LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1491, 26 November 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM,

By the Author of “ A Strange Witness,” “ Hands and Hearts,” &c.

( Concluded.)

A glance sulliced to show them how matters sto'd, th ugh they could not for the life of them realre the cause of the fierce struggle going on between the old professor and their friend Frege, ‘ Oh, I am so glad you have dropped in, my dear fellows,’ cried the banker, breaking silence for the first time since the struggle had commenced. ‘ For heaven’s sake, help me to keep this unhappy madman down. We must secure him, and take him to Horrible, horrible ! lie is the hammer murderer ! He, Tauber! Do, Mr Fri.dnchs, take the hammer from his hand. His clutch upon it is desperately firm; I have failed three times in trying to wrench it from him.’

By this time the unhappy professor was fast getting exhausted. He could only offer a feeble resistance now to the three men. The hammer was snatched fmm his relaxing grasp; bis arms were tied fast and securely to his sides with silk handkerchiefs; his legs were knotted together by the same means ; a carria :e was procured, and, thus bound hand and foot, Professor Tauber was taken to Dr. Krafft’s asylum. The terrible news spread through the city like wildfire. Mr Frege, stirred to the innermost depths of his being by the awful events of tho evening, at once sought an interview with Councillor von Criegern. The result was that the judges held a meeting that very night, at which it was resolved, not only to countermand the preparations for the execution, but to intimate immediately to the unhappy, so much ill-used, e ndeumed man in the death cell of the Pleissenburg, the surprising turn which his case had taken by the merciful interposition of providence. And on that very night be was removed to more cheerful quarters, though still retained in custody, apparently more for mere form’s sake than that any doubt of his innocence was still lingering in the judges’ mind. 'i he professor's hammer formed a special object of tho judges’ absorbing interest and study It was a curious implement indeed, admirably adapted to tho purpose for which Tauber had used it for years in his murder campaign. It was made wholly of steel, and was hollow throughout At the lower rnd of the handle a Urge bulb was placed. This was filled with quicksilver. On raising the hammer aud swinging it for a blow, the quicksilver ran through tho handle into the body of the weapon, imparting thereby a powerful impetus, aud great additional force to the stroke. It was afterwards found that the professor had had tin’s hammer made expressly years ago in Paris, to serve him iu his geological excursions. Mow had this man of frail puny frame and apparently all mind, this seeming incarnation of all that is gentle and kind and good in human nature, this large-hearted friend to all things living, this austere anchorite, of few and simple wants and fewer and simpler desires—how had ho of all men come to wander as a destroying demon among his fellow creatures ? Ay, as Dr. Bercht 'ld said, ho presented indeed a psychological problem ! All that night Tauber lay raving and raging in tho padded room in Krafft’s asylum —a branch of that eminent ‘ mad doctor’s’ Hallo establishment for the treatment and cure of the insane 11 is struggles wore fearful to behold—once he succeeded iu bursting his bonds ; ho was, however, immediately secured again. Commissary Weilert, with throe policemen to assist him, had bceu scut by tho authorities to guo.rot against all chance of esca- c. The commissary was a little crestfallen at the turn which affairs had taken. The poor man Iliad bonded much of the marvel--1 us ’cutene°s shown by him in bringing tiri murder homo to the Galician Jew, WuO now after all turned out to be jmoceut.‘ It was vexing ! 1 4: * * At nine in the morning, Tauber, who, it was evident to I octors lleichenbacb, Berchtuld, aud others, summoned to his couch, as well as to I r. Krallt, come up ex-

pressly from Halle, had in his maniacal fit of the preceding evening and night exhausted all his remaining stock of vitality, fell into a deep sleep—the forerunner of hio impending dhso ution. When *>e awcke in the evening there was not an ati.m of physical strength left in the frail battered frame; but the clearness of mind had returned. He knew that the end was fast drawing near. He asked that a magistrate should be sent for to receive his confession.

The court deputed Councillors Criegorn and Ammon for this purpose. The dying man made a long statement of the history of thel fearful] crimes committed by him, entering into the minutest details, which cannot well be re’ated in this place, where we must confine ourselves to a brief and succinct summary. It was his most expensive book and manuscript collecting mania in which the more fearful aberrations of his intellect had first taken its rise, He told the magistrates that he had been mad for years, and that he had been perfectly conscious of the fact, which he had, however, successfully managed to hide, with all the devilish cunning and infernal method so often observed in insane people of high mental organisation originally. His first murder had been that of the Baron Hoheneck, his beloved pupil and friend. At that time a tempting offer of a fine collection of hooks had been made to him, which he had been compelled to decline for want of sufficient funds. This had driven him well-nigh out of his mind. He had not been able to think of anything else. On the morning of the murder he had been rambling about the woods near lloaenau Park. He had casually walked up to the window of the pavilion. He had seen his friend Hoheneck, who had invited him to enter through the window, and had lent him a helping hand. They had bad a chat. The baron had sat down to write a letter of introduction to Count Scebach. An open money-b *x full of gold had attracted his (Tauber's) attention. The thought had suddenly Hashed through his mind that there was lying here most temptingly before him the cash which he needed to buy the insanelvcoveted collection. His mind, alread gravely affected, had given way completely. A mad frenzy seized upon him, and the rest we know. He afterwards suffered the torments of hell; but he had kept his formidable secret.

The story of the other murders was similar. In the case of the widow Hartmann, he had cleverly managed to leave his companions in the wine cellar for a quarter of an hour, which had sufficed him to run to the Tetzel house, commit the murder, pocket the gold coin which he had chanced to see in the afternoon, and run back again to the wine cellar, without his temporary absence having been remarked.

He had always taken gold only; notes, silver, and gems had had no attraction for him ; but at the sight of the ‘ yellow dross’ the fiend had taken possession of him. After the murder of Abraham Goldberg he had sworn to himself a solemn oath that nothing should ever induce him again to be alone with man or woman. This oath Frege had unwittingly forced him to break, and the sight of gold had ouce again completely upset the balance of his mind. He requested that nis madly-cheirished collection should be sold, if possible entire. Ho had spent some eighty thousand thalers alt gether in the pur base, and It would be cheap at that price. The proceeds were to serve, in the first place, to make amplest restitution to the families of his unhappy victims. Ten thousand thalers were to be given to Eliezer Ischauderle, who had suffered so much The residue was to be devoted to the establishment of an asylum for the insane. He felt it would be hopless for him to crave the forgiveness of his fellow men. His crimes had been too fearful for human pardon. • . . =&

A few brief minutes mote, and he passed away to implore the infinite mercy of his Maker, His last avords were : ‘ A rare and rich collection—rare and rich 1 Death instantaneous and painless ! Painless—painless !’