The sun. [volume], August 31, 1913, FOURTH SECTION PICTORIAL MAGAZINE, Page 14, Image 46

About The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916

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14
THE SUN, SUNDAY, AUGUST 31, 1913.
GHOSTS SUPPLY THRILLS FOR CHICAGO FLAT DWELLERS
7 L lljl Mr J
Hair Raising Experiences Reported by Tenants of Building
in Which Adolph Leutgert Murdered His Wife
in i 807 Spooks Resemble Sausage Maker
and Woman He Killed
ADOLPH LEUTGERT.
CHICAGO has Jut awakened to
the fact that it has a haunted
house about which centres a
ghost story of a kind to delight
believers in spooks and hobgoblins and
sufficiently weird to puzzle the sceptical.
The house was the former home of
Adolph Leutgert, a sausage maker, who
In 1897 was convicted of killing his wife
and destroying her body in a vat of add.
Leutgert died in Joliet penitentiary, to
which he had been sentenced for life.
The ghosts are supposed to be the
phantoms of the murderer and his wife.
One of the ghosts is described as a
tall, corpulent man with black mustache,
clad in a black suit with white linen
hlrt and collar, a black tie and a black
derby hat The other is said to be
woman In a gown of white lace with
long, dark hair flowing loosely down
her back. These descriptions fit Leut
gert and his wife. Mrs. Leutgert was
burled In Just such a gown.
The two ghosts, it is asserted, have
been seen many times by many persons.
No two descriptions of them differ in
any essential detail. This would seem
to dispose of the theory that they are
mere figments of individual imagination.
If the ghosts are not authentic at
least they have been assumed to be so
by a Catholic priest who has furnished
one housewife with holy water with
which to lay the spirits. Sprinkled
about the house, this consecrated water,
It is said, has oeen effective in exorcis
ing the phantoms for a time.
The ghosts never appear together nor
on the same night. Neither ghost ever
has been seen In the daytime. Queer
noises have been heard In the daytime,
but there have been no materialisations.
For the most part the spirits have
been content with gliding about in the
conventional ghostly way, but on sev
eral occasions they have shown them
selves possessed of force. Once, ac
cording to the stories, one of the spirits
turned out a gas Jet. On another occa
aion a spirit hand held open a door
which resisted all the strength of
young woman to pull it shut. Again a
light which seemed to come from a lamp
held In a ghostly grip passed down a
stairway and disappeared In the base
ment laundry, where Immediately after
ward there arose a hubbub as If
washtubs were being Jerked violently
about.
It Is a common belief that the lower
animals, have a more highly developed
clairvoyant sense than human beings.
This would seem to be borne out by the
actions of a dachshund owned by one
of the families in the building. Often
when nothing Is visible that might per
turb It this little animal stares at va
cancy and growls and barks as though
t an intruder. Often too when a mem
ber of the family has been confronted
by an apparition the dog has growled
and circled about the spot on which
the phantom was supposed to be
standing.
The Leutgert murder occurred In
May, 1897. Leutgert had grown rich
as a manufacturer of sausage. His
factory still stands at the corner of
DI verse y Boulevard and North Hermi
tags avenue. His home was next door
1b Hermitage avenue. He had been
twice married. His first wife died
under circumstances which led to the
suspicion that he had murdered her.
He had been married to his second wife
eighteen years. He was 62 and she
was 42.
A week after her sudden disappear
ance her brother asked the police to
investigate. The police searched the
factory. They drained a large vat
filled with strong acid. At the bottom
they foun,U two gold rings, one of which
was inscribed with Mrs. Leutgert'
Initials; some steel corset stays and
a bone of a woman's foot. This was all
that was ever found of tho missing
woman.
Leutgert made a hard fight in court.
His first trial resulted In a disagree
ment, but at his second trial be was
found guilty of the murder and sen
tenced to the penitentiary (or Ufa. He
Is said to have called down a curse on
the jury that convicted him, and as an
interesting detail It may he added that
in a few years after his trial the
majority of the Jurors came to a
violent or sudden death. The sausage
maker went to prison a broken man
He died less than three years after he
had donned the garb of a convict. Tin;
motive assigned for the murder was
that Leutgert was infatuated with
another woman.
leutgert s home was a three story
irame building with an attic. Whether
the murder was committed In the house
or in the sausage factory was never
established. For years after the mur
der the Leutgert home remained un
occupied. Five years ago it was pur
chased by Mrs. John Blane, who moved
it to its present location at 1641 Di
versey Boulevard and divided it Into
Ave flats. Recently Mrs. Blane sold
the building to John Lutga, who still
owns it.
All the flats are now occupied. In
the basement flat lives Fred Berger
with his wife and five children. In the
two flats on the second floor live Oustav
Karl and Frank Laden, and In the two
upper flats Mrs. Sophia Harp ling and
Mrs. John Hackett.
