The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-09-01
THE CAUSTIC
SODA VAT CRIME
Solving the Mystery OF
Mrs. Luetgert's
Death.
Waterman Bialk Tells OF the
Sausage-Maker's Great
Nervousness.
Luetgert Once Told Another Wit
ness That He Would "Crush
His Wife.

CHICAGO, ILL, Aug. 31-When the
Luetgert murder trial was resumed this
morning the defense asked the court to
compel the State to set forth by what
means, according to the theory OF the
prosecution, the life OF Mrs. Luetgert was
taken before her body was placed IN the
vat. Judge Vincent obtained the ear OF
the court at the beginning OF the proceed
ings, and said:
1.-THE indictment, which contains twelve
counts, does not state the manner OF Mrs
Luetgerts death"
The first counts, the attorney said, al
lege that she was drowned in vat con-
| tanning water and causiic soda or potash.
The seventh count charles that she was
struck and knocked down by some blunt
instrument; the eighth alleges striking
and instantly killing her; the ninth
count alleges striking her with some
deadly instrument or bit; the tenth
charges that she was stabbed with knife.
The eleventh says she was choked and her
life thus taken, and the twelfth and last
alleges that life was taken Dy some means
unknown.
he pldte, he COutihu cNs boo W.
lined the manner in which it is believed
the remains of Mrs. Luetgert were de-
stroyed We are entitled to the knowl-
edge the State has as to the means OF her
DEATH"
Judge Tuthill promptly decided that
the State was not bound to specify the
m cans of death.
Mrs. Agatha Tosch. wife of Michael
ar 900 DivarSV
avenue, was called. She was a friend
of Mrs. Luetgert, and visited the latter
occasionally a her home. She is regarded
as one of the States strongest witnesses,
being one of the few who saw Spucke
issuing from the factory the night Mrs.
Luetgert disappeared.
Mrs. Tosch said that on Sunday after
noon. May 2, Luetgert came to her house
and bought glass of beer. He was pale
and excited and she asked him what was
| the matter with him, a question which b
did not answer. On May Is she saw him
again and asked him about the disappear
| ance OF his wife. He said he did not know
where his wife was and was as inn oceni s
the sun in the sky. She told him she be-
lieved he was guilty, and Luetgert replied
that he felt like killing himself. He would
do so, h e said, but for the children.
Mrs. Tosch, in her testim ony, showed a
deadly hostile spirit toward Luetgert. s e
| said Mrs. LuetgeIt once had an attack of
| throat trouble and Luetgert told the wit
ness in conversation that if he had de-
| layed a minute longer in calling for
| doctor the "rotten BEAST (meaning his
wife) would have been dead. In her pre-
| vious testimony Mrs. Tosch did not use
these words.
| She said that in her conversation with
| him, May Is, she asked him what caused
| the smoke from the factory furnace on the
| morning of May 2, and he asked her not
| to say anything about the smoke. In her
| former testimony she said Luetgert once
| told her he sometimes became so angry at
| his wife that he could take hold of her
and, indicating by gesture, crush her.
| This N orning she swore he said he could
| crush her, using the word crush in the
German and not merely indicating it by a
! gesture.
| The witness said Luetgert told her he
had great deal of trouble with his wife
and had ceased to live with her. She
objected to the presence of Mary Sim mer-
ing, the servant, in the house. but Luet-
! CERT told the witness that if his wife
| turned Mary away he would take her into
the factory with him.
Proba bly, the lost i'm portant witness of
the three on the stand to-day was Frank
/ B:alk, night Waterman at the Luetgert
| sausage factory. Bialk, who is German.
"a years old. was trusted EN- pioye of the
| ueicHQdNl, IOT WHOm lie WOThSu SeV6TSl
| years. His testimony, which he gave in
| German, bore directly Oh the movements
! of the defendant during the night of May
| !. He also related how two barrels, which
| it is alleged con tanned caustic potash, were
stored on one of the upper floors of the
factory and were, shortly before May l,
| taken to the base ent, where the barrels
were emptied into the vat and dissolved
by steam. There was steam under one Of
the two boilers in the furnace room when
| he arrived at the factory at 6 P. NJ, Nav l.
| Luetgert turned the steam into the vat in
the basement and instructed him to keep
! up steam during the night, as he would
| need it in the basement. At quarter
| past Luetgert sent HIM to drugstore to
| purchase patent nerve medicine. He
was gone over half an hour. Alter 10
| o'clock he was again sent to the same
drugstore, but the second trip consumed
more time. He returned with bottle of
| mineral water, which Luetgert had di-
/ rected him to purchase. He did not see
| Luetgert again that night. The sausage
| maker was in the basement where the vat
was and the door between him ana the
boiler room, where the witness was, re-
NAMED locked. About 2 o'clock in the
! morning the steam to the vat was turned
| off.
! Bialk left the factory at o'clock Sum-
| day morning and before leaving went to
! the Office, where he saw Luetgert sitting
| with his feet on table. The mex evening,
| when he returned to work, h. found the
vat running over. hose was pouring
cold water into it. Beside the vet, on the
floor, was a Shiny substance. Near the
vat was chair from the Office. The wit
ness said three large doors which had been
removed from the smokehouse were beside
the vat, as though they had been used to
cover the vat while its contents were boil
ing. He said that on Sunday evening at
9 O clock he saw Luetgert in his Office and
asked him if ne wanted the steam turned
Oh TO the vat that night. Luergert. he said,
turned pale and sank down.