Who's Who in Alchemy of Bones

Who's Who
Names beginning with
A B C D E F G H IJ K L M N O PQ R S T UV W XYZ
This index includes people in Alchemy of Bones, others connected with the Luetgert case and names that came up during the author's research.
Names in bold appear in the book. All addresses and ages are from 1897, and all addresses are in Chicago unless noted otherwise.
© 2003 Robert Loerzel.

Thomas H. Bacheler	A juror in the second Luetgert trial, who served as foreman.	Address: 380 40th Street. Occupation: Insurance solicitor for Fraternal Insurance Co. of Philadelphia.He had lived in Chicago for 19 years. Born: in Brooklyn, New York. Age: 41 or 43. Married.
Charles Bahanke	Bahanke who had worked for Luetgert for 16 years. He testified that he was packing and pickling sausage casings in the Luetgert factory on April 28, 1897, when he had a conversation with Mrs. Luetgert.	Address: 634 N. Paulina Street.
George Vincent Bailey Chicago Record, Sept. 14, 1897. Click on image for larger view. See another picture of Bailey testifying from the Sept. 14, 1897, Record. See a picture of Bailey from the Sept.15, 1897, Chicago Daily News.	An osteologist and paleontologist at the Field Columbian Museum who testified in the Luetgert trials. Describing him, Julian Hawthorne wrote, "He looks like a farmer at the fist glance; but when you note his square brow, and the singular intelligence of his eyes, you feel that he might be a farmer, but is certainly a great deal more." (Chicago Tribune, September 11, 1897.) A descendant reports: "Due to difficult personal circumstances in his life, he did not continue in his profession but worked as a foreman for a road construction firm in Orchard Park for fifteen years, ending in June 1931."	Born: September 15, 1858, Georgia. Address in 1897: 7204 or 7685 S. Chicago Avenue. His family moved from Chicago to western New York about 1905. Work history: Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum in Washington and the Ward Natural Science Establishment of Rochester, New York. Died: May 5, 1939, Orchard Park, New York. Buried: Williamsville Cemetery in Williamsville, New York. He and his wife have unmarked graves but a young daughter who died in 1907 has a marker. Variations of name: The Chicago Tribune incorrectly called him Charles Bailey.
Louis Balgamann	A farmer from Union Hill, Kankakee County, Illinois, and a relative of Mrs. Luetgert's.	Variations of name: Balleman.
Ballou	The former City Marshal of Elgin, he had followed the trail of a mysterious woman who had been seen near Kenosha and was thought to be Mrs. Luetgert. He was accompanied by a private detective from Chicago.	First name unknown.
James Baker	A man who testified about juror Boasberg’s bias.
Samuel S. Barber	A juror in the first Luetgert trial. Chicago Daily News, Oct. 21, 1897.	Address: 69 Laflin Street. Occupation: Clerk.
Frank P. Barcal	A captain at East Chicago Avenue police station who refused to let attorney William Vincent in to see Adolph Luetgert in the jail after Luetgert's arrest.
August Bargren	Bargren became the police chief of Rockford, Illinois, in 1893 and held the post for 47 years. He was mentioned in this September 27, 1897, Chicago Inter Ocean report: Two young men picked up a sealed bottle in Rock river this afternoon with the following note in it: "Have got the worst of it. Am going to die. Good-by to all good friends. Mrs. Louise Luetgert." The note was written on the blank side of an envelope, and has the appearance of being signed by a woman. On the east bank of the river, near where the bottle was picked up, was found a woman's fedora black hat, with a velvet ribbon on it. The articles were turned over to Chief Bargren this afternoon. One of the parties who picked them up is a motor man.
David Ellsworth Bates	A Chicago bigamist whose case drew press coverage as the Luetgert trials were taking place. Read about the trial of Bates the bigamist.
Louis Bauer	A potential juror in the first Luetgert trial who was excused for cause.
Nina Bauer	Luetgert's defense lawyers claimed Bauer was a "false witness" who was ready to testify that Luetgert and Feld had an intimate relationship. She is called "Nina" in the official court record and "Minnie" in newspaper accounts.
