"On account of an offence against the public morality, as well as an attempt at blackmail, the case involving Johann Erhard, of Bayreuth, 23 years old, and also Albert Schneider, of Nürnberg, 20 years old, was brought before the Court. According to the complaint, Herr August F— thirty-seven years old, a merchant of Wertheim, was involved, the said F— being charged with conducting himself improperly, under Paragraph 175 of the Code, with young Erhard, in the Hofbräuhaus, one evening: also taking Erhard to his lodging, to pass the night—for similar practices. Erhard confided these matters to his friend Schneider, and prompted Schneider to write Herr F— a threatening letter, demanding GO Marks if there was to be no more "trouble" about the story. The merchant sought aid from the police. But neither he nor Erhard appeared in Court. The proceedings turned on Schneider, and the evidence determined his share. He Was sentenced to five months."
Notable Examples
of Systematic
Blackmail; the
"The "Bürkl-Wölfl
Case."
Inattentive have little idea to what heights of success blackmailing mounts; of how rapacious and successful are blackmailers who systematize their terrorizing. What large sums are "bled away" by them are shown somewhat in such instances as the famous case of an official of the Kehrmann Bank, Berlin; and a similar recent one—of a distinguished European professor. Both of these were heavily mulcted. But in January, 1908, there came before the Assises of Munich, a case known as the "Bürkl-Wölfl Case" which is almost unparallelled in the records of its class. It is also interesting as -an example of what may be called blackmail by second-hand mechanicism—a frequent device. In outline it is as follows. As far back as 1886, an attorney of Munich named August Bürkl, had an intimacy of equivocal colouring with a youth named Götz—beginning when Götz was about fifteen or sixteen years old. Bürkl denied this explicitly—of course—on his oath, during his testimony, and it was tactfully kept from incriminating him. It lasted some years. Bürkl (unmarried) was very rich and very timid. He dreaded any sort of scandal, because of his profession, his social station, and his great affection for his aged, mother and his other family-connections.
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