(Statement of Franz Bauer, inn servant, taken at the police station
at Perleburg, 25 November, 1809.)
May it please your honor, my name is Franz Bauer, and I am a
servant at the Sword & Scepter Inn, kept by Christian Hauck.
This afternoon, when I went into the inn yard to empty a bucket of
slops on the dung heap by the stables, I heard voices and turned
around, to see this gentleman speaking to Wilhelm Beick and Fritz
Herzer, who were greasing their wagon in the yard. He had not been
in the yard when I had turned away to empty the bucket, and I
thought that he must have come in from the street. This gentleman
was asking Beick and Herzer where was his coach, and when they
told him they didn't know, he turned and ran into the inn.
Of my own knowledge, the man had not been inside the inn before
then, nor had there been any coach, or any of the people he spoke
of, at the inn, and none of the things he spoke of happened there,
for otherwise I would know, since I was at the inn all day.
When I went back inside, I found him in the common room shouting
at my master, and claiming that he had been drugged and robbed. I
saw that he was mad and was afraid that he would do some mischief,
so I went for the police.
Franz Bauer
his (x) mark
(Statements of Wilhelm Beick and Fritz Herzer, peasants, taken at
the police station at Perleburg, 25 November, 1809.)
May it please your honor, my name is Wilhelm Beick, and I am
a tenant on the estate of the Baron von Hentig. On this day, I
and Fritz Herzer were sent into Perleburg with a load of potatoes
and cabbages which the innkeeper at the Sword & Scepter had
bought from the estate superintendent. After we had unloaded
them, we decided to grease our wagon, which was very dry, before
going back, so we unhitched and began working on it. We took
about two hours, starting just after we had eaten lunch, and in
all that time, there was no coach-and-four in the inn yard. We
were just finishing when this gentleman spoke to us, demanding to
know where his coach was. We told him that there had been no
coach in the yard all the time we had been there, so he turned
around and ran into the inn. At the time, I thought that he had
come out of the inn before speaking to us, for I know that he
could not have come in from the street. Now I do not know where
he came from, but I know that I never saw him before that moment.
Wilhelm Beick
his (x) mark
I have heard the above testimony, and it is true to my own
knowledge, and I have nothing to add to it.
Fritz Herzer
his (x) mark
(From _Staatspolizeikapitan_ Ernst Hartenstein, to His Excellency,
the Baron von Krutz, Minister of Police.)