Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1897-03-18
zELLER's DOWNFALL.
Composer OF the 'Vogelhaendler" and
"ObersteIgerr on Trial for Perjury.

Composer OF the "vogelhaendler' and
"obersteIger" ON Trial for Perjury.
From the London Daily Telegraph:
A case 1t attracting public attention
here, which has. indeed, long occuried
the courts, but has now entered upeO q
critical stage. This lawsuit concerns
an official in the Ministry for Public
instruction, the Hofrath Karl Zeller,
against whom the public prosecutor
has preferred an accusation OF perjury.
From the existing social constitution
OF things In Austria 1t is natural for
the public here to cry out; How
monstrous must the crime be of man
80 highly placed when the public pyos-
ecutor arraigns him before the tribunal
"a man who is a government official"
However, in this case there are other
causes which attract public attention to
the trial. Herr Zeller is also one Of the
most famous operetta composers Of the
present day. and wo of his operettas,
the "Vogelhandler" and the "ober-
steiger," have been heala In the the
aters Of most other lands The "Vogel-
handler" has been performed IN Lon
don by the company in which Frau
Palmay figured as star.
The facts are as follows: Zeller,
who had lost his parents early in life,
was brought up in the house of rela-
tive, at whose death will was found
bequeathing to his wife only the inter
est of his large fortune, while the bulk
was left to his favorite zeller. In addi-
ton to the money detailed in the testa-
ment, there was also a large sum Of
ready money amounting to $4,000
forms, and this latter sum Zeller de-
clared the deceased had presented to
him during his lifetime. A law suit
was instituted, in the course Of which
Zeller swore to his statement, while
the widow of the deceased man de-
clared 1t was an impossibility that her
late husband could have left this sum
to Zeller, as he had promised 1t TO her
before his death. The whole affair
would probably have been put on the
shelf If the Socialist organs had not
raised hue and cry and energetically
demanded that the case should not be
hushed up and put out of sight because
1t concerned a Hofrath and q man
holding government post. The affair
then took tragical turn. The govern
ment suspended both Zeller and his
salary until the conclusion of the trial,
and Zeller, overwhelmed mentally and
bodily by his misfortune, became tenn
porarily insane, and had, in addition,
an attack Of paralysis. For months he
lay lowering between life and death,
the physicians declared him hopelessly
lost, and In consequence of his un-
fortunate state the case cannot be
tried, neither can Zeller have the op-
portunity Of proving his innocence,
though he, as well as his counsel and
other persons well acquainted with the
testamentary dispositions, declare him
to be guiltless. The endeavor to con-
clude the trial in the absence of zeller
was rejected, as the Austrian criminal
law does not admit of such procedure.
The famous composer has now before
him the unfortunate prospect OF dying
without being able to clear himself,
and he may thus leave to his children
a dishonored name, which, but for his
unhappy illness, he might have been
able to re-vindicate.