Iowa Old Press

Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, March 5, 1912

DEATH BY HIS OWN HAND. J.P. KIEFFER, PUBLISHER OF REMSEN BELL, SHOOTS SELF.
GAVE WAY TO FIT OF DESPONDENCY.
His Body Was Found in a Room Above His Printing Office on Sunday Morning by
Herman Koch, One of His Employees.

J. P. Kieffer, editor and publisher of the Remsen Bell-Enterprise, committed
suicide on Saturday night by shooting himself through the head.

The act was surrounded by dramatic circumstances in keeping with the
character of the man.

The community in which he lived so long and was so well known was startled
and shocked by the news which was noised abroad on Sunday.

Fully clothed with cap, overshoes and overcoat, seated at a table in an
upstairs room over his printing establishment his body was found cold and
lifeless about half past eight on Sunday morning by one of his employees,
Herman Koch, who came round to the office to attend to the fire. Koch
noticed the blood which had dripped through the floor and ceiling to the
office beneath.

The weapon with which Kieffer killed himself was a 32 caliber revolver, the
bullet entering the right eye and coming out at the top of his head. The
bullet was subsequently found in the ceiling of the room. On the table where
he destroyed himself were found some letters and notes which show on perusal
that they had been written by a person suffering from a great mental strain.
Letters were found addressed to his son, George Kieffer, of Soldier, Iowa;
his son-in-law, Clarence Brotherton, a lumber man in Remsen and one to his
old time friend, John Beely. The last letter is as follows:

Remsen, Iowa, Mar. 2, 1912.
John Beely: I feel that you are here on this sad mission. Tell them to put
me into a cheap coffin and to bury me very soon. I know you are a Christian.
If you can find a minister of the church to say a prayer at my coffin,
please let him do it. The Divine Saviour on the cross pardoned the repenting
sinner at his side, is there such charity on earth now?

You may wonder why that flag is with me. I love it, yes, I do love it. But I
have betrayed it. I have it here to feel its touch which gives me courage in
my work. It makes me remember the command of the great general who said: “If
anyone tears down that flag, shoot him on the spot.” I must be shot.
Farewell, God help me!

A number of notes were found which evidently showed the unfortunate man’s
mind was deranged. Some of them were torn. One note was written at ten
o’clock in which he spoke of nerving himself to the dread act. Another note
said, “I must have courage at 11 o’clock,” and still another at 11:30 which
said the roller rink across the street bothered him.

It was between half past eleven and twelve as near as can be ascertained
that the fatal shot was fired.

Mr. Kieffer was around on Saturday as usual attending to his business and
seemed apparently in his usual cheerful frame of mind. In the evening he was
visiting around town with friends and was at one of the billiard halls and
played a game of cards with his friend, M. Kennedy, who left him about ten
o’clock. The room in which he died was occupied by Leo Ruck, of this city,
who works in the Bell-Enterprise office. Mr. Ruck came over to Le Mars on
Saturday to visit relatives over Sunday.

That the act was committed while Mr. Kieffer was suffering from mental
derangement is the conclusion arrived at by those who knew and understood
best the dead man.

Though always of a sanguine temperament, it is learned that recently he
complained to his wife and friends of having a pain in his head and of not
having any appetite.

As far as known his financial circumstances were good. He had a comfortable
business, which netted him a good income and his domestic relations were
most happy. That something, although what is not known, was preying on his
mind, in the light of after events, is apparent to those with whom he was in
closer touch. This had been noticed for the past four weeks. That he had
brooded over the momentous act is thought by some. The Saturday previous to
the Saturday on which he shot himself he remained alone all night in the
room in which he died. On leaving a friend that night it is reported that he
said, “Well, good bye, this the last time you will see me.” His friend took
it as a joke and on seeing Kieffer the following Monday joked about it.
Kieffer answered, “The gun failed to work.”

In one of his pockets after his death was found a bottle strychaine which he
purchased a week before his death.

County Coroner John Beely and Nis Wiltgen, of this city, were summoned to
Remsen on Sunday. The coroner in view of the fact that it was a self
confessed suicide, did not hold any inquest. The relatives living away were
immediately notified of the sad affair.

John P. Kieffer was a native of the grand duchy of Luxemburg in Europe,
where he was born at Senningen in 1850. He received a good education at a
Jesuit seminary in his native land and acquired the grounding which stood
him in stead and put him in the way of acquiring a fund of general
information which proved useful in after life. When a youth in his teens he
came to America to seek his fortune. He lived in Dubuque and later at
Bellevue. At the latter place he engaged in the newspaper business, which
became his life work. After being in this country a short time he went back
to Luxemburg, where he was united in marriage with Miss Gloden, who has been
his faithful helpmate for forty years.

