Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-05-18
LEUTGERT'S CRIME.
70 Q Horrible One II the Chicago
Police Are Correct.
CHARGE HIN WITH wIFE-NURDER

Report That He Either Destroyed the
Corpse In . Vat Of Chemicals or Cut It
Up In . Sausage Machine and Then
Burned It-Pautx, the FIend Who Tried
to KIN the Harris Household, Found
Dead in . Pond, Suicide.
Chicago. May 1s.-Adolph L. Luet-
CERT. the weil-known sausage manu-
fecturer. was arrested yesterday after
noon on the charge of having murdered
his wife. Captain Schuettler of the
Sheffield Avenue station made the ar
rest, under explicit directions from
Inspector Setback, who has been inves-
tigating the case. The warrant was
sworn out by the police before Justice
Kersten, and that magistrate issued it
at once.
1t Is positively stated by the police
that evidence has been found that Mrs.
Luetgert was killed and her bodY de-
stroyed with the object Of hiding all
traces Of the crime. Luetgert is not the
only person held under suspicion by the
north side police. Other arrests are to
be made before night, or as soon as
certain persons can be found for whom
officers are Tow looking. The place
where the murder and destruction Of
the body Of the woman are believed to
have taken place is the factory at Di-
versey and Hermitage avenues, near the
tracks of the Northwestern road.
Two Ways Of Hiding the Crime.
1t IL believed that after killing the
xx-ha cd ho
put the corpse into a vat and reduced
the body by chemicals or boiling. That
is one way tsat the crime is supposed
to have been hidden. But there is an
other story, and that is that after the
murder the body was stripped. cut into
pieces in the sausage mill. so tina. il;
would be more easily cremated, and
then cast into the furnace. Her cloth
ing. it is alleged, was burned in the
same place. It is said that several
bones are all that have been found, and
that these were taken from the vicinity
OF the vat. Two finger rings belonging
to the dead woman were also found.
Schaak Sure 1t Was Murder.
"Adolph Lueigert has just been ar
rested for the murder of Mrs. Luet-
gert," said Inspector Schaak at 2:So
o'clock. I'VE have established beyond q
doubt that Mrs. Luetgert did not leave
her home voluntarily or commit suicide
because Of her husbands failure in
business. She certainly was murdered
ana the crime is one of the foulest with
which / have ever dealt. The body
was destroyed, with the exception OF
traces, which we found in the sausage
factory. near the Luetgert home in Lake
View" Mrs. Luetgert disappeared May
1. Five days after the woman's dis
appearance relatives of hers from the
country came to Chicago and called on
the police authorities with the first in
timation that they had that the woman
was missing. The same day A. L.
Luetgert. her husband. applied to the
police. and also offered a reward of 5000
oN.information that would lead to her
discovery.
Husband Acts Susplciously.
The police at once began working very
diligently on the case. The husbands
Hardness in invoking the aid Of the 10
lice, together with the fact that the
pair had Eot lived happily together,
spurrsd the department to unusual &C
tivity. To the surprise Of many, the
husband did not give to the detectives
that assistance which might have been
expected Ct Il husband in such a case
AS a measure of self-defense, and to
combat the suspicion which his d1itory
action aroused, Luetgert threatened last
Friday to bring suit for abandonment
against his wife. The police offered to
assist him in the preparation of such
evidence as he needed. And instantly
Luetgert's case against his absent wife
was dropped. There were other sus-
picious circumstances leading to yes.
terday's arrest