"THE SUDDEN WEALTH OF THE POOR PEOPLE OF KOMBACH" "In the year 1822 a few poor peasants and workers from the village of Kombach decided to make an end to their misery and get rich, by a raid on the carriage transporting the tax money of Hesse." "According to the contemporary records of court secretary Carl Franz, the plot to raid the tax money should have originated as follows:" "In the fall of 1821, Jacob Geiz was cutting grass for postmaster Strapp." "I told you to cut it short." "It's a lawn, not a meadow." "I'll break my blade if I cut lower." "That's what I pay you for." "A new blade?" "I can get someone else." "I'll do it." "Cut it low to make it a good lawn." "The peddler David Briel from Dexbach spoke the following words to him:" "Jacob, I know a way to help the both of us" "if we can get some trusty people together." "Each month the carriage with tax money goes from Biedenkopf to Giesen." "We'll attack it together, take the money, and if all goes well we're rich for the rest of our lives." "We'll attack it on Hessian grounds so the prince will have to pay our duke." "Even if a new tax is levied, it will only be a few kreuzer to pay, which won't hurt us." "Jacob's father and brother Heinrich joined them at once." "They were joined by Johannes Soldan and the day-laborers Ludwig Acker and Jost Wege." "In the night after Christmas day, they went to Krosdorf forest and after a six hours' walk through bushy hills, and terrible hollow roads, they reached Subach, which they had chosen as the place for their deed." "Where is it?" "Where is it?" "The snow made it go wrong." "What will you have, David?" "I'd like some soup." "The one that shouldn't steal, won't steal." "The one who has nothing, rightly has nothing." "You're just frightened." "You were like ghosts from the outset." "The snow has covered the tracks." "It snowed the whole night." "Nobody could have followed you." "We'll have to wait." "The money goes twice a month." "It won't snow forever." "Wait..." "Johanna is right." "Be quiet." "What happens if you get caught?" "You're a soldier, that will be worse." "Just make sure nobody gets killed." "If someone gets killed like that, he'll come back as a ghost." "You wouldn't dare anyway." "Serfage was abolished only in 1820 in Hesse, but instead of bringing freedom it just put a heavier burden on the small farmers who couldn't live on their small piece of land." "Kept ignorant throughout the centuries, they were unable to see the cause of their misery." "Only emigration to the New World, poaching or treasure hunting were seen as a way out of poverty." "They're coming!" "Hide yourselves!" "You idiots!" "I was waiting for your signal." "That's what you were up there for." "Stupid idiot." "There were two soldiers and four horses." "Stupid idiot." "Let's get to work." "I thought the old one would tell us." "The draft was called for the year 1819." "The conscripts of this year from Biedenkopf, Wolfsgruben, Kombach, Eckelshausen," "Frohnhausen, Buchenau, Wilsbach, Friedensdorf, Lohra, and other villages concerned are called up to be prepared for military service and should be at the Gladenbach school for the drawing of lots and examination on the 18th of June." "Why are you looking like that?" "I promised to marry a girl from Offenbach but I need some more money to be able to do as I promised and to be a happy man." "Maybe I know something." "I'm just like you." "I've got a child, two months old, and there's an easy way out for us." "It just depends on you." "Count on me." "What should I do?" "You act as escort for the tax money?" "You should sabotage the soldier's gun so that we don't get hurt." "And if you are the escort, let yourself be caught without resistance." "You want to take the money?" "You'll get your share." "I wish it were already done." "We already tried last week, but there were two soldiers with guns." "Yes, I was there." "There was a whole lot of money." "The special tax for the wedding of our princess." "Next time we'll take it." "You can count on me." "Now the time has come" "We're going off to America" "The horses are ready" "We're leaving for a strange country." "Coffee grows on every bush which everyone can have for free" "Corn grows there really lush" "An ear can weigh a pound or three." "Potatoes are like honey" "Two bushels to every plant" "Evergreen is that country" "Where even in winter the roses stand." "When we get the money I'll buy a silk coat." "I'll go to town, to the great hotels, to be served like the rich are." "A plate for the soup, a plate for the meat, one for the vegetables, and one for the potatoes." "A glass for the red wine, another for the white wine, a glass for water, and a tiny one for the brandy." "And all the people will see me and say:" "There sits a wealthy man." "They'll be friendly and bow for me." "After Heinrich got help from the soldier, there was nothing left to stop them." "You bastard!" "What is it?" "No money this time." "The chest is empty." "One tenth of the Hessian population emigrated in the 19th century." "Whole