The murder at the Weihersmühle.
On July 12, 1821, the Tyrolean watchmaker Franz Rimmel committed a murder at the Weihersmühle near Bonaduz—bringing two brothers from Versam before the court: Hans and Hans Martin Bonadurer.
The Weihersmühle near Bonaduz became the scene of a crime on July 12, 1821, that shook the entire valley. The perpetrator was the Tyrolean watchmaker Franz Rimmel. Thirteen days after the murder—on July 25—the brothers Hans and Hans Martin Bonadurer, both from Versam, were taken to prison as suspected accomplices.
The story is fully preserved in Töndala No. 107. Silvio Hueonder included it in 2012 in his book “Darkness in the Mountains” (ISBN 978-3-312-00542-0).
The verdict
The court record shows: the murderer Rimmel had two accomplices. When asked why he had not reported this earlier, he replied: they were poor people whom he had wanted to spare.
“The two brothers Hans Martin and Hans Bonadurer shall, as a just punishment for them and as a deterrent example to others, be handed over to the executioner—flogged with rods until they bleed, and then sentenced to lifelong imprisonment in chains.”— Court verdict, Chur 1821
The murderer Rimmel evaded further investigation by taking his own life—preventing the full clarification of the crime and an exact determination of the Bonadurers’ involvement. The court remained in an intermediate position: conviction for aiding and abetting, with the death penalty reserved in the event of full proof.
The court expressly ruled that the offence of the two brothers should be “for all time entirely irrevocable and not to be held against” their innocent relatives and descendants—and that anyone who reproached the innocent on this account should be treated as a thief of honour.
Facts
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This story has been reconstructed from contemporary sources. I would be grateful for any information about people, places, parish archives, or court records.
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A bloody and gruesome deed, committed in the hay month of 1821. Moritat in three scenes and a sketch, with several addenda, faithfully presented according to the historical sources.
Transcript from Töndala, No. 107 of June 10, 1988, edition: 1050 ·
Author: Peter Michael
The story in three chapters—expand to read
Scene 1 In the old Wisslihuus in Versam ＋
For days, persistent mild summer rain has been drumming on the shingle roofs of the Versam farmhouses hidden among orchards. In the low, soot-blackened kitchen of the Wisslihuus, three men sit at the heavy wooden table. The restlessly flickering hearth fire alternately lights their serious faces with a reddish glow and then lets black shadows dance across the walls.
In a quiet, insistent voice, Franz Rimmel, known as the watchmaker, once again explains the details of his plan to the brothers Hans Martin and Hans Bonadurer. Blue-eyed and skilled with his hands, Franz Rimmel—born 52 years ago in the Lech Valley in Tyrol—can boast of a restless past: for more than thirty years he has roamed around the Grisons, the Valtellina, Ticino, and Valais.
And now he is sitting in the kitchen of Hans Martin Bonadurer, for whom he has been working for some time for a small daily wage. He told the younger Bonadurer, Hans, that he had learned the art of “putting people to sleep so that they remember nothing the next day.” Tomorrow evening, July 11, the robbery at the Weihersmühle is to take place. Hans Martin resolves to take his axe with him.
Hans Bonadurer, 37 years old, father of several children, poor circumstances · Hans Martin Bonadurer, widowed, second wife and seven children—both from Versam
Scene 2 At the Weihersmühle near Bonaduz ＋
A clear morning on July 12, 1821 heralds the long-awaited haymaking weather. As early as four o’clock, the first visitor arrives at the Weihersmühle. Almost at the same time, the farmhand comes up and knocks—in vain. A woman who has arrived notices a bare leg under the wood blocks beneath the stairs.
Some pieces of wood are moved aside. The farmhand screams, “The maid—murdered!”—and collapses unconscious into the grass. Three mowers working nearby rush over. In the house, on the ransacked, bloodstained bed, they find the badly mutilated bodies of the miller and his maid.
The miller Franz Joseph Name (known as Michel Blum), 33 years old, had 18 slash and stab wounds. The 22-year-old maid Anna Maria Gartmann was pregnant by him and had 8 injuries. The 33-year-old Franzisca Waser under the stairs was killed by 18 blows and stabs—she had travelled from Dornbirn to demand a settlement, as she too was pregnant by him.
Rimmel was captured in Splügen on July 13. He confessed immediately: after an argument, he struck around midnight—first the miller, then the two maids. He stole about 94 guilders, bread, and a watch. Two weeks after the murder, the brothers Hans and Hans Martin Bonadurer were brought to Chur in chains. When asked why he had not reported his accomplices, Rimmel replied: “They were poor people whom he had wanted to spare.”
Scene 3 In the Malefizstube of Chur Town Hall ＋
On October 27, Hans and Hans Martin Bonadurer stand before the cantonal criminal court in the Malefizstube of Chur Town Hall. The evidence is difficult: Rimmel had only incriminated the Bonadurers more heavily after being flogged with rods—and then killed himself by suffocation, which prevented full clarification. Hans Bonadurer had never confessed; Hans Martin had confessed and then recanted.
“The judges’ votes are tied, so that the more lenient opinion prevails, deciding that the accused brothers shall be spared the death penalty.”— Court record, Chur, October 27, 1821
The verdict: Fifteen minutes on display at the pillory in a neck iron, flogging with rods until they bleed, then lifelong imprisonment in chains. The brothers are spared the death penalty. Hans and Hans Martin Bonadurer visibly breathe a sigh of relief.
The body of Franz Rimmel—the sixfold murderer—was dragged to the place of execution on a cowhide and hung on the gallows “until it falls down of its own accord.” The court expressly ruled that the brothers’ offence should be “for all time entirely irrevocable and not to be held against.”
Addenda
Although a request was submitted just ten days after the verdict to take down the hanged Rimmel, he apparently remained hanging for a very long time. On April 28, 1824, a Paulus Huber from Maladers was questioned—he is said to have unlawfully taken the Tyrolean’s body down from the gallows.
The story was printed in Schaffhausen in 1822. Silvio Hueonder included it in 2012 in his book “Darkness in the Mountains” (ISBN 978-3-312-00542-0).
In 1967, the Grisons government placed the approximately 19,000 m² lowland and raised bog “Weihermühle” under protection. Of the 183 flowering plant species observed, 9 must be classified as rare for Graubünden and 27 for Switzerland as a whole.
Hans Martin Bonadurer died as an old man on May 4, 1852, in Versam. The verdict that protected the innocent relatives from reproach was never revoked and is therefore still in force today.