The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-11-26 00:00:00

TIIE STORY OF THE SPY NICHOLAS
SCHULL.

(From an occasional Correspondent of The Times
at Metz, under date Nov. 11 )

To beguile the tedium of a winter's evening to the cabaret
of the dreary little village of Gravelotto, I have eat down to
relate one of the tragic Incident, of the war, the full details
of which may not have reached Eh readers.

The brief alluclons In the German papers and the cut
notices of hie execution to wit' ih the ner-epspers of Metz
limited themselves roused my curiosity, and on making in-
quiries I learnt that • broadsheet had been published
directly after hit death which had disappeared immediately.
The papers had denounced It as preserving the memory of •
traitor, there hart been some growls over It In military
quarters, sell It had mashed. The publisher had no copies;
they had been sent across the Linemboe,rg frostier; be had
no tile copy to let me look at. No bookseller had it, every-
body bad seen it, but nobody hail got it. It had become as
rare and Irretrievable u an old black letter ballad. The nays.
tery was absurd and piqued me. I had chanced to make the
acquaintance of a French gentleman of English extraction,
and naming the matter to him, he replied, lam a friend
of etre Protestant pastor who attended kin last honn. I will
take you to him, and he will give you all the information in
his power.. We went and found him at home. am Just
engaged. he remarked, in sending off to Schull's wife his last
letter to her anti his effect. " I named the broadsheet. That
will give you all the authentic details; it le the production of
• writer on the Paris Press. fie brought It to ate, and I cor-
rected it, adding what I knew, and the narrative of his last
hours." nut I have tried allover Metz to get it. and cannot."
"I think I have • copy, and if so [will reedit to you." lie did
so, and kindly added some slight correcans.
Had I not received this satisfactory guarantee of Its sC-
curacy of facts, I should have felt no inducement to meddle
with it, fir the Paris writer has so embroiderer his text with
tropes of rhetoric as to discredit the narrative, but these
are easy to strip elf, and • story remains behind of sombre
nterest.

In the tentence of death read out to him the Instant before
it attention Nichol,. Sohnll is described as a native of Hati-
gAry, roof the late Francis and of Juliette, Baroness de
Degelmann, itim on the Bth of December, 1829, at it. Peter'.,
In the kingdom of Austria. At the time of hie erreet his
place of residence w. Heidelberg. lie had received a
selentidc education, and we, distingulehed to hia profession
of engineering. He had lied in America, and natu-
ralised there. He must also have practised his profession
in Maxim for he had been made by the Emperor Maximilian
Chevalier of the Order of Guadeloupe. But his youth had
been trreguler, and he had cootesded expensive debit' ; be

was realists, ambitions, and, as the psalm described him to
me, • Itle montJ. The world wita too IMO, tor a men of
his capacity cud aspirations, be remarked be prison. lie had
141 adventurous, intriguing, audacious temperament; was of
tall figure, tine bands and feet, fastidious In his dress and
Personal tastes, a gotainand. lie wore his hair long and
thwtog behind, had a long beard, while his sunken cheek
bone, and carriage gave Um • resemblance to an American
gentleman. The brown Scotch plaid, flung across his
shoulders, and the large black Tyrolese hat which he wore
complete the externals of a figure which, with its hair f
re:erve aud reverie, must have attracted uotice even lu a
crow&

_
On the 10111 of last July Sehull presented himself at Stras-
burg and sought an andlerne horn Geller!! Dacrot, the
Governor of the city, and represented that he lived up‘in the
Rhine frontier, at a central point of strategetkul Importaiice,
and from hie position and standing was in intimate relations
with IP.IIIO of the chiefs of the German armies. Lie repu-
te uted that he hated Prussia as the ty rant of Onmaity, end
emited to old In the destruction of is detestable Influence.
Ife wound up by offering to act as spy upon the movement*
of it, troops sod to report them to armee. General Ducrot
listened to his proposals, an agreement was made. and Sohnll
waked out of hie bureau with YU advance of Like!. in his
pocket. To show that he was earning his money, on 111e2 lb
of July he brought to timer.' Docrot some trifling reports,
and am rewarded with • hullsir subvention. lie returned
soros, the ilnine. But what had ha done first t writes hi.
Paris biographer .