Mr. Kieffer established “Der Herold”, a German newspaper, in Le Mars in
1882, and published it for two years. In 1884 Mat Wurth, of this city,
organized and was head of the Globe Publishing company, which published the
Globe, and “Der Herold” was published by the same company, Kieffer taking a
share in the company and being editor of the German publication.

In 1887 Mr. Kieffer went to Remsen and started a newspaper, “Die Glocke,”
which later became the Bell and was edited in English. In the latter
nineties he sold the Bell to Ferd Reichman, now of Dallas, South Dakota, and
went to Rock Island and Chicago, where he embarked in the newspaper business
in both these places, but his ventures were not successful, and he returned
to Remsen and took up his first love, buying back the Remsen Bell with which
had been amalgamated in the meantime another newspaper, the Remsen
Enterprise, which was published for a short time.

In his newspaper work Mr. Kieffer was preeminently successful along certain
lines. He was a power in the eastern half of the county and a bulwark of the
Democratic party, which he championed at all seasons with tongue and pen. He
was a ready and incisive writer. Strong in his personal predilections he was
wont at times to pen harsh things in the moil and toil of a heated political
campaign, but his generous soul oft regretted and recalled expressions
written on the spur of the moment. He was a royal booster for any cause he
espoused and his name will endure in Remsen for to his ready and facile pen,
his executive ability, unswerving loyalty to home institutions and
persistent plea for better conditions is due in a great measure the fair
fame in which the town of Remsen now stands among her sister cities.

His home life was supremely happy, he was a devoted husband and father, and
his first and best thoughts were always for those nearest and dearest. He
was of a cheerful and sunny disposition, loud voiced and cheery, with a
hearty greeting for everybody. Apparently he took life as it came in a
philosophic vein, and if he had troubles kept them to himself. He had his
enemies and faults in common with other men, and in the course of his work
and in political campaigns was embroiled in bitter quarrels. He was always
willing to cast the mantle of charity over the sins and shortcomings of his
fellow men and for himself asked no more, no less. He will be greatly missed
in the community where he has been a central figure so long, and his friends
trust that his dying prayer, written in the throes of black depression,
maybe answered.

The deceased man leaves a widow and a grown up family of sons and daughters,
who are Mrs. Ed Lloyd, Mrs. Clarence Brotherton, of Remsen; Mrs. P. Hughes,
of Remsen township; Miss Annie Kieffer, principal of the Hinton schools;
George Kieffer, banker of Soldier, Iowa, and Eugene Kieffer, who is studying
journalism at Marquette Uinversity, Milwaukee.

The funeral will be held today at the home in Remsen at two o’clock.

The publication of the Remsen Bell and the conduct of the business will be
continued by the sons and his daughter, Mrs. Lloyd.

LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, March 8, 1912:

LITTLE BOY WAKES FATHER
Found House in Flames and Made Hurried Exit

     But for the fact that his little two year old boy awoke him by
patting his cheek and asked him for a drink of water, James Burrill
might have been burned to death about four o'clock yesterday morning.
Mr. Burrill got up to get the water and on opening the door found the
house full of smoke and in flames.  He ran back to get his little boy
and hurriedly gathered some clothing and they made their escape none too
soon as the entire building was enveloped in flames and was burned to
the ground before the fire company could get sufficient water on the
blaze.  The house was located on Tremont street in the extreme southwest
part of town.  Very few turned out at the first alarm and a second alarm
was sounded, and the long run precluded much chance of saving the
building.  The house, which was an old frame cottage, was owned by A.
Heigner and was not insured.  Mr. Burrill and his wife lost all their
furniture and clothes and everything they had except the clothes on
their backs.  Mrs. Burrill was visiting relatives at Akron at the time.
They had no insurance and the loss is very heavy on them, more
particularly as Mr. Burrill has been out of employment for the past
month.

From the Kingsley News-Times:
On Wednesday afternoon, February 28th, at 1 o’clock, a very pretty wedding was solemnized in the home of the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Johnson, six miles north of Kingsley, uniting two very popular young lives, Miss Amy Johnson and Otto C. Gruenenfeldt. The home was tastily decorated for the occasion, the color scheme being entirely of pink and white. Rev. Joseph Steele, of the Congregational church at Kingsley, performed the impressive ceremony.

