The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-09
RED WITH BLOOD
SURPRISE SPRUNG ON THE DE-
TENSE IN THE LUETGERT
MURDER CASE.
STRONG PIECE OF EVIDENCE.
INSTRUMENT. 1T is ALLEGED, WITH
WHICH THE DEED WAS
DONE.
KNIFE IDENTIFIED BY MRS. FELDT
Given to Her For Safe Keeping by
the Sausage Maker Before
His Arrest.

CHICAGO. Sept. 8-The defense IN the
trial of Adolph Luetgert for wife muir
der were surprised by move OF the
state in the triaF today. What is con-
sidered to be one of the strongest pieces
of evidence In the trial was introduced.
Mrs. Christine Feldt, Luetgert's one
time sweetheart, was called to the
stand by the state for the, third time.
Assistant States Attorney McEwan
handed her an ugly appearing pocket
knife, the blades of which We're stained
and rusted, and asked hertff she had
ever seen it before She testified that
the sausage manufacturer had given
her this knife for safe keeping on the
day of his arrest The prosecution as
serts that it was with this knife Luet-
CERT murdered his wife before placing
her body in the boiling potash where
it was dissolved.
The ugly looking object was passed
around for the inspection of the attOr-
neys and was handed to Luetgert, who
opened and closed the blades, gazing
curiously at the weapon and scraping
the blade with his finger as if to feel
the stains which covered the blade. He
evidenced no emotion, though he knew
that every person in the court room, in
Guiding court, jury and spectators, was
closely watching and taking note of his
every action.
The court opened with the usual
crowd clamoring for admission at the
door. Within the court room the mem
bers of the fair sex promenaded among
the spectators and the little room was
crowded to its utmost capacity.
When Luetgert entered shortly before
court was opened he repeated his man
ner of Tuesday and smilingly nodded
at the jury. He attempted to catch
the eye of Judge Tuthill, but that CT
fetal refused to notice the prisoner.
Patrolman Bernard Preuss was call
eG and identified two bits of steel as
the pieces he found in the ashes where
the supposed residue of bones and
other material which was scooped from
the vat was dumped. Policeman Fred
Talowitz testified as to having found
hairpin in the same pile Of refuse, and
the hairpin was produced as evidence.
after an objection by Attorney Vincent
to the effect that it was improper to
introduce as evidence any and every
object, which, owing to its similarity
to objects worn by any and every wo-
man, could never be identified as hav
ing been the property ofMr S. Luetgert.
J. Fl. Odenbrett and w G.. Cady, cor
set Makers were placed on the stand
in succession and positively identified
two alleged corset steelS as having
been the product of their factory. Ger
tain marks on the two bits of metal
were shown to correspond with SINH
lar marks on the new SteelS which
were produced in court. The witnesses
each testified positively as to the SINH
larity and also to the fact that the
new steels were of the pattern usually
sold by their factory. 1t was consid-
cred by the state to be a great blow
to the defense and was unexpected by
the latter, who hoped to prove that the
Htwo pieces of steel We're scale bands.
The afternoon session was devoted to
expert testimony. Prof. Charles B.
Gibson, to whom two newspaper men
gave fluid they drew from the vat was
examined, and testified to the finding
of organic matter in the pinlliSh brown
sfiuid which he subjected to chemical
l'analysis. His answers were delivered
slowly and deliberately and were
couched in technical terms. 1t requir-
ed much time to question the witness
so that his testimony could be made
clear to the jury. The witness assert
eQ as his opinion THAT the ulSSOlullOH
Of the fleshy portions of a body could
be accomplished in the time and man
ner alleged by the state, but denied
that the condition Of the bones would
be materially affected.
The defense considered that a point
was scored in their favor when the
witness asserted that the hair would
be the first portion of a body to dis
solve in the caustic mixture. Attorney
Vincent will request the jury to recon
Gle this bit of testimony with the al
legged finding of hair in the vault.
The last witness sworn was the son
of Waterman Bialk. who testified TO
having enticed Luetgert to his fathers
room under pretense of the latters i'll
ness A detective was concealed under
the bed at the time and the testimony
was intended as merely corrOborative
of portions of the testimony of the Of
ficer who listened to the conversation
between Luetgert and his old employee.
The attorneys for the defense assert
that the day has don their cause good.
They expect to controvert the material
points in the testimony and ignore
many points which they consider to
be irrelevant to the issue. Luetgert's
.unconcerned demeanor continues and
the most damaging evidence seems to
effect him b1t little