A Milwaukee building holds a secret. From the outside, it looks like an old warehouse. Maybe it's in use or maybe it's vacant. It's tough to tell. However, walk inside and you'll find a high-end reservation-only restaurant, The Chef's Table. The restaurant is eclectically decorated with copper cooking pots on the walls and utensils hanging from the chandelier. There are multiple secret doors, a speakeasy, an apothecary, an old mail room, and more surprises."We change the menu every day," executive chef and owner David Magnasco said. He bought the Walker's Point building in 2013. One day in 2015, he was working on the wine cellar ceiling. He had to clear out a lot of junk. The building is more than a hundred years old and has had multiple tenants over the past century. During that time, a lot of trash had built up."I took over six - what was six full contractor dumpsters worth of rubbish and seven tons of scrap steel on top of that, so you know, there was not a lot of treasure to be found down there," Magnasco said.That's what he thought. That's not what happened, though. A treasure waiting to be found for decades was sitting in the ceiling for the right person to discover it.A Treasure Waiting to be FoundThis is how Magnasco describes what happened when he was clearing out all that junk: And all of a sudden a bundle of something lands on my chest lands on the floor, splat and knocks the wind out of me. And I get down, and there's a bundle of newspaper, and, you know, I open it up and there's a hoard of love letters," he said.Specifically, 104 love letters that were neatly wrapped in Milwaukee Journal newspaper from the 1920s. The letters are all dated between 1912 to 1915. Of the 104 letters, 100 were still in their original envelopes. "Be good and true my sweet girl. And save all your love for your loving Mitchell. Goodnight, a long sweet kiss," one of the letters read. The letters are written on nice hotel stationery. Back then, hotels would mail letters on behalf of guests. The envelopes all featured pictures of the hotel and so too did the writing paper. Additionally, the paper featured advertisements for ice water, hot water, and electricity. The author was Mitchell Ingraham. He was writing to his Milwaukee lover Theresa Reischl. Not much is known about her, but Ingraham was a traveling actor who performed in plays across the country. That's why all the letters are written on hotel stationery from across the country. Once he even performed for former United States President Woodrow Wilson. I played before the president and his wife tonight. I got a dandy look at both of them," a letter read.Long-Distance LoversThe letters tell a story of long-distance lovers. Ingraham constantly pined over Reischl. Every letter he wrote started with a different greeting like "Honey Girl", "Darling Teddy", or "My Dream Girl".Once the letters were found, they were handed over to The Chef's Table sommelier Philip MacConnell who researched them. "He spends a lot of time fawning over her. There's probably 12 if not 20 different ways that he refers to her," MacConnell said. Ingraham and Reischl were deeply in love and met whenever he was in Milwaukee. Here are excerpts from the letters:"Honey Girl, can you imagine how lonesome your daddy is? Too lonesome to even try to cheer up. I found one of my baby's hairpins in the bed and that made me feel more lonesome than ever."I was with the sweetest girl in the world and now shes gone. And Im here alone. If you could only know what was in my heart today.Beyond Ingraham's love for Reischl, the letters also mention his day-to-day life. One story spoke of a particularly gruesome attack Ingraham witnessed. Watch: Hidden 112-year-old love letters reveal a scandalous Milwaukee affair: Love and Lies: 112-year-old love letters reveal a scandalous Milwaukee affairMacConnell recounts what one of the letters said: "(An unidentified woman) accuses her partner of infidelity and brandishes a knife, and he says you don't have the guts to use that, and she takes the knife and puts it right into his chest. He stumbles backward, falls out on the street, and bleeds out, and dies." That was written in the letters; however, it's impossible to verify if any of that happened, who was involved, or if any charges were pressed. A Scandalous AffairEventually, what was a wholesome love story (besides the possible murder) turned scandalous.So the writer of these letters was one of the most established theater players in the early 20th century. And he was performing in Milwaukee, seduced a young lady who was 16 years younger, and oh by the way hes married," MacConnell said.Ingraham had a wife, and Theresa Reischl was his Milwaukee mistress. It's unclear when exactly all the relationships started. According to findagrave.com, Ingraham married his first wife in 1897. We don't know when Ingraham began his relationship with Reischl. However, we do have an idea of how the downfall of these relationships began.At some point, Reischl became skeptical that Ingraham wasn't being faithful. By what was said in the letters, it's clear that she was asking if Ingraham was cheating on her. This was his response: Now Im going to tell you the plain truth as I always do. I had a woman in my room last night," a letter from Nov. 12, 1913, read. However, they continued to talk. They didn't stop sending letters to each other. He penned a note to Reischl about the end of his marriage nearly two years later.I had a letter from Netty (his wife) saying she has started proceedings for divorce in Indianapolis," a letter from Sept. 3, 1915, read.Ultimately, Reischl left him too. Although, none of that stopped Ingraham's quest to find love. In fact, he ended up marrying his brother's widow. Reischl married a man in Nebraska.Life in Arizona and CaliforniaThis marriage seemed to stick the longest. Ingraham and his wife moved to Prescott, Arizona. He performed at the local opera house frequently. Then as 'talkies', or movies, became more popular in the 1920s, the two moved to Hollywood. According to IMDB, he has more than 40 film credits. However, most of those were minor or even uncredited roles. The biggest movie he was in was Casablanca. At the end of his life in 1944, Ingraham was buried in the most famous movie star cemetery, Hollywood Forever.Sommelier and ArchivistWe were able to get a lot of information from the letters, but what about the marriages, the opera house, and the cemetery? Well, the sommelier isnt just a wine expert. He's one of several people in the county who is both a professional sommelier and a certified trained professional archivist."I grew up with wine. And after I completed my program at (the University of California, Berkeley) I found myself at a wine store, and I've never looked back," MacConnell said. He got his undergraduate degree in Library Administration and Cataloging. His background is researching things exactly like these letters. It just so happened that he was the right guy in the right place at the right time. "Just very fortuitous that I ended up here and had a skill set that was needed. And I don't think we ever thought too much about that when I started working here. And then as we talked more about the letters I said well I think I can do this."He examined sources like Ancestry.com, census data, tax records, and more. TMJ4 also reached out to local historians and a museum in Prescott, Arizona (where Ingraham lived for a while) for more information.The last address we have for Ms. Reischl is what is now The Pasta Tree restaurant on Farwell. So how did the letters get from there to (Walker's Point)? They were wrapped in 1924 newspaper, but when were they put in the building? Who did it?" MacConnell asked.A Milwaukee MysteryAll of these questions and more are left unanswered. Did Ingraham have more mistresses? Did he mean what he wrote? Why were they saved? This will be one of the great mysteries in Milwaukee history," MacConnell said.So what happens now to the letters?The letters could make a great sitcom. Its definitely an amazing story. Theres a book. Theres theater. A movie a Netflix special. Were not really sure," The Chef's Table executive owner David Magnasco said.After all, we love a love story whether romantic, tragic, comedic, scandalous, or mysterious. I love the idea that theres still always going to be that little veil of mystery and intrigue," MacConnell said.These are love letters that probably weren't intended to be found. It was a taboo relationship. It's likely a mystery that will never be solved and perhaps Ingraham and Reischl are happy that's the case.Its about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for TMJ4 on your device.Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip