The conflict was severe in Westphalia.[498] Evangelical truth was well received in some places. Children used to sing Luther's hymns at the doors of houses; the members of a family would sing them by the fireside; the most fearless ventured to do the same in the open air, at first in the evening twilight, and then in the daytime. At length some ministers arrived. Monks and nuns were now seen quitting their convents and embracing the Gospel. At other places, as for instance at Lemgo, the pastor, at first stoutly opposed, would set out for some reformed town in order to see how matters were going on there, and on his return would reform his own church. But in some districts violent resistance was offered. At Soest, a conflict took place between a victim and the executioner. The latter having made an ineffectual stroke and inflicted only a severe wound, the victim, a robust man of the lower class, snatched away the weapon, repulsed the executioner and his assistant, and was carried off in triumph by the crowd to his own house, where, however, he died on the following day, of the blow which he had received. [Sidenote: THE SPIRITUALS.] In other places a struggle between cruelty and humanity took place among the persecutors, and on some occasions humanity triumphed. At Paderborn, a town in which Charlemagne held several diets and where many Saxons were baptized, the community without asking leave of higher authorities had opened the churches to evangelical preaching. Hermann, elector of Cologne, who subsequently entertained very different views, being named administrator of the bishopric, arrived in the town attended by guards and by influential men of the country who were devoted to the papacy. Appealed to by these men, by the chapter, and by the council which implored him to punish the illegal proceedings of the townsfolk, he allowed at first things to take their course. The people were, however, called together in the garden of a convent at which the elector was staying. They were told that he was desirous of taking a gracious leave of them. The townsfolk arrived; but they suddenly found themselves encompassed by armed men, and the leaders of the evangelical party were seized and cast into prison. They were put to the torture; they were led out to the scaffold, around which the people were gathered, and the approaches to which were covered with gravel intended to absorb the blood of the victims, and there sentence of death was read to these honest and pious citizens. Nothing now remained but to behead them. The chief executioner came forward and, turning to Hermann and all the dignitaries around him, said: 'These men are innocent, I would sooner die than behead them.' At the same time a voice was heard from the midst of the crowd; it was that of an aged man who came forward with difficulty, leaning on his staff. 'I also am guilty like those you have condemned, and I ask to be put to death