The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-24

| 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 seven
| teen, entered the University of Bonn and
came at once under the influence of the
| renowned professor. A close and affec-
| tionate intimacy sprang up between them
| and when Kinkel established his liberal
newspaper Schurz became, at the age of
nineteen, his principal assistant, and soon
for time the sole conductor of the jour
nal. He was involved with kinkel in the
instruction 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 re-
Gently past his twentieth birthday-was
sentenced to be shot However, before
the few days allotted him to live had ex-
PRED he managed to escape from his jail
ers and to get safely across the frontier
into Switzerland.
The illustrious Kinkel was arrayed in
convict garb, immured in common
prison, and was set at work in company
with the lowest criminals in the manufac-
t,lre of shoes. All Germany, still trem-
bling with the recent revolutionary up
heaval, heard with indignation of the out
RACES inflicted upon the eminent man, and
numerous petitions were forwarded to the
Prussian Government praying for the
amelioration of his condition; but the
authorities turned deaf ear to all such
solicitations, and it was not long before the
petitions ceased, and Kinkel seemed to
have entered upon living death, forgotten
alike by his friends and by the German
world which had so recently delighted to
do him honor. 1t was as if our own Long
fellow, 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.
But Kinkel was not altogether forgotten.
By Carl SchurZ, now just entering upon
his twenty-frst year, he was still affection
ately remembered. He was ignorant of
Kinkel's condition and even of his place of
confinement. but he determined to learn,
and if possible to concert some plan for his
liberation. In the face of instant death, in
case of detection, he entered Prussia clad
in rags and carrying a heavy organ upon
his shoulders. By day he gathered few
coppers in playing his organ from the
passers-by on the highways; at night he
laid his organ aside and sought out the
friends of German liberty to ascertain the
fate of Kinkel and reawaken an interest in
the imprisoned patriot. In this way he
journeyed on foot more than 800 leagues
and through numerous towns and villages,
sleeping at night in barns or under way
side hedges. He had several narrow es-
capes and it is marvel that he was not
discovered, for he was then, as he is now, a
man of striking personal appearance. !.
On one occasion as he was trudging
along the high road he was accosted by
several Prussian soldiers, who inquired
where he was going.
ITO the next town, was his answer.
''Would you like to earn handful of
pfennings?"
"Of course / should" replied Schurz
with decided promptness.
sThen come with us to our barracks
We are TO have dance there this evening
and your organ would suit us exactly"
1t was going directly into the lions
den; but Schurz could not have declined
without exciting suspicion, so, with pro-
fuse expressions of gratitude, he went
along with the soldiers, and during the
entire night ground out waltzes and