Carl Wanderer
Encyclopedia
Carl Otto Wanderer was a murder
er famous for what became known as "The Case of the Ragged Stranger", wherein he murdered his wife Ruth, and a drifter named Al Watson, in a bizarre plot to kill his wife so he could be with his homosexual lover, known only as "James". The case was cracked in large part by famed Chicago-based reporter and future screenwriter Ben Hecht
, of the Chicago Daily News
and reporter and future playwright Charles MacArthur
of the Chicago Examiner
.
Wanderer enlisted in the Illinois Cavalry and served under John Pershing in the latter's Punitive Expedition
against Villa
in 1916. He served with distinction and became a lieutenant in the regular Army, seeing heavy action on the Western Front
in World War I
. He was heavily decorated and was considered one of America's most prestigious war heroes when he returned home to Illinois.
In late 1919, he married twenty-year old Ruth Johnson, and the two moved in with Ruth's parents. Ruth became pregnant; reportedly, Wanderer became despondent upon hearing the news and became distant towards his family.
pistol—a Colt M1911 -- and exchanged fire with the intruder. Wanderer killed the assailant, but his wife was killed by the shooter, who was not immediately identified.
The case became a cause celebre, with extensive press coverage. The public expressed outrage that Wanderer—a war hero who was expecting a child—would be set upon and have his pregnant wife killed. Wanderer was praised for his bravery in defending his wife.
Hecht had interviewed Wanderer several times before, and had become friendly with him. He went to talk to Wanderer, presumably to clear up the confusion about the guns, but was struck by Wanderer's happy and seemingly impassive manner just days after his wife's murder. While using Wanderer's bathroom, Hecht found articles of women's clothing in a bathrobe and stumbled across several love letters which had been written by Wanderer to a man called "James". Along with MacArthur, Hecht took his suspicions to the police, and Wanderer was called in for questioning.
Wanderer initially denied the charge, saying that the stranger's gun was not his, but one that had been part of a mass arms shipment by the Army to a training camp he'd been in during the war. However, Hecht learned during the police interrogation that Ruth Wanderer had withdrawn $1500 from her bank account the morning of the killing - and later, at Wanderer's house, found the money in question.
homosexual and had married his wife only for money. After he found out Ruth was pregnant, Wanderer hired a vagrant named Al Watson as part of a bizarre scheme. He told Watson that his relationship with his wife was deteriorating, and he wanted stage a fight with Watson to prove himself a hero to Ruth. When Watson showed up at the apartment, however, Wanderer shot both him and his wife with the two Colts and staged it so that Ruth's mother would think Watson had killed Ruth.
Wanderer was convicted after two trials, and was executed on September 30, 1921. He sang "Dear Old Pal O' Mine" before being hanged, causing MacArthur to remark, "That son-of-a-bitch should have been a song plugger
."
Nash, Jay Robert. Bloodletters and Badmen: A Narrative Encyclopedia of American Criminals From the Pilgrims to the Present. 1973.
Online
a) there was some question both about Wanderer's sanity and about the voluntariness and validity of his confession;
b) the love interest that allegedly provided Wanderer his motive was not a man named James, but a sixteen or seventeen year old girl named Julia Schmitt who lived across the street from Wanderer's father's butcher shop to whom Wanderer wrote love letters and took to Riverview Park. Schmitt is said to have testified in the second trial (the one where Wanderer was sentenced to be hanged) and the prosecutor was said to have stormed "Kisses for Julia; bullets for Ruth" in his summation;
and c) the Ragged stranger himself was never positively identified - the most credible possibilities apparently being John Barrett, a former Canadian Soldier who disappeared from Chicago's skid row that same day or being Eddie Ryan, whose mother was a homeless washerwoman named Nellie Ryan who had given him years earlier to a farmer to raise and then identified his body.
Lesy, Michael, "Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties." W. W. Norton, 2007.
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
er famous for what became known as "The Case of the Ragged Stranger", wherein he murdered his wife Ruth, and a drifter named Al Watson, in a bizarre plot to kill his wife so he could be with his homosexual lover, known only as "James". The case was cracked in large part by famed Chicago-based reporter and future screenwriter Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...
, of the Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
and reporter and future playwright Charles MacArthur
Charles MacArthur
Charles Gordon MacArthur was an American playwright and screenwriter.-Biography:Charles MacArthur was the second youngest of seven children born to stern evangelist William Telfer MacArthur and Georgiana Welsted MacArthur. He early developed a passion for reading...
of the Chicago Examiner
Chicago's American
Chicago American, an afternoon newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, was the last flowering of the aggressive journalistic tradition depicted in the play and movie The Front Page....
.
Early years
Wanderer was born the son of German immigrants in Chicago in 1895. Though he dropped out of school before he reached high school, Wanderer was a hard-worker and began saving up money. By his twenties he and his father were running a successful butcher's shop.Wanderer enlisted in the Illinois Cavalry and served under John Pershing in the latter's Punitive Expedition
Punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
against Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
in 1916. He served with distinction and became a lieutenant in the regular Army, seeing heavy action on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He was heavily decorated and was considered one of America's most prestigious war heroes when he returned home to Illinois.
