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Show WHO WAS KASPAR HAUSER? WHEN the police of Nuromhurg first discovered this youth, apparently ap-parently about eighteen years of age, leaning up against a wall In one of the public squares with his hands over his eyes to protect them from the glare of the sun. they at first thought that lie was some Idiot who had escaped es-caped from a sanitarium. But investigation investi-gation soon developed that here was a case as unique as that of the man In the iron mask, and resembling it In a number of ways. Not only were the boy's eyes weak, but bis muscles were as flabby us those of an infant and the soles of his feet were convex, like those of a baby that has never learned to walk. He had to be carried bodily to police headquarters and even there, the slghl of the commonest objects appeared to terrify him, while the slightest of sounds caused him to cover his cars and wince as If his ear-drums were accustomed only to total silence. On the other hand, his face Indicated that he was of good parentage, and the clothing which lie wore was fashioned fash-ioned of the softest, finest materials. In an effort to discover something about his identity, one of the police officials offered him n pencil which, much to the surprise of those present, he seized and wrote the two words "Kaspar Hauser," which, ns It afterwards after-wards developed, was the only clue he could give to his past. Prof. G. F. Daumer of the University of Nuremberg, henring about the strange case, took the young man to his home--amazed not only by the fact that he could neither talk nor walk, but that he would eat nothing but bread and water. The professor, however, started to educate him at once and in a surprisingly short time the youth had progressed sufficiently to give a graphic story of his experiences. experi-ences. For as long as lie could remember he had been conlined to a dark cell, Into which the sun had never penetrate pene-trate 1. He had been visited once a day by a man who washed and dressed him and fed lilm a ration of bread and water. It was this man who had taught him to write the words "Kaspar Hauser," which Professor Pro-fessor Daumer believed to be a false name given to him in order to mislead the authorities and to conceal his real identity. Finally, he declared, be had been blindfolded and led Into the street where the police had found him. The young man's story naturally created a vast amount of comment in all sections of Europe and the Daumer house became the center of attraction for the curious, many of whom maintained main-tained that they might be able to identify iden-tify Hauser, but none of whom were able to produce the proof of their contention. con-tention. The next development in the mysterious myster-ious chain of circumstances surrounding sur-rounding the youth, came about five months after Hauser's discovery by the police, when he staggered into Professor Daumer's library, half-blinded by the blood which dripped rrom an open gash in his forehead. It was some time before he recovered consciousness con-sciousness sufficiently to state that a masked man had struck at him with a saber, that he had dodged the blow and that his assailant had fled before he could give the alarm. The inference infer-ence which the police drew from the attack was that lhe same person who had Imprisoned the boy was now striving striv-ing to kill him, lest he divulge the secret of his birth. Shortly afterward, the case came to the attention of the wealthy Lord Stanhope, who, convinced that Hauser was of aristocratic and perhaps of royal parentage, adopted him and sent him under guard to Auspach, where he was educated. Some three years later, Lord Stanhope arrived in Ans-pach Ans-pach with the intention of taking his protege back to England with him. On the morning of the day that they were to leave Hauser received a note, telling tell-ing him to come to a certain place where he would learn the secret of his birth. Less than a hour later the English Eng-lish nobleman heard moans from outside out-side his apartment and. opening the door, was just in time to catch Hauser as he fell, blood welling from a knife-wound knife-wound in his side. He had barely gasped the words, "Uzen monument palace grounds" when he fell dead. Lord Stanhope hurried to the Uzen monument and found there a slip of paper bearing, in the young man's handwriting, the cryptic' message: "Kaspar Hauser murdered ut the age of twenty-one. Know by this that I come from tiie Bavarian frontier on the river. The Initials of my name are M. L. B." And not even the offer of a reward of 5,000 florins hy Lord Stanhope nor the investigations of countless amateur ama-teur and professional detectives could evir throw the slightest light upon the birth or death of this human enigma. "NUMBER 83" TN the Potter's field just outside -- the gloomy walls of the Asylum for the Criminally Insane at Mattewan, N. Y., there is a headpiece which i hears the number "SS" and, back of this simple inscription, is a story of Identity concealed even in the face of the law's most determined efforts which makes fiction appear pale and commonplace hy comparison. All that is known of the early hli- tory of "Mrs. Henrietta Robinson," the palpably assumed name of the woman whose body rests beneath the numbered num-bered headstone at Mattewan, is that she was of either English or Canadian origin and that she enino to Troy, N. Y., In 1S51, being always well sup-piled sup-piled with funds from a source which remained concealed even during the rigid investigation which followed her arrest on the charge of murder. Some months after "Mrs. Robinson" settled in Troy a strange and apparently appar-ently lnexpllcablo tragedy occurred. A merchant and a young woman who was living with his family dropped dead at the table. A post-mortem examination ex-amination showed that they had been poisoned and, despite the absence of motive, "Mrs. Robinson," who had been present, was arrested, but refused re-fused to say -n word even to her lawyer. law-yer. To add to the air of mystery which surrounded the entire cas, the defendant de-fendant Insisted upon appearing in court shrouded In a heavy black veil which effectually concealed her features. fea-tures. All during the trial she sat, Impassive and unmoved, apparently taking not the slightest interest in the conduct of the proceedings. When tho state had concluded Its case, a comparatively com-paratively flimsy structure of circumstantial circum-stantial evidence, the counsel for the defense arose nnd, admitting that he had not a shred of direct evidence to offer, Introduced the plea of Insanity. At the conclusion of the trial and before delivering his charge to tho Jury, the presiding judge cnlled attention atten-tion to the fact that no one In the court had seen the defendant's face and requested "Mrs. Robinson" to lift her veil. Slowly und with great dignity she nrose, but made no effort to comply with the court's request. "I am here," she stated. In a voice which penetrated to every corner of- the crowded courtroom, "to undergo a most painful ordeal, not to be gazed at." The request was nov repeated and, after a deliberation oj several hours, the jury returned a verdict of "Guilty" and the prt-soner was sentenced sen-tenced to death a decree which was later commuted to lifs imprisonment by order of the governor, though not before "Mrs. Robinson" ll.d made her one formal statement t.1 the shadow of the gallows: 'When I um dead," '5l:o declared, "all will die with me. i. have promised prom-ised to be silent, to die without betraying be-traying Anything." The first 18 years of l.yr life sentence sen-tence were passed in Sing Sing penitentiary. peni-tentiary. She was then moved to the Auburn State Prison for the Insane, where she remained for 17 years, and finally to the Asylum of the Criminally Insane at Mattewan, where the woman of mystery finally died on May 4, 1905, after 52 years in prison. During all this time, however, she never wrote a letter nor spoke a word, save to her lawyer who visited her at regular Intervals In-tervals and who admitted that his services had been paid for by "certain influential personages" whom he was not at liberty to name. All that was known of "Henrietta Robinson" was that she played the organ at Sing Sing with the touch of a master musician and that she died as she had lived in silence, utter and absolute, leaving us a heritage some of the most puzzling questions in the history of criminal proceedings: What was the woman's rsal name and where had she come from? Had she poisoned the merchant and ills young guest and, if so, with what motive? Why had she insisted upon concealing conceal-ing her face during the trial? If she were innocent, why did she refuse for more than half a century to make any plea for leniency? What did she mean by her statement state-ment that she "bad promised to be silent, to die without betraying anything?" any-thing?" Who supplied the funds with which the lawyer was paid? The answers to these and as many more ulks,'vT?d riddles connected with this woman of mystery lie concealed beneath that simple headpiece in the Potter's field at Mattewan, a headstone head-stone bearing onlv the number "SS." 1 i |