The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-15
LIFE on HIS WORDS
FINAL PLEA IN BEHALF OF LUET-
CERT BY HIS CHIEF
COUNSEL.
AN ELOQUENT ARGUMENT.
EFFORT TO CREATE A DOUBT IN
THE MINDS OF THE
JURY.
NOT A CASE FOR COMPROMISES
Judges of the Facts Asked to- Find
the Prisoner Guilty or Set
Him Free.

CHICAGO, Oct 14.-The flood of Or
atory continued in the Luetgert trial
today. and it will last two days longer.
Attorney Phalen, for the defense, con-
cluded his address, after speaking two
hours this morning, and then Attorney
Vincent began the closing address in
behalf Of the defendant. The main
point of his argument today was to
raise in the minds of theTjury a doubt
as to whether Mrs. Luetgert is really
dead He admitted that she had dis
appeared, but insisted that it had not
been shown beyond all doubt that she
was dead. Having spent much time in
trying to create a doubt in the minds
of the jury, he insisted that there
should be no halfway measures in the
verdict If Luetgert was guilty of this
crime, he deserved all the law could
mete out to him, but, if he was not
guilty beyond all doubt, he should be
set free Mr.. Vincent insisted that the
case was not one for. compromise YER
diets. It would not do to sentence the
prisoner to the penitentiary because it
was just possible that the woman
might turn up some day. If the jury
believed that there was any likelihood
of her turning up at any later day, it
was their business to acquit the pris-
oner now Mr.. Vincent will speak all
of tomorrow.
Although he was i'll when he stopped
speaking last evening, Attorney Phalen
was apparently much refreshed today
and in good voice He resumed his. ar
gument and nladealthes declaration that
the defense had not only broken the
states circumstantial chain of evil
dence at both ends, and in the middle
but that it had scattered the fragments
to the four winds. He reiterated the
contention that the state had not
proved a corpus deficit of sufficient re-
liability for serious consideration when
human life was at stake.
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 Attorney Phalen. I'm one sense
they are-or rather were until we
proved beyond a question of doubt by
one who had seen Mrs. Luetgert's rings
repeatedly that the rings found in the
vat were never worn by her. They
were not her rings. How did they get
into the vat? 1 don't know. Rather
[ ask the question, were they ever in
that vat? Policemen saw they were,
and that they found them in the bot
tom of the vat, wherein the body of
Mrs. Luetgert is said to have been de-
strOyed by caustic potash. But police
men say many things, and there were
contradictions upon. this point which
ought to raise a reasonable doubt, |
think in the mind of any fair juror If
these things were in that vat, they
were placed there by some one who
sought the ruin of Adolph L. Luet-
CERT"
VINCENT'S PLEA.
The speech of ex-Judge Vincent, chief
counsel for the defense, was the lead
ing feature Of the afternoon session of
court. 1t was the most eloquent ar
gument thus far addressed to the jury
1t was a plea full of pathos for a hu-
man life. Mr.. Vincent is a man of
fine presence and of magnetic person
atty His voice is strong and pleasant
to the ear, and he is fluent in delivery.
He is also possessed of many of the
arts of the accomplished orator, and
brings his climaXes to the attention
of the jury by facial expressions and
gestures that impress the force of his
remarks.
Gentlemen of the jury, was Mrs.
Louise Luetgert alive on May or was
she dead?" began ex-Judge Vincent,
and he paused q moment to allow the
jurors to revolve the question in their
minds.
rs Luetgert guilty or is he inno-
cent?" continued the lawyer.
81 think it was Juror Boyd who
asked nearly two months ago if he
thought Mrs. Luetgert was dead and
if he thought Mr.. Luetgert had killed
her, replied: One depends very large
ly upon the other That was aptly
put. During the progress. of my ad-
dress to you I shall have something
to say about the threats of Mrs. Luet-
CERT to disappear Mr. McEwen has
said that people do not disappear OF
their own volition nowadays. Is the
telegraph any more trustworthy or
serviceable today than when Dledrlch
Bicknese tried to discover Henry Bfck-
nese, a brother Of Mrs. Luetgert, who
disappeared mysterieuslyss Twenty-Five
years ago?'
sistant States Attorney McEWen.
s'There is no evidence to support that
statement"
"Oh. but there isl retorted ex-Judge
Vincent, and he picked up a typewrlt-
ten copy of the evidence and read
paragraph which sustained him. Then
he went on to declare that disappear
ances are not unusuaRa "Bho dare say
with the positiveness that reaches be-
yond a reasonable doubt tnat MRS
Luetgert is dead?" queried the speaker,
pointing a warning finger at the jury.
'.And if she is not dead, Luetgert is an an
innocent man. We believe she still
lives. None of the Bicknese family
knows today whether Henry B1cknesee
is dead or alive. He disappeared
twenty-five years ago. He is, or was,
as the case may be, brother OF Mrs.
Luetgert.''
Ex-Judge Vincent next paid his at
tention to the police department He
criticised Inspector Setback, and said
the North side police official had
J stooped to unusual methods in this