"Hellish Conduct"

# "A Young Man who is Given a Home Rewards his Benefactor by Seducing Two of his Daughters."

The "young man" in this story is Hans Jacob Hansen, who immigrated to the US from Germany and settled in Iowa sometime from 1870-1873. Hans found a "benefactor" in Henry Bein (who just so happens to be my ancestor), a middle-aged farmer and fellow German immigrant. Hans, who represented himself as "poor, friendless and destitute" was given work on Henry's farm and allowed to stay in the family home. During the farm's busy season, Hans "so ingratiated himself into the good graces of the old folk, and made himself so useful about the farm and house that Mr. Bein, unlike farmers generally, when their busy season was over, did not discharge Hansen, but kept him, and treated him as one of the family."

The living arrangement seemed to be going smoothly, but, unbeknownst to Henry and his wife, Hans, who was in his late 20s or early 30s, had "commenced paying his attentions" to Henry's 3rd oldest daughter, **16-year-old** Sophia Bein at some point after moving into the family's home. The teenage Sophia became pregnant by Hans in the summer of 1873. Hans and Sophia's relationship' was discovered by the Beins in the following months when her pregnancy became visible. Rather than doing "as many parents would have done," Henry and his wife decided not to "turn upon the destroyer and seducer" of their daughter and instead allowed Hans to marry the teenage girl in order to "save" her reputation. Henry even gave Hans a portion of his land, "upon which the young couple took up their residence, and were living very comfortably." Hans and Sophia were married in December of 1873. On March 4, 1874, **17-year-old** Sophia gave birth to her and Hans's baby, a girl they named Augusta. The baby was the first grandchild for Henry and his wife, and they were "as happy in fondling it, and proud of it as grand parents usually are." However, Hans, described as a "villain, devil, ingrate," had "not yet satiated his lust."

"Had matters got no worse, all would have been well, and the world outside would never have known even this much." Unfortunately, matters would become dramatically worse. Hans "had not yet wrought ruin and disgrace enough upon this family, and he must find another victim to pander to his hellish lust." He did not have to look far for a new 'victim;' he quickly zeroed in on **Sophia's *younger sister***, ***13/14-year-old*** Emma. *I seriously almost vomited typing this, it's so unbelievably gross. But, don't worry, it gets worse, so buckle in! 🥴*

During the winter of 1874, Henry "was confined to his room for six weeks with rheumatism." Emma and one of her younger sisters, all of whom were under 10 years old at this time, took over some of their father's chores in the barn while he was sick. Hans, realizing there was an opportunity for him to be alone with Emma (or maybe he wanted both gir- never mind, my stomach won't withstand that train of thought), took advantage of the circumstances created by Henry's illness and "by his devilish arts, managed to effect the ruin of the youngest girl, Emma Bein, ***when in the hay mound***." *I should probably explain what that last bit means but I can't bring myself to do it, sorry. 🤢*

***13/14-year-old*** Emma's 'relationship' with her ***31/32-year-old brother-in-law,*** Hans, was kept secret, but was ultimately discovered in the same way as her older sister, Sophia's was: She became pregnant in Autumn of 1874 and, by June of 1875, was unable to conceal her pregnancy. Seeing as Hans couldn't marry Emma since he was ***already married to her sister***, Sophia, Henry and his wife were forced to choose a different path of action. Within a week of learning of Emma's pregnancy by Hans, Henry went before a judge and charges of "seduction" were filed against Hans. Unfortunately for the Beins, the story of their unfortunate situation became public when Henry took legal action and ended up, to quote Taylor Swift, "splashed on the news front page." A constable set out with an arrest warrant, but Hans had fled his and Sophia's home when he heard that Henry had found out about Emma's pregnancy. Hans, having nowhere to go, returned home within 24 hours and was arrested the morning after his return. His bail was set at $500 (not adjusted for inflation). Perhaps for the sake of his daughter, Sophia, and grandchild, Henry bailed Hans out on the condition that Hans mortgages his crops to him (Henry, who originally owned Hans's land) and the entire family went home together.

In August of 1875, shortly after the scandal became public, ***14-year-old*** Emma gave birth to her 30-something ***brother-in-law***, Hans's baby, a boy they named Rudolph. Despite Emma's young age, she raised Rudolph with her family's help. Sophia reconciled with Hans and they had (at least) one more child together, a son born on November 4, 1877 who they named Jacob.

Emma was married for the first time on July 23, 1878, when she was only **17 years old**. Henry was a very successful farmer, so Emma was likely still an attractive prospect despite being an unwed single mother. Her first marriage lasted less than 9 months and produced no (known) children (I'm unsure if she was divorced or widowed). She was married for the second and (seemingly) final time on April 3, 1879 to Ferdinand Wiese in a double wedding with her sister, Sophia, who married Ferdinand's brother, Peter Wiese.

Emma and Sophia's children by Hans (Augusta, Jacob and Rudolph) were all given their respective stepfathers's surname (Wiese) and used that name for the rest of their lives. Emma and Ferdinand had (at least) 6 children together and Sophia and Peter had (at least) 3 children together. Both Emma and Sophia outlived Hans, who died on Valentine's Day of 1903 at age 59 from stomach cancer.

Sources: Various census and genealogical records; Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa) June 28-29, 1875