Freaks of Fanaticism, and Other Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
Freaks of Fanaticism, and Other Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History; Mysticism; Patarines
On the same day as the body of Kügelgen was found, the Government
offered a sum equal to £150 for the discovery of the murderer. A
little later, some children found among the rubbish, outside the
Black Gate of the Dresdener Vorstadt, a blue cloth cloak, folded
up and buried under some stones. It was recognised as having
belonged to Kügelgen. Moreover, in the pocket was the little
"Thomas-à-Kempis" he always carried about with him.
It was concluded that the murderer had not ventured to bring all
the clothing of Kügelgen into the town, through the gate, and had,
therefore, hidden portions in places whence he could remove them one
by one, unobserved. The murderer was, undoubtedly, an inhabitant of
the city.
From March 29th to April 4th the police remained without any clue,
although a description of the garments worn by the murdered man, and
of his watch, was posted up at every corner, and sent round to the
nearest towns and villages.
The workmen who had been engaged on Kügelgen's house were brought
before the police. They had left after his departure, and had
received money from him; but they were discharged, as there was no
evidence against them.
As no light seemed to fall on this mysterious case, the police
looked up the circumstances of the previous murder. On December
29th, 1819, a carrier on the highroad had found a body on the way.
It was ascertained to be that of a carpenter's apprentice, named
Winter. His skull had been broken in. Not a trace of the murderer
was found; not even footprints had been observed. However, it was
learned that the wife of a labourer had been attacked almost at the
same spot, on the 28th December, by a man wearing a military cap and
cloak; and she had only escaped him by the approach of a carriage,
the sound of the wheels having alarmed him, and induced him to fly.
He had fled in the direction of the Black Gate and the barracks.
The anxiety of the Dresdeners seemed justified. There was some
murderous ruffian inhabiting the Vorstadt, who hovered about the
gates, waylaying, not wealthy men only, but poor charwomen and
apprentices.
The military cloak and cap, the direction taken by the assailant in
his flight, gave a sort of clue--and the police suspected that the
murderer must be sought among the soldiers.
On April 4th two Jewish pawnbrokers appeared before the police, and
handed over a silver watch which had been left with them at 9 a.m.
on the 20th March--that is to say on the morning after the murder
of Kügelgen--and which agreed with the advertised description of
the artist's lost watch. It was identified at once. The man who had
pawned it, the Jews said, wore the uniform of an artillery soldier.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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