Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-08-04
THE MYSTERY OF KASPAR HAUSER
The Boy Confined in Cell Till Eighteen and
Then Released-Murdered Five Years Later-Was He
Inconvenient Royal Heir?
By JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS

A MYSTERIOUS person was found
"A leaning against a wall In the Bava-
rian city of Nuremberg in MRy, 1928. He
was a youth of about IS, apparently an
aristocrat. Blinded by the morning sun,
he held his hands over his eyes. The
police told him TO move on, but he could
not walk. They prodded him. He stag
gered and fell. Questioning him as to
his identity. they found that he could
not talk. 80 they carried him bodily to
prison. 1t was evident that he was not
an idiot. His face and demeanor bespoke
inherent intelligence. Yet his inability
TO walk or talk was unfelgned. He was
not deaf and his vocal organs were capa-
BILE OF reproducing any spoken word by
repetition. Given a substantial meal, he
turned from it with adherence and fell
into commissions All that could tempt
his appetite was hard bread and water.
Some one sent him some toys to play
with but they caused him to cry with ter
ror, until he caught sight OF a wooden
horse, which he snatched up with glee,
clasping it in his arms and kissing it
tenderly.
False Glue IN Letter
The only clue as to his identity was a
letter found upon his person and pur-
porting to have been written by a Bava-
rian laborer. II stated that the bearer
had been found at the writer's door 16
years before, and inclosed was a note
alleged to have been written by the
youths mother. According TO this COM
munication his name was Kaspar; he had
been born April 80, 1912; his father was
"a captain in the Sixth Chevau-leger Regi-
ment, at Nuremberg, and his mother was
a poor girl unable to support him. There
were grave suspicious that these letters
had been written as a blind, inasmuch as
the youth showed many evidences Of
aristocratic lineage. He had evidently
Iangulshed from infancy amid absolute
darkness and silence, suffering imprison-
ment even more cruel than that OF the
celebrated Man OF the Iron Mask,
One surprising discovery was made,
At the sight of a pencil the speechless
youth took it up and forthwith wrote,
"Kaspar Hauser''-eyidently a name
given 10 him to disguise his real identity,
He was unable TO write anything. else or
10 pronounce what he had written.
In Nuremberg dwelt a kindly savant,
Prof. G. f. Daumer, who became interest
ed in the mysterious youth. and took
him to his home. hoping to develop his
retarded mentality. With surprising
rapidity Kaspar thereupon learned not
only to walk and talk. but to read and
write. Within "a few months he was
able TO relate so much OF his strange his
tory as he could. remember. According
10 his story he had been confined all his
life in a dark cell. penetrated only by a
man whose shadow alone he could see
and who came daily 10 wash him, dress
him ana bring him his sustenance, al
ways bread and water. His only friend
had been a wooden horse. ana his jailer,
although never speaking a word 10 him.
had for some mysterious reason expended
a years EFFORT ia silently teaching him 70
write the name. -Kaspar Haussrp
Finally. one night his keeper had entered
his cell. blindfolded him. placed In his
hand the letter later found upon his per
son, taken him 70 Nuremberg, and left
him leaning against the city vail That
! vs. ~ Ia kneN q his strangs history.