Evening star., 1924-08-30

Queers tnouSns 1nat when would
have a child on the way to recovery
| something would happen to it again.
After Anna was poisoned she was re-
| moved to her grandmother's, where
| she fully recovered. But when she
came back to her mothers home 1t
was not long before she was seriously
Ill again.
Then we noticed that neither Mrs.
Hauptrtef nor her year-oId child were
ever i'll. We examined the stomach
| OF Anna, the last child to die, and
knew she had been poisoned We
could think OF no other suspect than
| Mrs. Hauptrief and told the father
about our fears. He received the
| news calmly. However, he suspected
another person. II he had not been
poisoned himself and we had not
made immediate analysis of his
| stomach 1t Is possible It would never
have been learned who poisoned his
| children"
| Sought Deed to Farm.
| The motive? We come now to the
| buxom brunette's signed confession.
That frank statement has little to
| say about the taking-ofr Of the four
children, but deals at some length
with the attempt on their fathers
| life.
She said that she had been urging
| Hauptrief to make a will leaving her
his farm, which contains 1S0 acres
| and is worth about $4,000. With
some hesitancy he agreed to this pro-
posal, but later changed his mind, de-
| Gliding to leave half the property to
her and their baby daughter. and the
other half to the survivors of his
| eleven children by his first marriage.
While he was still in the mood to
leave her everything. she says, they
called a justice of the peace, l. o.
Miller, to their home to draw up the
will. But Miller found Hauptrief so
Ill he declined to prepare the instru-
| ment for signature. The illness came
from drinking coffee, which the wife
now admits she poisoned.
AS soon as Hauptrief had strength
| enough for the journey he was re-
moved to San Marcos Hospital. Be
fore they started. Mrs. Hauptrief
says, she again sent for Miller to
make the will. She also gave her
husband a drink of water.
Find Arsenic in Water.
On the way in to the county seat
the farmer became so i'll that his life
was despaired of. The water his wife
had given him just before he left
home was analyzed and traces of
arsenic found.
Shortly afterward. July 21, Mrs.
Hauptrief was arrested on the double
charge OF poisoning her step-daugh-
ter Anna, the last child who died, and
attempting to poison her husband. BY
that time rumors regarding her at
tempts to obtain a will favoring her
had gained general circulation
District Attorney Blundell and
Sheriff Allen of Hays County drove
out to Coforth. Under the farmhouse
they found can of arsenic, while in
side the dwelling they discovered a
jar containing liquid solution of the
poison. When this discovery was
made Mrs Hauptrief was already in
Jail. and they resorted to dramatic
strategy to obtain a confession from
/ Ser.
We brought the can and jar to the
courthouse" Attorney Blundell ex-
planned later. "and placed both on a
table Not wanting TO be accused of
any coercion and third-degree meth
DDS. or to employ any, we requested
several persons to be witnesses and
then sent for Mrs. Hauptrief. The
flrst thing she saw when she came in
was the can and jar of poison. She
appeared shocked, but recovered I
told her where / had found the re-
ceptacles and warned her that any,
thlns she might say would be used
| against her. Then when 1 suggested
that she tell everything she agreed
willingly"
Confesses KILLING Husband.
What that everything would in
| clude they did not guess till she be-
gan her confession with a question:
Shall l tell about the poisoning of
my first husband?"
They stared at her incredulously
TIL then no one had dreamed Count
Schroeder, whose widows bitter grief
had brought her a second husband
had not died a natural death.
After she had made and signed her
confession bail was refused and she
was sent back to Jail charged with
the deaths OF the four children and
the attempted murder of Hauptrief.
Her brother. Richard Schultz was
| arrested and is at large on $4,000
bond The former doughboy is
| charged with having brought his sis
Neiderwald.
Interviewed in her cell. Mrs Haup-
trief has little to say.
i don't know why I did it." she
vouchsafed. They wouldn't mind
me. but / suppose they were average
children. Everything in the confess
sion is true, but 1 don't want to talk
about it now. Yes, my husband was
good to me-"
Husband Unconvfnced.
Deputy Sheriff Magruder says she
does not care to read, either papers
or books or magazines, but eats with
appetite and sleeps naturally. She
has shown grief only once. When
the baby Lenora was removed from
her she broke down and Sobbed
Perhaps she only weeps freely under
the stimulus of coffin.
friends say that as schoolgirl she
was intelligent and pretty. Now she
is a plump brunette and a typical
farmers wife. whose entire life has
been spent in the country.
II don't want to see any preachers
or DOCTORS" she tells her guardians
laconically.
Hauptrief asserts she was kind and
loving to him and the little brood she
slew so remorselessly- If she had an
object in poisoning them and trying
to poison him, he asks. why was she
energetic in trying to save them after
they were poisoned and so grief
stricken at their funerals? If in
sane, would a woman not given to
acting call for a doctor, worry over
each victim, nurse them tenderly and
show agonized sorrow over their
deaths? If sane, would a woman
whose every act toward the children
was kindness want to poison them?