At dawn on Easter Sunday 1819, as the jailer entered his cell, George Wachs stepped forward and declared that he wished to confess to the murder of the cobbler Huber and his family. Arrested on 10 April after stolen goods were found in his possession, he took the initiative on that Easter morning. The neighbours had discovered the family in the isolated cottage of the Raschenhäuschen, near Vilsbiburg; the earliest depositions described a young man in a blue coat, previously seen in the workshop. His repeated confessions subsequently illuminated the precise course of that final visit.
James Huber, a cobbler, lived with his wife Elizabeth and their three children: Catherine, aged nine, Michael, aged three, and an infant of two months. A family of day-labourers occupied the other half of the cottage. On Maundy Thursday, 8 April, a neighbour observed Elizabeth leave and return towards six o'clock in the evening. She heard the door open and the young woman laugh, as though greeting someone within. Thereafter, no further sound or movement came from the dwelling. The following morning, the neighbours’ calls met with no reply until Catherine, wounded and terrified, appeared at the window and unbolted the door.
The magistrates discovered a scene of murder and plunder. Cupboards had been forced open, their contents ransacked, and numerous possessions were missing. The state of the workshop indicated that Huber had been taken unawares in the midst of his labours. The surgeons examined the victims and their wounds, concluding that the heavy work-mallet found in the room had served as the instrument of the assaults. The investigators found no signs of external break-in, suggesting that the assailant had either been admitted into the house or had entered without arousing suspicion.
Young Catherine could not yet be formally examined: she was gripped by fever and lay in a persistent stupor. The neighbours nevertheless gathered her first utterances. She spoke of a man in a blue coat and a tall hat, who had called upon her father before. Maria Wieser, sister-in-law to the co-tenant, confirmed that an unknown youth had presented himself on Thursday afternoon and waited long in the workshop. James, the miller’s son, had likewise seen him there whilst cutting the cobbler’s hair. He recalled that the young man spoke little and appeared to have been drinking.
These descriptions directed suspicion towards George Wachs, an apprentice carpenter to Schneeweisser in Soling. On the night of 10 April, the police took him into custody. Two silver hat-buckles were discovered concealed within his clothing. In the morning, prior to any examination by the judges, he spontaneously confessed that he was the author of the deed and that he had intended to surrender himself to justice. This initial admission afforded the magistrates a precise account of that afternoon at the Raschenhäuschen.
Wachs explained that he had obtained leave from his master to travel to Vilsbiburg to perform his Easter devotions. He had spent part of the morning in public houses with a young peasant, Matthias Hingerl, who had come to collect his repaired watch. Wachs had been permitted to examine it. On the journey home, he parted company with his companion and called at Huber’s to have his torn boot mended. He lingered in the workshop after other visitors departed. The cobbler’s wife then set out to purchase provisions, and the children went out to play, leaving Huber and Wachs alone.
In his deposition, Wachs admitted that the sight of Huber’s watch had inflamed his cupidity. He examined it, inquired after its price, and learned that the silver chain was kept upstairs. He recounted having hesitated, and then striking the cobbler down when the latter refused to leave the room. He ransacked the upper chambers in search of the chain and carried off other goods. Returning to the workshop, he perceived that Huber was still breathing, and dragged him out of view of the doorway. The children then returned to the house. Wachs admitted striking them to prevent them from raising the alarm. When Elizabeth returned, he killed her likewise. He left the infant unmolested upon the bed, then quitted the cottage, locking the door behind him.
The surviving child corroborated the essential parts of this narrative. Examined on 30 April, having somewhat recovered from her injuries, Catherine recounted how the young man had cast her and her brother to the floor, then struck her as she attempted to crawl towards her father. She related that she had feigned death, and subsequently heard her mother enter the house. The child’s testimony was legally incomplete under the procedural rules of the era, yet numerous particulars coincided with Wachs’s confessions and the depositions of the neighbours.
The magistrates duly verified the stolen property. The watch, wearing apparel, pieces of metal, and other effects were recovered from Wachs or from persons to whom he had passed them. The silver chain was missing. The accused denied ever having found it, despite his thorough search. The testimonies further established that he had returned to his master’s house shortly after six o'clock and spent the remainder of the evening in an ordinary manner. The following day, as rumours of the crime began to circulate, he remarked that he might well be summoned before the judges, having been at Huber’s cottage the previous day.
The judicial proceedings turned principally upon premeditation and the prisoner's mental capacity. Wachs maintained that he had called solely to have his boot repaired, without any design of robbery or violence; his companion confirmed that the footwear was indeed torn. Feuerbach’s narrative deems it plausible that he went to Huber’s for that purpose, yet notes that the apprentice had already noticed the watch, his covetousness having been whetted by the one seen that morning. The prosecution relied upon his full confessions, the recovered goods, and the surrounding circumstances. The defence pleaded intoxication, suggesting that conduct of such extreme brutality indicated a derangement of the mind. Several witnesses rebutted the claim of disabling drunkenness, and the court declined to order further psychiatric examination.
On 28 July 1819, the court found Wachs guilty of the murder and robbery of Huber, the murders of his wife and son, and the attempted murder of Catherine. He was condemned to death by the sword. The sentence was executed on 23 October. The silver chain, which he had so desperately sought throughout the house, and which had so heavily weighed upon his cupidity, was never found.