Jakob Heinrich Vielmetter

Jakob Heinrich Vielmetter, commonly known as "old Jacob Heinrich," supposedly born in Obernhain in the Wehrheim office , was considered the actual leader of the Wetterau gang .

Robber family

Jacob Heinrich Vielmetter's biography clearly shows how much the robbers were related to each other and related by marriage. He counted 25 rogue families among his closest relatives. He spoke red word . A “Wetterau robber song” has come down to us from him.

He should come from Obernhain. His father was Johannes Vielmetter, who was born in Oberursel and later lived in Wertheim and Kaltenborn . Vielmetter's mother Anna Margretha, b. Jungbluth and comes from Dudenhofen . Jakob Heinrich Vielmetter's three brothers had already died when he was arrested. These and their children mostly hired themselves as mole catchers and dunning makers .

For several years, Vielmetter was a soldier “with the Kaiserl. Austrian "and afterwards" under Königl. Prussian military, has a straight military attitude. ”Jakob Heinrich Vielmetter was married to Anne Catharine Dreher from Dauernheim in the Bingenheim office . She was about eight years younger than him. Both had five children:

• Johannes vulgo "Jacob Heinrichs Hanneschen," + February 22nd, 1812 in the Stockhaus in Gießen . His "pimp" was Catharine Kariol, who was imprisoned with him in Giessen. She is said to have been 33 years old at the time. Her brother Henrich Kariol came from Ober-Mörlen , b. around 1788, moved around with his sister and Johannes Vielmetter.
• Marie Elisabeth [* around 1782], who was in a relationship with the robber Johann Heinrich Brandau, the Engelröder Dick. She broke away from him repeatedly and took other men in the meantime. She wandered around with the robber Johannes Heiland, the “Wetterauer Hanneschen”. According to another account, she was married to Heiland and had two children with him. You have "participated in many thefts of the Wetterau crooks."
• Catharine, was the co-sleeper of the carpenter and robber Johannes Lehn from Breungeshain and was sentenced to four years in prison in Gießen in 1810. She served her sentence in the Marienschloss prison in Rockenberg .
• Barbara was married to a soldier named Bertes.
• Annemarie
• He also has a son, Johann Peter, from another woman.

Vielmetter's brother Conrad and his children Anna Margrethe and Ludwig were also members of the "Wetterauer Gauner." The then 38-year-old daughter was imprisoned in Hanau in 1812 , while her brother's age was given as 30 to 35 years.

Jakob Heinrich Vielmetter's sister, Krugliese, was the mother of Johannes Borgener's and Conrad Werner's partners , two muggers .

Robber life

He is said to have committed 60 crimes in the course of his life.

One of his journeyman robbers was Georg Philipp Lang, the wooden lip . He committed five thefts with him.

• In 1807 the two stole pewter from a farm near Frankfurt in which Vielmetter's son Johannes was also involved.
• Theft of tin at Preungesheim near Frankfurt on July 31, 1809.

Jacob Heinrich and Johannes Vielmetter and Georg Philipp Lang stole pewter dishes worth 40 florins in Frankfurt-Preungeshain on the night of July 30th to August 1st, 1809 .

• The goat theft at Burggräfenroth in the Wetterau undertook the same.
• On the night of July 8th to 9th, 1807, the robbers stole a donkey from a mill in Ockstadt . In addition to father and son Vielmetter, Hölzerlips, Conrad and Johannes Werner also took part. Although the miller noticed the thieves and shot them, they escaped. The donkey is said to have been worth 22 fl
• Shortly before, the same robbers had stolen both goats from the cowherd in Ilbenstadt . However, the son Vielmetter was missing.

With his son Johannes, Jakob Heinrich Vielmetter committed further thefts at Berkersheim and Thorfelden , but also four tin thefts in Ostheim , Burg-Graefenrode and Vilbel .

In Sellnrod Jakob Heinrich Vielmetter got to know Johann Heinrich Brandau, the Engelröder Dick. Sellnrod was the hometown of Ludwig Funk , a member of the Wetterau gang, and this is where many metters “and his people” stayed. Vielmetter "chatted on (Brandau) his eldest, bad daughter Marie-Lies".

Jakob Heinrich Vielmetter stole two horses in Vogelsberg with the potter Ludwig Möbus von Bobenhausen in the office of Nidda and Bernhard Bauer from Volkertshain . With Bauer, the old Vielmetter stahed another horse in Ilsdorf and a French artillery horse in Weitershain in 1789 . Cattle theft also includes the stealing of a goat in Lindheim and two sheep in Södel .

He committed further thefts in Vogelsberg with his son-in-law, the "Engelröder Dick" in a brickworks near Grünberg , a break-in at the Nieder-Ohmer mill and at Wettsaasen and with his son and Johann Georg Pfeiffer in Rixfeld. The three robbers also stole two goats from Radmühl in 1802 and broke into a brickworks in Kahlgrund near the glassworks in 1806 .

Together with members of the Odenwald gang, Jakob Heinrich and Johannes Vielmetter are said to have murdered a friend named Valentin Börschner. With this statement the Odenwald robbers incriminated their Upper Hessian companions.