Charles Becker	On the witness list for the second trial; cited for contempt; his role in the case is uncertain.	Address: 1030 Willington Street.
Cora Beckwith	The head of a group of large female swimmers, she was among the entertainers performing in Chicago on May 1, 1897.
John P. Behmiller	A juror in the first Luetgert trial, described as "pompadoured butcher." Chicago Daily News, Oct. 21, 1897.	Address: Des Plaines. Occupation: Butcher.
John A. Benson	A professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago and the Chicago School of Law, who wrote a letter published January 2, 1898, in the Chicago Tribune on why criminals commit crimes.
Robert Berger	A partner of E.S. Dreyer & Co., the bank where Luetgert had much of his money. Read more about Chicago's Bank Panic of 1896.
Charles Bernhardt	A Kenosha farmer who said he saw a woman resembling Mrs. Luetgert.
Gustav Bertrand	A playwright (probably a pseudonym) who wrote a play supposedly based on the Luetgert case; debut was October 10, 1897, at Aurora Turner Hall, Huron Street and Milwaukee Avenue; the play was an advertising hoax without any true connection to the Luetgert trial.
Frank Bialk Chicago Tribune, Aug. 31, 1897.	The watchman at Luetgert factory, who led police to evidence in the building and testified at Luetgert's trial. Age: 65. Address: 95 or 103 High Street.
John Bialk	The son of Frank Bialk, he later became a Chicago police officer and was killed in the line of duty in 1916. Read about the killing of John Bialk. Chicago Daily News, Sept. 9, 1897.
Robert Bibby	A juror in the first Luetgert trial. Chicago Daily News, Oct. 21, 1897.	Address: 387 Oakley Avenue.
Diedrich Bicknese	Louise Luetgert's brother. View the Luetgert-Bicknese family tree.
Henry Bicknese	A brother of Louise Luetgert, who supposedly had been in a mental institution.
Louise Bicknese	Louise Luetgert's maiden name.
Wilhemina Bicknese	Wilemina Mueller's maiden name.
George J. Bierlen	A juror in the second Luetgert trial.	Address: 739 W. Lake Street. Age: 33. Born: In Indiana. Married. Occupation: Restaurant proprietor. Variations of name: Bierlan.
Dewey S. Bingham	A reporter for the Chicago Journal; he took part in the scheme to listen in on the jury.
August Blain	A man who lived in the old Luetgert house beginning in 1907, when it was moved to Diversey Boulevard, near Paulina Street.
Peter Blone	One of the guards who found Luetgert dying in his cell at the Illinois State Penitentiary in Joliet.
H. Boak	The name of a man who had supposedly had financial transactions with Luetgert. Prosecutors alleged that Boak was a fictitious character Luetgert had used to falsify his expense records.
Henry Boasberg	A juror in the second Luetgert trial, who was dismissed after co-workers testified about his bias against Luetgert.	Address: 2642 Wentworth Avenue. Age: 27. Occupation: Pressman at Donohue and Hereberry.
Charles Bockelman	An acquaintance of Emma Schimke, he tesitifed about her whereabouts on the night of Mrs. Luetgert's disappearance.	Age: 15. Address: 437 Oakdale. Variations of name: Bockerman, Brockerman.
Adolph Boelsteff	An inmate of the Dunning poorhouse who worked as night watchman in the laundry and told the press about his theory that the police had taken bones from Dunning to plant as evidence against Luetgert. Read more about the Dunning asylum and the case of the Dunning body-snatchers.	Variations of name: Bolstorff, Bolsteff.
Joseph Bohlek	A juror in the second Luetgert trial.	Address: 624 S. Center Avenue. Age: 27. Occupation: Musician.
Louis J. Bohmrich	A Kenosha attorney who claimed to have seen Mrs. Luetgert there.	Variations of name: Bohmrick.
