The Washington herald., 1911-01-15
REAL WOES and
SECRET TROUBLES
OF COMEDIANS

The few American tourists who linger-
ed in Germany and found themselves in
the old town of Wismar. in Mecklenburg-
Schwerin. this fall, teheld sad, almost
decrepit figure whom the inhabitants de-
lighted to point out with a pride that
might have been accorded some aged
conqueror or a tenor who in his day had
been famous on the operate stage.
Capt. Koepench:' exclaimed the Wis
marians. keeping their voices low out Of
consideration for his feelings while they
gave the informa ton to those they guild
I'd; then, raising these same voices to
the most vociferous of cordial greetings.
Good day. herr captain
They touched mockingly respectful caps
sometimes 10 the tired old figure. for de-
riSion and regard are curiously conmin-
Sled in every salutation he receives The
captains" answer has been wry smile
o. appreciate ton for both qualities in the
greetings and mTmbled ia. ja.' as
though he would let them know he un-
derstood their lingering admiration, and
as for their mockery. he was too good
sport to resent if
He WAS old Wilhelm Voist. the ia nous
Captain of koepenick,' who perpetrated
kled over for many year.
Now his penalty paid and his tran
sient glory of rascalty faded. he has
sunk again to his level of humble work.
ing mana level lower than it was be-
fore and with work that is twice as hard.
Vow n Bent Old Cobbler.
He is the same bent old cobbler part Of
his time. and the rest OF it is put in chop
ping wood, with the muscles that WELD
the AK fit for no such brawny task
Somehow or other imperial Germany.
with its gigantic scoop net of education
and training designed to let no CLINT of
talent or genius escape the uses of the
fatherland. has wasted hopeless old Will
h' I'm Noigt. And Germany. sin its fugi-
tive paragraphs its readiness TO buy his
photograph whenever il appears. and
more than all. in its instructive sympathy
for an old pirate whose sublime impu-
Gerce alone raised his crime to the dig
nifty OF an International joke. dimly real
lies that his fate is something in which
every man jack of the proletariat has a
personal concern.
The whole county acknowledges the
touch of brains and courage which en-
ahlcd the cOhblcr to make deriSion of
SNUG officialdom. and the national inter-
est in his subsequent career has testified
to the spirit of revolt against The modern
system by which everything seems in
Germany to he '.verboten'' to the poor
man.
by his iaunty emharkation on his last
exploit for Independence. when NoiSt
came to the United States. cheerfuly
prepared to make fortune on the stage
hi- enough to support him in his declin
ing years. he proved he had the resilient
spirit which lorG ago saved Germany
itself from destruction amid the maws
n the raVenous powers it Gehed and de-
feated.
Doom of Poverty.
He. too old. too broken to recover. re- |
s:gned himself to his doom of poverty !
.nd ignominy when our immigration Off |
''als shipped him hack to his native land |
as released convict. For some months |
after that hardy emprse had failed he |
dropped from public ken. Then he was |
in WiSmar. the protege of an |
other Cubbler, who was willing to let him |
earn at least his daily bread. There he |
Is now. hammer and awl at work when !
tho cobblinc trad" of Wismar is suffi- |
.:cntly prosperous to let his patron use !
his skill on the bench and arduouSly !
rhoppinS wood and piling it up when |
there is nothing else for him to do.
Wismar, having identified him notwith- |
his own Willingness to let the |
cones Oh NbtptIlth It lof Sotttii.
mockS him a little bit. but treats him !
With a need of genuine respect. About |
1iS tired old figure and his grim. old. |
humorous face there is still the aureole !
V "A grandeur of which the people Of |
Nisn1ar are proud. He is the desperate |
,ld knave who challenged the whole pow
r of Germany: who single-ha nded un /
iertook to rob a town. and got away |
With his loot. Why. if he had only turned
hat bold trick when the Hohenzollerns
we're climbing out of the miserable ruck
# obScurity he might have been the
Herr Graf Won koepenick. with his por
raft hanging high in councils of state as
me of the early Teuton heroes.
Captures the Whole City.
His enterprise was undertaken under
he very eyes of Berlin, for koepenick
s one of the suburbs OF the great capi-
al. He had no respectful BILE past to help
li-n. In fact. his past was what made
lin the famous criminal of the present.
: was said after his coup at koepenick
bat he had been released. unuer police
urveillancc. after serving fifteen years in
"a witsch Jail for theft. burglary. and
orGery. He secured employment with
ourt shoemaker in Wismar, but declared
hat the police would not let him alone.
While he was in the United States he
aid the police had prosecuted him be-
ause he drank too much beer q couple
: times. Whichever version was cor
ect, Voigt realized at length just one
hing-that man in a uniform was all ,
owerful in Germany.
So when he betook himself to Koepen-
TX he hired the uniform OF a captain Of !
ne Second Prussian Guards. walked s
broad amid the respectful salutations t
pedestrians, and liked il so we'll that i
e ordered the first file of soldiers he en- ,
to follow him. He marched to
ne house of DIR. Langerhans. the burgo-
,aster. arrested him, commanded the L
urrender OF the town moneys by the {
'easurer. and made off with the booty r
to four years Imprisonment,
e was released after twenty months. |
le Kaiser himself having been delighted
ith the exploit. O
1t was said that Voigt received as S
luch as $4,000 in gifts from Germans u
no loved a joke on the government. but L
tile of il remained when he undertook !
recoup his fortunes in America, and Z
othins at all is left him now
AC TuEV Gam s