villages were drained." "A letter from a baker's apprentice:" "Without hope, clothes or even daily bread," "I stand, with my wife and children crying, and I see no future for us in Europe." "We'll have to go on living in sin." "I shouldn't have come to Offenbach." "So I'd never have seen you." "Now we have the child, and live in sin." "But God won't hold it against the child that "amen" wasn't said before we made it." "Right, Johannes?" "Do you want to kill him?" "You shouldn't speak out his name before baptism." "Are you mad?" "Stop it, you'll make me another!" "America is the land of milk and honey." "The cows are grazing on evergreen meadows." "You find honey in hollow trees." "You can have as many cattle as you want." "You don't have to get food for them, only in the winter." "And the land is so good, you don't need any fertilizer." "You can grow anything every year after just plowing it up, that's enough." "And it's not like in Germany where they take away what little you've got in taxes and whatnot." "Here the farmer is his own master." "We eat more meat than you eat bread, and drink coffee and wine like you drink water." "Milwaukee, 1821." "On the Saturday before Easter, they met in Subach after a long walk to act out their plan at last." "The recruits!" "Jost Wege!" "The draft prevented Jost Wege from getting any more involved in this criminal act." "But the others couldn't do anything because of the many soldiers and had to go back empty-handed." "There they go." "There they go." "How many times must we try, before we succeed?" "How many more times must we try?" "You're old Lindner's youngest." "Jost Wege's going to marry you." "And you're Ludwig Acker." "You worked with Heinrich in Biedenkopf." "The one who got a child." "Yes, Heinrich." "I saw you together." "The May rain will grant you a wish." "I know one that will grant me everything else." "Hear, there goes the cart." "The fifth time, they lost the carriage in the mist and decided to drop the matter entirely." "I'm going back to Offenbach to be a soldier." " I'll come along." " So will I." "You'll stay here." "It's no use." "It should have been done long ago." "So that's the end." "Praised be God, who saves us from sin." "Sow your field, stay with your plow." "That's the way to serve the world." "The rich man and the poor man" "You will serve alike." "So please stay with your fields," "For many a fair lady" "Thanks her beauty to your work" "And many a king is crowned" "By the products of the fields." "God, who rules everything on earth, and steers everyone according to his plans," "God who makes the sinners shudder, please pardon them, who fear you." "Please answer our fervent prayers, hold back your thunder and fire, the harsh north wind and the rains, let the storm turn into your praise and glory..." "You'll look after the horses." "Five times God held us back from sin." "You must see he doesn't want us to." "Go if you want, I won't." "Then you've been our son-in-law." "Do you think they'd help us?" "Every day its cares." "You're mad." "How will you pay the harvest?" "It's only due in the fall." "And how will you pay it then?" "With pious words?" "A farmer who borrows is lost." "You borrow six, the fields give three." "The interest will be more than the loan." "You'll give the house, the cattle and at last we'll be thrown out." "That's how you get to be a day-laborer." " Isn't that right?" " Quite so." "I wish I had been drafted." "And I could do it on my own." "But when I die, you will inherit." " What?" " Your debts?" "Be quiet, Johanna." "Jacob, Heinrich and I will leave at night and we'll take the road outside the village." "We'll go past Gladenbach." "Ludwig Acker will go with David and Soldan by way of Buchenau and Fischbach." "If we go on all night without stopping we'll be there by noon." "This will protect you against wounds." "Put it under your shirt." "Look out, the gun!" "François, watch the driver!" "Get him down." "Have mercy on a poor man." "Let me go." "I'm poor like you." "François, get rid of the driver." "If you cry out, you're dead." "Don't move, if you want to live." "Let the bride come out." "What do you want?" "Here is Heinrich Geiz, my brother." "He comes to take his bride." " This one?" " No." "Accept your condition, by Christian Furchtegott Gellert." "You complain about the way you live" "And try to improve your lot, in vain." "Complain, but remember while you do, see if what you want is what you need." "Not rank nor money will give you happiness." "Only virtue and contentment will give you rest." "Enjoy what God gave, and do not covet more." "Each class has its peace and burdens." "God wisely disposes of his blessings." "Not like we want, but as he thinks best." "Silk stockings from Paris!" "That kind of work clings to you." "No one wants to hire you because you're the geese-herd." "And if they take you, you get paid less." "They say it's enough for the geese-herd." "It's not that bad." "I heard many stories of geese-girls marrying kings." "Could I be the prince?" "No, that is