he then asserted that his former confessions were false. He had
confessed merely because he was weary of his imprisonment and the
poor food he was given, and decided to die. When spoken to by the
magistrates seriously, and remonstrated with for his contradictions,
he cried out that he was innocent. Let them torture him as much as
they pleased, he wished to die.
But hardly was he back in his prison than he told the gaoler that it
was true that he was the murderer of both Kügelgen and Winter. Again
he confessed before the magistrate, and again, on the 27th, withdrew
his confession and protested his innocence.
On the 21st April a new element in the case came to light, that
perplexed the question not a little.
A Jewish pawnbroker, Löbel Graff, announced that on February 3,
1820, he had received from the gunner Kaltofen, a green coat, and
on the 4th April a dark-blue cloth coat, stained with spots of
oil, also a pair of cloth trousers. As both coats seemed to him
suspicious, and to resemble those described in the advertisements,
he had questioned Kaltofen about them, but had received equivocal
answers, and Kaltofen at last admitted that he had bought them from
the gunner Fischer.
John Gottfried Kaltofen was a young man of 24 years, servant to
one of the officers, and therefore did not live in the barracks.
He was now taken up. His manner and appearance were in his favour.
He was frank, and at once admitted that he had disposed of the
two coats to Graff, and that he had bought them of Fischer. On
confrontation with the latter he repeated what he had said. Fischer
fell into confusion, denied all knowledge of Kaltofen, protested his
innocence, and denied the sale of the coats, one of which had in the
meantime been identified as having belonged to Winter, and the other
to Kügelgen.
On April 27th a search was made in the lodgings of Kaltofen, and
three keys were found there, hidden away, and these proved to have
belonged to Kügelgen. At first Kaltofen declared that he knew
nothing of these keys, but afterwards said that he remembered on
consideration that he had found them in the pocket of the blue
coat he had purchased from Fischer, and had put them away before
disposing of the coat, and had given them no further thought. Not
many minutes after Fischer had been sent back to prison, he begged
to be brought before the magistrate again, and now admitted that it
was quite true that he had sold both coats to Kaltofen.
Whilst this confession was being taken down, however, he again
hesitated, broke down, and denied having sold them to Kaltofen, or
any one else. "I can't say anything more," he cried out; "my head is
dazed."
By this statement he remained, protesting his innocence, and he
declared that he had only confessed his guilt because he was
afraid of ill-treatment in the prison if he continued to assert
his innocence. It must be remembered that the gaolers were as
convinced of his guilt as were the public of Dresden; and it is
noticeable that under pressure from them Fischer always acknowledged
his guilt; whereas, when before the magistrates he was ready to
proclaim that he was innocent. At this time it was part of the duty
of a gaoler, or was supposed to be such, to use every possible
effort to bring a prisoner to confession. And now, on April 27th,
a third gunner appeared on the scene. His name was Kiessling, and
he asked the magistrate to take down his statement, which was to
the effect that Kaltofen, who had been discharged, had admitted
to him that he had murdered Kügelgen with a cudgel, and that he
had still got some of his garments hidden in his lodgings. But--so
said Kiessling--Kaltofen had jauntily said he would lay it all on
Fischer. Kiessling, moreover, produced a pair of boots, that he said
Kaltofen had left with him to be re-soled, as he was regimental
shoemaker. And these boots were at once recognised as having been
those worn by Kügelgen when he was murdered.
