The Jail/Chapter XXVI
XXVI.
Sunday afternoon.
At one o'clock there had been the roll-call which shut off number 60 from contact with the world, but did not shut off the life in it. That day there was none of the usual drably bitter and sluggish feeling caused by the lingering hours on Sunday afternoons,—on the contrary, the room began to be filled with bustle and tumult, as if agreat moving job were about to take place. Tables, benches and straw mattresses were shifted about, dust arose, noisy discussions took place, where-upon the room afforded the following spectacle: In the centre both tables stood together at an obtuse angle, behind them lay the straw mattresses arranged as seats, flanked sideways with benches; on the seats presided Mr. Fels in the place of honour a chairman of the day's proceedings; his adjuncts consisted of all honourable inmates of number 60, as far as other functions had not been assigned to them, such as Karl, who, equipped with the piece of a broom-handle, was a defence-corps man and court guard; further Mr. Simon Lamm, who was the accused and, in the meanwhile, was skulking in our telephone box; Mr. Kretzer, who was his defending counsel, and myself, who was supreme provost-marshal, and representative of the monarchy's infringed interests. Of the witnesses summoned, three were present,—Papa Declich, Dr. Povich-Rosetti and Mr. Aaron Wilder, hotel-keeper from Cracow; those who had not appeared were Mr. Janko Mlacker, the artillery-man who had got into trouble about the boots, and finally, the king of Magyar pickpockets.
The supreme provost-marshal called upon the chairman of the court to have the accused brought forward.
The chairman issued the order.Karl brought in Mr. Simon Lamm; the accused had his straw hat on his head.
The supreme provost marshal called upon the chairman of the court to request the accused to remove his hat.
Chairman: "Prisoner in the dock, remove your hat".
The accused removed his hat, but asked to be allowed to state that his head was quite bald, and as all the windows were open, he was afraid that owing to the draught, his head might succumb to its usual pains, and he therefore pleaded to be allowed to put his hat on again.
The military prosecutor announced: "The windows are open, and they will remain so throughout the whole of the proceedings as a proof that a court-martial in Austria does not shrink from publicity; I call upon the chairman to draw the attention of the accused to the fact that he is not permitted to waste the precious time of the court with quibbles and clumsy attempts at speeches, for every squandered minute is a direct infringement of the interests of the Empire".
Chairman: "I draw your attention to these matters".
The supreme provost-marshal: "Further I call upon the chairman to order the accused to sit down in the dock".
Chairman: "Sit down".
Mr. Lamm sat down, the defence-corps man stood behind him, at the other end of the dock sat his defending counsel. Mr. Lamm sighed: "I‘ve been in plenty of law courts in my time, but nowhere have I been treated like this."
The supreme provost-marshal: "I call upon the chairman to explain to the accused that civil courts have not the least idea of trying cases. Civil courts pamper everybody, and the scales of civil justice are not at all sensitive. We see the consequences in this war; before the very eyes of the civil courts the weeds of evil-doing have grown so rankly that they have nearly stifled all honesty of character; in fact, the feeling for what is virtue and what is crime has vanished entirely.
The civil courts had to be removed, and the military courts had to be introduced for the purpose of rooting out the weeds, replacing the old scales of justice by new ones, and infusing life into the deteriorated conceptions of right and wrong. Further, I call upon the chairman to draw the attention of the accused man Lamm to the fact that he is not to talk unnecessarily nor to interrupt the proceedings."
The Chairman: "I point out to you, Lamm, that you are not to talk unnecessarily."
The accused: "Lamm? Mr. Lamm, gentlemen."
The supreme provost-marshal: "I call upon the chairman to intimate to the accused that he is before a high military court, and that the appellation of gentleman is here inadmissible. Further, that he should particularly draw the attention of the accused to the fact that by impertinent remarks he will only make worse his situation which is bad enough as it is. Finally, he is to begin the proceedings by ascertaining the name, residence and age of the accused."
