Karl Schmidt was a fifty years old merchant living in Badenburg. He was recently widowed and owned a foundry, with a smithy attached, where they made door hinges, wagon parts, and iron objects, mostly for local use. He had four surviving children: his son Adolph, a twenty-two year old journeyman blacksmith, and three teenage daughters: Gertrude, Hilda and Marie. Karl was considered a slow man, but was really quite intelligent. This article is a . You can help My English Wiki by expanding it.