Kister, Alice Marie 1897 - 1934
KIESTER, KISTER, WAGNER
Posted By: Reid R. Johnson (email)
Date: 7/5/2021 at 15:31:40
Clayton County Register, Thur., 15 Feb. 1934.
Miss Alice Kiester, 35, committed suicide at Monona Tuesday evening between 8:30 and 8:45 when she threw herself under a west-bound freight train.
Miss Kiester had been a school teacher in Davenport. She suffered a nervous break-down there and went to Iowa City for treatment. Last Sunday she returned to Monona to recuperate at the home of her uncle, John Wagner.
Tuesday evening she had been a dinner guest in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Kleinpell, after which she returned to the Wagner home. A little later she left there, about the time the west-bound freight train was due, and it is believed she concealed herself back of a tool shed near the water tank where the locomotives for the freight train were taking water.
After the train was under motion again it is believed she threw herself under the fifth car of the train since the train crew discovered blood stains in the trucks of that car on arrival at Calmar.
The body was discovered by the crew of the hill engine - Engineer Wm. Fields and Fireman Wm. Dickey - which had helped the freight train up the long grade out of Marquette. After the hill engine had been uncoupled from the train and on its return trip to Marquette the engine crew discovered a pair of women's bloomers and a little later they noticed an object on the track. Upon investigation it was found to be the badly mangled body of a woman which was identified as Miss Kiester.
Coroner Leslie Oelke was called to Monona but it wasn't necessary to hold an inquest. The dead woman is survived by her mother, an inmate in the local insane hospital and her uncle, John Wagner.
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Clayton County Register, Thur., 22 Feb. 1934. Monona column.
Alice Marie Kister, 36, died Tuesday evening, when run over by a westbound freight train. She had dined in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Kleinpell, and the latter and Mrs. Anna B. Steele walked to the Herb Wagner home with her, and as she entered the Wagner home they returned to their homes. After talking a moment with the Wagners, who came outside with her, she went across the street to the A. T. Huinker home, where she has stayed since her arrival in Monona Sunday night. Instead of entering the Huinker home, she went to the track and when the hill engine came up her body was discovered badly cut up, and authorities were notified and the remains were taken to the C. G. Schultz funeral home. Funeral services were held Thursday morning at eight o'clock from St. Patrick's Catholic church, with burial in the parish cemetery, Rev. Father Luke Donlon officiating.
Surviving are her mother, an inmate of an Elkader hospital, aunts, uncles and cousins, and many friends.
Her father died last September and her brother, Joseph Kister, died last year. Alice was a graduate of the local high school class of 1916 and attended I.S.T.C. in Cedar Falls, and was a successful teacher in the public schools since then, having taught in Davenport for a number of years. About a month ago she suffered a nervous breakdown and was given a leave of absence and visited in Buffalo Center in the home of Mr. and Mrs. D. R. Snell. She was in an Iowa City hospital and came to Monona with friends and her uncle Sunday night for a visit. Alice had many friends because of her sunny disposition. She was a thoughtful young lady, delighting in making life happy for elderly ladies and also loved children, giving them picnics every summer, while in Monona on her vacations. The death of her father was a big strain to one with her nervous temperament, and worry, no doubt, was responsible for her tragic death.
Clayton Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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