Kaltofen was at once re-arrested, and brought into confrontation
with Kiessling. He retained his composure, and said that it was
quite true that he had given a pair of boots to Kiessling to
re-sole, but they were a pair that he had bought in the market. But,
in the meantime, another investigation of his lodgings had been
made, and a number of articles found that had certainly belonged
to the murdered men, Winter and Kügelgen. They were ranged on the
table, together with the pair of boots confided to Kiessling, and
Kaltofen was shown them. Hitherto, the young man had displayed
phlegmatic composure, and an openness of manner that had impressed
all who saw him in his favour. His intelligence, had, moreover,
contrasted favourably with that of Fischer. But the sight of all
these articles, produced before him, staggered Kaltofen, and, losing
his presence of mind, he turned in a fury upon his comrade, the
shoemaker, and swore at him for having betrayed his confidence. Only
after he had poured forth a torrent of abuse, could the magistrate
bring him to say anything about the charge, and then--still hot
and panting from his onslaught on Kiessling--he admitted that he,
not Fischer, was the murderer in both cases. Fischer, he said, was
wholly innocent, not only of participation in, but of knowledge of
the crimes. The summary of his confession, oft repeated and never
withdrawn, was as follows:--Being in need of money, he had gone
outside the town thrice in one week, at the end of December, 1819,
with the intent of murdering and robbing the first person he could
attack with security. For this purpose, he had provided himself
with a cudgel under his cloak. On the 29th December he selected
Winter as his first victim. He allowed him to pass, then stole
after him, and suddenly dealt him a blow on the back of his head,
before the young man turned to see who was following him. Winter
dropped, whereupon he, Kaltofen, had struck him twice again on the
head. Then he divested his victim of collar, coat, hat, kerchief,
watch, and a little money--not more than four shillings in English
coins, and a few tools. He was engaged on pulling off his boots and
trousers, when he was alarmed by hearing the tramp of horses and the
sound of wheels, and he ran off across the fields with his spoil.
He got Kiessling to dispose of the hat for him, the other articles
he himself sold to Jews. Whether it was he also who assaulted the
poor woman we are not informed. In like manner Kaltofen proceeded
with Kügelgen. He was again in want of money. He had been gambling,
and had lost what little he had. On the Monday in Holy Week, 1820,
he took his cudgel again and went out along the Bautzen Road. The
moon shone brightly, and he met a gentleman walking slowly towards
Dresden, in a blue cloak. He allowed him to pass, then followed
him. As a woman was walking in the same direction, but at a quicker
rate, he delayed his purpose till she had disappeared behind the
first houses of the suburb. Then he hastened on, walking lightly,
and springing up behind Kügelgen, struck him on the right temple
with his cudgel from behind. Kügelgen fell without uttering a
cry. Kaltofen at once seized him by the collar and dragged him
across a field to the edge of the river. There he dealt him
several additional blows, and then proceeded to strip him. Whilst
thus engaged, he remembered that the dead man had dropped his
walking-stick on the high road when first struck. Kaltofen at once
desisted from what he was about, to return to the road and recover
the walking-stick. On coming back to his victim, he thought there
was still life in him; Kügelgen was moving and endeavouring to rise.
Whereupon, with his cudgel, Kaltofen repeatedly struck him, till all
signs of life disappeared. He now completed his work of spoliation,
pulled off the boots, untied the neckerchief, and ransacked the
pockets. He found in addition to the watch the sum of about
half-a-guinea. He then stole away among the rushes till he reached
the Linkes Bad, where he returned to the main road. He concealed
the cloak at the Black Gate, but carried the rest of his plunder to
his lodgings.
His confession was confirmed by several circumstances. Kiessling was
again required to repeat what he had heard from Kaltofen, and the
story as told by him agreed exactly with that now confessed by the
murderer. Kiessling added that Kaltofen had told him he was puzzled
to account for Fischer's self-examination, as he knew that the man
had nothing to do with the murder. A third examination of Kaltofen's
lodgings resulted in the discovery of all the rest of the murdered
man's effects. Moreover, when Kaltofen was confronted with the two
Jews who had taken the silver watch on the 24th, they immediately
recognised him as the man who had disposed of it to them.
Finally, he confessed to having been associated with Kiessling in
two robberies, one of which was a burglarious attack on his own
master.
The case was made out clearly enough against Kaltofen, and it
seemed equally clear that Fischer was innocent. Moreover, from the
24th April onwards, Fischer never swerved from his protestation of
complete innocence. When questioned why he had confessed himself
guilty, he said that he had been pressed to do so by the gaoler, who
had several times fastened him for a whole night into the stocks,
and had threatened him with severer measures unless he admitted
his guilt. The gaoler admitted having so treated Fischer once, but
Fischer insisted that he had been thus tortured on two consecutive
nights.
