The "Power of Love," a sex scandal and tragic deaths

Bert Neuse's tombstone, Oakland Cemetery, Centerville (Find a Grave)

Back on April 9, 1886, a personable young man who introduced himself as Harry G. Estas, advance agent for the Dickson's Power of Love theatrical troupe, arrived in Chariton to make arrangements for an April 21 appearance at the Mallory Opera Hall, then occupying the majority of a magnificent three-story building at the northwest corner of the Chariton square.

He sought out the opera hall manager, Samuel S. King, and booked the venue. King, an employee of entrepreneur Smith H. Mallory, was editor of The Chariton Democrat, Mallory's newspaper, and managed the opera hall on the side.

Estas, traveling with his wife and 3-year-old son, lodged at the Bates House. He was, according to King, a "genial, bright and beautiful young man."

Estas paid deposits with a draft on the troupe treasurer's bank account and walked away with $20 in cash after King cashed a separate draft for him. Twenty dollars was quite a bit of money at the time. He paid for lodging at the Bates House with a similar draft and gave another to Gene Huyck, employed to post bills for the upcoming performance around town.

The bill probably resembled the advertisement at left, clipped from The Hawarden Independent of Feb. 11, 1886. Harry had arranged a similar performance by the troupe there some weeks earlier.

But, as the days passed, including the April 21 performance date, it became evident that there was no Power of Love theatrical troupe, no treasurer, no bank account and, for that matter, no Harry G. Estas. King had been the victim of what was known as an advance booking scam. He was not happy.

Rising from the ashes of victimization, King wrote an account of the transaction for his Democrat edition of Thursday, April 22, reprinted it in the form of a circular and mailed the circular to the managers of other entertainment venues across Iowa.

He described Harry this way: "For the benefit of other innocent, confiding souls whom he may play for suckers, we would state that this man Estas is a rather low, heavy set, good-looking fellow, brown hair and moustache, an innocent child-like smile, and a look of heaven on his face that leads one to mistake him for a stray babe from Paradise."

The responses began to arrive on Saturday. He learned that Harry had been in Oskaloosa, but failed to obtain any cash, then in Perry, where he had better luck. On Saturday afternoon, the theater manager at What Cheer telegraphed, "I think your man is here; shall I hold him?"

"Hold him," King telegraphed in response. And that was the beginning of the end for the man calling himself  Harry G. Estas. The end would be a four-county affair that would stir up an old Appanoose County scandal and end tragically when the "stray babe from Paradise" took his own life.

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King filed a complaint that Saturday afternoon charging Estas with obtaining money under false pretenses and Chariton city marshal John H. Cole was dispatched on the No. 4 to What Cheer to take custody of the suspect, who had been placed under house arrest by the marshal there.

Cole arrived in What Cheer at 2 a.m. Sunday by rented horse and buggy from Oskaloosa, where he had missed a train connection. Cole found Estas and his family at the What Cheer hotel and had him removed to the city jail.

On Monday morning, Cole claimed his prisoner and took him to Oskaloosa, arranging for the Estas family to travel with them. The prisoner was deposited in the Oskaloosa jail, his family at an hotel.

On Tuesday morning, Cole and Estas departed Oskaloosa for Chariton, taking the nine o'clock to Maxon, a mile east of Albia, then switching to the westbound C.B.&Q. headed through Albia to Chariton. At all stages of these travels, Marshal Cole insisted, he had searched the prisoner thoroughly and found nothing to concern him.

The wife, left behind in Oskaloosa, made her own travel arrangements.

A few miles west of Albia, Estas was allowed to go to the toilet, or "closet" as it was called, and locked himself in. Then two shots then rang out.

Once the door had been forced open, Cole and others found Estas slumped therein in a "dying condition" with a bullet lodged in his brain. Another bullet had passed through the brim of his hat and lodged in the closet ceiling. On the floor was a five-chamber black-handled .32 caliber revolver with four empty chambers.

A physician was notified to meet the train at Melrose, but there was little he could do. The train continued into Chariton and Estas was removed to a room at the Depot House hotel, where he died.

The remains were removed to the undertaking parlors of Braderick & Son where Coroner J.E. Stanton convened an inquest with John Howard, Joseph Sprott and David Burns as jurors. After hearing from the witnesses --- Dr. Riordan, who had accompanied the dying man to Chariton, Marshal Cole and C.B.&Q. brakeman John Davidson, a verdict of suicide was returned. Samuel King was on hand to identify the body as that of Harry G. Estas.

