Liechtenstein is a landlocked European nation nestled in the Alps between Switzerland and Austria.
It’s the sixth smallest country in the world. Most Pacific and Atlantic islands dwarf it.
Liechtenstein is slightly larger than the city of San Francisco and slightly smaller than the District of Columbia.
It became a sovereign monarchy in 1719, although the territory was settled many centuries earlier.
Next to its European neighbors, Liechtenstein’s history is comparatively dull.
One true tale, however, involves an infamous local criminal from the late 1700s.
Her name was Barbara Erni. She was more popularly known as the Golden Boos.
Erni was born in a small village to impoverished circumstances.
In her adulthood, she was described as an attractive and powerfully built strawberry blonde.
She roamed from village to village hauling a heavy trunk across her back.
Erni would approach a local inn seeking shelter for the night.
She claimed that her strongbox contained valuable treasure and should be kept overnight in the most secure room on the premises.
The innkeepers often placed her trunk in a room that contained their own valuable possessions.
She would insist that the room be locked. Then Erni would retire to her room for the evening.
In the morning, the bewildered innkeepers would discover that their guest and her trunk were gone.
The room in which they had stashed her box had been ransacked and unlocked but with no sign of forced entry. They’d been robbed.
The legend of the Golden Boos spread throughout the land.
How had she committed the theft? Her method was brilliantly simple.
Her trunk contained a very small man.
He would climb out of the container at night, let her in the room, and help her steal everything of value.
Erni and her accomplice got away with their crimes for many years until finally apprehended.
She admitted to committing 17 thefts and became a wealthy woman.
In 1784, after being found guilty at trial, the Golden Boos was sentenced to death. She was beheaded.
Barbara Erni was the last person to receive the death penalty in Liechtenstein.
Today, Liechtenstein is one of the safest countries on earth with almost no theft.
It’s also one of the world’s wealthiest nations, despite a population of fewer than 39,000 people.
コメント