Where Mrs. Luetgert Was Seen:
Racine, Wisconsin

After reports that Mrs. Luetgert had been seen in Wisconsin, Luetgert's defense attorney, William Vicent, told the Chicago Tribune on May 20, 1897:

"I immediately dispatched two men to Kenosha and one to Racine with a photograph of the woman, and have since had a report from them over the telephone. They report to me that there is no doubt that the woman (seen near there) is Mrs. Luetgert, and I am satisfied of it also."

The hunt did not turn up Louise Luetgert, however. Then, on August 10, the Tribune published the following story beneath the headline "Now She's in Wisconsin."

Racine, Wis. ¾ A small boy found a beer bottle floating in the lake today, which contained the following note:

To the public: I am still alive, but it is impossible for me to get free. I have been imprisoned by some unknown persons, and in an unknown place. This is the only method for making others know I am alive. MRS. LUETGERT.

The boy turned the bottle and its missive over to the police.

On Aug. 13, the Green Bay Advocate reported:

Racine, Wis. ¾ Last evening a son of Luetgert ... reached here yesterday and went direct to the police officer. He told Chief of Police Johnson that he came after a note that had been found in a bottle and picked up on the lake shore a few days ago.

The note was in a beer bottle and found floating a quarter of a mile in the lake. As the note is in the possession of Officer Harding, who resides in the south part of the city, it impossible to get it for Mr. Luetgert and he returned to Chicago without obtaining it. The son said that he was working on the theory that his mother was living, but that the Chicago police were working the other way.

The police here and others who have read the note believe it is a fake and that it was written by some person passing on a steamboat and thrown into the lake. It is dated August 1.

Read about other places where the missing Mrs. Luetgert was supposedly seen.