Editing Case File: Mailahn Family (section)

==Overview==
[[File:Willie Mailahn 2.png|thumb|161x161px]]
From 1905 to 1912, in a rural farmhouse in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, the Mailahn family had been decimated by consumption, having taken seven members of the family in as many years.  With additional members of the family falling ill, and with the second eldest son already having a morose disposition prior to receiving a head injury - the 23 year old Willie Mailahn tried to convince his remaining family that it would be better for them to all commit suicide rather than proceed through the harsh slow deaths from tuberculosis. The family did not take him seriously, and Willie decided to take matters into his own hands.

On the cold winter day of 2 Feb 1912, with drifts of snow covering portions of the roads, eldest brother Edward took the family sleigh to deliver wood to the school where his two younger brothers were studying.  On the way, he began to realize some of the things his father and brother had told him in the preceeding days, William wishing the family would commit suicide, his father cryptically telling him to take care of the family if anything happened to him.  Arriving to the school, just as his brothers were coming out, he had the forboading feeling that something terrible was happening back at the farm.  He rushed back home as quickly as he could - but it was to late.  William had killed their father, teenage sister Dora, and young brother John, before taking his own life.  Lilsten to the fulls tory at one of the platforms listed above.