In late 1919, he married twenty-year old Ruth Johnson, and the two moved in with Ruth's parents. Ruth became pregnant; reportedly, Wanderer became despondent upon hearing the news and became distant towards his family.
The Shooting
On June 21, 1920, Wanderer and his wife were returning home from a movie when shots rang out in the hallway of the Johnson apartment. Ruth's mother heard the shots and rushed to the scene, finding Wanderer pummelling the body of a man in ragged clothing with his gun. Ruth lay dying with several shots in her chest, and reportedly said "My baby is dead" before dying. According to Wanderer's account, the man had been lying in wait in their apartment, presumably to rob them, and Wanderer drew his military serviceMilitary service
Military service, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft . Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen...
pistol—a Colt M1911 -- and exchanged fire with the intruder. Wanderer killed the assailant, but his wife was killed by the shooter, who was not immediately identified.
The case became a cause celebre, with extensive press coverage. The public expressed outrage that Wanderer—a war hero who was expecting a child—would be set upon and have his pregnant wife killed. Wanderer was praised for his bravery in defending his wife.
Investigation
Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, initially working independently, both began to unravel Wanderer's story within weeks. Hecht's first clue was a police photograph of the two weapons used in the shooting. Both were virtually identitical Colt M1911's. Hecht thought it odd that a man who appeared to be a penniless vagrant—he had less than $5 on his person when found—would carry such an expensive weapon which was not widely available to the public at the time, instead of selling it. He also found it hard to believe that a mere drifter would risk a conflict with a veteran who was widely known to carry a gun. MacArthur came to a similar conclusion and came to find that the stranger's weapon had been sold to Wanderer's cousin Fred several years earlier.Hecht had interviewed Wanderer several times before, and had become friendly with him. He went to talk to Wanderer, presumably to clear up the confusion about the guns, but was struck by Wanderer's happy and seemingly impassive manner just days after his wife's murder. While using Wanderer's bathroom, Hecht found articles of women's clothing in a bathrobe and stumbled across several love letters which had been written by Wanderer to a man called "James". Along with MacArthur, Hecht took his suspicions to the police, and Wanderer was called in for questioning.
Wanderer initially denied the charge, saying that the stranger's gun was not his, but one that had been part of a mass arms shipment by the Army to a training camp he'd been in during the war. However, Hecht learned during the police interrogation that Ruth Wanderer had withdrawn $1500 from her bank account the morning of the killing - and later, at Wanderer's house, found the money in question.
Confession and Conviction
Wanderer continued to deny the charge until Hecht told him that "James" was coming down to the station to meet him. Wanderer then confessed that he had committed the crime. He told the police that he was indeed a closetedThe Closet
The Closet may refer to:* The Closet , Chinese film* The Closet , French film* The closet, referring to undisclosed homosexuality- See also :* Closet* Closet * In the closet...
homosexual and had married his wife only for money. After he found out Ruth was pregnant, Wanderer hired a vagrant named Al Watson as part of a bizarre scheme. He told Watson that his relationship with his wife was deteriorating, and he wanted stage a fight with Watson to prove himself a hero to Ruth. When Watson showed up at the apartment, however, Wanderer shot both him and his wife with the two Colts and staged it so that Ruth's mother would think Watson had killed Ruth.
Wanderer was convicted after two trials, and was executed on September 30, 1921. He sang "Dear Old Pal O' Mine" before being hanged, causing MacArthur to remark, "That son-of-a-bitch should have been a song plugger
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...
."
Sources
BooksNash, Jay Robert. Bloodletters and Badmen: A Narrative Encyclopedia of American Criminals From the Pilgrims to the Present. 1973.
Online
- Unusual Guide to Chicago - includes info on various famous Chicago criminals, including Wanderer.
An Alternative Version?
In chapter 1 (entitled "CARL WANDERER") of his 2007 book "Murder City", Michael Lesy gives a VERY different account of the Ragged Stranger Case than the one Jay Robert Nash told. In his version:a) there was some question both about Wanderer's sanity and about the voluntariness and validity of his confession;
b) the love interest that allegedly provided Wanderer his motive was not a man named James, but a sixteen or seventeen year old girl named Julia Schmitt who lived across the street from Wanderer's father's butcher shop to whom Wanderer wrote love letters and took to Riverview Park. Schmitt is said to have testified in the second trial (the one where Wanderer was sentenced to be hanged) and the prosecutor was said to have stormed "Kisses for Julia; bullets for Ruth" in his summation;
and c) the Ragged stranger himself was never positively identified - the most credible possibilities apparently being John Barrett, a former Canadian Soldier who disappeared from Chicago's skid row that same day or being Eddie Ryan, whose mother was a homeless washerwoman named Nellie Ryan who had given him years earlier to a farmer to raise and then identified his body.
Lesy, Michael, "Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties." W. W. Norton, 2007.