THE DEAD MAN OF ST. ANNE'S CHAPEL. A CRIMINAL STORY.

Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 23, 18 June 1845, Page 4

THE DEAD MAN OF ST. ANNE'S CHAPEL. A CRIMINAL STORY.

Paut I. The Search. On the top of an eminepce forming the ouf skirls of a mountainous and woody region ; the south of Germany, stands a small chapel i dicated to St. Anne, rarely visited excent h peasants, or on the festivals .of the saint or otli holidays, when crowds of pilgrims are fo \h habit of resorting" to it. Early in the mominf of the 26th of August, 1816, a peasant £ g village at some distance was ascending the ria * row footpath leading to the chape}. boy, who accompanied him, had run on before As he reached the immediate neighbourhood of the chapel, the child turned back with breathle haste, and in accents of terror urged his fath to advance. The old man hastened forward i n)arm; and first glance, as he reached th level of the chapel, rested upon a, com,! Steeped in blood, and stripped to the shirt th lower part of the body covered with long loose and light-coloured pantaloons, covering booti with spurs—'here lay upon the steps" of,), chapel the body of a well-shaped young man his right hand rested on his breast, and on hi. finger sparkled a heavy gold seal-ring. ' The peasant instantly destmtched the boy to the nearest village to communicate the "dig covery, while he himself remained by the body* It struck him as singular, that so :ittle blood should be found beside it. If a murder ]lad taken place, this surely had not b>en the snot where it had been perpetrated. The trace of footsteps, still visible, though evidently artifi. dally obliterated, pointed sideways into the wood, above which, at some distance, rose a rugged and lofty peak of rock called the Raub stein, on the summit of which the fragments of an old building were still visible, to which the usual traditionary tales of terror were attached. The direction which the enquiry was likely to take was quite sufficient to deter the peasant from further investigation, till "the arrival of the juge depaie and the surgeon of the village, who, accompanied by a numerous tribe of those idlers who are always in attendance or» such occasions, soon after made their appearance. rr

The body was examined, on which slight symptoms of incipient decay were already perceptible. Under the shirt a particoloured bandage, apparently the fragment of a woman'e shawl, was found carefully wrapped around the breast. Beneath it, and on the left breast, lay a second roll of cloth, adhering closely to' the body by means of coagulated blood, and covering a broad and deep wound penetrating to the heart, and evidently inflicted with a sharp two* edged instrument, apparently a knife. The dissection of the body led to the conclusion that death had taken place after indulgence in wine, and probably to excess.

While the examination was proceeding, one of the spectators who had followed the traces of the footsteps in the direction of the Raubstein, returned and announced to the judge that the crime had undoubtedly been committed within the ruined building on the summit. The judge, the physician, and the spectators immediately hastened to the spot, which all appearances indicated to have been the scene of the murder. Blood besmeared the floor and was sprinkled along the walls j round about lay the remains of a recent meal; crusts of bread, parings of fruit, and the remains of a broken bottle, in which some drops of a sweet and heavy wine were still left.

The traces of footsteps leading from the chapel towards the ruin were indistinct, but in the opposite direction leading from the ruin towards the highroad to Hilgenberg, they were plainly discernible j not far from the building was found another stripe of the same particoloured silk which was wrapped round the body, and deeper in the underwood, suspeuded on a low bush, a long woman's glove, of Danish leather, finely wrought and quite" new, but siained with some dark spots, in which the physician recognised the appearance of blood. By degrees the footprints became less distinct, and were at last lost in the beaten highwayleading to Hilgenberg. In the hope that it might lead to a recognition, the spectators who thronged to the spot were allowed to view the corpse without impediment. The examination, however, led to no result, and with tlje approach of evening the body was conveyed to its last resting-place h> the churchyard of the neighbouring village of Hoffstede. • p

Next morning, however, the landlord of f* small forest inn at a little distance made his appearance before the judge, who had seen the dead man the evening before, after the body had been put into the coffin. He had recog? nised in him a stranger who had lodged in his house, the night before the 24th August, and had left it early that morning. Of his name, his rank, his former residence, or his destination, he was ignorant. His own conjecturewhich, however, rested on nothing more conclusive than that the deceased wore boots and spurs—was, that he was an officer of some of he corps which were cantoned in the neighbourhood. (To be continued in our next.)