‘Tales from Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery’ Archives
Momentary absence.Flames prevail. Mother burned, and grieving
By Sue Hunter Weir In the early years of the last century the Minneapolis Tribune”'s coverage tended toward the sensational, especially when it came to covering tragedies involving children. But every now and then a reporter captured the sense of loss and grief, like in this excerpt from a story written by an unidentified Tribune reporter on January 14, 1911: A white hearse wound its way between snow-covered mounds and marble shafts at Layman”'s cemetery yesterday and stopped at the door of the vault room. From the three carriages that followed it a little group of people stepped and moved silently toward the vault. A man in a black cassock led. Following close came two old men, each looking straight ahead, their eyes dim with something besides age. Last came a little figure in deepest mourning, toil worn hand clutching the sleeve of the man who walked beside her. The door of the hearse opened and a square white coffin was borne out and carried into the vault [...]
Bartered Health Care Fails in court
by Sue Hunter Weir A word of warning””don”'t write your last will and testament on wallpaper and expect it to stand up in court. That”'s especially true if you don”'t want your relatives to inherit your money. George Strebel may (or may not) have done just that, and it led to what the Minneapolis Tribune called “one of the most unusual inheritance cases ever brought into the Hennepin County Courts.” George Strebel died from heart disease on October 21, 1916. For the next eight months, his body was held in the cemetery”'s vault while county officials attempted to locate his relatives. After eight months of fruitless searching, he was finally buried in Layman”'s Cemetery. Shortly afterward, two women, who claimed to be Strebel”'s sisters, came forward. His body was exhumed and the two sisters identified Strebel”'s remains by a malformation of one of his hands. Neither of the women had seen their brother in over 30 [...]
Readers may decide “The Rest of the Story” of Ruff Neff may be hopeful
by Sue Hunter Weir In 1909, when she was 15 years old, Ruth Neff was arrested for indecent conduct. After that, things went straight down hill. She was sent to a reform school for a few months but her mother managed to persuade the court to let Ruth out on parole. According to her mother, Ruth had always been a difficult child. Ruth”'s parents separated shortly after she was born because, in the words of her mother, Ruth”'s father had become “more or less dissipated.” In order to support herself and her four children, Ruth”'s mother had to work. Ruth did poorly in school and often skipped class. One of her teachers described Ruth “as not quite normal mentally.” The same teacher admitted that they”'d promoted Ruth “to simply get her on in school.” Even so, Ruth never got beyond the fourth grade. (more…)
