Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-11-28
Extraordinary Deception


The Berlin and Viennl lonrllals give the par
tculars Of an extraordinary and successful case
q aoe.rtis~ r-nct,ced upon the public authors
tiesby yonhgipriest, mined Conrad Specht,
eighteen years of age who was arrested at the
village of Hegelshem, district oruppen Danube.
in Bavaria. on the 2}l of July l849, on ch1rge
of having violated AMI mu'l9te the dlughter of
Franz Pirat, who lived near the same village
The body Of the unt1rtnHlt" glll, who at tha
time of her death had nat quite reached her sev-
enth year, was found shockngy m tlted in
the grounds of her ftthor. The back of her head
was nearly blown of bya gnnshot, which musl
have been fired within few feet of her : her
body also gave conclusive proof of another and
equally horrible offence having been committed
upon her.
Spelht succeeded, for a time in directing
suspicion against person WHO had, on that very
day, left HegeIshem, who was pursued AMI
brought back; but upon his first examination the
accused gave such conclusive evidence of his
absence from the place of murder, thlt he was
Immediately discharged Suspicion i'm nedate-
ly rested upon Spacht alone and soon the au.
thorities ordered his arrest
On the day after his arrest Specht was con.
veyed to Augsburg for trial. Daring the night
however,a most extraordinary change had taken
place IN him. He, who had Heretofore display
ed uncommon vivacity and rare intelligence,
seemed to have altogether lost his mental and
physical faculties. He could hardly move, and
when after gteat effort he raised himself, his
knees trembled violently and the turkeys had
to support him. The muscles of his neck even
seemed to have lost their strength, for his head
either rested on his chest, or fell backward,
sometimes also falling on his shoulders. He
spoke only in broken incohrrent sentences he
had lost his memory aud did not know ANYBODY
not even his mother, with whom he had always
lived. In consequence of this change, the au-
thorties ordered two eminent physicians to at
tend upon him, and inquire the state o his mind
Their examination lusted several months, and
resulted in their decided opinion that the mental
and physical state Of the prisoner was only feigu-
ed for the purpose of escaping punishment
The physicians expressed no doubt of the state
being feigned one, yet the authorities decided
upon placing Specht under oiher observation to
test the correctness oi the decision. He was
therefore conveyed to a different part Of the
prison, where, unknown to himself. the strictest
watch was kept upon him But IRON morning
till night did he lay still and beathllke on his
bed an occasional moan only brelking the si-
lence which surrounded him This trial lasted
for two months, but even then the authorities
were not satisfied, and resolved to subject him
to more powerful influences, to see whether any
violent sensations would be exhibited by him. i
For this purpose a cannon was placed against the
exterior wall of Specht's cell and discharged du-
ring the stiffness of the night, The murderer
gave vent to some inartculate sounds, but did
not move in his bed Strong jets Of water were
next thrown in upon him. without even attracting
his attention. aud after submitting him to sever
ll kinds of torture without calling forth the least
show of pain or fear, the last attempt to arouse
his faculties was agreed upon.
This trial satisfied the authorities OF Inc state
If Spechts mind but the physicians were by no
means convinced on the contrary, tho last at