John Arensdorf 1851 - 1909

ARENSDORF

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 9/3/2019 at 10:57:50

Source: Twice-A-Week Plain Dealer Aug. 6, 1909, FP, C6

JOHN ARENSDORF IS DEAD
Death Claims Principal Actor in Haddock Murder Mystery at Sioux City.
Death has claimed the leading actor in the Haddock murder mystery at Sioux City, which a score of years ago, during the days of the prohibitory war, was the sensation of Iowa.
John Arensdorf is dead at his Sioux City home and it recalls the fact that he was tried for the murder of Rev. Haddock three times, the last trial taking place four years after the murder. Arensdorf was acquitted and lived down his unwelcome notoriety so that upon his death he was given all the honors due a leading citizen at his funeral.
The younger generation has no idea of the intense feeling that was aroused by the passage of the prohibition law in Iowa. The divine right to drink was acknowledged in Sioux City, then in its booming days, and also in the river towns generally. Rev. Haddock was active in trying to enforce the law and lost his life at the hands of some unknown person, but suspicion was focused upon Arensdorf and he was arrested and tried, the trial being one of the most sensational in the history of the state.

Transcriber’s Note: Find a Grave shows he is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Sioux City and that he was born December 10, 1851 and died July 28, 1909.