Who Murdered Kaspar Hauser? [pp. 425-429]

WHO MURDERED KASPAR HA USER?
They may feel flattered to think that
they act from merciful considerations;
but a closer examination of the matter
would show them that mistaken lenity is
as injurious as unnecessary harshness,
and that it is more humane to protect
the innocent than to pardon the guilty.
We must clear the law of those technicalities that render its action uncertain,
and that serve as loop-holes of retreat
for clever criminals. Something must
be rotten, when a convicted felon obtains a fresh trial again and again, until
his money is spent or he is acquitted.
Every citizen should be taught that it
is his duty to vote at every election.
Indeed, the citizen who refuses to vote
is no better than the soldier who refuses
to fight. In the election of our county
officers the primary election is the most
important; and yet, with unpardonable
negligence, we leave that entirely to politicians who are seeking offices for themselves or their friends. It matters little
whether our county officers call themselves Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. It matters little whether
they voted for Grant or Greeley at the
last presidential election. But it is of
the utmost importance whether they are
honest or dishonest, competent or in
competent to discharge their duties. If
every party nominates its best men, it
matters little which gains the victory.
Hence the necessity of a full vote at
the primary election. The influence of
the pulpit and the press should be exerted to this end. The preachers are
loud in their condemnation of the man
who stays away from church, but they
have not a word of censure for the man
who stays away from the polls; yet, of
the two, perhaps the latter negligence
is the one fraught with most danger to
the community.
Having induced the citizens to go to
the polls, we must next teach them to
use more discrimination in casting their
votes. Everyone, at present, unfortunately thinks that he has a right to vote
for his friend or favorite. I have no
more right to vote for my friend, simply
because he is my friend, than I have to
steal a thousand dollars for him out of
the public treasury. Citizens must be
taught that the privilege of voting is a
public trust, to be exercised for the public benefit; and that he who does not
exercise it thus is guilty of as great a
crime as the member of a firm who takes
advantage of his position to defraud his
partners and enrich himself.
WHO MURDERED KASPAR HAUSER?
NE of the strangest stories of the
century is that of Kaspar Hauser.
Though nearly fifty years have passed
since he was discovered (the verb is exact) in the streets of Nuremberg, and
though every effort has been made to
determine his antecedents, and detect
his murderer, the mystery surrounding
him remains as impenetrable as ever.
Recently, little has been said or published of the enigmatic estray; but, for a
quarter of a century (I828-I853), it is
VOL. 13.- 28.
doubtful if any single individual in all
Europe was so much discussed, or awoke
so great an interest and curiosity. The
newspapers on both sides of the ocean
were full of him; pamphlets and books
were printed to sustain this or that theory of his birth and belongings; philanthropists, philosophers, and savants
were aroused in his behalf.
I remember seeing at the theatre,
when a mere child (it was ten or twelve
years after his death), a drSn. called
' *!V!@ *,
1874.]
425