Chairman: "Prisoner in the dock, I hereby intimate all that to you, so take heed that you, hm, hm,—but you know what I mean, and what is your name?"
Accused: "You've had me already nine months here under arrest, and you don't know."
Members of the court: "Impudence!" "Audacity!" "An affront to the court!"
The supreme provost-marshal: "Members of the court, let me point out that this impertinence has a deeper cause than may appear, and in my speech I shall divulge it. I call upon the chairman to enquire once more and in an emphatic manner for name, domicile and age."Chairman: "I ask you once more and in an emphatic manner for,—for,—for—"
The supreme provost marshal: "Name, domicile and age."
Chairman: "You heard. Eh,—eh,—eh,—give us this information."
Accused: "Simon Lamm, of Brody in Galicia, 58 years old, married, my father's name was Abraham—"
Supreme provost-marshal: "We did not ask you about your father and whether you are married. As a matter of fact, I'll tell you about your father myself. I call upon the chairman to draw the attention of the accused to the fact that he is not to try and complicate his offence by dragging in persons who do not belong here. Further, I call upon the chairman to ask the accused about his previous punishments."
Chairman: "Yes. Eh,—eh,—eh,—I draw your attention, and, and, and—"
Supreme provost-marshal: "Whether he has already been punished."
Chairman: "Eh?
Accused: "Yes, by my father aforesaid—"
Supreme provost-marshal: "I draw the attention of this court to the fact that the accused, with malicious perseverance, indeed, not to say with scornful cynicism, such as is typical only of the most desperate criminals, is evading a direct answer. The chairman is asking you whether you have been punished in a public court of justice."
Accused: "Never. I have a clean record.
Supreme provost-marshal: "All criminals make that assertion. Unfortunately, the archives of the local and district law courts in Galicia were destroyed by the Russian invasion:—I am sure that they could tell a tale, but a different one from that of the accused. And in any case, even if he has not actually been punished hitherto, it would not be surprising; I have already expressed my view of the value and importance of those civil courts. I call upon the chairman to ask the accused whether he knows why he is standing his trial."
Chairman: "Do you know why, hm,—hm,—you are standing your trial."
Accused: "I have been sitting still for nine months and did not know why, now I am standing my trial and do not know why either."
Supreme provost-marshal: "I call upon the chairman to call the accused emphatically to order. He is to answer this court with respect and without joking."
Chairman: "Yes. That's right. I call you to order,—eh,—eh—"
Supreme provost-marshal: "May I ask the chairman to permit me,—with a view to hastening today's proceedings,—to ask the accused a few of the most important questions direct."
Chairman: "Of course,—eh,—eh—“
Supreme provost-marshal: "Prisoner in the dock, you will now answer me. Since we are here dealing with important State and military secrets, the publication of which might considerably endanger the interests of the Empire and the position of our glorious armies, you must answer as concisely as possible, and not enter into explanations. We have the most detailed knowledge of your guilt, so no kind of quibbles and denials,—I specially remind you of this,—no kind of denials,—will avail you at all. Prisoner in the dock, do you know the names Rozsa Sándor and Babinský?
Accused: "I've never heard of them."
Supreme provost-marshal: "Good, you deny it. But that's your
business. Could you tell us about your relations with Nuchem Schapira.Accused: "I don't know him."
Supreme provost-marshal: "You persist in your denials. Will you tell us who was really responsible for the unfortunate result of the battle of Rawaruska?"
Accused: "It was said that an incompetent General—"
Supreme provost-marshal: "Hush. I have already admonished you. It seems that you have deliberately set out to adhere to a system of denials. What do you know about the fall of the fortress of Przemysl in the year 1915?"
Accused: "What has all this got to do with Simon Lamm? Przemysl fell because—"
Supreme provost-marshal: "Hush! You reckless man, are your past offences not enough for you, that you wish to burden your conscience by betraying military secrets as well?"
