LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1489, 23 November 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM.

By the Auutiioroe “ A Strange With ess,” “ Hands and Hearts,” &c.

( Continued .)

Certain persona not known to him had obtained possession in some crooked way of eighty thousand silver roubles (nominal value) in Russian bonds of the five per cent. Anglo-Russian loan of 1822, contracted with Rothschilds in London. These they did not feel themselves in a sufficiently secure position to negotiate. They had accordingly offered to soli the lot for thirty thousand thalers to a Mr Silbermann, of Leipzig, and to Abraham Goldberg. The latter had proposed to associate Ischanderlo in the speculation. The accused who had at first allowed himself to be persuaded to consent, and had agreed to bring his third share of ten thousand thalers to Goldberg at nine in the evening of that fatal day, had felt qualms of conscience as the time drew near. This had been the cause of hesitation to enter (he house. At last he had decided to have nothing to do with an operation which seemed the reverse of honest, however luc-ative it might promise to turn ont. Tie had then rushed up to the office to inform Goldberg of his final resolution, after which he had gone home to his lodgings. The hammer he had bought for the purpose stated, aud ho had certainly never dreamt of perpetrating a feat fiT crime with it. The money f mud he had brought with him from Lemberg. It was only natural that he should not have liked to let bumper Levi know that he had so much money with him. There were some very poor people living in the house. It was solely for this reason that ho had wished to make Gumper Levi believe he was in need of m mey, and that he had accordingly borrowed twenty-live thalers of him. This statement waa of course almost universally scouted. It looked a very poor invention indeed ; it was moreover speedily knocked on the head by Mr Silbermann, who indignantly repudiated all connection with, or even the least knowledge of, the alleged intended operation in Russian bonds. He waa an honest man. He would scorn being mixed up with and swindling transaction. And, he added, with some show of reason, at least, no ono knowing the late Abraham Goldberg could seriously believe that shrewd, cautious, thorough man of business capable of the patent folly of dealing in stolen securities, or of the still more glaring folly of choosing a Polish Jew for his trusted partner in a hazardous speculation of the kind. So, era evening had set in, the good Leipzigers were for once, in this matter at least all of one mind. The fourfold murderer had been found out at last. Eliezer Ischanderlo was the incredibly monstrous demon who during four years had periodically startled the peaceful citizens from their blissful dreams of fancied security.

However, there was at least one man in the city who would not he carried along with the general current —Professor Tauber. The professor was sought out in his ‘ book den ’ by his friend Frege, who found him there gloating over s me splendid new acquisitions, but succeeded in taking him to the great ‘ Wine and Crime Council ’ assembled in the Eathswage Cellar. Here the staunch old philanthropist daringly maintained against the whole hall that, however fatally appearances might weigh against the unhappy Galican (Tauber) verily believed in his innocence. There might be a fate against this poor fellow ; he might by predestination be doomed to suffer; all human judgment was essentially fallible. He (Tauber) was himself perfectly convinced of the man’s innocence, but he was sadly afraid his personal views and convictions would prove of very little avail in the case. The popular fury was let loose against the accused. The madly excited people would insist upon the victim’s blood He only trusted that they would at least grant him an easy painless death. It was this exposition of the profesor’s views which brought down upon his devoted head Councillor Bartels’ fierce onslaught, followed up by Hr. Eeichenbach. *lt just shows,’ contiued the latter, ‘ how an extreme uncontrolled indulgence, an unrestrained cultivation and fostering of even our noblest and best feelings and instincts, may land ns in tho mast grievous hateful errors and the nivwfe deplorable blunders. 'l’ake rny advice for onc<>, Tauber, and drop this monstrous advocacy of this bloodstained devil in human form. lam as convinced in my mind of the guilt of this hammer assassin r.s I am of my own identity. Why, the hammer could not lit more closely than it docs !’

‘That I deny,’ cried Tauber* eagerly—- ‘ that 1 must deny altogether. I have carefully lobbed at /he hammer, and T Had that the face is just a tride too broad to lit the fracture to such a nicety that you could swear to it. To me the instrument does not seem properly constructed for the purpose. A face just about two linos less in diameter would certainly answer better, as my experiments at the slaughterhouse have shown me.’

