The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-16
Guardian Of a Luetgert Relic is
Very Ill.
Handling a Bone Said to Have
Sickened KnOch.
DISORDERED BLOOD.
Trouble Dates Back to the Trial
of the Noted Case.
Patients Life Once Before
Similarly Endangered.

Chicago, Dec. 16.-The sesamoid that sent
Adolph Louis Luetgert to a felon's cell Tor
life has laid Captain VIM +. Knoch on
a bed of pain from which he may never
rise. Luetgert was made Its victim by
the evidence this tiny. osseous particle
constituted. while Captain Knoch has been
felled by the virus that chung to its scaIy
sides. The serious ailment that has kept
Captain Knoch confined to his bed at his
residence at 2A FOrty-second place Tor
several weeks is pronounced by his phy-
and the source of it they conclude is clear
~ discoverable in the malignant little
When the first trial of Luetgert was
begun knoch was made the CUSTODIAN OF
ton Among these was the sesamold.
This piece of bone, no longer than one
the bunion joint of the lett foot Of Mrs.
Louisa Luetgert, the missing wife or the
they found it in the middle vat in the
sausage factory at Dtversey and Kermit
age avenues, Lake View.
Custody Of this bone was conhded TO
Captain KnOch when it came into court.
It was regarded by the states attorneys
as the convincing evidence that Mrs. Luet-
CERT had been murdered and that her BODY
"a 4 1sses 81 ne cIiToe it was
said, were found on the floor and in the
vat, but the most significant OF these was
the sesamoid; It's importance was was NED NED
1t was the proof i2 the main, not only OF
the crime, but of the death OF Mrs. LueI-
CERT 1t was the corpus deficit, or rather
the tangible part of it.
At that time Captain Knoch was the
hill presided, and that is why he was made
the CUSTODIAN on tne SeSaLno1 ,7s; ne me- +ba
Ter oi,r Stii IL 5u Locked in me box and but
behind the steel bolts of the court room
the sesamoid. he rubbed his hands to his
bare breast, on account of the heat and
persDiration caused by the torrid Wea-
Not long after that he felt i'll and a ply
sician pronounced his complaint to be sep
sis The cause of the blood poisoning was
inquired into at the time and laid at the
could NOT recall any other circumstances
to which he might attribute his disorder
particularly on that hot day when he
placed his hand on his perspiring breast
after having the little bone in his hand.
For six weeks he was i'll. His illness at
that time prevented his going off to the
war as captain in the First Illinois vol
unteers.
on his recovery he felt that he was free
from the III EFFECTS of handling the ma
taken i'll again ana his Illness was pro-
that it is a recurrence of the old attack
and due to the same cause The syrnp-
toms of blood poisoning were more threat
ening this time and until yesterday his life
was in imminent danger. Last night he
was in somewhat improved condition
and the doctors were hopeful of his recov-
The story Of this sesamoid was spread
over the world because of its Importance
in the famous trial of. Luetgert- 1t was
not the only piece of bone in evidence at
the time to show that Mrs Isuetgert had
been murdered, but it was the one that
contributed more than anything else to
the conviction of Luetgert There was
a piece of a femur, a phalanx, a tip of
humerus, a supposed temporal bone. a
supposed piece of rib and a supposed
fragment of a skull. The identity of all
the bones as those of a human being was
denied by the experts for the defense. As
to the sesamOid there was no doubt
Never in the history of jurisprudenc
was the subject of osteoIoey so broadly
and deeply discussed and debatRd over so
many days and with warmth of feeling
between the two contending armies of
tween comparative anatOmists and osteOl-
ogists. The former were on the side of
the defense and led by DR.. Airport and the
latter for the prosecution and led by Prof.
Dorsey of the Columbian museum. After
the long and fiercely contested days the
sesamOid was all that was left of the
ray of exhibits for the conviction of Luet-
CERT.
When Captain Knoch was taken i'll it
was said that his illness from blood pOis-
Oning resulting from handling the sesa-
mold and other bones in the states ex-
hibit list was to be taken as proof that 1t
a human bone. If il were not they
said, he would not have been poisoned by
it. This theory was gently set back, how
ever, by Dr. J. B. Murphy, who was asked
about it last night He said that blood
poisoning has resulted from contact with
the bones of lower animals.