The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1925-07-16
FARMERS WIFE
Is FOUND DEAD
Mrs. Edward Clausen of
KilbOurn Road Takes
Life in Bad Mood.
HANGS ON BED
Husband Is Summoned From
Milking by Little Daughter,
and Finds Wife Dead.

Dependent over series of small
tragedies which had happened on the
farm, Mrs. Nettie H. Clausen, SO,
wife of Edward Clausen, farmer on
the Kilbourn road, committed suicide
this morning between five and six
o'clock, by hanging herself to bed
post in her home.
Coroner Joseph Friend answered a
call to the homie an hour later, and
after investigating the circumstances
and questioning members of the fam
lily he concluded that the facts point
ed clearly to suicide.
Child Finds Mothers Body.
The gruesome discovery of the dead
woman was made by little Lucille, the
five-year- daughter of Mr.. and
Mrs. Clausen. Her brother, Victor,
nine years old, was still asleep.
Finding that her mother had gone
downstairs, Lucille slipped down to
look for her. She was not in the kit
chen, and the child looked around to
find her. In downstairs bedroom,
she saw her mother hanging to the
bed, her face livid, her body still.
The little girl rushed out in the
barn yard to find her father. Edward
Clausen had gone out to the barn
to milk the cows at five o'clock. He
had almost finished the round of milk
ing when Lucille came rushing out,
crying frantically, papa Papa!"
Accompanying the child, Clausen,
hurried to the house, and found in
the bedroom the sight which had al
ready sent terror into the child's
heart. Mrs. Clausen had strangled
herself.
She had used a hitching strap in
which she had made slip knot, put,
ting it about her throat and attach
ing the other end to the top of steel
bed in the spare room. Then throw
ing herself to the floor she fell into
a position where with the knot re-
Ientlessly choking her she was soon
beyond consciousness.
In her last words before parting
from her husband, Mrs. Clausen had
said nothing which could give warn
ing of such desperate intentions. Last
Friday she had said in mood of de-
spondency that she wished she were
dead, but no one paid any more
heed>to that remark than is customary
when someone utters despair in dark
moment.
All the neighbors testified to the
happy relation which had existed be-
tween Mrs. Clausen and her husband
and the two children. They were
young couple with the best of life
before them, and except for pecuniary
troubles and the conditions that be-
set the farmers lot from time to time.
their life seemed one of gentle happi-
ness.
Recently, however, Mrs. Clausen wor-
ried over the set-backs that she re-
ceived on the farm. This spring in
order to retrieve past failures she bor-
rowed a sum of money from a woman
friend, and invested it in brood of
chickens She had 900 of them, and in
this flock she set her hopes, expecting
to pay back the loan and make a good
clearance. Then to her dismay, the
chickens died, one by one, and then
by tvo's and three's Soon the 500 we're
nearly wiped out. This last failure on
top Of others in the past proved "the
LOSE straw" She brooded ceaselessly
over the misfortune, and her conscience
suffered because of pecunlary obllga-
tions which she feared she would be
unable to meet.
Mrs. Clausen is survived by her hus-
band and two children and by her faith
er, William Hollenbeck of Pleasant
Prairie. The remains were taken to
Hansen's funeral home, and arrange
ments for the funeral will be announc-
ed later.
The deceased was born April 4,
1888, in Lake county, ILL.,, and had liv-
ed in Kenosha county for the greater
part of her life She was member
of the Royal Neighbors in the town
of Pleasant Prairie and had been ac-
tive in the work of that organization.