5 Feb 1912 - The Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin)
Vol 22 - No 90
Page 1, Column 1
That Louis Mailahn, who with his daughter, and son, were murdered by William Mailahn on Friday afternoon had a presentiment several days before, is claimed by Edward Mailahn, the eldest of the three sons left.
Edward told Coroner Thomas E. Johnston, after the inquest, that last Tuesday his father called him into a room and closed the door and told him that he felt something was going to happen.
"If I am taken away, I want you to take complete charge of things and look after the others, you are the oldest and must provide for those that are left" is what the father is alleged to have told his eldest son, four days before the tragedy.
Edward, remembering that three years ago his father had attempted to commit suicide, says that he asked his father what he meant, fearing he was again contemplating self-destruction, but was assured he had not thought of such a thing, but that he was awakened with a start on Monday night and that something he could not tell what, seemed to tell him that he was in great danger and would not live long.
"My father told me all about his private affairs, gave me his papers etc, and then we went to the barn and talked about the stock, etc., said Edward. "What my father told me Tuesday preyed on my mind, but as he said nothing more about it I did not mention it to him.
"Thursday evening Will came to me in the barn and said 'What's the use of living, let's take poison and kill ourselves, we'll all die with consumption anyhow.' I tried to cheer him up and would not enter into any such agreement with him, but that night I could not sleep. I thought of what father had said, and although he had denied that he contemplated committing suicide, could not help but think that he and Will might have agreed to it and I could not shut my eyes for fear that Will might kill me.
"Friday morning I tried to appear cheerful, I asked Will how he slept and he said he did not sleep much, but was restless all night. Father said he had been restless as he had hear Dora coughing considerable during the night, but we all went about our duties and I did not think much about the trouble until I was on my way to the school house in the afternoon with the wood.
"Then it all came back to me and I drove the horse as fast as I could to get back home. I had decided I would not wait on the little boys if school was not out, but they came out just as I was unloading the wagon and we drove home in a hurry, and although I was terribly shocked at the tragedy, I must say I was not surprised.
"George (aged 13) jumped out of the sleigh as we drove in and ran in the house and was the first to discover the body of sister. He came screaming out of the house and I knew before he said a word that my worst fears had been realized.
"As I ran passed the shed I glanced in and saw Will lying there in a pool of blood. He was not dead but was gasping and although the sight made me sick, I asked him what he had done with the others. He tried to say something, gasped a couple of times and was dead.
"I then sent Walter (aged 14) to summon the neighbors and went to find the others. We found Little Johnnie in the smoke house, Dora on the floor in the parlor and pa in the barn, all dead."
The coroner's jury rendered the following verdict: "We, the jury impaneled to hold and act as jurors at the inquest of Louis Mailahn, William Mailahn, Doretha Mailahn, and John L. Mailahn, who were executed, with the exception of Louis Mailahn, came to their death by having their throats cut by a razor in the hands of William Mailahn, who committed suicide in the same manner. We find also that Louis Mailahn came to his death by being shot with a shotgun in the hands of William Mailahn."
The tragedy was even worse than at first reported, the evidence at the inquest showed that after shooting his father, the murderer had taken the shot gun upstairs and placed it on his brother's bed, produced the razor and going through the kitchen had taken a stick of wood, and that before cutting his sister's throat, he dealt her three vicious blows on the head, fracturing the skull. He then held her head back and literally severed it with the razor.
The fiend murdered his little brother in the same manner, first knocking him
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down with the stick of wood and then cutting his throat, and to make sure of his own death, had looked for poison in the cellar and failing to find any, took a small mirror to the wood shed, cut both wrists and then standing before the mirrow made two deep gashes in his own throat before falling unconscious.
It is the general belief of those who have known him intimately that William Mailahn had been mentally unbalanced for years. In his testimony before the coroner's jury at the inquest Saturday night, Edward Mailahn said that several years ago Will struck one of his sisters, now dead, in the stomach with a stick of wood, in a fit of anger and refused to speak to her afterwards, although she repeatedly forgave him and tried to make peace with him.
For the two years he remained under the same roof with her without speaking to her and even on the morning of her death from tuberculosis he turned a deaf ear to her entreaties to come to her bedside and speak to her.
The quadruple funeral of the murderer and his victims was held form the later residence at 1 o'clock this afternoon, attended by practically every farmer in the vicinity. The services were conducted by the Rev. M. Uebele, of this city, and interment will be made in the town cemetery in Black Creek.
Page 5: PERSONAL: Charles Kluender and Otto Seefelt of Milwaukee, arrived yesterday to attend the funeral of the four Mailahn victims today.