The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-22 00:00:00

The Last Words of Muller.

Dr Cappel has addressed the following letter to
the editor of the Hermann:—
Honoured Editor,—l hereby discharge the duty intrusted
to me by Franz Muller shortly before his death, of thanking
the German Legal Protection Society for the efforts they
made to save him. At the last moment the unhappy man
admitted his guilt, with a firm, clear voice, and in the full
possession of his senses ; and it has all the more significa-
tion because of the carefully chosen words he used. The
last words exchanged between him and me on the scaffold
are as follow :

" Question—Muller, in a few minutes you will stand be.
fore your God ; I ask you again, and for the last time, are
you guilty or innocent? ()Tuller, in wenigen Augen-
blicken stehen Sie vor Gott ; ich frage Sie nochmals and
sum letzten Male, Sind Sie schuldig oder unschuldig ?)
"Answer—l am innocent. (Ich bin unschuldig,)
" Question—You are innocent? (Sic sind unschuldig?)
" Answer—God knows what I have done. (Gott weiss
was ich gethan habe.)
" Question.--13od knows what you have done; does he
also know if you have committed this crime ? (Gott weiss
was Sie gethan haben : weiss er ouch dass Sio dies Ver-
brechen gethan haben ?)

" Answer—Yes, I have done it. (ja, ich habe es
gethan.)"
An hour and a half before his execution Muller had
declared himself innocent. I then told him that I would
not press him further, but that my last words to him would
be, " Are you guilty or innocent ?" 'With an earnest and
pensive look he remained one or two minutes silent, stand-
ing before me. He then suddenly cried out, with tears in
his eyes, and throwing his arms round my neck, "Do not
leave me—remain with me to the last." I judged by this
that he had determined to make a confession. That this
resolution was formed only at the last moment is quite in
keeping with the firnsness of his strange character, which
kept steadily to a denial of the crime with friend and
enemy until the very last glimmering of hope had disap-
peared ; and really his uniform quietude and his mild and
seemingly open disposition were enough to enlist the sym-
pathy of any one, to disarm distrust, and to deceive com-
pletely even the most experienced judges of human nature.
The persistency of Muller in his denial was probably owing
to his strong love of life, and his seeming frankness partly
explains it by the supposition—of which I am fully con-
vinced—that no murder had been intended, bat that the
robbery led to the death of the victim. Happily for him
that even with his last breath he has atoned for his heavy
sin to God, to men, and to his friends through the ac-
knowledgment of his guilt. I never could believe in his
complete innocence, bat, after he had repeatedly requested
it, I attended him in his cell with the honest resolution of
accomplishing my duty with forbearance and humanity,
and I carry in my heart the grateful conviction that I re-
freshed the unfortunate man in his sorrowful hours and
prepared and strengthened him for eternity. The proof of
this is the sincere love he had for me, and in the name of
which he confided to my care his last and dearest posses-
siens—a letter to his father and a document he wrote in

prison.
" I express my dearest thanks t') all my German country-
men for the great and touching proofs of sympathy and
confidence I received from them on all sides. But to the
German Legal Protection Society and you, Mr Editor, who,
penetrated by the persuasion of his innocence, have spent
night and day in endeavouring to save Muller, and have
gladly sacrificed quietness, sleep, and health--to you, before
all, are the thanks of Germans due, and in the name of every
friend of humanity I warmly press your hand.
Highly respectfully, your devoted,
Dr. LOUIS CAPPEL,
Pastor of the German Lutheran Church, St. George,
in Little Alie-street, Goodman's-fields.
London, Nov. 16.