treasures lay hid in the ground, or in cellars; and continuous efforts were made by the needy to discover these deposits. The Bohemian informed Hänel that a certain amount of money must be collected to enable them to prosecute the search, and that he must borrow the sum from friends and neighbours, with the promise of double or treble repayment when the treasure was trove. Hänel obeyed, and the Bohemian made a bolt over the frontier with more than half the money lent. Thereupon those who had advanced the cash prosecuted Hänel, and he was sent to prison for four years, but the King reduced the sentence to three.
On his release, he returned to Dieppoldiswald, and resumed his striking to cure gout and rheumatism. In 1843 he lodged in the house of the sexton.
Hänel was known far and wide for his healing powers, his piety, his poverty and his Christian charity. As to the fact of his having been imprisoned for having obtained money by fraud, no one believed otherwise than that he himself had been duped by the sly Bohemian, who had taken advantage of his simplicity.
But now, after that we had left Dresden, something occurred that brought Hanel into greater notice, and led to his undoing.
On the outskirts of Dieppoldiswald stood the ruins of the ancient castle. It was partially burnt during the Thirty Years' War, on November 17, 1634; but was occupied in 1658 by a detachment of the Imperial troops, which further injured it. The ruin was offered for sale in 1768, but as no one offered to buy it, for four years the castle remained empty. However, finally, it was purchased by a baker, and a portion of it was put in some sort of repair.
In 1845, the castle was occupied by the master-baker, Fritzsche and his wife. Both shared in the superstitions prevalent among the peasantry. What remained of the castle, besides the restored chambers, were a tower, and underground a well-constructed series of passages that led to cellars, which in former days had served as stores for provisions.
But according to popular belief this subterranean labyrinth was haunted by ghosts, and contained vast treasures that had been secreted on the occasion of the siege of the castle in 1634.
