Editing Kaspar Hauser (section)

=== Life and death in Ansbach ===
Meyer was a strict and pedantic man who disliked Hauser's excuses and apparent lies. By late 1832, Hauser was employed as a [[copyist]] in the local law office. Still hoping that Stanhope would take him to England, Hauser was dissatisfied with his life in Ansbach. When von Feuerbach died in May 1833, Hauser mourned his loss.<ref>Fritz Trautz 1974, p.&nbsp;721</ref> 

However, some authors point out that von Feuerbach had lost faith in Hauser by the end of his life. He wrote a note saying, "Caspar Hauser is a smart scheming codger, a rogue, a good-for-nothing that ought to be killed."<ref>Ivo Striedinger 1933, p.&nbsp;449</ref> However, there is no indication that von Feuerbach, already seriously ill, let Hauser know these feelings. 

==== Fatal stab wound ====
[[File:Spiegelschriftzettel von Kaspar Hauser.jpg|thumb|left|A photograph of the note, in mirror writing. The original has been missing since 1945.]]
On 9 December 1833, Hauser and Meyer had a serious argument. Stanhope was expected to visit Ansbach at [[Christmas]], and Meyer stated that he did not know how he would face him.

Five days later, on 14 December, Hauser came back to Meyer's house with a deep chest wound. He claimed to have been lured to the Ansbach Court Garden, where a stranger stabbed him while handing him a purse. He was eager for authorities to find the purse he had left behind, but did not ask about its contents. As he progressively deteriorated, Hauser muttered incoherently about "writing with pencil." Hauser died of his wound three days later on 17 December. 

When a policeman searched the Court Garden, he found a small violet purse containing a pencilled note in ''Spiegelschrift'' ([[mirror writing]]). The message read, in German:

"Hauser will be able to tell you quite precisely how I look and from where I am. To save Hauser the effort, I want to tell you myself from where I come _ _ . I come {{sic|from| from|hide=y}} _ _ _ the Bavarian border _ _ On the river _ _ _ _ _ I will even tell you the name: M.&nbsp;L.&nbsp;Ö."

Inconsistencies in Hauser's account led the Ansbach court of enquiry to suspect that he had stabbed himself and then invented a tale about being attacked. The note in the purse contained a spelling error and a grammatical error, both of which were typical for Hauser. The note itself was folded into a specific triangular form, in the way in which Hauser typically folded his letters, according to Mrs. Meyer.<ref name=":2" />

Forensic examiners agreed that Hauser's chest wound might have been self-inflicted. Many authors believe that he had wounded himself again to revive public interest in his story and to persuade Stanhope to take him to England. However, this time Hauser fatally injured himself by mistake.<ref name=":2">For a detailed discussion of the evidence, see: Walther Schreibmüller: ''Bilanz einer 150jährigen Kaspar Hauser-Forschung'', in: Genealogisches Jahrbuch 31, 1991, pp.&nbsp;43–84, here pp.&nbsp;63–80</ref><ref>A. Lang, Striedinger, Leonhard, Mistler, Trautz, Schreibmüller, and others</ref>

==== Burial ====
[[File:Kaspar hauser grab.jpg|upright|thumb|alt=A tall tombstone|Hauser's tombstone, reading: ''{{lang|la|Hic jacet <br />Casparus Hauser<br />Aenigma<br />sui temporis<br />ignota nativitas<br />occulta mors<br />MDCCCXXXIII}}'']]
Hauser was buried in the ''Stadtfriedhof'' (city cemetery) in Ansbach. His headstone reads, in [[Latin language|Latin]], "Here lies Kaspar Hauser, riddle of his time. His birth was unknown, his death mysterious. 1833."<ref>[[:File:Kaspar hauser grab.jpg|Photo of the headstone]]</ref> A monument to Hauser was later erected in the Court Garden which reads ''{{lang|la|Hic occultus occulto occisus est}}'', meaning, "Here lies a mysterious one who was killed in a mysterious manner."

After Hauser's death, Stanhope published a book in which he presented all known evidence against Hauser, taking it as his "duty openly to confess that I had been deceived."<ref>{{cite book |author=Philip Henry Earl Stanhope |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_tXokPSxMtd0C |title=Tracts Relating to Caspar Hauser |publisher=Hodson |year=1836 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_tXokPSxMtd0C/page/n56 45]}}</ref> Some of Hauser's followers believed that Stanhope had ulterior motives in befriending him and had connections to the House of Baden. However, academic [[historiography]] defends Stanhope as a philanthropist, a pious man and a seeker of truth.<ref>Ivo Striedinger: 1933, pp.&nbsp;424–429; Walther Schreibmüller 1991, pp.&nbsp;46–47</ref>