Accused: "I don't understand—"
Supreme provost-marshal: "That's enough. You will understand. We know everything and will tell you." To the chairman: "The examination of the accused is concluded. The accused persists in denials. I ask for the witnesses to be summoned."
Chairman: "The witnesses, yes, the witnesses."
The supreme provost-marshal: "One after another. First, Papa Declich."
Chairman: "Yes, Papa Declich."
Papa Declich was led in. The witness did not understand German, and so Budi, a member of the court, was designated as interpreter. From the details of his nationality it appeared that he was a vinegrower and farmer from Visignano in Istria, and was 48 years old. The extraordinarily interesting cross-examination made it clear that he was neither a relative nor a friend of the accused Simon Lamm, in fact, that he saw him there that day for the first time in his life, — but when his home in Istria was searched, portraits of Dante, Manzoni and Cavallotti were found there.
The witness stood down.
Dr. Povich-Rosetti, the following witness, was also unacquainted with the accused, but he admitted that he had discovered a new kind of fire-arms which he had offered to the Entente States. He asserted, however, that he had done this in the year 1910 when he could have known nothing about the present combination of States hostile to us. In reply to a question of the supreme provost-marshal, whether he knew what the "Free Thought" was, the witness declared that he had never heard of free thought in Austria, and that on principle he could not approve of free-thinking.
Mr. Aaron Wilder, the final witness, a hotel-keeper from Cracow, used to see the accused during his visits to Cracow. The accused always gave the witness the impression of being a thoroughly respectable man. If he stayed in his hotel, he always paid his bill without haggling, and he always tipped the servants properly,—and therefore the witness was greatly surprised to find Mr. Lamm in the dock.
Upon these words the supreme provost-marshal arose, and demanded the immediate arrest of the witness for clear complicity and connivance with the accused.
The court unanimously agreed to the arrest, and Mr. Aaron Wilder was led off into the telephone box.
Next were read the affidavits of witnesses who were not present. Mr. Janko Mlacker stated that in America he had been robbed of 45.000 crowns which he had wanted to save from the pending bankruptcy of his employer's business,—whether the accused was the individual who had robbed him of that money, he could not say with certainty, but there were a number of indications which might corroborate the identity of Lamm with the unknown culprit.
The artillery-man related that he did not know whether the accused Lamm had taken those boots for which he was being prosecuted, but that he himself had most assuredly not apropriated them.
The king of Magyar pickpockets declared solemnly that it was his duty towards his personal honour and the honour of the chivalrous nation of which he was a member, not to inculpate by his evidence a man who perhaps was not guilty. From his own experience he knew to what lengths human cunning and malice could go, and he himself was suffering for transgressions which he had never committed. The pocket-book which had been found on him, had been given him by an unknown man to take care of: he had not even looked into it, and it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that the unknown man was his sworn enemy, who in this way wished to deprive him of his honour and ruin his social position. Of course,—whether the accused, whom by the way, he did not know, had impersonated him incognito in all the remaining thefts with which he had been charged also unjustly, he could not say. But if this were the case, he demanded that he should be severely punished, and that he himself should be immediately released, for "justice above all“ was the lustrous motto of the Magyar nation.
This concluded the case for the prosecution. The supreme provost-marshal then spoke as follows:
"Gentlemen, we are living in times which both in their significance and in their horror surpass everything of which humanity has hitherto been a witness. Whether we search in the remotest and darkest recesses of human history, whether we pass the bygone centuries in review, we shall find nothing that resembles these days of ours. The dreadful "bellum omnium contra Omnes", that phrase from the old classic author, has today become a ghastly reality. We all know the origin and cause of this unexampled struggle. A number of European States have for a long time and with unconcealed hatred observed the progress and prosperity of our Monarchy and of our powerful neighbour-state, whose victorious troops are fighting shoulder to shoulder with our dauntless armies. Trade, industry and commerce flourished, the people enjoyed a wide degree of liberty, our Empire was a paradise upon earth. But hatred is an evil and malicious neighbour. Hatred, yes it was hatred, which flung the torch of war into our heavenly prosperity. Hatred, of which our immortal Grillparzer so strikingly said, that the gods placed it in the soul of evil instead of virtue.
