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After Katowice received city rights in 1865 and city council elections were held a year later, Louis Diebel became the first mayor of Katowice. He held office until 1870, when he fled to the United States and stole 15,000 from the municipal treasury. Taler and almost brought the city's budget into a catastrophe. Although Diebel was soon arrested in Baltimore, he had already spent a third of the money stolen. The speed with which it was captured suggests, according to Silesian historians, that the Freemasons of the Johannis Lodge zum Licht im Osten zu Kattowitz in Katowice could take an active part in the search for a thieving mayor who was pursuing Diebel across the Atlantic through his Brothers.