1845 Report on the murder of Joseph Leu von Ebersol, founder of CVP, Switzerland

[Johann Nepomuk Schleuniger]

Aktenmäßiger Bericht über die Ermordung des Hrn . Rathsherrn Joseph Leu von Ebersol. Luzern 1845.

Folio.. pp. 349-342. Separately published. - Small private library label to first leaf. Some edge wear. Folds.

No example in OCLC of this first edition. An 11 page edition was published later in the year and held by two libraries in Switzerland.

Fascinating contemporary report on the murder of the famed Swiss Conservative politician, Joseph Leu von Ebersol (by the radical farmer Jakob Müller), who was shot while sleeping on the 19th / 20th July, 1845. Müller, an alcoholic, committed the crime in the hope that he would be financially rewarded by the Liberals. He was beheaded in January 1846.   

Founder of the what is now the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP), Leu was a conservative Catholic who called for the Jesuits to be appointed to the Lucerne College, which in turn led to Freischarenzug revolts of 1844. His murder was the result of the tense political climate in the run-up to the Sonderbund war.

This 4 page folio report was published in Lucerne as an extra edition to issue 62 of the Staatzeitung, and includes a lithographed sketch of the murder scene.