The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1860-09-27
Car! SfaurE.

A writer in the Eastern (Pen.) Times, of
the sth inst, gives an interesting sketch Of
the life Of Carl Shurz. He was born 32 year
ago, in Bonn, OH the Rhine, in the Prussian
Dominions In 1849 he joined the Consti.
tutional army, and, sharing in lis rcverses
was sentenced to death for ligh treason
For three days and nights, after the Prussians
had entered Rastdat, he lay concealed in a
shed, on beam or rafter, just wide enough
to conceal his form from the eyes os those
who stood below A guard Of some kind,
was stationed in the very house 70 which
this shed belonged, and every night the sol
diers assembled on the floor beneath his hid
ing place, and danced to The music Of the
trumpet On the fourth right a heavy show
er of rain gave him the first opportunity Of
ATTEMPTING an escape, and he jumped fiom
the roof upon chicken-coop, which broke
down with him with loud crash. though
without attracting the notice Of the c,n!rv
who was, OF ought to have been, but few
yards off By the assistance Of his friends,
he reached sewer, and thus attained the
outside cfthe fortifcatons. Even here there
was sentry, but by following close behind
him as he walked by, he managed to gain
cover, before the sentry turned on his beat.
He made his way to Par.s, and remained
there considerable time, ia the vain hope OF
favorable turn in the afa rs Of his native
country. In a little book, published by the
chief spy Of Bonaparte's police, he received
honorable mention as "the most audacou'
and the most adroit" of the cxi!es, who,
while constantly active, could never be en-
shared into any act furnishing pretoxt even
to the liberal conscience of Bonaparte for
his eXtrldtlon. At this time the public
opinion Of Germany was much aroused by
the cowardly vengeance wreaked by the
Prussian Government on Godfrey kinkel, a
townsman Of Shurz's, a Professor who had
joined the constitutional movement at the
same time with himself This man poet,
of delicate frame, highly educated, and ac-
customed 10 all the rcfnements of life, was
imprisoned at Spandan, twenty miles f.om
Berlin, dressed as convict, his hair crop
ped short, and forced to labor at wool-card-
! ing, and to room and mess with ftlons-
Shurz having determined to rescue him, re-
paired to London, collected the means, and
made the arrangements. With forged
passport he Travelled direct 10 Berlin, left his
papers with TIE police over night, obtained
rise for some other town the next morning,
and, instead proceeding, took lodgings in
boarding house There he remained for
six we,b ks, going to Spandan every day, and
returning late at nj ght, when the policeman
was always so obliging as to unlock the door
of his boarding-house. All the arrange
ments having been completed, he carried off
Kinkel in coach one rainy night together
with his keeper. Relays of horses were in
readiness from station to station until they
reached the sea shore where pilot boat
received them. They landed at Hull or Var
mouth long before the Government had the
most remote idea of the prisoners where
abouts. Coming % this country in 1851, he
registered himself as law student at Phila-
delphia, and sojourned there for a number Of
years, occupying his time, almost exclu-
sively, with the study of this country, its ma
terial and social condition its history, its in
stitutions, and its future. In 1854 he reno
we'd to Watertown, Wisconsin, and entered
on the practice of the law in Milwaukee.