Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-07-21
A TEkKf.Lt REuoRpa
Five Murders, az Lef.st. Laideat the Door
OF Dr. IL. G. w. Meyer.

A German physician was arrested in
Detroit On the charge of murder-in
order TO obtain the insurance of his
vict:r1-and since his record has been
looked up five murders for the same
pIrpose have been traced TO his hand.
The mans awful criminal history is
about as follows:
DIR. Henry c. w. Meyer-known TO
different parts of the country as Hugo
Weyler, alias William Reuter-, alias
Schaffer, alias Oswald alias Stoffen--
graduated from the Chicago Homeo-
pathic College of Medicine in 1878. He
came originally from Minden, Prussia.
lie began the practice of medicine in
Chicago atter graduation and is said TO
have poisoned his first wife in Chicago
but for what reason he did so is I'M
known. His next crime was the pois-
oning Of a grocer of Chicago named
Gederman. Shortly after Gederman's
death in 1879 he married Gedermans
widow. Meyer was tried in Chicago
for the murder of Gederman and ac-
qubtted. Mrs. Meyer No. 2 had a child
by her first husband and in order to
get rid of it Meyer is alleged TO have
poisoned il. For this act he was
arrested and tried and again acquitted.
His next crime was the attempted pois-
oning of his wife His motive in this
action was his lnfatuation for girl
named Dresser. His relations with
this girl were such that Mrs. Me yer
secured divorce from Myers and thus
escaped the fate that her husband is
said to have intended for her. Miss
Dresser was the daughter of a rich
German living in Chicago, "a man of
good standing and character. Meyer,
after his wife had secured her divorce,
married Miss Dresser, and shortly after
ward insured her life in the Germania
Life Insurance company for $1,000 by
forging Mr.. Dresser's name. The
forgery was discovered there and
Meyer fled TO Denver, but was extra
dited and brought back TO Chicago for
trial. The luck of Myers did not desert
him and he was again acquitted.
Pending the trial Meyers was detained
in prison and there met Ludwig
Brandt, also in prison for forgery.
Meyer and Brandt Matched mp a
scheme TO insure Brandt's life heavily,
have him fal. sick, pretend TO die and
bury corpse procured for the purpose
while Brandt disappeared. The scheme
worked to perfection TO n certain point.
The two went to New York; Brandt's
life was insured for 50, 500 in four com
panies including $500 in the Mutual
Life; mock marriage was performed
between Meyers wife, under her
maiden name, and Brandt; the latter
fell sick and several physicians Of re-
pute were bafiled by the disease and
finally Brandt did die in reality. The
Mutual Life was not satisfied and re-
fused to pay their policy, but the other
companies did and Meyers and his wife
vanished. The Mutual Life placed their
best man on the case. after ascertain
ing that Brandt had been poisoned.
The detective was hot on the doctors
trail when case very similar to the
one on which he was working fell I'M
der his observation.
Hugo Weyler and his sister in June,
1892, located in Toledo and employed
as a servant Mary Neiss lie tried TO
insure her as his wife in the Michigan
Mutual; was unsuccessful, but obtained
$1,000 policy in the Equitable Life
and moved to South Bend, Ind. Here
Weyler-otherwise DIR. Meyer-opened
a bucket shop and attracted attention
by sensational failure. Mary Neiss
was i'll for several weeks much as
Brandt had been, and on advice of her
friends left the Weyler's, who then
went to indianapolis. Here another
girl was secured who passed as Mrs.
Weyler-although the alleged sister
was his real wife-and it was only
short time before she was very i'll and
finally died The Equitable Life inves-
tigated and found that while the
policy described Mrs. Weyler as
blonde, with gold filing in her teeth,
the dark woman was dark and had no
filling in her teeth. Mary Neiss turned
up suddenly and the Weyler's fled.
The detectives working on the
Brandt case took up this clue, and
following Weyler's trail finally located
him at Detroit where he was known as
Dr. Schaffer. He was arrested and
;Jant;GaJ nc H. Mavay