WAUPACA RECORD LEADER

August 24, 1916

 

DOUBLE MURDER AND SUICIDE PUTS GLOOM ON COMMUNITY

 

Bert Drew Kills Mrs. Adam Luft and Elizabeth Luft

And Then Shoots Self Through Heart,

All Dying Almost Immediately -

Cause of Tragedy Is Not Definitely Known,

But Is Laid to Jealousy And It Is Supposed

Deed Was Done In a Fit of Ungovernable Anger.

 

            Hardly had the people of Waupaca quieted down after the auto tragedy last week when shortly after noon, Saturday, word came of a double murder and suicide five miles from the city on the Drew homestead. Bert Drew who was well known all through this section, having shot and killed Mrs. Adam Luft and her sixteen year old daughter, Elizabeth, and then shot himself through the heart, all three dying almost immediately.

            Officials hurried to the ground, accompanied by Dr. Andrews and District Attorney Putnam was summoned from New London. The three bodies were found as they fell; the two women outside the house and Bert inside, where he had walked or crawled after shooting himself.

            All the facts and causes are not known and probably never will be as all directly concerned are dead, but some clews have been obtained.

            Bert Drew lived in the old homestead, left by his mother, who died last spring, and across the street, Adam Luft, wife and daughter lived. The families had been intimate, Mrs. Luft taking care of the Drew home for Bert.  Bert, it is alleged, had been drinking some but to what degree is not known.  That a struggle occurred in the house is shown by the conditions found, the furniture being distributed and mussed up.  It is presumed that following a struggle in the house, the women went out and Bert secured his 38 calibre revolver, and followed them, shooting Mrs. Luft three times, once through the back, the bullet passing through the heart, the second bullet went through the arm and into the heart, and the third was fired into the stomach.  The girl was shot also through the heart, the bullet, first passing through her left arm which she had evidently thrown up in front of her to protect herself. 

            Bert then shot himself through the heart.  this bullet did not kill instantly as he walked to the house, emptied his revolver of the empty shells, and then crawled in the room where John Goodsell was shaving himself, crying, “Well I have done it now.”

`           The shooting was seen by the ten year old son of Mr. Luft, and by Adam Luft, the husband.

            There are many rumors and stories as to the cause of the shooting, but most of them are uncertain and indefinite, and none affect the result, the sad fact remaining that three persons are dead.

            The funeral of Bert Drew was held Tuesday afternoon from the old homestead, the Rev. Sheard officiating.

            The officials of the county decided not to hold a formal inquest, the victims being dead when they arrived, and the conditions showing that the murderer had ended his own life and was beyond further earthly punishment.

            Drew was a bachelor, who had lived twenty years in the community.  Since the death of his mother last spring, the members of the Luft family occasionally visited him.  Elizabeth Luft was his frequent companion, but as Drew’s infatuation grew, she resented his advances, it is said.

            Yesterday Drew received a special delivery letter from Edna Dratt, Akron, N.Y., Drew’s former home.  It was generally thought that he and Miss Dratt were to marry at some future time.  The contents of the letter are not known, but it is supposed that something in it moved Drew to take the action he did.

            Broken furniture in the Luft home indicated that there was a struggle.  Three shots were sent into the mother’s body, any one of which would have proven fatal.  A single bullet, through her heart, killed the girl.

            Adam Luft, the invalid father of the girl, escaped Drew’s attention.

 

 

Eye Witness Account

            According to Adam Luft, the shooting occurred soon after the threshers had gone away after dinner.  He says Bert Drew talked rationally then and this shows that the tragedy was not long premeditated.

            Adam Luft says he heard the women and Bert quarreling in the Drew house and he crossed the street and told the women to come out and go home. The women did do so and Bert then got his revolver and came out the door at the north side of the house. He first fired three shots at Mrs. Luft at close rage, and then fired at the girl who had walked near to the corner of the house, probably in an effort to get away. The girl fell dead, and Bert walked around to the west side of the house about thirty feet, before he shot himself.  The bullet went through his heart, but he was able to empty the revolver of the shells and then walked to the house where he fell dead on the floor.

            The two brothers of Elizabeth Luft arrived soon after the shooting as did other men but life was extinct in all the victims.

            Bert Drew leaves a sister, Mrs. Sheldon and two brothers whose home is in Missouri, and these and an old caretaker, will inherit the property.

            The remains of the women were sent to Oshkosh, where they formerly lived.