New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1913-10-22
Man Found Dead In Stall Of
Barn at CORTLAND
Monday.
julius Berndt, Jr. Has An In
voluntary Cold Bath
While Hunting.

L >">Ss'~sJ AssSsssSA6 "'sSss
/ OF threshing crew who had slept
in the hayloft Of the Otto Strelow
barn in the village of CORTLAND came
down he found the dead body of
John Sturm in one of the stalls of
the barn. When found the man had
evidently been deed for some hours.
From all appearances he had died a
natural death.
The deceased was q well known
character in these parts and had led
o. more or less shiftless life ever
ishce he came from Nuremberg, Ba-
veria, about twelve years ago. Lit
tile is known about his antecedents
Tor other relatives. Those who knew
Thin quite well claim that he was
well educated and that he came from
good family in the old country.
Strong drink got the better Of him
lard he figured in the police courts
lat various times and was finally
fblacklisted. Since then he has come
Ito New Ulm but seldom. Some claim
THAT the name under which he went
was not his true name, but no one
/ Was able to tell the Review reporter
his correct name.
| Sturm came to CORTLAND on the
freight Saturday afternooneand made
the rounds 10 usual, being consider
ably under the influence most of the
ftime. Where he slept Saturday night
is not known. Sunday morning he
| ate breakfast ct Befbrich's hostelry
and at that time he was carrying q
lfuN bottle Of whisksy around with
him. The last seen Of him alive was
II - ~ =
boys found him asleep on the side
walk. They woke him up and with
their assistance he managed to get
to the Strelow barn where he told
the boys he was going to spend the
night. Shortly after his body had
Ebsen found the Coroner Of Nicollet
Fcd0ntt was notified and Dr.. Merritt
came up to view the remains. He
decided that an inquest was not
necessary, the man evidently having
died from acute alcoholism. Only 5
cents in money was, found on his
person. The remains were shipped
to St. Peter and will be buried at the
county's expense.
Standing in a capsized boat with
the cold water reaching almost to
his arm pits was the predicament
Julius Berndt, Jr., found himself in
a mile from the closest shore of Lake
Hanska. He had started in his boat
about four o'clock in the morning
from the hunters lodge at friedrich
sons place for the usual morning
shoot and had bagged twelve ducks
when, at about 10 o'clock, his boat
struck either a reef or some other
projection in the water. The wind
was blowing quite a gale at the
time and when the boat struck the
impeachment it shipped water and a
few moments later went down with
the hunter, gun, ammunition and
ducks. Fortunately for Mr.. Berndt
he retained his position in the boat
and thereby escaped being mired in
the mud
Although the water was only three
feet deep, no bottom has ever been
found by the use of oars or long
poles at this point. The lusty shouts
of Mr.. Berndt attracted two husky
Swedes, Carl Stone and Ed. Larson
who were on their way back to the
lodge and five minutes after he had
gone down with his boat they reach
ed his side and rescued him from
his perilous position. Their boat
was only q small craft and all they
could do was to save Mr.. Berndt
whom they rowed as rapidly as pos
sible to the hunters lodge about a
quarter of a mile distant from the
place where the accident occurred.
After they had cared for Mr.. Berndt
they returned and recovered the boat
and contents and lowed them to
shore. Mr.. Berndt was brought to |
New Ulm the same afternoon and |!
shows no bad effects from his invol-
untary plunge into the lake. He
however, that he had very |
narrow escape from watery grave.