Evening star., 1924-08-30
SLAYER OF Five
+. PRESENTS PUZZLE
Woman, Grief Stricken at
Each Death, Soon Seeks
New Victim.
Special Daspatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
SAN MARCOS. Tex, August 80
When alienists in Chicago get
"Dickie" Loeb, Mrs. William. Haup-
trief offers another interesting case.
She Is 26, pretty, brunette, buxom, vi
vacious and the self-confessed poison
er of five victims-would-be poisoner
of a sixth. Her whole kill and near
kill is composed of husbands and
stepchildren.
District Attorney Fred Blundell
says he means to ask for the death
penalty when the young woman goes
on trial in October. and unless 1t
turns out she Is irresponsible. judge
and jury may find it awkward to de-
cline his invitation to enforce the
law.
Tho strangest part of Mrs. Haup-
trief's case, as 1t develops now, is
that William Hauptrief was so moved
by her grief at the funeral of her
first husband, Count Schroeder, that
he fell in love with her then and
there. 1t was a case of July and
early October, she being in full ma
tronly bloom and he a 4s-year-old
widower, father Of II children.
Friendly With Family.
Hauptrief had known and been
friendly with the Schroeders, and as
the young widow sobbed and wept
over the coffin, he felt tremendously
sorry for her. He wanted to comfort
her in her affliction and give her the
solace of a home and f1reside. There
was brief courtship, a bethrothal,
and in decorous time a marriage.
They went to live on Hauptriefs
farm in the quantity named hamlet
Of Goforth. a short distance from
here. There they were in the midst
OF kinsfolk and lifelong acquaint-
ances. Hauptriefs aged mother
lives at INLAND, four or FIVE miles
from Goforth. Mrs. Hauptriefs fam
away at Niederwald, where they have
a store. Her brother. Richard
Schultz. has been clerking in it since
he came out OF the infantry after the
World War.
Three more placidIy pastoral COM
munities than these three 1t would be
hard to find anywhere. The people
are farmers. and the farms are pro-
ductive. All are we'll stocked with
fat cattle. sleek horss and plump
poultry. The community center or
each town is a little white church
and a schoolhouse.
Good HOusekeeper.
A more placidly comfortable home
than Hauptrief's 1t would be hard to
find in all Goforth, or in all Goforth-
Neiderwald-U d-Uhland. for that matter.
The young remarked widow who be-
came its second mistress was an i'm
peccable housekeeper, energetic. neat
and orderly.
The house is silent and empty now.
he oh nj
prattled and raised joyous laughter
there are dead. The father who lis
tened to them is away recovering
from arsenic poisoning. The step
mother who fed them and dressed
and combed and brushed them is In
the county Jail at San Marcos. But
all through the house are the prosaio
touches of the secure, settled life OF
happy family.
On a mantel rests a big Bible. On
a wall hangs a picture Of Hauptrief
and his first wife. On table there
are school books. In a corner lies a
rag doll. dear to Anna, the last OF
the children to die. There are pic
lures of famous Americans, with SIM
pie flag decorations draped around
them. There are untouched beds. all
made up precisely with white spreads.
There are big shade trees in the front
and back yards. There is a cool
breeze that watts through all day
long. And there is a clock in the
kitchen-a timepiece of doleful tick.
Neighbor La Caretaker.
The only sound to break the silence
of the house now is made by that
clock. 1t ticks on and on and on, the
beat Of it getting louder and louder,
moro and more oppressive, till yowi
brings sudden relief. The yowl IS
traced to Spot. Spot is the Hauptrief
dog. a bull terrier. Spot has lost his
master, his mistress and the children
who were his beloved tyrants. He
maintains lonely vigil there, MS
sole visitor being Ed Marshall
neiehboring negro renter, who comes
once a day to feed him, tend the
stock and keep that insistently un-
necessary clock wound. spot can't
tell time by it. and 1t wouiohe heip
him any If he could.
n makes an intentionally haunt
ing memory to carry away with one,
that spotless, airy kitchen and tnat
speckless, empty house. After having
seen it, one finds it all the harder to
believe one is not dreaming and tnat
an ugly, ruthless, senseless death
drama had that homely stage Tor It's
setting.
William Hauptrief, slowly recover
ing strength on his mothers farm In
finland, finds it almost too hard to
believe. Still brooding and sorrowlng
over the loss of his children. who died
mysteriously. one by one. IN the
course of a six-month, he dislikes TO
discuss the tragedy.
Long Trusted Wife.
For a long time couldn't believe
it was my WIFE," he says, sitting on
his mothers shady porch. How could
1 believe when she nursed them so
tenderly? She was. so interested In
their welfare and she was so sad as
each one died. 1t is all hard to under
stand. But l have to believe 1t now:
There Is the confession. Mother and
I are taking care of Lenora, my year
LA d,uubtar yVe can't let her stay