This letter was written the 22d of July, old style, in the year of our Lord 1645, and was signed by
| Hans Duster, at Baltzen, an elder in the word of the Lord. |  | From the Berne jurisdiction. |
| Ruth Kunstel, at Muchem, a minister in the word of the Lord. | ||
| Ruth Hagen, an elder. |  | From the Zurich jurisdiction. |
| Hans Mully, a minister. | ||
| Hans Stuss, a minister. |
What followed therefrom, and how it subsequently went with those who were imprisoned, can be seen in a subsequent account, in a marginal note, in connection with Ully Wagman.
But as to how the poor wanderers that were not imprisoned managed in their misery and poverty, we have received no clear information, but it can be sufficiently inferred from the sad condition of affairs.
AN EDICT PUBLISHED BY THOSE OF SCHAFFHAUSEN AGAINST THOSE CALLED ANABAPTISTS, ABOUT THE YEAR 1650.
The persecution of the sheep of Christ remained at this time not confined in the limits of Zurich and Berne; but as a fire of gunpowder, or a flash of lightning, rapidly passes from one place to another, so it went also here; for also those of Schaffhausen, being one of the Swiss cities designated by the name of Cantons, following the footsteps of their fellow believers, took, even as the former, to banishing the defenseless people who, having hitherto peaceably lived under their protection, were called Anabaptists.
There was however some time set them, in which they might leave with their families; hence the distress of those whom this befell was not so great as that of those of whom we made previous mention, and of whom we shall hereafter speak.
All this was caused by a certain edict published for this purpose, which, if it were necessary, could be adduced here; but for certain reasons we are compelled to be brief, and to abridge our account as much as is possible.
OF A CERTAIN MANDATE PUBLISHED BY THE PRINCE OF NEUBURG, AGAINST THE ANABAPTISTS (SO CALLED), ABOUT THE YEAR 1653.
Even as an innocent lamb that has escaped the wolf, at last falls into the claws of the bear, so it went also at this time; inasmuch as some of the defenseless followers of the meek Jesus, daring no longer to trust themselves in the Swiss confines, under the dominion of the Zwinglian Reformed, fled hither and thither, and thus also, as it appears, into Bergsland, the dominions of Guliche, and elsewhere, where the Roman Catholic Prince of Neuburg, William Wolfgang ruled, and where the Anabaptists had lived in peace for many years, under toleration.