Kuntzel, in charge of the sawmill project, got into a heated argument with the Sultan of Witu. Finally, on September 15, Kuntzel, wishing to leave Witu, asked the guard to let him out of the gate. When the guard said, "Wait until I get the Sultan's permission," Kuntzel shot him.

The Sultan of Witu's troops opened fire, killing immediately four of the Germans with him. All Germans immediately became suspect, whether or not they were among those who had come with Kuntzel, and as a result a German was shot in Mkunumbi and four other Germans were shot on plantations near Witu.

North (3) - arr Lamu from Europe with J. Drotliff, C. & F. Horn, J. Jazwicki, J. Klaus, A. Menschel, F. Stauf & J. Urban to erect and operate a sawmill in the Witu area c. 25-8-1890; Party dep. Lamu for Witu to set up base camp 8 miles from Witu town at Mkunumbi 27-8-1890; The Sultan of Witu refused permission for the project & some of the party were taken to Witu town. Kuntzel & the rest of the party, except C. Horne, followed.

They were all disarmed & detained soon after they arrived when Kuntzel got drunk and insulted Sultan 15-9-1890. Party escaped the following morning by killing the gate guard but were pursued & all were killed except Menschel who escaped to Lamu; C. Horne was killed at base camp later the same day.  (Lamu residents F. Darfer & F. Hassler were associated with the Kuntzel sawmill project)  'Of a violent, pugnacious and overbearing disposition' (Euan-Smith, FO 84)

Ylvisaker - In August 1890, Andreas Kunzel, who had first visited Witu in 1886 and had later returned as a planter, arrived in Lamu by German steamship, along with a party of 10 Germans, most of them mechanics. Kunzel brought with him a steam sawmill which he planned to set up in the Witu forest in order to supply Zanzibar and other British and German ports with planks and other timber.

https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/18.3/pdfs/08_WHC_18_3_Pollath.pdf Andreas Küntzel, a Bavarian who had led a colorful life. Born and raised in the northern Bavarian town of Kulmbach, he was said to have sailed around the world, seen North America, the Pacific, sailed through the Torres Strait, and been to Japan, China, and East India. Afterwards, he joined the French Foreign Legion and fought in the French colonies and lastly found his destiny in Africa. Here his exploits become even more like an adventure novel. Supposedly, he jumped ship in front of the island Perim, British Aden Protectorate, swam ashore, and met Carl Peters, whom he joined in his secret mission towards East Africa in 1884.

Küntzel is another enigmatic case of an individual adventurer who sought meaning, fulfillment, and personal as well as economic success in colonial surroundings he hardly understood. In Witu, Küntzel began to call himself, “Commander of the Bodyguard of the Sultan” and wore a white fantasy uniform with red lapels. He was present when the SMS Gneisenau anchored and Witu gained the full status of a German protectorate. Like the Denhardts, he returned to Germany to promote the colonization of Witu by giving lectures for the Colonial Society in Southern Germany. In the colony, though, the administrator Kurt Toeppen seems to have become critical of the self-proclaimed “Commander of the bodyguard of the Sultan of Witu” and severed the ties between the Colonial Society and Küntzel. Instead of putting a stop to Küntzel’s ambitions, the Bavarian joined with a railroad entrepreneur to launch his own expedition. Küntzel promised “hills full of gold” to a group consisting of carpenters, a surgeon, a baker, an engineer, and a mechanic and they left Germany on 20 July 1890, only to be informed by the Denhardts upon their arrival a month later that Witu had been transferred to British rule in exchange of Heligoland. Küntzel’s fate and that of his small group was featured in a long story in the Leipziger Illustrierte Zeitung by August Menschel, the only surviving member of the encounter with the sultan, and gives insight into the narrative style of the magazine. Menschel tells a story of daring men who built a sawmill near the city of Witu and put a locomotive into operation. Their colonizing effort was interrupted when soldiers of the sultan appeared, encircled the Germans, and escorted them under arms into captivity at Witu, where they were ordered to await their audience with the sultan and their arms taken away. According to Menschel’s report, communications were difficult because Küntzel and his men needed a local interpreter. Feeling uneasy and menaced by the soldiers of Witu, Küntzel and his men attempted to break out, take their weapons, and escape through the high grass and bushes. Menschel’s report extensively covers the escape, describing it as taking place under a hail of shots and arrows, causing the death of the Germans, and how Menschel got shot in the leg and had to crawl through the burning grass that the local soldiers set on fire just Pöllath | German Protectorate of Wituland to find him. Menschel survived and after two days reached the village of Kipini, where locals helped him and he met Toeppen. There, the former German administrator of Witu took Menschel to Lamu and to safety.