PLAEHN, Claus 1870-1931

PLAEHN, STROHBEHN

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 9/2/2015 at 10:04:48

Financial Worries Cause Of Claus Plaehn Suicide

Shoots Himself With 32 Caliber Revolver in Bathroom Friday

Claus Plaehn, large landowner and leading Reinbeck citizen, committed suicide last Friday by shooting himself through the forehead in the bathroom at his home Friday forenoon. The bullet from a 32 caliber revolver passed through his forehead and it lodged in the base of the skull. It is believed that death was instantaneous.

Mr. Plaehn had made arrangements to drive with a group of friends to South Bend, Indiana, to attend the football game between Southern California and Notre Dame. His son Alfred is a member of the California team and he had promised the son to meet him at South Bend. When Mr. Plaehn did not come down town when the party were ready to start, Roy Holck drove to his house to get him. Roy found him dead in the bathroom. Mrs. Plaehn was home at the time but she did not hear the discharge of the gun.

Mr. Plaehn was a large landowner. He was a stockholder and vice president of the Reinbeck State Bank which closed a few months ago. It is believed that the closing of the bank had much to do with bringing on financial worries that lead to suicide. He was widely known in the east portion of the county and was held in high regard by all of his neighbors.

Mr. Plaehn was 62 years old. He is survived by his widow, formerly Emma Strohbehn, a daughter and four sons. The daughter is Mrs. Walter Snyder from Springfield, Mo. The sons are Alfred from Los Angeles, and Cal, Lloyd and Floyd from Reinbeck. There are two sisters, Anna and Tena, and five brothers, Henry, George, Carsten and Peter form Reinbeck and vicinity and Hans from Albany, California.

Funeral services were held at the family home at Reinbeck Monday afternoon. Burial was in the Reinbeck cemetery.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 26 November 1931, pg 1