Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1918-05-13
ed the inquest there. County At

], held the inquest there. County At
!; torney Burnstedt happened to be il
Stanhope and he came out and as
sisted at the inquest. A jury wa:
summoned, composed of:
/ William Hill.
Carl J. Carlstedt.
i manuel Lindquist.
| No one had witnessed the tragedy
and not the slightest indication OF
its coming had been disclosed, sc
that all the jury could do was to
| find that the children had come to
their death from drowning, cause
otherwise unknown, and that Mrs.
Carlson had met death at her own
hands. The only Witnesses examined
were DR.. NJ. A. Beach, the family
physician; Mrs. Carl J. Carlstedt, a
neighbor who had been among the
| first to arrive after the husband had
| found the bodies, and John F. Gustaf-
son, owner Of the farm and the neigh
Dor to whom the grief-stricken father
ran for help after finding the bodies
Of his wife and two of the children.
Mind not Unbalanced.
The inquest disclosed the fact that,
so far as could be discovered, there
was no insanity in Mrs. Carlson's
family. Nor had she ever had any
serious illness. Last February, how
ever, she had called DR.. Beach, who
found her morose in the belief that
she had heart and kidney trouble.
Just few days before, friend had
died in Stratford from this trouble
and Mrs. Carlson imagined she was
afflicted. The doctor, however, found
nothing to indicate this and, after
some treatment, finally disabused
her mind of any belief of this kind.
The testimony of the other witnesses
was to the effect that they had never
seen or heard anything to indicate the
slightest mental unbalance. In fact
not the slightest clew could be ad
duced for the tragedy.
Possible Theories.
The theory of friends is that one
or more of the children had been
playing about the barnyard and had
fallen in the tank and drowned and
that when the mother discovered it,
she was 50 crazed with grief that she
drowned the others and committed
suicide. The baby was born Oct. II,
1917. Myron, the next youngest, was
year old July II, 1917, and Russell,
The oldest, was three years of age
on Dec 10, 1917 Ii would seem that
Russell was the only one of the chill
dren old enough to have climbed
into the tank. 1t is possible that the
Oldest boy had both the other two
with him in the barb yard and that,
in play, he might have put both the
other children in and then got in
himself, that all three drowned and
that the mother found them all dead
in the tank when She took her own
life while in a spasm Of grief and
mental ALTERATION at the loss of her
children. The facts as to this, how
ever, will never be learned. Fate
seems to have drawn secure
mantle of mystery over the tragedy,
leaving only one outstanding fact
The suicide of the grief-crazed mother.
No Evidence Of Foul Play.
The theory Of foul play was COM
pletely disposed of by the father,
who testified that, SO far as he knew,
neither himself nor his wife had an
enemy in the world This statement
is substantiated by, neighbors and
others. There was not the slightest
evidence that anyone had been a
party to the tragedy outside the
mother and her three children. Some
thought it possible that some strange
crazy man or possibly tramp pass
ing through the neighborhood, might
have killed the mother and drowned
the children to cover his tracks.
This theory, however, has nothing to|
support it for, so far as anyone in
the community knows, there were no
strangers whereabouts Saturday.
Neither the clothing of the children
nor the mother gave any indication OF
4 struggle. In fact, in the face OF all
that is known of the family and OF
the few facts that stand out promi-
nently in the tragedy, the belief may
well be held that in some manner,
all three children were in the barn
yard together and that, through some