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True Crime History
The Potato Masher Murder: Death at the Hands of a Jealous Husband
Albin Ludwig was furious. He had caught his wife, Cecilia, with other men before; now, after secretly following Cecilia one evening in 1906, Albin was overcome with suspicion. Albin and Cecilia quarreled that night and again the next day. Prosecutors later claimed that the final quarrel ended when Albin knocked Cecilia unconscious with a wooden potato masher, doused her with a flammable liquid, lit her on fire, and left her to burn to death. Albin claimed self-defense, but he was convicted of second-degree murder. Newspaper coverage of the dramatic crime and trial was jarringly explicit and detailed, shocking readers in Indiana, where the crime occurred. Peter Young of the South Bend Times wrote that the murder’s “horrors and its shocking features . . . have never before been witnessed in Mishawaka.” The story was front-page news throughout northern Indiana for much of a year. For several generations, the families of both Cecilia and Albin would be silent about the crime―until Cecilia’s great-grandson, award-winning journalist Gary Sosniecki, uncovered the family’s dark secret. As he discovered, wife beating was commonplace in the early 20th century (before the gender-neutral term of “domestic violence” was adopted), and “wife murder” was so common that newspapers described virtually every case by that term. At long last, The Potato Masher Death at the Hands of a Jealous Husband unearths the full story of two immigrant families united by love and torn apart by domestic violence.
- GenresTrue CrimeNonfiction
250 pages, Paperback
Published June 30, 2020
5 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Gary Sosniecki
2 books16 followersRetired journalist Gary Sosniecki is the great-grandson of the victim in The Potato Masher Murder: Death at the Hands of a Jealous Husband. Gary worked at newspapers in four states during his 43-year career. He has received dozens of awards for journalism excellence from state, national, and international newspaper organizations, including the Eugene Cervi lifetime achievement award from the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors. Gary was inducted into the Missouri Press Association Hall of Fame in 2014.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 16, 2020
If you are a fan of true crime this a book you will enjoy. Gary Sosniecki, well known for his career in journalism, has written a detailed account of the murder of Cecilia Ludwig at the hands of her second husband, Albin Ludwig. A unique aspect of the book is the fact that Cecilia is his great-grandmother. Her murder was rarely or never talked about by her family, until now her story is told.
Her life was rather tragic in many ways. She was abused and battered by her two husbands before meeting her demise at the hands of her second husband. She would be considered promiscuous by most standards while living in an era when promiscuity was rather hush-hush in small town America.
The author’s exhaustive research and reliance on actual newspaper accounts of the horrible murder and the actual transcript of the trial and conviction of Albin Ludwig helps to bring the story to life. As an added plus, the two appendices give follow up to the lives of Albin Ludwig’s brother, Gustave, and state’s attorney, Joseph Talbot, who prosecuted Albin Ludwig.
An interesting and enjoyable read.
Her life was rather tragic in many ways. She was abused and battered by her two husbands before meeting her demise at the hands of her second husband. She would be considered promiscuous by most standards while living in an era when promiscuity was rather hush-hush in small town America.
The author’s exhaustive research and reliance on actual newspaper accounts of the horrible murder and the actual transcript of the trial and conviction of Albin Ludwig helps to bring the story to life. As an added plus, the two appendices give follow up to the lives of Albin Ludwig’s brother, Gustave, and state’s attorney, Joseph Talbot, who prosecuted Albin Ludwig.
An interesting and enjoyable read.
November 1, 2021
An unusual vintage crime story
This is an interesting and well-researched story about the murder of Cecilia Ludwig in 1906 written by her great-grandson. The story takes place in Mishawaka, Indiana.
The murder is especially brutal and there's no question that the murderer is her husband, Albin Ludwig. For those who want to know, there are about 90 pages of trial.
7
This is an interesting and well-researched story about the murder of Cecilia Ludwig in 1906 written by her great-grandson. The story takes place in Mishawaka, Indiana.
The murder is especially brutal and there's no question that the murderer is her husband, Albin Ludwig. For those who want to know, there are about 90 pages of trial.
7
September 11, 2020
I can't recall reading another true crime book, so although I rated this book four stars for the author's writing and work, my enjoyment level was more "it was okay." I say this because in the first chapters there are a number of quotes of what witnesses said on the day Cecelia was murdered, quotes from the trial. So, when we get to the chapters about the trial, we get quotes verbatim from earlier in the text. I don't think it would be misleading for the author to have summarized much of what happened the day of Cecelia's death and then allow the trail chapters to surprise me with verbatim quotes to make the reading a bit more tense. Choosing where to put information makes for better reading, and I believe it can be done without skewing the facts.
