USA > Minnesota > Stearns County > History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume I > Part 75
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A tragie death was that of George J. MeNaughton, manager of the St. Cloud office of the Northwestern Telephone Exchange, August 17. He was engaged in repairing a break in a telephone wire, which had crossed with an
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electric wire on the east side, but the instant he touched the live wire with his pliers he "grounded" the current, receiving the full 2,300 volts of elec- tricity, which fed the Sauk Rapids electric light system. Death was prac- tically instantaneous.
Jimmie, the eight-year-old son of James Cass, of St. Cloud, died in the hospital, August 13, of tetanus, the result of having run a sliver into his foot a few days before.
Swan Swanberg, of St. Cloud, was struck on the head by a falling rock, September 18, receiving injuries from which he died four days afterwards.
James, the thirteen-year-old son of A. A. Chisholm, of New Paynesville, while hunting on Lake Karonis, September 20, attempted to pull his gun out of the boat by the muzzle when the weapon was discharged, the shot striking him in the head, causing instant death.
The residence of Nicholas B. Rassier, of the town of St. Joseph, caught fire October 2, while the father was in the cornfield and the mother was in the milk house, their eight-months-old baby being so terribly burned that it died soon afterwards.
A case of heavy glass, which Louis Haselkamp, 19 years of age, was hauling from the Northern Pacific station, at St. Cloud, fell on to him, crush- ing him to death.
While hanging shafting in the Sartell Bros. planing mill, in LeSauk town- ship, November 12, Winslow L. Sartell fell a distance of 14 feet, striking on his head and shoulders, receiving injuries from which he died December 2, at the age of 42 years.
A fall down a stairway at her home in St. Augusta, November 17, re- sulted in the death of Miss Bernardina Messman.
1904. During the temporary absence of their parents from the house January 7, the clothing of the two youngest children of R. Symanietz, of St. Anna, caught fire and both were so badly burned that they died within a few hours afterwards.
Lee Barnum, of Sauk Rapids, while engaged in lumbering at Priest River, Idaho, was killed January 13, by a falling tree.
Stephen Orth, of St. Joseph, was run over and killed near the crossing of the St. Joseph road and the Great Northern railway track on the evening of March 12. The body was terribly mangled and lay all night before being discovered.
In descending the cellar stairs at her home in St. Cloud, April 3, Mrs. Charles McLeod, aged 55 years, fell and striking on the brick floor, crushed in the front of her head, death being instantaneous.
Lester Bowers, of St. Cloud, while swimming in the Mississippi river August 4, was drowned.
Chris Blonninger, of St. Martin, died August 14 as the result of a gun- shot wound, the charge from an old-fashioned musket entering his head.
A little daughter of John Vonderlich, a farmer living near Opole, was burned to death October 30, by her clothes catching fire when she was using a kerosene can to start a fire in the kitchen stove.
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1905. The two-year-old baby boy of Robert Grams, a Fair Haven farmer, was burned to death April 22, by his clothes catching fire while playing in a meadow his father was burning over.
William D. Wilkinson, a well-known St. Cloud Great Northern conductor, was struck by a passing train at Como station and instantly killed.
Edward Atkinson, assessor of the township of Millwood, was struck by lightning and instantly killed June 16, while at the house of Bernard Boekermann, in the performance of his official duties.
Hubert Saverkuhl, a farmer living near Spring Hill postoffice, was drowned July 11, while attempting to cross Sauk river in a boat, which cap- sized.
Henry Klier, 17 years old, of the town of Farming, was drowned July 15 while swimming in Sauk river, being seized with cramps.
Sauk river claimed its third victim within a week, when July 18, George Sherrock, assistant cashier of the Merchants' National Bank at Sauk Centre, was drowned while swimming in the mill pond at that place. He was an ex- pert swimmer, but he, too, was seized with cramps. He was in company with thirty other bathers, but they were too panic-stricken to render any assistance as he rose and sank for the third time.
The nine-year-old son of Andrew Thull, a farmer living near Melrose, died August 3, from injuries received in falling from a wagon the day before.
Mary Kral, 19 years of age, whose home was near Getty's Grove, died August 2 from the effects of carbolic acid, which she had swallowed.
George Truax, aged 31, a livery man, of Sauk Centre, was killed on the rail- road between that city and Melrose, August 4. The head was completely scvered from the body.
A stroke of lightning tore almost to shreds the body of Edward Haar, a farmer living in the town of St. Wendel, about three miles north of St. Joseph, during a storm August 20. He was working on a stack of grain at the time, which was set on fire, but the body was thrown to one side by the force of the bolt.
