Even after he had fled from Dresden, leaving behind a rather sizeable amount of debts, his attacks against me did not stop. Let me just mention the article in the Austrian teachers' magazine, by which he stirred up about 40.000 teachers to join in the campaign against me. I kept silent. I even kept silent, when in Wilhelm Bruhn's magazine "Wahrheit" <Truth> in Berlin, he published a perfectly outrageous assault against me, in which he branded me as an "atavistic criminal", who had been, for almost one decade, in prisons and penitentiaries on account of "continued burglaries"! There, he asserted that I had suffered through a serious, chronical disease, which had "obviously an antisocial" effect. With this, he had started to continue his machinations against me in Berlin, which had been interrupted in Dresden. Unfortunately, I had been compelled to meet with him there in person, because there was an unavoidable question, which I had to pose to him in connection with the extensive lawsuit against the Münchmeyers. For this purpose, I went to Berlin with my wife. We discovered his apartment. He were told that he was publishing a new paper, called "Bund" <alliance, union>. We telephoned him. He told us to meet him at the Café Bauer. We followed his instruction. He came with his wife and her sister. He did not answer my question. He denied everything. I told him that I would like to see his new paper. I meant this in a perfectly honest and good way, without any evil intentions. But he instantly got into a fit of rage and asked threateningly: "Are you up to something? If so, I'll proceed against you once again without delay! Here in Berlin, there are more than twenty papers like the `Dresdener Rundschau'. They are all at my command, if I should decide to destroy you! Here, this won't take long at all!"
I answered that I would not think of descending back into the old filth. My wife said to his wife in a calm and friendly manner that it was the most beautiful duty of married women to work towards reconciliation and to soften the harshness of life; then we left.
This was on September the 2nd or 3rd. One month later, on October the 1st, the following letter arrived from Berlin; I was away travelling:
"Dear Sir!
"Though you would not know me, I would like to take the liberty of asking you, whether you could give me any more detailed information on a certain Mr. Lebius, formerly a resident of Dresden. The above mentioned gentleman, a former social democrat, has filed a private suit for gross insult against me, in my capacity as the former editor in charge of the `Vorwärts' [a]. In court, I will have to demonstrate what a `honourable gentleman' Mr. Lebius is. On account of an advice by an colleague from Dresden, I am now turning to you with every confidence, that you might perhaps be able to give me any kind of information about this gentleman. If this should be the case, I am looking forward to your kind response, which would very much oblige me.
"Most sincerely
Carl Wermuth,
Editor of the `Vorwärts'."
| Carl Wermuth, Editor of the `Vorwärts'." |
[a] "Vorwärts" <Go forward!>: The newspaper of the social democratic party.