The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1914-02-07
TRIAL MAY Solve
MURDER MYSTERY
AUGUSTA DIETZ AND HER FRIEND
NURNBURG, CHARGED WITH
HUSBANDS DEATH.

Chicago, Feb. 7.-Mysteries of an
unusual character remain to be solved
in the case of the murder of George
Dietz, for whose death Mrs. Augusta
Dietz, widow of the slain man, and her
friend, George Nurnberg, will be plac-
ed on trial before Judge Kersten on
Monday.
Dietz, fifty-nine years old, owner of
woman's tailoring establishment and
reputed to be man of wealth, was
found murdered in his home, at 773
Aldine avenue, on April IA, 1918. 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 seemed almost be-
yond belief, so melodramatic, 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 a mo-
sons hammer, which was found in a
room. The handle Of the hammer had
been wrapped with red handkerchief
looped in such way that the murder
er could keep firm grip. In addition
to the hammer letter was found In
the room indicating that revenge was
the motive for the crime.
On the night of the crime Mrs. Dfetz
occupied 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 found in the room was
unsigned, written on a typewriter on
yellow paper and was ungrammatical
to degree that led the police to sus-
pect that this feature of the crime had |
been planned to confuse investigators. |
1t read, in part, as follows:
Il feel like man that do right I |
kill him like we kill beast. Gerly tele
me all when she was sick. work
hard and he is rich man. He steal |
my little girl. Poor perly she is not
bad she is foolish and like good clothes
he gave her. He not think she tele
me. These write if 1 get killed
young friend not done it. I not give
name. If get chance to kell old pig
we all saved"
The police at first worked on the |
theory that revenge was the motive
for the crime and that either the ia
Their or the sweetheart of some girl
committed the murder. Mrs. Dietz
was taken into custody and question
ed, but was not detained. Mrs. Dietz
ed, but was not detained. She told the
police that she knew nothing of the
circumstances mentioned in the letter
Lack of evidence of a forced en-
trance to the Dietz home, as we'll as
rumors of quarrel between Dietz and
his wife and of friendly relations be.
tween Mrs. Dietz and George Nurn.
berg, harness maker, first directed
suspicion against the accused. The
testimony before the coroner's jury,
by Mrs. Dietz, NLrnberg, and Charles
Hass, private detective who revealed
to the police the friendship of Mrs.
Dietz and Nurnberg, was highly sensa-
tional
How a suspicious wife, Mrs. Nurn- |!
berg, had telephone wires tapped, in |
tercepted letters and her husband
trailed, was revealed in the testimony
of Hass, the private detective. The
friendship between Mrs. Dietz and
Nurnberg charged by Hass, was later
admitted as true by Nurnberg, under
close cross-questioning by the coroner.
Mrs. Dietz, however, has denied the
alleged relations with Nurnberg, de-
spite the testimony Of detectives that
she had been in the habit of meeting,
he harness maker In a certain house
IN Ontario street.
The evidence Of the detectives, it is
'Hio, hou UGH loNcdlcu W Dl6IZ
hort time before his death, and it is
he general belief that the prosecution
will endeavor to prove that the hus-
and was murdered to prevent his TAX
ng action to obtain divorce.
There is much speculation as to
Ihether an effort will be made to !
rove that the wife was the actual
layer of her husband. Physicians who
,stified before the coroner's jury ex-
ressed the opinion that great strength
ould not be required to WELD the
ammer with which Dfetz was killed. o
rs. Dietz is large, powerfully built I
oman.
SO far as known there is no evidence .
connect Nurnberg with any physical Z
tion in the murder Mrs. Nurnberg r,
ated before the coroner's Jury, and c,