Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-04-27

ana easy stroke. Ii did not seem TO require
much eloquence t. overcome the scruples of
the apprentice, IL indeed he felt any for,
rubbing his eye to assure himself that he
was awake, he jumped out of bed, dressed
rapidly, and followed his master down stairs
In the silent sleeping streets they only met
one living soul, ard concluded it was
watchman-it was, probably the very shop
keeper who deposed to having seen two
suspicious lookirg men crossing the horse
market about that hour. They found the
street door sligf tly ajar. They entered,
carried off the cash box without disturbance,
and transported it home. They opened it
and divided the. spoil, during the absence of
Gosser's wife. They hid the box in a hole
under the workshop, and there it had
rerrainod III three weeks ago, when it was
removed, broken to pieces, and thrown into
the Pegnitz-the muddy stream which flows
through Nurnberg.
Four days after the robbery, Gosser
confessed it to his wife, who swooned away,
and on recovering herself implored him to
restore the money, as indeed she had contin-
ued daily to implore him ever since. But
he paid some pressing debts, bought what
was needed for his business. as well as clothes
for himself and family; and would not hear
of restoring the money.
Gosser further declared that no one had
ever instigated him to the deed. no one had
even limited at it. The idea occurred to him:
he had no accomplice but Blosel had never
spoken to any one on the subject, except
Blosel and his wife, neither before nor since,
least Of all to the Maunerts, Sconleben, or
Beutner. These were entirely innocent. lie
and Blosel alone were guilty.
Before his arrest and Imprisonment GOsser
had attempted suicide by cutting his throat
with razor; and in prison he tried to open
avein: but both attempts had been frustrated.
He confessed having made these attempts
from despair" Beyond this single crime
he had nothing Of which to accuse himself
His life had been honest until that fatal Doth
June. He could give no reason for that deed,
except the pressing poverty which weighed
him down.
This confession was made so mply, so
explicitly, and was cOrroborated in so many
many details, that no doubt could arise as to
It's perfect truth and one would have thought
that the previously accused prisoners would
now be set at liberty, and their entire limo
cence proclaimed. Not 50, however Nurn-
berg justice, rash enough in suspicion Of
crime, was tardy in recognition of innocence
1t dreaded the idea of having been so
deplorably misled.
Closer s wife was next examined. She
corroborated in all essential points the
statement of her husband On the night IN
question she slept away from her husband on
account of the sickness of her baby, then at
the breast 50 that she knew nothing of his
getting up and quitting the house. Only in
respect OF The day on which he confessed the
tn 4 LII 1. 1. L
1t was on the second, not on the fourth day
alter the deed. She had Just returned from
being ''churched'' at ST. Laurenz: and saw
her husband pay dollar for some nails he
had bought; on her asking him when alone.
Where that money came from, he replied that
Herr Won Scheidlin had paid him some money
in advance for work ordered She reproached
him for acting without her advice ana knowl-
edge, keeping her in ignorance of his affairs:
whereupon he replied that if she would only be
decent woman and leave offreproaching him.
he would willingly tell her everything. He
constantly went out into the shop, and after
whispering with the apprentice Blosel, re-
turned again; and as she. with some i'm
patience, demanded what this all meant. he
seized her by the arm, led her into the bed
room, and having first asked her if she would
forgive him, and not be startled at what he
told her, he confessed all. She thought the
earth would swallow her. She impl0red him
not to ruin her and the children: but he
paclfed her, and assured her that no one
would ever know anything about it. She
gave an accurate account Of how the money
had been spent: an account which proved
them to have been in the utmost need and
she described the various places where the
rest OF the money was hidden, naming which
sums belonged 10 the apprentice, and which
to her husband. She declared that repeated
ly she had urged the restoration OF at least a
part OF the money, and intreatcd him to
make his peace with God and man by a con
fesslon; but he was immovable. When She
painted to him the suiferings which the in
nOcent were undergoing for his crime, he
tried to reassure her, declaring that their
innocence must soon be proved, and then
they would be set free.
Magnus Melchior Bloscl, the apprentice
aged twenty-five, son of working carpent-
er, still living in Nurnberg, confessed to all
that GosSer had said lie only urged, as
defence, that he had struggled against
temptation. When Gosser on the night of
the 10Th June shook him in his bed and
awoke him by the assurance that both of
them should be made happy, he asked how?
and where? No sooner had these questions
been answered than he exclaimed. - For
Gods sake, master what will come of it?
We should both come to grief i''-hoping by
this to dissuade the master. Blosel, in sub
sequent Investigations, did not persist in
even this modest scruple; and admitted that
the masters reply, "Pho nothing will
come of it," quite sllenced him He
corroborated all the other details, and de-
clared that it was on his repeated remon-
strances that Gosser at length made a clean
breast of 1t to his wife. He had also often
spoke with Gosser about the unhappy
accused suffering for them, but only got for
answer, that "these must be set free at last,
and thus we are safe"
after a second search in G )ssers dwelling,
which completely confirmed all that had been
said, and which yielded upwards of 200
gulden, from various hiding places and after
pieces of the iron box had been fshed up
from the Pegnitz, and recognized-in fact, |
after no shadow of doubt could exist as to |
the truth of GOsser' story, the unfortunate |
Maunert, Schonleben, and Beutner, were |
lightened of their irons, and their imprson
ment in many respects mitigated but it
still continued: and it was only by degrees
that they were informed of the new turn the
affair had taken.
And nowimagine the torrent of public wrath
against the barber Kirchmeier, whom every
one accused of being the sole cause of all the
cruel injustice perIetrated on the Maunerts,
no one, lof course, accusing himself of having,
by credulity& facile hypothesis of guilt, aided
and abetted Kirchmeier was held responsible
for all. 1t was not enough that he had
perjured himself had misled justice, had
caused the death of one poor woman. and
the suferIngs of a whole family. lie was
arrested un the 4th November; and after
the three confessions had been read aloud to
him, was asked if he still ventured to affirm
what he had sworn?
With firm voice Kirchmeier declared,
THAT he could still in clear conscience affirm
that, on the morning in question, in the
presence Of Frau MaGnert and her youngest
son, while shaving Maunert, he had seen
dark green striped cash box. nainted with