A CHICAGO MYSTERY. (Melbourne Argus Correspondent.) New York, November 5..

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 30

A CHICAGO MYSTERY. (Melbourne Argus Correspondent.) New York, November 5..

At the close of * very sensational trial, whfeft comumed eight weeks, Adolph L. Luetgcrb, tha Chicago sausago manufacturer, charged with having mu.dered his wife, escaped conviction by a disagreement, of the jury. Nine of the jurymen voted for conviction, but the remaining three would nob yield, and the disagreement was accepted after the jury had been out 66 hours. Euetgwt will be tried again. This was* an extraordinary case; The man had a large factory, but ab the time' of tho disappearance of his wife no work had been done in it for two monl.hff. He had lived with his wife unhappily, and his attentions to other women had given hex abundant cause for jealousy. He desired to get rid of- her. She was liub neen going wirh him from ' their house to the factory one night «fe half-past 10. A few 'days earlier Luetgert had bought and placed in the factocy a J»rg« quantity of crade potash. Th*fc night tbi» potash was dissolved in a large vat in the basement by Luetgert, and sUana waa applied to the solution. The prosecution undertook to prove thab he dixeolved his wife'ii body in the vab, and showed by fxperimenta with corpses that he could have done this under the conditions present. Remnants of boaep^ declared by experts to be those cf a human being; w.re found at the bottom ofthe' vaV*nd with 'them two gold rings, beating Mrs Lu«tgerfc's' initials. Witnesses swore lhat one of these was.her wedding ring, and that she bad been accustomed to wear, both of them. Tho same right, moreover, although tb.B factory bad been • rdle for -some weeks; Lufetgerfc burned something in the furnace fire, and "would 'not: permit the watchman to" be present ia tho fucnace room. Luetgert fiimself raked cub the ashes and disposed of them. In these aihes were found fragments of bones and the steel* of a corse*--. Anatomical experts employed by the defence averted that toe bones found in the vat and in the ashes were not furely those of a human being, and Luetgert'a lawyers tried to prove that tbe woman had been seen in an adjoining State alter the nighb of her disappearance in Chicago, but the credibility of the witnesses testifying- on this point wm successfully impeachedv Ib was shown that the body could I\ave been distolved and destroj ed by the caustic and heated liquid which, Luetgdrt undoubtedly did prepare in the vab, and in connection with which he was busily engßgeil throughout the night ; *nd an accumulation ot circumstantial evidence which was co iiv: rifting; to 'nine of th'o" jurors, as ifc was. to the public, indicated that after murdering hi* wife he had disposed of her body in this way.

This dull and heavy fellow, believed by the public generally to be guilty of a most revolting crimp, hss been curiously attract ive to women wbile coifinetf in gaol'aijd during his trial. B »fore th« beginning of the lri.il 2400 women called upon him in , the pricon. and more than 100 of tbee brought gifts 6f flower*, while no fewer than 17 left preeeola of j-.vrellery/ Since his arrest he has received 38 offers. of marriujce, more than half of which were sincerely made, although thft nuifors could scarcely have overlooked, the faot fchab if ha were in condition I lawfully to take a second wifohis firvt one tnnat | bava beea murdered by hia own baud. A play I founded upon fcb.is e**>e h&s been produced in Chicago, and the manager who pub ib en the ' board's' hoped 'that Lut'tgerfc would consent to >;tako ]bße leading role if"the jury should acquit 'him...