It was ascertained that Fischer had not only known about the murder
of Kügelgen, but had attended his funeral, and yet he had pretended
entire, or almost entire, ignorance when first arrested. When asked
to explain this, he replied that he was so frightened that he took
refuge in lies. That he was a dull-minded, extremely ignorant man,
was obvious to the judges and to all who had to do with him; he was
aged thirty, and had spent thirteen years in the army, had conducted
himself well, but had never been trusted with any important duties
on account of his stupidity. He had a dull eye, and a heavy
countenance. Kaltofen, on the other hand, was a good-looking,
well-built young fellow, of twenty-four, with a bright, intelligent
face; his education was above what was ordinary in his class. It
was precisely this that had excited in him vanity, and craving for
pleasures and amusements which he could not afford. His obliging
manners, his trimness, and cheerfulness, had made him a favourite
with the officers.
As already intimated, he was fond of play, and it was this that had
induced him to commit his murders. He admitted that he had felt
little or no compunction, and he said frankly that it was as well
for society that he was taken, otherwise the death of Kügelgen
would have been followed by others. He spoke of the crimes he had
committed with openness and indifference, and maintained this
condition of callousness to the end. It seems to have been customary
on several occasions for the Lutheran pastors who attended the last
hours of criminals to publish their opinions as to the manner in
which they prepared for death, and their ideas as to the motives
for the crimes committed, an eminently indecent proceeding to
our notions. In this case, the chaplain who attended on Kaltofen
rushed into the priest after the execution. He said, "Play may have
occasioned that want of feeling which will commit the most atrocious
crime, without compunction, for the gratification of a temporary
requirement. Kaltofen, without being rude and rough towards his
fellows, but on the contrary obliging and courteous, came to regard
them with brutal indifference." Only twice did he feel any twinge
of conscience, he said, once before his first murder, and again at
the funeral of his second victim, which he attended. The criminal
was now known, had confessed, and had confessed that he had no
accomplice. Moreover, he declared that Fischer was wholly innocent.
Not a single particle of evidence was forthcoming to incriminate
Fischer, apart from his own retracted confessions. Nevertheless he
was not liberated.
The police could not believe that Kaltofen had been without an
accomplice. There were stabs in the face and body of Kügelgen, and
Kaltofen had professed to have used no other weapon than a cudgel.
The murderer said that he had dragged the body over the field to
the rushes, and it was agreed that there must have been evidence of
this dragging. Some witnesses had, indeed, said they had seen such,
but others protested that there were footprints as of two men. This,
however, could be explained by Kaltofen's admission that he had gone
back to the road for the walking-stick.
Then, again, Fischer, when interrogated, had given particulars which
agreed with the circumstances in a remarkable manner. He was asked
to explain this. "Well," said he, "he had heard a good deal of talk
about the murders, and he was miserable at the thought of spending
long years in prison, and so had confessed." When asked how he knew
the particulars of the murder of Winter, he said that he had been
helped to it by the gaoler. He had said first, "I went to his left
side"--whereupon the gaoler had said, "Surely you are wrong, it was
on the right," thereat Fischer had corrected himself and said, "Yes,
of course--on the right."
The case was now ready for final sentence, and for this purpose
all the depositions were forwarded on September 12th to the
Judicial Court at Leipzig. But, before judgment was pronounced,
the depositions were hastily sent for back to Dresden--for, in the
meantime, the case had passed into a new phase. On October 5th,
the gaoler--the same man who had brought about the confession of
Fischer--announced that Kaltofen had confided to him that Fischer
really had been his accomplice in both the murders. Kaltofen at
once was summoned before the magistrate, and he calmly, and with
emphasis, declared that Fischer had assisted him on both occasions,
and that he had not allowed this before, because he and Fischer
had sworn that neither would betray the other. Fischer had never
mentioned his name, and he had accordingly done his utmost to
exculpate Fischer.
According to his account, he and Fischer had been walking together
on the morning of March 26th, between 9 and 10, when they planned a
murder together for the following day. However, there was rebutting
evidence to the effect that on the morning in question Fischer had
been on guard, at the hour named, before the powder magazine; he had
not been released till noon. Other statements of Kaltofen proved to
be equally untrue.
