The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1910-04-07
COBBLER IS
PRINCE OF HOAXERS
Donned a Captains Uniform
and Took a Town to
Lecture.

Chicago, April 1.-The "Hauptmann
Won K~oepenik" is in Chicago. In
private life he is Wilhelm voigt,
g cobbler Of h duchy Of Luxembourg.
assigned him by putting on a captains
uniform. ordering out q company of
soldiers, and taking possession of the
town Of Koepenik, a suburb OF Berlin.
Voigt performed the hoax in res
venge for being refused q passport to
tenant DR.. Langehans, Of Koepenik.
He bought a second hand captains
uniform and by virtue Of its authority
ordered out troops from the nearby
fortress OF Ploetzensee and put all the
municipal officials Of Koepenik under
arrest.
1.-THE uniform, the coat, the buttons,
the cap. h a is the god Of Germany"
said Voigt yesterday at the Hotel Bis
marck. The mayor looked at me and
said. This man has no power Then
he looked at the captains coat and
bowed his head and surrendered to the
buttons.
Joke Worth tho imprisonment.
"They put me into prison for awhile,
but 1t was worth it to me to see the
mayors face when he surrendered to
that second hand uniform.
He was only a lieutenant. The uni
form I wore was that Of a captain.
When q lieutenant in Germany beholds
the uniform OF q captain his powers
Of thought desert him. He becomes
lost In button worship. His nature Is
merged in the spirit OF subordination.
"When I thought / would like to see
Russia and Bohemia i went to this
mayor leutenant-doctor. and I said:
Herr Bu~rgermeister, please, q pass
port He looked at me and saw al
cobbler and became puffed with author.
lty. BE off with you,' he said. DO
not annoy me with you affairs. Cow
eminent officials do not upset their
routine for cobblers. Later for your
passport, cobbler. or maybe never I
II went to Berlin and bought the
uniform. Then I went to the fort while
the officers were at luncheon and I
gave my orders. Nobody questioned.
They looked at my coat Inc ran wher-
ever I told them,
Orders Out the Soldiers.
i took 10 grenadiers. three gen.
they had $50 rounds of ammunition. I
led them to Koepenik and
the Rathshaus. Then I entered the
burgermeister's office.
You are under arrest I said to
the mayor-lieutenant-doctor. You have
given offense to a worthy citizen of
the duchy Of Lumemburg.
He looked at my uniform and the
power Of speech and thought deserted
him. as I knew that it would. I put
him n his clerks and all the officials
that We're in the Rathshaus in a wagon
and ordered the men to take them to
the fort. A captain had ordered it and
they were satisfied"
There were $500, 900 marks in tho
treasury of Koepenik. voigt took
several thousand just to show how easy
1t was and. leaving a receipt for the
sum-, went by train to the fort to Wit
ness the arrival Of the mayor and his
staff.
He was sentenced to four years i'm
prisonment. The laughter which his
jest caused throughout Europe was
participated in by Emperor william,
who caused his confinement to be made
easy and pardoned him at the expira-
ton of a year.
Voigt, since his release, has been saw
ing money for a trip to the United
States. He has relatives II Dallas.
Tex, whom he intends to visit. He will
lecture Friday night on his capture of
koepenik at North Side Turner hall.