Goltz, Herbert and Tabitha died 1944

GOLTZ, RUBENDALL, PROUTY

Posted By: Reid R. Johnson (email)
Date: 12/31/2023 at 11:49:03

Clayton County Register, 13 Jan. 1944.

Herbert Goltz, 4_ (looks like 45 or 46), of Marquette, shot and killed his wife Tabitha, 42, and then turned the rifle on himself and committed suicide at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, according to County Coroner D. E. Lowe. Mrs. Goltz was shot in the head while using the telephone. The person to whom she had been talking heard a crash and called neighbors who discovered the crime and notified Sheriff E. W. Carlsen and the coroner.

Sheriff Carlsen said after the investigation, that Mr. Goltz had been despondent over ill health. He was a car inspector for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad and had lived in Marquette since 1917.

The coroner's jury agreed that Mrs. Goltz' death resulted "from a gunshot wound in the head inflicted by her husband while temporarily deranged and that his death was the result of a gunshot wound in the head inflicted by himself while temporarily deranged." The weapon used was a .22 rifle.

Surviving are two daughters, Mrs. Vernon Rubendall of Chatfield, Minn., and Dixie, 13, a high school freshman. Mrs. Goltz is also survived by her mother, Mrs. James Prouty of Prairie du Chien, two sisters and three brothers. Mr. Goltz is survived by five brothers and five sisters.