Promptly at one o’clock to the strains of “O Promise Me,” played by Miss Florence Swanson, the bridal party descended the stair and took their places in the front parlor, where the guests were awaiting their coming.  The bride wore a white messaline with silk and lace trimmings and the becoming bridal veil was held in place with a wreath of lilies of the valley.  The bridal bouquet was of white carnations and ferns.

After the ceremony and hearty congratulations, the bridal party led the way to the dining room, where a bountiful wedding dinner was served by the Misses Nessie Van Buskirk, Florence Swanson and Ellen Night. Pink carnations and sweet peas formed a very pretty centerpiece and added both color and delightful perfume for the occasion. The table fairly groaned under its load of toothsome viands, such as Mrs. Johnson is capable of preparing, and was thoroughly appreciated by all who sat at the wedding feast.

The popularity of this young couple was manifested by the many tokens of esteem presented them. Cut glass, china, silverware, linen and many other gifts were received by the bride for the new home.

The out of town guests were Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Crash, and Miss Florence Swanson, of Sioux City; Mr. and Mrs. W. Null, of  LeMars; Mrs. Night and Miss Ellen Night, of Farnhamville, Iowa.

Akron Register-Tribune
March 14, 1912

OBITUARY

Abbie Horton was born May 3rd, 1894, at Akron, Iowa, and died February 27,
1912, at Sioux City following an operation for appendicitis, aged 17 years,
9 months, and 25 days.

At the age of five years she moved with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Abe
Mudgett, to Sioux City. She was married there to Mr. Frank Horton, October
11, 1911, and they made their home on a farm a few miles north of that city.

Near relatives left to mourn her sad and untimely death are the bereaved
husband, Frank Horton, of Sioux City; her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Abe Mudgett,
of Akron; three sisters, Mrs. B. Dickerson, of Sioux City; Mrs. William
Smith, of Buffalo Gap, S.D., and Mrs. D. Fouts, of Stevens, Minn.

The Funeral services were held in the Akron Baptist church, the service
being conducted by Dr. R. F. Kilgore. Interment was made here in Riverside
cemetery. Relatives of the husband coming to attend the funeral were his
parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Horton, and his brother, Ray, of Sioux City; his
grandfather, Oliver Horton, of Glidden, Ia.; his uncle and aunt, Mr. and
Mrs. N. J. Gibbs, of Ponca, Neb.; his brother-in-law, B. Dickerson, and
daughters of Jefferson, S.D.; his aunt, Mrs. H. J. Coppock, of LeMars, and
his cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hummel, of Westfield, Ia.

OBITUARY

Asa Harkness was born in Clinton county, New York, March 13, 1831
(correction birth year was 1829) and died at his home in Akron, Iowa,
February 29, 1912, following an illness of pneumonia. He moved with his
parents to Ohio when a boy and lived there until his 26th year. He was
married there to Liza Anthony, and to them one son, Joseph, was born, who
now lives in Oklahoma. His wife’s death occurred in 1855 and the following
year he came to Iowa, in which state he continued to reside until his death.
On March 1, 1857, he married Louisa Phillips, and to them nine children were
born, of whom the following survive: Mrs. Ruth Hoffman, James, George, Asa,
Ernest and Dellas Harkness, and Mrs. Fannie Williams, all of Akron and
vicinity; Mrs. Nellie Brady, of Platte, S.D. Besides the bereaved wife and
children, he also leaves two sisters and one brother, David Harkness, of
Sutherland, Iowa, and Mrs. McCandless, of Oklahoma. Mr. Harkness had lived
in Akron and vicinity for about thirty years and held the respect of all who
knew him.

The funeral was held in Church of Christ, Dr. Kilgore, the Baptist pastor,
conducting the service. Interment was made in Riverside cemetery.
CARD OF THANKS.
To the neighbors and friends who gave their assistance and sympathy during
the recent illness and after the death of our beloved husband and father, we
wish to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation.—Mrs. Asa Harkness and
Children.

Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, March 26, 1912

Yeomans
Special Correspondence

Fred Minor spent a couple of days in Le Mars last week.

Mrs. Charles Miller spent Sunday with Mrs. Sarah Taft.

Martin Swanson was very sick one night last week, but he is some better now.

Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have moved out on the old Rasmussen place.

Christine Petersen started to teach school in the new school house last
Monday.

The Miller family was pleasantly surprised last Wednesday evening when two
bobsleighs filled with neighbors appeared at their door. The evening was
spent with music and visiting and a delicious chicken supper was served at a
late hour. Those present were the Taft, Winders, Bruford and Minor
families.