The enemy reckoned upon two factors to help him. Upon the military unpreparedness of the Monarchy, and upon those among its subjects which it had nurtured like serpents in its bosom. But they reckoned falsely. The empire rallied around its waving banner with the noble device: "With united strength",—and the serpents at home did not dare to show themselves and to set about their work with poisoned fangs.
Of course, there were a few exceptions. And let me say immediately that one of them you can see here in the dock. His name is Simon Lamm.
Our armies have courageously resisted the enemy without, we, in a no less arduous service, we servants of military justice and state integrity, have thwarted the enemy within.
Gentlemen, I must, at the very beginning, point out that our feeble resources have, in themselves, not been able to defeat this inner enemy, small in numbers though he was. But in this we received assistance, and here on behalf of our mighty country, I will express thanks to all who afforded us support in this respect. People, even of low estate, realised the significance of the time and the hugeness of the struggle; their eyes kept watch, their ears listened, their hands wrote. We must thank all those anonymous persons, who in the service of the State took upon themselves the odium of so-called denunciators, and assisted us with all their strength. There were not, and there are not, any patriots greater than these, and the very fact that they desired to remain unknown, adorns their heads with a renunciation, nothing less than antique in its virtue.
It was one of these anonymous patriots by whom the treacherous activities of Simon Lamm were divulged to us. Utter this name of Simon Lamm, and if you do not tremble with horror and repugnance, you are not worthy of setting foot upon the soil of our country. Simon,—by what motives was his father actuated when he gave him this name? Simon, who denied our Lord Jesus Christ, Simon who was the creator of the historical crime of simony, or sacrilege. I direct my question through all historical ages: was there ever in the world a father who predestined his child's career thus by the mere name? What inveterate cynicism, what dreadful criminal instincts! You will deny and trade with a people's holiest possession,—its native land. Yes, gentlemen, all this is implied in the name of Simon. But the fact that it was pre-destined is no justification. Kismet or fate holds good only with our glorious Allies the Turks, but we have been given freedom of will, and a man is always what he makes of himself, as the renowned Austrian poet Tschabuschnigg appropriately remarked. How many men have already borne the fateful name, the name Simon, and did not proceed along the path which was predestined to them thereby,—I have in mind Samson, whose name is almost identical with Simon, and how he fought against the Philistines, the enemies of his country. Or the prominent Czech painter Šimon,—can you imagine him at the side of and working hand in hand with this Simon?
But let us go further. Lamm is his surname. Lamm! No greater cynicism has been perpetrated since the creation of the world than that such a scoundrel should be called Lamm, a lambkin, a lamb, the symbol of our Saviour, an animal which, after the dove, is the most peacable and most virtuous: This criminal's surname is Lamm. Gentlemen, a greater spiritual derangement, a more depraved contempt for all that the whole of mankind has hitherto held in esteem, I cannot imagine. These two names would of themselves suffice." (Sensation throughout the court).
"And look at the accused. Gentlemen, this individual is laughing. This outcast of humanity, branded by his own father and by fate, is laughing. Gentlemen, words fail-me.
But away with emotion and stirring of the spirit. We are here as representatives of justice,—and this is not only blind, but must likewise be inaccessible to all spiritual emotions.
The accused has said of himself that he was punished by his father. He was punished by the cynic who, with the name Simon, pre-destined him for the career of a scoundrel,—how depraved must his youth have been, when even his cynic of a father thought fit to chastise and punish it.
The documents of the Galician courts were destroyed during the Russian invasion; this is a pity, for I am certain that they would have thrown an unsurmised light upon the curriculum vitae of this individual. The accused has been relying upon this and has persisted in his denials. But vainly.
