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The Murder
On May 1, 1897, Louise Luetgert disappeared. Although no body was found, Chicago police arrested her husband, Adolph, the owner of a large sausage factory, and charged him with murder. The eyes of the world were still on Chicago following the success of the World's Columbian Exposition, and the Luetgert case, with its missing victim, once-prosperous suspect, and all manner of gruesome theories regarding the disposal of the corpse, turned into one of the first media-fueled celebrity trials in American history.
Newspapers fought one another for scoops, people across the country claimed to have seen the missing woman alive, and each new clue led to fresh rounds of speculation about the crime. Meanwhile, sausage sales plummeted nationwide as rumors circulated that Luetgert had destroyed his wife's body in one of his factory's meat grinders.
Alchemy of Bones by Robert Loerzel
The case is described in full detail in the book Alchemy of Bones by Robert Loerzel
Book at Amazon.com
Book at Google
Alchemy of Bones Website
Other Books Discussing the Case
The Use of Forensic Anthropology By Robert B. Pickering
The Justice Story: True Tales of Murder, Mystery, Mayhem By Joseph McNamara
The Principles of Judicial Proof By John Henry Wigmore
Homicide by the Rich and Famous By Gini Graham Scott
The Casebook of Forensic Detection By Colin Evans
Other Links
Dark Destinations
Documentary Video on the Ghost of Louisa Luetgert
Prairie Ghosts
Blogged at This Old Pallet
The Murder in the NY Times
| Date
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| May 19, 1897, Wednesday | ANOTHER LUETGERT MURDER?; Chicago Packer Arrested for Wife Murder Suspected of a Crime Eighteen Years Ago
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| July 21, 1897, Wednesday |
THE LUETGERT CASE.; Story that the Woman Alleged to Have Been Killed Is Alive Not Believed
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| September 3, 1897, Wednesday |
LUETGERT'S TRIAL FOR MURDER; Polack Workman Tells About Preparing the Sausage Vat and Cleaning It Up
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| September 5, 1897, Wednesday |
LUETGERT MURDER TRIAL; Mrs. Christine Feldt Produces Letters the Defendant Wrote to Her from Jail. SKULL BONE FOR EVIDENCE A Girl Says She Saw the Luetgerts Going to the Sausage Factory -- Expert Opinion on the Destruction of a Body
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| September 21, 1897, Wednesday
| THE LUETGERT MURDER TRIAL.; State's Attorney Asks for More Money to Carry on the Case -- Witnesses for Defense
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| September 26, 1897, Wednesday |
LUETGERT MURDER TRIAL; Mary Siemering, Servant in the Sausage Maker's House, on the Witness Stand. SEVERE CROSS-EXAMINATION Admits the Luetgerts Quarreled -- Affirms that the Supposed Victim Told Her She Was Going Away -- Alleged Relations with the Accused Denied
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| September 28, 1897, Wednesday | LUETGERT MURDER TRIAL; The Accused Man's Partner Takes the Stand to Explain Suspicious Circumstances. USE OF THE CAUSTIC POTASH The Witness Said It Was Bought to Make Soft Soap and Not to Dissolve Mrs. Luetgert's Body -- A Crush at the Trial
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| October 12, 1897, Wednesday |
LUETGERT MURDER TRIAL.; Defense Rests Its Case -- Assistant State's Attorney McEwen Begins Argument for the State
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| October 14, 1897, Wednesday |
LUETGERT MURDER TRIAL.; Attorney Phalen Talks All Day for the Defense
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| October 15, 1897, Wednesday | LUETGERT MURDER TRIAL.; Argument for the Defense by Mr. Phalen and ex-Judge Vincent
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| October 22, 1897, Wednesday |
LUETGERT JURY DISAGREES; Nine for Conviction and Three for Acquittal, and Neither Side Willing to Yield. LONG MURDER TRIAL ENDED Counsel for the Chicago Sausage Maker to Ask To-day that He Be Admitted to Bail Pending His Second Trial
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| November 24, 1897, Wednesday |
JUDGE GARY TO TRY LUETGERT.; He Presided at the Haymarket Square Anarchists' Trials in Chicago
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| February 10, 1898, Wednesday |
LUETGERT IS CONVICTED; Chicago Sausagemaker Sentenced to Penitentiary for Life for Murder of His Wife. LAUGHED AT THE VERDICT Said It Is Not in Accordance with the Evidence and Is Confident a New Trial Will Be Granted
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