JUHL, Kristine 1869-1928

JUHL

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 4/18/2015 at 15:19:23

Christian Juhl, Farmer Near Dike, Kills Wife and Self

Murder And Suicide Result of Divorce Proceedings Started By Wife

Had Been Married Thirty-Seven Years

Tragedy Takes Place at Daughter's Home Near Dike Monday Forenoon

A double tragedy that ended many years of domestic trouble occurred about eleven o'clock Monday forenoon of this week when Chris Juhl, a well-known farmer of the Dike neighborhood, shot and killed his wife and then killed himself.

The shooting occurred at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jens J. Thuesen, the latter a daughter of the unhappy couple, who reside on a farm near what is known as the Fredsville church, about four miles northeast of Dike.

The particulars of the terrible affair that resulted in the murder and suicide of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Juhl are as follows:

For many years, said to be about twenty, Mr. and Mrs. Juhl had had more or less domestic trouble, which did not grow any less as the years went by, and on December 30th, 1927, there was a petition of Mrs. Juhl filed in the Clerk of Court's office of Grundy county, asking for a divorce from her husband on the grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment.

During the time that has elapsed since this petition was filed it was known that Mr. Juhl had attempted to make reconciliation with his wife without any apparent success.

On January 23rd last a closing out sale was held on the farm in Fairfield township where the Juhls had resided for the past seven years.

Following the sale Mrs. Juhl had spent a portion of her time with a daughter at Mitchell, So. Dak., and with her sons at Cedar Falls, Waterloo and Dike. She returned only last Friday from a visit in South Dakota and came to her son's home in dike. There she and her husband met again and further attempts were made by the husband to patch up the difficulties, but she would not listen to any of his appeals. Subsequent events have led up to the belief that the husband had resolved to settle the trouble for both for all time to come for on Saturday he made a partial division of his property, the results of the sale amounting to about $3,000, among some of his children and it is also surmised that about this time he made the purchase of a six-shooter.

On Monday morning Mrs. Juhl, who had been at her son's, James M., in Dike, telephoned to her daughter, Mrs. Theusen, for someone to come and get her as she wanted to go out to their farm home and get some things belonging to her.

Mr. Theusen went to Dike and got her and took her to his home, and there she again met her husband, who had been staying at the Theusen home since the Juhl home had been broken up.

Again Mr. Juhl attempted to make peace with his wife, but she would not listen to him and went into a room in the farther part of the house to get some of her things. Mr. Juhl followed her and shortly afterward the daughter and her husband, who were in another part of the house, heard four pistol shots and also heard Mr. Juhl call for help. They rushed to the room and there saw the wife lying on the floor and the husband standing nearby with pistol in hand and bleeding from a wound in the forehead. He commanded Mr. and Mrs. Thuesen to leave the room at once, which they did, and he evidently shot himself again in the forehead, the latter wound proving fatal.

Help was summoned and when an investigation was made the husband and wife were found only a few feet from each other, dead. The wife was shot once in the left arm, once in the back and once in the head. The shot in the arm and back showed powder burns and were evidently made at short range. The shot in the back was the fatal one evidently, as it penetrated the heart. The revolver used was a .32 calibre, and to all appearances was a new gun. Five of the six chambers were empty.

Coroner L. D. Coffman, of this city, was called, and after making a thorough investigation of the surroundings and questioning members of the family, decided that it was a case of murder and suicide and an inquest was unnecessary.

Mr. and Mrs. Juhl had been married for thirty-seven years, he being 57 and she 59 years old age. They had reared seven children, four boys and three daughters. They are Alfred, of Isleton, Calif.; Mrs. Bernard Eliason, Long Beach, Calif.; Holger, Cedar Falls; Gordon, Waterloo; Edith, Mitchell, So. Dak.; James M., Dike, and Mrs. Anna Theusen, Fredsville.

The divorce proceedings which evidently led up to the tragedy were to have been heard the following day in the Grundy county court, and Mrs. Juhl was making arrangements to come here Tuesday and prosecute her demands for a legal separation.

The funeral services for Mr. and Mrs. Christian J. Juhl will take place at the Danish church at Fredsville Saturday afternoon. They will be buried in a double grave in the cemetery adjoining the church.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 16 February 1928, pg 1