Louise Lindloff - Addendum

See main page: 1912 – Louise Lindloff – Chicago, Illinois, USA

***

June 16, 1912

FULL TEXT: Charged with the murder of two husbands and three children, Mrs. Louisa G. Lindloff, “seeress,” in a cell at the Filmore street police station, yesterday “gazed into her $500 crystal” and received a message from her alleged victims.

“I communicated with my son Arthur, and he told me that with the aid of the spirits I would be exonerated,” said Mrs. Lindloff. “I have not been able to convey a message to my husband, William Lindloff, but Arthur will find him. My son declared the police had made a great mistake and that the spirits will punish Capt. Baer for his part in my arrest.

 “My method of divination gets me into direct communication with my children and I talk to them by means of written characters which are invoked by the spirits into the crystal.”

~ Crystal Contains Cleopatra’s Tear?

The crystal is a large piece of globular glass and is commonly used by Spiritualists. The police assert it is not worth more than 50 cents, even though it is said to contain the tear of the ancient Queen Cleopatra.

Mrs. Lindloff kept up her nerve during the day and denied having poisoned members of her family. Capt. Baer found two kinds of poison in her residence at 2044 Ogden avenue. One contained a brown powder, another powder was mixed with arsenic and vermin. A dozen bottles containing liquids will be examined tomorrow by city chemists.

~ Tells Coroner He Lies.

Mrs. Lindloff was grilled by Coroner Hoffman. The coroner looked into the crystal.

“Can you see anything?” she inquired.

“Yes,” replied the coroner.

“What do you see?”

“I see your two dead husbands and your three children standing at your right side. They are accusing you of killing them.”

“You ti,” cried Mrs. Lindloff. “They are standing to my left, and they are saying that I am innocent. If they were at my right I would be guilty.”

The coroner then questioned Mrs. Lindloff regarding the crystal. She could not tell its history except that it contained a tear of Cleopatra.

Mrs. Lindloff was booked on a charge of murder.

Henry Kuby, a boarder at the Lindloff residence, was released by Capt. Baer.

[“Seeress Invokes Help of ‘Spirits’ – Mrs. Louisa G. Lindloff, Alleged Poisoner of Five, Says Dead Son Exonerates Her. – Uses “$500 Crystal.” – Calls Coroner Hoffman a Liar When He Professes to See Guilt.” Chicago Tribune (Il.), Jul. 16, 1911, p. 7]

***

June 21, 1912

FULL TEXT: Bodies of two husbands of Mrs. Louisa G. Lindloff, Spiritualist, held in the county jail, suspected of poisoning five members of her family, will be exhumed from Milwaukee cemeteries by Coroner H. L. Nahin of Milwaukee within a few days.

District Attorney W. A. Zabel of the Wisconsin city prepared the formal order yesterday. It will direct the coroner to perform post-mortems. The contents of the stomachs and livers will be sent to Prof. Walter Haines, Chicago, who discovered poison in the bodies of two Lindloff children which were exhumed in Oak Ridge cemetary on Wednesday.

Investigation of the deaths of members of the Lindloff family so far has not frightened the accused woman. Her $500 crystal has been taken away from her by the police and until she can consult the glass she refuses to make any statements.

[“Bodies Of Seress’ Husbands To Be Exhumed In Milwaukee.” Chicago Tribune (Il.), Jun. 21, 1912, p. 11]

***

June 29, 1912

FULL TEXT: A letter received yesterday morning by Capt. Baer of the Fillmore street police station has started the police on a new trail in the Mrs. Louisa G. Lindloff poison case. As a result the police will investigate the deaths of three women. They were:

Mrs Eugenie Clavette, 1313 South Western avenue, who died on July 19, 1909. She left considerable property and $1,000 insurance to her daughter, Mabel. She was attended by Mrs. Lindloff constantly before her death.

Miss Tessie Fugel, 2722 South Western avenue, who died a few days before Christmas in 1911. She was 10 years old and a friend of Alma Lindloff, who died a year ago.

Mrs. Katie Asoman (?), of Appleton, Wisc., who disappeared in July, 1911. She had been a visitor at the Lindloff home.