Jost." "How beautiful is the world." "So they built a house, put in chairs and tables," "and a kitchen with a fireplace where you can find coffee, milk and sugar and beautiful plates, and that's all of it for us!" "It's just like a fairy tale." "Just you beware." "Think of the golden ass!" "It means everything to us." "Meanwhile the news had reached Giesen where judge Danz was put in charge of this case." "The knowledge of the grounds, the masks, the changing of the voices, and the absence of bloodshed point out that it wasn't the work of stray soldiers or other rabble but of peasants living nearby." "Considering the poverty of our peasants and especially the poor harvest this year, further considering the extra levy for the wedding of our beloved princess, we must reach the conclusion" "that spending money is suspicious." "All buyers who pay with bare cash must be able to give accounts of their earnings." "The farmers won't be able to avoid spending or changing part of the money they unlawfully acquired." "Their poverty won't allow them to keep the treasury hidden." "You can drink brandy." "I'm so poor," "I can't even go to find work." "For the capture of the robbers, a reward of 300 guilders was offered." "300 guilders, that would keep me until my death." "Josef and Heinrich Hembus of Friedensdorf declare:" "That Sunday we had been fishing in the Lahn, when we met 5 strange men early in the morning." "When they saw we meant no harm they said that we should go home at once and forget that we had seen anyone." "Fishing in the Lahn is a princely privilege." "But as you didn't hesitate to help justice, we will raise no charges against you." "You lose all rights on the reward." "Many clues came in, true and false." "Most of them came from the village of Kombach, about 30 km from the scene of the crime." "The court decided to send judge Danz to investigate those rumors on the spot." "Although many people had been spending more than usual, he didn't want to make arrests yet." "The great poverty of the suspects pointed to an illegal source for their money." "Day laborer Bertram of Wolfsgruben, a poor man, is said to have lent 60 thalers, Acker from Kombach, 50 guilders." "Testimony of Hans Fischer of Butzbach, day laborer." "Hans-Jacob Geiz of Kombach is said to have bought a cart for 10 guilders." "There's an old crone outside who dares not come in, but has some important news." "Let her come in." "He copulated." "What does she say?" "He married." "Heinrich, old Geiz's son." "Just after the robbery." "And they had a feast like rich people." "Maybe his father paid for it?" "That one never had anything." "But that's no proof." "With him the bible fell on the floor." "The woman means an old way to get to the truth." "When some crime has been committed, the following proceedings always lead to the culprit." "You put a key in the middle of a bible, you fasten it so you can hold it between two fingers, and you speak out the names of your suspects." "When the right name comes, the bible falls down." "Next one." "What about the reward, your honor, 300 guilders?" "Everyone wants to be happy." "They think they will be happy if they're rich, they think money and happiness are related as the root to the plant." "How grossly do they err, how little do they know of the nature of man, and yet they see it every day." "The Scriptures say that all things serve one who loves God, and it's true." "Money is money, but the hearts which it marries are so different that from those different marriages different lives originate," "bringing happiness or sorrow." "Only the heart can tell if one will be happy with money or not." "A powder horn, two powder horns, one pistol," "a bullet casting" "with lead, a silver watch." "Whose are these weapons?" "Mine and my son's, your honor." "I got the rifle from my father." "Jacob bought the pistols in Marburg, long ago." "It was used for the robbery." "The yellow rings were described by soldier Haman." "This kind always has yellow rings." "There are lots of them in Kombach." "Why do you need all this?" "There are many thieves around here." "Whose watch is it?" "Jacob's, your honor." "Where did he get it?" "He won it with shooting, your honor." "Where was he on Sunday before Pentecost?" "At home, as far as I know, your honor." "This answer cannot be accepted, as a man has testified under oath that he didn't find him at home that day." "A man from Allendorf, whom I owe money, had asked for me that Sunday, but since I had no money I asked my wife to say I was off to Wallau, your honor." "Where was Jacob on that day, and the others?" "He was in the fields, I don't know, your honor." "Can he prove he was at home on Sunday?" " No..." " Take him away." "Hans-Jacob Geiz, it is said you owe baron von Breidenbach" "400 guilders from the time of your serfage?" "Yes, your honor." "Where was he on Sunday before Pentecost?" "I can't remember, your honor." "Does he own a watch?" "Yes, your honor, the one on the table." "Where did he get a silver watch?" "I won it with shooting, in