No one knew who it was;
and for many years the occurrence remained wrapped in mystery,
giving rise to strange conjectures. But eventually it turned out to
have been Schiller's brother-in-law Wolzogen, who, having hurried
home on hearing of the death, had arrived after the procession was
already on its way to the churchyard.
"In the year 1826, Schwabe was Burgermeister of Weimar. Now it was
the custom of the Landschaftscollegium, or provincial board under
whose jurisdiction this institution was placed, to CLEAR OUT the
Kassengewolbe from time to time--whenever it was found to be
inconveniently crowded--and by this means to make way for other
deceased persons and more louis d'or. On such occasions--when the
Landschaftscollegium gave the order 'aufzuraumen,' it was the usage
to dig a hole in a corner of the churchyard--then to bring up en
masse the contents of the Kassengewolbe--coffins, whether entire or
in fragments, bones, skulls, and tattered graveclothes--and finally
to shovel the whole heap into the aforesaid pit. In the month of
March Schwabe was dismayed at hearing that the Landschaftscollegium
had decreed a speedy 'clearing out' of the Gewolbe. His old prompt
way of acting had not left him; he went at once to his friend
Weyland, the president of the Collegium. 'Friend Weyland,' he said,
'let not the dust of Schiller be tossed up in the face of heaven and
flung into that hideous hole! Let me at least have a permit to
search the vault; if we find Schiller's coffin, it shall be
reinterred in a fitting manner in the New Cemetery.
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