useless 
 prudence, that he dragged the dead man into the 
 inner room out of sight. 
 
 The other three murders (for the attempt upon 
 the girl was a murder in intention) were necessary 
 consequences of the first, and were consideied by 
 the criminal — as they really were — merely supple- 
 mentary, and ff)rccd uyum him by nn unlucky acci- 
 dent. The shoemaker he sacrificed to his I'apacity, 
 the wife and children to self-presei-vation. A man 
 more accessible to human weakness, if he did the 
 deed at all, would have done it with all the siefus 
 of one driven by the pressure of cruel necessity to 
 a state bordering on madness. But Wachs, whom 
 nothing could disturb, nothing unman, saw as soon
 
 GEORGE WACH3. 253 
 
 as the children appeared before him what he must 
 do, and his determination was as quick as thought 
 itself. He murdered the children without the 
 slightest remorse, and exhibited in the whole 
 transaction a cruelty and hardness of heai't only- 
 equalled by his coolness and deliberation. 
 
 The poor mother was the next to fall. 
 
 This last action was a mere repetition of the 
 second and third ; only as it was a grown up and 
 vigorous person with whom he had to deal, the 
 murderer displayed in the execution of his sudden 
 determination as much cunning as cruelty. No 
 sooner did he see her approach, than he resolved 
 how to act. He instantly shut the door, armed 
 himself once more with the bloody hammer, con- 
 cealed the hand which grasped it, and then opened 
 the door, which he shut upon her as she entered 
 the house with a jest on her lips : the moment 
 she turned her eyes from him, he aimed at the 
 well-known weak place in her head, and at one 
 blow shattered it with the hammer which was 
 already stained with the blood of her husband and 
 her children. 
 
 After murdering the father, mother, and children, 
 Wachs ended this horrid tragedy by cai-efully car- 
 rying the infant of the murdered woman into the 
 chamber, and laying it upon the bed. We can 
 scarcely consider this action as the result of any 
 humane impulse, but rather as a fresh jn'oof of the 
 remarkable coolness and self-possession manifested 
 throughout by the murderer. No particular sensi- 
 bility is required to induce a man to remove an 
 infant from a place where it is in danger of falling, 
 especially if this can be done with very little trouble. 
 When Wachs, just before quitting the house, ren- 
 dered this small service to the child, whose life 
 could not injure and whose death could not serve 
 him, he merely proved that, in the midst of murder
 
 254 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL 1 RIALS. 
 
 and death, he preserved such perfect composure 
 as to be able to give his attention to a matter of 
 comparatively trifling importance, and to pass at 
 once from the most horrible deeds to a perfectly 
 indiUerent and common-place action. 
 
 These several murders, which, strangely enough, 
 left no stain on the clothes or person of the mur- 
 derer, seem to have left as little trace upon his 
 mind, except a perfectly indifferent recollection of 
 the circumstances. After shutting the door of the 
 house of death behind him, he went home with his 
 pockets full of plunder, and at about half-past six pre- 
 sented himself before his master, gave his master's 
 children some apples, and told him with great glee 
 what a happy day he had spent, and how his com- 
 panion, young Hingerl, had got so drunk that he 
 could neither stand nor walk. He appeared so 
 cheerful and so perfectly at his ease during the 
 whole of that evening, which he passed with his 
 master and mistress until bed-time, that the foraier 
 expressed in court his wonder how so young a man 
 could do such deeds, or, when he had done them, 
 behave in such a manner. On the following even- 
 ing, when his master and mistress were talking 
 over the dreadful occurrence at the shoemaker's, 
 Wachs coolly remarked, " that on the day before 
 the murders he had been at the house, and had 
 stayed there some time, while his boots were 
 being mended : he should therefore certainly have 
 to appear befoi-e the court, and perhaps people 
 might even think he had done it." He behaved 
 with equal composure on the Saturday, when he 
 met some woman with whom he associated, to 
 whom he gave the watch, in order that she might 
 get a glass fitted to it. He told her that his father 
 had given him the watch, and talked with gi-eat 
 animation about several indifferent matters. When 
 she mentioned what had happened at the shoe-
 
 GEORGE WACHS. 255 
 
 maker's house, and asked him whether he had 
 heard who was the murderer, he told her, with 
 tlie most perfect composure, " that both he and 
 the miller's son, James, had been at the house on 
 the very day of the murder, and would therefore 
 probably be summoned before the court." He 
 then proceeded, witliout any apparent emban-ass- 
 ment, to talk on other subjects. But nothing more 
 strikingly exhibits his want of common sensibility 
 than the circumstance that it cost him nothincr to 
 look out of the Avindow while the funeral of the 
 shoemaker, his wife and child, passed by the 
 public-house at Vilsbiburg, where he was. This 
 he himself confessed, and he replied to the judge's 
 question, whether he had, as was commonly re- 
 ported, followed the funeral procession into the 
 church, to hear the servace — " No, for I had on 
 my working jacket ; otherwise I should have gone 
 to see the funeral. I wished on all accounts to go 
 into the church. I certainly was sorry for the 
 people, but I could have gone and looked on, for 
 all that." He who could do that could do more 
 than other men, and of such a one, one is tempted 
 to say that he was little less than a devil. During 
 the whole trial he preserved the same indifference 
 about his crime. Although he acknowledged it to 
 be deserving of punishment, he did not once 
 show the slightest remorse or compassion for his 
 victims. 
 
 Considered from a merely technical point of 
 view, the case presented no legal difficulty. The 
 comprehensive and repeated confessions made by 
 the prisoner agreed exactly with the circumstantial 
 evidence, and with the statements of the witnesses. 
 Most of the articles stolen from the shoemaker's 
 house were found in the criminal's possession ; 
 some were delivered into court by those persons 
 to whom he had given or sold them ; only the sil-
 
 25G REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 ver watch-chain, which had so much contributed 
 to tempt him to crime, was missing, and tlic ac- 
 cused stedfastly adhered to his assertion that he had 
 not stolen it, for that, in spite of his eager search, 
 he had been unable to find it. There was also a 
 rosary set in silver missing from among the things 
 left in the house ; the prisoner declared that he 
 had not even seen it. 
 
 The defence was necessarily confined to a few 
 unimportant formal objections, and to an attempt 
 to prove that the accused was not in the full pos- 
 session of his faculties, owing to drunkenness. 
 But this plea was contradicted by the direct evi- 
 dence of several witnesses, as well as by the nature 
 of the crime and by the prisoner's own confession. 
 The advocate would have most effectually served 
 his client, but not the cause of justice, if he had 
 succeeded in convincing the court of the truth of 
 his remark, " that a man who could do such deeds 
 in such a manner from such a motive, could not 
 possibly be in his right senses, and that therefore 
 it was necessary first of all to cause the medical 
 ofiicers of the court to examine into the state of 
 his mind." This plea was, of course, refused, as 
 the court was in fidl possession of the means of 
 iudging whether the criminal were responsible for 
 his actions, or not. 
 
 The accused was accordingly, by his own con- 
 fession, pronounced guilty, on the 28th July, 1819, 
 — 1st of a qualified murder (murder accompanied 
 by robbery) on the person of the master shoemaker 
 Huber ; 2d, of simple murder of his son, aged 
 three; 3d, of a simple murder of the wife; and 
 4th, an attempt at the simple murder of the 
 daughter, aged nine, — and was sentenced to death 
 by the sword ; which sontenco was carried into 
 execution on the 23d October following. 
 
 Notwithstanding the horrid nature of his crimes,
 
 GEORGE WACHS. 257 
 
 Wachs cannot be classed among the criminals of 
 the first rank. Strong and easily excited animal 
 passions, great frivolity, and utter want of cultiva- 
 tion, were the chief elements of his character : iu 
 these the horrible deeds of the 8th April had their 
 origin. 
 17
 
 GEORGE RAUSCIIMAIER. 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE TELLTALE RING, 
 
 In the year 1821 a chanvomaii of the name of 
 Maria Anna Holzmann, aged fifty-five, lodged in a 
 house belonging to the shoemaker Sticht of Augs- 
 burg : she underlet a part of her lodging to George 
 Rauschmaier and Joseph Steiner. 
 
 Holzmann disappeared on Good Friday (20th 
 of April). Rauschmaier and Steiner left their 
 lodging some days later, without having given 
 notice to the landlord Sticht, who lived in another 
 street, of Holzmann's disappearance. They after- 
 wards gave out that she had quitted the house 
 early on Friday morning, leaving behind her all 
 her keys, and had never returned. 
 
 It was not till the 17th of May that Sticht in- 
 formed the police of Holzmann's disappearance. 
 Although Holzmann lived chiefly on charity, she 
 possessed a store of good clothes and other prop- 
 erty, and was supposed to have saved money. But 
 when the magistrate went with her brother and 
 sister-in-law to take an inventory of the propeity, 
 and to seal it up, it was discovered that all the 
 best part of her property was missing. The per- 
 sons present on this occasion were overpowered 
 by an insufferable stench, which they attributed to 
 the accumulation of dirt in the rooms lately occu- 
 pied by Rauschmaier and Steiner. 
 
 The search made by the police, and the inquiries
 
 GEORGE RAUSCHMAIER. 259 
 
 of the city magistrates after the missing woman, 
 were fruitless. Holzmann's bi'other suggested that 
 she might possibly have gone away and destroyed 
 herself, as it was said that she had lately lost some 
 money which she had lent at high interest. Ilausch- 
 maier, who was examined on oath before the ma- 
 gistrate on the 25th of June, stated that Holz- 
 mann left her home at eight o'clock on Friday 
 morning in company with another woman ; that 
 she had never returned, and that he did not know 
 whither she was gone, or what had become of her. 
 The inquiry was then suffered to rest until some 
 discovery should be made. 
 
 The affair remained in this state till the 2d of 
 January, 1822, when a washerwoman of the name 
 of Therese Beltler, who also inhabited Sticht's 
 house, infoi'med the police that while she and her 
 son were hanging some linen to dry in the loft, 
 they had discovered the thigh and trunk of a hu- 
 man body — probably those of the missing woman. 
 The usual legal commission immediately proceed- 
 ed to the house, and found, among some rubbish 
 in a corner of the loft, a human leg and thigh ; 
 about six yards off", wedged in between the chimney 
 and the roof, tliey discovered a human trunk with- 
 out head or limbs. In another corner they found 
 an old gown and petticoat, together with a red 
 neckerchief, all much stained with blood. These 
 were recognised by another washerwoman in the 
 house as part of the dress usually worn by Holz- 
 mann. On taking up the floor of Rauschmaier's 
 room they found the other parts of the body. 
 Among these was the left arm bent double, and 
 wrapped in an old shift. 
 
 The head alone could nowhere be found ; but 
 this was soon accounted for. It appeared that at 
 Whitsuntide, 1S21, the inspector of a factory not 
 far from Sticht's house had found a human skuU
 
 2G0 REMARKAULE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 ill the weir belonging to the factory. After sliow- 
 ing it to his brother, he threw it back into the 
 river, the stream of which carried it away. The 
 skull, which was described as small, and as having 
 only two or three teeth in the jaw, was, in all prob- 
 ability, Anna Holzmann's. 
 
 The liml)s and body appeared as it were 
 smoke-dried, and were much distorted by pressure 
 in a confined space ; but after being washed with 
 water and spirits of wine, and thus restored in 
 some measure to their natural form, the remains 
 were put together, as well as possible, for inspec- 
 tion by the proper officers. The arms and thighs 
 had been removed from the sockets with so much 
 care and skill, that it betrayed a practised hand. 
 While the physician employed by the court exam- 
 ined the left arm, and endeavored to straighten it, 
 a brass ring fell out of the bend of the elbow. 
 It had in all probability slipped from the murder- 
 er's finger while he was in the act of cutting up 
 the body, in the keeping of which it remained as a 
 silent witness acrainst him. 
 
 Holzmann was described by her friends and 
 relations as a small, well-shaped person, with this 
 distinctive mark, that her right foot was consider- 
 ably thicker than the left, and that one of the toes 
 had been removed many years before. This descrip- 
 tion exactly corresponded with the body when put 
 together, and her brother and other relations did 
 not doubt its identity with Holzmann. 
 
 The discovery of the corpse in Holzmann's own 
 house threw a strong suspicion on Kauschmaier 
 and Steiner. It was scarcely possible that any 
 one could have had time or opportunity to commit 
 such a murder, save one «>r both of Holzmann's 
 fellow-lodgers. Their staying so long in the house 
 in which the scattered remains of the murdered 
 woman were hidden, without communicating what
 
 GEORGE RAUSCHMAIER. 26! 
 
 they must at least have known, was an additional 
 proof of the justice of the suspicion against them, 
 especially against Rauschmaier, who had declared 
 on his oath that Anna Holzmann left her home on 
 Good Friday, 1820, leaving the keys with him, 
 whereas it was quite clear that she had been mur- 
 dered on that very day, in her own house. Be- 
 fore long it was discovered that during Easter 
 week Rauschmaier and his mistress had pawned 
 or sold much of Holzmann's property. 
 
 Rauschmaier was an^ested on the 2d of Janu- 
 ary, as soon as the dissevered body was discovered. 
 Among other things found upon him was a tattered 
 pocket-book, containing a remarkable document 
 printed in the form of a patent at Cologne, and 
 adorned with the effigies of a number of saints : it 
 purported to be a letter written from heaven by 
 Jesus Christ himself, and brought down to earth 
 by the archangel Michael, granting full absolution 
 for all sins and crimes, however hoiTible — in short 
 a patent well worthy to be worn by robbers, thieves, 
 and murderers.* 
 
 * This impious and superstitious document bears the super- 
 scription : — " Copia. or copy from a divine epistle writ in God's 
 own hand, and now hanging before the image of St. Michael, on 
 St. Michael's Mount in Brittany, and no one knoweth whereon 
 it hangeth ; the which is writ in letters of gold, and was brought 
 thither by the holy angel Michael. Whosoever willeth to touch 
 this document, from hun it turneth — whosoever willeth to copy 
 it, unto him doth it bend down and unfold itself." Christ then 
 writes in his own person, and first of all impresses upon the 
 faithful the absolute necessity of keeping holy the sabbath, hear- 
 ing the proper number of masses, never working on saint-days, 
 and the like. He then continues, "I say to you, by the mouth 
 of my mother, by the Christian Church, and by the head of John 
 my Baptist, that I, the true Christ, have writ this epistle with 
 mine own divine hand. This epistle shall be copied the one from 
 the other, and should a man have committed as many sins as there 
 be sands on the sea-shore, blades of grass on the earth, or stars 
 in the heavens, if he confesseth and repenteth him of his sins, 
 they shall be forgiven him. Whosoever hath such a letter by him 
 or in his house, his prayers will I hear, and him shall no thunder 
 or lightning harm. Whatsoever woman big with child shall
 
 262 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 On his summary examination Rauschmaier re- 
 peated his former assertion that Anna Holzmann 
 had left the house early on Good Friday, and had 
 never returned. His manner during examination, 
 and when the coi-pse was shown to him in the 
 churchyard, was cool and uncmbaiTassed. He 
 showed no emotion, and jirofessed ignorance of 
 the body exposed to view. On the 22d of Janu- 
 ary he requested an audience, in which, however, 
 he said nothing, but that he wished to be soon re- 
 leased. On the following day he demanded an- 
 other interview, and this time he confessed that 
 soon after Holzmann's departure he had taken 
 several of her things, which he had given to his 
 mistress to carry away. The judge thought it ex- 
 pedient to examine Rauschmaier merely as to the 
 robbery, without the slightest reference to the 
 murder. Several articles of dress belonging to 
 Holzmann, which were already in the possession 
 of the court, were shown to the prisoner, and re- 
 cognised by him as part of what he had stolen. A 
 pair of ear-rings and two gold rings were then 
 placed before him, together with the brass ring 
 which had been found in the elbow of the mur- 
 dered woman. On seeing these he exclaimed, 
 " The ear-rings and the gold and brass rings are 
 mine ! The brass ring I always wore until within 
 four or five weeks after Easter, since when I have 
 worn the gold ones. The brass ring fits the little 
 finger of my left hand." — It slipped on and off with 
 ease ; had a doubt remained, the telltale ring must 
 have dispelled it. 
 
 On the 11th of March, 1S22, Rauschmaier, his 
 mistress Elisabeth Ditscher, and Steiner, were 
 brought before the court for special examination. 
 
 carry this letter upon her, shall be in dne time delivered of a fair 
 offspring. Keep my commandments, as I have ordained through 
 my holy angel Michael.—/, the true Jesus Christ.
 
 GEORGE RAUSCHMAIER. 263 
 
 At his first examination Rauschmaier repeated 
 his former confession, that he had robbed his land- 
 lady. He adhered to the same story at his second 
 examination, but answered the searching questions 
 of the judge in monosyllables, and betrayed em- 
 barrassment by his confused and hesitating man- 
 ner, and his changing color. On his third exam- 
 ination, which took place two days after, he fell 
 upon his knees, and exclaimed, weeping bitterly, 
 " Mr. Commissioner, I see that you are well dis- 
 posed towards me. You spoke so kindly the other 
 day, that I will confess my guilt to you sincerely :" 
 and he kept his word. 
 
 George Rauschmaier, a turner by trade, was 
 born at Augsburg, of Catholic parents. His father 
 Avas a baker, and his mother a midwife. At the 
 time of the murder he was about four and thirty. 
 His mother and sister said in evidence against him, 
 that his mind had been perverted from his youth : 
 he had always been remarkable for coarse, ill- 
 regulated passions, violence of temper, love of 
 dissipation, idleness, and expensive habits. He 
 could neither read nor write, and was so ignorant 
 of the first principles of the Christian religion as 
 to require instruction from a priest before he 
 could receive the Sacrament, towards the end of 
 his trial. 
 
 In his seventh year he was apprenticed to a 
 bricklayer, and during the winter he found em- 
 ployment in a manufactory. In his thirteenth year 
 he learnt turnery at Munich for three years, at the 
 end of which he returned, on his father's death, to 
 Augsburg, and in 1805 he entered the Austrian 
 service. When the war was ended his regiment 
 was disbanded, and he returned to Augsburg. He 
 was occasionally employed, till 1807, both there 
 and at Munich as a turner ; but his employers said 
 that he was an idle, insolent, ^nd dissolute fellow.
 
