The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-02-23
THAT KOEPENlCK COMEDY.
A SEQUEL TO ";HE GREATEST
PRACTICAL JOKE ON RECORD"

Inal and the Wonder is That He
Could Have Personated an Officer.
The genial brigand who convulsed
all Germany by raiding the Koepenick
municipal treasury and arresting the
| burgomaster while masquerading as
a captain in the First Guards Regl'
ment, was arrested a few days ago
In a house in Lange street IN the
eastern quarter of Berlin.
The colossal joker now turns out
10 be an ex-convict shoemaker nam
| I'd William Weight, Sc years old, ana
he has spent 81 years of his life In
penal servitude.
Voight's capture has caused
flesh outburst of merriment in Ber-
lin. He is a slovenly, stoop-shoulder'
I'D old man, with fiat nose and bad
eeth. and never by the widest flight
Il fancy could his appearance be con-
tdered military. The success OF hrs
,oup is, therefore, all the more in
applicable.
The climax, however, comes In the
announcement that Voight has never
been in the army!
When arrested Voight was sitting
It the table eating breakfast. HIS
wonderful nerve did not desert him.
As the chief inspector strobe into
the room he glanced up, with a piece
If sausage on the end of his fork,
jaid: "Gocd morning gentlemen"
lnd-swallowed the sausage.
eff you have no objection he then
,dded. Il should like to finish my
breakfast before accompanying YOU
The police inspectors, who were IN
thoroughly good humor owing to
heir valuable capture, readily COM
! ,l!cd.
Weight thereupon calmly finished
,ls sausages, asked if it was a tine
morning, permitted himself to be
,andcuffed, and was conveyed in a
| ,losed cab to police hea7nuartecs.
Soon after his arrival at headquar-
| .rs Voicht was confronted with
lis indignant victims from koepen-
| ok, including DR.. Langerhans, the
ourgomaster
DR.. Lange;hans merely pointed his
niger at him and said, in voice
trembling with rage: That is the
uan." Weight "cHt" the bl-gomas-
Ter with a dalishtfHl a. of hauteur-
lie neither smiled nor s9cie, ard as
.-e of the inspectors afterwards said,
He did not loo!1 at the baFsomaster,
| ,ut through him.
After the Identification was finish
| ID Eoieht calmly announced that he
was hur cry, as he did not have
enough breakfast. Thereupon the po-
lice provided him with sumptuous
neal and half bottle Of wine.
| As he ate and drank Weight be-
| ,ame more and more gocd-hlmorea
and inclined to treat the amused po-
ice officials as his equals instead OF
lis interiors.
His examination was punctuated
~ peals of laughter 1t seemed abb
solutely impossible for the police Of
icials to realize that this grimy down.
,t-heels and battered old mana typ
cal criminal in appearance, had sue
| .essfully impersonated smart army
vaptain. They laughed again and
again, and Voight, who was highly
| sratifed at the impression he hal
| produced, finally told them the story
Of the raid from beginning to end.
| Il am not a criminal at heart he
| declared. Il never injured any prl-
vate person by any one of my acts. l
aave only robbed public institutions
which could easily bear the loss of
he goods or money seized by my
self"
He was extremely proud of the
koepenick raid, he said. At first he
thought of attempting similar coup
It the Berlin municipality, but the
element of risk was too great.
| You must not blame DR.. LANCER
aans for submitting to arrest" he
laid, loftily. Il made up my mind
| hat l would not allow any discus
Jon. Had the burgomaster resist
ID, l should have ordered my sol
Tiers to fire. They would have done
o."
Weights appearance in civilian
clothes shows what a miraculous
power a military aniform possesses
IN Germany. He is not only a habit
lal criminal, but he looks like a per-
:ect ruffian. He has coarse, irregu-
ar features Sharn chpok-hOneS wide
ears, and sunken eyes, and suggests
literally what he is-an ex-convict.
Voight's criminal career is long
nd varied. At the age of IA he was
entenced to six months imprison-
nent for theft. A year later he re-
urned to gaol for nine months for
similar offense. At IS he waa award