The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1902-01-21
4 MEDIEVAL TYRANT.
sp,,rA, FEUDAL WAYS REVIVED BY
A GERMAN NOBLE.
VINO Holds Himself Above the Civil
Ia and Commits Crimes with
-uu,tv-His Cold BloOded Grimes
w,nAa an Army Necessary

RHnda 2n hEhJ
.h,o age a baron who sets out to
- VIC estate as though he were a
s4rv and his property of several humid
zsa.oa a Kingdom, maintains an ar
nav Of retainers and tenants Tor pro
teetior and kills servants n those
who provoke his anger as ne pieases,
wanms 10 he an anachroism too obsurd
IN axist outside of a novel. But, I'M
n-ohohla az IL may seem, such a char
anter does exist in b parsonage Oh
baron Won steitencron, lately OF the
cnrman army and now proprietor OF
tba eatate of Oberweiler in Germany.
This estate is neal property owned by
+ha Kaiser in Lorraine on which STANDS
the Chateau OF UrVlile'
A regular medieval noble Is the
BARON Won Steitencron. Feudallsm
when it prevailed in its greatest de-
gree in the country which the kaiser
now rules never had a more devoted
adherent than this German baron, and
the peasantry never had a more exact
lag overload nor n who held more
lightly their right to the enjoyment
of life and liberty. In the baron's lit
tie domain the feudal idea as 1t was
developed in medieval Europe Is still
cherished, and crimes, 1t would seem
are committed by the baron with an
impunity characteristic of a former
age.
Above the Civil Law.
1t is because of his service in the
army which entities him to be con
sidered as belonging to the reserves
that the baron holds himself amena-
BILE to none of the laws of the commun-
ity in which he lives. Only to mill
tary tribunals will the baron submit
himself, and there appears to be a sin
gular unwillingness among militar!
authorities to bring him to terms.
A correspondent Of the milwaukee,
Sentinel recently paid a visit to t6'
part of Germany where this strang'
character holds sway to Investigate
some Of the stories regarding hi
crimes and idiosyncracies. Most o
them he found were thoroughly born
out by the facts. 1t was just after tn
baron had executed his second victim
AS in the first case, it was, so thi
visitor say nothing less than murde
on the part of this subject of the kai
ser, and murder it would have bee
~adjudged in most countries calm
AAo-o.aIvo. osu;Isvna n.,4 70 fha no rn'
his act was simply removing from thi
earth, almost without warning, a peas
ant who had been found trespassing o
his domains. AS in all other case
the baron went unpublished for hi
crime.
The estate on which this curiou
condition of affairs obtains covers SO
acres. In this mi domain Baron vo
~Steitencron maintains an establish
ment patterned as nearly as possib'
after those kept by his ancestors whe
feudalism flour.shed. His servants an
laborers make up his army, uniforme
and armed by the baron, and drillt
as carefully as though the possessic
of the land depended upon the proves
of his men.
Finds an Army Necessary.
OF this force of retainers he is Il
general, while to his valet he has del
gated the duties of adjutant, with b
forester as the colonel. The bare
finds much need for this army for
and he keeps his men constantly d
ing sentinel duty about the estate. {
Sunday he hollis a review of his me
appearing before them in much t
same as the emperor appea
at the grand military maneuvers.
Sunday on the estate at Oberweil
is also a trial day, with the baron
sole arbiter of the fate of those w
recognize him as their overload.
The baron has various moles Of pu
ishing his men. 1t is a common thi
for him to consign offenders to a du
geon on the premises with hung
thrown in to make them a little me
obedient to his pleasures the next tin
and in some cases the lash is resort
to. Even the baron's wife has knov
what it is to be a prisoner in his du
geon, for disregard Of his will
one SO rear him is visited with no /,
heavy a hand than in the case of me
mental offenders.