 264 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 whom no one could keep long in their service. In 
 1807 he was drawn for the Bavarian army, but 
 soon deserted to the Austrians ; and in 1809 he 
 fought against his own countrymen. In 1809 he 
 again deserted, and re-entered the Bavarian ser- 
 vice. In 1811 he underwent a military trial and 
 punishment for theft. He passed through the 
 horrors of the Russian campaign in 1812 and 
 
 1813, which, together with the observations that 
 he had the opportunity of making in the military 
 hospitals, completely obliterated the slight remain- 
 ing traces of humanity left in his nature. When 
 his regiment was at Warsaw, on its way back in 
 
 1814, he stole money and property to the amount 
 of 110 florins from the adjutant, for which he was 
 sentenced to fifteen months' imprisonment on his 
 return to his native country. When released from 
 prison, he returned to Augsburg, where he re- 
 mained a year and a half, until his arrest, earning 
 his bread however he could. He said to the 
 judge, " You see from this account of my life, 
 how neglected I was, and how low I have sunk in 
 consequence." 
 
 He continued : — " I was always in want of mo- 
 ney, and knew not whence to get it. I wanted to buy 
 clothes, but would not stint myself of meat and 
 drink. The thought struck me that I would kill 
 Anna Holzmann, who, to my knowledge, possessed 
 many good clothes, and who was supposed to have 
 saved some money. I determined to strangle her, 
 as that was easiest, left no trace of blood, and could 
 be done without noise : I had also heard the army 
 surgeons in Russia say that the bodies of persons 
 strangled or suffocated bledbut little when dissected. 
 I made up my mind to the murder some six or 
 eight days before Good Friday, and since that time 
 I had no peace from doubting whether I should do 
 it or let it alone. At length on the morning of
 
 GEORGE RAUSCIIMAIER. 265 
 
 Good Friday, the people of the house went to 
 church, even Steiner was out, and by eight o'clock 
 I was left alone in the house with Anna Holzmann. 
 The opportunity overcame me, and, without saying 
 a word I walked straight into her room, rushed 
 upon her as she was going towards the bed, upon 
 which I threw her and squeezed her throat with 
 both hands while I lay upon her with the whole 
 weight of my body. She could make no resistance, 
 and in five minutes she was dead without having 
 uttered a sound, nor could she have suffered much, 
 as she was old and weak. When I saw that she 
 was dead I let her body sink upon the floor. 
 
 " I then searched her chest for clothes and mo- 
 ney, but was much disappointed ; instead of what 
 I expected, I found only eight kreutzers. 
 
 " After the body had lain upon the floor for about 
 an hour and a quarter and was quite cold, I drag- 
 ged it into the loft, which was level with her room. 
 
 " To get rid of the corpse I determined to cut it 
 up with a large clasp-knife, which I afterwards 
 threw into the Lech. I had frequently seen bodies 
 dissected in the hospitals in Russia." He then 
 gave a minute description of the whole operation, 
 which he seems to have performed in little more 
 than an hour. He described how he hid the seve- 
 ral parts of Holzmann's corpse in the places where 
 they were subsequently found, and threw the head, 
 wrapped in an old apron, into the Lech, after tak- 
 ing off" the gold ear-rings. Hereupon he imme- 
 diately went, at between ten and eleven, to the 
 church of St. Maurice, but could not pray from re- 
 morse, fear, and soitow. In the evening he went 
 to the Calvary. " I knew very well," said he, " that 
 the murder I had committed was a great sin ; but 
 want of money and the desire to possess some 
 blinded me to the heavy consequences of my crime. 
 The murder of Holzmann seemed to me the easiest 
 
 Z
 
 266 REMARKABLE CRIMI.VAL TRIALS. 
 
 and most convenient means of obtaining money. I 
 shook from head to foot while I was cutting her 
 up and hiding her remains, and since that time I 
 have had no real happiness, as every one must have 
 seen." When asked about the brass ring, he said 
 he must have lost it while cutting up the body. 
 The judge told him whore it had been found, 
 whereupon he exclaimed, " Yes, yes ! nothing 
 more likely. It must have slipped off" my little 
 finger while I was bending Holzmann's arm, and 
 been left sticking in the bend of her elbow." 
 
 After this confession, Rauschmaier seemed much 
 more easy, showed great repentance, and frequently 
 shed tears at his examinations. 
 
 While Rauschmaier's example affords a proof 
 that there exist human beings in the heart of Eu- 
 rope as deficient in moral and intellectual culture 
 as the savages of New Zealand, the conduct of the 
 second prisoner, Steiner, shows how litttle import- 
 ance can be attached to the statements of a prison- 
 er, more especially when made against another. 
 
 Steiner was thirty-four years old and born at 
 Augsburg of Catholic parents. He was a wood- 
 cutter by trade : his education had been as much 
 neglected as Rauschmaier's, and in intellect he was 
 even below him. When examined in 1820 as to 
 Holzmann's disappearance, the authorities were 
 forced to dispense with his taking an oath, as he 
 could not be made to comprehend its nature and 
 significance. After his examination the judge re- 
 marked, that " the witness appeared utterly defi- 
 cient in culture, and incapable of forming an idea : 
 he was almost an idiot, and an answer could not 
 be obtained from him without extreme difficulty." 
 
 On his first regular examination of the 2d of 
 January, 1821, he asserted not only his innocence, 
 but also his ignorance of the cause of Holzmann's 
 disappearance. The judge again obser\'ed, that
 
 GEORGE RAUSCIIMAIER. 267 
 
 ** his behavior proved the deficiency of his intel- 
 lect, and that everything liad to be very clearly ex- 
 plained to him before an ansvv^er could be obtained 
 from him." He was examined on the 15th of Jan- 
 uary, merely with regard to his family and to his 
 means of subsistence, when he began suddenly, and 
 of his own accord, a long rambling narrative to the 
 following effect : — That he returned home at about 
 ten or eleven at night on Good Friday, and went 
 to wish his landlady good night, as was his usual 
 custom ; but not finding her in bed, he thought that 
 she would not return that night, and thereupon got 
 into her bed himself During the night he heard 
 a heavy fall overhead, and a noise as if something 
 was being dragged backwards and forwards. On 
 the Saturday he came home at about ten at night : 
 his comrade opened the door to him, and would 
 not allow him to enter his landlady's room, but 
 lighted him at once to his own. He had scarcely 
 lain down when something dropped from the ceil- 
 ing upon his nose, and when he tuiTied in bed, upon 
 his back. In the morning he found that this was 
 blood. He called Rauschmaier's attention to this, 
 who answered that he could not account for it, but 
 that it was of no consequence. At first he thought 
 nothing of it ; but, on seeing Holzmann's remains 
 in the churchyard, the thought struck him that she 
 must have been murdered by Rauschmaier. He 
 himself had never harmed her. The judge re- 
 marked that Steiner took great pains to make his 
 Gtory intelligible, gave his evidence without embar- 
 rassment or hesitation, and showed that he had 
 more sense than had at first appeared. On the 
 4th of February he requested another audience, 
 and on being asked what he had to say, he replied, 
 " Something has occurred to me : my memory is 
 bad, and I have erred in several matters. Even a 
 horse, which has four legs, sometimes stumbles ;
 
 268 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 why should not I ]" He now modified his former 
 statement : it was not on Friday, V)ut on Saturday, 
 that he had slept in Holzmann's bed, and that the 
 blood had drojjped upon liis nose on the Thursday 
 night, not on Good Friday. He had said to 
 Rauschmaier, early on Friday, " Surely, in God's 
 name, you have not murdered our landlady 1" 
 whereupon Rauschmaier threatened to kill him if 
 he said a word about the blood of their landlady. 
 He then showed him a thick knotted club, saying, 
 " I will strike you dead with this if you say a word 
 of the matter !" Steiner continued : — " As he thus 
 threatened me, and I was in fear of my life, I never 
 said a word to any one ; but, sir, you may be sure 
 that my comrade, who is a bold strong fellow, mur- 
 dered the woman." He then proceeded, after 
 some interruption, " It now strikes me that the 
 blood must have been wiped up on Easter Sunday 
 with my shirt, which I found in a comer soaked 
 with blood. No doubt my comrade did this on pur- 
 pose to throw the suspicion on me. It likewise occurs 
 to me, that about a week or a fortnight before 
 Good Friday, my comrade wrestled with Holzmann, 
 in joke, of course in order to try her strength. He 
 must therefore even then have made up his mind 
 to murder her. Nobody acts a play until the re- 
 hearsal has turned out well." He further added, 
 that a week after Easter, he was with Rauschmaier 
 at a tavern, and when they were alone his comrade 
 offered him a silver ring and a pair of ear-rings, to 
 say nothing about the blood of their landlady ; but 
 he would take nothing from him. 
 
 Steiner's statement had every appearance of 
 truth, and agreed in the main with what was al- 
 ready known ; and so long as Rauschmaier with- 
 held his confession it appeared of the utmost im- 
 poT'tance. 
 
 But when the latter was asked, after ir king a
 
 GEORGE RAUSCIIMAIER. 269 
 
 full confession, whether any one was privy to the 
 murder which he had committed, he answered, " No 
 human being ; I resolved upon and committed the 
 murder alone, exactly as I have already confessed 
 it, because I trusted no one ; if, perchance, Joseph 
 Steiner or Elizabeth Ditscher are suspected, I 
 hereby attest their innocence ; nor do 1 believe that 
 Steiner saw anything, at any rate he never gave 
 me to understand that he suspected me." In the 
 following examination, when he was told that Stei- 
 ner asserted that he had discovered traces of the 
 murder, and that he had taken Rauschmaier to task 
 about it, the latter replied, " It is a thorough lie ; 
 he never said a word to me of the matter. The 
 fellow does nothing but tell lies from morning till 
 night. Had he discovered anything he would have 
 informed against me. Why should not I confess 
 this fact, if it were truel" 
 
 At Steiner's third examination the discrepancy 
 between his statement and Rauschmaier's repent- 
 ant confession was fully explained. The judge 
 called Steiner's attention to some marked contra- 
 diction, whereupon he exclaimed, " I am an ass, 
 and have said a great deal that is not true. I must 
 beg pardon for having lied so much. I thought to 
 myself that, perhaps, my comrade murdered the 
 woman, and that I was suspected, although I am 
 innocent ; I therefore said whatever came into my 
 head to strengthen the suspicion against Rausch- 
 maier, and to convince you of my own innocence. 
 All that I have said about the blood dropping upon 
 my nose, and my shirt, about the noise of one fall- 
 ins: and bein"- drafTaed over head, and about my 
 observations to Rauschmaier, his threatening words, 
 promises, and so forth, are mere inventions. I 
 neither saw nor heard anything ; but I suspected 
 that Holzmann had been murdered by Rauschmai- 
 er. I then considered how it must all have been
 
 270 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TEIALK. 
 
 done, and told it accoi'dingly : I wonder how it all 
 came into my head ; I should soon have believed 
 the story myself. Forgive my stupidity, I am a 
 mere ass. Only think how stupid ! I now begin 
 to see what trouble I have got myself into by my 
 lies ; but I hope I shall not suffer for them, as I did 
 not harm the old woman. I thought I was doing 
 the court a pleasure by saying what I fancied 
 about Rauschmaier, for I still believe him to be 
 guilty." 
 
 Rauschmaier's advocate was led by his sense of 
 justice and propriety to confine the defence of his 
 client to an appeal to the mercy of the court. He 
 did not attempt by legal quibbles to gain an acquit- 
 tal for a man who had already confessed his guilt, 
 but called the attention of the judge to his client's 
 neglected education. 
 
 On the 9th May, 1822, Rauschmaier was found 
 guilty of murder, and condemned to death by the 
 Bword, with previous exposure for half an hour in 
 the pillory. 
 
 Steiner was acquitted, and Ehzabeth Ditscher 
 was condemned to an eight days' imprisonment for 
 receiving stolen goods. 
 
 Rauschmaier's sentence received the con^rma- 
 tion of the superior court on the 18th of June ; but 
 a royal rescript of the 28th of June directed that 
 the exposure previous to execution should be omit- 
 ted.
 
 ANDREW BICHEL, 
 
 THE WOMAN-MURDERER. 
 
 In the summer of 1807, Barbara Reisinger, the 
 daughter of Peter Reisinger, a day-laborer at Loi- 
 senrieth, left her father's house in quest of service, 
 and disappeared. No tidings of her ever reached 
 her parents. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1808 the samethhig 
 happened to another young woman, named Cath- 
 erine Seidel, of Regendorf She went out one 
 morning, intending to have her fortune told by a 
 certain Andrew Bichel, and never returned home 
 to her sisters, who inquired after her in vain at 
 Bichel's house. 
 
 The disappearance of these two girls remained 
 for a long time unknown to the local authorities. 
 The parents of Barbara Reisinger comforted them- 
 selves with vain hopes ; the sisters of Catherine Sei- 
 del wept her loss in silence. A report reached 
 them that Bichel's wife had sold some clothes be- 
 longing to Catherine ; but they disregarded these 
 rumors, and contented themselves with inquiring 
 of Bichel himself after their missing sister ; with 
 unsuspecting simplicity they gave full belief to 
 his mere denial of any knowledge of her. At 
 length an accident led to the first judicial inquiry. 
 Walburga, the younger sister of Catherine Seidel, 
 went by chance into a tailor's shop at Regendorf, 
 and found him making a waistcoat for Bichel of 
 gome dimity which she recognised as a part of
 
 272 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 her sister's petticoat. This was too suspicious a 
 discovery to be passed over, and on tlie 19th of 
 May, 1808, Walburga Seidel laid information to 
 the following effect before the provincial magis- 
 trate. 
 
 She stated that while she herself was from home 
 about thirteen weeks before, some woman had 
 come to their house at eight o'clock in the morning 
 with a messacre from Andrew Bichel to Catherine, 
 to the efiect that some one at his house wished to 
 speak with her. Catherine accordingly went to him, 
 but immediately returned, and told her elder sister 
 Theresa, that Bichel was going to show her her 
 fortune in a glass, and that she was to take clothes 
 enough to change three several times ; moreover, 
 that the clothes must be good and fine — the very 
 best she had. Catherine then packed up her 
 clothes, and went back with them to Bichel, since 
 which she had never been seen or heard of. Two 
 or three days after, Theresa, the elder sister, called 
 at Bichel's house, which she found locked, and on 
 asking after her sister, Bichel told her (contrary to 
 that which he said to others) that he knew nothing 
 about Catherine, save that she had gone away with 
 a strange man, at whose request he had sent for 
 her. Bichel repeated the same tale to her sister 
 and herself about a week since, after they had 
 repeatedly questioned him about their sister. 
 Upon her sister's disappearance, it was rumored 
 throughout the village, that a long time ago a cousin 
 of Bichel's had gone to his house to see her fortune 
 in the glass, that she had disappeared, and that 
 Bichel had sold her clothes, saying that she no 
 longer wanted them, as she was now called " my 
 Lady," and wore French clothes. 
 
 On the following day, which was the 20th of 
 May, the authorities proceeded to Regendorf in 
 order to institute the necessary search in Bichel's
 
 ANDREW BICHEL. 273 
 
 house, to an-est Bichel, and to receive evidence on 
 the spot. When the authoiities reached Bichel 'a 
 house he was absent, but two police sergeants were 
 Bent in pursuit of him into the forest where he was 
 gone. His wife was closely watched in the mean 
 time, while the authorities examined Theresa Seidel 
 at the court-house. She confirmed her sister's state- 
 ment with great precision and minuteness, and gave 
 an accurate description of all the clothes which 
 Catherine had taken with her to Bichel's house. 
 She likewise named the 15th of February, 1808, as 
 the day on which her sister had disappeared. 
 
 Theresa Seidel's examination was not concluded 
 when the police brought into court a cotton hand- 
 kerchief which they had found on Bichel's person 
 on his an-est. He had anxiously endeavored first 
 to conceal and then to throw it away. As soon 
 as Theresa Seidel saw this handkerchief, she ex- 
 claimed, "Jesus Maria! that belonged to my sis- 
 ter Catherine!" On examining it more closely, 
 she identified it with certainty. 
 
 Bichel was immediately examined : he affected 
 to be totally ignorant of the cause of his arrest. 
 He asserted that he had bought the handkerchief 
 in the ragmarket at Ratisbon, and the dimity which 
 he had given to the tailor from a strange pedlar. 
 He denied any acquaintance with the sisters of 
 Seidel : and of Catherine he said he knew nothing 
 save that a young man, a stranger to him, had sent 
 for her to his house : that they had probably gone 
 off" together, and that he had since heard that she 
 had been seen at Landshut dressed in French 
 clothes. But his whole manner — his evasive, im- 
 probable, and often hasty answers — his hesitation 
 and perplexity — his changing complexion, clearly 
 betrayed his guilt. When asked whether he did 
 not possess a magic mirror, he turned scarlet, but 
 denied all knowledge of it, and stated that about a 
 18
 
 274 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 year ago a man with a goitre and a swelled chin 
 had come to his house and had shown the gii'ls their 
 future husbands in a peepsliow. 
 
 The officers of the court then searched Bichel's 
 house, and found in his room a chest filled with 
 women's clothes : many more, which were at onc(^ 
 recognised as having belonged to Catherine, were 
 found in the loft. Bichel's wife declared that she 
 knew nothing at all of the latter ; those in the chest 
 she said had been given to her by her husband, 
 who had received them from the father of Barbara 
 Reisinger, the other missing girl. Walburga and 
 Theresa Seidel separately recognised a great num- 
 ber of these clothes as their sister's, and many more 
 as Barbara Reisinger's. Several other witnesses 
 proved that Bichel's wife had sold various articles 
 of dress belonging to these two women, and had 
 worn others. It likewise appeared that Bichel, 
 both before and after Catherine Seidel's disappear- 
 ance, had tried to induce several other girls to go 
 to his house by offering to tell their fortunes ; and 
 on the day of Catherine Seidel's disappearance, 
 she had been seen iu the neighborhood of liis house 
 with a bundle under her arm at about two r. m. 
 
 All this indicated some strange and horrible 
 deed, but piT>of of a murder having been committed 
 was still wanting. It was certain that Catherine Sei- 
 del had disappeared : it was equally certain that 
 Barbara Reisinger had also disappeared ; and no 
 doubt could exist that some ci'ime had been com- 
 mitted, but whether this crime was abduction, man- 
 slaughter, or murder, it was not easy to discover. 
 No dead bodies were to be found, no stains of 
 blood or other traces of violence were visible. 
 