Mrs. Margaretha Weber, of St. Cloud, widow of Dr. Charles S. Weber, died August 20 as the result of a fall down stairs some days before.
George, a two-year-old son of Isadore Hadersbeck, of St. Cloud, died September 1, from drinking a quantity of fly poison solution.
Mrs. Albert S. Greeley, who came to Stearns county in 1856, settling in the vicinity of St. Cloud, lost her way October 20, near Ripple, in the northern woods, and perished, her body being found on a bed of boughs in a wind shelter.
Paul Henry Young, of Holdingford, while at work on the new south cell wing at the St. Cloud reformatory, December 1, fell from the scaffolding to the ground, meeting almost instant death.
Mrs. Michael M. Schultz, of Paynesville, was so terribly burned by the explosion of a kerosene lamp, December 20, that she died soon afterwards, giving her life to save that of her young step-son, who was first enveloped in the flames.
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1906. While William Week, a well-known citizen of Sauk Rapids, was at work in a well on his premises, March 8, the curbing gave way and he was crushed to death.
Mrs. Anna Theis, of Cold Spring, while returning from church, March 25, fell on the slippery sidewalk, rupturing a blood vessel and dying an hour afterwards. She was 50 years of age.
Nick and John Zintz, of Lake George, who had taken claims near Minot, N. D., met their death April 2, while digging a well. Their bodies were brought to their former home for burial.
Michael O'Conner, a retired farmer, was knocked to the floor, stamped upon and killed July 12, by Frank Bonsell, in a saloon, at Melrose. The mur- derer was arrested and brought to the county jail. At the trial held in St. Cloud, at the December term of the district court, Bonsell was convicted of manslaughter in the second degree and sentenced to four and a half years in the state penitentiary.
While three young boys, Alfred Brustad, Oscar Requam and Albion Col- biorson, of Belgrade, were together in the outskirts of the village, hunting with a small rifle, July 16, the former, 12 years of age, was shot and killed. Young Requam, who was 14 years old, was arrested, charged with the mur- der of Brustad, as it was shown that there had previously been a quarrel be- tween the boys, but after a preliminary hearing held July 28, he was dis- charged on the ground that the shooting was accidental.
Favitte, the thirteen-year-old son of Dr. J. A. DuBois, of Sauk Centre, while visiting his grandparents at Lake Mills, Wis., was struck by lightning August 18 and killed.
While at work in the Niels saw mill at Sauk Rapids, September 4, Wil- liam Mossberg, one of the oldest employees of the company, was struck in the abdomen by a slab, receiving injuries from which he died two days afterwards.
Fred Johnson, formerly of St. Cloud and Melrose, was killed September 19, at Glasgow, Montana, while working at a railroad wreck. His body was brought to St. Cloud for burial.
1907. Mrs. Maria Navock, of Holding, 70 years of age, was frozen to death New Year's day, while going from her home to that of her daughter, a few miles distant.
Frank P. Czech, of Holding, died January 30, having fallen from his sled, while returning from Royalton some days before, under the influence of liquor, and laid by the roadside for thirteen hours before being discovered.
While crossing the railroad bridge at St. Cloud on the night of Febru- ary 11, Elling O. Omundson fell to the ice below and was killed, his body being discovered the next morning.
As Adam Yaeger and his daughter, Ida, aged 21 years, of St. Cloud township, were crossing the Great Northern tracks at West St. Germain street, St. Cloud, on the evening of March 18, the sled in which they were riding was struck by a passenger train. Mr. Yaeger was almost instantly killed and his daughter so seriously injured that she died two days afterwards at the hospital, having never regained consciousness. The horses, loosed from the sled and unhurt, ran home, a distance of six miles.
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C. Parker McClure, of St. Cloud, who, with his wife and daughter, had been spending the winter in California, was drowned March 20, while bath- ing in the ocean at Venice.
Miss Ida Moeller, 17 years of age, of the town of Lynden, was so badly burned April 2 by her dress catching fire that she died the second day fol- lowing.
Not realizing the swiftness of the current in the Crow river near Paynes- ville, Edward Braden, the eight-year-old son of Mrs. Mary Braden, a widow, who had recently removed to that place from Eden Valley, ventured into the stream, June 19, and was drowned.
Injuries received from a fractious team of horses, which was attached to a binder caused the death, July 25, of Charles M. P. Hanson, on his father's farm in the town of Rockville. The young man was 28 years of age.