. _
•• lie tnul pleural throush and Inspected the army of lilac-
llahou, he had noticed the distribution el the troops, the
Week points, along the line. Ile tetra)ed tie, he 601 d ue, he
caused me to be beaten at Wiesembourg, at It•
and later at Furbaelt—a third defeat for our area. fiebull
had add himself a second time, and Pruesla bad out-trumpod
all our tricks,"

On the 11th of August atoll gentleman, of a csrzlace some.
What slight, stepped out of a railway train at the lit iv lola of
Meta lie was aoeut 40 years old, of blood complexion and
hair, with every external of a gentleman, and who, with gold
eye 4a. on Dose, had, despite his lofty manner, a certain
something suspicious In his looks. It awoke the suscepti.
bility of "our malicious gendarmes." 0110 of them stepue I
forward and tapped him on the shoulder. The Crisis woe
tragic gchull played a her ird of audacity. " What ! place
a hand on the shirt collar of an American citizen I" "That's
good, that's clever !" replied the gendarme, no Alsatian,
" but 3 ou'll explain all this elsewhere if you please " Sault
was carried cf to prison. They searched him carefully and
discovered upon him a small document which proved his
death warrant. It was a German eafe-zolucluct and ran as
follow.:

M AYEECE, August 6. 1670.

• --- -• --•-•
The bearer of the present, the Brtgoetir S2hull-Degel-
menu, Is authorized to stay within thu advanced HIM, of our
armies. The ILyot cannuanders are Invited to afar no ob.
stack In this respect. GENSUAL

Besides this they found upon Scholl in a secret pocket a
gold medal of King William, • medal which his biographer
trays "Schutt admitted to be • token between the Prussian
spies." lie had also • pa.sport with figures yralelnatiguel,
signed I swim's', Ober-Lleutenent Tide paper was bud to
ostabibh the coll.'s. of Schell with the German., Lectinak I,
being the chide I's fat 111011 Y of Oeneral Bayer, 01 the Baden
besieging army. CI osa-examined, Schull reale torgiveres.
nous and Weibull., which lie afterwards retracted, and
finished by offering to betray Prussia and to Cereal the
secret. of "his friend"lecsinskt Ile was condemned by
the Court.mari I al which sat upon Lim. idol pleaded for mercy
In the name of his little children. his appeal was es teeted,
Taken back to prison to proper° for his fate, lie tell back
upon Its habits of comfort and eiijoiment. Ile had
plenty of money to indulge his tastes. Ile was
silent, full of reveries, his thoughts traversing spheres
utterly beyond the comprehension of the gendarmes who
watched him. Ile was not treated as a vulgar criminal. Up
to the latest moment he maintained a faatiolons care for his
personal appearance. The Protestant Chaplain be had sum-
moned was in constant attendance uprn him. Twenty four
blur. before his death he edit for him. "1 want tm talk
with you confidentially upon the thlege of religion; I want
you to bring me it. succour, Its c msolations ; I wish to
receive the Communion, in order that Go I may aid me in the
crossirg of that passage which I may have to make perhea."
The pastor hastened to minium him "This is no moment fur
illusion* ; there Is no hope for you In this world. For •
few minutes Scholl collapsed, the pastortat in silence, Scholl
roc ,vered himself, stet from that moment hence f Award be-
came • man. Ile told the atory of his past early frailtle.;
lie admitted that his premature death might be a merited
expiation for a life of sins. "It would be a miracle of
God for MO to repair theni otherwise. As for this crime
of treason with which they charge me, I have cot comnAtted
It Next day he received the O.ITHOUIIIOIII. At his request
the pastor brought him three elides of the New Testament,
on the lloleaves of which Schell wrote to his wife and two
little children words of the most touching adieu, blotted
with his tear* Be made We will, twqueathing to his family
his clothe., his plaid ; he requested that his body might be
decently Interred ; he estimated at Mg. the coat of his dint
during his imprisonment; there remained 7551. for his funeral
awl he asked that • stone might be placed upon his remains.
Lie wrote farewell letters to hie wife, to his children. Now
slid hence he was calm, firm. Taking his paator's hand, he
said, "I have not betrayed Fiume ;I am innocent. Why,
I wrote to them announcing that I was coming to Mete I
ant astonished that toy Judges have passed over thin" It
W,43 Saturday evening. Lie supped aa usual, leaving • little
uneaten.

Sunday morning, A ugult 2.3. at & qiisrter past flee, the con-
cierge awoke him, hying, "Ante, dress the hour I. come "
lie got op Instantly and pet on hie clothe.. By this time
the pastor had arrived. Ile bad salted hint the night before
to come and sustain him by his presence : he reached out his
baud, tx2lalitting, "An, thank )ott ; so the last hour. come,
I •ro ready.. The captain of the tiring paste entered his
room and, seeing his coat was not cf., Quick, quick,
make haste, where is the priest? start, lot us start !"
"but," replied the pastor, "It le not time yet ' The COD-
cltrot interposed, "C. 'fee is making for hint, lull. has net
boiled." "Oh, enough, let Us start ; he won't take it" And
they quitted the chamber, Schull hastily awarhowing the
remain. of the last night'. meal. As he left lie expressed
hie thanks to his guards hr their past kinditesse., and
gsthered up his papers which be confided to his pastor.
Flinging Ills plaid scroll. hi. shoulders he descended the
stadrease. Ile hail an idea that he could write a lam lea
word. to the bureau below, but., he reached the bottom of
the stair. the prison doors were flung open, and he saw that
all was ready. Tim captain led; ha followed.