Though this is no fault of the author and just my personal opinion, I'm surprised more was not made of the fact that Cecelia had claimed she would kill/poison her husband, a claim made by witnesses, and then Albin said he drank coffee she gave him that tasted weird and made him sick. The lady just got iodine from the pharmacy! If I'm guessing, I would say Cecelia poisoned her husband, was leaving with her sister and the life insurance policy on her husband, and that he realized what was what and killed her in a fit of anger. Honestly, both Cecelia and Albin sounded like vile people, but punishment for a shitty personality is not murder, amirite?
Loads of research with footnotes -- I definitely felt confident that the author was presenting evidence instead of opinion. The most interesting aspect of reading about an old murder is how different the media and police were at the time. Papers published conjecture, rumors, gossip. Police let bystanders into the crime scene, let Albin's brother clean up the murder closet, and there, of course, is no DNA/finger printing technology.
Though this is no fault of the author and just my personal opinion, I'm surprised more was not made of the fact that Cecelia had claimed she would kill/poison her husband, a claim made by witnesses, and then Albin said he drank coffee she gave him that tasted weird and made him sick. The lady just got iodine from the pharmacy! If I'm guessing, I would say Cecelia poisoned her husband, was leaving with her sister and the life insurance policy on her husband, and that he realized what was what and killed her in a fit of anger. Honestly, both Cecelia and Albin sounded like vile people, but punishment for a shitty personality is not murder, amirite?
Loads of research with footnotes -- I definitely felt confident that the author was presenting evidence instead of opinion. The most interesting aspect of reading about an old murder is how different the media and police were at the time. Papers published conjecture, rumors, gossip. Police let bystanders into the crime scene, let Albin's brother clean up the murder closet, and there, of course, is no DNA/finger printing technology.
October 6, 2020
I was impressed by the research and disturbed by the subject matter. The murder happened a long time ago and the use of newspaper reports and court records to fill in details related to a family tragedy and what was front page news in the region made the story. How domestic relations and violence was viewed then and now is also something for a reader to consider.
July 13, 2020
Having followed author Gary Sosniecki’s lengthy career as an award winning journalist, I was drawn to the story regarding the murder of his great grandmother in the early 1900’s. Sosniecki is an excellent writer and thorough researcher, which is evident in this book. Many of us view that period as “the good old days” with life in small town America. Clearly this is not the case - with troubled marriages, and cases of spousal murder that are not solely isolated to his great grandmother Cecilia Ludwig.
When dealing with less prominent individuals, authors may be limited to much of the factual history as contained in the newspapers and records of the time, but Sosniecki is still able to build a compelling story, climaxing with the detailed records of the trial. There also is a meaningful appendix detailing the later misfortunes of some of the secondary characters in this true crime story. This certainly seems a long way from peaceful and happy Mayberry!
When dealing with less prominent individuals, authors may be limited to much of the factual history as contained in the newspapers and records of the time, but Sosniecki is still able to build a compelling story, climaxing with the detailed records of the trial. There also is a meaningful appendix detailing the later misfortunes of some of the secondary characters in this true crime story. This certainly seems a long way from peaceful and happy Mayberry!
Read
July 19, 2020I found this book very interesting. I knew the bare bones of this story and Gary "fleshed" it into an interesting read. Two young people, immigrated from Scotland and Germany, found love and married in 1901.
The husband murdered the wife. Neither family talked very much about the facts of this tragic turn of events. Still some remaining questions, but the reader can easily see how it happened. Battered wives were common in that era without all the helps that are available to people in a similar situation today.
-Linda Ludwig Irish
The husband murdered the wife. Neither family talked very much about the facts of this tragic turn of events. Still some remaining questions, but the reader can easily see how it happened. Battered wives were common in that era without all the helps that are available to people in a similar situation today.
-Linda Ludwig Irish
April 25, 2021
"The Potato Masher Murder: Death at the Hands of a Jealous Husband," by Gary Sosniecki, is based on good-old-fashioned digging into the details of a tragic family crime two generations past, finally rediscovering details to explain his great-grandmother's violent fiery death at the hands of her second husband. (in keeping with full disclosure, Gary has been a comrade since well before there was an Internet, Ancestry.com, Google or countless other resources.)