What could have induced Kaltofen to deliberately charge a comrade in
arms with participation in the crime, if he were guiltless? There
was no apparent motive. He could gain no reprieve by it. It did not
greatly diminish his own guilt.
It was necessary to enter into as close investigation as was
possible into the whereabouts of Fischer at the time of the two
murders. It was not found possible to determine where he was at
the time when Winter was killed, but some of his comrades swore
that on March 27th he had been present at the roll-call at 6 p.m.,
and had come into barrack before the second roll-call at half-past
eight. The murder of Kügelgen had taken place at eight o'clock, and
the distance between the barrack and the spot where it had been
committed was 3487 paces, which would take a man about 25 minutes to
traverse. If, as his comrades asserted, Fischer had come in shortly
after eight, then it was quite impossible that he could have been
present when Kügelgen was murdered; but not great reliance can
be placed on the testimony of soldiers as to the hour at which a
comrade came into barrack just seven months before on a given day.
The case was perplexing. The counsel for Fischer--his name was
Eisenstück--took a bold line of defence. He charged the gaoler
with having manipulated Kaltofen, as he had Fischer. This gaoler's
self-esteem was wounded by the discovery that Kaltofen and not
Fischer was the murderer, and his credit was damaged by the
proceedings which showed that he had goaded an unhappy man, confided
to his care, into charging himself with a crime he had never
committed. Eisenstück asserted that this new charge was fabricated
in the prison by the gaoler in concert with Kaltofen for his own
justification. But, whatever may be thought of the character and
conduct of this turnkey, it is difficult to understand how he could
prevail on a cool-headed man like Kaltofen thus to take on himself
the additional guilt of perjury, and such perjury as risked the life
of an innocent man. Kaltofen never withdrew this assertion that
Fischer was an accomplice. He persisted in it to his last breath.
The depositions were again sent to the faculty at Leipzig, on Dec.
18th, to give judgment on the following points.
1. The examination of the body of Kügelgen had
revealed stabs made with a sharp, two-edged instrument, as well
as blows dealt by a blunt weapon. Kaltofen would admit that he
had used no other instrument than a cudgel.
2. It would have been a difficult matter for one man to drag a
dead body from the road to the bed of rushes, without leaving
unmistakable traces on the field traversed; and such were not,
for certain, found. It was therefore more probable that the
dead man had been carried by two persons to the place where
found.
It must be observed that crowds poured out of Dresden to see the
place where the body lay as soon as it was known that Kügelgen had
been discovered, and consequently no accurate and early examination
of tracks across the field had been made.
3. That it would have been difficult for Kaltofen alone to strip
the body. This may be doubted; it would be difficult possibly,
but not impossible, whilst the body was flexible.
4. A witness had said that she had met two men outside the Black
Gate on the evening of the 27th March, of whom one was wrapped
in a cloak and seemed to be carrying something under it. We
should much like to know when the woman gave this evidence.
Unfortunately, that is what is not told us.
5. Kaltofen, in a letter to his parents, had stated that he had
an accomplice, but had not named him.
These were the points that made it appear that Kaltofen had an
accomplice. An accomplice in some of his crimes he had--Kiessling.
There were other points that made it appear that Fischer had
assisted him in the murders.
6. Fischer's denial that he knew anything about the murder of
Kügelgen when he was arrested, whereas it was established that
he had attended the funeral of the murdered man.
7. His repeated confessions that he had assisted at the
murders, and his acquaintance with the particulars and with the
localities.
8. Kaltofen's asseverations that Fischer was his associate in
the murders.
In favour of Fischer it may be said that his conduct in the army had
for thirteen years been uniformly good, and there was no evidence
that he had been in any way guilty of dishonesty. Nor was he a
man of extravagant habits like Kaltofen, needing money for his
pleasures. He was a simple, inoffensive, and very stupid man. His
confessions lose all their effect when we consider how they were
extorted from him by undue influence.
Against Kaltofen's later accusation must be set his repeated
declaration, during six months, that Fischer was innocent. Not
only this, but his assertion in confidence to Kiessling that he
was puzzled what could have induced Fischer to avow himself guilty
of a crime, of which he--Kaltofen--knew him to be innocent. When
Kiessling gave this evidence on April 24th, Kaltofen did not deny
that he had said this, but flew into a paroxysm of fury with his
comrade for betraying their private conversation.