‘ Well, have it your way, old man/ replied Reichenbach, with a half contemptuous shrug of the shoulder. ‘lt does not matter; only let ms tell you that I think your experiments in this line go for very little. You, with your puny arm and delicate lady lingers, are always forced to depute to a servant the practical part of the work ; and it is this practical part which alor ; e c-ould give you a real insight into the thing; so you see, ray dear fellow, you are out of court, as the lawyer cays/ The profeescr’s face Hushed scarlet, then a deadly pallor spread over it. lie kept opening and shutting his hands in a kind of spasmodic way. ‘Yes, you say true, I am weak/ he cried feebly ; * ay, no one knows better than I do how weak I am.’

He was evidently deeply hurt. ‘ Como, wine/ said Rcichcnbach good‘do not be cross, clear Tauber, i meant no offence. Como, shako hands, old, boy. Why quarrel about a mere matter- oi opinion, after all? Shako hands, I say.

‘ Willingly, most willingly, doctor/ cried the profes-'or, gripping the doctors right hand with r. force utterly disproportionate to the frail delicate lingers. * Aon must bear with me/ he added, with a sickly smile and

a curious gleam of wildness in his glance. * I »m afraid I must plead guilty to a slight dash of madness upon this subject.’ Dr. Eeichenbach could barely repress a shudder ; the professor’s hand felt as deadly cold as that of a corpse. * I say, Berchtold ’ said Dr. Eeichenbach to the prolessor of physiology, when, some hours later, these two learned men were walking home together from the wine cellar, ‘ I fear me much dear old Tauber’s health is deeply and gravely affected, I could not held shuddering when 1 felt his deathy cold fingers gripping my hand with the abnormal force of madness. And did you look into his eyes at the time, there was a fearful glare in them. I am truly afraid excess of learning and superhuman efforts of mental labor are turning his brain. What a sad pity! The most lustrous star of our noble seat of learning!’ ‘My apprehensions have for some time been running in the same channel, I must confess,’ replied Dr. Berchtold gravely. ‘ Yet a more lucid and acute mind in the the field of science, a more daring but still withal sober and strictly logical speculator in the realms of the unlc own, cannot well be imagined. Even his crazes lean to august wisdom’s most exalted side. The man is indeed an absolute psychological problem to mo. A brighter light never shone in frailer lamp.’

* You say well, Berchtold ; even his crazes have a weird grandeur in them. It is surely something noble to strive to collect for the benefit of mankind the highest productions of the human intellect, and to do this with our dear old friend’s absolute abnegation of self!’

‘True, Eeichenbach. And there surely beats not a gentler and kindlier heart than in Tauber’s bosom. Can there bo a more godlike aim than annihilation of pain and suffering ? Even his hammer craze has something sublime in it. And his implicit belief in the innocence of every criminal, so long as he himself has not himself confessed his offence, is at least a credit to his large human nature, though it certainly must he admitted that it fatally impairs the value of his reasoning in all forensic matters.’ * And cannot be but most annoying to all sensible people,’ Eeichenbach added. ‘ His unreasoning championship of this monstrous Jew is enough to disgust any one. But here wo are at the door of my virtuous domicile, and, by Jove, it is close upon midnight. Good-night, Berchtold. Mind, I shall expect you at ten o’clock to-morrow ’ * I will not fail to come punctually. Goodnight, Eichenbach.’ Griminal proceedings in Germany in the oldsn times wera cumbrous and slow, even in the very simplest cases, and ElEzer Ischanderle’s was certainly the most complex and complicated that had for many years past come under the cognisance of a German court; no wonder, then, that only slow progress was made in it. •’■till the energy and industry of the police succeeded in duo course in gathering ample material for the construction of a solid looking scaffolding of circumstantial evidence, quite strong enough to bear a scaffold for the juridical despatch of the accused man.

(To he Continued.)