Johann Adam Rabbit Staff

Johann Adam Hasenstab (born September 21, 1716 in Rothenbuch ; † June 3, 1773 in Kropfbachtal , district of Schollbrunn ) was a German poacher . He was called the "Hannadel" or "Robin Hood des Spessarts".

Life

The Hasenstabkreuz in the Kropfbachtal

Johann Adam Hasenstab was born on September 21, 1716 in Rothenbuch as the grandson of a hunter. He was a Mainz hunting assistant who had to give up his job because of poaching. The poacher Hasenstab lived for years in the Spessart and Taubertal and was difficult to grasp for the authorities. He gave himself u. a. as a healer and very often changed his whereabouts across several county borders. He was able to escape his persecutors countless times or escape from prison and was already a legendary figure with alleged magical power during his lifetime . So it should have been "bulletproof". Whether he was worshiped like Robin Hood during his lifetime , or whether this was told later, can no longer be determined today. Under the eyes of the authorities, he sold his hunting booty in markets or to pastors.

In 1749 the Mainz court councilor declared him outlawed and offered a bounty of 30 Reichstalers . He was seen in Hasloch on June 14, 1750 . A few years earlier he had fled the Mainz prison ; he also fled from the forced army service. As a deserter, he received asylum in the Bronnbach monastery and helped out in agriculture there. He also acquired knowledge of medicinal herbs. He repeatedly visited his wife Anna Margaretha Hasenstab and her child in Hasloch, despite the threat of punishment of 30 Reichstalers from the County of Wertheim for citizens who grant him “the least amount of residence”. In July 1750 he organized even citizens with a protecting disc shooting . He also went to and from the pastor and landlord in Hasloch several times. In October 1750, he is said to have poached with Wertheim citizens in Hasselberg . In January 1751 he was seen again with his wife and child in Hasloch. 20 Musketeers from Wertheim could not catch him because he had already disappeared. His wife was arrested and interrogated by the forester Müller. Thereupon Hasenstab threatens "I advise him to let her be released from the arrest right away ... where not, so ... he will shoot him bang and drop to death". In February 1751 his wife was released and expelled from the country (Grafschaft Wertheim). Shortly thereafter, he was shot in the leg, caught and sentenced to "digging for an indefinite period". The fortification work consisted of building a fortress in Mainz, from which he fled together with the sentry in 1757. Supported by the people, he continued to poach, for example wild boars and deer in the Kurmainzer area, which he then sold in the county of Wertheim. Around 1770 he was captured again and exiled for life. The legend arose in recent times that he was handed over to the Dutch and exiled to Australia . Australian penal colonies did not exist until 1788. In 1772 he reappeared in the Spessart and was again declared outlawed.

On June 3, 1773 he was shot by the hunter Johann Sator , an electoral Mainz district hunter . The Rothenbuch cellar book mentions “Jägern Joh. Sator von Bischbrunn for killing the poacher rabbit stick 15 fl ”. It can no longer be determined whether it was an honest duel. After the fatal duel it is said to have been customary for some farmers to call their dog "Sator" in order to mock the hunter Sator. Is since that time in Kropfbachtal in Schollbrunn one at the death site memorial cross from sandstone bearing the initials JAH St 1773. Buried was Hasenstab in the cemetery and the year Breitenbrunn , where today a plaque and a large block of sandstone standing as a memorial stone.

There has recently been a Hasenstab hiking trail that starts at Schloßplatz in Rothenbuch and leads over 60 km through the Spessart and past Hasenstab's life stations.

Others

A Spessart poacher of the same name was born on September 15, 1875 in Partenstein and shot on May 31, 1923 south of Frammersbach , to whom a memorial stone is also dedicated at the place where he died.

literature

• H. Staudinger: The Spessart's Erzwilddieb Johann Adam Hasenstab. Spessart Nature Park V. (Ed.), 2011, ISBN 978-3-9811192-1-3
• The Spessart - a magazine of the Bavarian State Forests for the region. December 2012, p. 10
• The Spessart - a monthly magazine. Aschaffenburg, issue March 1979, p. 5f.
• The Spessart - a monthly magazine. Aschaffenburg, issue April 2013, p. 1ff.
• The Spessart - a monthly magazine. Aschaffenburg, October 2015 issue, pp. 10–15

further reading:

• Eva M. Lüft: From poachers' refuge to insider tip for hikers. In: local newspaper "Bote vom Untermain" from August 31, 2006
• F. Will: The Hasenstabkreuz in the Spessart. In: The stone cross. 7th year, 1939, No. 1/2, pp. 21-22

Web links

• http://www.suehnekreuz.de/bayern/breitenbrunn.htm
• The Erzwilddieb Johann Adam Hasenstab - a legendary hero (September 2016)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hasenstabweg ; accessed on May 3, 2018
2. ^ Memorial stone "Wildschütz Johann Adam Hasenstab" ; accessed on May 3, 2018