y questioned
as to his qualifications to membership. He must be free-born, of
Teutonic ancestry, and clear of any accusation of crime.

This settled, a deep and solemn oath of fidelity was administered, the
candidate swearing by the Holy Law to guard the secrets of the Holy Vehm
from wife and child, father and mother, sister and brother, fire and
water, every creature on whom rain falls or sun shines, everything
between earth and heaven; to tell to the tribunal all offences known to
him, and not to be deterred therefrom by love or hate, gold, silver, or
precious stones. He was now intrusted with the very ancient password and
secret grip or other sign of the order, by which the members could
readily recognize each other wherever meeting, and was warned of the
frightful penalty incurred by those who should reveal the secrets of the
Vehm. This penalty was that the criminal should have his eyes bound and
be cast upon the earth, his tongue torn out through the back of his
neck, and his body hanged seven times higher than ordinary criminals. In
the history of the court there is no instance known of the oath of
initiation being broken. For further security of the secrets of the
Vehm, no mercy was given to strangers found within the limits of the
court. All such intruders were immediately hung.

The number of the Schoeffen, or members of the free courts, was very
great. In the fourteenth century it exceeded one hundred thousand.
Persons of all ranks joined them, princes desiring their ministers,
cities their magistrates, to apply for membership. The emperor was the
supreme presiding officer, and under him his deputy, the stadtholder of
the duchy of Westphalia, while the local courts, of which there were one
or more in each district of the duchy, were under the jurisdiction of
the grafs or counts of their districts.

The Vehm could consider criminal actions of the greatest diversity,
cases of mere slander or defamation of character being sometimes brought
before it. Any violation of the ten commandments was within its
jurisdiction. It particularly devoted itself to secret crimes, such as
magic, witchcraft, or poisoning. Its agents of justice were bound to
make constant circuits, night and day, with the privilege, as we have
said, if they caught a thief or murderer in the act, or obtained his
confession, to hang him at once on the nearest tree, with the knife as
signal of their commission.

Of the origin of this strange court