To begin at the beginning of this story, click here to go to Part 1.

Part Three: The coup de grâce

Lucille McLeod certainly never dreamt her life with William T. Niemann, Jr. would involve a “brush with death.” Nor did she contemplate being found lying in a hotel bed with William shot through the head, her alongside him suffering from a serious wound.  Nonetheless, that is exactly where she found herself on December 17, 1905. The hotel was the “old Empire hotel on Wabash avenue” in Chicago and event was the beginning of a very long, challenging ordeal for Lucille.

Public notification proclaimed the male victim as one “Wm. T. Nieman [sic], president of the Niemann Table Co., a furniture manufacturer with money.”  When police arrived each was near death and immediately taken to Chicago Emergency Hospital.  Mr. Niemann was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at the hospital. Lucille, however, was in critical condition due to a “jagged wound of a bullet . . . . through her left breast and seventh ribs.” Her survival was questionable at that time.

Police immediately decided the death of Niemann and the injury to Lucille was a failed “murder-suicide.” However, the case against Lucille McLeod was not as simple as initially deduced by police.  Several newspapers reported that the weapon was found “underneath” the murder victim’s body. If that is factual, how could Lucille use the gun to shoot herself after shooting William?

Lucille McLeod

The Chickasha Star and Telegram adumbrated that William Niemann had “contemplated marrying the lady and [had given] her a written contract to that purpose, but still, the event hung fire, and William, being fickle as most men are, fell in love with Miss Meta Fiedler, whose father is a wealthy Chicago merchant.”  In the same story, that paper claimed that “William himself had $55,000 independent of his business, given him by his father.” It further elaborated that “Miss Fiedler had gone to Europe and purchased her trousseau” and that she is “a skilled automobilist [car driver] and has many accomplishments.” It seems the paper was attempting to contrast the women.

Based on the aforementioned facts, the public believed that Lucille was told by William during their tryst at the Empire Hotel that he intended to marry Miss Fiedler and, therefore, he had to reneged on his matrimonial promise.  Outraged by William’s declaration, it was concluded Lucille shot her beloved William and then herself. The motive for the shooting was, in the opinion of the police, the result of a classic love triangle.

Go to Part 4!