The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-04-30
The Forhaars of luther.

An interesting historical footnote is
| the following extract from a paper
! Was Luther's Father a Homicide ~
| contributed by the Rev. H. G. Ganss tO
the current Catholic Quarterly Review
Johann Martin Michaelis 1--WE are
| quoting Mayhem, who in turn is quot
ing Ortmann) tells the tale in his De
| sCription of the Mining and Smelling
Works in Kupfersuhl in the Year 1902
Here are the words of MichaeIis: 1
can not pass over in silence the fact
that the reverend and renowned DIR.
Luther's father originally dwelt in the
neighbOrhOod of Mohra, and worked in
the pit as a miner. But he was after
ward very unfortunate; for with his
own horse bride he accidentally struck
down dead a herdsman upon the grass
whereupon he was forced to retire from
the neighborhood So, in order to get
the same work as he had previously
been doing, he betook himself with his
wife Though she was on the eve of
being confined with DR.. Luther at the
time) to Eisleben, in which neighbor-
hood the couple remained ever after
ward.
Toward the end of his paper Father
GansS affirms that the wild passion of
anger was an uneXtinguished and I'M
modified herite &c transmitted congenit-
ally to the whole Luther family, and
this to such an extent that the Luther
zorn Uuther-rage) has attained the
currency of German colloquialism. He
justifies his declaration by this quota
ton from the Saxon archivist, Bruck-
ner:
"Mohra has attained the reputation
for its rough and grotesque character
because in the leading groups of its
relationships, especially in the Luther
branch, 1t possessed a tough and I'M
yielding metal, and accordinly allowed
itself to be drawn to a condition of re-
fractoriness and querulous self-defense.
To the police treasury of Salzungen
Monra, with its rough-and-ready meth
DDS, was a welcome and rich source of
revenue; for, as the police dockets
show, the village was mulcted again
and again for acts of violence which its
inhabitants committed, now in political
or church parties now as individuals,
and foremost among them the Luthers.
The parish manifested so determined
an opposition and Obstinacy against
the legal authorities, as well as paro-
chial, as to eliminate in the brutal act
of shooting at the household of the
pastor. As to the condition of the
neighbors adjoining the town-their
ready recourse to arms, knives, scythes,
their nightly brawls and public bias
phemies, are often alluded to and fined
In these the Luther clan is mostly in
for it carried on its feuds'
with others-strikes, wounds, resists-
and was ever ready at elf-vindication
and salf-defense. Out of the gnarly |
wood of this relationship, consisting |
Of powerful, pugnacious farm |
ers, assertive of their rights, Luthers |
father grew.
-" One of our authors main objects |
on the trip was to trace the story, in |
which his interest had been intensely |
aroused, as near as possible to its |
source, to probe it in all its bearings. |
and satisfy his mind with some settled |
He disclaims all sectarian |
bias, and claims (and no doubt with |
manifest sincerity to search for truth |
alone He was not many hours in
Mohra, where he spent fortnight, be-
ore he found Ortmann's account |
strictly correct. He did not hesitate