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Turn Back the Page: The Three Emmas

December 31, 2025·52 min·2 clips

There are three women named Emma at the center of a really nasty story.

The podcast presents the 1914 murder case of Otto Koehler, a German immigrant millionaire who owned San Antonio Brewing Association and produced Pearl Beer in Texas. Otto's wife Emma was injured in an accident around 1910 and became bedridden, requiring full-time nursing care. Otto hired Emmy Dumke, a 27-year-old German nurse, to care for Emma, but began a romantic affair with Emmy, purchasing a small house for her nearby. Emmy decided to take on a roommate named Hedda Bergermeister, an attractive blonde nurse in her early thirties who also came from Germany. Otto hired Hedda as additional care for his wife, then began a sexual relationship with her as well, creating a three-way arrangement. Otto deeded the house to both women and provided them generous monthly stipends in exchange for sexual access a few times per week while they cared for his bedridden wife. This arrangement continued for approximately two years before complications arose. Emmy announced she was leaving Otto to marry another man and moved to St. Louis, which Otto experienced as rejection. In response, Otto proposed marriage to Hedda despite still being legally married to Emma, but Hedda rejected him, citing loyalty to the sick Mrs. Koehler. On November 12, 1914, Emmy returned to San Antonio to visit Hedda at the house. Otto arrived that evening between 4 and 5 PM, reportedly to settle a financial dispute about bills for Emma's care. Shortly after his arrival, neighbors heard three gunshots from the house. When neighbors entered, they found Otto dead from three gunshot wounds from Hedda's .32-caliber revolver—one broke his neck, another penetrated his skull below the left eye, and a third entered his chest. Hedda was discovered kneeling beside Otto's body with a self-inflicted wrist wound and a bloody knife nearby. Two handguns were at the scene: Hedda's weapon and Otto's gun. Hedda immediately told police "I'm sorry, but I had to kill him," establishing a self-defense claim. Both surviving women stated Otto became physically violent, with Emmy claiming Otto choked her and she feared he would shoot her. The Koehler family claimed the dispute was over medical bills that escalated when Hedda became frightened and reached for her gun. Hedda was hospitalized under police supervision for her wrist wound and made a full recovery. Emmy was placed under surveillance but never charged with any crime related to Otto's death. The case hinged entirely on the testimony of the two surviving women against a dead man who could not defend himself. The discussion focuses on analyzing victimology in the absence of modern forensics. Paul Holes notes the importance of separating witnesses immediately and examining bullet trajectories to verify or contradict the self-defense claims. The case illustrates how relationship dynamics—jealousy, financial control, rejection, and transactional intimacy—can escalate to violence. The conversational tone remains analytical and somewhat lighthearted despite the dark subject matter, with banter about Paul's memories of San Antonio's German heritage and Kate's surprise at the scandalous arrangement existing in 1910. The episode is structured around understanding three women named Emma—Otto's wife, Emmy the first mistress, and Hedda (nicknamed from Emma)—and determining who had motive and opportunity. This case suits listeners interested in early 20th-century social dynamics, gender and power relationships, immigrant communities in American cities, and how historical crimes were investigated without modern forensic tools.

As heard by us

A 1910 household arrangement becomes a careful study of status, sex, care, and possible love.

A photograph opens onto a startling 1910 household arrangement shaped by money, sex, care, status, and doubt. At its center are Otto, his bedridden wife Emma, and two younger women, Emmy and Hedda, whom he paid to look after Emma while also paying to sleep with them a couple of…

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Why you'd press play

You want a 1910 scandal where Otto, his bedridden wife Emma, two younger women, and a gifted house make one arrangement feel stranger the longer you sit with it.

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