Again, not a single article appertaining to either of the murdered
men was found with Fischer. All had been traced, without exception,
to Kaltofen. It was the latter who had concealed Kügelgen's coat,
and had given his watch to the Jews. It was he who had got Kiessling
to dispose of Winter's hat for him, and had given the boots of the
last victim to Kiessling to be repaired.
On January 4th, 1821, the Court at Leipzig issued its judgment;
that Kaltofen, on account of two murders committed and confessed,
was to be put to death on the wheel; "but that John George Fischer
be discharged on account of lack of evidence of complicity in the
murders." The gaoler was discharged his office.
Kaltofen appealed against the sentence, but in vain. The sentence
was confirmed. The ground of his appeal was, that he was not alone
guilty. The King commuted the penalty of the wheel into execution by
the sword.
The sentence of the court produced the liveliest commotion in
Dresden. The feeling against Fischer was strong and general; the
gaoler had but represented the universal opinion. Fischer--who
had confessed to the murder--Fischer, whom Kaltofen protested was
as deeply stained in crime as himself, was to go scot free. The
police authorities did not carry out the sentence of discharge in
its integrity; they indeed released him from prison, but placed him
under police supervision, and he was discharged from the Artillery
on the plea that he had forsworn himself. The pastor Jaspis was
entrusted with the preparation of Kaltofen for death; and we
know pretty well what passed between him and the condemned man,
as he had the indecency to publish it to the world. Jaspis had,
indeed, visited him in prison when he was first arrested, and then
Kaltofen had asserted that he had committed the murders entirely
unassisted. On Jaspis remarking to him in April, 1820, that there
were circumstances that rendered this eminently improbable, Kaltofen
cut him short with the answer, "I was by myself." Afterwards,
when he had changed his note, Jaspis reminded him of his previous
declaration, but Kaltofen pretended not to remember ever having
made it.
Towards the end of his days, Kaltofen was profoundly agitated,
and was very restless. When Jaspis gave him a book of prayers and
meditations for such as were in trouble, he put it from him, and
said the book was unsuitable, and was adapted only to the innocent.
He had visitors who combined piety with inquisitiveness, and came
to discuss with him the state of his soul. Kaltofen's vanity was
inflamed, and he was delighted to pose before these zealots. When he
heard that Jaspis had preached about him in the Kreuz Kirche on the
Sunday before his execution, he was greatly gratified, and said, "He
would really like to hear what had been said about him."
Jaspis thereupon produced his sermon, and read it over to the
wretched man--but tells us that even the most touching portions of
the address failed to awake any genuine compunction in his soul.
Unless he could play the saint, before company, he was cold and
indifferent. His great vanity, however, was hurt at the thought that
his assertion was disbelieved, that Fischer was his associate in his
crimes. He was always eager and inquisitive to know what rumours
circulated in the town concerning him, and was gratified to think
that he was the topic of the general conversation.
On the night before his execution he slept soundly for five
hours, and then lit his pipe and smoked composedly. His condition
was, however, not one of bluntness of sense, for he manifested
considerable readiness and consciousness up to the last. He had
drawn up a dying address which he handed to pastor Jaspis, and on
which he evidently placed great importance, as when his first copy
had caught fire when he was drying it, he set to work to compose a
second. He knew his man--Jaspis--and was sure he would publish it
after the execution. The paper was a rigmarole in which he posed to
the world.
On reaching the market-place where the execution was to take place,
he repeated his confession, but on this occasion without mention
of a confederate. His composure gave way, and he began to sob.
On reaching the scaffold, however, the sight of the vast crowd
assembled to see him die restored to him some of his composure,
as it pleased his vanity; but he again broke down, as he made his
last confession to the Lutheran pastor. His voice trembled, and the
sweat broke out on his brow. Then he sprang up and shouted, so that
all could hear--"Gentlemen, Fischer deserved the same punishment as
myself." In another moment his head fell from his body.
The words had been audible throughout the market-place by everyone.
Who could doubt that his last words were true?