Philipp Ludwig Ernst Mosebach

Philipp Ludwig Ernst Mosebach (born August 15, 1770 in Trais-Horloff , † December 17, 1799 in Koblenz ), also called Jäger-Philipp , was a hunter, soldier, robber and teacher of Schinderhannes .

Origin and family

Mosebach was the eldest son from the second marriage of the Protestant pastor Philipp Wilhelm Mosebach (1739–1801) from Trais-Horloff, now part of Hungen . His mother's name was Agnetta Benigna Bornmann and was the daughter of the father's predecessor. The father, born in Berstadt and previously pastor in Gießen and Laubach, describes himself in Trais-Horloff's church book as “the world wisdom and liberal arts master , metropolitan and pastor all here, the German society in Altdorf and Bernburg, the Latin in Jena and Carlsruhe as well as a member of the Royal Prussian Society of Sciences in Franckfurth an der Oder . "His godparents were" Hofrat Prof. Ernst Emanuel Walch in Jena, Government Councilor Philipp Gottfried Wegel from Laubach and Ludwig Alexander Krebs from Wetzlar ".

B. Becker, security officer of the Simmern / Hunsrück district , wrote in his file-based history of the robber gangs about Philipp Mosebach: “This person, whom fate hated from his earliest youth, was the son of a senior pastor in the Count of Solms on the other side of the Rhine. The fate of his early youth gave him an echo of his fate, and the influence of the first aberrations of his young days on all the actions of his more mature age must not be lost sight of in their appreciation. ”This esteemed family seems lost To have been ashamed of his son.

Based on a report by the Schotten pastor Friedrich Ludwig Brieglieb, a brother-in-law of Philipp Ernst Mosebach, the church book of Trais-Horloff in 1806 claims that Mosebach fell near Alkmaar in 1799 . It is correct that Mosebach was first a hunter, then served as a soldier in the Netherlands and fell under the robbers in Lipshausen .

“A few great pranks drove the young Mosebach out of his father's love. He learned the hunt and then went into the Dutch military = service. ”Another source speaks of it, he was a“ former electoral Trier soldier ”.

robber

Philipp Ludwig Ernst Mosebach is considered to be "the real teacher of Schinderhannes" and one of the leaders of the Moselle gang. Mosebach came under the guillotine in Koblenz in 1799 .

Becker reports that chance led him to Lipshausen, where he clung to a girl who looked pretty good, but who also came from a family of thieves. He made her his wife. This refers to Agnes Günster, who married Philipp Ludwig Mosebach. In 1795 a daughter was born.

“From this epoch, all those who lived on the back of a dog were really sticking together. Ludwig Mosebach, Johannes Seibert and Johann Jakob Krämer von Lipshausen founded the first alliance. Peter Zughetto, a country merchant from Uerzig , soon joined them , and Jakob Fink von Weiler led the brothers to the young Schinderhannes ”. Peter Zughetto (born March 19, 1772, in Ürzig ; † July 18, 1802, near Monzel ) came from a middle-class von Ürzig family.

The village of Liebshausen was known as the “cradle of the gangs from the Moselle and the Hunsrück ... Thieves' lodges had been here since time immemorial. The local board itself stood before the embarrassing tribunal for stolen horses ... and was sentenced to a breeding penalty. Philipp Ludwig Mosebach lived here. "

Mosebach and Zughetto specialized in horse theft , extorted protection money from Jews and raided lonely farms.

It was the "involvement in two bloody crimes", "which went back to relationship conflicts among the robbers", which blocked his way back to normal society at the time.

However, this statement refers to Johann Jakob Krämer, the "Iltis Jakob". Mosebach joined forces with Johann Jakob Krämer. Krämer was also called Iltis Jakob , Jakob with the blunt thumb , Trautsberger Jäger or Buchbinder . Kramer was a two-time jealous murderer . From Liebshausen he moved to the Trauzberg farm near Manderscheid , Département de la Sarre . Mosebach and Zughetto visited him there several times. The plans for the gang's robberies came from the blacksmith and fence hunter Hans Bast Nikolai, a former soldier at the Krinkhof, a thieves' hostel near Bertrich . Nikolai cooperated with Richard Brittig. The proselyte came from Bertrich and was a butcher by trade.

Raid on the Sprinker Mill 1796

On 7th Fructidor 1796 (August 24th) the murder of the miller family Krones on the Sprinker Mühle was reported. The Moselle gang had attacked the miller Krones' sprinkler mill in Alfbachtal , murdering four members of the family and seriously injuring a fifth.

Although Mosebach did not come under suspicion and was not accused by any of his cronies, there are some indications for his involvement in the crime. Becker relied on interrogations that he carried out with Schinderhannes after his arrest in Mainz . In the interrogations after his capture, Bückler repeatedly incriminated Mosebach, who, however, had already been executed at that time.