This information was in part given to the police by Mrs. Mary C. Nelson, 1313 South Western avenue, a sister of Mrs. Clavette.

~ Will Tell Story to Prosecutor.

Mrs. Nelson wrote to Capt. Baer and will repeat her testimony today to Assistant State’s Attorney Claude Smith, who will prosecute the case.

“I have known Mrs. Lindloff for several years,” she said. “When Mrs. Clavette, my sister, was taken ill with liver trouble three years ago, Mrs. Lindloff paid her daily visits. She insisted that Dr. James A. Way, the attending physician, was not treating my sister properly and wanted to superintend the case personally. I refused to listen to such talk.

“Mrs. Lindloff became angry with me on account of my refual to allow her around the house. When Mrs. Clavette died Mrs. Lindloff tried to induce Mabel Clavette, the only daughter, to live with her. Maybel received a farm and $1,ooo insurance from her mother’s estate.  Mabel and Anna Lindloff were good friends. Alma repeatedly asked Mabel to come and live at her house. It appeared to me then, and it certainly appears to me now, that Mrs. Lindloff intended to get Mabel at her house.

~ Celebration After Girl’s Death.

“When Frieda Lindloff died four years ago there was a great celebration after the funeral. Mrs. Lindloff took a party of six to a north side amusement park and spent considerable money. She then asked Mabel Clavette to come to her house and live.”

“Among other strange things I noticed was one day when Mrs. Lindloff strangled a little dog to death in her back yard. Mrs. Lindloff seemed to enjoy killing the dog.”

Mabel Clavette corroborated Mrs. Nelson’s statements.

Miss Tessie Flugel was a friend of Alma Lindloff and information regarding her death is expected to be disclosed today.

The mysterious woman who lived at the Lindloff home at 2044 Ogden avenue, and believed to have been from Michigan, was positively identified yesterday as Mrs. Kate Asoman of Appleton, Wa.

[“Hint New Deaths In Lindloff Case – Police Investigate Fate of Three Women, Friends of Spiritualist. – Sister of One Has Clew. – Says Accused Poisoner Wanted to Take Charge of Relative’s Final Illness.” Chicago Tribune (Il.), Jun. 29, 1912 , 4]

***

July 6, 1912

FULL TEXT: Capt. Baer of the Fillmore avenue police station yesterday came into the possession of information which has led him to revise his theory of the motive which, it is claimed, prompted Mrs. Louisa G. Lindloff to poison a number of the members of her family.

The original theory of the police in arresting Mrs. Lindloff was that she committed the murders in order to collect insurance on the victims’ lives. Captain Baer, as the result of the disclosures he says were made yesterday, modifies this by the declaration that vanity contributed to urge the woman to her crimes. He asserts that she deliberately planned her poisonings so as to fit in with her predictions as a seeress and that she killed her victims on a schedule which she made up at her clarvoyant séances.

~ Woman Tells of Seances ~

The police captain’s informant is a woman whose name he declines at this time to divulge, but who, he says, was a constant attendant at Mrs. Lindloff’s clairvoyant séances during the period of the murders of which she is accused.

“According to what I have learned,” said the police captain,” Mrs. Lindloff would give her ‘weekly circles’ to the unsophisticated. At these meetings she would tear up a handkerchief and scatter a piece of it in front of each person attending. Then she would pretend to go into a trance and do some predicting. These predictions proved fatal in several cases.

“Persons who attended the Lindloff séances have promised to testify in the case, and their testimony will show that most of the poison deaths were premeditated. Bot Coroner Hoffman and myself are busy on the case every day.”

~ Lindloff Guests Taken Ill. ~

That Miss Sadie Ray and Mrs. Katherine Dwyer, both of whom will be the state’s witnesses, became after ill after eating a meal at the home of Mrs. Lindloff developed yesterday in the state’s attorneys inquiry. The accused woman is said to have gone so far as to predict that Miss Ray, who was formerly employed at her home, would die on a certain day.

The meal in question was eaten several weeks before the death of Arthur Lindloff. On her way to her home at 1253 West Madison street, Mrs. Dwyer was seized with nausea and pains in the stomach.

