CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA - OBITUARY OF ANNA MARIE LENZEN ==================================================================== NEGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the NEGenWeb Archives by Kristi Bergman Lam Permission granted by: Rob Dump, Editor, Cedar County News ====================================================================== THE CEDAR COUNTY NEWS - OCTOBER 16, 1919 TRAGEDY IS RECALLED DEATH OF MRS. ANNA MARIE LENZEN RECALLS TRAGEDY OF PIONEER DAYS The death a few days ago of Mrs. Anna Marie Lenzen, one of the pioneer residents of Cedar county, in a sanitarium at Council Bluffs recalls to early settlers minds one of the painful tragedies of the early history of the county which was followed by one of the most bitterly contested legal battles in the history of Northeast Nebraska. The tragedy occurred at a wedding dance following a double wedding in the Bow Valley neighborhood. During the merry making a young man from the Brooke's Bottom neighborhood arrived at the wedding party and under the influence of liquor became involved in an argument with Henry Lenzen, an ex-soldier and a large, powerful man. During the argument Mr. Lenzen was stabbed in the right chest and died a short time later. The man who stabbed him was arrested and was to be tried in Hartington when he secured a change of venue, the trial finally being heard at Ponca. The man was acquitted on the ground that he used the knife in self defense, after a legal battle covering many days. Less than a month later he drove away from home on a hay rack to fix some fences, taking a shot gun along. The gun slid down thru the hay rack and in pulling it toward him the trigger caught and the gun was discharged, the contents of the shell tearing away the lower part of his bowels. He died 13 days later. Mrs. Lenzen never recovered from the effects of the loss of her husband in such a tragic manner. She made her home with her son, John Lenzen and family, near Wynot, until about a year ago when she was taken to the sanitarium where she could be given expert treatment. The funeral will be held in Hartington Friday forenoon at 10 o'clock. Another son, Herman Lenzen, of Randolph, also survives.