The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1875-08-12
DEATH OF CHARLES suHEFFER.

urday morning at the usual hour, had
transacted business Of various kinds
clearly and correctly, had been cheer
full and pleasant. with apparently
nothingd disturbing his mind. During
the forenoon he was engaged part of
the time in writing letter. which af:
forwards proved to be his farewell
words to his wife. Athalfpast eleven
o'clock he Went to Kennedy's gun
store for pistol which he had left
there the previous dav to be repaired.
1t not being in working order, he pur-
chased a new Colts revolver of large
size, saying that he wanted it for pur-
poses of security around his house.
Leaving the gun store he went down
Third street and out Robert street,
passing and conversing briefly and
pleasantly with several friends. He
was last seen at the corner of Tenth
and Robert streets. His absence
during the afternoon did not excite
special attention, as it was supposed
he was engaged somewhere in the
transaction Of business, but by even
ing alarm was felt, which continued
to increase as time passed and he
could not be found, and until morn
ing the city was searched in every di-
rection, and q messenger was even
sent to Saltwater, where it was
thought he might have gone.
1t was not until half past ten o.
clock Sunday morning that he was
found, and then it was his hfeless body
lying face downwards, his head rest
ing on q small tree, two bullet wounds
piercing one the abdomen and one
near the heart, and the revolver lying
on the ground by his shoulder, in the
German Lutheran Cemetery. Al
though nothing is definitely known of
his movements after he passed Tenth
street, it is believed that he went at
once to Oakland Cemetery, where the
remains of his first wife and children
we're buried, and, from the fact of
two shots having been heard in that
neighborhoodat quarter past three o.
clock Sunday morning, that he passed
the intervening hours at or near those
graves, perhaps in indecision as to
what he should do. Shortly after
midnight on Saturday two messengers
with lanterns had been sent out to
Oakland Cemetery with special in
structions to examine carefully in the
vicinity of thelot where Mr.. Scheffer's
wife and children had been buried.
Whether he fed from these lights
across to the adjoining and. more Sc
cluded burial groundor whether even
then his body lay cold in death no
human soul knows.
1t will be remembered by many
that on the 9TH day of December last,
while on his wedding tour, an acct
dent occurred on the Virginia Mid
land railway by which Mr.. Scheffer
was severely injured about the head
and spine. After an apparent recov-
cry, nervous prostration and mental
depression ensued, leading him to 60 to
New York and obtain the highest
medical advice. A change for the
better followed, which it was hoped
might be permanent. But during all
this time he was possessed with the
dread that his injuries would result
in disease which should leave him a
physical and mental wreck, and a
burden upon his friends. 1t was
doubtless this feeling which drove
him to snuff out with his own hand
the light of a beautiful life.
The funeral took place Tuesday,
and the procession was one of the
largest ever known in St. Paul, ex-
tending for a distance Of nearly two
miles. The houses were draped in
mourning and the hearts of the peo-
pie were clouded with sorrow as the
funeral cortege passed slowly along,
bearing all that remained of Charles
Schefer to its last resting place beside
his wife and children.
Rarely has there been man who
was so dearly loved; whose warm,
generous and noble nature bound to
him so firmly hosts of friends, or
whose loss would be felt by so many
as personal grief: Landing in this
country at the age Of thirteen years,
penniless and with younger brothers
and sisters depending upon him for
support, he took hold with a brave
heart, and worked his way, step by
step, from one position Of honor and
trust to another, until at the time of
his death, at the age Of forty, he had
attained most enviable success in pub
lie and business life. Four times had
he been elected Treasurer Of the State
of Minnesota; he had had prosperous
connection with four banks, Of one Of
which, the National Bank of Still
water, he was President; and he was
a member of one of the largest mer-;:
camille establishments in the West. In
his private life he was warm-hea rted,
gentle, unassuming and winning, with
a hand ever ready to respond to the
promptings of a generous nature
His death, surrounded as it was with
such melancholy circumstances, il . a.
sad blow felt not alone in his own city
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