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.

Fred Tallowse	A Chicago police officer involved in the Luetgert case.
Sophia Tews Chicago Daily News.	A cousin of Louise Luetgert, she testified about Mrs. Luetgert's rings.	Address: 222 Evergreen Avenue. Variations of name: Tewes, Touhy or Tuohy. Husband: Carl Tews. Maiden name: Sophia Meinkings or Meinking. Sister: Louise Law.
Oliver Joseph Thatcher	A professor of history at the University of Chicago who was an acquaintance of Robert Davey's. Thatcher met Davey when he was in Berlin in 1896 during a leave of absence. Based on Thatcher's interview with the Chicago Inter Ocean, it appears unlikely that he was unaware of Davey's fraud schemes. Although Thatcher himself was not a victim of Davey's scams, Davey used his friendship with the professor to gain credibility as he tried to cheat Luetgert. Thatcher, 1857-1937, wrote, co-wrote, edited or translated a number of books, which are still cited today as references on European history. It seems likely that Thatcher was at work on one of his European histories when he met Davey in Berlin. He published Europe in the Middle Age (co-written with Ferdinand Schwill) in 1896, followed by A Short History of Mediaeval Europe in 1897. Later books include A General History of Europe, A Sketch of the History of the Apostolic Church, the 10-volume series The Ideas That Have Influenced Civilization in the Original Documents, and A Source Book for Medieval History. Read about Robert Davey's blackmail scheme.
Daisy Thompson	A resident of Kewanee, Illinois, who said she met Mrs. Luetgert while traveling in a special train car near Monmouth, Illinois. She had been a circus equestrian, and her husband, William, gave glass-blowing demonstrations. The Nov. 20, 1897, Kewanee Star reported: "On Chestnut street almost across the road from Cameron and Hawthornes livery stable is a shooting gallery conducted by William Thompson. The place has proved popular and is frequented by many persons anxious to show their ability with the gun, but a far better shot than any of them is the wife of Mr. Thompson, (a) woman not yet middle aged. They came here some time ago in their private car which still stands on the north tracks of the yards. Mrs. Thompson is the same person who last week brought suit against the Rock Island and Peoria railroad for injuries caused by too violent handling of her car at Galva." When she testified, the Jan. 27, 1898, Chicago Record referred to her as "the only witness who wore diamonds." Fred Dahlinger, Jr., director of Historic Resources and Facilities at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin, reports that this William Thompson is likely to be the same person as William M. Thompson (not to be confused with William M. "Egypt" Thompson or William C. Thompson, other known circus professionals), a known elephant trainer who died at the age of 66 on February 19, 1920 in Chicago's Cook County Hospital. He was born in Michigan (possibly in Ypsilanti), circa 1854. His nickname among older showmen was "Baldy." He rated both a regular and a circus column obituary in two issues of The Billboard, then an amusement trade weekly magazine [February 28, 1920, page 92; March 6, 1920, pages 58, 60]. His career engagements included: 1869 Campbell's Circus 1876 Montgomery Queen Circus 1878, 1880 Adam Forepaugh Circus 1881 John Robinson Circus [reportedly as ringmaster] unknown year, sometime 1871-1888, Burr Robbins Circus, Janesville, Wisconsin 1887, 1888, 1914 Frank A. Robbins Circus unknown years, worked elephants in vaudeville circa 1918-1919, worked as a glass blower at Riverview Park 1919? Rhoda Royal Circus (could also have been with an earlier Royal outfit) "The obituary stated that he was also the first man to place a glass-blowing outfit on a railroad car, but the date is not given," Dahlinger writes. "Glassblowers gave exhibitions back at least into the 1870s on circuses, and likely before that in other venues.Traveling an entire show by railroad car would have been a novelty, but there were a number of railroad car-based museums and menageries in show history.He may have been part of one of them, like W. C. Coup's 1891 Rolling Palaces, which ended up in the hands of Chicago club owner Thomas Grenier. "He was buried by the Showmens League of America (still active in downtown Chicago) and was interred in Showmens Rest, Woodlawn Cemetery.Three daughters survived him, but it's unknown if they were from his first or second marriage... "Daisy has, so far, avoided being identified. ... She may have been the rider Daisy Ramsdell, 1886 with the W. W. Cole Circus and 1887 with the S. H. Barrett Circus.She survived her husband but her death circumstances are unknown. It's not clear at this time that Daisy Ramsdell was the wife in question, but no other equestrienne fits the profile at the moment. "Thompson was married previously to a lady named Nellie, however, she left him in 1888 and they were apparently divorced at some later time."
Charles Thone	A Chicago police officer involved in the Luetgert case. Chicago Daily News, Sept. 8, 1897.
Agatha Tosch Chicago Tribune, Sept. 1, 1897.	With her husband, she was the owner of a saloon and boarding house near the Luetgert factory. She testified about statements that Adolph Luetgert had made to her. She denied rumors that she had been Luetgert's lover.	Age: 37. Address: 639 Diversey Street. Husband: Otto.
Arnold Tripp	An attorney for Luetgert during the early stages of the case.	Born: 1849, Cologne, Germany. Moved: 1855, to Chicago. Admitted to the bar: 1871. Elected: 1892, as a Democrat to Chicago City Council in the Twenty-Second Ward. Address (1897): Office, Kedzie Building. Died: September 6, 1914. Address (1914): Home, 4821 Sheridan Road.
Ellen Tuohy	A woman who filed a foreclosure claim on Luetgert factory. Following Luetgert's death, she took over ownership of a portion of Luetgert's property.	Address: Office, 168 N. Clark. Home, 46 Loomis. Widow of J.W. Tuohy. Variations of name: Helen.
Amelia Turner	A palm reader who claimed to have seen Mrs. Luetgert on May 3, 1897. On November 29, 1897, the Chicago Daily News reported: Mrs. Turner asserts that she did not appear as a witness at the trial of the sausagemaker because her friends advised her not to. Since then, she says, she has told the attorneys for the defense what she knows and is now ready to appear at any time she may be summoned. This knowledge.... has caused her great annoyance and suffering, for, so the woman relates, Inspector Schaack, having learned of her intention to appear..., had had his detectives dog her steps for three weeks. Mrs. Turner is a palm reader, and it was for the purpose of having her palm read that Mrs. Luetgert visited the office, she says, on May 3. The woman who claimed to be the missing wife, according to Mrs. Turner's story, came to her office wearing a pair of slippers and with new shoes and stockings done up in a bundle. While in her office... the woman put on the new articles of footwear and then had her palm read. She confided her troubles to Mrs. Turner and then left. When the trial was being conducted Mrs. Turner feared to make herself prominent and kept silent... Inspector Schaack's detectives have been visiting her neighbors, so Mrs. Turner complains, and trying to cast reflections upon her character. Last Wednesday as she was leaving her office she was approached by a man muffled in a heavy ulster who met her at the door of the building. "He asked me if I was Mrs. Turner," declares the palm reader, "and when I told him that I was he told me I had better leave town or I would get in trouble." This man, Mrs. Turner states, was from Inspector Schaack, but in relating her story a little later she said that a woman had been to see her and asked her why she did not try to help Luetgert out of his trouble, for which the woman told her she would be well paid. In the vicinity of Mrs. Turner's home the neighbors confirmed the story about supposed detectives having attempted to blacken the woman's character. Address: Home, 4726 Dearborn Street. Office, 182 State Street, fourth floor. Read more about palmistry.
Richard Stanley Tuthill Chicago Daily News, Sept. 14, 1897.	The judge in the first Luetgert trial.
Tyce	A physician at the Dunning asylum.	First name unknown.


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