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Case File: Mailahn Family (1912)
[External link to original] – Page 1, Columns 1-4
FIEND KILLS FATHER, SISTER
BROTHER AND ENDS OWN LIFE
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AWFUL TRAGEDY ENACTED ON LUDWIG MAILAHN FARM NEAR BINGHAMTON, FIFTEEN MILES
FROM APPLETON, LATE YESTERDAY, WHEN SON, DRIVEN INSANE BY RECENT INJURY AND
BROODING OVER RAVAGES OF CONSUMPTION IN HIS FAMILY, BLOWS FATHER'S HEAD OFF
AND SLASHES THROATS OF OTHER KIN AND SELF - DEAD BODIES ARE DISCOVERED BY
CHILDREN COMING HOME FROM SCHOOL - MADE THREAT RECENTLY TO WIPE OUT FAMI-
LY WITH CARBOLIC ACIDE BEFORE "WE ALL DIE OF CONSUMPTION" - THE WHITE PLAGUE
CLAIMS SIX OF FAMILY IN LAST FEW YEARS AND OTHERS WERE AFFLICTED.
Appleton, Wis., Saturday, Feb. 3.
A triple murder and a suicide tells the story of the manner in which four persons came to their death at the home of Louis Mailahn, a prominent town of Center farmer, the bodies having been found Friday afternoon at about 4 oclock by three surviving members of the same family. The murderer-suicide was William Mailahn. The dead are:
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- LUDWIG MAILAHN, aged 68 years; top of head shot off
- WILLIAM MAILAHN, aged 21 years; throat cut
- DORA MAILAHN, aged 17 years; throat cut
- JOHN MAILAHN, aged 8 years; throat cut
Driven to desperation over the thought that five members of the family had died of consumption in the past few years and the continuation of the ravages of the White Plague in the family, William Mailahn, as the evidence seems to conclusively show, it is generally thought by those acquainted with the victims in the terrible tragedy, had deliberately planned and schemed to wipe out the entire family.
On Thursday morning William Mailahn is known to have made the remark while the family was seated at the breakfast table that “they might just as well take carbolic acid in their coffee and all die together instead of one at a time every now and then.”
But little attention was paid to the remark, however, as the others thought he meant it only as a joke, little thinking that he was formulating a plan to send them all into eternity within a few minutes of each other.
While Louis Mailahn, the father, was descending the stairs leading into the basement of the barn he was killed with a charge from a shotgun that blew off the top of his head. He was a few steps from the bottom when the barrel of the gun was shoved under his chin, the trigger pulled and he was sent to his death. A pail of feed that the man was carrying was spread over the floor when he fell. Death was instantaneous as only the back of the head remains.
That Dora Mailahn, aged 17 years, was the next to be sent to her grave by the brother murderer-suicide, is evidenced by the fact that he carried into the house the shotgun with which he had killed his father and had placed it on the bed in his room. Exchanging the weapon for a small razor, there is every reason to believe that William attacked his sister, lying helpless on a couch in the dining room near the coal stove, a victim of consumption, whom he threw on the floor slashing her throat from ear to ear. There are no blood marks on the couch, which indicates that the murderer overpowered the girl and cut her throat.
It is supposed that John Mailahn, aged 8 years, had heard and seen a part of his brother’s horrible deeds and tried to make his escape from his dastardly clutches by runing to the smokehouse, about three rods from the residence. This conclusion is arrived at by reason of the fact that blood stains on a kitchen lamp show in a measure that the brother had an idea that the little boy had gone into the cellar to hide. As the cellar is dark it was necessary for him to use a light. Not finding the little fellow in the cellar, William supposedly placed the lamp on the kitchen table, extinguished the light and then went in search of his next victim, whom he found in the smokehouse. One ugly gash in the throat from ear to ear tells the mute story of his pathetic fate.
Having apparently satisfied himself with the death of three members of the family, but not having satiated his thirst for blood, William Mailahn severed his jugular vein with the razor he had used in committing two of the murders, a small mirror, about the size of a saucer, guiding his hand along the fatal course. The razor and mirror were found lying where he dropped them when he breathed his last. The murderer-suicide’s clothing was besplotched with blood, not only from the would in his own throat but from the wounds of his victims. He was in a sitting posture when found, another indication that he took his time and did the job deliberately and with precision.
When Walter, aged 14, and George, aged 15 years, returned home from the district school, about 4 o’clock, they rode on their brother’s sled, on which he had taken a load of wood to the school earlier in the afternoon.
George was the first to enter the house. He at once called for his sister, and when she did not respond he thought perhaps she was asleep. Tip-toeing into the dining room he was horrified to find her lying in a pool of blood on the floor. Taking just one glance at the prostrate body of his sister the little fellow ran screaming from the house and gave the alarm to his brothers who were unhitching the team to put the horses in the barn.
Returning to the house the three boys called for the rest of those supposed to be about the premises and when they received no reply went into the shed and saw William’s body in a pool of blood. Half-crazed with consternation the brothers then found the eighty-year-old boy’s body in the smokehouse.
