Lebius, as he generally and always did, approached this matter, too, in an extraordinarily clever and cunning manner. In the beginning, he did not mention that it was _solely_ a pamphlet against _me._ He let the young man believe that he was supposed to write a SCIENTIFIC work on famous, or rather infamous, men. He gave him their names; my name was also among them. But when Kahl went to his work and received his instructions on a daily basis, these were to the effect that, one after another, all of these "famous and infamous" men disappeared, until Karl May was the only one left. And the "scientific" work was to turn into a pamphlet of the very lowest and most dangerous kind. Kahl realised this with every day more and more clearly. He started to suspect that, under the cover of perfect kindness, he was to be led to his doom. When he told Mr. Lebius straight out what he suspected, Lebius thought the best thing would be to confess the entire purpose of the pamphlet to him. He admitted to the following: | Lebius has sued the editor of the "Vorwärts" for gross | | insult. | | The "Vorwärts" has named Karl May as a witness against | | Lebius. | | Therefore, it is necessary for Lebius to destroy Karl May. | | In order to achieve this, he will publish this pamphlet, he | | currently working on. | | The appointed time for Karl May's testimony is in the | | beginning of April. | | Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that the pamphlet will | | be ready for distribution by April the 1st. | | If the pamphlet should only be ready by a later date, it | | would be useless; in this case, he would not have to bother | | writing it at all. | | It will be sent to the newspapers, which will report about | | it. This shall influence the judges. | | It will also be presented to the judges directly. As soon as | | this will happen, May will be ruined as a witness. | When the honest, young man heard this, his scruples became even greater than they had been before. When he said so and expressed his worries of being punished in court, Lebius suggested the following to him: | As authors, we are anyhow and always with one foot in prison. | | To have been sentenced in court, is good advertising for us. | | I also have already been convicted many times. | | You have no reason at all to be afraid of the courts. You | | have no prior convictions, you may testify under oath. But | | May may not testify under oath. | | May is under police supervision. He has been forbidden to | | live in a city. Therefore, he lives in Radebeul. |