 The discovery was at length made by means of 
 a dog. Whenever the police sergeant went to 
 Bichel's house, his dog ran towards the wood-shed 
 in the yard, and sniffed at it until repeatedly called
 
 ANDREW niCHEL. 275 
 
 off. This excited the attention of his master, who 
 accordingly took with him some other men, and on 
 the 22d of May they commenced digging within 
 and around the shed. They had scarce turned up 
 the earth in one corner, where a good deal of straw 
 and litter was closely heaped together, before they 
 found several bones, and a foot or so deeper they 
 discovered the lowerhalf of ahuman body wi-apped 
 in some cotton rags. A large heap of logs lay just 
 above the shed near a chalk-pit : when these were 
 removed, and they had dug to a little depth, they 
 came upon a half-decayed head, and the upper 
 part of a body, which the police sergeant imme- 
 diately conjectured to be that of Reisinger. At a 
 short distance they found, after some digging, a 
 second body, which likewise appeared to have been 
 cut in half. This the police and the witnesses 
 present immediately recognised, by the features 
 and by the pinchback eamngs, as the corpse of 
 Catherine Seidel. These remains were carefully 
 conveyed into the sitting-room, where they were 
 guarded by four men. 
 
 Andrew Bichel was just about to be examined 
 for the second time when information of this im- 
 portant discovery reached the court, which imme- 
 diately proceeded, accompanied by a physician 
 and two surgeons, to Bichel's house at Regendorf. 
 The spot in which the bodies had been found, and 
 the remains themselves, were carefully examined. 
 From the appearance of both bodies the physicians 
 were of opinion that they must have been cut up 
 the middle with a sharp knife driven in by a ham- 
 mer : the arms were still attached to the sides; the 
 feet had been cut off just above the ankles. The 
 physician declared in the report which he drew up 
 for the court on the second dead body, " That he 
 found no reason to suppose that the person was 
 dead or even mortally wounded before she was cut
 
 276 nEMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 up. She might liave been stunned by a blow on 
 the head, but it could not have been mortal, neither 
 was the stab in tlie neck sufficient to have produced 
 death ; he therefore conceived that her death was 
 occasioned by cutting open and dividing her body." 
 
 The second dead body was recognised as that 
 of Catherine Seidel. Her two vsisters identified 
 the ear rings and some silver buttons which were 
 found in Bichel's house as hers. Humanity in- 
 duced the judge to spare the sisters the painful task 
 of identifying the body. 
 
 Bichel was now examined a second time. He 
 began by declaring that he would now speak the 
 truth, whereupon he told a long story of how 
 Catherine Seidel had been murdered by strangers 
 in his house; he, however, immediately retracted 
 this, and approached somewhat nearer to the 
 truth. Promising to be no longer obstinate, and 
 to tell all he knew, provided he were not punished, 
 he confessed that in the heat of an anerv discussion 
 he had killed Catherine Seidel by striking her 
 vnth a log of wood. Every succeeding question 
 was answered by a fresh lie, and every lie was 
 followed by a confession of something approaching 
 the truth, which was again disguised by falsehood 
 and prevarication ; until, at length, spite of his de- 
 termination not to confess even the most indifferent 
 circumstances, the court with great difficulty ar- 
 rived at the conclusion — that he had murdered 
 Seidel for the sake of her clothes, and that he had 
 then cut her up and buried her remains. 
 
 When he was qiiestioned concerning the other 
 corpse which had been found in his house, he 
 turned pale, trembled, and again reddened, but 
 stoutly denied all knowledge of the body. On 
 further inquiry, he stated that a distant cousin of 
 his, whose christian name was Barbara (her sur- 
 name he professed not to remember), and whose
 
 ANDREW BICHEL, 277 
 
 father was a day-laborer at Loiscnrietli, hail once 
 served as bar-maid at a tavern at Regendorf, that 
 he had lately seen her at Ratisbon, and that she 
 had given him some of her clothes during the past 
 year, partly as a present and partly to sell for her. 
 
 During the whole of this examination, in the 
 course of which ninety-one questions were put to 
 him, his eyes were fixed upon the ground, and his 
 manner betrayed the conflict in his mind between 
 wickedness and confusion : at every fresh admis- 
 sion wrung from him by the force of overpowering 
 evidence, he showed great vexation, but not the 
 sliffhtest feelino: of sorrow or contrition. 
 
 At this juncture the judge reminded the court 
 of a clause in the royal decree of the 7th of July, 
 1806, for the abolition of torture, directing the 
 conduct to be observed towards criminals who re- 
 fused to confess ; namely, that the criminal be 
 conveyed to the spot where the murder was com- 
 mitted, and, if possible, examined in the very pres- 
 ence of the corpse.* Bichel was accordingly con- 
 veyed to Regendorf. He was first taken to the 
 town-hall, and even there the feeling that he was 
 approaching the scene of his crimes so overpow- 
 ered him, that he was near fainting, and they were 
 obliged to give him water to drink. The provin- 
 cial judge then addressed him as follows : — " You 
 are now close to your own home — the scene of 
 vour crimes ; confess the truth at once, or you 
 will be conducted to your own house, where you 
 will behold the bodies of your victims." But as 
 yet his will was stronger than even the power- 
 ful feelings which agitated his mind. He sted- 
 fastly asserted that he knew nothing of the first 
 
 * Feuerbach remarks that this proceeding has generally suc- 
 ceeded in Bavaria. A murderer who had obstinately persevered 
 in denial of his guilt for three years, immediately confessed on 
 being conducted to the spot of the murder. He adds that in cases 
 of child-murder this has never failed.
 
 278 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 corpse which was said to have been found in his 
 house. 
 
 Hereupon he was taken to his own house, where 
 the two dead bodies were laid each upon a board 
 as well as the remains could be put together. On 
 being led up to the first, that of Barbara Reisinger, 
 Bichel trembled in every limb, his face was con- 
 vulsed, his looks became fearful, and he asked for 
 water. When asked whether he knew the body, 
 he answered with a hollow voice, "No! I never 
 before saw a corpse which had lain in the grave." 
 On being taken to the second body, he could no 
 longer stand, but sank into a chair : all his muscles 
 quivered, and his face was horribly distorted. He 
 then declared that he recotjnised Catherine Seidel 
 in the corpse before him. " I recognise her," said 
 he, " by the hands, and by the way in which the 
 body is cut open." The judge asked liim why he 
 was so much agitated on seeing the first corpse. 
 " I only trembled," said he, " at the sight — who 
 would not tremble on such an occasion V He 
 persisted in his former assertions of complete ig- 
 norance. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, the impression left on his 
 mind by this scene did not wear oft". In his soli- 
 tary prison the terrors of his imagination overcame 
 his obstinacy. Two days after, Bichel demanded 
 an audience, and confessed himself guilty of the 
 murder of Barbara Reisinger also. He denied that 
 his wife had any share in or even knowledge of 
 either murder. 
 
 After repeated examinations, in which all the 
 circumstances of the murder were completely as- 
 certained by his own confession, as well as by the 
 evidence of witnesses, the report was sent to the 
 court of appeal at Neuburg, by which judgment 
 was pronounced on the 4th of February, 1809, to 
 the followiuQ^ effect : —
 
 ANDREW BICIIEL. 279 
 
 " That Andrew Bichel of Regentlorf be dragged 
 to the place of execution, there to be broken on the 
 wheel from the feet upwards, without the previous 
 mercy-stroke, and his body to be afterwards ex- 
 posed on the wheel." 
 
 This judg^ment was confinned by the central 
 court to wl)ich it was sent for revision. 
 
 Andrew Bichel was forty-eight years of age, a 
 Catholic, and born of peasants living at Wetter- 
 feld : both his parents were dead. He married at 
 Regendorf, where he owned a cottage worth about 
 200 florins. He had no children by his wife, with 
 whom he lived on excellent terms. His reputation 
 was not particularly bad, indeed his faults are best 
 described by negatives. He was not a drunkard, 
 nor a gambler, nor quarrelsome : nay, more, he 
 was distinguished for piety. On the other hand 
 he was given to pilfering, and was, according to 
 common report, in the habit of robbing his neigh- 
 bors' gardens. He was employed by the innkeeper 
 at Regendorf for three years. During this time 
 he committed, a variety of petty thefts, which his 
 master forjiave him, till at leng^th Bichel so far 
 presumed upon his good nature as to steal his hay 
 out of the loft, whereupon mine host discharged him 
 from his ser\'ice. 
 
 These few traits of character are significant of a 
 covetous and abject nature, shrinking from risk 
 and from punishment, though not from crime. 
 Even his easy behavior towards his wife and his 
 neighbors did not proceed fiom a kind but from a 
 cowardly disposition : it was the conduct of a man 
 content quietly to suffer wrong, from want of 
 courage to resist it, who dares not injure others for 
 fear of being injured in return, and who patiently 
 endures insults only because he is too timid to 
 revenge them. The outbreak of ferocity in such a 
 nature is all the more terrible when a secret and
 
 280 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 safe opportunity presents itself. Cowardice is 
 almost always allied with cunning, and usually 
 with cruelty and malice. To men of this character 
 the innocent and the weak seem lilting objects 
 whereon to wreak their vengeance for the injuries 
 which their self-love has received. Nothing is 
 more true than the old saying, that the most abject 
 slave becomes the inost cruel tyrant. Another re- 
 markable trait in the character of Bichel was a 
 degree of covetousness which looked upon no 
 booty as too small to be worth obtaining even by 
 the greatest crimes, if they could but be committed 
 without danojer. Such a character as Bichel's is 
 made up of cruelty, insensibility, avarice, and 
 cowardice, allied to a very limited understanding 
 and to a coarse nature utterly unsoftened by edu- 
 cation. A man thus constituted will commit no 
 crimes requiring energy or courage ; he will never 
 venture to rob on the highway, or to break into a 
 house ; but he would commit arson, administer 
 poison, murder a man in his sleep, or, like Bichel, 
 cunningly induce young girls to go to him, and then 
 murder them in cold blood for the sake of their 
 clothes, or of a few pence. 
 
 The first murder of this sort, at least the first 
 which had been detected, was that committed on 
 Barbara Reisingcr of Loiscnrieth, soon after 
 Michaelmas, 180G. While out of place she lived 
 with her parents, but left them towards Michaelmas 
 in search of service. For this jiurpose she went 
 to Andrew Bichel, who had promised to get her a 
 place. She found him at home with his wife, and 
 told him the object of her visit. He replied that 
 he just then knew of no suitable place for her ; 
 wlicreu])on she said that she would go to llatisbon 
 and try her luck there. While they were talking, 
 l^ichel's wife, according to his own account, went 
 away to her work at another village, whence she
 
 ANDREW BICIIEL. 281 
 
 was not to return till evening. When he was left 
 alone with Barbara Reisinger, the thought struck 
 him (if, indeed, it had not done so long before) to 
 mm-der her for her clothes : — it is true that she had 
 nothing with her but the gown on her back ; — but 
 her father had all her clothes in his keeping, and 
 as he knew that his children were acquainted with 
 Bichel, and that Barbara was gone to Bichel's 
 house in the hope of hearing of a place, nothing 
 could be easier than to obtain these clothes under 
 some specious pretext. 
 
 Bichel turned the conversation with Barbara 
 Reisinger upon witchcraft, and told her that he 
 possessed a magic mirror, in which every young 
 woman could see her future fate, her lover, her 
 destined husband, and the like ; all, in short, that 
 is most interesting to the female heart. The poor 
 girl readily fell into the snare, and was filled with 
 curiosity to look into this magic mirror. Bichel 
 left the room for a few minutes, folded a white 
 cloth round a board, and returned with this pre- 
 tended mirror, and a small common magnifying 
 glass. He placed them both on the table, desiring 
 her on no account to touch these sacred objects : 
 he then told her that she must allow her eyes to 
 be bandaged, and her hands to be tied behind her 
 back, in order to prevent her from even making 
 the attempt. The deluded girl consented to every- 
 thing, and Bichel bound a handkerchief over her 
 eyes, tied her hands together, and then stabbed 
 her in the neck with a knife ; she fetched one sigh, 
 and instantly fell. He then cut her open, chopped 
 her body to pieces, in order the more easily to 
 conceal it, and buried the remains in and near the 
 shed where the corpses were subsequently found. 
 He then washed the room, which was deluged 
 with blood, and strewed sand and ashes over it to 
 conceal the stains. He told his wife on her retum, 
 
 Aa2
 
 282 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 when she remarked how wet the room was, that 
 he had spilt a bucket of water. 
 
 Neither his peace of mind nor his outward de- 
 meanor were the least disturbed by this act. He 
 went on with his usual avocations, and in due time 
 contrived in the most cold-blooded manner to reap 
 the reward of his labor. He started during the 
 Christmas holidays for Loisenrieth, in order to 
 fetch the murdered woman's clothes. On his way 
 he was met by Barbara's father going to Regen- 
 dorf to hiquire after his daughter. " Well, how is 
 this? have you not yet sent her clothes'?" exclaim- 
 ed Bichel. " I have already despatched several 
 messages to you desiring you to forward your 
 child's clothes to me. She is in service with an 
 ambassador — she is married, and she and her hus- 
 band have an estate to manage. She commis- 
 sioned me to send her clothes after her." The 
 father maintained that he had received no message. 
 " Well, then," continued Bichel, " since I am so 
 far on the way, I will return with you and fetch 
 them." He did so. The mother carefully packed 
 up all lier daughter's clothes, and gave them to 
 Bichel. The father accompanied him to some dis- 
 tance, carrying the booty for him as far as a cer- 
 tain public-house, where they separated. Old 
 Reisinger afterwards heard that Bichel was selHng 
 some of his daughter's clothes. He went three 
 several times to Ratisbon to inquire after his 
 daughter, but of course obtained no information 
 about her. At last he went to Bichel himself at 
 Regendorf, reproached him, and called him a 
 rogue. But Bichel drove him away with threats, 
 and told him not to trouble himself any further 
 about his daughter, who was well provided for. 
 
 The length of time during which this crime re- 
 mnined undiscovered, can only be accounted for 
 by the ignorance and boundless simplicity of Bar-
 
 ANDREW BICHEL. 283 
 
 bara Reisinger's parents, and of the other persons 
 to whom so many suspicious circumstances were 
 known. 
 
 Meanwhile, Bichel sought for fresh victims. 
 The first murder was so easily perpetrated, and 
 so richly rewarded, that he determined to make a 
 trade of it. A man who has once deliberately 
 committed an inhuman action will not, so long as 
 the same motives to crime exist, rest content with 
 his first exploit. Once acquainted with honors, 
 he will soon become familiarised with them. 
 
 Bichel now looked about for other girls whom he 
 might delude by superstition, and entice into his 
 power, and within reach of his knife. It is not 
 exactly known upon how many he tried his cun- 
 ning : the letjal authorities, however, heard of sev- 
 eral. About Christmas, 1807, he cast his eyes 
 upon a girl of one and twenty, called Graber : he 
 turned the conversation upon her absent lover, and 
 asked if she had lately heard from him. She an- 
 swered that she had not; and he said, "Well, if 
 you will say nothing about it to any one, you may 
 come to rae, and I will then let you look in my 
 magic glass, which will show you whether your 
 lover be alive or dead. But in order to see this 
 you must put on a boddice, which is so holy that 
 it can only be touched with a cloth." He added 
 that she must bring her best clothes, and her finest 
 shift. She promised to go to him, but did not 
 keep her word, and Bichel sent a woman to her a 
 few days before his arrest, to bid her hasten her 
 visit. He also endeavored by similar represent- 
 ations to induce a certain Juliana Daweck to go 
 to him with her clothes, and repeatedly used the 
 most pressing entreaties to prevail upon her to do 
 so. He laid the same snare for a girl called Mar- 
 garet Heimberger. These women were saved, 
 some by their want of faith in the wonderful prop-
 
 284 REiMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 erties of the magic min-or, others by a secret 
 dread of Bichel, and others again by mere accident. 
 Nothing, however, happened to rescue the unfor- 
 tunate Catherine Seidel, the discovery of whose 
 murder put an end to his wicked deeds. 
 
 Some nine months before, Seidel's fine clothes 
 had attracted his attention, while he was coming 
 from Ratisbon with her : he at once resolved to 
 murder her, and immediately began to prepare 
 the means. He entered into convei'sation with 
 her, boasted of the virtues of his magic mirror, 
 and invited her to come and see it. Why she 
 did not then go, — whether he repeated his invita- 
 tion several times, and why the plan was not ex- 
 ecuted until some months afterwards, — is not stated 
 in any of the official documents. We will now pro- 
 ceed in the criminal's own words, which are too re- 
 markable and characteristic to be omitted : — 
 
 " On the day of the murder," said he, " I sent 
 for Catherine, and when she arrived I said to her, 
 since we are quite alone I will let you look in my 
 magic mirror. But you must go home and fetch 
 your best clothes, so that you may be able to shift 
 yourself several times. When she had returned 
 in her common working clothes, carrying her 
 other things in her apron, I rolled a white napkin 
 round a board, and brought a spy-glass, both of 
 which I laid upon the table, forbidding her to 
 touch either that or the miiTor. I then tied her 
 hands behind her with a bit of pack-thread, the 
 same which I had before used for Barbara Reisin- 
 ger, and bound a handkerchief over her eyes. I 
 then stabbed her in the throat with a knife which 
 I had in readiness. T had a desire to see how she 
 was made inwai'dly, and for this pui-pose I took a 
 wedge, which I placed upon her breast bone, and 
 struck it with a cobbler's hammer. I thus opened 
 her breast, and cut through the fleshy paits of her
 
 ANDREW BICIIEL. 285 
 
 body with a knife. I began to cut her open as 
 soon as ever I had stabbed her ; and no man, how- 
 ever quickly he may pray, coukl get through his 
 rosary, or say ten Ave Marias in the time it took 
 me to cut open her breast and the rest of her body. 
 I cut up this person as a butcher does a sheep, 
 chopping the corpse with an axe into portions 
 which would go into the pit which I had already 
 dus: for it on the hill. The whole time I was so 
 eager that 1 trembled, and could have cut out a bit 
 and eaten it. When Seidel had received the first 
 stab, she screamed, struggled, and sighed six or 
 seven times. As I cut her open immediately after 
 stabbing her, it is very possible that she may still 
 have been alive when I began cutting. I buried 
 the fragments of the body, after having carefully 
 locked the doors. I washed the bloody shift and 
 gown belonging to Seidel twice, and hid them 
 fi'om my wife, as a cat tries to hide its young, car- 
 rying them about from one place to another. I 
 put the other bloody things into the stove, and 
 burnt them. 
 
