Winnebago County WI Archives Obituaries.....Gartmann, Gustav February 8, 1901 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wi/wifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Jerry Head JRHead1@aol.com May 31, 2007, 12:02 pm Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, Feb 9, 1901 Oshkosh (WI) Daily Northwestern, Sat, Feb 9, 1901, p2 Death Comes To Father And Son On The Lake Terrible Fate of Gustav Gartmann and Ten Year Old Boy Horse and Cutter in Which They Went Out on the Lake to Fish, at Bottom of Lake Butte des Morts – Resuing Parties Found Father and Son Half Dead From Cold – Both Died on Being Brought to Shore Two white sheeted figures, one of a man and the other of a boy, lying cold and stiff in Spikes’ morgue this morning, tell a sad story of death. The bodies were those of Gustav Gartmann, a mason, and his ten-year-old son who lived at 203 Sixteenth street. They had perished from cold out on Lake Butte des Morts Friday night. Their voices were not strong enough in the storm that swept across the lake, to rouse the people in the vicinity before they had been too long exposed to the cold and were ready to die. The father and son had gone fishing in the afternoon, making the trip out on the lake with horse and cutter. They had often made the trip before and believed themselves thoroughly familiar with the route. It had snowed, however, and they must have been unable to see openings or weak places in the ice. The theory is that on their return, after having fished during the afternoon, the ice gave way and precipitated the horse, cutter and the two occupants into the water. Emerson Lake, a farmer living on the Omro road just outside of the city limits, says it is his belief that the father and son succeeded in regaining solid ice after the horse had foundered into a hole. They were probably soaked to the skin. The father probably his overcoat and wrapped it about his little son and laid him on the ice while he tried to rescue his horse. Mr. Lake rescued the father. He tells a vivid story of the wildness of the night and his terrible discovery.. Rolla Johnson, a farmer living nearby was at his house, when, about eight o’clock in the evening, Mr. Lake’s little son said he heard someone cry out on the ice. The boy believed them to be cries of distress. Mr. Lake took a lantern and with Johnson went to the lake shore north of the golf grounds. The wind was blowing stormily and it was difficult to distinguish from which direction the sounds came. Once it seemed as if the voices came from the cemetery across the lake. Again it sounded but a short distance away. A blinding snow was falling and it was extremely dangerous to venture out on the ice. There came a lull in the storm and the voice was again heard about a quarter of a mile out on the lake. Mr. Lake says he went out and found a man creeping about on his hands and knees crying feebly. He was apparently delirious and was about ready to die. “I took him by the arm and succeeded in raising him to his feet,” said Mr. Lake. “then I lifted him up to my shoulder and with Mr. Johnson’s help carried him to the home of Thomas McDonald on eagle street.” “What about the boy?” was asked by the police when Mr. Lake had finished his story. “I found no boy and know nothing of him, except that when I got to the house of Thomas McDonald I learned that some one had found the boy and brought him here.” The boy was breathing his last when the father arrived and the father followed the son soon after he was placed on a bed. Officer Theodore Kandt tells the story of the finding of the boy as related to him by a son of Charles Duvie, living at 380 West Algoma street. The Duvie boys heard cries of distress from the vicinity of the lake. It must have been before Mr. Lake started out. They went to the lakeshore and, out a considerable distance, saw a man running about shouting wildly. They found a boy lying on the ice wrapped in an overcoat. The boy was frozen to the ice. He was alive but evidently nearly perishing from the cold. The rescuers tried to induce the father to return to shore with them, but according to the officers, he was apparently demented and they could do no more than take the boy away. They hoped the man would follow but he did not. The Duvie boys took the boy in their arms and carried him to the residence of Thomas McDonald. They returned as soon as the boy was cared for, to rescue the man. They had not gone far when they met Mr. Lake with the man in an exhausted condition. A hurry call was telephoned to the police and the patrol wagon arrived just as Mr. Gartmann was being carried into the house of Mr. McDonald. The officers had brought Dr. D. W. Harrington with them but the unfortunate father and son were too far gone to make the doctor’s efforts effective and they breathed their last. The bodies were removed to the undertaking establishment of Spikes & McDonald about nine o’clock Friday evening. This morning Justice Charles Baumann held an inquest summoning the following to view the remains: Phillip Blake, Leonard Meyer, Andrew Hanson, John Dowling, H.J. Wegener, James Kenny. The jury will meet at two o’clock Monday to inquire in the cause of death. Mr. Lake was engaged by Chief Weisbrod this morning to recover the horse and cutter belonging to Mr. Gartmann. Mr. Lake said the water is about twelve feet deep. The horse was seen to rise to the surface this morning. The cutter is attached to the horse and can be seen resting on the bottom. Dr. Harrington said this morning that when he arrived both father and son were too nearly dead to be resuscitated. The father, when brought into the house was stiff. His clothing was frozen hard and warm water was necessary to remove his clothing. He had been carried a distance of nearly a mile from the point where the horse floundered in the water. Mr. Gartman was about forty years of age and his little son was about ten. During the winter months he had little work as a mason and he employed much of his time fishing. When the officers reached the house of Mr. McDonald, the bodies had not been identified. It was not until Officer Meyer, who is well acquainted on the south side of the river, was summoned that the identity of the man and boy was established. