This story about your family just keeps getting more and more interesting! This is a GREAT "sidebar" to Addie's story. Your grandmother went on an incredible adventure! And at 6 years old! I wish she could have told you about it. . . .

Rosemary thank you for another fascinating read. I so enjoy your postings. Florence was a beautiful little girl wasn't she, and a lovely grandmother.
Just keep these little bits and pieces of information coming .

Jan

What amazingly awkward over-writing on that social gossip article on the housewarming! Those were different times indeed. As to trains, I live in the Twin Cities MN--built around J.J. Hill's empire--and a friend's great grandfather was a high-up in the Great Northern offices. His family had a private railcar with all the luxuries of a sumptuous home. They travelled all around the country on it.

Well, I sent my 11 year old daughter on a plane to Germany. My sister picked her up. Both her, there, and me, here when Lori came back had to show an ID to "claim her".

Yes, I can see someone sending her all alone back then.

Moni

I can, too. My kids flew alone when they were seven.

Flying is a *little* bit different. No one's going anywhere once that plane pushes back from the tarmac! :)

Imagine all the stops between Chicago and Denver. She must have been a very mature six-year-old. And I think that other people on the train probably kept a watchful eye over here.

Or so I tell myself. :)

Rosemary I really enjoy reading the continuing story of Addie, thank you sharing and also for being her voice.

Last I read from you, the autopsy was inconclusive. Have you found new information?

Curious as to how much the year long remodel cost. It's gorgeous!

I would imagine that someone,maybe the porter,was assigned to watch over her during the trip.

I know my GD was flying from MO to CA at that age to visit her Mother.

It was not unusual, many years ago, to have children travel alone - usually some of the train staff were aware of the situation and watched over them.

It was a simpler time, communities were smaller - and people cared for one another more: there wasn't the worry about nefarious things happening nearly as much as these days. And such interference with small children is rare, these days, it seems to me - the news makes a big thing of it, even in distant places, so we get super protective of our kids locally.

I remember us getting our first radio, about 1940: we didn't have worldwide instant news, then - we were much less aware of things happening in distant places.

ole joyful

A child doesn't have to travel FAR to be harmed or to fear harm. In her 101st year my (honorary) aunt cried, telling me her mother had sent her alone on the horsecar every Sunday afternoon to visit her father on the other side of Providence. She had to change cars, which included waiting for some time on a street corner for the second car. (At that point her voice broke, and she changed the subject.)

Matti5, the autopsy *WAS* inconclusive, but I've now done a ridiculous amount of research on Victorian era burials, funeral traditions, and diphtheria, and it's now safe to say, Addie was murdered.

Here's the short version. We found Addie in a shallow grave and she was wearing her black leather, lace-up, high-top, heeled boots.

The story is, she died of diphtheria, but that's bogus for many reasons. So, let's say for a minute it's the truth. Women don't wear their high-top, lace-up, black leather shoes to bed when they're sick.

If she was attended by a funeral director (which we've learned, she was NOT), he would have removed those shoes from her feet and put her in "burial slippers," which was what they used at the time.

In short, those black boots are the deal killer. If she was sick, she would have removed them. If she was attended by a funeral director, he would have removed them and replaced them with burial footware, which has no sole, but just a cloth bottom.

Further, we're now wondering if she was buried in such a shallow grave (only 10" of top soil on top of the casket) with the expectation that animals would get into the tomb and make the evidence disappear. She was also buried with out a vault, which is very, very odd, given her social standing.

She was wearing those black boots when she was murdered, and she was never attended to by a funeral director, and she was buried before the sun rose.

There's a lot more to this, but those are the high points. I've got a blog that talks - in detail - about funeral customs during the Victorian era. I thought it was fascinating.

I interviewed THREE men with extensive knowledge in burial customs in the early 1900s, and they all said the same things. As the one funeral director told me, "Every tradition of the time was violated by this burial."

Her grave was knee deep. It should have been 6-8 feet deep.

Rose

Here is a link that might be useful: Funeral traditions in Victorian America

wow...i traveled by plane alone but was was at least a preteen.

but consider all the orphaned children put on trains and sent west, to be adopted or put to work...

Have you considered the possibility of suicide by Addie? A suicide back in the early 1900s would have been a real black mark on a family, not to mention the deceased, especially in a small town where everybody knew everybody. Some church affiiated cemeteries not too far back in history wouldn't even bury such a body within their cemetery proper. I can see what happened to Addie---fudged story & documents, quick burial, even dying & buried with her shoes on---just as likely in a suicide as a murder.

A shallow grave was not uncommon when hand dug by one individual on private property, especially in winter. Vaults were not common either. There are cemeteries in southern Illinois containing graves without vaults. Sometimes this is evidenced by a significant depression over the grave. For example, I had a grade school friend who was hired to mow a cemetery one summer in the 1940s. He was merrily making his way across the landscape with the mower when he and the mower sunk into a grave. Now, this young man was on the superstitious side and he thought for sure that the dead was about to grab him. He scrambled from the hole and ran from the cemetery.

