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
But on the next morning, April 21, he begged to be again heard, and
he then asserted that his former confessions were false. He had
confessed merely because he was weary of his imprisonment and the
poor food he was given, and decided to die. When spoken to by the
magistrates seriously, and remonstrated with for his contradictions,
he cried out that he was innocent. Let them torture him as much as
they pleased, he wished to die.
But hardly was he back in his prison than he told the gaoler that it
was true that he was the murderer of both Kügelgen and Winter. Again
he confessed before the magistrate, and again, on the 27th, withdrew
his confession and protested his innocence.
On the 21st April a new element in the case came to light, that
perplexed the question not a little.
A Jewish pawnbroker, Löbel Graff, announced that on February 3,
1820, he had received from the gunner Kaltofen, a green coat, and
on the 4th April a dark-blue cloth coat, stained with spots of
oil, also a pair of cloth trousers. As both coats seemed to him
suspicious, and to resemble those described in the advertisements,
he had questioned Kaltofen about them, but had received equivocal
answers, and Kaltofen at last admitted that he had bought them from
the gunner Fischer.
John Gottfried Kaltofen was a young man of 24 years, servant to
one of the officers, and therefore did not live in the barracks.
He was now taken up. His manner and appearance were in his favour.
He was frank, and at once admitted that he had disposed of the
two coats to Graff, and that he had bought them of Fischer. On
confrontation with the latter he repeated what he had said. Fischer
fell into confusion, denied all knowledge of Kaltofen, protested his
innocence, and denied the sale of the coats, one of which had in the
meantime been identified as having belonged to Winter, and the other
to Kügelgen.
On April 27th a search was made in the lodgings of Kaltofen, and
three keys were found there, hidden away, and these proved to have
belonged to Kügelgen. At first Kaltofen declared that he knew
nothing of these keys, but afterwards said that he remembered on
consideration that he had found them in the pocket of the blue
coat he had purchased from Fischer, and had put them away before
disposing of the coat, and had given them no further thought. Not
many minutes after Fischer had been sent back to prison, he begged
to be brought before the magistrate again, and now admitted that it
was quite true that he had sold both coats to Kaltofen.
Whilst this confession was being taken down, however, he again
hesitated, broke down, and denied having sold them to Kaltofen, or
any one else. "I can't say anything more," he cried out; "my head is
dazed."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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