 " My only reason for murdering Reisinger and 
 Seidel was desire for their clothes. I must con- 
 fess that I did not want them ; but it was exactly 
 as if some one stood at my elbow, saying, * Do this 
 and buy com,' and whispered to me that I should 
 thus get something without risk of discovery." 
 
 The sentence of breaking oil the wheel from 
 the feet upwards, which had been pronounced in 
 accordance with the laws still in force, was com- 
 muted to beheading. This was done, not for the 
 sake of sparing the criminal, whose crimes de- 
 served the exti'emest punishment, but out of regard 
 to the moral dignity of the state, which ought not, 
 as it were, to vie with a murderer in cruelty.
 
 JOHN HOLZINGER. 
 
 MANSLAUGHTER, MURDER, AND SUICIDE, FROM 
 LOVE AND JEALOUSY. 
 
 John Conrad Holzinger, a Lutheran, was 
 boni in 1790, at Ansbach, where he carried on 
 the trade of a vintner. He possessed a couple of 
 houses, mortgaged to half their value, an acre of 
 land, and a wine-shop, worth about 1200 florins. 
 By his first wife he had four children. 
 
 He was a tall strongly-made man, with a some- 
 what repulsive countenance. His health was equal 
 to his muscular strength, and he had never suffered 
 from any illness, although he frequently complained 
 of determination of blood to the head, and of nerv- 
 ous agitation. He had received the usual educa- 
 tion of his class, and possessed a fair understand- 
 ing ; he was cheerful, obliging, and ready to talk, 
 which made him a generally welcome guest. He 
 was, however, subject to sudden but transient fits 
 of passion, during which he frequently smashed 
 the glasses and crockery, but had never been 
 known to proceed to personal violence. 
 
 His friends, relations, and sei"vants were unani- 
 mous in their praises of the goodness of his heart. 
 His maid-servants described him as " a kind-hearted 
 man, who would not offend even a child ;" and his 
 apprentice said that he was " an excellent fellow, 
 who would do whatever he was asked." The dis- 
 trict physician said the same thing, and asserted
 
 JOHN HOLZINGER. 287 
 
 that Holzingei-'s wife had more than once de- 
 scribed her husband as " a kind good man, from 
 ■whom everything was to be got with pro[)er ma- 
 nagement." This sort of praise is doubtful at best, 
 and is generally bestowed upon those who are 
 wanting in real moral worth, and whose easy good- 
 nature is but the sign of a weak and yielding dis- 
 position. 
 
 In Holzinger this facile temper was rendered 
 still less estimable by being combined with un- 
 manly cowardice, and worse than childish teiTors. 
 If any one opposed him with firmness he instantly 
 sank into abject submissiveness, even in the midst 
 of the most violent fits of anger. If roughly ad- 
 dressed, he started in affright. As a child he ran 
 away when his comrades fought, and he did not 
 dare to walk alone after dark in the fields, much 
 less in a wood. A man not half his size once in 
 jest pretended to attack him on meeting him in 
 the dai'k, whereupon Holzinger ran away in 
 terror. 
 
 Lastly, Holzinger was beyond measure licenti- 
 ous and inconstant. 
 
 After his wife's death, which took place in June, 
 1818, her sister Christiana, the divorced* wife of 
 a clergyman, a handsome woman of about thirty, 
 undertook the direction of his household. The 
 most intimate connection was soon formed be- 
 tween them, and Holzinger seriously intended to 
 marry her. He passionately loved her, and be- 
 came so accustomed to her society as never to be 
 easy without her. He did nothing without first 
 consulting her, and was completely under her 
 dominion. 
 
 * The reader must keep in mind that divorce d. vinculo matri- 
 monii is permitted by law in Protestant Germany for causes far 
 lighter than those in which the English legislature interferes. A 
 divorce, therefore, does not necessarily imply adultery. — Transl.
 
 288 REMARKABLE CRIMI^IAL TRIALS. 
 
 According to the testimony of the authorities, her 
 conduct was blameless ; but those who knew her 
 intimately spoke of her capricious and quari'elsome 
 disposition. Whenever Holzinger did anything to 
 displease her ; if, for instance, he stayed too long 
 at the public-house, or drank too freely, she re- 
 proached him in coarse and violent language. 
 These misunderstandings did not, however, at all 
 disturb the connection subsisting between them, 
 and were always quickly over. Holzinger always 
 gave way to her, and endeavored to appease her 
 anger by fair words and promises of amendment. 
 One of his common phrases was, " Christiana, are 
 you fond of me V She generally answered him 
 with a kindly "Yes," or with an impatient "What 
 is the matter now 1 Wliy should I not be fond of 
 you 1" He scarcely ever addressed her without 
 pressing her hand, or putting his arm round her 
 neck in an affectionate manner. 
 
 Although Christiana granted every favor to her 
 lover, she steadily refused to give him her hand in 
 marriage, declaring that she had determined once 
 for all not to marry again. This arose, perhaps, 
 from a desire to indulge her inclinations without 
 restraint, or perhaps her penetration had detected 
 under Holzinger's apparent good nature, qualities 
 which made her shrink from a more permanent 
 union with him. 
 
 Thus constantly refused by his mistress, Hol- 
 zinger was compelled by his position as the 
 father of a family and as a tradesman to look 
 round for another wife, and when his connection 
 with Christiana had lasted about six months, he 
 
 selected a certain Johanna R of Weissenburg, 
 
 a woman of forty, who had been twice manicd, 
 and was then divorced from her second husband. 
 This choice did not in the slightest degree inter- 
 I'UDt the intimacy subsisting between Holzinger
 
 JOHN HOLZINGER. 289 
 
 and Christiana. Everytliing was done by het 
 advice, and it was agreed that the new mamage 
 should not supersede the old love, Christiana was 
 to stay and manage his household until after the 
 wedding, when she was to return to her own home 
 at Wassei-triidingen, where her lover was to visit 
 her regularly once a fortnight. 
 
 Holzinger fetched his bride home from Weissen- 
 burg, a week before the wedding-day, which was 
 fixed for the 3d of Januaiy, 1S19. It is more easy 
 to imagine than to describe what he must have felt 
 on seeing this woman of forty or more contrasted 
 with Christiana who had rejected his suit, and on 
 rememberinsf that the former would remain while 
 the latter would shortly leave him ; his passion 
 for Christiana was now mingled with resentment 
 against a woman who could first refuse the hand 
 of a lover, and with perfect indifference see him 
 married to another. 
 
 The hope of occasionally visiting Christiana was 
 a poor satisfaction : he placed little confidence in 
 her conduct when absent from him, and foresaw 
 that another lover would soon share his mistress 
 with him, or pei'haps entirely supplant him. In- 
 deed he thought that the favored lover was already 
 chosen, in the person of Carl Schulz, his future 
 wife's nephew, a youth of twenty, who had accom- 
 panied his aunt to Ansbach. Christiana frequently 
 talked with him, seemed greatly pleased with his 
 company, and invited him to visit her at Wasser- 
 triidingen. Schulz became the object of violent 
 jealousy to Holzinger, who determined to get him 
 out of Christiana's way. He accordingly endeav- 
 ored by marked incivility to force him to leave his 
 house, even before the mamage. But to Holzinger's 
 great annoyance Schulz stayed, and Christiana's 
 manner towards him remained unaltered. 
 
 Christiana rendered the evening before the wed- 
 19 B B
 
 290 REMARKABU: cRIMliNAL TKIALS. 
 
 ding doubly painful to him by harsh behavior, 
 which, contrasted with the attentions which she 
 paid to young Schulz, increased his agitation, and 
 entirely got the better of his usual patient good 
 humor. Holzinger had been at the tavern from 
 six to eight, when Christiana wrote him an insult- 
 ing note, in which she called him " A good-for- 
 notlnng drunken fellow," and desired him to come 
 home nnmed lately. The maid met him on his 
 Avay thither, and gave him the note in the street. 
 He read and then tore the letter in the presence of 
 Christiana, who scolded and abused him the while. 
 He endeavored as usual to appease her by soft 
 words and excuses, and was so much hurt as to 
 shed tears ; but on her continuing to reproach him 
 he w^as seized with sudden fury, dashed a stone 
 jug to pieces on the floor, cursed and swore, 
 and tossed his arms wildly in the air. Chris- 
 tiana was ill-natured enough to represent his con- 
 duct in the most hateful colors to the bride elect, 
 whom she dissuaded, even at this stage of the affair, 
 from marrying him. Holzinger saw in this a 
 mark of the contempt and dislike with which he 
 believed that Christiana now looked upon him. 
 
 At six o'clock on the following morning the 
 wedding was celebrated in the presence of Christi- 
 ana and other relations. After the ceremony they 
 went to Holzinger's house, where they sat round a 
 table, drinking arrack, and all appeared to be in 
 the best humor. The misunderstanding of the 
 preceding day seemed entirely forgotten, and 
 Christiana's manner to him betokened complete 
 forgiveness and reconciliation. 
 
 The forenoon passed without any unusual occur- 
 rence. Holzinger appeared cheerful and good- 
 humored, but was observed to drink more than was 
 his habit. Besides two glasses of anack on return- 
 ing from church, he drank beer and wine, and,
 
 JOHN IIOLZINGER. 291 
 
 according to the accounts given by his fiiends, was 
 intoxicated before midday. Nevertheless the quan- 
 tity he had drunk was by no means sufficient to 
 deprive him of reason ; he acted and talked like 
 one excited by drink, but was perfectly aware of 
 what he was about, and in full possession of all his 
 faculties. 
 
 At about one they dined : Holzinger ate no- 
 thing but some soup. After dinner, Christiana, 
 who was bidden to a christening, sent for the haii'- 
 dresser, and when he arrived she took him by the 
 ai'm, and went into the nursery to have her hair 
 curled. 
 
 Holzinger, whose jealous suspicions were roused, 
 soon followed them, and looking through the glass- 
 door, saw the hair-dresser's arm round Christiana's 
 waist. Holzinger burst into the room, gave the 
 hair-dresser a violent box on the ear, and asked 
 him what he was about. Christiana, enraged at his 
 behavior, abused him, calling him a coarse drunken 
 fellow. He immediately left the room, and went 
 down to the cellar to fetch some wine for the 
 christening. While there he again drank some 
 wine, and then returned to the dining-room, where 
 he found Schulz, and with him Christiana smartly 
 dressed for the christening. Holzinger went up to 
 her, and putting his arm round her neck, as was 
 his custom, said, "Come here, I have something to 
 tell you." But she, who had not yet forgotten the 
 scene Avith the hair-dresser, pushed him away, and 
 left the room with the words, " Let me go ; you are 
 an ill-conditioned di'unkard ; I will have nothing 
 more to say to you." Schulz observed no agita- 
 tion, or anything unusual in Holzinger, who left 
 the room soon after. 
 
 " A few minutes after Holzinger had gone out 
 of the room" — these are Schulz's words — " I 
 heard a noise over-head. I thought it might be
 
 292 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 Holzinger and Christiana, who had made up their 
 quarrel and were romping. But before long, in 
 the midst of the noise, I heard groans ; I ran up- 
 stairs, and on opening the door I saw Christiana 
 lying on the floor. Holzinger was bending over 
 her, in the act of cutting her throat with a knife he 
 had in one hand, while with the other he held her 
 chin, and the blood spouted up from her like a 
 fountain. As I entered, Holzinger started up, and 
 holding the bloody knife high over his liead, ex- 
 claimed, " I am the murderer of this harlot!" He 
 then flung the knife upon the ground. I stood a 
 short time aghast at the sight, and then ran down- 
 stairs and out of the house, followed by Holzinger's 
 wife, sister, and maid-servant, who had come into 
 the room in the meantime. HolzinTCr followed 
 us, brandishing the knife which he had again seized, 
 and repeatedly exclaiming, " I am the murderer of 
 this harlot !" Christiana gave no sign of life : she 
 had ceased from groaning, and her arms had sunk 
 upon the floor." 
 
 Holzinger, meanwhile, ran about the house and 
 vard like a madman, accusinQ: himself of the mur- 
 der to every one, and lamenting the fate of his 
 wife and children. When the physician, who had 
 been sent for, arrived, Holzinger fell ujjon his 
 knees in despair, and repeated his self-accusation, 
 attributing his crime to sudden anger at Christiana's 
 reproaches. He behaved in the same manner 
 before the police, adding that he had been driven 
 to murder her by jealousy. 
 
 On examination Christiana's throat was found to 
 be cut almost from ear to ear, and the knife, which 
 was one commonly used at table, was found con- 
 cealed in the bed. It had been carried up-stairs to 
 cut the wedding cake. 
 
 At his first examination Holzinger made a full 
 confession in the following words : — " I will con-
 
 JOHN IIOLZINGER. 293 
 
 fess everything of which I am conscious. I am 
 well aware that I have committed a dreadful crime, 
 but such a combination of cii'cumstances urged me ' 
 to it, that in the opinion of any unprejudiced person 
 1 must stand to a great degree excused. My heart 
 is good, and I never in my life injured any one in 
 cold blood." 
 
 He then repeated what the reader already 
 knows, adding that, after the scene with the hair- 
 dresser, he had gone up-stairs intending to reproach 
 Christiana with her conduct. " She was very 
 angi-y, and said, ' You wicked man, I will make 
 you burst with jealousy ; I have a good mind to 
 stab you with this knife,' with these words she 
 pointed to a common car\ing-knife which lay on 
 the table beside the cake. At the same time she 
 spat in my face. I was drunk, and in my rage lost 
 all control over myself, and could no longer calcu- 
 late the consequences of my actions. My sister-in- 
 law struck me on the breast, upon which I snatched 
 up the knife, and, throwing her on the floor, cut 
 her throat. I was drunk, and so much enraged by 
 Christiana's behavior, that I lost all command over 
 myself, and was in such a state as not to be ac- 
 countable for my actions. INIy sister-in-law Avas to 
 blame for my drunkenness ; she made me drink 
 half a bottle of aiTack besides two bottles of wine 
 and two quarts of beer." 
 
 Holzinger, who cried and sobbed during the 
 whole examination, did not seem to be aware that 
 Christiana was dead, and asked with great emotion, 
 whether she could not be saved by medical help. 
 On being told that he was suspected of having 
 drunk the wine and the arrack in order to increase 
 his courao-e for the crime which he had determined 
 beforehand to commit, he answered, " I had no 
 evil intentions, and I loved my sister-in-law so 
 dearly, that God knows I could never have harmed 
 
 bb2
 
 294 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 her on purpose." In the subsequent examination 
 he again ref'eiTed to the state of his mind when he 
 committed the murder. " I was beside myself; 
 my body acted, but it was without the consent of 
 my will. I behaved like a madman, and knew not 
 what I was doing. 1 was not even aware that I 
 Iield the knife in my hand, and it was not till my 
 sister-in-law lay bleeding before me that I came to 
 my senses. Had not the unlucky knife lain on the 
 table I should not have been in this trouble." He 
 did not know that Schulz had seen him in the act, 
 nor did he remember hidintr the knife. He denied 
 all recollection of having seen his sister-in-law in 
 the parlor, and of what took place there. He said 
 that owing to the drunken state in which he then 
 was he could remember nothing. 
 
 Holzinger had in his confession insinuated so 
 strongly and with so much ingenuity that at the 
 time of the murder he was scarcely accountable for 
 his actions, that the advocate charged with his de- 
 fence founded his hopes of acquittal on this plea. 
 But in order to ensure success it was necessary 
 that the matter should be taken out of the province 
 of legal jurisdiction, and referred to the medical 
 faculty. Holzinger's advocate accordingly asserted 
 " That his client's brain and nervous system were 
 completely disorganized, and that he was in a 
 state of raving madness when he committed the 
 murder." He therefore demanded a consultation 
 of physicians. 
 
 This was not properly a case for reference to a 
 medical board, and the demand ought to have been 
 refused. " In all cases," says Heinroth, " where 
 the motive to the deed is evident, it is more than 
 superfluous to consult the medical faculty. Nor 
 can the assertion of the criminal, or the conjectures 
 of the advocate that the deed was committed from 
 blind impulse, or in the confusion of the moment.
 
 JOHN HOLZINGER. 295 
 
 be a valid reason for medical examination, when 
 the motives for the action are apparent."* In this 
 case the motive was manifest, according to his own 
 confession, and the evidence of other competent 
 witnesses. 
 
 It was obvious that Holzin^er had killed his 
 sister-in-law in a fit of violent fury, excited by love 
 and jealousy ; and the excuse that the gratification 
 of these passions is a proof of deranged intellect, 
 is inadmissible. Yet in endeavoring to show that 
 he was not accountable for his actions, Holzinger 
 could refer to no derangement of intellect save 
 that arising from those very passions which im- 
 pelled him to the deed. Among a hundred men 
 who commit murder, manslaughter, «Scc., there will 
 be found scarce one who will not describe, and 
 describe with perfect truth, his state during the 
 commission of the crime as one of passing madness. 
 But the madness of passion and of crime cannot 
 absolve a criminal of guilt either in law or in con- 
 science, for it is a madness that does not beghi 
 until the criminal intention is already formed. 
 
 But what proved beyond doubt that Holzinger 
 was accountable for his actions was the fact that he 
 gave the court a connected and detailed account of 
 the origin and growth of the passions which drove 
 him to commit the crime, and of the state of his 
 mind when he committed it, and entered into a 
 minute analysis of the derangement of his intellect, 
 drawn from his owm observation. Holzinger re- 
 membered what he had done, and knew that it 
 was a crime. A madman, on the contrary, either 
 rejoices in his deed, or speaks of it as an indiffer-. 
 ent event, and, should his insanity leave him, the 
 whole thing appears to him as a dream. That a 
 
 * tJber das falsche artzliche verfahrenbei criminal gerichtlichen 
 niitersuchungen zweifelhaftPr Gemiithszustande. — Hitzig Zeit- 
 schrift. 1828. 1 vol. f. 125.
 