It is only in the last 60 years that some of these communities have passsed ordinances requiring burial vaults. Before that, it was the family's choice. A number of families short of funds buried without vaults; Some did it for personal belief reasons: There is a passage in the bible when paraphrased reads: You are made from dust and to dust you shall return. The reasoning is: Why prolong something that is going to happen anyway.

Without vaults, wood caskets eventually decay and collaspe. Sometimes, a collasped grave makes a void under the surface and is not apparent until someone steps on it. It is dangerous to the grounds keeper and to anyone strolling the cmemtery. A vault requirement has become commonplace to protect from this hazard.

Your theory of murder of Dear Addy is very plausible, but consider other possibilities:

1. Addy keeled over from heart attack. The shocked husband did not know what to do and buried her just as she fell. He surmised that he would be under suspicion. She would have been fully clothed and with shoes. Embalming is not necessary if the body is buried within 3 days after death. In early America, embalming was a luxury and not commonly done. It became popular during the Civil War because it was necessary to preserve the body for a week or more to allow time to ship the body and for relatives to gather for the funeral. Many soldiers were buried on or neaby the battlefield where they fell - some in mass graves. These bodies were not emblamed.

2. Addy died by an accident.

3. Addy committed suicide. Such an event would have been hush-hush.

The 6 yr old: I know it was possible to put a 6 yr old on the train and semd her from Denver to Chicago. I myself would have not done this. I would have required an adult escort. I guessing she was put in charge of the Conductor who would have seen to it that she got off at the right stop and to answer her questions. Passenger service was much more personal in those days. But if i had been that little girl, I'd been very afraid. I would not have sent her alone on such a trip. There are too many things that could go wrong.

Maybe her birthdate is in error and she was older than 6.

An Aside: In my family search, I found an ancestor who died during a harsh winter. The ground was frozen deeply and the cemetery crew was not able to dig a proper grave on time. (They did not have bull dozers, back hoes, or nimble tractors back then. In frozen ground, graves were dug by pick and shovel.) A wake and funeral was celebrated on scheduled. The casket and body was put outside to freeze. The "stiff" was left frozen until the grave could be deepened. He was interred about 2 weeks after the funeral.

I've spent seven months researching this in-depth. There's more to this than I could fit in a 300-page book! :)

I've spoken with several people well-versed in Victorian-era funerals. There's a LOT to this story, and it's impossible to plumb all the nuances in a blog post!! ;)

Addie was married to Lake Mills' wealthiest man. He should have arranged for a proper burial. Her funeral should have spanned three days. Due to her station in life, there should have been a vault. There were health laws in place governing burial depth. There were health laws in place governing burial permits. There were health laws in place governing the reporting of contagious disease.

NONE of these were followed. And her death certificate was falsified. And there's also an account from someone who said, "Enoch shot Addie." That someone was Enoch's own daughter.

As the funeral director told me, "EVERY funeral tradition was violated in Addie's burial." Every single one.

Thanks for the comments.

For those who really want the long version, you can click on the link below. :) It really is an amazing story.

Rose

Here is a link that might be useful: Elsie Fargo's accounting of the death of Addie

All this is very interesting to read & the pictures are an added bonus that enhances the story.

As to the 6 yr old Florence traveling alone by train from Denver to Chicago... You said these were wealthy people. It would be entirely likely that they hired a companion to travel with her, or for that matter assigned one of their employees to do so. Such an insignificant, mundane detail would not have been mentioned.

I am a bit bothered that you make proclamations without the least allowance for alternative explanations. I mean, "Enoch Killed Addie" sounds like 100% certainty. Do you have any forensic data? I understand you've done extensive research. Yet, you don't know what you don't know. Even scientists who declare with 99% reliability allow for the 1% margin of error.

But... I am off to read @ the link you provided. It does look to be an interesting read!

Are you still soliciting funds for your research, Rosemary? Are you hoping for a book deal? Or a claim on an inheritance?

Researchers must be objective. You had reached your conclusion before the exhumation, and despite the inconclusive findings still maintain it was murder. I think one could make the same or similar case you are trying to make for many deaths, probably among the ancestors of the posters here, too. If your suspect were still alive, he could probably sue you for slander. Lots of assumptions and jumps to conclusions in your arguments for murder. Besides...what is the point? Let her rest in peace.

Maybe it was his last slap at her, by giving her an inferior, fast, cheap burial. If you don't love someone in life, why would you spend good money on them in death?

There was no evidence found of a gunshot, correct? So I'm not sure I'd put too much credence in "hearsay" statements.

As for a child on a train, I'm sure it was done a lot and quite successfully, too. Those were different times, it was a lot safer in many ways, especially for kids.