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## The Wounds That Divided Opinion
Three physical incidents in Hauser’s five years as a public figure in Nuremberg and Ansbach shaped the debate about whether he was genuine or a fraud.
The first came on October 17, 1829 — roughly a year and a half after his arrival. Hauser appeared at Daumer’s home with a wound to his head. He said the man who had originally brought him to Nuremberg had returned and attacked him. Skeptics noted that the incident followed a period in which Hauser had been accused of lying by Daumer, who had caught him in what appeared to be fabrications. The suspicion was that Hauser had injured himself to generate sympathy and deflect scrutiny.
The second incident came in April 1830: a gunshot head wound. Hauser said a wall-mounted pistol had fallen and discharged accidentally. This explanation, again, generated skepticism. A gunshot wound that could plausibly be explained as accidental was convenient, critics argued, but the evidence was ambiguous. He was placed in new care with a local magistrate and, in May 1830, with a Baron von Tucher. Each custodial relationship had its period of warming and its eventual cooling as accusations accumulated.
The third incident was the one that killed him.
On December 14, 1833, Hauser returned to his lodgings in Ansbach with a severe stab wound to his chest. He said a stranger had lured him to the Court Garden, the Hofgarten, with a promise of revealing information about his origins. The stranger had offered him a bag. He had taken the bag. Inside was a note, and also a knife — with which the stranger stabbed him.