The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-01-07
PH1LOsOPHIOAL AssAss1NATION.
Tho Young German Atheist who
Shot Mt n Clergyman.
singular EGeOt OF Reading Kant nnd

SAOS ~ - SAoA Ny
singular RHeCt of Reading Kant nnd
Other German Philosophers
Ber lin (Dec 1SO correspondence Orthe Lon
don Times.
On the 18th instant young BLAND was
tried by Judge Luty, at the Berlin
Criminal Court, on the chargr OF at.
tempting TO shoot the ReY. DR.. Helm
rici while performing divine service In
the Cathedral. AS the reader may re-
member, BLAND is an atheislio fanatic,
who looks upon Christianity as an
egreglous mistake, and the clergy as
paid cheats. To :avenge himself upon
them for keeping him In the dark, and
awaken his countrymen to sense of
their Intellectual bondage, he had re-
course to the pistol. The deed created
an immense sensation at the time.
Born In 1851, at the village of Llnk,
County of BarniIn, near Berliu, Carl
Ludwig Otto BLAND is tho Rnn OF
blacksmith, and from his fifth to his
tenth year attended the village school.
Remarkable for quickness aud indus.
try, he attracted the attention of a
neiRhborlng millowner, who, from his
tenth to his thirteenth yenr, permitted
the intelligent boy to share the private
instruction impaired to his own sons.
Three more years were spent In Ber-
lin RrammRr-schOOl, the father scrap
ing together the little he had to COM
plete MS sons education, and make
him, Rs he AmbltiouslY hoped he might
be5 teacher, or even a clergyman.
While at school In Berlin the boy
astonished his masters by his rapid
progress, and, besides the tasks
allotted him, greedily read whatever
fell into his hands. Goethe, Schiller,
Kant, and quantities of English and
French novels he seems to have devour-
ed at an age when such food was sure
to be too much for his mental digestion.
II was, however, long before his religi-
GUS convictions, which from his infan
cy had been strictly orthordOx, receiv-
Ing any rude shock. For years, while
studying Kant and other mere ratiOu-
alistic authors, he would regularly at
tend divine service on Sundays, and
write out afterwards the sermon by
heart. Eventually, however, his rB-
ligIOus belief was impaired, aud, DO
ing an earnest and conscientious boy,
he declared to his father that he felt un-
able 10 enter upon any vocation in
which II would be his duty to tOach the
dogmas of Christianity. He now de-
terminad to become an actor, that he
might, as he said, preach political
truth from the stage. His father OBJ
jeoted, but. the son threatening to COM
NIT suicide, he at last gave In, and suf-
fered him once more TO betRke himself
to Berlin. Here he associated with
actors and practiOed elOcutiOn; but, to
his bitter disappointment, found no en-
couragement from adopts i'll the art.
His despair, coupled with filial Rffec-
tlon, made him listen 70 the pAternal
representations, 30 he promised again
to take to his books. To carry out this
Intention he accompanied his father TO
Lank, where he stayed few weeks,
bitterly repenting his promise and ir-
resOlute how to act. In this unsettled
inn rf mi Ind t1,Faf I'M
ceived the idea of shooting a clergyman
He went to Berlin, cast Il ball from
tin medal In honor OF the Schiller CEN
tenary, and with the missile, sacred to
the memory OF his great favorite, COM
mltted the deed.
On the judge addressing to him the
ordinary question whether he pleaded
guilty or not guilty, the poor misguid-
ed youth had the hnrdihOOd to reply:
Not guilty. Being convinced that man
is not FREQ agent, cannot be guilty.
To the question whether his religious
views had anything 10 do with the at
tempt, he answered. Il determined to
shoot clergyman because 1t is the
clergy who have kept me go long in the
dark. When studying mathematics 1
learnt TO reason and emaucipRte my.
self from the untruths they taught me.
There Is no God. Nature is seIEsup-
porting machine.' When the Judge
Kant and tho classical poets he loved
so dearly, lie retOrted:
Il have endeRVored to understand
them to the best of my ability. 1 am
convinced my opinions are based upon
theirs. II was while Witnessing the
performance OF Goethe'S 'FAusL' and
Schlller's 'Rauber' that the idea of
shooting a clergyman frat occurred to
me. When 1 levelled my pistol at the
Rev. DIR. Helnrici, as he stood before
the altar reclting the creed, bore no
personal ill-will to him. He was a
clergyman, consequently a deceiVer,
and that was enough for me. l wished
TO make an example OF one of the cloth,
and was ready TO abide the conse.
quences. will not, however, deny
that my opinions have been somewhat
modified since. If l were at liberty now
l should not repeat the act. have
learnt to understRnd that the shooting
OF one OF them Is OF no use at ALL
All which this daring boy OF eighteen
preferred with the utmost compusure,
smiling with philosophical equnnimiLy,
and meeting the searching interTogatO-
rles of the judge with calmness WOr-
thy OF n better cause. Even Whsn the
jury found him guilty and the judge
sentenced him to twelve years of i'm
prisonment, with hard labor, his cour-
age, evidently the result of deep rooted
conviction, did not forsRke him for
moment.