Zaun

Adventures of a Robber. - A paragraph last week in the Gazette of Aix la Chapelle stated, that the dead body of Zaun, the notorious robber of Cologne, surnamed the "Cartouch of Cologne," had been found in a rack, and that it was supposed he had been murdered. The Journal de la Haye contains the following particulars respecting this daring and adroit robber:-

The town of Cologne and its environs were for some years subjected to the depredations of Henri Zaun, who has always contrived to evade the researches of the police. Henri Zaun is a tailor; he is a man of small stature, and there is no indication about him in of that audacity and vigour of which he has given so many proofs.

In 1830, Zaun was condemned to hard labour by the Court of Assize of Cologne, for a robbery, but he contrived to escape from prison the same night, and for several months he got a living by swindling and robbery. He was, however, again taken, and this time he was sentenced to hard labour for life; and to prevent his escape, his hands were confined by a bar of iron, rivetted to two handcuffs. He soon got rid of the handcuffs, and the bar of iron became an instrument of deliverance. He forced the bars of the windows, got to the roof, reached the chapel of the prison, and by means of some matting which had been hung up to dry, he descended to the street. He was still in his prison dress, but he went on to the next village, broke open the door of the presbytery, and took some clothes belonging to the priest, and also a sum of money which he found in the wardrobe, leaving his prison clothes in exchange.

From thence he went to Dusseldorf, where he committed a great many robberies, and the town being almost too hot to hold him, he resolved to go to Holland; and with a view to greater security in travelling, he had taken his measures to steal the passport of an Englishman who resembled him; but before he could carry this idea into effect, he was recognized and arrested. When again transferred to the prison of Cologne, he was clothed in a peculiar dress, half grey and half yellow, heavily ironed, and a bell attached to an iron collar in such a way that it rang at every movement. Evasion seemed impossible but, nevertheless, he managed to escape, having found means to file his irons, and descended by a wall.

Once more free, he recommenced his operations even in Cologne. In vain the police set in motion all their agents; Zaun, with a fresh disguise every day, at one time a priest, then as a workman, and afterwards as a woman, eluded their pursuits.

One day he wrote to the Procureur du Roi, telling him, that he should have the honour of presenting himself at his house to commit a robbery. This set all the police agents in motion, and Zaun, knowing that they would all be busy elsewhere, on the same evening went to the house of the chaplain of the prison, and, after robbing the house, left a note thanking him for having confessed him while in prison.

Upon another occasion Zaun went to a restaurateur's, placed himself at the same table with the President of the Court of Appeal, got into conversation with him, and, on retiring, gave a polite bow, which was graciously returned by the president, and left under his cover a card, on which Henri Zaun was written.

In short, we should have to relate a thousand adventures if we mentioned all his exploits at Cologne. He was subsequently arrested a fourth time, placed in a narrow cell, his hand and feet chained and confined by an iron ring, attached to the wall placed round his waist. Nevertheless, he escaped for the fourth time; but it would seem from the account given in the Gazette of Aix la Chapelle, that his career is now at an end; unless it should turn out that the placing the dead body there, with papers, to make it be believed that it was his body, was his latest ingenious device to deceive the police.