Kreuger, Gustave c1834 - 1903

KREUGER, MICHEL

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/22/2024 at 16:07:24

Source: Twice-A-Week Plain Dealer May 1, 1903, LP, C4

A MOST ATROCIOUS MURDER!

Gustave Kreuger, of Florenceville, Killed and the Body Hidden in the Iowa River.

THE CRIME FIXED UPON HIS AGED WIFE!

She is Now Confined in the Cresco Jail, Sick and Uncommunicative---Details of the Most Cold Blooded Crime Ever Committed in Howard County.
On the east bank of the Iowa river, in the village of Florenceville; Howard Co. Iowa, in what was known to early settlers as the Warren D. Beebe house on Thursday night, April 23rd, was committed a most foul and brutal murder.
There resided Gustave Kreuger, who was one of the early settlers of the county, a resident of Albion township, upon a farm about one mile west of the cemetery, near the old John Nichols farm, now owned and occupied by John A. Fox.
Mr. Kreuger had lost his first wife by death, and nearly two years ago he married a woman from near Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
In the mean time he had sold the old homestead to two of his sons and with his new wife was living in Florenceville.
The murdered man had not been seen since Thursday by any of the neighbors and Mrs. Kreuger reported that he had put on his best suit of clothes, taken his grip and his money, and had gone, probably, to visit a son in the state of Washington.
She also reported that she had got a horse and buggy and started on Friday night to go to Cresco for him, going as far as the John Nichols hill, But thinking perhaps he had gone to Harmony she returned and drove in that direction, but got lost and got into the river.
She had procured a horse and buggy, it is reported, from Frank Crowell, which was hitched up for her about 7 o’clock, and it is reported that it stood at her door until about 10 o’clock and at a later hour she called upon Mr. Serfling to aid her in getting the horse and buggy out of the river.
The bloody deed seems to have been committed with a pick or some other blunt instrument with which would have been fatal. One was at the base of the brain, one at each corner of his eye, one on the temple and the other near the mouth.
The body had been divested of its usual apparel, and was clothed in worn out and dilapidated clothing, a pair of old stockings and no under clothing. It is thought from buttons, suspender buckles, found in the ashes of the stove that his other apparel had been committed to the flames.
On Monday morning, the 27th, a son-in-law of the murdered man called at the home and was met by Mrs. Kreuger, who extended her hand and repeated the tale of the strange disappearance of the deceased.
Her stories were largely discounted, and searching parties commenced dragging the river and searching elsewhere, believing him to have been put out of the way by Mrs. Kreuger, whose different stories to different persons looked suspicious.
On Tuesday morning the search began on the river below the dam, the two boats of A. B. VanDee being in requisition. George and Andrew Michel, the latter a son-in-law of the deceased. Carefully exploring the river and the banks upon both sides of the stream it was found where a buggy had been driven down the bank and a body of some kind thrown out upon the sand and dragged into the flood of the stream. A little farther on a rope attached to a large piece of rock was discovered and pulled out of the water and about 20 rods farther down the stream, and a few rods above the ford that leads to the farm residence of Hon. L. S. St. John, the body was found, about one foot beneath the surface of the stream, immediately rising to the surface when grappled, a large stone falling out from a rope which was fastened about the body.
As the body was found in Minnesota the coroner of Fillmore county came to hold an inquest, meeting coroner Carpenter of Howard county there for a like purpose. As the murder, evidently, had been committed in Howard county the case was turned over the corner{sic} Carpenter, who empaneled a coroner jury.
The murder evidently was committed in the kitchen of the home of the family, and, presumably, by Mrs. Kreuger; traces and spatters of blood being on the window near which he usually sat to read and enjoy his pipe, and also on the door and floor of the closet in which the body is supposed to have been concealed, awaiting its silent Friday night’s journey to the turbulent waters to which it was consigned.
In the buggy which Mr. Serfling was called upon to get out of the river for Mrs. Kreuger was blood and on the lap robe, and it had dripped through and was plainly shown upon the buggy reach.
That night after her calling upon Mr. Serfling for assistance in rescuing her buggy from the river she stayed with the Serfling family, returning to her home in the morning.
The sons of the murdered man came to Cresco Monday night for county attorney Upton and sheriff Campbell, who went there on Tuesday, and the suspicion was so strong against Mrs. Kreuger, and apparently conclusive, that the sheriff took her in custody, brought her to Cresco and confined her in jail to await developments and a preliminary examination, when the proper information is filed.
Mrs. Kreuger treats the matter of her arrest with stoical indifference, and when informed that the body had been found made no inquiry regarding it, and seemed to possess no more anxiety about it than if she was in no way connected with the affair or the murdered husband.
Mr. Kreuger was last seen alive by any person besides his wife, so far as it known, Thursday afternoon when he went fishing in the river, returning to his home near evening.
He was a member of the German Lutheran church and was regular in attendance as a rule. Sunday the sons not finding him at his usual place in church inquired after him of their step-mother, who informed them that he had packed his grip and left, Friday night, while she was milking the cows, and of his whereabouts she professed the utmost ignorance. This aroused suspicion, and a search was began forthwith, resulting as stated hereinbefore.
It is alleged by the neighbors that Mrs. Kreugar has been seen a number of times exploring the river banks and approaches to the stream in the vicinity where the body was found.
Mrs. Kreuger while being brought to Cresco was seriously ill and remains quite indisposed. A physician was called and the contents of a bottle from which she drank before leaving home with the sheriff, being analized, proved to have been Wood alcohol, probably taken with suicidal intent.
The funeral of Gustave Kreuger was Thursday afternoon, the interment in the Lutheran cemetery at Granger, and was largly{sic} attended.