Kombach." "Can he prove that?" "Yes, with Ludwig Acker of Kombach." "He gave it as a prize." "How long is that ago?" "I think three years, your honor." "The watch has only been seen since Pentecost." "The watch was lost, your honor." "Get me Ludwig Acker." "Ludwig Acker of Kombach?" "Yes, your honor." "Did you give a watch as a prize?" "Yes, your honor, in 1816 or 1817." "What was it like?" "A silver English watch, your honor." "With the key up front or at the back?" "I think up front, your honor." "Acker says his watch had the key up front." "This one has the key at the back." "I won a watch in Kombach, my father one in Engelbach." "One of those was sold, I don't know which." "Then this must be the one from Engelbach." "These objects will be confiscated." "Hans-Jacob Geiz, his son Jacob Geiz and Johannes Soldan are arrested on these presumptions and sent to the Giesen jail for further investigations." "Hide the bird, there's the farmer." "What are you doing there?" "Come along, you're under arrest." "Don't believe him, he wants my wife." "Hands off, old goat!" "Poacher!" "A fox took the duck, it was already done for." "I haven't shot it." "The farmer lies, he wants my wife." "It is not for poaching." "I have orders from Giesen." "I have nothing to do with them." "It is for the robbery." "Let him go or I shoot." "After a few peasants had been arrested," "Ludwig Acker decided to leave the country." "I'm going down south." "I won't be back soon, maybe never." "Want to come along?" "How, without money?" "I'll take care of it." "No, let me go." "Hide it and don't tell anyone." "Why did you run?" "I'm not guilty, your honor." "In May 1820 and in March 1821 Heinrich Geiz asked the military commander of Offenbach for permission to marry Sophie Haupt but it was refused because he couldn't pay the sum of 200 guilders necessary." "In the summer of 1822 this was overcome and the wedding took place in Muhlheim." "Where did you get the money?" "I never had the money." "It wasn't necessary to pay the 200 guilders." "It was sufficient that" "I could prove I owned security worth 600 guilders." "What does it consist of?" "An estimation of my part of my father's land issued by the mayor of Kombach." "Which is?" "Which is a house worth 100 guilders, a field worth 150 guilders, a cow worth 30, a wagon worth 30 guilders, an iron plow worth 20 guilders, and other tools worth 30 guilders." "Which makes 350." "Go on." "My father gives me a dowry of 100 guilders." "He gives me 40 in cash." "350 plus 40 is 390." "My wife brings in 80." "470." "A cousin left me 150 guilders." "620." "That's 20 too much." "The court has taxed your father's land for 270." "The house is old, the land near the woods, and rather poor quality." "The wagon and tools are old, also the cow." "How can you offer this as a security of 350 guilders?" "But the land is worth more." "How can your father pay you money he owes?" "I don't know." "This cousin of yours could hardly leave 150 guilders." "All your wife possessions aren't worth 80 guilders." "It's true, your honor, I own nothing." "Can you explain how you could marry?" "No, your honor." "The accused denies proven fact." "I can't let it go like that." "I'll punish him with 24 hours' confinement." "I'm a rich man on a journey, bring me food and drink, only the best." "I'm a nobleman on a journey, bring me food and drink, only the best." "I'm a rich nobleman on a journey, bring me food and drink, only the best." "I'm a rich man on a journey, bring me food and drink, only the best." "We only have soup and bread, my lord." "Soup and bread, all right." "And wine?" "Only gin." "Yesterday, October 4, 1822, the long sought for Ludwig Acker came to Giesen and gave himself up to the law." "Has he some fortune, what does he live on?" "I have no fortune, and live from my work." "Has he got money?" "Five guilders I earned at the harvest, your honor." "Didn't he lend Johannes Hartmann any money?" "No, your honor." "He testified you lent him some money." "I don't understand." "Didn't he entrust 50 guilders to the geese-herd?" "No, your honor." "They both said so." "Do you deny the truth?" "No, your honor." "Then tell us where you got that much money." "I earned it with my work." "Your behavior shows something's wrong." "Relieve yourself by confessing everything." "I want to sleep on it." "You're stammering, why hide your guilt?" "An innocent man may seem more embarrassed than a guilty one." "The one knows what he has done and the other that he can't prove his innocence." "Why did you give yourself up?" "You were looking for me, your honor." "Have you anything to say?" "I'll wait until tomorrow." "I'll do whatever I must do." "Too many dogs are the hare's death." "What do you mean?" "I'm afraid of people." "Why do you fear people?" "I hid money in my brother's garden." "What kind of money?" "I robbed the tax money." "Together with Hans-Jacob Geiz, his sons Heinrich and Jacob," "David Briel of Dexbach and Johannes Soldan." "We tried six times before we succeeded." "We first tried on Christmas night 