 296 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 madman should give an account of his madness 
 from his own sensations is as incredible as that a 
 blind man should relate that which he has seen, or 
 a deaf man that which he has heard. 
 
 Nevertheless the demand made by the advocate 
 was conceded, and both the district physician and 
 Holzingcr's usual medical attendant were separ- 
 ately called upon for their opinions as to the state 
 of his mind. 
 
 The latter admitted that he hadneverperceived 
 any symptoms of insanity in the prisoner either 
 before or since the commission of his crime, and 
 that although it was proved that both his mother 
 and grandmother had for many years suffered from 
 hypochondria, it could not thence be inferred that 
 he was actually afflicted with the same disease, but 
 only that, in all probability, he had a tendency to- 
 wards it. This physician, nevertheless, concluded 
 his opinion by saying that Holzinger was deprived 
 by drunkenness, by the passion of jealousy and by 
 anger, of consciousness and self-control, and that he 
 was not a free and accountable agent when he com- 
 mitted the murder. The district physician, on the 
 contrary, gave it as his opinion that there were no 
 certain, or even probable, reasons for supposing 
 that Holzinger's brain and nervous system were 
 disorganized and himself insane at the time of the 
 murder. 
 
 In spite of this difference, however, the two 
 opinions tended towards the same legal result ; both 
 denied the existence of actual insanity in Holzin- 
 ger's mind, and according to both he was account' 
 able for the death of his sister-in-law. 
 
 Nevertheless, the report of the case was sent for 
 consideration to the College of Medicine, which, 
 on the 20th of April, 1819, sent in a wordy and 
 incoherent opinion, which concluded by saying 
 " that at the time of the murder he was in a Ptato
 
 JOHN IIOLZINGER. 297 
 
 of mental derangement, arising partly from vio- 
 lent passion, and paitly from latent hereditary 
 tendencies, which made him irresponsible for his 
 actions." 
 
 According to this opinion, then, the innocent 
 and unfortunate prisoner ought to have been fully 
 acquitted — nor was there in it anything which could 
 even justify his confinement in a madhouse for the 
 sake of public security ; for the Medical College 
 itself admitted that he had been in the full posses- 
 sion of his reason during the whole course of his life, 
 with the sole exception of a few m^oments, during 
 which he went mad in order to murder his sister- 
 in-law, after which he immediately returned to his 
 usual health and sanity. 
 
 One of the arguments used by the Medical 
 College to prove Holzinger's insanity was, that he 
 committed the murder in a place, at a time, and 
 under circumstances which none but a madman 
 would have chosen. According to this, then, every 
 man who suffers himself to be impelled by pas- 
 sion to commit crimes which he has not carefully 
 planned beforehand, is a madman. 
 
 Again, the college strongly insisted on the fact, 
 that after seizing the knife, Holzinger remember- 
 ed nothing moi-e. Now, even if Holzinger actually 
 made such a statement, the ti'uth of it might very 
 fairly be questioned ; but his own words were as 
 follows : "I could no longer command myself, 
 and do not know what I did while in that condi- 
 tion ; I only remember thus much, that I snatched 
 up a knife which lay upon the table, seized my 
 sister-in-law, threw her upon the floor, and cut her 
 throat," 
 
 Among the arguments by which the Medical 
 College sought to establish the fact of the prison- 
 er's insanity, it adduced the prisoner's seeming 
 jo-norance of his sister-in-law's death up to the
 
 298 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 moment when the body was shown to him in 
 court, contrasted with his frantic behavior after 
 the deed, and his loud and pubhc self-accusations. 
 Far from being a psychological j^henomenon, this 
 was the mere invention of a criminal who fi-om the 
 very beginning artfully endeavored to represent 
 himself as irresponsible for his actions. After the 
 murder Holzin^r twice returned to the room 
 where Christiana lay weltering in her blood ; he 
 told his household that he had killed her, and 
 when the physicians arrived he showed them the 
 corpse himself, but expressed no hope that her life 
 could possibly be saved. Unless, then, his subse- 
 quent ignorance of her death was, as we believe, 
 affected, we must suppose that he was sane im- 
 mediately after committing the murder, and was 
 afterwards seized with a monomania, under the in- 
 fluence of which he believed the murdered woman 
 to be still living, and entertained hopes of her recov- 
 ery, while on every other subject he was in the full 
 possession of his faculties. 
 
 As the foregoing medical opinions failed to 
 establish the fact which they were intended to 
 prove, and were directly at variance with ex^jeri- 
 ence and cominon sense ; as, moreover, they con- 
 tained every defect which deprives a medical opin- 
 ion of legal authority,* and as the deed itself was 
 fully proved, the Court was now called upon to 
 decide whether the prisoner was guilty of murder 
 or only of manslaughter. 
 
 The following circumstances appeared to indi- 
 cate a murderous intention : — In the first place, 
 Holzinger did not kill his sister-in-law by a single 
 blow, stab, or shot, as is usually the case in a com- 
 pletely unpremeditated murder committed in sud- 
 den anger. A certain degree of preparation was 
 
 * Art. 264, Nos. 3,. 4, Part II., of the " Strafgesetzbuch."
 
 JOH\ HOLZINGER. 299 
 
 necessary, and hex- resistance had to be overcome 
 before her death could be effected ; and though 
 these actions occupied a very short space of time, 
 that was sufficient to tlirow a suspicion of design 
 upon him. It also looked suspicious that Holzin- 
 ger excused his unusual drunkenness on the day of 
 the murder by falsely stating that every day since 
 Schulz's arrival he had drunk enough to intoxicate 
 himself, in the hojic of dispelling his jealous vexa- 
 tion. No less so is the forgetfulness which he 
 professed of the scene in the parlor, when on en- 
 deavoring to conciliate Christiana, he was repulsed 
 by her with hard words, and immediately after 
 which he followed her into the upper room, and 
 there murdered her. One is naturally led to the sup- 
 position that this forgetfulness was affected by the 
 prisoner, that this very scene determined him to 
 commit the murder, and that he followed her up- 
 stairs with that intention. His account of her 
 behavior to him, of her striking him, spitting in his 
 face, and threatening to stab him, seemed, to say 
 the least, exaggerated, and, moreover, he made 
 no mention of any such provocations until some 
 time after the murdei- — the only motives he at first 
 assigned were jealousy and resentment of her re- 
 proaches. 
 
 These arguments were counterbalanced by 
 others of equal weight. A premeditated murder 
 is generally committed secretly, so that the very 
 publicity of Holzinger's crime renders it highly 
 probable that the idea first occuiTed to him when 
 he had reached the upper room, and that it was 
 executed in the heat of the moment : it is also cer- 
 tain that Holzinger followed Christiana unarmed, 
 and used no weapon but the knife Avhich accident 
 threw in his wav. His behavior after committing 
 the deed — his wild despair and loud lamentations 
 over his dead mistress, were an additional confir-
 
 300 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 mation of the supposition that the murder was un- 
 premeditated. 
 
 These last-mentioned arguments outweighed the 
 preceding ones in the judgment of the Court, and 
 Holzinger was accordingly found guilty of man- 
 slaughter on the person Christiana R . 
 
 The proper punishment for manslaughter is im- 
 prisonment in the house of con-ection for an un- 
 , limited time ;* but this may be shortened to twelve 
 or even to eight years, if the deceased had pro- 
 voked the attack by extraordinary insults, or if 
 the deed was committed in a state of drunken- 
 ness. In Holzinger's case both these excuses ob- 
 tained, in consideration of which he was sen- 
 tenced to eight years' imprisonment iii the house 
 of connection. 
 
 On the 2d December, 1816, Holzinger was con- 
 veyed to the fortress of Lichtenau, where he was 
 treated with unusual indulgence. He had some 
 years before lost the use of one eye from a shot, 
 which procured for him from the surgeon a certi- 
 ficate to the effect that he could not be employed 
 in the work usually imposed upon the prisoners, 
 without endangering his sight. He enjoyed as 
 much liberty as is consistent with confinement 
 within the walls of the fortress, and was employed 
 only in easy tasks. His punishment, in fact, con- 
 sisted only in the ignominy attached to it, and this 
 he seemed to feel as little as he felt remorse. He 
 accosted his fellow-citizens who came to visit the 
 prison without the slightest shame, either for his 
 crime, or for his prison dress. 
 
 Holzinger's conduct while in the house of cor- 
 rection was, however, so good in all other respects, 
 that at the end of six years, when three-fourths of 
 his tei'm of imprisonment had expired, he obtained 
 
 ♦ Art. 157, Part. I., of the " Strafgesetzbuch."
 
 JOHN IIOLZINGER. 301 
 
 his discharge, on the favorable report of the gover- 
 nor of the fortress.* 
 
 The governor described him as a man of limited 
 intellect and defective education, physically and 
 morally enfeebled by dissolute habits. Six years' 
 residence amongst criminals had done more to 
 harden and degrade, than the punishment had 
 done to amend him. 
 
 Holzinger came back amongst his fellow-citi- 
 zens thoroughly indifferent to his crime, which he 
 looked upon as a matter completely settled, and 
 with which his conscience had nothing further to 
 do. He unblushingly forced himself into the 
 society of his fellow-citizens, and even delighted 
 in turning the conversation upon his deed, in 
 order to show how little it weighed upon his 
 mind. He considered that a few years' impri- 
 sonment had completely cleansed him from all 
 guilt. 
 
 The trial and imprisonment had utterly ruined 
 him, and he was forced to maintain himself by 
 driving a hired carriage (Lohnkutsche). His wife 
 died during his imprisonment, and he was now at 
 liberty to follow his inclinations. He was scarcely 
 out of prison before he formed a violent attachment 
 to a certain Rosina Ott, a well-conducted girl of 
 five-and-tvventy. From love towards the daughter 
 he lodgfed with the mother, who was a washer- 
 woman, and by unceasing attentions and apparent 
 good humor, he succeeded not only in overcoming 
 her repugnance to a one-eyed murderer, but even 
 in gaining her affections. Rosina Ott was en- 
 deared to him by the very labor it had cost him 
 to win her, and he soon gave fatal proof how 
 fierce a passion for her had taken possession of 
 him. 
 
 * Art. 12, 13, Part I., of the " Strafgesetzbuch." 
 
 Cc
 
 302 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TIIIALS. 
 
 Rosina was penniless; a marriage with her was, 
 therefore, out of the question. As Holzinger 
 wanted money, he sought and obtained in marri- 
 age a woman of nine-and-thirty, named Margaret 
 Heimstiidt, who possessed 600 florins ; no inconsi- 
 derable sum for a man in his circumstances. He 
 now thought that he liad so arranged matters as to 
 gain from a wife what was wanting in the mistress, 
 while the mistress would be to him what the wife 
 could never become. This, however, rested upon 
 the supposition that his wife would allow him to 
 frequent Rosina, and that the mother of the latter 
 would suffer her daughter's connection with the 
 husband of another woman. In both these expec- 
 tations Holzinger was disappointed. Margaret 
 Heimstadt, who had lived with him as his wife 
 ever since the banns had first been published in 
 church, and had already surrendered the greater 
 part of her property to him, forbade him all 
 further communication with Rosina Ott. On the 
 other hand Rosina's mother interdicted him from 
 any future intercourse with her daughter. As 
 Holzinger paid no attentions to the commands of 
 his betrothed wife or of Rosina's mother, they both 
 went before a magistrate at Ansbach, where they 
 met — though without previous concert — the latter 
 to claim protection against Holzinger's importuni- 
 ties to her daughter, the former to break off the 
 marriage, and forbid the third publication of the 
 banns. Matters were, however, privately arranged 
 by the mediation of their mutual friends. Holzinger 
 promised his future wife that he would give up all 
 connection with Rosina, whereupon she consented 
 to retract her declaration with regard to the publi- 
 cation of the banns. 
 
 The banns were accordingly published for the 
 third and last time on Sunday, 18th February, 
 1827, and Holzinger now found himself in the
 
 JOHN HOLZINGER. 303 
 
 same predicament as on the 3d January, 1819. 
 On the one hand a middle-aged woman with whom 
 he must live without affection, on the other a fur 
 younger woman, whom he passionately loved, and 
 whom he was forced to resign. His bridal day 
 eight years before had been marked by the death 
 of his beloved Christiana, and now the festive Sun- 
 day was destined to be celebrated in a like man- 
 ner. 
 
 On the evening of the 18th February it was ru- 
 mored in the town of Ansbach that Holzingfer had 
 killed Rosina Ott by a pistol shot. The aunt of the 
 unfortunate girl, who was an eye-witness of the 
 murder, hastened to inform the police of it. The 
 corpse was found lying in the snow close to a shed 
 in a field just beyond the suburbs ; the clothes 
 were still burning in places, and the fragments of a 
 pistol which had been discharged and then broken, 
 and the lock of which was covered with blood and 
 human hair, were found close by. 
 
 Holzinger had been in the habit of visiting Rosi- 
 na at her aunt's house after her mother had forbid- 
 den him her own. On the 18th February he went 
 to this aunt and told her that his wife suspected 
 his meetings with Rosina, and watched him accord- 
 ingly, so that he could no longer meet her at the 
 usual place, but that he must have a last interview 
 with his mistress, to whom he wished to present 
 a small farewell gift on taking leave of her. He, 
 therefore, requested that she would meet him in 
 the evening at a place outside the town. Rosina, 
 on being informed by her aunt of his request, like- 
 wise begged to be allowed this last interview, add- 
 ing that after this "she would have nothing more 
 to say to Holzinger." Her aunt went with her 
 at half-past five to the appointed place, where 
 they found Holzinger waiting for them. The 
 aunt said that "their meeting was quite that of
 
 304 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 two lovers. He kissed and pressed her in his 
 arms, saying, ' Mine you are and mine you must 
 
 be.' " 
 
 On their way home, as they approached the 
 town, Holzinger desired the aunt to leave them, as 
 he wished to give the present which he had brought 
 for Rosina to her alone. At first she refused, and 
 even Rosina did not seem to like the idea of being 
 left alone with Holzinger. At length, however, 
 she gave way, and Holzinger and Rosina walked 
 towards the open fields. 
 
 The aunt pretended to remain behind, but from 
 distrust of Holzinger she followed the loving couple 
 and saw them ascend a hillock. She presently 
 heard loud talking, and Rosina's voice exclaiming 
 in a tone of distress. She hun-ied up the hill, call- 
 ing out in alarm, Rosina, Rosina ! " Oh, aunt," 
 answered the girl, " he is going to shoot me !" At 
 the same moment he fired, and Rosina fell to the 
 ground. The aunt not only saw the flash and 
 heard the report, but distinctly saw Holzinger take 
 aim at Rosina. She screamed aloud at the sight, 
 whereupon Holzinger turned towards her, and 
 called out in a threatening voice, " If you cry out, 
 I will serve you the same." This frightened her 
 so much that she ran away. 
 
 After, as it would seem, completing his deed by 
 shattering the head and face of his mistress with the 
 butt end of his pistol, Holzinger went to the village 
 of Schalkhausen, about two miles from Ansbach. 
 He got there at about ten o'clock, and went into a 
 tavern, where he seated himself at a table in a dis- 
 tant and dark corner, saying that he had come from 
 Langenfcld by a very bad road, asked for a quart 
 of beer, which he drank in two or three draughts, 
 then for a glass of brandy, then for another quart 
 of beer, and finally for a "bed. The host, to whom 
 such a guest was not very welcome, advised him to
 
 JOHN IIOLZINGER. 305 
 
 go on to the town of Ansbach, but he said that he was 
 very tired, had drunk too much, and that the cold 
 was BO intense that he was afraid he might be fro- 
 zen to death if he went any farther so late at night. 
 The host accordingly gave him a room up-staii'S, to 
 which Holzinger retired can-ying with hini a third 
 quart of beer. On the following morning, at nine 
 o'clock, Holzinger had not made his appearance, 
 and the host sent his daughter up-stairs to look after 
 him. She returned, saying, that she had peeped 
 through the key-hole, and had seen the stranger 
 standing by the window. At eleven o'clock the 
 host went up-stairs himself, and on opening the 
 door he saw to his horror that his guest had hung 
 himself on the iron handles of the upper window, 
 and that he was already dead. 
 
 The host immediately gave information of the 
 event to the proper authorities, who at once re- 
 paired to the spot. On examination it appeared 
 that Holzinger had attempted to cut his throat, and 
 also to stab himself, but it was evident from the 
 appearance of the wounds that the instrument with 
 which he had inflicted them, and which could no- 
 where be found, was too blunt, and that failing in 
 his endeavors, he had ended by hanging himself 
 with his braces. Holzinger had by his suicide es- 
 caped the sword of the executioner, from which, 
 in this instance, not even the physicians could have 
 saved him. 
 
 This time there could be no doubt that both 
 the murder and the suicide were premeditated. 
 Holzinger had betrothed himself with a woman 
 who was not only indifferent, but even disagreeable 
 to him, for the sake of her money, of which he had 
 already received and spent the gi-eater part. This 
 woman's jealousy, and the determination of Rosi- 
 na's mother to suffer no intercourse between her 
 daughter and a married man, at once frustrated 
 20 cc2 
 
 s
 
 306 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 the scheme by which Holzinger had hoped to com- 
 bine the pleasures of love and avarice. 
 
 When Holzinger had been summoned before the 
 magistrate at the suit of liosina's mother, and for- 
 bidden all further communication with the daufjh- 
 ter, he, nevertheless, went to her house, and when 
 she refused to admit him, he said with a threaten- 
 ing voice and gesture, " You have played me a 
 pretty trick ; but I don't care for the magistrate, 
 and you shall see that Rosina will be mine in 
 spite of you." 
 
 Six days later the real meaning of these words 
 was explained. While he was leading Rosina to 
 death he pressed her in his arms, saying, " Mine 
 you are, and mine you must be."
 
 CASPAR FRISCH. 
 
 THE MURDERER FROM VANITY. 
 
 On the 17th of July, 1809, the Jew Parnas Samuel 
 informed the court at Harburg, in the principahty 
 of Wallerstein in Bavaria, that Joseph Samuel 
 Landauer had gone the day before to Briinnsee, 
 and that, contrary to his usual custom, he had not 
 returned home. David Levi, his servant, and An- 
 drew Bonlander had gone out to seek him, and 
 had at last found him near the old castle of Woll- 
 warth, quite stiff and cold. The unfortunate man 
 had been conveyed to Harburg, where the physi- 
 cian pronounced him to be dead. 
 
