From the Police Record of the Police of Central Alvald District

Year Twenty of the Republic of Guntreland, free, natural, and founded upon Virtue, the 27th of Vulpioz, Fifth Republican Hour.

We, Citizen Elter Hosen, Commissioner of Police of the municipality of Atrolen, Central Alvald District, Alvald Region, being informed by a public complaint of a large gathering on the outskirts of the Atroline Forest, and that the cause of this gathering was that in the forester’s house of Citizen Farkasen, of the werewolf race, member of the Club of the Friends of Virtue and the Republic, forester by profession, there had been found the corpse of a girl, pupil of the Republican School; and that as a consequence thereof the assembled mass of citizens attempted the killing of said Citizen Farkasen—

We transported ourselves to the house of said Farkasen, at the address Forest Road Atrolina 1; before the house we found a great number of diverse citizens, many of them bearing pitchforks and other implements in their hands, all in furious temper, addressing to us various cries of superstitious connotation.

Entering the ground-floor house, we passed through the vestibule, and came into a chamber of medium size serving as a living-room, lit by two glass windows giving upon two sides of the forest. There we found diverse citizens, among them one citizen, the father of the victim, loudly weeping and cursing, others attempting to console him, and others loudly uttering threats and expressions of superstition.

We then moved into a somewhat smaller chamber serving as a bedroom, lit by a single window giving upon the forest; beneath the window, opposite the door where the bed stood, we found lying the corpse of the slain minor citizen Lore Abrant, aged 12 years, pupil of the Republican School of Central Alvald, resident at South Main Road 1, Atrolen. Beside said corpse we also found, and in our presence stood, Citizen Doctor Tomas Bule, surgeon, member of the Health Board of the Central Alvald District, resident at Citizen Plasken Street 11, Atrolen.

He declared and pointed out to us the wounds upon the corpse: The arms and legs, especially in the region of the thighs, were covered with bite-marks, in some places bone was visible, the flesh torn and consumed; the flesh of the neck was torn as well as the clavicle beneath it, the neck-vein severed; the wound upon the neck was deep, the force of the bite far exceeding that of the jaws of an ordinary dog or wolf, so strong as to break bone; the belly, upon which no bite-marks were found, was opened straight across at the navel; and the liver was absent from the entrails. And said Citizen Doctor Bule did in our presence affix his signature, with the effect of attesting the truth of his report.

Bule

And thereafter, we the Commissioner, after issuing to said Bule the act of his presence, words, declarations, and report, examined the corpse and confirmed, insofar as lies within us, the truth of said report rendered to us, and in examining the whole chamber thereafter, ascertained that therein was found neither weapon nor implement which might indicate that the crime was committed thereby, and not in the manner designated by said Doctor Bule.

Thereafter, we moved into a small chamber serving as kitchen, lit by a single window giving upon the forest, which chamber was locked from within, and which was opened to us only upon our verbal confirmation of our identity and station; therein we found three uniformed and armed members of the Constitutional Guard, who were guarding Citizen Farkasen, and Citizen Farkasen himself, who was in visibly shaken condition, his face bloody, and we found also a kind of barricade composed of the kitchen table and chairs. These Constitutional Guards told us that only by their greatest exertions had they prevented the killing of Citizen Farkasen by the assembled citizens.

And in this chamber, in the presence of Citizens Bartol and Rifter of the District Police Directorate, who arrived immediately upon hearing of this crime, we examined said Citizen Farkasen, in the manner prescribed by criminal procedure and the Republican Code.

Before we commenced this examination, at the proposal of said citizens, we deemed it fitting to dispatch notification to the District Committee and to the Citizen Regional Commander concerning this crime.

And we commanded all citizens found in the house of Citizen Farkasen to form in line before the house, and we summoned the present members of the Constitutional Guard to indicate which of these persons had participated in the physical assault upon Citizen Farkasen. The Constitutional Guard indicated eleven persons, who identified themselves as Citizens Abrant, Uls, Farc, Gebriler, Kadler, Premstein, Fuve, Zeinz, Igler, Brule, Roshvaner. The present members of the Constitutional Guard, Citizens Helz, Brasher, and Kvaper, confirm by signature that they identified the persons here recorded, and testify that these persons physically assaulted the unarmed Citizen Farkasen, who did not return force, nor attempted to flee the place of the crime.

Helz, Brasher, Kvaper

INTERROGATION OF CITIZEN FARKASEN

Citizen Farkasen was first required to confirm his identity, in respect of name, surname, place of birth, age, occupation, nationality, club affiliation, and address; who his friends are, what their occupations, club affiliations, and residences are, and whether he desired them to be summoned to be present at his examination.

— He answered that his name is Arnolf Farkasen, born in the forest near Inberg, aged forty-nine years and one month, forester in the national forest of Atrolina, formerly the forest of the baronet von klasen; that he is of Guntreland nationality, member of the Club of the Friends of Virtue and the Republic, and resides at Forest Road Atrolina 1; that his friends are Jakob Has, cutler, and Adolf Fulson, locksmith, both members of the same club as he, both from Atrolen; and that he does not request their presence, for the locksmith, being of the werewolf race, would suffer unpleasantness, and he does not wish to interrupt the locksmith in his work, being aware that today, by schedule, school children come to him to be instructed in the craft; while the cutler is upon a two-day business journey into the South Alvald District.

— Asked whether he knew the victim of the homicide found in his house?
— He answered that he knew her by name Lore, that she was a member of the group of pupils of the Republican School whom, in accordance with his function and the program of Republican education, he had on several occasions in past weeks led through the Atrolina forest and shown them diverse animals and birds to be seen in the forest.

