270 THE UTOPIAN COMMUNISTthe colony actually had two administrators, Brandenberger and
Venus, and each was getting injunctions and attachments against
the other and calling in the sheriff to protect his rights. When
Louis Weiner, who had withdrawn from the colony two years
earlier but had not been fully paid, filed a suit in the district court
of Garnavillo for a claim of $200, both Venus and Brandenberger
were subpoenaed and ordered to bring in the account books of the
Communia Workingmen's League. The court records show a
settlement by consent of both parties. Weiss reported the follow
ing spring that a minority, aided by outsiders, had threatened to
seize the property with knives and revolvers.^9
Thus the colony's history ended in hopeless confusion, the de
tails of which cannot be completely untangled. According to the
court records at Elkader, three actions were filed. One was a
"Criminal Information," known as "State of Iowa v. Communia
Working Men's League." This case was continued from 1857 to
May 16, 1859, when all records were transferred to Dubuque
County and were lost. A second suit, a case in equity, entitled
"Jacob Ponsar and Benjamin F. Weis [sic] v. Community Work
ing Men's League" went through the same processes. In one of
the notices of continuance, the defendant was identified as the
"Workingmen's League of New York." The third was a replevin
action brought by one Henry Barnhart. It too was continued from
term to term, and there is no record of its final disposition. On
May 11, 1858, an attorney of Guttenberg wrote to Weitling, then
living at 195 Avenue B, New York, to press a claim by Louis
Arnold in the amount of $130. F. Hofer, one of the last of the
faithful who had resolved to remain on the colony site, build a
house on a two-acre plot, and open a "bath house" on the Volga
"because there was none in Iowa," wrote Weitling to report that
the sheriff had just left the region after trying in vain to serve an
attachment on behalf of Arnold.^10
(^9) The last financial report and the padded claims of some of the colonists were
printed in Rep. d. Arb., December 16, 1854.
(^10) F. Hofer to Weitling, May 6, 1858. (Letter in possession of Terijon Weitling.)