Evening star., 1927-03-23


back to Washington and placed in
Gallinger Municipal Hospital under
police guard.
In the meantime the disappearan
of both DR.. and Mrs. Houck had been
called to the attention of the police.
1t was discovered the day after they
left, when friends called bent upon
persuading Dr. Houck to go away for
a long rest, and found their 2-year-old-
son, Ole, wandering around the
apartment crying. Startling dis
succession.
The manager of the drug store be-
low the Houck apartment told of
hearing the young psychiatrist order
some of Mrs. Houck's clothing burned.
Having noticed the absence of the
young wife, the druggist quietly or
dered the janitor to let the articles
remain on the back porch, where DIR.
Houck had put them. They proved to
be Mrs. Houck's silken nightgOwn,
torn to shreds and bearing stains
that resembled blood, and some other
articles. DIR. HOuckS s SpectacleS,
smashed and bent beyond further use,
were with these articles.
Citizens of Congress Heights joined
the police in searching the woods that
almost surrounds the Houck home
for the woman's body. When rela-
tives of both DR.. Houck and Mrs.
Houck arrived, the former from Wis
consin and the latter from Ohio they
enlisted the aid of the War Depart
ment and two companies of soldiers
from Boiling Field were ordered to
begin systematic tour of the woods
in close formation. These searches
availed nothing and police turned
their attention elsewhere.
In the meantime. DR.. HOuck had
reached Washington. carefully guard
ed, but was able to add nothing of
material benefit to the police. AL
though suffering from manic depres-
sion, according TO his mother and doc
tors, he had many lucid hours, dur
ing which he recounted the happen
ings of that last night he and his wife
were together. He admitted that he
had attacked Mrs. Houck that he
had beaten her "brutally and unmerci
fully" But he added that he was sure
he had not killed her.
Goes Into BrainstOrm.
Asked how he could be SO positive,
DR.. Houck went off on hrainstorm
for minute and then returned to the
subject with the explanation that he
and his wife had made up" that he
had gone to sleep and awoke from a
good dream just in time to see his
wife slip quietly out the door"
When he awoke again at daybreak
she was still missing and he went in
search, thinking she had taken a walk
toward the Potomac River. about two
miles distant from the home. he said.
Failing to find her, he apparently col
lapsed completely, destroyed all signs
of the fight the night before and dis
appeared himself.
Under the careful ministrations of
the doctors at Gallinger Hospital, and
helped to an exceptional degree by
his own knowledge of his affiictiOn,
DR.. Houck recovered rapidly from his
gloomier phases of depression. As
his lucid periods became longer and
more frequent, he would talk to the
police for hours, thinking of the names
of friends and relatives in distant
cities. where his wife might have fled
to protection.
All Places Visited.
Every one of these places was
visited. The search for Mrs. Houck
became almost nation wide. Each
time a new address was recalled from
DR. Houck's clouded brain, the police
of that city were notified and asked
Z v
time. however. the same disappointing
answer came back over, the wires:
Not there" Newspaper men Joined
in the hunt and went in person to
distant cities where it was thought |
Mrs. HOuck might have fled.
DR.. Houck insisted that his wife |
was not dead. that she. had only run !
away and was hiding until the pub |
licity died down. because she was |
f,.ni fnII I,a ct. tI,
last weeks of their life together, |
when the depression was dropping |
over her husband But she could be |
found nowhere. She was known to |
have little money when she left her |
home, so the authorities knew she
would have been compelled 10 SO 10 |
friends or relatives or else remain in |
where she was too well |
known to escape notice long.
Apartment Often Searched.
A dozen times the Houck apartment
was searched and researched. Trunks |
were emptied, attics were gone over
inch by inch, walls were sounded and
even the entire sewer system of Con
gress Heights was combed in an eff
fort to find the womans body, if she
was really dead.
The Potomac River was dragged /
several times around sections where
it was thought she could either have
jumped or been thrown. All to no
avail.
For almost month this intensive
search was pressed both by the local
and by the office of the
United States district attorney The
latter became interested because DIR.
tiouck was 4 Government employe,
and took a hand when il was insin-
ha 10
dropping the case too soon.
Finally DR.. Houck' s friends and rel
atives succeeded in having him re-
moved from Gallinger to Walter Reed
Hospital where 1t was thought his
would be less depress-
Ing. The next move was TO send him
to Johns Hopkins Hospital. in Balti,