LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 868, 6 April 1877, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A STRANGE WITNESS. On Saturday, the 26th of April, 1856, the usually rather over-quiet town of Eisenach was suddenly roused to wild excitement by the report of a dreadful murder, committed a few miles off on the road to Meiningen, Three inhabitants of a neighbouring village, accompanied by a pointer, had, on their way to town in the early morning, taken a short cut through a wood skirting the high road. They had to cross a but little frrquented narrow footpath, leading to a by-road to some out of the-way small villages in the hills about half way between Eisenach and Meiningen. When they came to this crossing, the dog, which had for a few minutes past shown signs of restlessness, suddenly tore away along the footpath, and refused to come back at his master’s call. A minute after loud barking and dismal howling were heard in the direction in which the animal had run off. Following the sound, the three men came to a clearing by the side of the path, and here they found the dog and the dead body of a man.

After a brief consultation it was settled that two of the three should stay on the spot of the sad discovery, whilst the third should proceed in all haste to the town, to give information to the authorities.

A few hours after a posse of office rs of justice and policemen arrived on the spot, to make an official examination.

The dead body was that of a man about thirty, rather tall and slender, yet strongly built. It was dressed in a blue cloth jacket, gray-linen trousers, high boots, blue woollen stockings, and a blue and white check cotton shirt. A few yards off a yellow straw hat was lying on the ground. A black leather knapsack, buckled to a strap slung over the right shoulder, was lying across the chest. It was unlocked. It had in it a couple of shirts, a vest, a few pairs of stockings, comb and brush, and some other necessaries.

'J be body was lying on its back. A cursory examination showed that a bullet had passed through the left eye into the brain. Heath must have been instantaneous.

No firearm was found. The right hand of the dead man held a formidable dagger-knife firmly clutched. It was quite clear, then, that the supposition of suicide must be discarded alto-

gether. It was obviously a case of murder. In the breast pocket of the jacket a purse was found containing about twenty thalers (£3) in silver and Prussian notes, and some small change, Uoon closer inspection a pocket-book was discovered in the lining of the knapsack. There were only two papers in this, ah American passport and a letter. The passport, delivered by the authorities of New York, simply stated that the bearer, Joseph Maria Sprenger, a native of Austria, was on his way home to his own country. The personal description of the bearer tallied exactly with the appearance of the body. The letter bore date, London, the 18th of April, 1856. There was no envelope to it. It was evidently addressed to a sweetheart of the writer. It stated in substance that the writer had long hesitated ere he had made up his mind to pen this present letter, and that even now he was not quite sure whether he should send it off. However, most likely he would do so next day. He was on his way home, after six yeai-s’ absence. He was returning a rich man, with something like thirty thousand florins in his pocket in American notes. Now, if she had kept faithful to him, he was coming home to marry her And what would they all say who had called him a good for nothing ne’er-do-well ? It had been his intention to come home quite unexpected, so as to take them all by surprise. But he now thought it would, after all, be best to let her at least know all about it, that she might not fret if she was indeed fretting, which he thought might be the case, as she had not heard from him for three years. But she must let nobody know. He had no envelope at hand ; so he must go out to get one, and he would post the letter next morning. Then there were the usual asseverations of love, &c, with chuckling anticipations of how Peter and John and Mary and Lizzy and Karl and Konrad and a number of others would feel, and what they would say, when they saw Joseph Maria come home a top sawyer. It was evident that for some reason or other the deceased had after all not posted this letter ; most likely he had come back to his expressed original intention to take everybody by surprise. However, as affairs had turned out, the letter that was found in his pocket book became a most important piece of evidence, as it clearly indicated that the unhappy writer had been basely murdered for his money. Orders were given to have the body removed to the town for the necessary jiost mertem examination. The scanty information gathered on the spot of the crime had been largely supplemented meanwhile by a most important statement made to the authorities by Baron Posen von Lilienfeld, a rich landed proprietor, whose estate, Lilienfeld, extended down to the high road near the wood in which the murder had been committed.

This gentleman stated that in the afternoon of Friday, the 25th. he was enjoying his usual afternoon dinner cigar in his pavilion looking on the high road. He was leaning out of the window, gazing up and down the road, when his attention wins attracted to two wayfarers coming up towards him from the direction of the town. The two were dressed very nearly alike—blue jackets, wide gray linen trousers, high boots, and low yellow-straw hats, with black leather knapsacks buckled to straps slung over the right shoulder. The one wore a red and white, the other a blue and white, check cotton shirt. This was the only difference in their attire. *****

When they were passing near the window the baron remarked that they were engaged in a lively discussion, which seemingly engrossed their attention so entirely that they looked neither to the right nor the left, and clearly did not see him. His glance followed them up the road. fcome sixty yards farther on they came to a sudden stop, and the discussion between them was apparently growing more eager, seemingly assuming an angry character Shortly after, however, they evidently calmed down. They had stopped at the very spot where a narrow footpath led across the wood to a by-road to some small villages in the mountain. This footpath was barely ever trod by the general public; it was only known to the inhabitants of the mountain villages in question, who had not much occasion to make use of it. The baron was somewhat astonished, then, to see the two wayfarers take this path, where they soon disappeared from his sight. Now what puzzled him was how two out-landish-looking strangers should enter a path barely known to the natives around, and what made this still more remarkable to him was that about ten minutes before another stranger had taken the same path. This was a tall gentlemanly-looking man of some forty-five years of age dressed in a long blue surtout, and wearing elegant morocco shoes and black gaiters, and a lowcrowned gray-felt hat. He had slung over his shoulder a small travelling bag of morocco leather, and bore a stout cudgel in his hand. He had a most intelligent, not to say crafty face, and remarkably sharp dark piercing eyes, which seemed to be restlessly roving about, yet would suddenly settle upon the face of an interlocutor with a strange fixity of stare and an apparent power of penetration deep and intense enough to search and read the inmost thoughts of the soul. Such, at least, was the baron’s impression. For the gentleman in question had, when on the point of passing the window, suddenly stopped, taken his hat off to the baron with perfect courtesy, and coming close up to him, and looking him straight in the face in the manner stated, said, ‘ I beg your pardon, sir. May I venture to ask you whether this is the road to Gerstorff V . • To which query the baron had replied in the affirmative. , • How far have I to go before I reach it z (To be continued.)