 On inspecting the corpse on the following day, 
 great part of the skull and brow were found to be 
 beaten in, and the nose and upper jaw broken ; 
 but no injui'ies Avero discovered on any other parts 
 of the body, excepting on the third finger of the 
 left hand, the middle joint of which was broken 
 and the skin abrased. The physicians pronounced 
 the injuries quite sufficient to cause death, and 
 conjectured them to have been inflicted with a 
 large stone weighing above six pounds, which was 
 found on the spot, covered with hair and blood. 
 
 On the very same day distinct traces of the 
 murderer were discovered. It seemed that the 
 murdered man had been seen, on the afternoon on 
 which he was murdered, at the house of a certain 
 Caspar Frisch. One George Keck had seen a
 
 008 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 man prowling about the castle of Wollwartli soon 
 after, and had recognised him by his lameness to 
 be Caspar Frisch, who was crooked and always 
 walked with a stick. This same witness saw an- 
 other person, whom he did not know, go to this 
 .spot about the same time, and perceived from a 
 distance that two persons were beating a third. 
 A young girl of about thirteen, who also witnessed 
 the struggle from a distance, spoke of these tivo 
 persons — one wearing a black smock frock and a 
 j^easant's hat, the other a white frock and a black 
 cap. She also heard the man whom they had beat 
 groaning for some time after. 
 
 They found on the murdered man two acknowl- 
 edgments of debt, signed by Caspar Frisch, relat- 
 ing chiefly to some transaction about a watch. 
 His widow made the following statement concern- 
 ing Frisch. That " about ten days jirevious to 
 the murder, he came to their house and told her 
 liusband that he had buried his savintrs some years 
 ago, and for a long time had been unable to find 
 the spot. But that lately as he was going to bury 
 something else he had accidentally discovered the 
 first money, consisting of Bavai'ian kreutzers, which, 
 after paying his debts, he wished to exchange. 
 Frisch then appointed her husband to meet him 
 on the following Sunday, the 16th of July, and to 
 bring with him some money and two watches 
 which he wished to buy. Ho also charged him to 
 say nothing of all this to his cousins, who would 
 otherwise want the money to pay their debts 
 with. Her husband at first thouofht the whole 
 
 • • • o 
 
 affair suspicious, but as Frisch protested that he 
 had earned the money by honest labor, he was at 
 last induced to go to meet him on the appointed 
 day, and to take with liini a large sum of money 
 and two silver watches, one of which was a re- 
 ])eater."
 
 CASPAR FlUtiCH. 309 
 
 The court immediately summoned Fiiscli and 
 his cousins with whom ho lived to appear before 
 it, but only as witnesses. Frisch stated as follows : 
 " The murdered man came to me at one o'clock, 
 partly in order to bring a couple of watches which 
 he had sold me a week before, and partly to fetch 
 a saucepan lid. About two years before I had 
 bought two silver watches of the Jew for ninety- 
 six florins, which I had agi-eed to pay in six instal- 
 ments. I had paid a part of this debt, but not all, 
 as I had never been able to find a sum of two 
 hundred florins which I had buried about five years 
 since durins: the French invasion. I most unex- 
 pectedly found this sum about a fortnight ago while 
 I was new laying the threshold of the old shed, and 
 immediately went to the Jew and offered to pay 
 him the remainder of his debt. On this occasion 
 the Jew proposed to sell me two watches which 
 he then wore, and we agreed that the Jew was to 
 take back the watches which he had formerly sold, 
 me, and to let me have the two others in exchange, 
 upon payment of an additional sum of thirty-six 
 florins. The Jew came to me yesterday to settle 
 the matter : everything was done as we had agreed, 
 and the Jew then changed what little money was 
 left for twelve-kreutzcr pieces. All this was done 
 in about twenty minutes, after which the Jew went 
 away. I stayed at home for a short time, and then 
 went to several places and talked with different 
 persons, from whom I heard that three people had 
 been fighting up at the old castle." 
 
 At the conclusion of his examination the judge 
 asked him how he got the scratches upon his face, 
 which looked as though they had been made by 
 some one's nails. He answered that he had got the 
 scratch over his eye on Saturday, while thatching 
 his cousin's house, and that those about his mouth 
 had been done in shaving.
 
 310 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 This evidence was thous:lit sufficient to warrant 
 Frisch's provisional imprisonment. 
 
 A number of suspicious circumstances soon ap- 
 peared against him. Several witnesses were ex- 
 amined as to whether they had seen the scratches 
 on his face on the Saturday or on the Sunday 
 morning : some said they could not remember, but 
 the greater number confidently asserted that at 
 that time there were no such mai-ks upon his face. 
 The wife of a certain Schwerdberger stated that 
 Friscli had come to her while her husband was out, 
 at about six o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday, 
 the day of the murder, and, on entering the house, 
 said that his legs trembled so violently and lie was 
 so tired, that he must beg her to give him a glass 
 of water. . She then observed that there were fi-esh 
 and bleeding scratches upon his face. On asking 
 him the cause of them, he told her that he had been 
 in the wood to catch squirrels, and had fallen from 
 a tree and scratched his face with the prickly leaves 
 of a fir-tree. Another witness stated that " Frisch 
 bad been with him on that very Sunday, at one 
 o'clock, when he observed no marks on his face ; 
 but that at six o'clock, when Frisch again called 
 upon him, he saw the scratches, and said to him, 
 ' You, too, must have been fighting up at the old 
 castle, to get so scratched.' But he denied this, 
 and again attributed the marks to a fall while try- 
 ing to catch squirrels." Finally, the physician 
 who examined his face declared that the wounds 
 were evidently produced by a man's nails, and 
 added that on the prisoner's left hand, more es- 
 pecially on the middle finger, there were similar 
 wounds, inflicted beyond doubt with the nails. 
 
 Such strong grounds for suspicion induced the 
 court to have Frisch brought before it for special 
 examination on the 1 9tli of July, that is, four days 
 after the murder. It would be useless to recapit-
 
 CASPAR FRISCH. 311 
 
 ulate all the lies and contradictions in which he 
 persisted during the first examination ; but scarce 
 had he returned to his cell when he demanded a 
 fresh audience, and confessed his guilt. 
 
 Caspar Frisch, a Protestant, was at this time five 
 and twenty ; his mother had been dead about seven 
 years, but his father was living and had married a 
 second wife. Frisch could not live with his step- 
 mother, who was a well-conducted but severe and 
 violent woman, and who made greater demands on 
 her step-son's industry than he was either able or 
 willing to satisfy. Frisch's right leg was quite stiff, 
 his loins were paralysed, and four of the fingers of 
 his right hand wanted a joint. He could only walk 
 with the assistance of a stick, and was unable to 
 perform common field-laboi". To make up for this, 
 he was very expert in wood-carving and in all 
 kinds of work that did not require much exertion. 
 The incessant contention between his step-mother 
 and himself drove him to seek refuge with his 
 cousins, who willingly received him. He served 
 them, as well as his deformity permitted him, as a 
 carter, and in repairing the house and the out- 
 houses, and in his leisui'e hours earned a little 
 money by his carvings. His cousins were always 
 indulgent towards him ; and his neisrhbors had no 
 serious fault to find with him. The prominent 
 defect of his character was vanity, and a desire to 
 outshine his fellows in dress and trinkets. In these 
 he sought some compensation for the deformity with 
 which nature had atfiicted him. As he could not 
 please by his person, he wished to do so by the 
 splendor of his exterior. His crippled body ren- 
 dered him an object of pity or contempt ; but he 
 endeavored by dress and ornament to turn the 
 scorn of his associates into envy. 
 
 More than a year before, he had bought of the 
 Jew, Joseph Samuel Landauer, first one silver
 
 312 llEMAKKABLE CIUMINAL TKIALS. 
 
 watch, then another, a silver liat-huckle and a silver 
 ■watch-chain, for which he owed him one hundred 
 and thirty-two florins. This sum greatly exceeded 
 his means, but the possession of such ornaments 
 was so tempting, and the term of payment so distant, 
 as to silence all doubts and fears. Frisch could 
 not, however, always pay the instalments when 
 they became due, and the thought would then occur 
 to him that the Jew had cheated him, and had 
 asked more than tlie things were worth. 
 
 About a fortnight before the murder he saw in 
 the Jew's possession a silver repeater, which took 
 his fancy. The Jew offered to exchange it against 
 his old watch and four carolins. Frisch returned 
 home with his head full of this new temptation, 
 and of the old debt. *' The repeater is so hand- 
 some ! I cannot pay for it ; and the Jew is a cheat." 
 Such were the ideas which filled his mind, and 
 which soon suggested to him a contrivance for 
 getting rid of the debt without paying it, and for 
 becoming at the same time the happy possessor of 
 the two new Avatchcs : the Jew was to be induced 
 to bring both watches to Frisch's house ; and, 
 under pretence of payment, to be persuaded to ac- 
 company him to the old castle, where he would 
 pretend to have buried his money — and there the 
 Jew was to be murdered. Frisch declared that 
 his conscience was disturbed, and that he could 
 neither sleep, eat, nor drink during the whole 
 week. This did not, however, alter his determina- 
 tion. He heard an owl hoot one night, and 
 thought that it was intended as a warning t(» him ; 
 but he only said, " Hoot as much as you will, you 
 carrion ; I will do it spite of all your hooting." 
 The scheme, engendered by covetousness, fed by 
 pecuniary embarrassment, and strengthened by the 
 idea that Landauer had cheated him, found a pow- 
 erful apology in his contempt for the Jewish race.
 
 CASi'Att FRXSCH. 313 
 
 — " He is but a Jew ! there is no harm done : what 
 business had he to charge so much and to take away 
 all my money 1" 
 
 About a week before the murder, Frisch went 
 to the Jew's house and told him that he had at 
 length found the money which he had buried in 
 the shed in 1805, when the French entered Ger- 
 many, and that he would now pay his debt, and 
 give ready money down for the repeater. The 
 Jew then produced not only the repeater, but an- 
 other small watch besides, which he praised exces- 
 sively, telling him that it was a most excellent 
 watch, so good a one, that if he bought it, he would 
 thank him for it all his life : that there were not 
 two other such watches in all the country round. 
 He agreed to purchase the repeater, and also a 
 larger and flatter watch, instead of the other, but 
 at the same price. Frisch made an appointment 
 with the Jew for the following Sunday afternoon, 
 when the one was to receive the watches and the 
 other the money. 
 
 The Jew came as appointed at about one p. m., 
 when Frisch's cousins were fi'om home, bringing 
 with him the two watches. He desired Frisch to 
 give him a written assurance to the eftect that the 
 money was really his, and the same which he had 
 formerly buried. The Jew then demanded pay- 
 ment of his debt, but Frisch told him that the mo- 
 ney was concealed up in the old castle between 
 two rocks, and that he must go with him to get it. 
 This was in itself suspicious, and directly at va- 
 riance with Frisch's former statement, according 
 to which the money was buried in the shed. Nev- 
 ertheless, the simple Jew, infatuated by love of 
 gain, merely exclaimed, "What! upon the hill! 
 only think!" and went on his way thither. He 
 sat down beside the stream at the foot of the hill 
 
 Dd
 
 314 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 to wash his feet while waiting for Caspar Frisch, 
 who went up the other side of the castle hill, and 
 beckoned to the Jew, whom he saw sitting below, 
 to come up. The Jew, eager to possess the mo- 
 ney, ran up, repeatedly exclaiming, "Caspar, 
 where is it? where is it, Caspar]" In answer to 
 this question, Frisch led him to a spot where three 
 fragments of rocks formed a sort of cavern, in which 
 he told him that the money was buried. Frisch 
 now began to tremble in every limb. He was 
 himself astonished at the blindness of the Jew in not 
 taking alarm at his strange demeanor. At length 
 Frisch stooped to the ground, and began to remove 
 some stones ; but he soon ceased, saying that it hurt 
 his crippled fingers, and that the Jew must kneel 
 dovra and scrape out the earth and stones himself. 
 The Jew complied, and while he was busily em- 
 ployed in clearing away the stones, and thinking of 
 nothing but the treasure which was soon to appear, 
 Frisch snatched up a stone, weighing, as he said, 
 about three pounds, and with it struck the Jew on 
 the head as hard as he could. His victim fell back- 
 wards, but quickly recovered himself, and attacked 
 his murderer, striking at his face, and exclaiming 
 in a broken voice, " Caspar, let me go!" Frisch 
 now seized him by the body, or, as he afterwards 
 said, by the leg, threw him down and fell upon 
 him. Even then, the Jew, who was undermost, 
 struggled hard for his life, and would have over- 
 powered Frisch, had not the latter got one finger 
 of the Jew's left hand between his teeth, thus de- 
 priving him of the use of the hand. The stones 
 which lay scattered around afforded ready instru- 
 ments of murder. Frisch struck the Avi'etched 
 man about the head and brow ; and although at 
 each blow the stone dropped from his crippled 
 hand, he quickly seized anothci", and continued the
 
 CASPAR FIIISCH. 315 
 
 attack. He gave the Jcnv ten oi* eleven blows, 
 until his head was crushed, and Frisch perceived 
 that he was dying : he then robbed the dj-ing man 
 of his watches and money and left him. 
 
 The accused repeatedly confessed the deed as it 
 has now been related. As his confession agreed 
 with the circumstances stated by the witnesses, and 
 was perfectly consistent in itseh^ it needs no further 
 comment. 
 
 There was, however, one difnculty which must 
 be noticed. The accused asserted that he com- 
 mitted the murder alone. It, however, seemed in- 
 credible that a feeble cripple — who could scarce 
 walk without the help of a stick — should have over- 
 powered a strong man in the full use of his limbs. 
 This doubt was further increased by the statement 
 of two witnesses, John Keck and Anna Vogt, who 
 affirmed that they had seen two men attacking a 
 third. But when we consider the rapidity of the 
 motions of those engaged in conflict, one while 
 struggling on the ground, at another standing ; and 
 moreover, that the witnesses saw the fight from 
 a considerable distance, it appears very probable 
 that they may have been deceived. Another wit- 
 ness, John Low, who first called Keek's attention 
 to the contest, stoutly maintained that he had seen 
 only two persons ; moreover, Keck refused to re- 
 peat his statement as to three jieople on oath. The 
 doubt arising from the dispropoition in bodily 
 strength between the murderer and his victim 
 vanishes when we consider that the first blow fell 
 upon the Jew unawares, and apparently stunned 
 him : that fear often paralyses the strong, while 
 passion bestows unwonted strength and activity 
 upon the weak. Finally, there was not the slight- 
 est clue that could lead to the discovery of this 
 third person, and it is not conceivable that Frisch,
 
 316 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TKIALS. 
 
 who might gain much, and could lose nothing, 
 by giving him up, should take the whole blame 
 upon himself, and persist in the assertion, frequently 
 and solemnly repeated, that he had no accom- 
 plice. 
 
 The district court, and subsequently the central 
 court of appeal at Munich, found Frisch guilty of 
 robbery and mui'der, and sentenced him to be 
 beheaded. 
 
 According to the strict letter of the law, he should 
 have been broken on the wheel, but the openness 
 of his confession induced the judges to award the 
 naUder punishment. 
 
 There were no reasons for recommending the 
 accused to the royal mercy. He endeavored to 
 excuse himself as follows : — 
 
 " I could never get rid of the idea that the Jew 
 had overreached me : but I always intended to 
 satisfy his demands. It was not until one day when 
 I was at work in the shed that it suddenly occurred 
 to me to murder the .Tew, and thus to free myself 
 from my debt. I could never shake off" this thought, 
 which constantly troubled and disturbed me. After 
 the first blow I repented, and the Jew might have 
 escaped if he had bvit gone away, or asked me 
 during our struggle to let him go ; besides, I could 
 not have pursued him. But when the Jew attack- 
 ed me, I thought he would do to me what I had 
 intended to do by him." 
 
 This apology affords no excuse or even pallia- 
 tion of his crime. The trouble and confusion 
 which he described must arise in every mind during: 
 the contest between desire for any object and the 
 scruples of conscience. The repentance to which 
 he alluded must have been slight indeed, for he 
 confessed that after the first blow the Jew did 
 actually entreat him to spare his life. Neverthe-
 
 CASPAR FRISCIl. 317 
 
 less he again threw him on the ground, and com- 
 pleted the murder. Assuming even that Frisch, 
 according to his o\%'ti statement, killed the Jew out- 
 right only in self-detence, no apology can be made 
 for his crime, as he struck the first blow with a 
 murderous intent.
 
 LUDWIG STEINER, 
 
 THE MURDERER FROM REVENGE. 
 
 At about three o'clock in the afternoon, on the 
 26th of June, 1821, the magistrate Elsperger, of 
 Ratisbon, left his court in the town-hall to take his 
 evening walk. He Avas crossing the market-place, 
 when he was met by the shoemaker Ludwig 
 Steiner, canying a piece of leather under his ami. 
 Several bystanders saw that an angry discussion 
 took place between them : Elsperger raised his 
 stick against Steiner ; some persons even asserted 
 that he struck him with it; whereupon Steiner 
 drew a pistol from his pocket, and fired at the 
 magistrate, who fell to the earth. The murderer 
 replaced the pistol in his pocket with a contemptu- 
 ous air, and walked slowly past the astonished 
 spectators until he reached the corner of a street, 
 when, after once looking back at the dead body, 
 he ran towards his own house, which the report of 
 his crime had reached befoi'e him. He told his 
 apprentices that he had shot the magistrate Elsper- 
 ger, laid down the piece of leather in the shop, and 
 hastily left the room, in order, as he said, to give 
 himself up to justice. Before, however, he could 
 leave the house, he was seized by a bricklayer, and 
 after a violent but ineffectual struggle, was deliver- 
 ed by him into the custody of two police sergeants. 
 To these men he said, " I have accomplished my 
 purpose, and my conscience is now clear : I have 
 long pursued him." He quietly suffered himself
 
 LUDWIG STEINER. 319 
 
 to be taken to the police-office, where two pistols 
 were found in his pocket : the prisoner himself 
 warned the police that one was loaded, " lest any 
 one should be hurt." He said to the police ser- 
 geant Speiser, who handcuffed and conducted him 
 to prison, " Elsperger utterly I'uhied me; he made 
 me miserable ; and at last I have revenged my 
 ^v^ongs on him." 
 
