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1 February 1953
During our last Wanderung Robert had observed that the trial of Anna Koch would have been a good subject for Kleist or Dostoyevsky: "But one must always return to the truth, which is often more fantastic than the imagination of the writer."
"I'll do that" I said "and send you the result before our next Wanderung." Here it is.
Over Gonten bei Appenzell rises the Huttenberg. Anna Koch was born there on 23 August 1831, one of 11 children (4 of whom survived) of a poor farmer. To support the family her father (sic) sometimes took in embroidery. Anna grew to be a tall, haughty blond, who became involved with men at an early age. She decorated herself with jewelry, which she bought on credit. It was said that she drove her mother to early senility and neglected her religious duties. Her father, an upright, quiet man, died of a stroke shortly after his daughter was beheaded.
On Corpus Christi (8 June 1849) Anna watched the traditional procession in Gonten. As she was about to leave to get lunch at home she encountered Johan Baptist Mazenauer, a bricklayer, four years her senior, whom she reproached strongly for being involved with her childhood friend Magdalena Fassler, who like Anna came from a large farm family. She, however, had a reputation as a virtuous girl. The awkward Mazenauer, who was seen by his neighbors as an unremarkable sort of character, said during this conversation that he had heard that she spent her time in Appenzell with strange men. She made further accusations against him, and after he spoke appeasingly to her, they went their separate ways.
In the afternoon of the same day the customary Vespers service was celebrated. Because a severe storm was brewing, attendance was lower than normal; Anna was among those not attending. Shortly before the beginning of the service she met Magdalena in the cemetery and asked if she would help her find wreath she had lost on the way. Magdalena said she would if that would leave her time to go to the service. Then on the lonely path, out of jealousy, Anna threw her friend into a pond, known locally as the Teichelrose, and held her under until she quit moving. Two days later she sold silver items from Magdalena's traditional costume, including a necklace, in Appenzell.
When Magdalena didn't return home that evening, they looked for her in Gonten. The villagers singing and dancing in the pubs attached no great significance to her failure to return home, since her stepmother was known as a spiteful shrew. Everyone assumed Magdalena had moved in with relatives after a squabble. Four days later a farmer reported he’d seen Magdalena's body floating on its back in the pond. The body was then taken to her parents' house where many people gathered and offered the usual prayers for the salvation of the dead. At the urging of her mother Anna went too, but refused to sprinkle holy water on Magdalena, and when she knelt she passed out, leading to some speculation. On the way home her mother swore the girl to silence, in case she had done something wrong. It would cost the girl her head.
On June 14th Anna, despite her silence, is ordered to the preliminary hearing in the Rathaus of Appenzell, along with Mazenauer, who was known as “Bisch.” Through November 26th a long inquest was held before the interrogating judge, the governor, and the Recorder, during which it was decided that Magdalena’s death was not an accident. There were 29 hearings, during which Anna and Bisch were interrogated and beaten. The authorities did the attractive Anna a favor by letting her spend nights with the family of the bailiff and receive visitors during the day.
Bisch on the other hand was confined to the jail, where he had to sleep on half rotten straw. His protestations of innocence were not believed. During his 23 weeks confinement, including 7 weeks on bread and water, he received 150 strokes of a rod on the buttocks and back. In addition he was given the thumb torture and and put in the “goat's foot,” in which his hands were bound under his knees and wooden pegs inserted between the knees and arms. Bisch had to endure five quarter hours in this position.
At first Anna tried to help her friend: she claimed he had given her Magdalena's jewelry, which he claimed to have found by the trail, and that he had promised to marry her in the fall. Later she practically said he was the murderer.
As she grew more entangled in lies, she occasionally received canings from the sheriff of Appenzell or, on September 6, from the executioner of Altstatt. She escaped from the Rathaus on the day before Jahrmarkt, wandered about for a time, and tried to relieve her torment in a pilgrimage church. She also toyed with the idea of killing herself, but lacked the nerve. The next evening, after a secret visit to her parents, she turned herself in at the Rathaus.
At the hearing on the 20th and after declaring that she was pregnant by Bisch Anna made a partial confession. In regard to the accusation that her supposed bridegroom, as well as her mother, were complicit in the crime, she confessed on November 17 that Bisch was innocent. He was released on the 28th, but was so emaciated and weakened that he could barely stand. Nobly, he forgave Anna's lies. Later, his requested pardon for innocent suffering was denied because of his hesitant and foolish behavior during the hearings. All he could get was a certificate stating that he had been innocently incarcerated.
Mazenauer, or arme Tscholi as he called himself, used this certificate to beg alms from good-hearted people, as he offered for sale a pamphlet [die stockpredigt die der priest subsequently an Anna's beheading hielt]. Although Bisch walked all the way to St. Gallen, this effort brought him scarcely 100 francs.
In 1853 he married a girl of questionable background and converted a former cattle stall to a tiny house where they lived, desperately poor but content. In 1870 he applied for an advertised position as bailiff with the the words: “I'm a poor man in a difficult position with three uneducated children, because 20 years ago as an innocent man I suffered injuries such that today I'm not able to work. Please, for God's sake, show me sympathy and mercy. I promise you if you entrust me with this duty, through industry, obedience, and discretion I will give the greatest satisfaction to the authorities and the people. I entrust myself to your goodness and Wohlbewohenheit.” There were 9 applicants for the position. Bisch died in early May 1902, at the age of 75.
On the 29th of November 1849 the court ruled that the murderess would be beheaded. Anna Koch was escorted by a Capuchin priest; she collapsed from fear. The next day she received last rites. The official reading of the death sentence by the Council took place on December 3rd. To hear this final decision, Anna must descend the stone steps of the Rathaus to the street, which by now was filled with the curious. From the Rathaus the Recorder of Appenzeller-Innerhoden read the text aloud; it was to be carried out immediately.
She collapsed, and to revive her, her temples were rubbed with newly-fallen snow. According to the stylistically inept presentation by J.E. Neff, she wished, on regaining consciousness, that the executioner and his assistant lift her by the arms, but they were pushed aside by the reviving Anna. She would see the crucifix, and hear the priest's words: “Look at him—though innocent he endured death, but you are guilty.”
She grew calmer. With the priest and the [Standespfarrer] from Appenzell she freely climbed into the sleigh which would carry them through the snowy village to the place of judgment. Everywhere people had gathered, as people will at such times, staring shamelessly from roofs and windows and streets. Among the words of comfort from the clergy would occasionally issue a blood-curdling cry from Anna, and she shook her unbound hair.
When they came in sight of the scaffold, she made such a cry of despair that people wondered for her sanity. She had to be carried up the three steps. When she opened her eyes she kissed the crucifix that was held close to her face, didn't resist when the black hood was pulled over her eyes. But she pressed her shoulders so firmly against her head that the executioner could find no way of performing his duty. Perhaps the condemned knew that there was an unwritten law that an execution could not be carried out after sunset.
In this unprecedented situation a glasier from Mettlen called out in the local dialect: “Have you ever seen how the Rheintalers weigh potatoes?” Then a roof slat was fetched from a nearby hut, and the hair of the condemned was tied firmly to it. From either side the board was lifted, so that Annas neck began to straighten, and the two-edged sword finally whistled downward.
To the face of the corpse that lay on the scaffold one of the priests held the usual [stock-] or [stand-predigt], in which he spoke of the tragic consequences of growing godlessness and decay of customs. After the sermon the executioner's assistant laid the head and torso in a coffin, which was put on a sleigh for its journey to the potter's field and was interred there, in the presence of only a few people.
The grave was soon covered by new snow.