Arizona republican., 1914-03-02
&aes~ &9|lZlES$, U I1ze U Great Trials
 %
 History
The Trial of
 Adolph Luetgert


 disappeared from her home, at Hermitage avenue and Diversey boulevard, Chicago. Mrs. Adolph Luetgert, the wife of sausage manufacturer of that city. It was one of those mysterious cases which has baffled the most expert police and detective in it's solution. The husband was arrested for the mur- der It was a long and difficult effort on his part to save himself from execution, for many things seemed to point to his guilt. Eleven jurymen wanted to hang him for the crime after hearing the evidence. but the verdict finally decided upon was imprisonment for life.
 The task that was set for the prosecution was not an easy one. Mrs. Luetgerts body, it was estab- llished almost beyond uestion, had been almost entirely consumed in dissolved potash in one of the color | ing vats of her husbands sausage | factory.
 In reducing the body of his victim the murderer had overlooked four vitally discriminating details; two gold rings worn by his wife. the complete' removal of the fragments l of the body. a bit of peculiarly shaped porcelain tooth, and failure to notify the police of the woman's disappearance.
 The rings were identified as the property of the wife, the family dentist identified the tooth. expert osteologists were able to place the bones that were discovered, but Of Icourse with no conclusive proof that they were those of the murdered woman.
 Luetgert and his wife had not llVed happily together. It was his second
 wife and she had been employed Tn Ithe family when the first wife was living It was claimed that he was ltired of her and desired a younger land more attractive woman.
 When it came to the trial of the husband. the task set for the Chicago
 District Attorney Deneen was most
 difficult one. The body of the vic tim had been practically consumed
 and vet it was absolutely necessary not only to prove that she was dead but that she had met her death at
 the hands of her husband, as charged lin the indictment.
 The first trial resulted in dis
 agreement During it's progress
 Dietrich Bicknese, a brother of Mrs.
 J.uetgert, testified that he had
 searched for days for clew as to
 his sisters whereabouts. but had
 found none. One week after the lcommission of the crime he notified lthe police, and they summoned Iuetgert and questioned him. She
 disappeared" the sausage maker re- piled. and I expected her to re- turn and had wished to avoid the , disgrace that must attend the dls- lclosure of the facts
 If was Frank Bialk who gave the
 most damaging testimony as to how
 Inc made several trips at the request
 of the prisoner to drug store on
 the night of May 1, and each time upon his return, Luetgert would
 take the package he brought ana , would barricade the door to the
 main factory and busy himself in the engine room.
 It was shown at the trial that the laccused had planned most cunning lly. Almost three months before the murder he had purchased about 325 hounds of crude potash from Wohle-
 sale druggist. Late in April, under
 the prisoners direction, two Poles h iptn C land later in the same day had assist
 ed in placing the broken potash in
 the middle vat That night the steam
 was turned on and the potash com petely dissolved.
 The accused man was not permitted to testify in his own behalf at the first trial, but during the second bat tie he was enabled to relate the story
 of his life He vigorously denied the
 guilt and on several occasions actual lly wept. He was a stolid German and lby many conceded to be endowed , with wonderful mental and physical energy.
 The conviction of Luetgert did not establish beyond contention in the public mind the guilt of the defend ant. In the light of the conviction however, and the finding of the court the accepted version of Mrs. Luetgerts s
 murder must be taken as the true
 history of mystery that will always be tainted with uncertainty. Luetgert lived less than two years of his life's sentence, dying in the Joliet penitenitary on July 27, lSss leaving no confession His attor- ney. Lawrence Harmon, at the time of the convicted mans death, had just completed arrangements to have the records in the case prepared foI the supreme court
 Luetgert's trial was no doubt one of the most sensational ever held in Illinois At his death Drs Werner and O'Malley held a post-mOrten examination, disclosing the fact that he had died from fatty degeneration of the heart.