Sorensen, Mathias 1855-1899

SORENSEN

Posted By: Linda Mohning (email)
Date: 9/7/2011 at 07:13:05

AT A ROPE’S END.

The Lifeless Body of Math [Mathias] Sorenson Discovered Dangling at the End of Rope Rom the Rafters in a Haymow.

Word was brought to Le Mars Friday morning that a man had committed suicide near Oyens and a request made that the coroner go out and investigate the circumstances surround his death.

It was later learned that the dead man’s name was Matt Sorenson, a farmer who has resided in the county for a number of years.

Sorenson was about his work as usual on Thursday and his wife and young daughter were shopping in Le Mars. As they did not get home until late they had left a lunch on the table for him. When they arrived home they found the meal untouched and no signs of the father and husband. They waited up for several hours and then went to bed and in the morning were surprised to find he had not come home, as he was never known to stay away over night before without letting them know of his intention. The wife and daughter got up to do the work and made inquiries about Mr. Sorenson. His body was discovered in the hay mow at the end of a rope, which had been secured to one of the beams overhead. When found he was apparently in a sitting position with his legs drawn up a few inches above a pile of hay. His hands were crossed, and his appearance indicated that he died without much struggling.

His motive for the rash act is not known, although it was stated by parties residing in Oyens that he had recently made a trade in which he though he made a bad bargain and the supposition is that he had been brooding over the matter.

He was a man about forty-five years of age and leaves a widow and one daughter.

The coroner, Dr. G. H. Mammen, was in the west part of the county in the morning and left for Oyens in the afternoon to hold an inquest.

At the inquest held on Friday afternoon over the remains of Math Sorenson but little information was gathered further than that furnished at the first report of the suicide. The coroner, Dr. G. H. Mammen, empanelled as a jury, Walter Kloster, J. N. [Iver Nissen I.N.] Johnson and Andrew Juhl. Several witnesses were examined; among these were Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Kloster and Mrs. Sorenson, wife of the deceased. The former are old and valued neighbors of the Sorenson family and testified to being called in by Mrs. Sorenson after she made the horrifying discovery of her husband’s dead body in the haymow.

Mrs. Sorenson testified that on Thursday night she stayed up until two o’clock expecting her husband. She then came to the conclusion that he had stopped at a neighbor’s where he had gone to thresh. Mrs. Sorenson said that she was uneasy all night and hardly slept at all and got up very early to do the chores and on going up in the haymow was horrified to find her husband dead.

He had acted very peculiarly at times of late and had on more than one occasion talked of taking his life. Once the past summer he told his wife he was going to buy a revolver in Sioux City, as if he made the purchase in Le Mars of Remsen, people would say he was crazy.

The coroner’s jury returned a verdict that the deceased come to his death by his own hand, while in a state of unsound mind.

The universally accepted belief among his neighbors and acquaintances is that his rash act was due to brooding over a trade he made some time ago, which preyed on his mind to such an extent as to lead to the final tragedy.

He traded his farm in Marion township to Henry Masuen, of Sioux County, for a twenty acre tract a mile east of Le Mars, where the old brewery used to stand, and received some boot, but ever since the trade was made he has been despondent. Insanity has previously developed among members of his family.

The funeral was held Saturday afternoon in Remsen. - Le Mars Sentinel, Oct. 23, 1899, page 3, column 4. A similar article was in the Le Mars Semi-Weekly Post, Oct. 24, 1899, page 3 and also the Le Mars Globe, Oct. 21, 1899, page 1 and Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, Oct. 23, 1899, page 3.

Also -

L. H. Rasmussen, J. Anderson and Mrs. Math Sorenson and little daughter all residents in the vicinity of Oyens, were in town Saturday and made arrangement with a firm of Duus & Co. for transportation across the water. They left on Sunday evening from this point on the evening flyer for New York and will sail this week for Copenhagen. They will all make a lengthened visit with relatives and visit the scenes familiar to them in former years - Le Mars Sentinel, Dec. 7, 1899, page 3, column 2

Note: Mathias Sorensen is buried in the Remsen City Cemetery.