Myra Berger is a pretty girl 18 years
old employed as a switchboard operator
In one of the Chicago Telephone Com
pany's downtown exchanges. She
works until 10 P. M. and usually gets
home about 11. Before retiring she is
accustomed to eat a light lunch in the
dining room, which Is separated from
the parlor by an open arch supported
at either side by slender wooden pillars.
She has had more adventures with the
ghosts than any other member of the
family.
MI have seen both ghosts many
times," said the young woman as she
sat In the parlor of her home. "One of
my most harrowing experiences oc
curred only a week ago.
"I had come home from work a little
late and was eating my lunch In the
dining room. A light in an electric
globe was burning over the table. The
parlor was dark except for the light
from the dining room. It was close to
midnight when I heard a noise in the
parlor and I had a sudden startling
sensation of not being alone.
"I glanced into the dim parlo- and
saw the figure of a man, tall, power
runy num. standing in a corner near
the front window. While I looked, too
rrightened to scream, the figure came
toward me. It paused directly under
the arch between the parlor and- the
dining room and placed one hand on
one of the pillars of the arch and stood
staring at me out of wide open, glassy
expressionless dead man's eyes. 1
could sec It plainly. Its face was of a
deathly pallor. It made no motion
uttered no sound Just stood and stared
blankly at me.
"While It stood leaning against the
pillar our little dachshund, that had been
lying on the floor near me. saw it too
and Jumping up growled savagely and
started to circle about the thing, sniff
ing at It. All this had taken place In
a moment. Then I screamed and ran
into my bedroom. Just off the dining
room.
"My scream awoke my sister Hattle,
who Is my bedfellow, and my mother,
who sleeps In a rear room. Both came
running into the dining room, but the
figure of the man had vanished Into
thin air.
"On another occasion, while Hattle
and I were asleep In our room, we were
awakened by footsteps that crossed the
parlor floor and the dining mum floor
and stopped directly by our door. At
first we thought that perhaps our father
was up and walking almut and I called
out: 'Papa, Is that you?'
jubi men ine ooor or our room
opened slowly and there In the doorway
stood the same tall, powerfully built
man In the derby and block suit of
clothes, staring at us out of wide, blank
eyes. We both saw It. It stood staring
at us for several minutes and then
Just seemed to fade into nothingness.
"One night again Hattle and I were
awakened from sleep suddenly at the
same time. As we opened our eyes
we saw standing motionless and silent
at the foot of our bed a woman, rather
tall and slender, with long dark hair
hanging down her back and clad In a
gown that seemed white and lacy and
somehow rather luminous. Her eyes,
like those of the man, were wide open
and staring and looked like the eyes of a
person who had Just died. In the dim
light that came In through the windows
we thought her face looked troubled
and sad.
"She gazed at ua until wo both
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Top Old Leutgert sausage factory where the body of the murdered Mrs. Leutgert was supoosed to
nave oeen destroyed in a vat of. acid. Building is now used as a library furniture
factory. Bottom The old Leutgert home as it is to-day.
screamed and then she vanished. Our
mother and father came running to
our room and again we searched the
house, but found nothing.
'One night while I was undressing In
my room I heard a distinct rustle in
the parlor like that of silk. The light
in my room was lighted and streaming
through the door lighted the parlor
dimly. Looking through the door 1 saw
the woman in white.
"She was standing with her hack to
me by the mantelpiece and seemed to
be looking at the reflection of her face
in the mirror. I could see not only her
back with her long flowing hair that
swept below her waist but the reflec
tion of her face in the mirror. Here
was a ghost sufficiently substantial to
be reflected In a mirror.
"While I looked at her she turned
and came toward me with her hands
held out slightly in what seemed a
pleading attitude. I stood petrified un
til she had come almost to the thresh
old of my door within two or three
feet of me and then I screamed. Then
she faded out Just as I have seen pic
tures on a screen fade away.
"I have seen the same woman on a
number of other occasions and always
she seemed to materialise in front of
the parlor grate. This fireplace is
about six steps from the corner In
which the man always materialises. '
Hattie Berger is a stenographer and
works in the daytime. She told of one
of her adventures with the woman in
white In this way:
"I was In the dining room one eve
ning when I saw a spider crawling on
the wall. According to a German su
perstition It Is bad luck to kill a spider
in the house so I let It crawl onto a
newspaper and then folding it in front
of me I walked to the front door and
threw it outside. I closed the front
door and locked it again and turned to
go back through the parlor to the din
ing room.
