i24 
Kaspar Hauser. 
same summons several days before, as Frau Hickel testified 
which shows that the meeting was not the result of a sudden sug. 
gestion, 
Of course, during that period of excitement, many things were 
repeated which had no foundation ; but the whole mass of ey;. 
dence goes to prove that Kaspar Hauser, for some days before 
the tragedy in the park, was fully impressed with the belief that 
he was about to discover his parentage, and be delivered from the 
authority of his unkind guardians. The very circumstances which 
Meyer and his wife took pains to circulate as proofs of intended 
suicide accord still better with the supposition that he was pre- 
paring for expected good fortune in this world. 
The Meyers remembered that he had lost his appetite, and had 
appeared absorbed in his own thoughts for some time previous to 
the catastrophe. Also that on the Wednesday before his death, 
when he started to go to the park and did not go, and on the 
fatal Saturday when he went to meet his death, he wore an old 
brown coat instead of his handsome cloak. The fact, too, that 
his papers were left in order, and that certain letters which he had 
received from Frau Binder in Nuremberg, and from her niece, 
Frau Kannawurf in Vienna, had been destroyed, was considered 
another proof that he meant to kill himself, 
But all these things can be otherwise explained. Kaspar’s 
abstraction and loss of interest in his usual pursuits would be 
natural if his mind was full of speculation concerning the mystery 
of his origin ; if his treacherous acquaintances promised to free 
him from his unpleasant situation, he would naturally arrange his 
affairs before a secret departure ; if he was to escape in disguise 
he would be likely to throw away his old coat instead of a new 
cloak. 
Several of his expressions, as he lay on his death-bed, seem to 
imply that he had been under the influence of persons seeking his 
ruin for some time, 
“Many cats are the sure death of the mouse ;” ‘“ There are 
bad people who lead others into wrong ways ; I too was led astray 
by wicked men :” “T fell into a terrible snare.” etc.