~ Mrs. Lindloff Plays Football. ~

Apparently oblivious of the fact that additional evidence was piling up daily, Mrs. Lindloff spent part of yesterday playing soccer football in the yard of the county jail.

The other players included women accused of crimes ranging from shoplifting to murder. One of the latter was Mrs. Florence Bernstein, who surrendered herself Wednesday after an indictment had been returned charging her with the murder of her husband, George Bernstein.

[“Lays Murders To Vanity - Mrs. Lindloff Suspected of Killing to Aid Name as Seeress. - Victims Die On Schedule. - Woman Who Attended Seances Said to Have Made Disclosures.” Chicago Daily Tribune (Il.), Jul. 6, 1912, p. 3]

***

October 27, 1912

FULL TEXT: Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 26. – Another death – the seventh – was laid at the door of Mrs. Lindloff tonight, Mrs. Bertha Hall of this city accused her of causing the death of her 6 months old baby. Mrs. Hall made the charge of the examination conducted at the St. Charles hotel here tonight by Assistant State’s Attorneys Claude F. Smith and Frank Noyes and Capt. Baer of Chicago.

Eight witnesses besides Mrs. Hall were examined. Mrs. Hall said she lived next door to the Lindloff home here. When absent from home, she asserted, Mrs. Lindloff offered to take care of the baby. Once the baby was taken suddenly sick.

“The child grew worse gradually and afterward died,” said the witness. “I never thought of the possibility of poison then, but afterwards when several of Mrs. Lindloff’s dogs died I became suspicious. Afterwards many of my neighbors told me Mrs. Lindloff had used the baby to experiment uopn to find what she could do with arsenic.”

Dr. Franks, who attended Otto Frank Graunke when he was dying, repeated his former testimony at the examination and said he still believed Graunke died of arsenic poisoning.

“Through my power I was able to see that my second husband. William Lindloff, and my children, Alma and Arthur, were going to die. I saw three caskets. In one my husband lay and in the other was Alma. I could see both their faces plainly, but the third was rather indistinct. However, I could see part of the features of my boy, whom they accuse me of murdering.

~ Murder Trial Predicted.

“Did you also predict the death of your first husband?” was asked.

“No, I did not,” she answered. “But a spiritualist the Milwaukee did. She also told me I would only live a couple of years with my second husband, whom I had at that time not married. All that she said came true.”

The accused woman then related how this clairvoyant in Milwaukee fifteen years ago predicted sometime during her life she would be placed on trial before a jury for murder.

“The medium did not give the day or month, but said she could see plainly I would be placed on trial sometime,” Mrs. Lindloff continued. “The medium said she could see the scene in the courtroom, with me sitting before a jury. She also told me all my relatives would die and that finally I would be alone in the world.”

MRS. LINDLOFF FORSEES FATE.

In her cell in the county jail yesterday Mrs. Louise Lindloff, accused murderess and seeress, said she could forsee her acquittal. It was through spiritualism, she said, she made the forcast of the jury’s verdict.

Fortune telling, she insisted, is a gift and should be termed “a practice.” She declared her powers along this line resulted in her being chastised by her mother on several occasions.

“I was working in a cornfield near Berlin, Germany, with my mother when the power was first vested in me,” she explained, “I was about 8 or 9 years old. I could see that a neighbor of ours was going to die. I told mother his name and just how the funeral plans could be arranged. As a result, I got my first whipping.

“My prediction came true and some time later my mother said, in discussing my power with a neighbor. ‘Well everything she said came true, but I can’t see how she did it.’ She asked me how I was able to tell, but I could not explain.

“Through my power I was able to see that my second husband, William Lindloff, and my children, Alma and Arthur, were going to die. I saw three caskets. In one my husband lay and in the other was Alma. I could see both their faces plainly, but the third was rather indistinct. However, I could see part of the features of my boy, whom they accuse me of murdering.”

~ Murder Trial Predicted.

“Did you also predict the death of your first husband?” was asked.

“No, I did not,” she answered. “But a spiritualist in Milwaukee did. She also told me I would only live a couple of years with my second husband, whom I had at that time not married. All that she said came true.”

The accused woman related how this clairvoyant in Milwaukee fifteen years ago predicted sometime during her life she would be placed on trial before a jury for murder.