"As I turned I saw to my astonish
ment the woman in white standing by
my side. I was frightened half out of
my wits, but I did not scream. I hur
ried through the little front hall. The
woman kept pace with me, sliding along
directly at my side. I dashed through
the door which leads Into the parlor and
tried to shut It to keep the woman out.
When I attempted to pull the door to I
could not do It.
"I glanced back and saw that the
woman hud placed a hand on the door
and was holding It open, and tug as I
would I could not force the door shut.
Ho I ceased trying to close It and ran
back into the kitchen, where my mother
and the other members of the family
were, and there I fell over in a swoon
It took them ten minutes to revive me.
The family searched the house, but
found nothing out of the way."
Mrs. Berger Is a stout, motherly Ger
man woman. She believes firmly that
her flat Is haunted, but she herself has
never seen the ghosts. The presence of
tne ghosts does not seem to worry her.
She takes them in a matter of fact
way as she might the measles or the
whooping cough in her family.
"I did not believe in ghosts until
moved Into this flat two years ago," said
Mrs. Berger. "Though I have never
seen the phantoms I have had a few
uncanny experiences.
"One evening while I was sitting In
the dining room with the door leading
to the kitchen wide open the gas Jet In
the kitchen, which I had left lighted,
suddenly went out. I hurried into the
kitchen to see who had turned off the
light. There was no one there and
everybody else in tho house was in bed
asleep. How It happened Is still a mys
tery.
"The two flats above ua remained
vacant for three or four months. Tho
Swans and the Krafts, who had lived
there, had both moved away because
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MRS. LOUISA LUETGERT.
First Jury of Women to Sit in Chicago Court
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For the Arst time in the history of Cook County. 111., six women sat as a iurv in the Raum far h
Insane at the Detention Hospital in Chicago on August 7. The court was nresided over hv Cnuntv .inow
John E. Owens and the many stories told during the hearing of the twenty-five cases of women and chil-
aren caused tne jury to weep.
From left to right are Dr. Anna Dwver. Mrs. John McMahon. Mrs. nenra p. Vnakrink m.
Thomas Meder, Miss Minnie F. Lowe and Dr. Clara Sieffel, forewoman.
they had been kept on a constant nervous
tension from hearing uncanny noises
and seeing the same phantoms of a man
and a woman as my daughters had seen.
"While the flats were vacant every
member of my family would hear al
most niKhtly heavy footsteps crossing
the bare floors. Af Arst we thought
that perhaps some one was In the Hate
and investigated, but never found any
one. and at last stopped paying any at
tention to the constant footfalls, being
convinced that '.he noises were due to
tile pacing back and forth of the uneasy
spirits that haunt the house.
"My children began to see the ghosts
soon after we moved into our flat.
Thev saw either th mnn m
two or three nights every week. They
were kept In a constantly nervous and
frightened state, and I at last laid the
matter before Father McGuire of St.
Honaventure s Catholic Church, of which
we are members.
"The priest advised me to sprinkle
my house with holy water and gave me
the water for the purpose. I took the
water home and sprinkled it all atwit
the rooms, and for a week afterward we
were not troubled by any ghostly visita
tions. Then, when the influence of the
holy water had worn off. the ghosts
came again, and again I laid them with
another sprinkling. Hut .atciy they
have seemed to defy the holy water."
Mrs. Sophia Harpling, who lives in one
of the third floor fiats, has not hH
many adventures with the ghosts as the
Uergers, but she has hud enough to
satisfy any woman of nerves.
"I was convinced that the house was
haunted the second night after I had
taken possession of my flat," said Mrs.
Harpling. "I had turned out the light
In my room and had gone to bed. I
was lying wide awake when suddenly a
woman in white appeared at my bed-
siue.
"Her gown was of lacy material and
suggested a shroud ami her i,,m- Ar,
hair hung loosely down her back. I
thought at flrst that I was dreaming
and pinched myself to see that I was
awake. I turned over In bed and tried
to force myself to go to sleep, but It
was Impossible. I was convinced by
this time that my visitant was a ghost.
I turned again in bed and faced it.
"'What do you want?' I Anally man
aged to say.
"I had heard that a ghost can speak
only when spoken to. Hut the phantom
made no reply. At the sound of my
voice It glided slowly away and seemed
to fade out into the moonlight through
the closed window."
Mrs. Justine Krauss, who once
boarded with me, complained often of
seeing the same woman in white in
her bedroom at night. At midnight al
most every night Mrs. Krausss bureau
would be pulled several feet from the
wall and her toilet nrti,-ina u.
violently shaken by some unseen agency.
wmu or iwice ner toilet bottles were
overturned. In a few minutes the bu
reau would be shoved back into place
by the same invisible force. She used
to watch for this occurrence in the hope
of solving the mystery, but though the
bureau went througli Its strange antics
every night before her v
- J , ....V ... . I
could Agure out the forco that moved
11.