 Steiner's demeanor was that of a man who had 
 the most perfect conviction of having performed a 
 glorious deed. On seeing the crowd assembled 
 before the window of his prison, he changed his 
 position, saying, " I must turn about in order that 
 the people may see me ; for although many know 
 me by name, all do not yet know me by sight." 
 
 The wounded man, who had instantly fallen 
 speechless on the pavement, was carried to the 
 nearest police station, where he died within ten 
 minutes after he was shot. The bullet had pene- 
 trated the brain, so that there could be no doubt 
 as to the cause of his death. When Steiner was 
 brought into the presence of the corpse, he showed 
 not the slightest emotion, and merely observed, 
 ♦' That is the magisti'ate Elsperger, of this place." 
 He signed the papers which were presented to 
 him with a firm hand, and in his first examination 
 confessed that he had done the deed. 
 
 At the time of the murder Ludwig Steiner was 
 fifty-three years of age: he was born of Catholic 
 parents at Alpendorf, in the province of Glatz, in 
 Silesia, and had been settled for many years as a 
 master shoemaker at Ratisbon. He had been 
 twice married, but had no children. He was of 
 the middle size, thin, pale, and of a nervous, exci- 
 table temperament. His fellow-citizens described 
 him as an honorable man, a peaceable good cit- 
 izen, a skillful workman, and an active orderly 
 tradesman, who contrived to make a good living
 
 320 REMAKKABLE, CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 out of a moderate business, and still employed a 
 few apprentices, notwithstanding his business had 
 lately declined owing to various causes. Even as 
 an apprentice he despised the common Sunday 
 amusements of his companions, and passed his 
 leisure hours in reading : he set great value on his 
 good name, and had a very strong sense of honor 
 and justice. 
 
 In the year 1817 the shoemakers' guild of Ratis- 
 bon was split into rival factions on occasion of the 
 election of a master. Steiner took the part of one 
 whom he thought unjustly oppressed, and in a 
 quarrel with the leader of the opj^osite party so far 
 forgot himself in his zeal, as to accuse his oppo- 
 nent of a theft in the pi-esence of the whole guild. 
 An action for defamation was brouofht a"-ainst 
 Steiner, who was condemned on the 30th of Sep- 
 tember, 1818, to make an apology to the man whom 
 he had insulted, to twenty-four hours' imprison- 
 ment, and to costs. This sentence, against which 
 he appealed, was confirmed on the 25th of Novem- 
 ber of the same yeai', and Elsperger was the mag- 
 isti'ate who had to pronounce judgment, and to 
 see it carried into execution. INIeanwhile Steiner 
 was fully convinced of the righteousness of his 
 own cause. His self-love explained a sentence so 
 much at variance with his own convictions and so 
 injui-ious to his pride by the supposition that the 
 real papers on which the judgment should have 
 been founded must have been suppressed, and 
 false ones substituted for them. When, therefore, 
 the judgment confirming the first sentence was 
 made known to him on the 8th of December, he 
 announced his intention of appealing to the cen- 
 tral court at Munich. Notwithstandino: his cairer 
 representations, the magistrate Elsperger would 
 not allow of any delay, but at once proceeded to 
 carry the judgment into execution. Steiner then
 
 LUDVVIG STEINER. 321 
 
 begged for permission at least to return home be- 
 fore his imprisonment, that he might set his house 
 in order, and cut out work for his apprentices ; but 
 Elsperger, with, perhaps, unnecessary severity, 
 denied this trifling favor, and sent him at once to 
 prison. Steiner came out of prison sick in body, 
 and still more disordered in mind by the injury 
 done to his pride, to his good name, and to what 
 he considered his just rights. He maintained then, 
 and afterwards, that he had undei'gone excruciating- 
 torments from the pestiferous smell of the prison, 
 and the overheating of a stove. This, or more 
 likely his excitable imagination, tended not a little 
 to confirm his belief of the injustice sustained in 
 his person, and to increase his bitter animosity 
 against the magistrate whose duty it had been to 
 pass judgment upon him. But the worst was yet 
 to come : the apology was still due. " The apo- 
 logy which I had to make," said Steiner, " hurt 
 my feelings most of all. I had to apologise 
 against my own jjerfect conviction, whereas no 
 apology was due ; for I had seen with my own 
 eyes the master shoemaker do the very things of 
 which I accused him." Elsperger had also to see 
 this part of the sentence earned into execution ; 
 but summonses, admonitions, and fines were in- 
 effectual for some months. Steiner undertook a 
 journey to Munich in order to obtain a revision ot 
 his sentence, at any rate of that part which related 
 to the apology : he came back to Ratisbon afi:er a 
 fruitless journey, but still obstinately refused to 
 obey the orders of the court. At length, however, 
 when threatened with a fine of six reichs thalers, 
 he was induced to deliver into Elsperger's hands 
 an apology -\\Titten by his attorney. From that 
 time forward Elsperger became the object of his 
 deadly hate, and he determined either to obtain 
 complete satisfaction for all that he had endured, 
 21
 
 322 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 by an appeal to the law, or to murder Elsperger 
 in revenge for the unnecessary luirshness and con- 
 temptuous insolence with which, as Steiner ima- 
 gined, he had carried an unjust sentence into ex- 
 ecution. 
 
 Henceforth he thought of nothing but his cause. 
 His head could only contain the idea of the sen- 
 tence, and of the means of obtaining a reversal of 
 it, compensation for his losses, and satisfliction for 
 the injustice he had suftered. These thoughts, on 
 which his mind was constantly brooding, deprived 
 him of all j^eace of mind, and completely altered 
 his nature. He had no rest at night, and by day 
 he was melancholy and silent, unless some one 
 touched, however remotely, upon the subject of 
 his lawsuit, whereuj^on he immediately broke out 
 into a long-winded statement of the whole pro- 
 ceeding, pouring out all the vials of his wrath 
 upon Elsperger and the wh(jle bench of magis- 
 trates, calling them rogues, thieves, murderei-s, 
 &c., accompanying these epithets with the most 
 violent gestures, now looking up to heaven, noAv 
 crying or laughing; — in short, behaving like a mad- 
 man. His friend Rubin, who was attached to him 
 by gi-atitude for numerous benefits he had received 
 from him, at length ceased to come near him, as he 
 could no longer endure to hear the incessant reci- 
 tal of his imaginary wrongs, and the threats and 
 abuse which he poured forth upon the magistracy. 
 A master shoemaker of the name of Magritzer, his 
 benefactor and friend of many years' standing, in- 
 curred his hatred by refusing to give evidence in 
 his favor in the law-suit. From this time Steiner, 
 forgetful of the kindness he had received from him, 
 treated him as his bitterest enemy. In like man- 
 ner as he hated the whole magistracy for Els- 
 perger's sake, he now detested the whole guild of 
 shoemakers on Magi-itzer's account. He chose to
 
 LUDVVIG STEINER. 323 
 
 imagine that every master shoemaker was his foe, 
 and accordingly behaved to them with marked 
 coldness or rudeness, and even passed them in the 
 street without greeting. Every one who attempt- 
 ed to make him hear reason about his suit re- 
 ceived the same treatment. He was so finnly 
 convinced of the justice of his cause, which was so 
 closely bound up with his honor, nay, with his very 
 existence, that in his obstinate conceit he looked 
 upon every attempt to convince his judgment as a 
 personal injury. 
 
 The hatred and vencjefulness which were work- 
 ing in his mind, ever since the unfortunate termin- 
 ation of his law-suit, made him neglect his business : 
 he sought diversion and repose in reading or in 
 drinking, dissipated his property, lost many of his 
 customers, and was compelled to borrow money. 
 Although he had only himself to blame for these 
 misfortunes, he looked upon them as entirely the 
 result of the machinations of his enemies, more 
 especially of the accursed Elsperger. If his ap- 
 prentices were taken up for any offence they had 
 committed, he attributed it not to any fault of theirs, 
 butto the enmity of the magistrate Elsperger towards 
 himself. If he happened to meet the burgomas- 
 ter, or any of the magistrates, in the street, he ima- 
 gined that he saw contemptuous sneers or sarcastic 
 laughter in their faces. 
 
 In March, 1819, he sent a petition to one of his 
 relations at Munich, requesting him to present it to 
 the supreme court. His relation returned it to 
 him, saying that he could not meddle in any such 
 matters. In May, 1820, he himself undertook the 
 journey to Munich, and laid before the pri%'y coun- 
 cil a statement of his ginevances. He returned to 
 Ratisbon full of hope and joy, fully persuaded that 
 if thex'e were any justice on earth, the privy coun- 
 cil would decide in his favor. He expected nothing
 
 324 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 less than that the magistrates of Ratisbon would be 
 compelled to give him full compensation for his 
 losses, and to make him an ample and public apol- 
 ogy. Soon after his return from Munich, he said 
 to his friend Rubin, whom he met in the street, " My 
 suit must soon take quite a different turn, or else 
 you will hear of my doing something that will make 
 the whole world stare." Rubin could not doubt 
 what he meant by this expression, as Steiner had 
 said to him some months before, while abusing the 
 magistrates, " If the sentence against me be not 
 reversed, my enemy" (meaning Elsperger) "must 
 die; for whoever robs me of my honor, and of my 
 property, shall not live." 
 
 As might have been anticipated, Steiner's peti- 
 tion to the privy council was rejected on the 8th of 
 September, 1820. His hatred against the magis- 
 tracy, and especially Elsperger, was now turned 
 into rage. In the refusal of the privy council he 
 saw a fresh proof of systematic persecution, op- 
 pression, and insolence on the part of the magis- 
 tracy towards himself. His diseased vanity made 
 him imagine that the whole magistracy were 
 leagued together for his destruction. He believed, 
 or affected to believe, that they meant to seize his 
 person, to confine him in a madhouse, and thus to 
 get rid of his claim upon them for satisfaction and 
 compensation for his losses. He said to his ap- 
 prentice Bezold, that he saw by the answer he had 
 received that all protection was I'efused him, that 
 he was as good as outlawed, and that as any one 
 might shoot or stab him, he must carry some weap- 
 on for his own defence. Thenceforward he always 
 went armed with a brace of loaded pistols, for the 
 double purpose of protecting himself fi'om any at- 
 tack, and of shooting Elsperger. For months these 
 pistols were his constant companions, and he made 
 no secret of it. He occasionally fired them off in
 
 LUDVVIG STEINER. 325 
 
 the presence of his apprentices, for the sake of 
 practice, at some mark in the fields. It was well- 
 known in the taverns which Steiner frequented that 
 he carried loaded pistols, and many persons avoid- 
 ed his company on that account. About fourteen 
 days before the murder, he related his story to the 
 master tailor Heimbrand, and, taking a pistol out 
 of his coat pocket, he said, " If my law-suit does 
 not turn out to my mind, I will shoot some one." 
 He had frequently uttei'cd the same threats to his 
 apprentice Keitel, and to a shoemaker of the name 
 of Scheidel, some seven or eisfht weeks before the 
 murder. At the time when Sand was executed 
 
 for killing Kotzebue, he said to Dr. H , who 
 
 had been his medical attendant for years, " I have 
 lost my honor and part of my property by this law- 
 suit : 1 have nothing more to lose, and will now 
 die like Sand." 
 
 The magistrates, more especially Elsperger, 
 were informed of the threats uttered by Steiner ; 
 but no notice was taken of him, as they ima- 
 gined that the very publicity of his menaces af- 
 forded security against his can-ying them into 
 execution, 
 
 A few months before the murder Steiner was 
 summoned to appear before the magistrates for non- 
 payment of the rent of his shop. The creditor 
 happened also to be a magistrate. Steiner obsti- 
 nately refused to appear, giving as his reason that 
 this was a mere pretext for delivering him into the 
 power of his enemies. The magistrate, his creditor, 
 who learnt from the physician in what an excited 
 state Steiner then was, behaved towards him with 
 the greatest consideration, and requested the phys- 
 ician to persuade him to lend a willing obedience 
 to the commands of the court. This the physician 
 attempted to do with the assistance of Steiner's 
 wife, but with no success. Steiner now imagined 
 
 E E
 
 32G IIEMAUK.ABLE URIMINAI. TRIAJ.S. 
 
 that the physician and his own wife had joined in 
 the general conspiracy against him : he therefore 
 turned his wife out of his house as his bitterest 
 enemy. From that time forward she lived sepa- 
 rate from him ; and Steiner without a wife and 
 without friends, all of whom he had ere now alien- 
 ated from himself, lived alone in the woi'ld, which, 
 in his belief, had not only deprived him of all 
 happiness, but had even conspix'ed to destroy the 
 miserable existence which was all it had left to 
 him. 
 
 On the unlucky 26th of June, he appeared unu- 
 sually disturbed and melancholy. Elizabeth Fi- 
 scher, his maid-servant, saw him sitting at work 
 cutting out a pair of boots, and heard him say to 
 himself, with tears in his eyes, " They have made 
 me so poor that I have not enough leather to make 
 a pair of boots, or money to ])ay for some." This 
 was literally true, and he was forced to procure 
 some leather on credit. At about three p. m. he 
 went to the leather-seller at Stadtamhof, to whom 
 he already owed a good deal, as usual with his 
 pistols in his pocket. Two of his acquaintance 
 met him on the bridge across the Danube : he 
 passed them without greeting, and staled so wildly 
 that one of them said to the other, " Look ! there 
 goes that wronghead, that madman, Steiner." He 
 returned home with the boiTowed leather under 
 his arm, filled with anger and grief at the thoughts 
 of his reduced fortunes, and furious against the 
 supposed authors of his humiliation, above all, 
 against his arch enemy Elsperger, whom he pic- 
 tured to himself as rejoicing in his disgrace and 
 misfortunes. The resolution which he had long 
 cherished but had not yet dared to execute, now 
 became stronger than ever. He longed to meet 
 Elsperger : and if he should meet him he deter- 
 mined to speak to him, and, unless he obtained a
 
 LUDVVIG STEINEH. 327 
 
 satisfactory answer, to shoot him. Brooding over 
 these feehngs and resolves, Steiner reached the 
 market-place, when his evil destiny threw Elsper- 
 ger in his way. " Mr. Magistrate," said Steiner, 
 according to his own confession, " Mr. Magistrate, 
 shall I have much lonc^er to wait before 1 receive 
 
 O 
 
 compensation for my losses V Elsperger replied, 
 " VVliat do you want ] Go away, you foolish fol- 
 low." "What do I want 1" answered Steiner; 
 " I am no longer able to support myself" Elsper- 
 ger then raised his stick and said, " Get along, yoii 
 fellow !" Steiner now drew out his pistol, pointed 
 it at Elsperger, and attempted, but in vain, to pull 
 the triggei-, while Elsperger warded off the jjistol 
 with his stick. Meanwhile Steiner returned the 
 useless weapon to his pocket, and quickly drew 
 out the second pistol, wliich he instantly dis- 
 charged, exclaiming, according to the testimony of 
 a bystander, " Wait, you villain !" — and the deed 
 was done. 
 
 In the fullness of his joy at the death of his 
 mortal foe, and in the first triumph of gratified re- 
 venge, Steiner boasted of his long-cherished inten- 
 tions of murder. But before the court he carefully 
 recalled all expressions of the kind, and endeav- 
 ored for some time, with great prudence and skill, 
 so to describe the circumstances attending: his 
 crime as to take from it all appearance of premed- 
 itation. He did not deny that he bore a deep 
 hatred against Elsperger on account of the unfor- 
 tunate turn of his law-suit, and the harshness with 
 which he had been treated, more especially with 
 regard to his hasty committal to prison, the heat 
 and stench of which, he said, had nearly killed 
 him. But during sevei'al examinations he denied 
 that he carried pistols about him with any particu- 
 lar reference to Elsperger ; he wore them, he said, 
 as a protection against any illegal violence whicl-
 
 328 RKMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS 
 
 might be offered to his own person ever since there 
 had been a conspiracy among the magistrates 
 atjainst him. At his first examination he described 
 the fatal occurrence which happened in the market- 
 place as the result of sudden and violent anger, 
 and denied that he even at the moment wished to 
 inflict death. Elsperger's insulting language, and 
 the blow which he aimed at him with his stick in 
 the public streets, were so iri'itating as to cause 
 him to seize first one pistol, and then the other, 
 and to shoot the man who had insulted him. " It 
 was not my intention to kill, but only to wound 
 him," continued Steiner; "I did not expect it to 
 end so fatally." At his second examination he 
 stated that he did not even intend to wound him. 
 " I presented the second pistol to prevent him from 
 attacking me ; it suddenly went off, I know not 
 whether I pulled the tiigger or not." At his third 
 examination he said, " When Elsperger reviled 
 me, I took the pistol out of my pocket. When he 
 saw it in my hand, he raised the stick and struck 
 at the hand which held the pistol, till his stick split. 
 He then looked at his stick. In the mean time I 
 returned the one pistol to my pocket, pulled out 
 the other, and cocked it, that I might be able to 
 defend myself should Elsperger again attack me. 
 My hand must have trembled as I held the pistol 
 and made it go off — I had no intention of firing." 
 He afterwards returned to his first statement. " I 
 took aim only at Elsperger's leg. I had no inten- 
 tion to kill, but only to wound him, and cannot 
 conceive how I chanced to hit him in the head ; 
 I can only account for it by supposing that I must 
 have trembled fearfully." When charged with 
 having uttered threats of murder befoi'e several 
 witnesses, he confidently answered that these ac- 
 cusations were impudent lies ; that such assertions 
 were really laughable. " It is perfectly true that
 
 LUDWIG STEINER. i{29 
 
 I have at times been angry with the authors of my 
 misfortunes ; — who would not? But I never thought 
 of committing murder. It is a sheer invention that 
 I ever said I would shoot such a one, or do some- 
 thing to make the whole world stare : people often 
 talk among each other, and end by really believing 
 some talc which they have invented themselves. I 
 cannot think what folks would have ; the thought 
 of shooting a man dead never entered my head, so 
 help me God." In the fourth examination, he was 
 reminded that he had once said to his friend Rubin, 
 " Some one must die if my law-suit does not take 
 a more favorable turn." He clasped his hands, 
 and looked towards heaven, exclaiming, " Merci- 
 ful God ! I know not whether I said so to Rubin 
 or not. I cannot be certain oneway or the other." 
 When reminded that he had once told Rubin that 
 if he lost his cause he would do something to make 
 the world stare, he replied, " Blessed Lord ! can 
 folks talk of nothing but making the world stare 1 
 It is possible that I may have uttered complaints 
 before Rubin : I may have said that I should be 
 ruined by my suit, and have no compensation 
 awarded me ; that it was galling to me to be no 
 longer able to earn my livelihood, and pay ready 
 money for the ai'ticles required for my business. 
 When a man is forced to be bankrupt, that is what 
 I call making the world stare. The other shoe- 
 makers were envious of me, because fo7-merly I 
 could always pay ready money." He could not 
 help, however, confessing, in answer to repeated 
 questions, that he had frequently expressed him- 
 self to several persons to the following effect : 
 That he carried the pistols about with him in order 
 to shoot some one if he lost his suit ; but that he 
 would not shed blood except at the last extremity. 
 The judge exhorted him to say, distinctly, whom 
 he had then alluded to. He answered, "I must 
 
 EE 2
 
 330 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 confess that it was none other than the magistrate 
 Elsperger, whom I conceived to be the chief cause 
 of my misfortunes." He then recommenced the 
 detail of his griefs : " At length," he continued, "I 
 met Elsperger on the day of the murder. I spoke 
 to him and he answered me with insults ; I lost all 
 power over myself; my blood boiled, and the deed 
 was done." This answer was almost a confession 
 of intentional murder. 
 
