Rain had recently fallen, and the air was cold. Sand was too weak to remain sitting upright. He sat half leaning back, supported by the governor’s arm. His face was drawn with suffering, his forehead open and unclouded. His features were interesting without being handsome; every trace of youth had left them. He wore a dark green overcoat, white linen trousers and laced boots, and his head was uncovered. Hardly was the execution over than all present surged up to the scaffold. The fresh blood was wiped up with cloths; the block was thrown to the ground and broken up; the pieces were divided among the crowd, and those who could not obtain possession of one of these, cut splinters of wood from the scaffolding. According to other accounts, a landed proprietor of the neighbourhood bought the block, or beheading chair, from the executioner and erected it on his estate. Single hairs are said to have been bidden for, but the headsman protested against the accusation of having sold anything at all. The body and head were promptly deposited in a coffin which was immediately nailed down. After it had been taken back to the prison under military escort and its contents examined by the governor so that he might assure himself of the identity of the corpse, it was removed to the Lutheran cemetery where Kotzebue’s remains were also interred. CHAPTER VII THE STORY OF A VAGRANT The biography of a German tramp--Miserable and neglected childhood--Becomes a professional beggar and thief--Committed to an industrial school--Joins a fraternity of beggars and becomes very expert--Meets with varied luck on the road--Arrested and punished--Gives some account of German prisons--Perpetrates a robbery on a large scale at Mannheim--Is caught with part of the stolen property in his possession and sentenced to penal servitude. Germany has suffered grievously in recent years from the growth of vagrancy. The highroads are infested with tramps, and the prisons are perpetually full. Every good citizen is keenly desirous of reducing these scourges of society, but the progress of reform is slow. It is a difficult problem, but the first step toward solving it is to acquire a more accurate knowledge of the true spirit and character of these wrong-doers. One of the most unregenerate and irreclaimable has revealed the whole story of his life and transgressions, and some quotations from the account may throw light on the difficulties of the problem confronting the prison reformer.