"One night With Mrs. I.:i,j,. ,.. i
in the flat below me, I was standing
at the head of the back stairs, which
lead down to the laundry. The stair
way was dark. Suddenly a little way
down the steps a light appeared. It
seemed to come from n limn tha nn-
llne of which we thonirht bm
dlmiy. But to our horror the lamp
seemed to float along In spare with no
visible hand to hold It. We heard foot
steps descending the stairs, but saw
no one.
"The light paused for a moment at
the door of the laundry. We heard the
doorknob rattle. The door opened, the
light passed inside and the door closed
upon It. Then we heard a great noise
and commotion In the laundry, as
though the tubs were being violently
moved about.
"We rushed downstairs very much
frightened and called Mrs. Merger and
told her what had happened. Then we
three women went Into the laundry and
turned on the electric lights. There
was no one there and no sign that any
one had been there. Neither was any
lamp to be found. The windows were
all fastened and there was no way for
any one to get out unless being seen by
one of us."
Vera Harpling. 12 years old. Mrs.
Harpllng's daughter, has also seen tho
woman In white.
"I was reading a book In our parlor
one evening," aaid the little girl, "when
I heard a noise in the room. I looked
up and saw a woman in white, with her
hair down her back, standing across
the room staring at me.
"I wasn't frighteneil. I wasn't think
ing of ghosts. I though) tho woman was
some one who had calle.l to see mama.
Before I could say anything to her shn
moved away along the wall. In doing
so she passed by an oil painting and I
could see the picture right through her.
She glided a little way further and faded
right Into the wall."
"My most terrifying experience," said
Anna Berger. 16 years old. "was with
the woman in white, i me evening about
9 o'clock 1 saw the figure of the woman
in her white gown and with her hair
down her bark standing near the flrc
place in the parlor. I screamed at the
top of my voice. The woman did not
vanish, but seemed to drift like a white
mist to the front of the room.
"My mother, sisters and little brother
came running to my side. My mother
caught up a chair to break over any
Intruder's head.
"'What's the matter?' she gasped.
" 'There look there,' I said, pointing
across the parlor, where I could still
see the woman In white quite distinctly.
'"Where?" asked my mother, edging
across the room with the chair held
menacingly.
"'There,' I cried, 'don't you see It?
"But my mother saw nothing and
neither did any of the others. Then
my mother turned on the electric swrtth"
and as the room was lighted the Agure,
of the woman vanished. I was terribly
frightened, but I could not help laugh
ing at the thought of my mother brand
ishing a chair with which to knock a
ghost over the head."
New Walk at High Bridge
I TASHINGToX HEIGHTS has
YV a rivsl to the city's most
popular promenade the
large circular reservoir In Central
Park," remarked a man who lives up
town. "Like the promenade in Cen
tral Park, the Washington Heights
promenade Is built around a reservoir
that Is situated at the base of the High
Bridge Tower and runs from 173d to
174th street, Amsterdam avenue, cast
of the long Alght of steps that lead to
the western approach to High Fridge
"The High Bridge- promenade does
not compare with that in Central Park
In size; for the retservoir in Centra!
Park Is 1.6 mil. s in circumference
while the High Bridge reservoir it
about one-third of a mile; but It Is rel
atively Just as popular as Its larget
rival.
'During the hot weather refreshing
breezes sweep over the gravel walk that
constitutes the promenade. The walk
Is many feet above the ordinary street
level, about the height of the second
story of the Aathouses on the other side
of Amsterdam avenue. A good many
persona are in the habit of ollmblna
to tho promenade on weekdays, ane
Sundays and getting the cool breeze
that are to be found on top.
"There are two flights of utalrs lead
ing up to It, one on the l?3d street
side of the reservoir and the other on
Ida east side, facing the Hat I-m River.
"Until recently the stalls were not
protected by gates and consequently
access to the promenade was allowed
twenty-four hours a day. on Inn nlghti
many people availed themselves of the
opportunity to climb to the prom
enade and sit on the edge of the gravel
walk where they were sure to get a
breeze If there was one blowing. Women
brought children there so they, too
could get the benefit of the cool air.
No one disturbed them.
"Hut a few weeks ago. poopls who
had formed the habit of climbing to the
promenade when tho w.ather was hot
found their way blocked by heavy gutes.
These gates are opened from s A- M
to ft I'. M.
"of course, these hours constitute the
better part of the day and personn who
are In the vicinity of the reservoir dur
ing these hours will have ample oppor
tunity to climb to the promenade; but
how about the people who do not ar
rive home until long after 5 1'. M , who
would like to visit the promenade und
peep over the railing Into ten million
gallons of crystal water? They cer
tainly will have to forego that pleasure
with the gutes locked at an early
hour."