Belva Gaertner

Belva Gaertner (née Boosinger; September 14, 1884 – May 14, 1965) was a woman who was acquitted of murder in a 1924 trial. She inspired the fictional character Velma Kelly/Velma Wall in the play Chicago created by Maurine Dallas Watkins; Watkins reported on the trial for the Chicago Tribune. The character also appears in the musical based on the play.

Gaertner was born Belva Eleanora Boosinger on September 14, 1884, in Litchfield, Illinois to Mary Jane (née Clark) and Charles M. Boosinger. She was a three-time divorced cabaret singer who used the professional name Belle Brown. Her first marriage was to a Mr. Overbeck. In 1917, she married William Gaertner, who was 20 years her elder and a wealthy industrialist, in Crown Point, Indiana. Five months later, William Gaertner successfully sued to have the marriage annulled, claiming that Belva's divorce to Overbeck had not been finalized. They then were married a second time, but had separated by the time Belva was accused of murder.

On March 11, 1924, Belva Gaertner allegedly shot and killed her lover Walter Law, a married man with one child. Law was found sprawled in the front seat of Gaertner's car with a bottle of gin and a gun lying beside him. Gaertner, found later at her apartment with blood-soaked clothes on the floor, confessed that she was drunk and was driving with Law, but couldn't remember what happened.

Gaertner was arrested for the murder of Law in Chicago on March 12, 1924, and admitted to drinking with Law at various bars and jazz houses, saying she carried a gun for fear of robbers.

One of Law's co-workers testified that Law had confided that Gaertner was a possessive lover who had threatened him with a knife when he tried to leave her, and that Law believed she would kill him one day.

Gaertner told Maurine Dallas Watkins: "No woman can love a man enough to kill him. They aren't worth it, because there are always plenty more. Walter was just a kid—29 and I'm 38. Why should I have worried whether he loved me or whether he left me? Gin and guns—either one is bad enough, but together they get you in a dickens of a mess, don't they?" Gaertner was defended by William Scott Stewart.

Gaertner's defense was that Law might have killed himself with the gun. She was acquitted in June 1924.

In 1925, following her acquittal, she remarried William Gaertner again. In 1926, Gaertner filed for divorce again, claiming she was abusive and an alcoholic. On July 5, Gaertner claimed his wife threatened to murder him after he found her with another man. She was convicted of drunk driving in November 1926.

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