Joseph B. Boyd	A juror in the first Luetgert trial. Chicago Daily News, Oct. 21, 1897.	Address: 3811 55th Street. Age: 69. Occupation: Printer. He had not had steady employment for three years at the time of the trial.
Albert Boyer	A man arrested on August 28, 1899, after breaking into Luetgert factory, he was sent to the insane asylum.	Address: 3247 Wentworth Avenue.
Ralph R. Bradley	A junior partner in law firm of Goodrich, Vincent & Bailey, which represented Luetgert. He testified about conversations he had with Luetgert. He also served as a receiver in the bankruptcy case resulting from the closing of Luetgert's factory. He talked of moving the factory's infamous vat to a museum for public display; Judge Gary threatened to find him in contempt if he moved the vat.	Address: Offices at 863 The Rookery, Chicago; home in Hinsdale.
Miss Brenock	An acquaintance of the Schimke sisters. Brenock told police Emma Schimke had told her that she and her little sister Gottlieba had seen Adolph and Louise Luetgert going towards their factory office on the night of May 1.	First name unknown.
Theodore Brentano	A Cook County superior court judge who visited the Luetgert trial and helped with translation.
E.C. Brice Chicago Journal, Dec. 6, 1897.	A representative of the Chicago Chemical Company, which had supposedly discovered the secret of alchemy in 1897.
Alice Bridgham	The stage name of a chorus girl, the wife of Dale Armstrong, who used to be a press agent in New Haven, Connecticut. She said she had met Mrs. Luetgert in July 1897 while staying at the Derby House in Boston.
George Briggs	A man who received chemical samples from reporter W.H. Stewart and turned them over to Dr. Gibson.
Steve Brodie	A man who offered Luetgert $1,000 a week to display him in a museum.
George Broughman	A businessman referred to in William Charles’ testimony. Charles said he had been working for Broughman in 1886 or so when he first met Adolph Luetgert.
C.E. Broughton	A reporter for a Fond du Lac newspaper who said a woman resembling Mrs. Luetgert stayed at the Ripon (Wisconsin) Hotel on May 20, 1897, and went to Fond du Lac on May 21.
Leonard Brunner	A Kenosha barber who saw a woman resembling Mrs. Luetgert. Chicago Journal, Sept. 24, 1897.
Charles H. Buchanan	A doctor whom the Luetgert defense tried to call as an expert witness in the second trial, he was disqualified from testifying because was the physician of juror Thomas H. Bacheler.	Address: 193 41st Street.
John Bucy	A farmer in Tekamah, Nebraska, who said he saw a woman resembling Mrs. Luetgert there.
John Burns	An expressman (delivery man) who burst into the second Luetgert trial and created a disturbance. The Chicago Evening Post reported on January 28, 1898: John Burns, drunk and armed with two revolvers and a dirk, caused a great scene at the door of Judge Gary's courtroom this afternoon before the opening of the ... afternoon session. He demanded admittance to the trial, and when denied it by the bailiffs on guard at the entrance, drew the revolvers and threatened to shoot anyone who would interfere with him. After causing a panic among the spectators at the trial, Burns was knocked down and overcome. Deputy Sheriff George Albrecht dealt the blow that kept the frenzied man from carrying out this threat to kill the doorkeepers. Albrecht and Officer Sullivan with the assistance of a dozen other deputies and policemen held the man until the arrival of the patrol wagon, and Burns was taken to the Chicago Avenue police station. When the man appeared... it was noticed that he was intoxicated. His demand to be let in was denied and he was pushed aside. This angered him and he suddenly drew the two revolvers. People in the hall fled and the many women visitors who were arriving about this time screamed. A bailiff knocked the weapons out of the man's hand. Thereupon he went for a guard with a long knife. Deputy Sheriff Albrecht seized the opportunity and dealt Burns a blow which felled him, and he was overpowered.
Joshua Burr	A guard at the former Luetgert factory at the time of Luetgert's death in 1899.
Fred Butler	A man who was supposed to take Hugh McGowan home on the night that McGowan died.


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