and threatened them with pistols to give up their untruthful system. Minerva send a letter to ask Karl von Sachsen's help. Schrepfer in the meantime went for the support of Saxon court member and Commander of the Infantry Albert Christian Heinrich von Brühl, who was also connected to the Rosicrucian order. One evening during this period, some of Schrepfer's men, probably drunk, had plagued Minerva further by loudly and repeatedly calling out the lodge's main secret password beneath the windows of two of Minerva's men. Karl von Sachsen reply to Minerva's cry for help was placatory and the lodge started to fear for their future, hid their secret documents and tried to find some amicable agreement with Schrepfer. In the night of September 4, 1773 Schrepfer distributed 40 copies of a pamphlet stating that Minerva knew nothing of masonry and that people wouldn't get anything worth their money from their lodge. The flyer revealed the secrets of the first three degrees of Masonry and the high costs of membership. Schrepfer promised to reveal more secrets eight days later, but this never happened. At this stage Karl von Sachsen was offended by Schrepfer's conduct and ordered his arrest and sent an officer to Leipzig to chastise the culprit on September 17, 1773. Several conflicting accounts of the incident exist. According to some, Schrepfer received a flogging of 100 strokes with a stick and had to sign a confession about receiving this punishment. This confession was published in local newspapers. Schrepfer reacted with a statement in the Frankfurther Zeitung denying the existence of his confession, as well as the punishment itself or any reason for punishment. He stated to have filed a complaint about his arrest, which had lasted 20 hours, with the Counsel of Leipzig. He concluded with a subtle dig at "a society that under the cover of Freemasonry, sought to restore the Order of the Temple". Another account of his punishment claims that Schrepfer ran into a corner, threw himself on his knees and called out for spirits to help him. This evocation, and the idea of ghosts actually appearing, scared the officer away. Following this shameful incident Schrepfer left Leipzig for a while. Séance at the Dresden court Schrepfer appeared in Dresden under a false name, pretending to be a French colonel. He asked to be presented to the Elector Friedrich August III, but this was refused by