Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-02-08
wife Accu;ed Of Beating Out
uu5blad'S Brains With
n1Sob's Hammer

Chicago, Feb. Mysteries of an
unusual character remain to be solved
in the, case of the murer of George
Dietz, for whose death Mrs. Augusta
widow of the slain man, and
her friend, George Nurnberg, will be
placed on trial before Judge Kersten
on Monday.
Dietz, So years old, owner of a
w0man's tailoring establishment and
reputed to be a man of wealth, was
found murdered in his home, at T3
Aldine avenue, on April IA, 1913. Fol.
lowing the discovery of the murder a
mass Of bewildering facts was
brought to light from. day to day.
Some of the conjectures raised seem.
ed almost beyond belief, SO mel0dram.
attic, SO out Of the ordinary were they.
The skull OF the murdered man had
been crushed and he is believed to
have been beaten to death with q ma
sons hammer, which was found in
the room. The handle Of the hammer
had been wrapped with a red hand
kerchief, Topped in such a way that
the murderer could keep q firm
grasp. In addition to the hammer q
letter was found In the room, indicat.
ing that revenge was the motive for,
the crime.
On the night of the crime Mrs. d.
etz occupied a bedroom adjoining that
Of her husband. When questioned by.
the police she said the first she knew
of the murder was when she went to
waken her husband.
The letter was found in the room
was unsigned, written on a typewrit'
er, on yellow paper, and was ungram-
NAUTICAL to a degree that led the police
to suspect that this feature of the
icrime had been planned to confuse
investigators. 1t read, in part, as fol-
lows:
II feel like a man that do right. l
kill him like we kill beast. Gerly tele
me all when she was sick. l work
hard and he is rich man. He steal my
little girl. Poor gerlyj she is not bad
she is foolish and like good clothes
he gave her. He not think she tele
me. These l wriht if IL get. killed
young friend not done 1t. Il not give
name. If l get chance to kell old pig
we all saved"
The police ut first worked on the
theory that revenge was the motive
for the crime and that either the faith.
er or the sweetheart Of some girl
committed the murder. MIS- Dietz
was taken into custody and question
ed, but was not. detained. She told
the police that she knew nothing OF
the circumstances mentioned in the
letter. 4
Lack of evidence of a forced Ell
trance to the Dietz home, as we'll, az
rumOrs of a quarrel between Dietz
and his wife of friendly relations be,
tween Mrs. Dietz and George Nurn'
berg, a har~nessmaker, first directed
suspicion against the accused. The
testimony before the %cOr0ner's jury
by Mrs. Dietz,. NurnDerg, and Charles
Hass, a private detective, who reveal
FED to the police the friendship of Mrl
Dietz and Nurnberg, was highly sensa
tional.
How 4 suspicious wife, Mrs. Nurn
berg, had telephone wires tapped
A"SSASSPSSU 4ACLtClS anu IC1 lluS UOA
trailed, was revealed in the testimony
of Hass, the private detective. The
friendship between Mrs: Dictz- and
Nurnberg, charged by Hass, was later
admitted as true by Nurnberg, under
close cross-questioning by the coro
ner. Mrs. Dietz, however, has denied
the alleged relations with Nurnberg
despite the testimony Of detectives
that she had been in the habit ol
meeting the harnessmaker in a Ger
tain house on Ontario street.
The evidence Of the detectives, il
is said, had been revealed to Dietz
a short time before his death, and II
is the general belief that the prosecu
ton will endeavor to prove that the
husband was murdered to prevent his
taking action to obtain a divorce.
There is much speculation as tc
whether an effort will be made tt
prove that the wife was the actual
slayer of her. husband. Physicians
who testified before the coroner's
jury expressed the opinion that great
strength would not be required t