The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-12-02
Burgomaster


gA;g4;s 81 Ag & @;sg 4 <
about the real object of his enterprise
Herr Won Wildberg, the town treas
urer, was approached by the bogus
captain, who calmly seated himself al
a desk and called for the treasurer
books. The brigand intimated that
some irregularity had been detected
and that by the Kaiser's orders he had
been sent to Koepenick to look into
the affairs of the office. When the big
folio ledgers and cash books had been
laid before the bold bandit, he turned
the leaves over in a rapid businesSlike
way, and then called to the astonished
treasurer: Make up the cash ac-
countsi"
In the presence of the Kaiser's coat
the accountant did not hesitate. He
made I'D his accounts and handed the
cash, 1863 marks II pfennigs, about
$500. to the important persona ge. The
robber in a perfectly natural manner
wrote out a receipt for the money, and
signed it ''v.Aloesan H. F. G.. r.
meaning Won Aloesan, Captain, First
Guards Regiment. Once the bogus
captain had the money, the treasurer
was handed over to the waiting police
whom the robber had Communicated
and was soon on his way to join the
mayor in Berlin.
In possession of the money, which
was a mere trifle compared with the
cash and securities at his mercy in the
treasurer's office, but which he over
looked the captain took his time in
disappearing:
After perpetrating the raid the
brigand chief drove to the railway sta
ton and took a train to a junction on
the outskirts of Berlin. There he left
the train, hired a cab, and drove
across Berlin to the southern end OF
Friedrichstrasse. Entering a clothing
! shop he bought a ready-made suit of
I civilian dress. Then he reentered the
| cab and drove to another railway sta
: ton, and in deserted waiting-room
exchanged his uniform for the civilian
attire. His sword was found lin a
corner of the room. The uniform was
| subsequently found concealed in the
, bushes of Tempelhof Plain, on the
/ southern outskirts of Berlin.
! 1t was a matter of only a few hours
for the Berlin officials to discover that
! grand hoax had been perpetrated,
overcome by anger all the detectives
of the city were sent out to run down
the audacious rogue who had imposed
on soldiers. town officials, and the peo-
pie. A big reward was offered and
after several days the culprit was de-
tected. His career had been a vicious
one, but hardly to be accepted as like
Iy to fit him for such an achieve
ment:
Voight is fifty-seven years old. a
gray, haggard sorry specimen of hui
mainly, with marks of his criminal
career indelibly printed on his hard,
bad face. He has been sever al times
confined for long terms, having re-
ceived seven years penal servitude for
forgery practised on a postoffice, and
only last February he completed
term of fifteen years penal servitude
for robbing the safe of courts of justice
at WongrowitZ, in Posen. In February
he settled in WiSmar, under police
surveillance. and worked as shoemaker
but the eye of the law was too much
for him. and he migrated to Berlin,
where he took up his quarters with
his sister
He fully realizes the fame that he
has achieved, and rot even the pros,
pect of spending the rest OF his life
in prison lessons his satisfaction When
the idea of his coup first came to him
Weight frequented music halls and other
places where military officers resort
that he might study them and their
ways. The Difference with which he
observed they were everywhere treat
ed soon convinced him that the uni
form COurted for vastly more than
the man inside of it
From the time when Voight's exploit
5rSt became known up to the present
he has been a hero with the public. and
he will have sympathy in his punish>
IHcnt:
with great success at the Metropole |
Theater. and a humorous novel. based |
on the arrest of the municipal officials |
was published. 1t had great sale. |
Hundreds of hawkers sold postcards in |
the streets bearing comic illustra lions !
of the Koepenick capture. /
''koepenick" has been added to the
Berlin vocabulary of slang. Hereafter.
whenever anyone has been made the
victim of practical joke or a fraud,
Berlinites will declare that he has been
'KoepeniCked.
The Emperor was greatly impressed
with the audacity of the raid. He is
to have declared to a member
Of his suite that "a man who could !
carry out such an enterprise in time
IF peace would be worth an entire
army corps in time of war