CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE

BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

IN EIGHT VOLUMES

KARL-LUDWIG SAND--1819

On the 22nd of March, 1819, about nine o'clock in the morning, a young
man, some twenty-three or twenty-four years old, wearing the dress of a
German student, which consists of a short frock-coat with silk braiding,
tight trousers, and high boots, paused upon a little eminence that
stands upon the road between Kaiserthal and Mannheim, at about
three-quarters of the distance from the former town, and commands a view
of the latter. Mannheim is seen rising calm and smiling amid gardens
which once were ramparts, and which now surround and embrace it like a
girdle of foliage and flowers. Having reached this spot, he lifted
his cap, above the peak of which were embroidered three interlaced oak
leaves in silver, and uncovering his brow, stood bareheaded for a moment
to feel the fresh air that rose from the valley of the Neckar. At first
sight his irregular features produced a strange impression; but before
long the pallor of his face, deeply marked by smallpox, the infinite
gentleness of his eyes, and the elegant framework of his long and
flowing black hair, which grew in an admirable curve around a broad,
high forehead, attracted towards him that emotion of sad sympathy to
which we yield without inquiring its reason or dreaming of resistance.
Though it was still early, he seemed already to have come some distance,
for his boots were covered with dust; but no doubt he was nearing his
destination, for, letting his cap drop, and hooking into his belt his
long pipe, that inseparable companion of the German Borsch, he drew
from his pocket a little note-book, and wrote in it with a pencil:
"Left Wanheim at five in the morning, came in sight of Mannheim at a
quarter-past nine." Then putting his note-book back into his pocket,
he stood motionless for a moment, his lips moving as though in mental
prayer, picked up his hat, and walked on again with a firm step towards
Mannheim.

This young Student was Karl-Ludwig Sand, who was coming from Jena, by
way of Frankfort aid Darmstadt, in order to assassinate Kotzebue.

Now, as we are about to set before our readers one of those terrible
actions for the true appreciation of which the conscience is the sole
judge, they must allow us to make them fully acquainted with him whom
kings regarded as an assassin, judges as a fanatic, and the youth of
Germany as a hero. Charles Louis Sand