 After Captain Klitzing was notified of Bathurst's disappearance, he took immediate steps to mobilise his troops and conducted a vigorous search, apparently working on the initial assumption that the missing man had vanished of his own accord.On the 26th the river Stepenitz was dragged, and civilian officials ordered a second search of the village.On 27 November 1809 the Englishman's valuable fur coat – worth 200 or 300 Prussian thalers – was discovered hidden in an outhouse owned by a family named Schmidt.