The End

After an attack in Berkersheim on May 4th / 5th. On August 1st, 1809, in which Holzlips also took part, the three were arrested and arrested in Bergen . There, the Hölzerlips and Johannes Vielmetter were able to flee in May 1810. Jakob Heinrich Vielmetter stayed behind and was delivered to Giessen in 1811 .

At that time he was around 65 years old. On September 18, 1812, he was sentenced to life in prison. He was charged with attempted street robbery, church theft at Maria Ehrenberg and many other thefts and break-ins , among other things . His son Johannes was arrested in Giessen in February. He is said to have been 22 years old at the time. He was charged with 41 crimes.

A contemporary said of Vielmetter: "He was one of the most active members of the Wetterau gang," is Schwencken's judgment. An author of the 20th century saw him as the real head of the Wetterauer and Vogelsberger gang .

literature

• Hermann Bettenhäuser, robber and crook gangs in Hesse. A contribution to the attempt at a historical criminology of Hesse. In: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies. Vol. 75/76. 1964/65, pp. 275-348.
• Friedrich Ludwig Adolph Grolman, Actual history of the Vogelsberg and Wetterau robber gangs and several criminals associated with them. In addition to personal description of many thieves and robbers scattered throughout the German dialect; With a copper plaque, which shows the faithful portraits of 16 main criminals. Giessen 1813.
• Hans-Günter Lerch, Manic in Giessen. The secret language of a social fringe group, its history and its sociological background. Diss., Giessen 1976. ISBN 3-87038-048-9 .
• Ludwig Pfister , Record-based history of the robber gangs on the two banks of the Main, in the Spessart and in the Odenwalde together with a collection and interpretation of several words from the Yenish or crooks language. Heidelberg 1812.
• Ludwig Pfister, addendum to the record-based history of the robber gangs on both banks of the Main, in the Spessart and in the Odenwalde. Also contains the story of the further arrest, condemnation and execution of the murderers of the merchant Jacob Rieder von Winterthur , Heidelberg 1812
• KPT Schwencken, KPT (Karl Philipp Theodor) Schwencken, reports in the form of files from the rascals and vagabond rabble, as well as from individual professional thieves, in the countries between the Rhine and the Elbe, together with a detailed description of their person. From an Kurhessian criminal official, Cassel 1822.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ KPT Schwencken, records of the crooks and vagabond rabble, as well as of individual professional thieves, in the countries between the Rhine and the Elbe, together with a precise description of their person. From a Kurhessian criminal official, Cassel 1822.KPT Schwencken, Aktenweise Nachrichten, p. 501.
2. ↑ Discussion of Grolman's Actual History. In: Heidelberger Jahrbücher 1813. Second half Julius to December, Heidelberg 1813, pp. 721–732, p. 727.
3. ^ Printed by Friedrich Ludwig Adolph Grolman, history of the Vogelsberg and Wetterau robber gangs and several criminals associated with them. In addition to personal description of many thieves and robbers scattered throughout the German dialect; With a copper plaque, which shows the faithful portraits of 16 main criminals. Giessen 1813, p. 256 f.
4. ↑ For the biography cf. Friedrich LA Grolman, History of Acts, p. 226 ff.
5. ↑ KPT Schwencken, Actenmäige Nachrichten, pp. 573, 135.
6. ↑ KPT Schwencken, Akcteniform Nachrichten, p. 224.
7. ↑ Ludwig Pfister , Record-based history of the robber gangs on the two banks of the Main, in the Spessart and in the Oldenwalde together with a collection and interpretation of several words from the Yenish or crooks language. Heidelberg 1812. Ludwig Pfister, History based on files, p. 179.
8. ↑ Friedrich LA Grolman, History of the Acts, p. 491
9. ↑ KPT Schwencken, Acktenweise Nachrichten, p. 501.
10. ↑ Friedrich LA Grolman, Acting History, p. 46.
11. ↑ KPT Schwencken, News in the act, pp. 500–502.
12. ↑ Ludwig Pfister, Ludwig Pfister, addendum to the record-based history of the robber gangs on both banks of the Main, in the Spessart and in the Odenwalde. Also contains the story of the further arrest, condemnation and execution of the murderers of the merchant Jacob Rieder von Winterthur , Heidelberg 1812, addendum, p. 208 f.
13. ↑ Ludwig Pfister, Record-based history of the robber gangs on the two banks of the Main, in the Spessart and in the Odenwald, contains excellent. also D. Story d. Robbery u. Assassination d. Merchant Jacob Rieder von Winterthur on d. Bergstrasse , p. 90 f, p. 109.
14. ↑ Friedrich LA Grolman, 'Acten-like history, p. 108 f.
15. ↑ Friedrich LA Grolman, Acten-like history, p. 108 ff.
16. ↑ Friedrich LA Grolman, History of the Acts, p. 117.
17. ↑ Friedrich LA Grolman, History of Acts, p. 119.
18. ↑ Ludwig Pfister, history based on files, p. 59.
19. ↑ Friedrich LA Grolman, Acten-like history, p. 226.
20. ↑ KPT Schwencken, News in the act, p. 501.
21. ^ Hermann Bettenhäuser, robber and crook gangs in Hesse. A contribution to the attempt at a historical criminology of Hesse. In: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies. Vol. 75/76. 1964/65, pp. 275-348, p. 338.