Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1910-03-27
BODY
OF LURED GIRL
FOUND; MURDER
Ensnared by Slayer Who
offered Employment,
Child Cremated
POURS OIL ON CORPSE
Victim Thrown on Fire
Escape Near Room OF
Abductor, Arrested
POURS OIL ON CORPSE
Associated Press1

AT EW YORK, March 26.-The body
of Ruth Wheeler, the little girl
~ graduate who was lured from her
widowed mother on Thursday last by
a decoy offer of employment, was found
late this afternoon in a gunnysack on
a fire escape outside the apartment OF
Albert Wolter, the man charged with
her abduction.
She had been strangled with a rope,
hacked with a knife, burned beyond
recognition and thrust carelessly out of
doors like so much rubbish.
Identification was possible only by
shreds of clothing and fragments OF
jewelry, but there vas abundant evil
dence Of how the murder had been
committed.
Around the neck were the charred
hbers Of manila burnt into the flesh.
The apartment reeked with the odor
of kerosene.
There were oil stains in front Of the
newly painted fire board that hid an
open CRATE. Fully dressed, the girls
clothing and hair had been saturated
with kerosene, the fire board had been
removed and the body thrust up the
chimney. standing. When the match
was touched to her she burned like
torch.
Neighbor Finds Body
This afternoon a neighbor had no.
ticed the lumpy bundle outside his
window, and thinking it refuse, had
poked it off the fire escape into the
back yard with a broom handle. The
bundle moved obstinately, and fell with
crash. His suspicious aroused, the
neighbor hurried downstairs for the
janitor to investigate.
Ruth Wheeler WITS IS years old. the
youngest of three sisters, encouraged
by their mother, a dressmaker. to self
support. Ruth had just been gradu
ated from a business college and was
eager for employment. An employment
agency for graduates is conducted by
the college, and Ruth called there often
to look for situation. Thursday
morning she left home on her usual
errand and never returned.
The girls failure to come home
alarmed her relatives. The elder Sis
ters. Pearl and Adelaide, went to the
college and learned that the following
postcard had been turned over to her:
Dear Madam-Please call in refer
ence to position of stenographer at
residence of the secretary.
"a. WOLTER.
1924 East Seventy-flfth street"
Traced Through Wife
Investigation at the address given
soon showed that Wolter, whom his
landlady described as a slckly, white
faced youth of about 20, with flashy
clothes and elaborately curled hair,
had left the apartment where he lived
with his wife, earlier in the same day.
He received many calls from young
girls, said the landlady and she had
particularly noticed that the one who
called yesterday was fresher of face
and better dressed than the ordinary
run of them.
With Wolter gone, the detectives
waited for his wife. and when she
appeared they trailed her until she
met a man answering VOTERS descrip-
tion. He was Immediately arrested
and taken to the rooms he had va
Gated. AS first he denied writing post
cards to business schools, but later ad-
mitted the correspondence, but could
not explain it.
Before a magistrate he had nothing
to say, but to others he admitted that
the woman with whom he was living
was not his wife. He met her shortly
after coming to this country from
Germany, two years ago, he said. They
fell in love and set up housekeeping.
Last summer he and she had worked
at Irvington- Hudson at a
boarding house They came to this
city last month, and since then the
woman had supported him by working
I'm a laundry.
The discovery of the body today i'm
mediately brought a second search of
VOTERS vacated apartments. In the
ashes of the fireplace were found the
charred bones of human toes, a portion
of an arm bone. a woman's garter and
a bundle containing a mans night
shirt on which was embroidered the in
itial "W."
VOTERS parents, found tonight, told
in broken English of the difficulties
their son had brought upon them.
Always Fond of Women
HE was always crazy about women" "
said the mother. From the time he
was a little boy it was always dancing,
pleasure, women. with him.
The father, a piano tuner from Dres-
den, said Albert was two years younger
than the age he had given the police.
The boy had been born out of wedlock
eighteen years ago, but when the pa
rents came to this country they mar
ried. The father found work for AL
bert, who stole SIS from his employers,
the father said, and fled, but was
caught. The father paid back the mon
ey and had not seen his son since.
In a vague way the mother, however
had kept in touch with her son. She
knew that he had set up housekeeping
with a woman whom he had not mar
ried, and when the woman came to her
with the news that Albert had been
arrested the mother recognized her and
accompanied her to court. When AL
bert was held in $4,000 bail, charged
with abduction, and the case put over
for further hearing, Mrs. Wolter had
asked the girl if she was going back to
the apartment Albert had vacated, for
her belongings.
mo, no." she said. I'm never going
back again It's too CHASTITY"
In the meantime the woman disap-
peared entirely
Detectives who searched Wolter
rooms found obscene photographs and
note book filled with the names and
addresses of girls. with their ages,
weight and details of appearance noted
Among the names. the detectives say
was that of Ruth Wheeler. They be-
lieve he obtained his names from en-
ployment agencies and business col
leges which have lists of girls looking