From: Krasna, Bessarabia
13 October 1929

Dear Editor Brendel:

A little more news than usual, but not much of it is good news.

It rained all day yesterday, but it will not be enough to do much good for the winter crop, most of which is not planted yet.

A horrible mishap occurred in the Schilgowsky [Schulkowsky] family. Simon Schilgowsky [Schulkowsky], son of Heindrich [Heinrich], hung himself in his chicken coop on October 8. He stole a sheaf of barley from the field of Ludwig Braun. He was supposed to go to court for it on the 8th. It left such an impression on the man that he died of his own hand. He had had previous episodes of irrationality. At 10AM, the prayer call time, he was buried without song and church bell. A sad case, one of which has not happened in Krasna in a long time. The poor soul was 43 years old and left behind a wife and five children.

A potentially large accident was prevented on October 11 when a fire started in the ice cellar, which is thatched with reeds. As soon as the blaze was doused, another fire sprang up in the lower community, when a straw barn 3½ Faden long and 1½ Faden wide began burning. Arson of the mischievous kind is suspected as the straw was 25 Faden distant from the cellar and could not have caught fire. The wind was also coming from the opposite direction. People gathered hurriedly and the fire was under control within two hours. Within a hair’s breadth the entire straw could have caught fire and a row of homesteads as well. The entire village mobilized. Even the pastor carried water and directed people. It was a gratifying experience to see the entire community pitch in together.

The old widower Mathias Folk died October 2, 1929.

The good harvest is the cause of many new field machines coming into the village. Rochus Fenrich and Joseph Neumann each purchased a new International tractor at the cost of 220,000 Lei/each. It is a good thing, but one has to be careful, otherwise he drives into the field and comes home on foot.

Weddings:
Anton, son of the late Ignatz Folk and Elisabetha, daughter of Ignatz Becker, on October 2.
Justinus, son of the late Georg Ruscheinsky and Gertrude, the daughter of Sebastian Koch, on October 8.
Much luck to both couples!

We are finished with the corn harvest and the stalks are being brought in like gangbusters. If a person had predicted our great corn harvest would be the end of July or beginning of August, no one would have believed it. We had such little rain during the summer. The average yield was 80-90 Pud/Desjatine.

• 38. On the street, next to the homestead of Philipp Martin and Lorenz Müller, is the consumer building, 11 Faden long, 3 Faden wide and 6¼ Arschin high.
• 39. Lorenz Mûller and wife Teresia nee Steiert, and his brother Anton with wife Felizia nee Haag. They live in the house next to the wall by the street.
• 40. Lorenz Riehl and wife.
• 41. Heinrich Müller and wife Faustina nee Söhn.
• 42. Jakob Ihli and wife Pilagia nee Kopp.
• 43. Johannes Hartmann and wife, his son Barnabas and his wife Apolonia nee Kuss.
• 44. Joseph Wagner Sr and wife Marianna nee Harsche, Johannes Gross and wife Rosalia and mother-in-law Gertruda.
• 45. Semfor Dirk and wife Aurelia nee Ternes.
• 46. Widow Ottilie Becker, her son Dionisius and wife Katharina nee Koch.
• 47. Brothers Georg Steiert and wife Helena nee Habrich, and Karl Steiert and wife Marianna nee Ternes.
• 48. Joseph M. Folk and wife Klara nee Ternes, his aged mother and the sister of Joseph, Joseph’s widow Katharina, whose husband Nikolaus Gulewitsch was murdered here in 1925.
• 49. Eduard Ruscheinsky and wife Philomena nee Leinz.
• 50. Bonifatius Ruscheinsky and wife Marianna nee Kopp.
• 51. Erasmus Schreiber and wife Erene (his third wife), nee Ruscheinsky.
• 52. Joseph Kuss and wife Pilagia nee Kopp and his aged mother, Marianna.
• 53. Widow of the late Maximilian Hein, Gottleva nee Folk.
• 54. The renovated chancellery (city hall) now roofed in brick.

(Description to be continued)

In closing, I would like to point out to our fellow Krasna villages, that we report regularly what happens here in the Dakota Rundschau, so please inform all the folks from Krasna that you know to subscribe to this paper. This would also be very useful for questions, messages, letters to us, etc. If you know of anyone from this village here or there, send them a subscription for Christmas. It would be much appreciated, I am sure!

Greetings to the editor, staff and all readers.

Joseph Braun