Excerpt from the interrogation:

• "Question 183: Did you not steal seven or two horses in the forest in the year seventeen ninety-seven in an adventure?"
• Answer: "Yes, at that time I was accompanied by Philipp Mosebach who has since been guillotined in Koblenz."
• Question 184: "Who did you sell the horses to?"
• Answer: “Mosebach sold them to the schoolmaster of Reschid near Simmern; I was not present at the sale, but I have reason to believe that the name Michel Kezer von Lipshausen was in company with the schoolmaster in question. The same Kezermichel had already bought two horses from me and the aforementioned Mosebach, which I had stolen in Oberreitenbach with Jakob Fink von Weiler and Peter Keesgen von Lauschid. The sale took place in the forest near Lipshausen by means of fifteen Louisd'ors. "
• Question 477: "Do you know someone named Balthasar Lucas von Lippshausen?"
• Answer: “I know that it was a comrade from Schwarz-Peter, from Philipp Mosebach, the so-called Jäger-Philipp, and from fat Jakob von Lippshausen; the family name of the latter, if I'm not mistaken, is Friedrich; He is also in contact with Heinrich Schneider von Seibersbach , called Krug-Rickes. I do not know the crimes that he may have committed against these individuals. He was with me, Jakob Finck von Weiler, Johann Seibert von Lippshausen, Velte-Weimerts-Hannes von Seibertsbach, who served among the hunters of the Franconian district during this war , when we tried to steal a merchant's house four years ago to commit in Oberwesel . Balthasar Lukas had spied out the area. I climbed a ladder to go into the vault on the first floor, opened a shop, believing it led into the vault, but it was the bedroom of the merchant's daughter, which made such a noise that we had to renounce our plan. Six months earlier, as a result of a quarrel that I had with him, the same Balthasar Lukas wounded me with a shotgun in the house and in the presence of Johann Caspar von Lippshausen. "

Cattle theft

The main business of the Moselle gang, however, was extortion and cattle theft. From spring to winter 1797 Mosebach committed numerous cattle theft with Bückler, Hannjörg von Lanscheid, Jakob Fink, Johann Niklas Nagel and Johann Niklas Nau. 47 Mutton was bought by the butcher Franz Andres from Kirn alone . However, the thefts do not always succeed. A farmer from Berghausen (Einrich) , from whom the robbers had stolen three mutton, pursued Mosebach, Bückler and Fink as far as the Ulrichmühle near Mörsbach and was at least able to save the meat.

A contemporary characterization compared Mosebach and the Schinderhannes: "If you weigh him and his pupil, Mosebach had more intelligence and coldness: Schinderhannes however had a better heart and a lot of Jovalian sense."

The end

After part of the Moselle gang had been captured, charges were brought on September 1, 1799, and the verdict was announced on September 11. Mosebach and 13 of his cronies came under the guillotine in Koblenz on December 17, 1799. “Six poor sinners died miserable, penniless and complained to the monks who had asked them to accompany them, until their end. Mosebach alone was brave. "

He seems to have staged his execution himself : “Philipp Ludwig Mosebach ... was guillotined in Coblenz for an insignificant theft. He had education and intelligence. He did not betray any of his comrades, denied his crime, and marched to the beat of the drum, dressed like a trumpeter , to the guillotine, looked at the knife with incomprehensible coldness and died. "

On the day of the execution, Mosebach declared that "... he deserved death because of crimes for which no one has accused him."

Harrach gives an assessment of Mosebach's life fate: "With him, too, we have a classic example of how correct upbringing and the forgiving approach of parental love to the peculiarities of children could prevent a lot of harm."

Individual evidence

1. ^ La Correspondance de Jean Henri Samuel Formey (1711–1797). Inventaire alphabétique. Établi sous la direction de Jens Häseler, Paris 2003, p. 299.
2. ↑ On the importance of the Karlsruhe Latin Society: Wilhelm Kühlmann: Facets of the Enlightenment in Baden. Johann Peter Hebel and the Karlsruhe Latin Society. 2009, ISBN 3-7930-9556-8 .
3. ^ Eugen Riess, Willy Roth: Berstadt. Vol. 2: New times. Rockenberg 2005, p. 36.
4. ↑ B. Becker: Actual history of the robber gangs on the two banks of the Rhine. First part, Cologne 1804.
5. ↑ Briegleb was married to Johanette Sophie Karoline Mosebach. See Hanno Müller: Family Book Trais-Horloff. Inheiden, Utphe , Gießen district . = Writings of the Hessian Family History Association No. 23, 1997, No. 1507.
6. ↑ Eugen Riess, Willy Roth, Berstadt. Vol. 2, p. 36.
7. ↑ Mosebach's father made a trip to The Hague in January 1772 .
8. ↑ B. Becker: Acting history. P. 80.
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Udo Fleck: "Thieves - Robbers - Murderers" . Study on the collective delinquency of Rhenish robber gangs at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century. Trier 2007 ( online [accessed July 30, 2015]).
10. ↑ B. Becker: Actual history of the robber gangs on both banks of the Rhine. First part, Cologne 1804, p. 10.
11. ↑ JW Spitz (ed.): The Moselle gang among the robber bosses Hans Bast Nicolai, Johannes Müller, Philipp Mosebach along with 15 robbers, according to court files. Cologne 1830.
12. ↑ B. Becker: Acting history. P. 80 and p. 146 f.
13. ↑ Mark Scheibe: Schinderhannes. No good, horse thief, robber captain? 5th edition Kelkheim 2010, p. 24, footnote 50. ISBN 978-3-9813188-2-1 .
14. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
15. ↑ B. Becker: Acting history. P. 10.
16. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
17. ↑ Christian Vogel: 200 years ago. War in the Wetterau . Part CCLXXVI, in: Wetterauer Zeitung No. 268, p. 34 of November 18, 2003.
18. ↑ B. Becker, History of the Acts, p. 11 ff.
19. ↑ B. Becker: Acting history. Pp. 15-17.
20. ↑ Becker: Acting history. P. 25 ff.
21. ↑ B. Becker: Eighth story. P. 10.
22. ↑ Ferdinand Harrach: The robber abuse in the Rhine region under French rule. Kreuznach 1918. = Association for local history (Antiquarian = historical association in Kreuznach). 28. Publication. P. 16.
23. ↑ B. Becker: Acting history. P. 146 f.
24. ↑ B. Becker: Acting history. P. 28.
25. ↑ Ferdinand Harrach: The robber mischief. P. 15.