 At length in his fifth examination he plainly de- 
 clared that he had long-^ been determined to shoot 
 Elsperger out of revenge. This admission he 
 afterwards qualified by saying that on the 26th of 
 June he had, in a sudden fit of just indignation, 
 shot his bitter foe, not only without any previous 
 plot, but in spite of his determination to the con- 
 trary. " It was. certainly my intention, if I could 
 not obtain legal redress, to kill him ; but I intended 
 first to go once more to Munich. Had not El- 
 sperger insulted and struck me publicly on the 
 26th of June, I should not have fired at him, be- 
 cause I fully expected to obtain justice at Munich. 
 I will not, however, deny that I had made up my 
 mind to shoot him if I did not obtain justice." 
 
 With these insjenious excuses and half confes- 
 sions he managed to baffle the judge for months, 
 until at length, after a fresh judge had been ap- 
 pointed to investigate the case, he made theibllow- 
 ing confession in the seventh and two subsequent 
 examinations : — 
 
 " The cause of my deed was the sentence which 
 Elsperger pronounced and executed against me. 
 The judgment was unjust, as other papers were 
 fraudulently inserted in lieu of the original docu- 
 ments; in consequence of which the sentence, not- 
 withstanding all my representations, was passed 
 and cari'ied into effect. By this sentence, I lost 
 honor and property, whereupon I swore to kill El
 
 LUDWIG STBINEU. 331 
 
 spergor unless I could obtain justice. I did not 
 make this determination while I was in prison, nor 
 indeed until Elsperger summoned me to make the 
 apology within three days, under pain of fine and 
 imprisonment. I went to the advocate Eggelkraut, 
 who entreated me to carry my apology to the mag- 
 istrate. I did so ; and this was the cause of my 
 hatred towards Elsperger, and of my determination 
 to kill him, so that he might not rejoice and exult 
 in my misfortunes. I resolved to shoot Elsperger 
 wherever I might meet him, in the event of my not 
 obtaining justice from the crown. 
 
 "First, however, I endeavored to get justice 
 done me by legal means; bloodshed was my last 
 resource. From my youth up I could never find 
 it in me to injure any one. When a boy, I was 
 grieved when a bird which I had hit lay dead be- 
 fore me. As soon as my arrest was at an end, I 
 went to Munich, but returned without success. In 
 1820 I again went to Munich, fully resolved to kill 
 Elsperger if I again failed in my object, as I could 
 no longer bear his tyranny. On the 4th of June, 
 1820, when I returned from Munich, I heard that 
 my suit was prospering, but could learn nothing 
 certain. I then went to the burgomaster." He 
 repeated a long conversation with him, which we 
 need not insert. " I afterwards went to the police- 
 office, where the registrar told me that no answer 
 had come, and that I must write again about it : a 
 week later came the refusal. 
 
 "I related all this and my opinion on the matter 
 to various people whom I thought my fi-iends, in 
 order to excite their sympathy : and then began 
 the conspiracy against me. They wanted to drive 
 me mad, and then to shut me up in a madhouse. 
 It is easy enough, if many conspire togethei', to 
 declare a man to be mad. They say to each other, 
 * See ! see ! bow he mixes up one thing with an-
 
 332 REMAKKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 Other, and what nonsense he talks!' Every one 
 asked me about my law-suit, and I told it to them 
 all, in detail ; and then they gossipped about me 
 and called me a madman, and yet 1 was no more 
 
 mad than I am now. Even Dr. H helped 
 
 them to drive me mad, and threatened, if I would 
 not give way, to say that I was a madman, if his 
 
 opinion were asked. The magistrate H , too, 
 
 said publicly that my excellent wife ought to be 
 protected. 
 
 " Ever since the conspiracy against me began I 
 have carried pistols, not quite every day, but usu- 
 ally, so as to have some means of defence in case 
 of my being attacked, and also in order to use them 
 against Elsperger. 
 
 " The rent which I owed to F was made a 
 
 ne\y subject of persecution to bring me before the 
 poHce. Had I gone to the office, some harsh ex- 
 pressions on my part ^vould have afforded a suffi- 
 cient pretext to the police to lay hold of me and 
 shut me up as a madman. For this reason I did 
 not go, but lived in constant dread of arrest, and 
 of being dragged out of my own house and thrown 
 into prison. 
 
 " I still hoped to obtain justice against Elsper- 
 ger from higher quarters. But when all means 
 had failed, and my money was exhausted, so that I 
 could neither write another petition nor go to 
 Munich — when even my wife turned against me, 
 and I was compelled to put her away, and was left 
 alone in the world — then it was that, should 1 
 meet Elsperger, who had used me so ill, and 
 spoken to me so harshly, I determined to shoot 
 him — and succeeded. 
 
 " During the whole day I had been sorrowful, 
 because I was forced to provide myself with 
 leather, and had no money wherewithal to buy it. 
 In the afternoon I went to Stadtamhof to fetch
 
 LUDWIG STEINER. 333 
 
 some leather, and put the loaded pistols in my 
 pocket, in case of being attacked or of meeting 
 Elsperger. I was much excited, as I knew not what 
 would become of me : I could not beg, and was 
 unable to earn my bread as a day-laborer. I thought 
 within myself, ' If I see him I will speak to him, 
 and shoot him dead if he refuses to help me.' I 
 was desperate. I had taken a piece of leather on 
 credit from the leather-merchant. It gi'ieved me 
 to remain in his debt for the leather, but I could 
 not pay him, for I wanted even a little money for 
 the maid who cooked my daily food. That I, who 
 had been a man of property, should be so reduced 
 as to owe more than I could pay, enraged me. In 
 this frame of mind I returned to Ratisbon, on my 
 way to my own house." 
 
 He then related how he unexpectedly met his 
 enemy in the market-place, and on addressing 
 him received a harsh rej^ly, whereupon he shot 
 him. When asked why he had addressed El- 
 sperger in the public street, he replied, " I would 
 have sjjoken to him about my business wherever I 
 might have happened to meet him, have told him 
 my condition, and have shot him on his refusing to 
 satisfy me. I had nothing left to live on, and was 
 determined that he should not live to exult over 
 my misfortunes. I thought to myself I will shoot 
 him, as he will neither give me compensation nor 
 restore my lost honor ; at any rate, he shall not re- 
 joice at my misfortunes. 
 
 " I well know that it is unlawful to kill a man : 
 I am as fond of life as other men ; but I would 
 rather die than submit to such oppression as I 
 have endured from the magistrate Elsperger. Had 
 any one four years ago foretold to me that I should 
 have done such a deed, I should have laughed in 
 his face, for murder is hateful to me, and I well 
 know that it is the worst thing that a man can do."
 
 334 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 Tins short account of one of his examinations 
 sufficiently shows the coolness, dexterity, and cun- 
 ning with which Steiner evaded making a full and 
 true confession. He distinctly saw what was dan- 
 gerous, and either denied all suspicious circum- 
 stances, or adroitly gave them such a turn as would 
 make his crime appear to be no more than man- 
 slaughter. He well knew that he had committed 
 murder, and what would be the consequence if 
 his crime were proved. We see in his confession 
 a disturbed and excited imagination, but we also 
 perceive the existence of a clear sound understand- 
 ing, perfectly conscious of what he had done, and 
 of his motives for doing it : he analysed the thoughts, 
 feelings, and passions which had first excited his 
 desire for vengeance ; and he so accurately de- 
 scribed their origin and progress until the fatal 
 murder, that if Steiner was mad, it is impossible 
 to say who is sane. If a madman can act with so 
 much disci-etion, who is to point out the difference 
 between a man of sound and one of unsound mind 1 
 There can be no doubt that Steiner had for several 
 years brooded over his imaginary wrongs, that he 
 had long made up his mind to murder his oppressor, 
 and that he went armed with loaded pistols for the 
 purpose. 
 
 There can be no legal doubt that Steiner was 
 guilty, and that he fully deserved death. But 
 since physicians have exercised their ingeiuiity in 
 endeavoring to prove criminals insane, there is 
 scarce any one — be his guilt as clear as the noon- 
 day — to whose assistance the physicians do not 
 bring a storo of mental ailments ; and such assist- 
 ance was not wanting to the litigious and revenge- 
 ful, though honest Steiner. 
 
 Steiner's family physician. Doctor H , who 
 
 was examined as a witness, could not assign to his 
 patient any particular infirmity of mind : he con'
 
 LUDWIG STEINER. 335 
 
 fined himself within the proper limits. " Steiner," 
 he said, " was of an excitable, nervous tempera- 
 ment : of late I seldom visited him ; but when I did 
 see him, I remarked that his mind was occupied 
 with but one idea — his unfortunate law-suit. He 
 narrated the whole case to me, and I endeavored 
 to bring him to a better frame of mind, but entirely 
 lost his confidence. I always believed him to be a 
 raian of plain good sense : but after his law-suit, 
 malice and revenge took such complete possession 
 of his mind that he lost all control over himself. 
 I will also add that his is a case in which violent 
 excitement might possibly end in momentary mad- 
 ness." 
 
 What Steiner's medical attendant suggested as 
 a possible explanation, the physician employed by 
 the legal authorities asserted as a positive fact. In 
 a long written statement which he presented to the 
 court on the 25th of October, 1821, he stated that 
 Steiner had been suffering from partial madness 
 and melancholy ever since his imprisonment. He 
 concluded that on every point, save his unfortunate 
 law-suit, Steiner's intellect was sound ; but on this 
 subject his ideas were so distorted, his language 
 so exaggerated, and his actions so eccenti"ic, that 
 Steiner was, in his opinion, a madman, who could 
 not properly be held responsible for the crime of 
 murder. 
 
 According to this theory, the number of those 
 who are iiTesponsible for their actions is enoiTnous : 
 there are few men who have not some particular 
 crotchet, some ruling idea, ludicrous or melan- 
 choly, which they carry with them to the grave. 
 Fortunately, however, for society, neither law nor 
 public opinion affords indulgence and impunity to 
 all who are led by their erroneous impressions to 
 overstep the limits at which self-conti'ol ends and 
 madness begins.
 
 336 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 All that the physician adduced as evidence of 
 Steiner's madness merely proved that he had for 
 years suffered his mind to be completely swayed 
 by impulse and passion. Inasmuch as violent 
 emotions tend to disturb the balance of the mind, 
 and to endanger the authority which should be ex- 
 ercised by the reason over the passions, they may 
 indeed be looked upon as diseases, but these moral 
 diseases are beyond the power of medicine. For 
 them, — when the restraints of reason, religion, and 
 morality, and even the fear of transgressing the 
 laws, have been ineffectual, — the proper cures are 
 the prison, and finally the scaffold. 
 
 Steiner's ruling passion was a stubborn adhe- 
 rence to his own opinion — a passion which had its 
 oiigin in his overweening self-esteem — and which 
 caused him to persevere to the utmost in his en- 
 deavors to obtain his imaginary rights. There is 
 a large class of men who, like Steiner, are so fully 
 convinced of the justice of their cause, and so de- 
 termined to have what they call their rights, that 
 they cannot rest until these fancied rights are 
 obtained. They cannot conceive that anything can 
 be otherwise than as they believe it to be, and as 
 they imagine the justice of their claims to be as 
 evident to others as it is to themselves, they look 
 upon all that is said or done contrary to their own 
 conviction as an intentional and manifest injustice. 
 If their sentence be adverse, they attribute it to 
 the hati-ed or partiality of the judge, or to the 
 bribery of the opposite party : they are persuaded 
 that the witnesses have been tampered with, and 
 that their case has been most unfairly tried, as 
 they must otherwise infallibly have gained their 
 suit. They consider every one concerned, fi-ora 
 the judge to the crier of the court, as their personal 
 foes, and their anger vents itself, according to their 
 several dispositions, in scornful and intemperate
 
 LUDWIG STEINER. 337 
 
 language, or sometimes, as in the present instance, 
 in desperate deeds. 
 
 It was perfectly natural that Steiner should 
 visit upon Elsperger the whole weight of his anger : 
 Elsperger had refused to wait while Steiner could 
 appeal to a superior court, from which he confi- 
 dently expected a revision of the sentence against 
 him, and he therefore considered this magistrate 
 as the real cause of his imprisonment, which he 
 looked upon as unjust. The loss of his law-suit, 
 and the stain which he imagined to rest upon his 
 character — all the misfortunes which subsequently 
 befel him were laid to Elsperger's charge. The 
 more he thought over the loss of his suit, the more 
 convinced was he of Elsperger's injustice and op- 
 pression, and the more intense grew his hatred 
 and his desire for revenge. 
 
 Steiner had always expected ultimately to obtain 
 a favorable decision, and to receive some repara- 
 tion from the whole magistracy ; nothing short of 
 this could satisfy his obstinate self-will, his wounded 
 pride, and the hatred he felt towards the whole 
 body of magistrates. 
 
 The court of appeal to which Steiner's case was 
 sent, again referred it to several medical colleges, 
 according to the opinion of which learned bodies, 
 given on the 22d of January, 1822, Steiner " was 
 in a state of melancholy madness, and therefore not 
 responsible for his actions, when he planned and 
 committed the murder." 
 
 According to this opinion, all crimes arising out 
 of passion, that is to say, about seven-eighths of those 
 that are committed, must be altogether withdrawn 
 from legal jurisdiction, and referred to the medi- 
 cal faculty, unless, indeed, the passions can be 
 schooled into a behavior as cool, measured, and ra- 
 tional as if they were no passions at all. 
 
 The central college of medicine contradicted the 
 22 F F
 
 338 REMARKABLE CRIMINAL TRIALS. 
 
 opinions of the physician attached to the court, and 
 of the district college of medicine, and gave the 
 following ojjinion ; — 
 
 " That at the time of the murder committed on 
 Elsperger, Steiner was not affected either by mon- 
 omania or by melancholy madness, to such a de- 
 gree as to render him unaccountable for his actions, 
 as stated by Dr. N , and confirmed by the col- 
 lege of medicine." 
 
 By this opinion it was determined that Steiner 
 was free from mental disease ; the medical college 
 properly had nothing further to say in the mat- 
 ter, and Steiner's conduct had now to be judged 
 by the legal authorities ; nevertheless, the medical 
 board continued as follows: — "That although 
 Steiner was by no means insane when he commit- 
 ted the murder, or utterly unaccountable for his 
 actions, his mind was so much troubled and affect- 
 ed, that his freedom of action was impaired or lim- 
 ited, in consideration of which his sentence ought 
 unquestionably to be mitigated." 
 
 A medical opinion exceeds its proper functions, 
 by making use of the expression that a criminal is 
 responsible or not responsible for his actions, as 
 that is a question for legal decision, and does not 
 come within the competence of a physician ; still 
 less can it fall within the province of medicine to 
 prescribe to the judge where he is to seek for ex- 
 tenuating circumstances. Furthermore, if once 
 this doctrine of a limited freedom of action be ad- 
 mitted, there is no saying where it is to stop, and 
 under what circumstances a man is to be considered 
 wholly accountable for his actions, and under what 
 others he has only a half, a third, or a fourth share 
 of responsibility. As far as human experience 
 reaches, every crime that has been committed was 
 not only an immoral and illegal, but also an unwise 
 action. And in by far the greater number, the
 
 LUDWIG STEINER. 339 
 
 very passions by which the fi-eedom of action has 
 been Hmited and impaired, can be distinctly traced 
 in their origin, gi'owth, and final eftects ; notwith- 
 standing which, most great offenders have very 
 properly been executed. 
 
 The three medical opinions failed to convince 
 the court of appeal, which, on the 9th of July, 
 1822, pronounced Steiner guilty of the murder of 
 the magistrate Elsperger of Ratisbon, and sentenced 
 him to death by the sword. 
 
 The advocate charged with Steiner's defence 
 deteiTnined to carry his case before a second couit 
 of appeal, and after a second reference to physi- 
 cians, and a more detailed defence, the papers 
 were sent to the second court of appeal, which, 
 on the 31st of August, 1824, pronounced Ludwig 
 Steiner guilty of murder, and sentenced him to 
 imprisonment for life. 
 
 THE END.
 
 Harper & Brothers, New- York, have recently issued 
 a new and complete Catalogue of their Publications, which 
 will be forwarded free of charge to any part of the United 
 States, upon application to them personally, or by mail, 
 post paid. The attention of gentlemen forming Libraries, 
 either public or private, is particularly solicited to this 
 Catalogue, which comprises about fifteen hundred \o\ames, 
 embracing the best works in the several departments of 
 Literature, including History, Philosophy, Science and 
 Art, Biography, Travel, the Classics, Belles-Lettres, Re- 
 ligion, Medicine, Classical and School Books, &c. ; the 
 works being neatly, and in many instances elegantly 
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 terms, averaging less than one half the price of the Eng- 
 lish editions. Persons wishing to form libraries or to pur- 
 chase books to sell again, will be supplied on the best 
 terms when the money accompanies the order. 
 
 March, 1846. 82 Cliff-street, New-York.
 
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