Mower County transcript., 1901-05-08
TERRIBLE E. TRAGEDY
A sT AvLFATrHER Fat MuRpERs 'lE
HIS -FOUR CHILDREN AND
=, HIMSELF, ssss :ss.. .

William Rosenfield Beats His Little
Ones Into InsensibiIty and Hur's
Them Into the Mississippi Family
Djssensions Cause One Of the Worst
Tragedies in the History Of Mime
sota's Capital. ;,~ =
St. Paul, May 4.-Marshall avenue
bridge on the night of April "a was
the scene of the most revolving crime
in the annals of Ramsey county his
tory. At this lonesome spot four in
nocent children were beaten into sub
mission and hurled to their death in
the river below by frenzied father.
His horrible ends accomplished Will
lam Rosenfield threw himself over the
bridge and closely followed his MUIR
dered children into eternity.
For over a week Rosenne1d's mys-
terious disappearance puzzled the po-
lice. Their worst fears were realized
when the body of Joseph Rosenf1eld,
the oldest child, was found floating
among the logs at the St. Paul boom,
about a mile below Fort Smelling.
While making his rounds at 6
o'clock in the morning, Joseph La
chapelle, an employe of the st. Paul
Log and Boom company, noticed the
body of boy near the surface Of the
water. He at once drew the: body to
shore, and, hurrying to telephone,
notified the St. Paul police depart
ment. Coroner Miller ordered the
morgue wagon to the scene and drove
out shortly after. Forty-tive minutes
later the lifeless body was hauled
from the water. AS soon as the boys
face was turned up his battered fea-
lures revealed that death had only
come after futile struggle. Blood
oozed from the nose, which was fat
tened and broken; the left side of tn"
forehead was dented, and over the
right eye was bruise and another
under the chin. The body was car:
ried to the morgue wagon and instant
ly identified by Charles Adams, the
driver, who was we'll acquainted with
the Rosenfield children.
Story of the Tragedy.
Rosenfeld was 35 years old and had
been married 10 years. He and his
wife had been separated for several
months, relations and friends caring
for their four children. On the night
of April "a Rosenfield hired a horse
and buggy from a St. Paul liveryman,
and securing his youngest child from
friend in this city who was caring
for him, drove directly to Minneapolis.
Calling at the residence of his wife's
sister, with whom Mrs. Rosentield was
stopping, he tried to get his wife to
return and live with him. This she
refused to do.
After leaving his wife he drove to
Mrs. Bigford's home and secured the
other three children, saying. that he
was going to take them to the home
of his sister, Mrs. Charles Oswald.
1929 Lyndale avenue north. With the
four helpless and sleepy children,
who were unconsciously being driven
to their death, he continued his jour-
ney to the Marshall avenue bridge,
and here in the dead of night the un-
natural father committed his grue-
some crime and in all probability
ended his own worthless life.
An autopsy over the remains of
Joseph was held at the county morgue
1t was found that the boy had been
beaten into insensibility before being
thrown into the river. The body and
limbs were badly bruised. There is
little doubt that the boy engaged in a
hand-to-hand conflict with his father
before he submitted to death.