What society still struggles with as "domestic abuse" was then "wife murder." It could get you executed, but more often, it was investigated ineptly. This is no "who done it," the evidence and testimony is overwhelming against Albin Ludwig, the second husband of the not-so-innocent victim, Cecilia Henderson Hornburg Ludwig.
This book begins by prying away layers of family intrigue just to find a point of entry, only to meet a dead end because the date and place where it actually occurred is Mishawaka, Indiana (and not just down the road in La Porte). And then comes a breakthrough by a helpful county historian.
In 1906, family marital scandals were often concealed, even condoned, as religious and cultural sins to be forgotten. But not one so brutal that grabbed headlines in two states for a year or more. There are few heroes here, but there is plenty to ponder, such as the scrubbing of a bloody crime scene and sweeping aside other evidence, such as fingerprints and blood identification.
Backing up the facts is a well-documented in a sourcing guide, a bibliography, two appendix and index to go with painstaking reportage and excellent writing.
And there are bits of whimsy. It is likely that such headlines as a "A Dastardly Deed," would be regarded as hackneyed classics of yesteryear except to those of us with ink still clogging our arteries. In this instance, the "deed" was not the dastardly murder, but the more mundane news that "the mayor's windows were smashed 'By Cowardly Hoodlums Evidently in the Interests of a Wide-Open Town," after the mayor had cracked down on violation of certain city ordinances such as backroom Sunday drinking. It is this richness of detail that transforms a good yarn to a literary gem worthy of study in, say, a classroom or your reading club.
The retelling of this story will enlighten any reader who appreciates details so often missing in news coverage today.
What society still struggles with as "domestic abuse" was then "wife murder." It could get you executed, but more often, it was investigated ineptly. This is no "who done it," the evidence and testimony is overwhelming against Albin Ludwig, the second husband of the not-so-innocent victim, Cecilia Henderson Hornburg Ludwig.
This book begins by prying away layers of family intrigue just to find a point of entry, only to meet a dead end because the date and place where it actually occurred is Mishawaka, Indiana (and not just down the road in La Porte). And then comes a breakthrough by a helpful county historian.
In 1906, family marital scandals were often concealed, even condoned, as religious and cultural sins to be forgotten. But not one so brutal that grabbed headlines in two states for a year or more. There are few heroes here, but there is plenty to ponder, such as the scrubbing of a bloody crime scene and sweeping aside other evidence, such as fingerprints and blood identification.
Backing up the facts is a well-documented in a sourcing guide, a bibliography, two appendix and index to go with painstaking reportage and excellent writing.
And there are bits of whimsy. It is likely that such headlines as a "A Dastardly Deed," would be regarded as hackneyed classics of yesteryear except to those of us with ink still clogging our arteries. In this instance, the "deed" was not the dastardly murder, but the more mundane news that "the mayor's windows were smashed 'By Cowardly Hoodlums Evidently in the Interests of a Wide-Open Town," after the mayor had cracked down on violation of certain city ordinances such as backroom Sunday drinking. It is this richness of detail that transforms a good yarn to a literary gem worthy of study in, say, a classroom or your reading club.
The retelling of this story will enlighten any reader who appreciates details so often missing in news coverage today.
August 22, 2022
This is an excellent book for the lover of history and student of human interaction.
It's about more than a long-ago murder, but murder leaves a document trail we can follow. Ordinary people leave few accounts of their lives, their feelings, and quiet struggles, which leaves us poor insight into who our fore-bearers really were. Often, we, their descendants, are fed fairy-tales about the past, covering up inconvenient truths to make them palatable. We hear platitudes and outright lies.
“People didn’t get divorced those days, they didn’t fool around or party hearty. Women weren’t like that, not like in our generation. Life was just a lot of hard work…”
The author inspires us to look behind the curtain, as he did. We must dig deep into faded memories and forgotten or hidden documents to discover for ourselves who these people who gave us life really were. We find they were people of flesh and blood like us, not the stiff, primly staged, black and white photos they left behind for us to imagine them.
In my own family too, I have discovered such hidden facts, murder, divorce, promiscuity, and all manner of resentments and secrets hidden in dusty archives on both sides of the Atlantic and on all branches of my and my friends’ family trees. The long dead came to life for me, and I feel richer for it.
In this case, thanks to newspapers and court records, we find a simmering turmoil below the surface of the lives of the author’s ancestors, a relentless battle of the sexes as "Modern Women," who have, in truth, always been among us, seek happiness in more than domestic drudgery. And men? Do they want anything less? Frustration fuels a vindictive rage that almost resolves itself peacefully in divorce, but pride, suspicion and nitpicking over property settlement flares up into rash murder and attempted suicide under the cover of an arson that only smoldered and didn’t catch, sending a smoke signal that something was amiss in the neighborhood.
