On October 16 1906 Voigt was ready for the big adventure that made him famous.
He had bought parts of a captain's uniform from different shops.
He had resigned from the shoe factory ten days before.
He put on the captain’s uniform and went to the local army barracks, stopped four grenadiers and a sergeant on their way back to barracks and told them to come with him.

These soldiers had been taught to obey officers without asking any questions, so they did what they were told.
He told the commanding sergeant to report to his boss, and told 6 more soldiers to come with him.
Then he took a train with the soldiers to Köpenick, east of Berlin, occupied the local city hall and told the soldiers to guard all the exits.

He told the local Police to go and look for people breaking the law, and told the local Post Office not to let anyone make telephone calls to Berlin for an hour (this was in the early days of the telephone when people could not dial numbers automatically: they had to ask the Post Office to make the connection).

He arrested the town secretary and the mayor, saying that they had been taking money from the town hall, and he took a large amount of money: 4002 marks and 37 pfennigs, signing  a receipt for it, but using the name of the governor of the jail where he had been.

Then he stopped two carriages and told the grenadiers to use them to take the mayor and the treasurer to the police so that they could be questioned.
He told the remaining guards to stand in their places for half an hour.
 Then he went to the train station.
Later he changed back into ordinary clothes and disappeared.
On October 16 1906 Voigt was ready for the big adventure that made him famous. He had bought parts of a captain's uniform from different shops. He had resigned from the shoe factory ten days before. He put on the captain’s uniform and went to the local army barracks, stopped four grenadiers and a sergeant on their way back to barracks and told them to come with him. 
These soldiers had been taught to obey officers without asking any questions, so they did what they were told. He told the commanding sergeant to report to his boss, and told 6 more soldiers to come with him. Then he took a train with the soldiers to Köpenick, east of Berlin, occupied the local city hall and told the soldiers to guard all the exits. 
He told the local Police to go and look for people breaking the law, and told the local Post Office not to let anyone make telephone calls to Berlin for an hour (this was in the early days of the telephone when people could not dial numbers automatically: they had to ask the Post Office to make the connection).
He arrested the town secretary and the mayor, saying that they had been taking money from the town hall, and he took a large amount of money: 4002 marks and 37 pfennigs, signing  a receipt for it, but using the name of the governor of the jail where he had been. 
Then he stopped two carriages and told the grenadiers to use them to take the mayor and the treasurer to the police so that they could be questioned. He told the remaining guards to stand in their places for half an hour.  Then he went to the train station. Later he changed back into ordinary clothes and disappeared.
Captain of Köpenick