While two young boys, sons of Mrs. J. Fadden, living at Northtown, near Paynesville, were playing with a small rifle, August 5, the weapon was dis- charged, the bullet going through the body of the youngest, only four years old, causing almost instant death. The mother was a widow, who had recently lived at Cold Spring.
William Ratford, constable at Freeport, shot and almost instantly killed John Tonyon in that village on the night of Sunday, August 18. Tonyon was a member of a gang who had been drinking and creating a disturbance, driv- ing through the streets. Repeated warnings from the officer were unheeded. A shot was fired in front of the horses without effeet. Another, after mid- night, when the men refused to behave, was fired, the bullet taking effeet in Tonyon's neck. The constable, who elaimed that the shot was fired simply as a warning, was arrested, but was fully exonerated by the coroner's jury. The case was afterwards presented to the grand jury, which refused to return an indietment.
The body of Hawkin Johnson, 82 years of age, was found October 13, in Lake Johanna near Brooten, where it had been for a week, during which time his whereabouts was a mystery. The body was alongside a barbed-wire fence and it was supposed that he fell into the water while endeavoring to eross the fence and was unable to help himself.
James Draper, aged 23, and John Hooper, aged 15, while skating on Sauk lake, Sauk Centre, December 1, broke through the ice, near Ashley creek, and both were drowned.
1908. As Henry Wessler, a well-known farmer of Albany, was erossing the Great Northern railroad track near the village, April 1, his wagon was struek by a passenger train and knoeked into fragments, both horses being killed, and himself so badly injured that he died in a few minutes afterwards.
A two-year-old child of William Keppers, of Avon, fell into a tub of boiling water April 10, dying a few hours afterwards.
During a row in Martin Lahr's saloon at Opolo, on the night of May 18, Vinus Esser, a young man living in that locality, was shot by Lahr, dying a few days afterwards. Lahr claimed that the shooting was done in self- defense and he was exonerated by the coroner's jury. The ease was presented
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to the grand jury at the December term of the district court and an indict- ment found, but after a trial the petit jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
While fishing in a boat on Sauk river, May 29, the eight-year-old son of Peter Doll, of St. Martin, fell into the river and was drowned.
Nicholas Klein, of Sauk Centre, met with death July 19, by falling from a scaffold while shingling a barn at H. Lange's farm, north of St. Anthony.
Joseph Vesper, of St. Cloud, lost his life July 23, by a cave-in while he was laying water pipes at St. John's university.
A young man named Oscar Thoreson, was drowned August 2, in Lake Karonis, Paynesville. He was an expert swimmer, and had covered several miles in going from the shore to the island repeatedly, when seized with cramps he sank to the bottom.
John Weber, of Eden Valley, son of Henry Weber, of Rockville, was instantly killed August 15, when the buggy in which he was riding was struck by a Soo train near that place. John Ludwig, who was with him, was severely injured.
Paul Doege, the twenty-year-old son of Chris Doege, living on a farm near Sauk Centre, was struck by lightning September 12 and instantly killed.
While working at the power plant at St. Cloud, October 14, Charles F. Bunt was struck by a falling bucket filled with dirt, and killed.
John P. Heidgertken, of Rockville, died November 27, at Marty, from the effects of poison.
The sixteen-months-old daughter of George Gulde, St. Cloud, drank a part of a cup of boiling hot tea December 4, and was so badly scalded inter- nally that she died the following day.
George P. Irvin, one of the oldest engineers on the Great Northern, and a former resident of St. Cloud, met death near Minneapolis, December 7, his head being crushed against a span of the bridge as he was looking backwards.
1909. Wade Watson, of Sauk Rapids, died January 9, from the effects of a gun-shot wound.
Herman Abeles, for a number of years a leading business man of St. Cloud, died in New York City, February 24, from a gun-shot wound.
William Gavinda, of Sauk Rapids, while at work March 11, building a cottage for himself, fell from the scaffolding and was killed.
Stephen Fink, an Eden Valley farmer, was thrown from his buggy April 12, when his horses ran away, his back being broken and death resulting two days afterwards.
As the result of a collision between two Soo freight trains near Kimball, April 29, a brakeman named Carney, whose home was at Minneapolis, was in- stantly killed, and another, Hugh Berry, was seriously injured. Six cars were burned.
Edward Hoffman, one of the early farmers of Albany, died May 5, from a gun-shot wound.
John P. Bernick, a former sheriff of Stearns county, for two terms, came to his death at St. Paul, May 13, from a gunshot wound.
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Peter Cline, a retired farmer living at Sauk Centre, was struck by a Northern Pacific train, June 14 and killed. He was 75 years old and quite deaf, and doubtless did not hear the approaching train.