We get a bonus at the end, filling in the stories of how the lives of relatives, attorneys and prosecutors flourished or spiraled down into sordid misery. No one is as upright as he or she pretends and even the defenders of law and virtue have secret vices they must hide or lose their social position. Too bad, I find that the constraints of strict monogamy have never defined human sexual behavior, nor should they. Let the reader be the judge.
It's about more than a long-ago murder, but murder leaves a document trail we can follow. Ordinary people leave few accounts of their lives, their feelings, and quiet struggles, which leaves us poor insight into who our fore-bearers really were. Often, we, their descendants, are fed fairy-tales about the past, covering up inconvenient truths to make them palatable. We hear platitudes and outright lies.
“People didn’t get divorced those days, they didn’t fool around or party hearty. Women weren’t like that, not like in our generation. Life was just a lot of hard work…”
The author inspires us to look behind the curtain, as he did. We must dig deep into faded memories and forgotten or hidden documents to discover for ourselves who these people who gave us life really were. We find they were people of flesh and blood like us, not the stiff, primly staged, black and white photos they left behind for us to imagine them.
In my own family too, I have discovered such hidden facts, murder, divorce, promiscuity, and all manner of resentments and secrets hidden in dusty archives on both sides of the Atlantic and on all branches of my and my friends’ family trees. The long dead came to life for me, and I feel richer for it.
In this case, thanks to newspapers and court records, we find a simmering turmoil below the surface of the lives of the author’s ancestors, a relentless battle of the sexes as "Modern Women," who have, in truth, always been among us, seek happiness in more than domestic drudgery. And men? Do they want anything less? Frustration fuels a vindictive rage that almost resolves itself peacefully in divorce, but pride, suspicion and nitpicking over property settlement flares up into rash murder and attempted suicide under the cover of an arson that only smoldered and didn’t catch, sending a smoke signal that something was amiss in the neighborhood.
We get a bonus at the end, filling in the stories of how the lives of relatives, attorneys and prosecutors flourished or spiraled down into sordid misery. No one is as upright as he or she pretends and even the defenders of law and virtue have secret vices they must hide or lose their social position. Too bad, I find that the constraints of strict monogamy have never defined human sexual behavior, nor should they. Let the reader be the judge.
October 26, 2020
As interesting as this book was from the perspective of true crime, I think the long-term value may be the wonderful insight into daily life in a typical American town in the early 20th century. I believe the details of how people lived in Mishawaka, Indiana, in 1906, could apply to any town large enough to have had a railroad at the time. What they ate, the insurance policies they carried, the jobs they held, and the schedules they kept all provide a slice of insight into daily living.
The author brings to life a world where neighbors couldn’t miss hearing the laughter and the arguments in nearby households and who served as counselors and advisors for their working-class, often immigrant neighbors and friends.
The book is a thought-provoking study and is very well written.
The author brings to life a world where neighbors couldn’t miss hearing the laughter and the arguments in nearby households and who served as counselors and advisors for their working-class, often immigrant neighbors and friends.
The book is a thought-provoking study and is very well written.
Read
October 25, 2020True crime. Readers of the genre are voyeurs, drawn like moths to a flame, curious, wondering how anyone could commit the unspeakable crimes depicted, wondering why they would do so and what drove them to the desperate act. Surely this happens only to other people, never to anyone I know. Well, no one besides Gary Sosniecki who, with his professional journalistic skills on display, reports what happened to his great-grandmother. The Potato Masher Murder … a murder best known at the time as “wife murder” will entertain and intrigue from cover to cover. But beware, you will never mash potatoes without thinking of this book and Albin and Celia.
September 7, 2020
Extensive research on uncovering murder details of a crime committed over 100 years ago. Kudos to the author in a well-developed true crime history.
September 10, 2020
An excellent book chronicling a different era and culture when spousal abuse was not regarded like it is today. The real-life "players" read like a cast from a bizarre novel. Truth really is stranger than fiction. Great read.
May 23, 2021
This was an interesting story to read. I've always enjoyed crime stories and watching true crime shows, but I haven't really dived into reading true crime stories and for my first time doing so, this was a pretty good one. It was fascinating to read the author's thoughts one everything especially since this involves the murder of a distant family member of his. Reading the facts of the murder, the trial, and the time after felt like I was reading a Law and Order episode, it was so thorough. It was also interesting to read about how his family dealt with the murder, or rather didn't since they apparently never spoke of it. Definately a good first time reading true crime and I may just keep coming back to this genre in the future.