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Oshkosh (WI) Daily Northwestern, Mon, Feb 11, 1901. p1 Death By Exposure Coroner’s Jury Brings in Cause of Death of Gustav Gartmann and Son The coroner’s jury impaneled to investigate and report on the death of Gustav Gartmann and son Irving, brought in a verdict this afternoon that death was the result of exposure. No testimony was submitted relative to the ice having been left unguarded where holes had been made by farmers in harvesting the ice, hence the jury did not touch on this phase of the subject. ----------------------------------------------------------------- p2 May Lead To Action Against Ice Cutters Place Where the Gartmanns Went Into the Water Not Properly Guarded Members of the coroner’s jury in the case of the death of Gustav Gartmann and his seven-year-old son, visited the place where the two were thrown into the water Friday evening, the effects of which caused their death. The visit was for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not the place where the accident occurred was as supposed an icefield where ice had been taken for storage. According to Justice Charles Baumann, who is holding the inquest, it was a place where ice cutting had been in progress. As to whether or not it was guarded as prescribed by law, Mr. Baumann said this morning that two shrubs had been placed near the hole. Mr. Baumann said that they appeared to have been set there recently. Neither was frozen into the ice, he says. The law on the question, he says, is that posts must be planted and fence boards nailed to those posts making a protection around the hole in the ice at least siz feet from the edge. The district attorney has been appraised of this state of affairs and after the inquest this afternoon it is probable that something in the nature of a prosecution under the state law will be brought about to punish those who are guilty of neglect. The harvest of ice has been carried on at the point where the fatality occurred, it is said, by number of farmers. --------------------------------------------------------------- p2 Aid for Gartmann Family, Left Without Father’s Support The Northwestern Will Receive Subscriptions For the Family That Has Lost Two of Its Members If the charitably disposed of Oshkosh wish a good cause to devote a little of their money or time to they could not do better than to send something for the aid of the Gartmann family, which was deprived of two of its members last week, the husband and father and little son. To a Northwestern reporter who visited the grief stricken home at 203 Sixteenth street Sunday, members of the family imparted the information that two boys will now have the entire responsibility of supporting the family. The Northwestern will see that any money subscriptions made through this paper for the relief of the Gartmann family reaches the widow and it is especially urged that the wealthy as well as those with less of this world’s goods give something that will at least assist in defraying the funeral expenses. The funeral of the father and son will be at two o’clock from the late residence, and at 2:30 o’clock from the Bowen street Lutheran church. Two coffins, two hearses and two graves will be in evidence in testimony of the sad fatality. Mr. Gartmann was a resident of Hartford, Wis., until seven years ago. He was a mason by trade. He was born in Germany and was forty-six years of age. Irving, the boy that died with the father from cold and exposure, was seven years of age. Other members of the family who survive are the widow and six children, viz: Arnold, aged nineteen years, employed in Gould’s factory; Leo, aged fifteen, employed in Morgan’s factory, and Selma, aged fourteen; Ethel, aged nine; Cornet, aged five, and Eugene, aged three years. Relatives here to attend the funeral are Mr. and Mrs. William Witt, Hartford; Frank Walter, Milwaukee; John Potrady, Watertown; Louis Potrady, Watertown; Mrs. John Hilgendorf, Juneau; John Hildeman, Juneau. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Oshkosh (WI) Daily Northwestern, Wed, Feb 13, 1901, p1 Funds For Relief Of Gartmann Family Total of $64 Tendered to The Northwestern Distribution- Subscriptions Keep Coming In Subscriptions for the relief fund of the Gartmann family continue to reach The Northwestern office and on all sides the responses are generous and prompt. Both the Gould company and the Morgan company, where two of the young boys of the family are employed, will receive substantial encouragement from those firms that will materially assist the family of which they are now left the sole support. Every family in Oshkosh is urged to take a personal interest in this matter and let each give something. Following are the subscriptions to date: …… File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wi/winnebago/obits/g/gartmann348gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 11.4 Kb