Dora Mailahn
Biographical Information
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| Name | Dora Mailahn | |
Episodes[edit]
Bio[edit]
Dora was the youngest daughter of the Mailahn family. After her mother and all of her five sisters had passed before 1910, the cooking and other household duties were left to her. Like the others before her, she became ill with tuberculosis in 1912 and she required more and more rest. Understanding that more help was needed, her father tracked down her brother Willie to come back home. He was skilled in cooking in addition to farm work and would be a great help. Willie was also not previously aware that his sister Dora had fallen ill. Despondent, and believing that his family would all suffer slow and painful deaths, Willie decided to take matters into his own hands.
On 2 Feb 1912, after ensuring that the eldest brother Edward had left to pick up the two teenage brothers from school, William called his father to the barn to do some work. In the basement of the barn he shot his father with a shotgun under the chin, killing him instantly. Being in the basement, and possibly due to the added effect that snow has on sound, the crack of the blast didn't carry. William then went into the house where Dora was sleeping on a couch. He first passed her and went upstairs and put the shotgun on the bed in his room, then he pulled a razor. The change in weapons was likely to continue being stealth. Razor in hand, he went down to his sister to violently and quickly pull her from the couch where she was sleeping and slit her throat from ear to ear. William continued on to kill his younger brother John before turning the razor on himself.
Documentation[edit]
Cemetery Records[edit]
Census Records[edit]
- 1900 - Black Creek, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA
- 1905 - Center, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA
- 1910 - Center, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA
Newspapers[edit]
- 3 Feb 1912 - The Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) - Kills Father, Sister, Brother and Himself
- 5 Feb 1912 - The Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) - Father Has Presentiment
- 8 Feb 1912 - Appleton Weekly Post (Appleton, Wisconsin) - Fiend Kills Father, Sister, Brother and Ends Own Life
- 14 Feb 1912 - The Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) - Brother Tells of the Tragedy