The Legend of the Golden Boos

In 1987 the Principality of Liechtenstein abolished the death penalty. The last person was executed in the little country on 26 February 1785 was a woman, known far and wide as the “Golden Boos”. She was beheaded for her crimes.

The Golden Boos’ real name was Barbara Erni. She was born on 15 February 1743 in Feldkirch to a homeless couple, Johann and Barbara Erni. In 1779 she married the well-known criminal “Tiroler Franz”. Four of her five children did not survive infancy. Tired of being poor, Barbara developed a scheme to get rich at the expense of others. During six years of daring-do and illegal activity she became a legend, the “Golden Boos”! The name refers to her red-blond hair.

The Golden Boos, a woman of super-human strength, traveled about the countryside carrying a large wooden chest (a backpack some versions say). At whatever inn or farmhouse she stayed, she demanded that the chest be locked up in the best room. It contained a precious treasure, she claimed. Barbara must have had amazing powers of persuasion for people to believe that this strongly built woman possessed a treasure and to allow her to lock it where she choose. Instead of a treasure it contained a secret. Inside was hidden a little man. The legend does not say whether or not it was her husband. During the night, when all were fast asleep, the little man crept out of his hiding place and made off with all the valuables of Barbara’s host. The two thieves acquired a lot of money in this manner.

It was an ingenious scheme that worked for awhile. But on one trip she and presumably her little man were caught in Eschen and imprisoned at Vaduz on 27 May 1784 . At her trial, the Golden Boos admitted to at least seventeen thefts. At this time, Liechtenstein, being a separate Principality, was a sort of safe haven for criminals from the surrounding domains. The Principality’s judges decided that enough was enough and that an example had to be made. The Golden Boos was to be that example.

Barbara Erni, the legendary “Golden Boos”, was condemned to death on 7 December 1784. On 26 February 1785, she taken out to the Rofenberg where a crowd of over a thousand people had gathered. The Landammann, the people’s representative, broke a staff over her back. As Liechtenstein had no official executioner, one was imported. The hooded man swiftly beheaded the “Golden Boos”.

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