Father of Luikart Babies Sues Wife

1920

BRINGS DIVORCE ACTION IN A MICHIGAN COURT

Charges Mate, Who Poisoned Little Girls, Was Believer in "Sex Antagonism"

DETROIT, Mich. -- Roy E. Luikart, father of Shirley and Edna Luikart, whom the mother, Mrs. Hazel Luikart of Royal Oak, attempted to poison last September, has brought divorce action in the Circuit Court, it became known. Mrs. Luikart is held in the Ionia Hospital for Criminal Insane.

The bill of complaint says the mother was much in the company of a Royal Oakman, who had promised to take her to Europe just before she tried to end the lives of her daughters.

Thought "Women Were Toys"

According to the bill of complaint, Mrs. Luikart became a devotee of the philosophy of "sex antagonism." The husband says she told him "women were the toys and playthings of men, that men never suffered, and that she had made all the sacrifices and he had made none."

The bill reviews the poisoning case, and how Shirley and Edna were saved by being taken to Dr. Carter in Chicago, where they attracted the sympathy of the entire country. Luikart alleges that on the day of the poisoning Mrs. Luikart and the man he names had an appointment, which the man failed to keep.

Mother Named in Suit

The Royal Oak man is made a party to the court proceedings. Two other co-defendants are Alexander Zora, stepfather of Mrs. Luikart, and Mrs. Luikart's mother.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 3.