Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-10-15
FLOOD OF ORATORY IN LUETGERT
CASE CONTINUES.
TO BE TWO DAYS MORE OF 1T.
LUETGERT AND HIS ATTORNEYS
AFRAID OF DENEEN.
He Is n FOrcefuI and Eloquent Speak
err and the Effect of His Address
UpOn the Jury Is Dreaded
Judge Vincent's Ar
Sument.

continued in the Luetgert trial to-day, and
II will last for two days longer. Attorney
Phalen, for the defense. concluded his ad-
dress after speaking two hours this morn
ing and then Attorney Vincent began the
closing address in behalf of the defendant.
The main point of his argument to-day
was to raise in the minds of the jury a
doubt as to whether Mrs. Luetgert is really
dead. He admitted that she had disap-
peared but insisted that it had not been
shown beyond all doubt that she was dead.
Having spent much time in trying to ere
ate the doubt in the minds of the jury,
he insisted that there should be no half
way measures in the verdict made. III
Luetgert were guilty of this crime he de-
served all that the law could mete out TO
him. but if he were not guilty beyond all
doubt he should be set free. Mr. Vim
cent insisted that the case was not one
for compromise verdicts. 1t would not DO
to sentence the prisoner to the peniten-
tiary, because it was just possible that the
woman might turn up some day. II the
jury believed that there was any likelihood
of her turning up at any later day, IL was
their business to acquit the prisoner now.
Mr.. Vincent will speak all Of tomorrow.
The little sons of Adoph l.. Luetgert, who
were yesterday removed from the side OF
their father by orders or Judge Tuthill,
were not in the court to-day when At
torney Phalen resumed his address 10 tne
jury. The absence of the children was
taken by the prosecution as confirmation
of the assertion of the prosecution yes
terday that the little boys We're brought
into court after an absence OF seVsral
weeks simply to play upon the sympathies
of the jurors. When this scheme was
baked by TIE order of the court. there
was no longer necessity for the presence OF
the children. and to-day they were kept at
home. Luetgert shed tears in parting from
his children last night. 1t was the first
genuine display OF % emotion on, the eo, sausage @,e
alleged wife murderer brushed the tears
from his cheeks with his big hands and
kissed his fair-haired boys good-by. What
others. there can be little doubt about his
affection for the children of the woman
he is said to have murdered.
The arguments of counsel which bring up
| i'll review all the details of the famous trial
affect Luetgert more than did the varied
| testimony of the witnesses. All the circum-
stances and events of May ! and the de-
velopments since that time are marshaled
ntH ne to na nd the Vast
of evidence which Is welded into the cir
c,mstantial chain.
Is the closing speech of States Attorney
Deneen: The state attorney is rapid.
| sourceful, and his style is of the order that
| electrifles and impresses jury. There Is
no tagging while he is at the oratorical bat,
| and the defense seems to dread the fact
| that he will prepare the minds of the
| jurors on Saturday for the reception of the
| courts Instructions
speaking last evening. Attorney Phalen
| was apparently much refreshed to-day and
| in good voice. He resumed his argument
| and made the declaration that the defense
| had not only broken the states circum-
| stantial chain of evidence at both ends and
| in the middle, but that it had scattered
| the fragments to the four winds. He reit,
| Grated the contention that the state had
not proved a corpus deficit of sufficient
reliability for serious consideration when
| human life was at stake.
For aught we know, Mrs. Luetgert Is at
| this very moment in the enjoyment OF
robust health in the land Of a her nativity; ma ;s
voice down to a heavy whisper and added:
cor she may be employed In some family
| remote from the habitation of intelligent
| civilization in partially demented condi-
The lawyer next took up. the matter of
| the rings found in the middle vat In the
| Luetgert sausage factory. "These rings
are considered by some people as the
| strongest feature in this case" said At
| torney Phaen. I'm one sense they are-or
| were. until We proved beyond a question Of
| a doubt by one who had seen Mrs. Luet-
gert's rings repeatedly that the rings
| found in the vat were never worn by her
| They We're not her rings. How did they
get into the vat? I don't know. Rather.
| ask the question were they ever in that
vat? Policemen say they were, and that
| they found them in the bottom of the vat
| wherein the body of Mrs. Luetgert Is said
| to have been destroyed by caustic potash.
! But policemen say many things. and there
were contradictions upon this point which
ought to raise a reasonable doubt, l think,
| in the mind of any fair juror. If those
| things were in that vat they were placed
| there by someone who sought the ruin of
| Adolph L. Luetgert."
Perjury on the part of the witnesses for
| the state in relation to the rings was
charged in common with perjury upon
| other vital evidence in the case.