[OO 
Kaspar Hauser. 
have the boy merely instructed in the general doctrines of Chris 
tianity ; perhaps the best thing would have been to make him a 
Catholic, as in that case the real truth concerning him might 
have been extorted in the confessional. 
A few days after Kaspar’s confirmation his best and most 
powerful friend, Anslem Ritter von Feuerbach, died suddenly 
while upon an excursion with a party of friends. 
His death, which was entirely unexpected, gave rise to a strong 
and general suspicion that he was poisoned, and that belief 
obtains to this day; especially as it was known that Feuerbach 
had recently come into possession of important evidence which 
convinced him of Kaspar Hauser’s royal origin, and that he was 
preparing his newly acquired testimony for speedy publication. 
There was great excitement over the event. His daughters 
grief was described as mingled with rage, implying that she con- 
sidered the affliction as the work of her father’s enemies, and not 
as the dealing of a mysterious Providence. It was remembered 
that Feuerbach’s declining health dated from the time of his 
appearance as an advocate for Kaspar Hauser, and that the 
symptoms of his occasional attacks resembled with curious exact- 
ness the sufferings of Grand-Duke Karl of Baden, who believed 
himself and was belicved by others to have been poisoned. For 
some time previous to the final stroke, Feuerbach’s health had 
greatly improved, and he felt hopeful of completely overcoming 
the strange debility which had weighed upon him so long: the 
autopsy showed that all his vital organs were sound, therefore the 
physicians could account for his death in no other way than to 
call the attack “ wervous.” It was a curious coincidence that he 
should have died in the Whitsun holidays, the anniversary of 
Kaspar Hauser’s appearance in Nuremberg. 
Kaspar was deeply afflicted at the loss of his generous protector, 
and all his friends recognised it as the greatest misfortune that 
could have happened to him. Feuerbach’s functions respecting 
Kaspar were immediately assumed by Court Councillor Hofmann