Barney Sumbs, of St. Anna, while swimming in Avon lake, July 3, was seized with cramps and drowned in 25 feet of water.
Daniel Orcutt, of Sauk Rapids, was crushed to death August 7 by a huge log from a car load for the Neil's Lumber Company's mill, rolling onto him as he was assisting at unloading.
Frank Scherer, of St. Cloud, died September from a dose of carbolic acid.
Henry Richter, a farmer living near Albany, was struck by a freight train on the Soo road on the evening of October 9, while walking on the track, and instantly killed.
1910. During the burning of J. A. Lilliquist's stone-cutting shed at East St. Cloud, March 20, a boy named Alexander Kellas, who had been sleeping there and returned after the fire broke out to secure some clothing, was unable to escape and was burned to death.
Mike Butala, a mail carrier of Richmond, was knocked down and killed May 9, by a pair of bronchos, which became frightened by a passing train. John Gnifkowski, of St. Cloud, died June 7, from the effects of a pistol wound received the night before.
While swimming in St. John's lake, Collegeville, June 13, Adolph Duerr, a student at the university, was drowned.
Another case of the drowning of a young man occurred within the week. George Weisser, of Melrose, while swimming in the mill pond at that place with a number of other boys, June 20, was seized with cramps and sank in seven feet of water.
As the result of a runaway accident June 18, Peter Padlaske, a farmer of Opole, received injuries from which he died the following day.
Fred Opitz, of Paynesville, was drowned July 14, while swimming with a number of companions in Lake Karonis.
While William Kurz, of Eden Valley, and a young companion were hunt- ing rabbits, September 24, they stopped to measure the length of their re- spective gun barrels, when the friend's rifle was discharged, the ball entering young Kurz's heart, causing instant deatlı.
By a fall from the roof of a house on which he was working in St. Cloud, November 18, Henry Weins, a carpenter, met instant death.
Michael Hanck, employed in the Northern Pacific yards at St. Cloud, was struck December 19, by a stock train and almost instantly killed.
Charles O'Brien, a barber in St. Cloud, was shot and killed December 21, by Harry Albrecht, following an altercation in Woodmen hall, in the Kerr block. Albrecht, who was conducting a restaurant in the rear of Linden- berg's saloon, was under the influence of liquor at the time. He was arrested and held for appearance before the district court. At the May, 1911, term he was found guilty of manslaughter in the first degree and sentenced to the state reformatory, with a possible parole after five years, the maximum be- ing twenty years.
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1911. Zacharias Zura, a bachelor, aged 50, was found January 19 in a plowed field on his farm near Holdingford, where he had lived alone, frozen stiff. The indications were that he had been dead for at least two days.
Edward Ceynar, a young farmer of Sauk Center, died February 5 from the effects of a dose of strychnine.
A five-year-old boy, Carl Kienast, of St. Joe, running in front of 'bus, February 13, was struck on the head by the feet of one of the horses, dying within a few minutes afterwards.
J. J. Ackley, of Escanaba, Mich., temporarily in St. Cloud, committed suicide March 13, by taking a dose of carbolic acid at the Grand Central Hotel. In a note-book found on his body was a memorandum stating that he had had nothing to eat for three days, adding: "When I had money I was everybody's friend; when I had none I had no friends. Some people may say after my death that I died from the effects of liquor, but this is not true."
While Minnie Wegner, 23 years old, of St. Cloud, was visiting at the home of her brother-in-law, C. A. Loudon, in Minneapolis, April 4, she was shot and instantly killed by Arthur Wold, a street car conductor, who at once turned the weapon upon himself, dying almost immediately. He had been paying devoted attention to Miss Wegner, who did not requite his affections, and he became insanely jealous.
William Mohs, a farmer of the town of St. Martin, was found dead in the field where he had been at work April 20. He had a shotgun strapped to the seeder, and in some way it was accidentally discharged, the charge entering his chest.
By the upsetting of a boat in which with two companions, he was fish- ing on Fish lake, June 7, George Buhlman, of St. Cloud, was drowned. The others almost lost their lives in their efforts to save him, as he became fran- tic and four times dragged them under the water.
John Paltzer, a member of the St. Cloud police force, died September 3, from the effects of a revolver shot.
Anton Donbrava, a farmer of Raymond, shot and fatally wounded his wife, September 21. Donbrava, who was 65 years of age, was arrested and brought to the county jail. He had been confined in the Fergus Falls hospital for the insane, together with one of his sons, in May, 1906, remaining there until the following January. He was examined by a lunacy commission, de- clared to be insane at the time he committed the murder and was sent to the Fergus Falls asylum.
