From: Petrel, Adams County, ND
8 October 1921
Valued Staats-Anzeiger!
Our harvest was not very big, but we don’t have to starve to death yet. The wheat yielded 5 to 6 bushels here and there. I received only 2 bushels of wheat per acre, 3 bushels of barley and 8 to 10 bushels of rye. Vegetables, fruit and potatoes were also quite weak. I now sowed 128 acres of rye. The weather is still good. On the 6th of the month, we had ½ inch of snow but it melted soon.
In closing, I am greeting my siblings in the old homeland. I have asked them once before to write. I had promised to pay the Staats-Anzeiger for 1 year for the person who wrote first, but until now no one has written.
Kosmos and Anna Kuntz
From: St. Paul, Minnesota
9 October 1921
Very Honored Editorship!
The precursor of winter has arrived here. On the 7th of this month, we did have the first snow. Since then it has been continuously cold and gloomy so that one has to reach for one’s winter coat. But as the saying goes, “One swallow doesn’t make a spring,” therefore a handful of snow will not by far make a winter. Let’s hope that the iceman will stay away for awhile.
Last week, I was eyewitness to a horrible tragedy. While I was walking with a friend down a street in Minneapolis, a girl was strolling along about 15 steps in front of us. That’s when a young man joined the girl. They walked along side-by-side while talking excitedly. Suddenly the young man grabbed the girl by the arm and violently pushed her away. At the same time he pulled out a revolver and fired 3 shots at the fleeing girl. The shots went into her back. While the unfortunate victim was falling he shattered her left arm with a fourth bullet. Then he pointed the weapon at his temple, fired and fell to the ground.
Mrs. Baumann, that was the name of the unlucky one, was dead on the spot. James Weels, the murderer died shortly after being taken to the municipal hospital. Weels had been an assistant engineer at some hospital and had fallen in love with the young Mrs. Baumann, who was 22 years old. He treated her like an unmarried girl and she hadn’t bothered to enlighten him to the contrary.
He had demanded she travel with him to California where he supposedly wanted to marry her. Mrs. Baumann had been employed in a barbershop in Minneapolis and was divorced from her husband since August. She had decided and refused to comply with Weels’ plan. This guy driven by jealousy completely lost what little mind he had and committed a double murder.
A letter addressed to the editors of newspapers was found in one of Weels’ pockets. In this letter he warned all coy girls not to toy with a man’s heart, else they could end up like Mrs. Baumann did.
The local “Deutsche Haus” (German House) is nearing its’ completion. During the “German Week” from 19 through 26 November, a fund drive will be held there for the benefit of suffering children in Germany. In the appeal to the German entity in St. Paul it states, “The ceremonious dedication of the “German House” is at hand. This monumental structure, which has been erected by German-American enterprise and energy under the most difficult conditions, will bring the German speaking element of St. Paul to a higher pedestal. During the “Deutsche Woche” (German Week) from the 19th to the 26th of November, the doors of this building will open for our entry. In our own establishment we will then declare our own “Declaration of Independence”. We want to celebrate this “Deutsche Woche” in conjunction with the 8-day bazaar in a very impressive manner. With bowed heads we want to thank the providence and call out with an open mind to the dedicated ones, “Here we are despite of all this and that!” The success of this festivity, and we will succeed, is a concern of the entire German culture of St. Paul.
Neither party affiliation nor religion or club differences will hinder us from applying our complete individual energy to bring the “Deutsche Woche” and the bazaar to an unforeseen success. Pride in race and pride in homeland have to become the motto. What does Schiller say in his poem, “The Fight With The Dragon?” “Why do the people run, what is rolling there raging through the long streets…..?”
Well, that is about the way we are imaging the “Deutsche Woche” from the 19th to the 26th of November.
With an elite and pure German greeting,
Respectfully,
Cyrillus Haag