Christian and Wilhelmina (Minnie) Kruse (?-1898)

KRUSE, BOLDENOW

Posted By: Alan Nicholson
Date: 3/30/2014 at 18:39:03

Paullina Times, 7 Jul 1898, p. 5

Coroner Daily of Sheldon and County Clerk Martin and Sheriff Coleman are investigating the death of Christ Kruse this afternoon.

Our Germantown letter contains the sad announcement of the death of Mrs. Christ. Kruse. As a most horrible sequel to her death we today chronicle the suicide of Mr. Kruse last night about 9:00 o'clock. He had just returned from Sioux City where he had been attending the sick wife up to the time of her death on Tuesday. Two hours after his return he was found by his brother-in-law in an almost unconscious condition, but with enough life remaining to request the information of his death to be sent to his relatives. The self-inflicted death appears to have been the deliberate act of a man in possession of his faculties, and caused by the overwhelming grief caused by the death of his wife. He lived only a few minutes after being found. As related to The Times a half hour after death had come, Mr. Kruse had returned from Sioux City to make arrangements for the funeral of his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Kruse lived upon the Jacobs place, south half of section 30, Union township, leasing the farm in partnership with Mrs. Kruse's brother, Henry Boldenow. An hour or so after the return of Mr. Kruse the attention of Mr. Boldenow was directed to the house by a noise. Going inside he found the body of Mr. Kruse stretched upon the floor in great agony. A neighbor was sought and dispatched for a physician but before Mr. Boldenow could return to the house life had departed and Christ. Kruse had died by his own hand. Some kind of poison was used, the nature of which we are unable to learn. The coroner was notified this morning, and the facts in detail will be known soon. We understand one child is left alone by this sad occurrence.

The good Mrs. Christ Kruse, a daughter of our good-natured friend, Julius Boldenow, is critically sick at Sioux City. They fear the worst. Later - The lady passed away Tuesday.

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Paullina Times, 14 Jul 1898, p. 5

Our excellent Germantown letter conveys to our readers the intelligence that the supposed suicide of Mr. Christ Kruse of this township was only a natural death. This occurred on Wednesday night of last week. The Times has no excuses or extenuating offers to make its readers. A newspaper which publishes the news is dependent upon the ordinary avenues of information for all items of interest. To be imposed upon or to labor under false impressions is but the natural consequence of industrious news-gathering methods. We do not believe, however, that, so far as The Times is concerned, there was any intentional misrepresentation either by our informant or the motive that inspired the item. It is to be regretted that a false impression gained the circulation that it did, but we are prone to place the blame upon any person for circulating the report and confidently believe the circumstances surrounding the mysterious death of our citizen friend must be taken into consideration in making newspaper reports or even neighborhood gossip prior to the coroner's examination. Now that the public is in possession of the official information the matter should be quickly brought to a proper termination and the report given full credence. But the sad death is nevertheless a severe blow to relatives and friends and will not soon be forgotten.

The burial of Mr. and Mrs. Christ Kruse, on last Friday, was an impressively sad ceremony. The sight of two young persons, man and wife, buried together and side by side, affected deeply and reverently hundreds of sympathizing friends. The thought that "death is but a call to a happier life" should somewhat assuage the deep grief of the surviving mourning relatives. A nice little baby boy, now fatherless and motherless, has been adopted by Mrs. Julius Boldenow, Minnie's mother, who will spare neither pain nor trouble to make him grow up in wisdom and virtue. A remark, coincident with this unhappy event must be made. The statement, published in various papers, that Mr. Christ Kruse committed suicide by poison, is erroneous and highly injurious. Some unscrupulous babbler, whose empty loquacity is nothing but foul wind, spread out a false report, eagerly caught hold of by the press. The coroner's dictum "died of an unknown cause" sweeps away and entirely annuls such merciless report. People should never be too hasty in the utterance of their first thoughts.