Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-06-27

Made Him n RODDer anu mut'
derer and an Inoendlary-Ntne
Victims I'm Less fhan Two Years
Betrayed by woman at Last. q
From the Swiss Times.l
Daniel Harder was at the time of his
unnatural death only twenty-seven years
of age, and until his twenty-second year
his conduct had been irreproachable.
An act of injustice which he suffered in
1867, at the hands of Prussian noble
man of high rank, converted him from q
respectable village schoolmaster into a
relentless enemy Of society, and event
ually led him to the scafold. 1t was
shortly after the Gnesen Landwehr bat
TALON had retired from the war with
Austria, and after Harder, who had
served as private in that corps, had
resumed his duties as sehoolmaster at
Grodzyk, village near Gnesen, that he
accidentally met the Baron Won Hetts-
tedt, the Major of that battalion. The
Baron was under the influence of liquor,
and without any provocation whatever,
began to abuse Harder very grossly.
Harder tried to get away from him,
but the Baron struck him and spit
into his face. This was too much
for the village schoolmaster. He turned
furiously upon his assailant, and, al
though the latter was in full uniform,
beat him severely, broke his sword, and
left him bleeding and almost insensible
on the ground. He then left the place
for parts unknown. On the following
day summons was issued against him
by the Gnesen military tribunal. All
the efforts to ascertain his whereabouts
remained fruitless and six months after
ward the affair was well nigh forgotten:
There was but one man who remembered
it with the keenest bitterness, and that
was Daniel Harder himself. While
he had hidden from the police be had
brooded over the great wrong that had
been done to him, and determined to
wreak a terrible revenge upon the Baron
Won Hettstedt. The latter lived in a
very fine mansion, two miles from
Gnesen. Shortly after midnight, on the
Sd of August, 1867, fire broke out in
the mansion at three different places.
The building was speedily laid in ashes,
and owing to the rspidity with which
the flames spread one of the Baron s
children perished in them, The con-
aagration was evidently the work of an
incendiary, and the peoples voice at
once designated Daniel Harder as the
man who had done it.
a reward of $1,000 was offered for his
apprehension, and the gendarmes of
the whole district was sent out to hunt
him up. 1t was discovered that he had
been in the neighborhood, but he man
aged to elude pursuit. Daniel Harder
had set fire to the Hettstedt mansion, and
henceforth his career was that of an out
law. knowing that his life was forfeited.
The peasants began to look upon him as
a daredevil endowed with almost super
human powers of endurance, hendish
malignity, and the most indomtable
courage. We next find him associating
with a band of highway robbers, who
made the vast forests of the Gnesen dis
trict their headquarters, and whose chief
he became soon afterward in conse'
ouence of bis superior intelligence. The
hand under his leadership became a
scourge to the district. It committed
hundreds Of lawless acts, it robbed,
killed, and burnt, and at one time fought
a regular battle With ten mounted gend-
armes, in which two of the latter were
killed. Harder delighted in bidding de-
6a,e zee TO the authorities. Once he Yls-
lied Gin ssen in disguise, and called upon
,Ss Police Master. A few hours after
'-o,d he sent that dignitary letter in
which ne informed kim who his visitor
ho1 haen
During the war of 1870 the impudepee
of the Harder band became so great
that n detachment Of regular cavalry
was sent to scour the woods and hunt
the daring criminals down, but all to no
purpose. Harder became such terror
10 The district that the peasants did not
dare 70 give any information that might
lead TO bis apprehension. The Mayor OF
tba village Of Dilitzka, who had yolun-
teered in 1872 10 lead the gendarmes to
ne nlace of concealment, was brutally
murdered a few weeks afterware. II Wes
his assassination that eventually led to
the arrest Of the great bandit Inc
,nrdered MAYOR Of Dilitzka had four
children. the eldest Of whom was Sophia
Josephine Arnitz, wkO at the ame OF
her fathers death was eighteen. She
was good looking and endowed With su-
nerior intelligence. The cowardly as
sassination Of her father made a deep
impression upon her. and she swore to
herself 10 bring his murderer 10 justice. |
With true feminine shregdness aud ex-
iraordinarv powers Of dissimulaton she
r,anared 10 have an interview with Dan
III Harder. and made him believe that
ne renown Of his bloody and daring
5eeds had caused her 70 fall in love With
I'm 81 vas handsome, his vanity va
srrit.5--in a word, be accepted her
declaration Of love and said he would
marrv her. She told him that she vas /
he daughter Of widow, and that be
could meet her next evening at the