Source: Twice-A-Week Plain Dealer May 5, 1903, FP, C5,6

The Kreuger Murder.
The time has not been set for the preliminary examination of Mrs. Kreuger on the charge of murdering her husband, in consequent of her continued indisposition.
Sheriff Campbell at her request has written for a daughter and her husband residing in Wisconsin who have not yet come. He has also written to the Sheriff of EauClaire, Wisconsin, in regard to some ugly rumors in regard to the death of one of her former husbands, who replied that rumors are rife of the disappearance of a former husband but her residence was some thirty miles away and he was without authentic data. The National Republican of Preston says: “Mr. Kreuger was her third husband. It is said all the others collapsed mysteriously. This is rumor and may not be true. In this last case the evidence, though circumstantial, is very strong against the woman.”
We cannot see what she had to gain in committing the murder of Mr. Kreuger, if she is guilty of the crime. There was not so much as one penny to be gained in a financial way by putting him out of the way. Hence if she is guilty it was either from insanity or the result of a naturally brutal and criminal nature.
Mr. Kreugar would have been 69 years of age at his next birthday and Mrs. Kreuger is said to be about 67 years of age.

VERDICT OF THE CORONER’S JURY,
State of Iowa ) SS.
Howard County )

At an inquisition held at Florenceville, in said county on the 28th day of April, 1903, before T. S. Carpenter, M. D., coroner of said Howard county, state of Iowa, upon the body of Gustave Kreuger, there lying dead, by the persons whose names are hereafter subscribed.
The said jurors upon their oaths do say: We do find that the said deceased came to his death by wounds upon the head supposed to have been inflected by Mrs. Gustave Kreuger in his home in Florenceville, Iowa, probably sometime during the night of April 23, 1903
And we further do find that he did come to his death feloniously, and that a crime has been committed on the deceased, and that Mrs. Gustave Krueger is the name of the person whom the jury believe has committed it.
In testimony where of the said jurors have hereunto set their hands this 28th day of April, 1903.

Jurors (E. G Privat, F. L. Dumon, T. H. Stevens.

Attested by T. S. Carpenter, coroner of Howard county, Iowa.

The body of Gus. Kreuger, the murdered man was interred in the German Lutheran cemetery at Granger last Thursday. The floral tributes were beautiful, consisting of a shower spray of roses, a large memorial wreath with the words “Father” worked in the design a lovely upright cross, a tribute of his old neighbors, and a floral slumber robe which was thrown across the foot of the elegant casket by his daughter, Mrs. Andrew Michel. The{sic} The capacity of the church was inadequate for the smaller half of the people assembled.

Source: Twice-A-Week Plain Dealer June 16, 1903, FP, C6
Indictments Found.
The grand jury at the recent term of the District Court had before it plenty of work from its first session to the closing hour of the term. The first case taken up was that of Mrs. Sophia Kreuger in custody of the Sheriff charged with the murder of her husband, Gustave Kreuger, at Florenceville. In this case the jury returned a true bill charging the defendant with murder for which, without bail, she is held for trial.

Source: Decorah Republican May 7, 1903 Page 4 Col 1

The Howard County Murder Case.
The Kruger murder case is as clear-cut and well defined as it well could be. Since finding the body in the Upper Iowa a trail of blood has been found that leaves no doubt as to how the deed was done, and who did it. The only thing lacking is a motive adequate to such a deed. The aged couple lived alone; and the Plaindealer says the murder was evidently committed in the kitchen. Traces and splatters of blood appear on the window near which Kruger usually sat, read and enjoyed his pipe; also on the door and door of the closet in which the body is supposed to have been concealed until its removal on Friday night to the river bed. Also in the buggy which Mrs. Kruger borrowed of a neighbor was found blood on the door and in such quantities that some of it dropped through and is plainly to be seen on the buggy reach. The coroner's jury charged the wife with committing the deed.