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Now arose the difficulty of what to do with the remains. Investigators had found in the dead man's pocket a lengthy and poignant suicide note written while he was jailed in Oskaloosa and addressed to his wife, published in full in both The Democrat and The Chariton Herald, that offered few clues to his motives. On the envelope was written, "Send my body to G.R. Neuse, Centerville." On Tuesday afternoon, a telegram arrived from the widow, sent from Albia, containing similar instructions.

As preparations were being made, Marshal Cole received a telegram from a railroad agent at Centerville that said, "Bring or send some reliable person with the remains of the man who killed himself on the train yesterday. Put body in box as friends here desire to furnish coffin. Money on deposit to pay all expenses."

Marshal Cole was instructed to accompany the body and left Chariton for Centerville via Albia on the No. 8 at noon Tuesday. Upon reaching Albia, he wired back to Chariton: "Estas' right name is Albert Neuse. His father lives in Centerville."

The story now continues with a report published as follows under the headline "Suicide" in The Centerville Citizen of April 28, 1886:

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Bert Neuse, a former resident of Centerville and at one time quite a prominent young man here, committed suicide by shooting himself on the C.B. & Q. train near Albia on Monday (actually Tuesday). There is a peculiar story attached to the deceased and many of our citizens are familiar with it. Some seven or eight years ago Bert was here in the lumber business with his father and was doing a good business. He was married and had one child.

His wife and child both died and in a year or so thereafter he was implicated in an unfortunate affair in which a woman was at the bottom.

He left the country to escape the consequences and has since been living at various places under the name of Harry Estes. During the present spring he has been traveling through this state as the advance agent of the "Power of Love" theatrical troupe and at Chariton, after having rented the Opera House and billed the town, he borrowed twenty dollars of the manager, who is also editor of The Democrat. giving an order on the treasurer of the troupe therefore. The troupe failed to materialize at Chariton and the hall manager, feeling himself duped, sent the sheriff after him and overtook him at What Cheer and was on his way back to Chariton with him when the affair happened.

It seems that the sheriff had refused to tell him for what he had been arrested and when Albia was reached he supposed he was being brought back to Centerville and he preferred death rather than face his old friends in his present disgrace.

On several occasion he had in writing to his sister here said that he never would be brought back to Centerville alive, and it seems he meant what he said.

He was married a second time about the time he left here and his wife has been with him part of the time and here part of the time. She was with him when he was arrested at What Cheer and after his death came on here.

The body was taken on to Chariton by the sheriff and brought here for interment --- arriving on the M. I. & N. last night. The funeral takes place today.

He was a man respected and well liked by everybody in the community. Thus ends in disgrace a life that had every opportunity for success and prosperity and those acquainted with the circumstances of the case can but reflect on how small the pivot on which hangs prosperity or disgrace.

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The editor of the Appanoose Iowegian, something of an aspiring preacher it would seem, was far less generous to the unfortunate Albert in his edition of April 29 where the following was published somewhat pretentiously under the headline "Felodese," Latin for someone who dies by his own hand:

Bert Neuse, of honorable parentage, with the best of connections by blood and marriage, has brought one more shadow and laid it down at the threshold of several of the best families in Southern Iowa and North Missouri by becoming the victim of his own suicidal hand on last Monday (Tuesday) near Albia. The victim of his own appetite, lust and passion, the young life has gone out, and several homes are sorrowful.

While we reflect: what a world of opportunities, what chances for success in life, what a field of usefulness hath this young man thrown away.

Raised in the lap of luxury, with the best of parentage, with the highest round in business life within his reach, all of the avenues, in all the professions --- based on the best literary acquirements the world affords --- open to him; surrounded by wealth and all of the comforts, blessings and helps riches can bring, Bert Neuse could have brought joy and not sorrow, comfort and not sadness, hope and not despair, a golden harvest instead of "nothing but leaves," and a calm and peaceful declining toward the evening of his days, to his aged old father, whose gray hairs must go down in sorrow to the grave.

The injunction, centuries old, that "he who soweth to the wind shall reap the whilwind" hath not abated one jot or tittle since recorded by the inspired pensman and will stand as a monument of truth against evil doing for ages yet to come.

The remains of young Neuse were brought to this city on Tuesday night, and the funeral services were conducted from the residence of Geo. R. Neuse, esq., at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, and all that was mortal of Bert Neuse was placed under the "sod and dew." Our heart goes out after his gray haired old father in sympathy; and for the other members of the family in whose hearts there are traces of sadness we extend our condolences.

