The Press., 1912-01-10
A Castle
 Legend A Story Suggesting That Medieval Landlords Were Sometimes Not
 What They Should Be By EVANGELINE C. ROBERTS Copyright by American Press Asso-
 citation, 1911.

Tourists steaming up or down the I Rhine looking at the ruins of medieva J castles on it's banks will pass one es pecially gloomy looking. No matter
 how bright the day, this castle main
 tains the same somber appearance
 On moonlight nights it stands out
 against the lighter sky like a black 3Fragged cloud. People inhabiting thai region never pass it or see it in the
 distance without muttering a prayer or crossing themselves. There is g
 legend connected with the old ruin
 that has come down from time Whe1
 the castle was in good condition and
 regularly occupied by its last owner | Baron Muhlenberg.
 The baron, runs the legend, was one tof those feudal lords who lived and whose retainers lived by robbing trav. elers. Muhlenberg did not descend to | taking purses. He was a sort of tax | gatherer When he saw a merchant carrying a load of goods on a road which ran past the foot of the hill on i which his castle was built he would | go down and collect a percentage on the value of his wares. He also pos sessed large boat moored below his | castle on the Rhine, and when he saw
 cargo of goods going either up or | down the river he would send a force out into the stream to collect transit
 money But, by whatever name he
 called his collections, they were either
 robbery or piracy.
 The baron was unfortunate in his domestic relations. His wife was what
 in these days we call nagger, and his children quarreled with their parents and with one another. In this way they finally wore him out and a short time before his death made such a clamor, each urging him to leave him
 or her a large slice of the property he had accumulated, that they nearly
 drove him mad. Indeed, it is quite likely that they did drive him mad,
 for on opening his will after his de
 mise they read these words:
 I bequeath my castle and all possess to the devil. My soul I commit to mer- ciful Providence.
 This testament threw the ownership of the castle and the rest of the prop erty into confusion. The courts would
 have divided it, as in cases where there is no will, but the legal heirs fought each other so fercely that the estate was never settled. The court of chancery kept control of it and of- fered the castle for rent. But no one seemed desirous to rent it, and it re mained unoCcupied for a long while.
 One day a man named Siegel went to the court and said that he would rent the castle on ninety-nine year lease. Such leases were not in vogue at that time, and the master in chan 4cery asked him if he wished to sublet it to q newly born witch. Siegel de- clared that he would sublet it only to pious people, So the lease was made out. and Siegel was virtually made owner of the property. As for the money the baron had left, that had all disappeared in the ~ litigation brought about by the heirs at law.
 The first tenant the lessee put into the castle was Carl von Schomberg, a younger son of a German nobleman. Von Schomberg was an excellent man, and his wife, Hildegarde. was saint. Their landlord promised to make them perfectly comfortable by putting the castle in prime order. A great many repairs were necessary, because since the death of Baron Muhlenberg no one had lived there, and the place was falling into decay. The Schombergs, who were very honorable persons, did not doubt that their landlord would keep his promise and, like many other tenants nowadays, signed the lease and took possession, trusting him to make the repairs at his convenience. He never found it convenient.
 The first night young Schomberg and his wife slept in the castle there came a terrible storm that would have rocked the old pile had it not been so solid. But the roof leaked badly, and a stream of water came pouring down on the bed in which the couple lay. The next day Schomberg wrote his landlord, begging him to attend to repairs at once, since he and his wife had suffered much already from the leak.
 The letter had hardly been sent before Siegel came up the declfvity. and, meeting Schomberg and his wife ill the courtyard began to abuse them violently for endeavoring to get con- sessions while they paid so small a rent. Schomberg, who had never spo- ken an unkindly word to any one in his life, fell into a rage with the man and spoke to him so violently that his wife dragged him into the castle. Then she went out again and told Sic gel that they would themselves make all the repairs needed and he need not trouble himself about them.
 The landlord went away, but came back occasionally on pretense of as- turing himself that his tenants want ed for nothing This was especially irritating, because they knew that if they should ask him to make any re- pairs they would call down upon themselves a torrent of abuse. He had very bad effect on the husband and after awhile when the wife saw their landlord coming up the hill she would try to get Carl out of the way and receive Siegel herself.
 The Schombergs had signed a long 'rese. for when they went into the castle they expected to make it their home. They proposed to Siegel to buy it, and he swore at them, saying:
 You think to buy the castle, do you? You wish to deprive me of my Interest in 1t? Do you know who owns It? Well, will tell you. Baron Muhlenberg, the last owner, when he i died left it to the devil.'
 Hildegarde was so shocked at this ] that she crossed herself and cast her eyes up to heaven, muttering a 1 prayer. When she looked again at 1 Siegel she saw him striding away as rapidly as possible. He passed out of l the castle and down the hill, disap- ! bearing behind rock. The Schom- ! bergs, astonished, followed him to see where he would go; but, though they [