The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-06-06
DEATH CUTS OFF
A WRECKED LIFE
PITIFUL STORY OF THE CAREER
OF A. o. LUNDBERG.
He Fled from Home in Sweden to Els
cape the Associations Of a Ruined
Home, Lived in obscurity, and Died
a Painful Death.

There died at the city hospital last
Monday, a man whose life held as pa
thetic a story of youthful promise, man
~ ambition, blighted prospects and OBJ
scure death as was ever penned by
gifted man Fortunately there were
enough friends who knew the history
of the chastened man to see that the
burial was decent.
A. O. Lundberg was known to many
Minneapolis people as a man of little
diligence in liquor. His clothing was
generally shabby, and his hair and
beard unkempt. People in general did
not know or care how he lived. Yet
some of the most highly educated and
cultured Swedes in MINNEAPOLIS were
glad to entertain him in their homes,
chose to accept it.
Youth Full of Promise.
Lundberg was born in Sweden fifty
two years ago. His parents were well
to do, and as a boy he was given all
the advantages of education. AS a
young man he was, graduated from the
University of Upsala, taking honors and
acquitting himself well. He was edu-
and eight Of his fellow-collegians were
examined for orders their views on
certain points were found so antagon-
istic to those held by the church that
they were not only barred from orders,
but were put out of the church. =
After graduation he tutored in, the
families of prominent members Of the
Swedish nobility. Then he secured q
position in the National bank Of
Sweden, advancing in the course Of his
nine years service to the, position Of
-Sn 411ln~ To~11y ~ EhS1 I1~1rso-
career he loved and married a cultured
young woman, and happy in her love,
and with every prospect of advance.
ment in business, the future seemed
particularly bright. .
Hopes Blasted.
Business prospects, domestic bliss,
agreeable associations and all promise
of future happiness for him ended in a
minute. He went to his home one eve
ming and discovered his wife in the
company of a young army officer. No
excuses were made or offered.
Lundberg's old life ended right
there, that minute. He took passage or
the next steamer for America. His only
object was to get away from Sweden
He went to Winnipeg and became agent
for a steamship company. Then in 1885,
he came to Minneapolis. He has livei
here a life of comparative s%eclusior
ever since. In his deep sorrow he tool
to drink, and when his grief seemed
too poignant he sometimes drank to ex
cess. But it is said that until he was
IS years old he had never tasted liquor
Few Minneapolis people knew hin
we'll enough to appreciate him. Thus i
was that a few months ago, in a com
pany composed mostly of young people
where songs and stories and good fel
lowship were going the rounds, he sa'
in a corner until he was dragged pro
testing to do his part in entertaining
He began to recite some little story O.
the fatherland. His and name
at first called smiles and ,jeers from tn,
young folk. But before he sat dow,
In his college days he had also beel
a trained singer, and in Minneapolis, h
belonged to the Orpheus society. /
male quartet from the Orpheus s%ociet,
will sing at his funeral, which will TAX
place tomorrow at Connolly g undertak
ing rooms.
Last January Lundberg fell on an ic:
sidewalk and broke his right leg. At tn
hospital the member was set, but tn
fracture did not heal properly, and i
was found necessary to break the bon
again. Twice, afterward that painful
operation was found to. be necessary
but without beneficial results. FINALLY
as a last means of prolonging life, til
leg was amputated. The hope was val
and death soon ended bodily suffering