The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-03-24

vices in the German revolutionary
army in 1873 and 1919; and Carl Schurz.
who came here III 1852, had won
wide celebrity by his rescue of Colt
freid Kin1el from a Prussian dungeon;
but aside from these two I can at the
moment call to mind no others who
have, since 1850, come to this country
heralded by an European fame. The
single act by which Carl Schurz be-
came celebrated throughout Europe is
not much known here, and if it were it
was of SO heroic a character that it
would be worthy of repetition for the
benefit of the generation that has been
born since it made Carl Schurz famous.
kinI1eI and the German Revolution
of 1915.
Gottfried Kinkel was an illustrious
poet, philosopher and patriot who oc-
cupied high rank in the literature of
Germany and held the position of pro-
fessOr of rhetoric in the famous Uni
versity of Bonn, IN Rhinish Prussia.
When the revolution Of 1S4S broke out
his strong democratic Sympathies led
him to take an active part in the
struggle against despotism. He set on
foot a liberal newspaper, and in the
spring of 1919 headed an insurrection
of the students at Bonn, which, fail
ing, he fed to the Palatinate, where
-
and took part in the defense of
Rastadt, a strong town and fortress in
Baden. At the fall of that fortress he
was among the prisoners; and, being
speedily tried for high treason, he was
condemned TO long Imprisonment at
hard labor.
In 1916, Carl Schurz, at the age of II,
entered the University of Bonn, and
came at once under the influence of
the renowned professor. A close and
affecuonate intimacy sprang up be-
tween them, and when Kinkel estab-
1ished his liberal newspaper, Schurz
became, at the age of 49, his principal
assistant, and soon, for a time, the
sole conductor of the journal He was
involved with Kinkel in the insurrec-
Fion of the students, and. fleeing with
him to Rastadt, was captured at the
surrender of the fortress. He, too,
was tried by court martial, and-then
only recently past his Goth birthday
was sentenced to be shot. However,
before the few days allotted him to live
had expired, he managed to escape
from his jailors, and TO get safely
across the frontier into Switzerland
Kinkei Sent to Prison.
The illustrious Kinkel was arrayed
in convict garb, immured in a common
prison. and was set at work in COM
pany with the lowest criminals in the
manufacture Of shoes. Ali Germany,
still trembling with the recent reVolu-
.ionary upheaval, heard with indigna-
zion of the OutrageS inflicted upon the
eminent man, and numerous petitions
were forwarded 10 the Prussian gov
eminent, praying for the amelioration
of his condition; but the authorities
turned a deaf ear to all such solicita-
5ions. and it was not long before the
petitions ceased, and Kinkel seemed to
I Il
gotten alike by his friends and by the
German world which had so recently
delighted to do him honor. IT was as
if our own Longfellow, in the very
zenith of his fame, had been suddenly
clapped into prison, and so effectually
hidden away from the sight of men
that the very name of him had been
erased from the public memory.
Scburz Returns to Prussia.
But Kinkel was not altogether for
gotten. By Carl Schurz, now just en-
tering upon his 21st year, he was still
affectionately remembered. He was
ignorant of Kinkers condition, and
even of his place of confinement, but
he determined to learn, and, If posi-
BILE. to concert some plan for his liberia
fion In the face of instant death, in
case Of detection, he entered Prussia,
CLAD 4 rags, and carrying a heavy
organ upon MS ShOulQerS. by day he
gathered a few coppers in playing his
organ from the passers by on the high
ways; at night he laid his organ aside,
and sought out the friends of German
libe. " to ascertain the fate Of Kinkel,
and r. awaken an interest in the i'm
prisoned patriot. In this way he
iourneyed on foot more than 300
leagues, and through numerous towns
and villages, sleeping al night in barns
or under wayside hedges. He had sew
eral narrow escapes, and it is a marvel
that he was not discovered, for he was
then, IS he is now, a man of striking
personal appearance.
His Dangerous Commission.
on one occasion, as he was trudging
along the high road, he was accosted
by several Prussian soldiers, who in
ouir.zd where he was going.
TO the next town." was his answer.
Would you like to earn handful of
pfennings"
ssOe course should replied Schurz
with decided promptness.
.s,hen come with US to our barracks.
We are to have dance there this
evening, and your organ will suit US
exactly"
It was going directly into the lions
den: but Schurz could not have de-
clined without exciting suspicion, so,
with profuse expressions of gratitude