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Naturally, South Iowans were anxious for more details of the scandal that had sent Bert on the run in the first place and the newspapers of the region did not disappoint. The following was published in many of them, including all three Chariton newspapers, during early May. It is the text of a letter written by the city marshal of Centerville to the marshal of Albia:

Burt Neuse, the man that committed suicide at your town, lived here five years ago; his father, brother and sister live here now, are wealthy and well respected. The trouble with the young man here was that about five years ago he accomplished the ruin of a nice girl here and a child was born to her. The grand jury found an indictment against him, from which he has been running ever since.

His father offered the father of the girl $5,000 for a compromise, but the father of the girl, not needing money as he was wealthy himself, said nothing short of conviction and penitentiary would satisfy him; and that was the reason he was traveling under the name of Estes.

He has been in Canada since until recently, I think, and almost know that he has been drawing on his father until the old man got tired of helping him, consequently his working the advance-agent racket to make a stake. After his trouble with the girl, he married the women here that he had with him; his marriage occurred before the grand jury found a bill against him.

Burt was always considered a very nice young man. Being the child of wealthy parents, was not raised to any trade or to work and was allowed all the money he would ask for. Consequently was a very fast young fellow, was a great favorite among the ladies. Nothing bad about him only his fondness for the fair sex, which was the cause of all his trouble here. His wife's folks also are nice people.

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It's a challenge to expand the story of this unfortunate young man whose full name was Frederick Albertus Neuse, known formally in most instances as F.A. Neuse (the name on his tombstone in Centerville's Oakland Cemetery, shown above) and as "Bert" by his friends.

He was born August 5, 1852, in Keokuk, the youngest son of Frederick and Anna Neuse, who had brought their family west from Maryland a few years earlier. Frederick Neuse Sr. was a successful lumber merchant who grew very rich and, in the 1870s, opened a branch operation in Centerville. Bert was sent west to manage it and his father, widowed during 1873, divided his time between the two cities.

I couldn't find a record of Bert's first marriage, but his wife, Alice May (Ward) Neuse, and daughter, Carrie, are buried in the Neuse family lot in Keokuk's Oakland Cemetery. Alice, 24, died Nov. 2, 1879, and Carrie, on Jan. 24, 1880, age 3. According to the mortality schedule attached to the 1880 census of Appanoose County, both died of diptheria.

Some 11 months after little Carrie's death, Bert --- then 28 --- married Emma E. Wallace, 20, also of Centerville, on Dec. 10, 1880, in Dubuque. Both Bert and Emma told the registrar that it was the first marriage for each, but it wasn't. Emma, too, had been married previously and had a 2-year-old son named Robert who took the surname Neuse after this marriage. Her first married name is given in the 1880 Centerville census, but is indecipherable.

We have no way of knowing at what point Bert "ruined" another young woman, apparently the daughter of an affluent family in or near Centerville. But after that happened and Bert fled under an assumed name, his older brother, George Neuse, moved to Centerville to take over operation of the lumber business.

Bert and Emma's son, Roy, was born during August of 1883. Emma was a few weeks pregnant when Bert killed himself. She gave birth to little Florence during December of 1886 in Centerville.

It would appear that Bert's scam had been fairly successful and fairly widespread across Iowa during the late winter and spring of 1886. His biggest haul seems to have been $100 in cash from a Des Moines theater manager.

When the senior Frederick Neuse died on April 2, 1891, in Keokuk, he left behind a very detailed will. In it, he noted that he had paid Bert a total of $3,300 during the final six years of Bert's life, most of which time he was on the run. 

He also made provisions for Emma and her two children by Bert. Each child received $5,000 outright to be invested by a guardian other than their mother. A fund of $5,000 was set aside for Emma's benefit, to be doled out in increments for so long as she remained single --- $25 a month during the summer, $30 a month in the fall, winter and spring. If Emma remarried, the remaining balance would pass to her children.

Emma did remarry after a couple of years, to a young carpenter named Thomas Goss, and had another son, Earl Goss, but the marriage had ended in divorce by 1900.

Tragedy struck on Aug. 19, 1900, when Roy Neuse, age 16 and on a lark with two young friends, attempted to ride the rails from Drakesville west to Centerville, fell beneath the cars and was killed instantly. He was buried beside his father in the Centerville cemetery and his inheritance, as provided in his grandfather's will, passed to his sister, Florence.

After that, Emma and Florence moved from Centerville to Colorado and I have no idea what became of Florence.

Emma and her first son, Robert, eventually settled in Phoenix, Arizona, where he worked as a bookkeeper. Robert never married and died on  Oct. 19, 1951. Emma died in Phoenix two years later, on April 2, 1953. They share a crypt in the Encanto Mausoleum at Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery in Phoenix.