L. J. I. DeMeules, of Minneapolis, a well-known piano salesman, died in St. Cloud, October 10 from a dose of carbolic acid.
A fifteen-months-old child of Thomas Willenbring, of St. Cloud, fell into a tub of boiling water, October 18, and was scalded to death.
A shot from a revolver resulted in the death of Joseph Zellner at St. Cloud, December 6, the bullet entering his brain.
1912. William Heimsath, of St. Cloud, 70 years of age, died January 27, from the effects of a gunshot wound.
The lifeless body of John Warner, of St. Cloud, was found June 2, hang-
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ing from a tree in North Star cemetery. He had shown signs for some time of being mentally unbalanced.
While Mr. and Mrs. Harry Dyer and their daughter, Nellie Dyer, of St. Cloud, were crossing the railroad track, July 5, between Baden and Ken- mare, in the western part of North Dakota, their automobile was struck by a Soo flyer. Mrs. Dyer was instantly killed and Miss Dyer so seriously in- jured that she died the following day. Mr. Dyer received several bad frac- tures and was much bruised, but recovered.
Joseph McCann, an employee at the Simmers & Campbell's stone sheds, St. Cloud, was killed October 7, by a stone weighing over a ton, which he was swinging on a crane, falling on him.
A. M. Weaks, a wealthy farmer living at Belgrade, aged 62 years, died October 16, from a gunshot wound which almost blew his head off, the charge entering under the chin.
Paul Baer, foreman in the Joseph Tise cigar factory, at Melrose, died De- cember 17, from a dose of carbolic acid.
1913. While at work in the saw-mill at Holdingford, April 30, Edward Sundkvist was caught between a log and the saw, while the mill was in opera- tion, and literally cut in two.
Henry Chalgren, of Sauk Rapids, aged 61 years, was so badly injured by a fall while at work that he died May 5.
Nicholas Ganzer, of Cold Spring, was struck by lightning and instantly killed May 28, while in a launch with a party on the lake on a fishing trip. Others in the boat were severely shocked but were not injured.
Peter Bunt was drowned June 25, while attending the sluiceway of the boom at the St. Cloud water power. He was alone at the time and it was not known how the accident occurred.
Roy Anderson, of Paynesville, died June 25, in St. Paul, from the effects of a shot from a revolver.
Carl W. Schuster, son of Fred Schuster, of St. Cloud, was drowned July 9, while swimming in the Mississippi river near the pumping station.
John Donovan, county commissioner of Benton county, died July 14, at his home in Foley, as the result of a fall from a wagon two days before.
Alois Luetmer, aged 15 years, of Meier Grove, was kicked on the head by a horse, July 23, dying the following day.
While engaged in pumping gasoline from a car on the Soo track at Brooten, August 28th, Ernest Nelson, 16 years of age, lost his balance and fell into the gasoline. He died soon after being rescued.
Ole C. Reiquqam, of Belgrade, who had been for several years post- master at that village, and had held a number of local offices, was struck September 25, by the Soo flyer and instantly killed.
The dead body of Thomas Pelton, aged 28, was found in the early morn- ing of October 1, lying across the railroad track, a short distance north of the Northern Pacific station, at St. Cloud. Both his legs were cut off and there were bruises and cuts about his head. Foul play was suspected and two young men who had been with him the previous evening were arrested, but
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were later discharged, the evidence tending to show that he had been killed by a railroad train.
Arrey R. Ressler, of St. Cloud, during a fit of despondency, committed suicide, October 1, by hanging on the front porch of his dwelling.
The body of John Hennen, a farmer living near Eden Valley, was found October 9, underneath his horse in a marsh, where both had mired and both suffocated to death.
Mrs. Ole N. Winther, living on a farm near Paynesville, was attacked by a bull, October 4, and so severely injured that she died in a little more than an hour afterwards.
Mrs. Louisa Kinpke, one of the pioneer settlers of Paynesville, was shot and instantly killed October 10, by the discharge of a gun in the hands of her little grandson, who fired at a duck flying toward the house.
By the turning turtle of an automobile near Avon, October 11, Rudolph Ladner, the seventeen-year-old son of C. F. Ladner, of St. Cloud, was almost instantly killed. The other occupants of the car received only slight injuries.
Benjamin Leyendecker, of Roscoe, was instantly killed and his uncle, Claude Leyendecker, severely injured October 13, by the overturning of an automobile in which they were riding.
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