— Asked whether he deprived said pupil Lore of her life?
— He answered without hesitation that he did not deprive Lore of her life, and that he never would have done such a thing.

— Asked when he last saw the slain Lore?
— He answered that he last saw her three days prior, on the twenty-fourth of Vulpioz, when he guided her group through the forest, and that she then showed enviable knowledge of animals for her age, and was especially interested in foxes and weasels, which she thought were the friends and kinsmen of Citizen Farkasen; and that she showed great disappointment when on that tour they did not succeed in meeting either of those animals; and that she implored him to arrange with the chief educator their next tour at a time when it would be more probable to meet them.

— Asked why his face was bloody?
— He answered, as confirmed by the present members of the Constitutional Guard, that the mass of enraged citizens, having found the slain Lore and blaming him for the crime, attacked him with pitchforks and rakes and pelted him with stones, whereby he sustained injuries to his face.

— Asked where he was at the time of the murder?
— He answered that he left his house somewhat before the third Republican hour, as he does every morning, intending to visit the animals with young and see whether they required aid, to check for poachers, and to gather wood and cones for fuel.

— Asked whether he locked his door upon leaving his house?
— He answered that he did not, and that since the establishment of Republican authority in Alvald he never locks his house, for he believes that locking is a symbol of slavery, and that in the Republic public virtue guarantees the safety of persons and property; he declared that he continues to believe this even after today’s outrage, and that he trusts in the justice and efficiency of the police organs.

— Asked whether he summoned the minor citizen Lore Abrant to come to his house that morning, and whether he perhaps left his door open expecting her visit?
— He answered that he did not summon Lore nor any other person to his house that morning; that he rarely receives visits save from his lawful friends, and that that morning he expected no visitor; and that he did not expect to see Lore until the next school tour of her group, which he would guide through the forest in accordance with the schedule of the Republican School.

— Asked whether that tour was scheduled, and when it was to occur?
— He answered that according to the schedule it was to occur on the next Primidi, but that he intended to speak with the chief educator to have it moved to Duodi, when, knowing the habits of that animal, he expected the fox to appear, for, being well disposed toward all who love animals, he wished to fulfill the wish of the girl who so desired to acquaint herself with that animal.

— Asked when he learned that the corpse of the girl was found in his house?
— He answered that he learned of it upon his return from his walk in the forest, when he found before his house a large number of citizens calling him murderer and physically attacking him.

— Asked whether he knows who, or who might, have killed the minor citizen Lore Abrant?
— He answered that he knows no one who would harm a child of twelve years, save the nobles and the King’s men.

— He was told that the wounds of the victim indicate that the perpetrator was a person of the werewolf race, and he was asked whether any other werewolf citizen was in the habit of visiting him, or of passing regularly by his house; and with which citizens of the werewolf race he maintains regular contact.
— He answered that he rarely saw other werewolves in his forest, that the only werewolf with whom he maintains regular contact and exchanges visits is Citizen Fulson, his friend the locksmith, who that morning was occupied early with the duties of craftsman-educator. Beyond that, from the club tribunes he knows others of the werewolf race by name, but all of them gave him the impression of good citizens and Republicans who would never commit such a crime.

We searched Citizen Farkasen, and in his pockets we found no objects, which we confirm with our signature.

Hosen

This record of examination was read and shown to the examined Citizen Farkasen, who confirmed that the questions and his answers were truly written, and he affixed his signature.

Farkasen
Bartol, Rifter, Raub, Engler, Braun

To these persons, representatives of the District Police Directorate, I consign the person of Citizen Arnolf Farkasen, that they may hold him in custody on suspicion of having committed the criminal act of murder, and within twenty hours bring him before the magistrate, in accordance with the Republican Code; as well as the persons of Citizens Abrant, Uls, Farz, Gebriler, Kadler, Premstein, Fuve, Zeinz, Igler, Brule, Roshvaner, that they may hold them in custody and bring them before the magistrate on suspicion of having physically assaulted their fellow citizen, Citizen Farkasen.

Hosen

After this was done, we the Commissioner returned to the assembled citizens before the house, and required that he who first learned of the murder declare himself, and state by what means he learned of it. Citizen Abrant, farmer by occupation, father of the slain, presented himself. He said that at about the third hour and fortieth minute he was visited by Citizen Rave, educator of the Republican School, who told him that his daughter Lore was missing from the school and asked whether she might be hiding at his house, since it was known that some parents oppose the upbringing of their children away from the parental home (and here Abrant uttered a curse against the Republican School). Abrant further said that he immediately suspected that his daughter had gone to the werewolf forester, for when he, Abrant, last saw her, two days prior during the school recess, she spoke much to him of the forest tour with the werewolf (Citizen Farkasen) and of the foxes and weasels which the werewolf had promised to show her; whereupon he, Abrant, rebuked her that such animals are vermin and not to be admired (and at this place he uttered again an insult against Farkasen). And Abrant further said that he immediately summoned his brother and neighbors to go to the house of Citizen Farkasen, where they arrived in about fifteen old minutes; they entered the open house, where they found the slain girl in the place and condition in which we ourselves examined her.

We read and showed to Citizen Abrant the record of his deposition, which Abrant confirmed with his signature as truthful.

Abrant

And we the Commissioner here attest, that the words uttered by Citizen Abrant contained unconstitutional and by the Republican Code forbidden insults against the Republican School, against Citizen Farkasen, and against the werewolf race, which may be ascribed to his mental state in consequence of the great misfortune he has suffered; but that other persons, identified as Citizens Igler, Premstein, and Zeinz, who were neither kin nor in any special relation of attachment to the victim which might afford moral justification for such conduct, did in our presence utter such punishable insults against Citizen Farkasen.

Hosen