New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1893-11-29
Death Of Albert Wolff.


of the horrible suicide of Editor Albert
VOLTA man whom many of them knew.
whom nearly all had heard of. Once a
resident Of our city, our older settlers
can best appreciate his ability and his
worth. They knew his early history and
his bold stand for liberty; they knew
him as a friend and associate; they have
had chance to watch his struggles since
he left their midst. To them, therefore,
his tragic end brings with it sting.
They can surmise the cause, and, know
ing the man, their feelings can only be
those of bitter regret for the ingratitude
that could permit it to occur. The Pho
neer Press in its editorial comment on
the awful death, pays Mr.. Wolff the fol-
lowing eloquent tribute: x
Another victim falls, self-1mmolated,
under the car wheels which typify those
OF the remorseless Juggernaut of hard
times. The suicide of Albert Wolff is
due to circumstances which invest it with
peculiar sadness. For he was an essen
TALLY noble and high-mlnded man whose
high-strung and sensitive nature was
overborne by the stress of the adverse
fortune which, in the last six months,
has wrecked so many other lives. In
his youth he was identified with the IL
beral revolutionary movement of 1S4S,
in Prussia, which resulted in the exodus
to America of many German patriots
whose subsequent career in this country
has testified to their intellectual and NOR
al worth. Albert Wolff was among these
men. He was for man. years connected
with the German Press of this city and
Carver county, and for the last sixteen
with the Volkszeitung as its editor. His
frugal habits had enabled him with
small salary to acquire modest home.
Owing to the necessity for retrenchment
which has swelled the ranks of the un-
employed with many old and faithful
employees of business houses, he lost his
position on the Zeitung some two months
ago. Grown old, with but limited re-
sources. and failing in his efforts to seek
other employment, he became respondent
about his future, and sought escape
from the troubles that oppressed him in
one Of the most shocking forms of sui
eide. He had the courage to endure the
martyrdom of being crushed to death
under the weight of this iron monster;
but not the fortitude to confront the
CHASTITY spcctor Of want invading the
home where was all he held most dear
He was wrong; but there is strain of
self-rcspecling dignity of character in
the morbid scnsibility which drives such
men as he to suicide which entities it's
victim to the tcnderest pity and the sin
cerest SORROW. And all this and more
will be felt by thousands who knew and
loved Albert v Off for the tragic ending
of life in whose modest seclusion
bloomed the virtues which Will render
his memory fragrant and his name hon
ored among his people.
It is a striking anomaly that the repre-
sentatives, duly chosen, of one of the
most thoughtful, capable and daring
peoples in the world should assemble to
listen submissively to a harangue from a
young gentleman who believes that he
has inherited by divine right the p1ivil-
ege of doing exactly as he pleases with
them and their constituents. Probably
no country has contributed more, on the
whole, to the progress Of human thought
than Germany. In science, in criticism,
in investigation that seeks truth without
the slightest regard to consequences, in
theology and even in statecraft she has
proud position in the world of intellect
and of action. Her people are renowned
for their courage and hold ali Europe in
awe: And then they bow down their
necks before this arrogant young fellow
who shows distinct signs upon occasion
of mental defects, and submit themselves
to his dictation. The German spirit.
wherever it shows itself abroad, is of the
sturdiest. 1t may be relied upon for
orderliness and is devoted to liberty. The
German mind, when free to act, mas made
some of the most remarkable excursions
into the domain of abstract liberty. So
ciallsm, as far as it is not mere fantasm
of sick brain, has been exploited by it,
and rejection of authority in church and
state carried to its furthest limit. Yet
a people of such stuff as this, at the end
of the nineteenth century, with nations
enioEiHG more or less complete self-poy.