January 1, 2023
Very interesting! The murdered woman’s great nephew is a friend of mine.
August 6, 2021
Meticulously researched, this is a excellent documentation of a highly publicized crime in the Illinois area that was forgotten to time. Although a bit slow at times, Sosniecki uncovers the story of a brutal murder that happened to a distant relative at the turn of the century committed by a jealous husband, supposedly with a potato masher. Issues that were present then, family secrets and domestic abuse to name a few, are still very much at the forefront of our society today.
September 16, 2022
As a descendant of the victim's daughter, Lyle, I was enthralled by this story. Thank you to the author for his thorough investigation into the crime and for sharing this story.
October 30, 2022
The Potato Masher Murder: Death at the Hands of a Jealous Husband by Gary Sosniecki is a careful investigation of the 1906 murder of Sosniecki’s great-grandmother, Cecilia Ludwig, by her second husband, Albin. Sosniecki is a retired journalist and has compiled an impressive amount of research and documentation in this account of true crime. The study of domestic violence and uxoricide (the killing of one’s wife is a meaningful pursuit that reveals much about the role of women in a particular time and place. In this instance, we are told that Cecilia “had not been pleasant and that the reason (for her murder) was because Mrs. Ludwig did not conduct herself as a good woman should and that she persisted in frequenting the company of other men.” By contrast, her husband is described as “a patient, hardworking husband (though perhaps a little gullible) and a good neighbor. But he was bewildered why the woman he loved seemed to enjoy the company of other men more than his own. His testimony depicted his wife as a foulmouthed gadabout who attacked him with a wooden potato masher when he refused to give her everything they owned in a separation. Fearing for his own life, he grabbed her by the throat until she collapsed.” Ultimately, the court determined that “Albin Ludwig had knocked his wife unconscious with a potato masher, dragged her into the closet, doused her with gasoline, set her on fire, and closed the closet door.” The gruesome tale as it was reported in the local papers, included witness testimony and sensational details. The trial transcripts make clear that Cecilia’s alleged infidelity and unladylike deportment, contributed to her violent demise. Although Albin was convicted of murder in the second degree, he was not convicted of murder in the first degree which would have meant a hanging sentence at the time. Instead, he was imprisoned, released early for good behaviour and survived his wife’s murder by 48 years. This is a remarkable account of how one woman fought for her own independence and paid for such rebellion with her life. Although her murderer was punished by the courts, he experienced a great deal of sympathy and support for having had such a brash and willful partner. Cecilia’s treatment by her husbands, both of whom beat her, and indeed by the other men she kept company with, is indicative of the attitudes and outlooks of the period. A sad tale indeed but one that is well written and has something significant to say about female agency. Recommended.
December 8, 2021
The author, Gary Sosniecki, is the great-grandson of the victim, Cecilia Ludwig. He researched for over 2 decades, going through archives, microfiche, old newspaper databases to uncover the heinous story of Cecilia Henderson Hornburg Ludwig's murder at the hands of her jealous husband, Albin Ludwig. It is not only a story of this marriage, but a look into America in 1906, which is incredibly valuable, a time before the term "domestic violence" existed.
SO well done, I covered this true crime story on my podcast, The Murder Shelf Book Club podcast in Dec 2021, due out before Christmas.
SO well done, I covered this true crime story on my podcast, The Murder Shelf Book Club podcast in Dec 2021, due out before Christmas.
June 15, 2025
Imagine researching your family tree and learning that your great-grandmother was murdered at the hands of her second husband in 1906, and the story and ensuing trial had been front-page fodder for multiple competing newspapers at the time. That's what happened to Gary Sosniecki!
True crime fans will enjoy. I am not that much of a true crime fan but I did appreciate the breadth and depth of the research that went into the book, especially since it was such a personal story. 3.5 stars (I wish Goodreads would let us assign half stars!)
True crime fans will enjoy. I am not that much of a true crime fan but I did appreciate the breadth and depth of the research that went into the book, especially since it was such a personal story. 3.5 stars (I wish Goodreads would let us assign half stars!)
August 26, 2024
So much more could have done with this story. The writer relied too much on transcripts to give the story rather than his own narrative. While giving some historical context, more would have benefited the reader. There were a lot of interesting characters that could have been developed. Wanted more by way of story, explanation, and historical context.
July 18, 2024
Very descriptive, emotional, but a must read!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews