The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1909-10-28
Wife SLAYER
CONFESSES CRIME
Otto Mueller Tells How He
Killed Woman.


Declares When He Told Her He Was
Married She Screamed and Kissed
Me and Wanted Me Back, and !
Shot Her"
New York. Oct 26.-Otto Mueller
who. under the name Of Fred Geb'
hardt. was arrested at Astoria, l.. l.,
for the murder OF Anna Luther, whose
skeleton was found In the woods near
lslip. l.. l.. was brought over to the
Manhattan police headquarters from
Brooklyn. and had long talk with In
spector McCarerty. Mueller. white and
trembling. told little To the policemen
on this side OF the river. but later
after he had been brought back to
Brooklyn again. he confessed that he
shot Anna Luther in the woods near
Bayshore ON April Q. 1908.
MueIler's Confession.
Mueller's signed confession follows;
About December. 1907. | first met
Anna Luther. We were married in
February. 1905. and went to Europe tc
live. We returned April 6, 1908. She
went to Henry Wertupps in Newark
n. j.. to spend a day or two. On the
pretense that I was going to rent an
apartment for MS to live in. | returned
to my home and wife in Astoria.
Il met Anna again on April In.
Newark. and we went 10 an address
in Thirty-fourth street. New York, and
then to Jamaica.
April . we went to Bayshore and
we walked about. and | showed her
some property. I got into an argu
ment with her about some money mat
ters and turned away and wanted tC|
20 back. She followed me up scream
ing. and 7 shot her in the head. j
didn't look at her. and don't remember
whether shot her more than once.
Immediately after went to the
Islip depot and took a train for home.
1t was nearly dark On the way home
on the train | threw the revolver out
OF the car window.
Il want to state that | didn't Kill
Anna Luther for her money. as the
newspapers have stated. My original
reason for marrying Anna was that ]
didn't care to live with nay first wife
any longer but as she-my first wife
had given me child. my desire to see
again my child caused me to want to
get rid of Anna Luther and return toI
my first wife's child.
This is the reason why shot Anna
Luther. and told her In Bayshore
that | was married and had wife and
child and must leave her.
"She screamed and ran after me
and kissed me and wanted me back,
and | shot her"
Seemed to Be Money Mad"
For Just little more than year
and a half from the Sunday that
Mueller shot Annie Luther. he and his
wife. Annie Merger. and their two
children. Annie. three years old. and
Fred, who is about a year old. have
lived in the story and half frame
house in Astoria Nothing seemed to|
bother Mueller-or Gebhardt. as his
wife knew him-except that he seemed
to be money mad" and he showed
much concern about his two Airdale
terriers. which were his undoing. for
II was a Jersey express drivers story
about the two dogs that led to Muel
ler's arrest.
All this time Mrs. Mueller-or Geb
hardt-was wearing we'll made clothes
with the initials "a. L." embroidered
on them, and the same initials were
on the bedclothing and table linen
The same "a. L." was engraved upon
the watch which lay beside the skele
ton down on Long Island all this time.
Mueller had got all this stock Of wear
ing apparel and bed linen. he told his
wife. at an auction sale of trunks and
other baggage in Hamburg. The ex
PLANTATION seemed to satisfy the wife.
She asked no more questions. She did
admit. however. that she had been
afraid of Mueller OF late, or since a
woman friend from Manhattan came to
her recently and told her stories about
her husbands former wives. The
friend told Mrs Gebhardt that her
husbands real name was Mueller and
that he has had seven wives, who are
all now dead. The friend added a
warning to the effect that present
wives of the man might expect sud
den death also,