“The medium did not give the day or month, but said she could see plainly I would be placed on trial sometime,” Mrs. Lindloff continued. “The medium said she could see the scene in the courtroom, with me sitting before a jury. She also told me all my relatives would die and that finally I would be alone in the world.”

[“Another Murder Laid To Seeress – Milwaukee Woman Accuses Mrs. Lindloff of Causing Death of Baby. – Seven Now On the List. – Wayman’s Aids question New Witnesses at Night Hearing in Wisconsin.” The Chicago Sunday Tribune (Il.), Oct. 27, 1912, p. 3]

***

March 16, 1914

FULL TEXT: Mrs. Louisa Lindloff, who last autumn was convicted of murder and sentenced to twenty-fife years in prison, will not have to wait for the Supreme Court, where her appeal is pending. She died last night in the hospital of the county jail of cancer.

The woman reached the jail weighing over 200 pounds. When she died her weight was less than 100 pounds. Dr. Irving Barnett asked her whether she had anything to say.

“No,” she said wearily. “I’m going, and I’m going happy.”

The woman was convicted of murdering her son, Peter. She was convicted of murdering her son, Peter. She was suspected of complicity in the death by arsenic of other children, but these charges were not pressed. Attorney George Remus had defended him.

[“Mrs. Louisa Lindloff Dies; Convicted of Son’s Murder. – Woman Who Scattered Poison from Pepper Box Does Not Last to See Result of Her Appeal.” Chicago Tribune (Il.), Mar. 16, 1914, p. 1]

***

Chicago Tribune articles on the Louise Lindloff case (27 count):

Jun. 16, 1912, p. 7 – Seeress Invokes Help of ‘Spirits’ …

Jun. 20, 1912, p. 13 – Find Poison in Two Lindloffs ...

Jun. 21, 1912, p. 11 – Bodies of Seeress’ Husbands to Be Exhumed in Milwaukee …

Jun. 23, 1912, p. 8 – Examine Body of Husband of Seeress; Find No Poison

Jun. 25, 1912, p. 8 – Hunt Woman in Poison Case

Jun. 26, 1912, p. 6 – Calls Mrs. Lindloff Wooer

Jun. 29, 1912, p. 4 – Hint New Deaths in Lindloff Case

Jul. 1, 1912, p. 6 – Surprise in Poison Tangle

Jul. 6, 1912, p. 3 – Lays Murders to Vanity

Jul. 7, 1912, p. 3 – Baer Scores Mrs. Lindloff

Jul. 8, 1912, p. 11 – Sees Plot in Poison Trial

Jul. 11, 1912, p. 8 – Poison Case True Bill Near

Aug. 1, 1912, p. 10 – Mrs. Lindloff Invokes Aid of Col. Lewis and Spirits

Aug. 22, 1912, p. 5 – The Woman and the Jury When Murder is the Charge

Aug.23, 1912, p. 3 – Bernstein Jury Overrules Court

Oct. 25, 1912, p. 3 – Lindloff Murder Trial On

Oct. 26, 1912, p. 3 – Lindloff Trial Tears Open Past

Oct. 27, 1912, p. 3 – Another Murder Laid to Seeress

Oct. 29, 1912, p. 3 – Poison Net Fails to Move Seeress

Oct. 30, 1912, p. 3 – Seeress Moved by Evidence

Oct. 31, 1912, p. 3 – Seeress May Testify Today

Nov. 1, 1912, p. 3 – State’s Witness Helps Seeress

Nov. 2, 1912, p. 3 – Louisa Lindloff Tells Own Story

Nov. 5, 1912, p. 1, 7 – Find Mrs. Lindloff Guilty; 25 Years

Mar. 1, 1913, p. 3 – Seeress Sentenced 25 Years In Prison For Slaying Son

Mar. 8, 1914, p. 3 – Woman in Cell Loses 100 Pounds

Mar. 16, 1914, p. 1 – Mrs. Louise Lindloff Dies

***

Oct. 3, 1912, p. 13 – (in passing)

Oct. 20, 1912, p. 6 – (in passing)

Apr. 9, 1914, p. 22 – (law technicality)

***

***