1821." "But as it had snowed, we feared the tracks would betray us." "We let it be until spring, but it went wrong because there were two soldiers." "The third time we didn't rob it because there wasn't any money." "The fourth time we lost each other in the mist, the fifth we couldn't do anything because of the many recruits, and at the sixth or seventh attempt," "I don't remember, your honor, it succeeded." "That's how thread after thread, the hiding veil woven by the criminals was unraveled, as the scribe contentedly writes." "The framework of a painstaking investigation." "In this labyrinth the judge looks for a foothold." "Thus goes on the master's work to be crowned by the naked truth." "There is repenting that is not repenting, that is excessive repenting." "That one doesn't trust in God's mercy and sins against the Holy Spirit." "Cain showed such repenting, when he cried:" "My crime is so great, it deserves no pardon." "And Judas, when he hanged himself." "They set limits to God's unending mercy and sinned more by this than at first." "Judas hurt the Lord more by his suicide than by his betrayal, says the holy Hieronymus." "Such repenting leads straight to hell." "So you show some true repenting that the Lord may come to you!" "Say:" "We regret to have transgressed the laws imposed on us by the Holy Bible." "Say:" "We admit our deeds were abominations and we put our lives in our judge's hands to atone for our crimes by our docility and to stop living like rebels." "Say after me:" "I, poor sinner, confess all my crimes, in deed or word, whereby I deserved Thy punishment." "I sincerely repent and regret and I beg for Thy unending mercy in the name of Thy son Jesus Christ, forgive me, poor sinner, my sins and crimes, and give me Thy strength." "If you sincerely want to better your life, say yes." "Yes." "Do you sincerely repent?" "No." "Luther says a Christian submits to authority, pays taxes, helps and does everything that is good and helpful for the State." "No!" " Say yes." " No." "Will you say yes?" "Are you my Christian son?" "Acknowledge your faults, like I did." "Say yes." "To do wrong is bad enough, but not admitting it is worse." "He always was stubborn." "There should be order." "If criminals don't repent, no one will be able to sleep." "See the badness of our crime." "Say yes, or you'll go to hell." "No." "One must submit to one's superiors." "You'll go to hell." "You'll bleed more in hell." "Let him be." "He will submit." "He has no other choice." "It's because he was a soldier." "But I repented first, of my free will." "I was first!" " Of my own will." " I was first!" "You must submit to justice." "You must repent for what you did." "If you repent, our Grand- Duke will forgive you." "That's how they break me." "I'll tell them." "The ducal court of Giesen condemned them to death by the sword, payment of the costs and refunding the stolen money." "All are guilty in the same degree." "The Court of Appeals of Darmstadt confirmed the verdict and sent it for approval to the Grand-Duke." "His Royal Highness, Grand-Duke of Hesse, our most just lord and ruler, let justice follow its course and confirmed the sentence." "In three days' time you will die by the sword." "Prepare yourselves and repent to God and man alike." "The money made me free." "The farmers couldn't use the money beause they only knew their land." "When they touch the land, they know if it's good for potatoes or corn." "But when they touch money, they don't know how to handle it." "They can't show it, because a poor man with money is suspect." "And the farmer can't go to another place because his land won't follow him, and he fears what he doesn't know." "But I am free." "I have no home or land to hold me." "I can go where I want to." "The New World is waiting for me." "New York, Philadelphia, Boston," "Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco," "Mississippi, New Orleans, Florida," "Buffalo, Arizona, Ohio," "Texas, Arkansas..." "Ludwig Acker?" "Jacob Geiz?" "Heinrich Geiz?" "Hans-Jacob Geiz?" "The records end with:" "Ludwig Acker was the first to mount the scaffold, undressed and sat down straight, strengthened by religion, awaiting the deadly blow." "His head fell at the first stroke." "Then came Jacob Geiz." "He embraced his father, crying, in a heart-rending farewell." "One stroke put an end to his life." "On the scaffold Heinrich Geiz took his kerchief and said:" "Like my life will be torn, so must you be torn." "Then he sat down and died like a man." "Hans-Jacob Geiz was next." "He just kept staring, without a word." "Shuddering, he sat down where his sons had fallen, already more dead than alive." "One stroke separated head and body." "What was mountain in you They have ground down" "And your valley They filled in" "Over you leads An easy path." "Now the time has come" "We're going off to America" "The horses are ready" "We're leaving for a strange country" "Potatoes are like honey" "Two bushels to every plant" "Evergreen is that country" "Where even in winter the roses stand."