he time and the hoar were known in the city, and a
crowd had gathered at the prison door.. The place of ens-
collie we, appointed In the f mse of the citadel at fume
distance. As he passed the prison gates he raised his head,
and threw an erect and scrutinizing ghsnce on every We—
an act which from that mlinent dominated the crowd. ii•
was pale, but cold, firm, and even mare curiosu on every
Incident around him than the moat inspdaltive spectator In
the crowd. It was a still sombre march In the early morn-
ing. They pass the outer gate, as they descend into tbe
citadel lime; it la wet and marshy, end, true to his fasti-
dious instincts at this lest moment, achu'l marches on tip-tae,
hut firmly At this point the crowd sr, driven back, and,
not allowed to descend the tome, they look in from above.
•' Halt ! "cries the captain ; the fosse Is deep; Scholl quietly
awaits the heal dispositions. A platen of twelve ',idlers
advances to within a distance of twenty piece, and they load
in face of the condemned. They are placed against the
outer wall of the fosse, Invisible to the spectators: fichull Is
pis rd op;malte, against the Inner wall, lie only can see hie
executholera.

1 litre is now an anxious name. home r nicer whose pre-
sence is tudlspenvalde is behind time. The captain frets
and fumes. "Par don," remarks the past ,r, "we have still
ten minutes to live." The officer arrives; they place Schull
In pmition ; he requests they will not haulage his mee.
• runt,' replies the captain, "le de rioeur " It is done, a
handkerchief la asked for, sehull takes out his white I a Id.
kerchief and hands it over, he kneels on his right knee and
supports iiimeelf by extending him left, at the some Meant
11,, grasps the pastor's hand and, smiling, exclaims,
Thank you, farewell." Ile crosses hie hands, all is
ready, the legal official In uniform advances and reads
his senn nce. Schull has listened, his hand locked in
that of the pastor. The aul•reme moment Mut come the
latter lifts from the ehouldere of ii, hull his yield, and removes
hie hat. It is usual In these executions to command the
movements by Cps, but the captain cries in a loud voice,
Make ready present, fire ! Invitutly, as If struck with a
thunderbolt, Schull leaps hick, the bandage files all tile met,
he ails—a corpse Ile hat been riddled with balls, but there
is a convulsive twitching In the left leg, arid a sergeant,
placing his rib, to hit ear, fires. It was quite needless.

- At the last Instant, just before the word of " Fire," hull
h.l turned to the othcers •Il4i geld, "Gentlemen, I address
myself to French lliters, who do not listen to the voice of
moraine°. I ask that I nosy be de,ently interred. " Where
fret As an esti.. me Indulgence, Yes," was the reply. The
corpse was carried to the cemetery on that dreory flat, the
Ih•le Chambrlere There °aside the restlog-place of
Christiana Is • side gate holnlng • half circle, surf against
the lateral well of lh's gate the c dp+e was laid clad in Ids
habiliments. The grave Is dog under the shouts of the sol-
diers of the camp adj doing, and there lies burled the spy of
the Army of the Rhino

As I write this tragic story I am filled with the drepcst
sortow awl pity for a lean so capable of a better dont', y
lie died asserting his Innocence to the last of the crime of
treason. France has not the secret, but Germany may have
It. I believe he was e metous of the money and of self-
importance rather than n traitor, designing to levy blackmail
on oth, but not ti betray aeriously either, SIM that be has
perished nohappliy, unlike many double-dealers who make •
great figure in history, both in French and English annals,
awl who died peacefnlly in their beds, full of honour. and
In the odour of respectability. I have heard thr, ugh third
pat Vino the private opinion of the chaplain, but it is formed
from personal impressions and from no facts beyond what
appear in this narrative.
may say, In conclusion, that this relation is abridzed
from a clotely printed broadsheet, the ordinary size of Eng-
lish daily papers It appears to have been suppressed owing
to that paroxysm of the spy fever welch raged in Men after
the first elbasters of the war. Ooss of the consequences
of the capitu'at I a was the setting at liberty of 173 prisoners
in Metz ch.ged with eepionale, and saved by
nt from a worse fate at the hands of Elio patio stricken
citizen.. .

-1-9,-;a-meured that Scholl - • roe only epy shot In Meta,
hut two have Moo • ' o It,lvtlle—o,o • Catholic, the
other • Protevto I learn Ital. from the authority of a
Mery Toni who attended the latte to Ala execution.