120 fey 4 
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Kaspar Hy 
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and the gy, 
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10 years pg 
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Ie judeesd 
Kaspar Hauser. 
115 
home and abroad. Even the physicians, with one exception—Dr. 
Albert—appeared to be intimidated by the fierce hostility of 
Kaspar Hauser’s enemies, and their written reports were conse- 
quently in some respects contradictory. The scientific descrip- 
tion of the wound showed that it was scarcely possible to have 
been self-inflicted, and Dr. Albert declared that the theory 
of suicide was absurd; while Dr. Horlacher stated that the 
wound might possibly have been self-inflicted, especially if the 
victim possessed unusual ability to work with the left hand. He 
added that he did not know Kaspar Hauser at all, and, therefore, 
could not judge whether he was likely to be tempted to kill 
himself. Thereupon, Meyer and the others remembered that 
Kaspar was peculiarly skilful in the use of his left hand, and some- 
one suggested that the requisite force might have been supplied 
by pressing the handle of the fatal knife against a tree, and the 
fact that there was a tree standing near the designated spot was 
accepted as a proof that the deed had been performed in that 
manner. 
Meyer afterwards quoted Horlacher as declaring in favour of 
the suicide theory ; but that was an exaggeration. The weight of 
his testimony was entirely the other way, and his admission of the 
possibility of suicide was only a concession to the opinion of the 
stronger party. 
Great stress was laid also upon the fact that, as a rule, a person 
who attempts suicide is willing to die, or, at least, indifferent as to 
the result, while one wounded by another person is extremely 
anxious to recover, and thus Kaspar’s quiet resignation to his 
fate was counted as a proof that he wanted to make away with 
himself. Dr. Albert stoutly maintained that the case was one of 
murder and not of suicide. The victim’s physical condition 
showed this, and morally there was no grounds for such a sus- 
picion. Dr. Albert knew Kaspar well: only three days before 
the tragedy he had met him at a ball, and noticed his exuberant 
gaiety. The boy loved life, and was in no danger of throwing it 
away. Only a few days earlier he had said that he would like to 
go into the army and become an officer, if he could be sure that