Gentlemen, the individual present here has robbed and murdered in company with the notorious Rozsa Sándor amid the forests and plains of Hungary, and when Rozsa Sándor was apprehended, he made his escape to Bohemia, where he joined Babinský's gang, and continued to carry on his trade. Babinský met with a well- merited punishment, but the individual called Lamm made his way in good time to Vienna, where together with Nuchem Schapira he forged banknotes. Nuchem Schapira fell into the hands of justice, but his accomplice, the doubly worthy Mr. Lamm, disappeared from view. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility, in fact, I incline strongly to the belief, that he sailed across the ocean and there deprived the unfortunate Janko Mlacker of those 45,000 crowns, which that trusty official desired to save there for his master who was on the verge of bankruptcy.
That he slipped away from it all and disappeared at the right time so as not to leave the slightest trace, is a proof of the unusual artfulness, the eel-like slipperiness and agility of this criminal.
But his real harvest-time began with the blood-red human harvests in the great war.
Here, gentlemen, I shall be as brief as possible; this is imposed upon me also by great military secrets. I can say only one thing: upon this man's head clings the blood of thousands and thousands of guiltless soldiers, he supplied the enemy with objects which cost milliards. I will only say what I can say: this Simon Lamm was responsible for Rawaruska, this Simon Lamm was responsible for the fall of the fortress of Przemysl. What for? Why? It would be hard to say. Perhaps his innate leaning towards rascality, perhaps the roubles which today have been buried by him somewhere; for this cunning wretch pretends to be a man who has been brought to beggary by the Russian invasion,—we know the tricks of such evil-doers.
Minima non curat praetor, it is true,—but it is true only in ancient Rome. Our victorious armies have driven the Russian foe far beyond the frontiers of the monarchy,—there was nothing to be undertaken on a large scale, so Praetor Lamm turned his attention to the minima.
Gentlemen, those boots with which stern justice has burdened the life of that dauntless artillery-man can with confidence be transferred to the account of that excellent person Simon Lamm, and that he made his appearance in Hungary as the king of Magyar pickpockets can be asserted with as much assurance as that twice two is not five.
I will conclude. This man is capable of anything, and has committed all offences which he could commit. In the interests of the State and of humanity to whom his very existence is a menace, both pro praeterito as well pro futuro, for what he has perpetrated, as well as for what he might yet perpetrate, I urge you, gentlemen, to sentence him to death by hanging."
The accused and his defending counsel, overwhelmed by convulsive shudders, had not a word to say. The court also was trembling from the effects of the public prosecutor's speech, and adjourned for deliberation.
The deliberation was very noisy, but did not last long. The court returned and the chairman announced: "The accused is convicted on all counts and is guilty of all the charges; the court sentences him to fourteen days open arrest."
It grew dark. The room was full of merriment. The improvised proceedings had pleased everybody. For several days the room had been pervaded by discontent and silent despair,—something had to be done. I am not fond of having such mournful faces around me.
Mr. Fels shook hands with me gratefully: "I won't forget that of you as long as I live. And I believe that it might be so in reality."Mr. Lamm thought it was a good thing that I was among them and not among the ones upstairs. He had quite a clear idea of what it would be like when he arrived upstairs.
"And believe me, if I were standing my trial before a real court, and they were to charge me with all these offences, should I not really know how to defend myself?" he added guilelessly.
"Well, fourteen days was nothing for that" laughed Mr. Fels.
And number 60 declared unanimously that similar proceedings could be carried out every Sunday.
We shall see.
Meanwhile, I sought to get to bed. I had been a little over-heated, now I was trembling with a chill. Papa Declich brought me his blanket with concern and wrapped me up.
I knew that in the afternoon he had found a louse, a real louse in it,—but I raised no protest, nor did I shudder with horror. It's all one. I was cold. "Grazie, Papa".