Nearly beside themselves with grief and stunned over their discoveries they instituted a search for the aged father. Here was the climax. As ready stated the father’s body was lying at the bottom of the stairs leading tot he basement of the barn. The major portion of his head was gone and he was scarcely recognizable. The little boys were so badly affected by what they had seen in the few short minutes that they clung to each other in fear, not knowing or realizing what it all meant. Edward, however, retained his composure and hurried to a neighbor where by telephone he gave the astounding news to a physician who at once advised him to summon the sheriff and district attorney. Mr. Rooney could not be located. Undersheriff Martin H. Verhagen and Coroner Thomas H. Johnson left for the scene at about 7 o’clock and did not reach the Mailahn home until about 10 o’clock, drifted roads interfering greatly with their progress.
The finding of the shotgun on the bed in his room, the fact that Ludwig Mailahn was shot to death, the razor and mirror lying at his side, the blood stains on the lamp chimney, a previous threat and general conduct on his part since last summer is pretty conclusive evidence, say the authorities, that William Mailahn murdered his kin and then completed the job by taking his own life.
Mrs. Mailahn and five daughters died of consumption during the last few years. Those who know the family best say others were afflicted with the dread disease, and it is believed the murderer was also afflicted and brooded over it so that an unbalanced mind prompted the heinous crime.
It was last summer that William Mailahn received a severe kick in the head by a horse that incapacitated him from work for several weeks and which left him in a sullen and morose condition of mind. Even the neighbors observed that since the accident he had been an altogether changed young man and did not seem to be particularly kind toward the other members of the family. This, coupled with the affliction of the family no doubt caused a deranged mentality.
William Mailahn had been working since last fall in the Jacquot livery barn at Hortonville and later for a farmer a few miles distant from that village. Last Sunday Ludwig Mailahn the father, drove to Hortonville to get his son, whom he wanted at home to do the cooking, which line he was particularly adept. The illness of Dora, who could not long have survived her ailment, prompted the father to induce William to come home, which he was apparently perfectly pleased to do.
Not having been at home since last fall when his little sister was in fairly good health, and then on arriving home to find a great change had come over her, William, it is thought, was deeply affected and it is preyed on his mind that he thought to end her suffering.
It is also probable that his original thought was to kill only his sister, and that the plan that he conjured up assumed such large proportions that he was beset with the desire to commit wholesale murder and worked himself up to such a high state of excitement that he slew right and left.
Waiting until his older brother, Edward, aged 24 years, had left home early in the afternoon with a load of wood which he delivered to the district school attended by his little brothers, William started out on his mission of murder by putting out of the way first of all the person who was most likely to successfully interfere with him in the execution of his diabolical scheme. That was his father. Then came the weaker victims. While many of the successive events attending the tragedy cannot be proven because all who could give anything tangible are dead, the logical deductions based on conditions as they have been found seem to substantiate the above statement of facts which is agreed to by practically everyone who has visited the scene.
That William did not wait long after his brother’s departure with the load of wood to carry out his murderous rampage is the impression of those who were on the scene a short time after the alarm had been given, who when they arrived, found the bodies cold and rigid.
The nearest neighbors to the Mailahns are Hoernings and Ruschs living about eighty rods distant from the scene of the tragedy and to the east and north, respectively. Inquiry at their homes failed to reveal the fact that they heard any outcry or gunshot. The fact that the shotgun was discharged in the basement of the barn deadened the report and therefore did not reach the ears of neighbors. Why John Mailahn did not run away from the premises when he saw what his brother was doing, is an unsolved problem, but it is generally supposed that he became so frightened that his first thought was a place to hide little thinking that it was but a question of a few minutes when he would be sent into an everlasting sleep.
Why William Mailahn used a razor to complete his work instead of the shotgun with which he killed his father is another question that is rather puzzling, unless it was that he had presence of mind enough to stop and think that perhaps the discharges would be heard by neighbors, who would interfere before he had completed his nefarious campaign of death.
The fact that Walter and George were attending district school is probably all that accounts for their being in the land of the living today. There is also a probability that all would have been alive had it not been for the fact that Edward, too, left home.
Calmly awaiting a favorable opportunity to murder the weaker members of the family, William saw to it that his older brother was not at home, lest possible interference result disastrously to him and when once he was out of sight succeeded in doing just what he had intended to do for several days, possibly for weeks and months. No one, perhaps, will ever know definitely.
It was feared at first that a murderous fiend had visited the Mailahn farm to wipe out the whole family, but indications are that it was the hand of one of the victims that perpetrated the diabolical crime.
The authorities, however, in their investigation of the affair will be compelled to work the facts out of a labyrinth of circumstantial evidence as no one present to witness the infernal tragedy is now among the living.
Coroner Thomas E. Johnston summoned a jury at 10 o’clock this morning and after viewing the premises, taking into consideration all of the conditions and circumstances and viewing the remains of the four victimes of the murderer’s insane wrath, the jury returned a verdict in effect that the elder Mailahn came to his death by being shot by his son William, and the girl and boy came to their death by having their throats cut with a razor in the hands of their brother William. Mr. Johnston, accompanied by the undersheriff and two deputies returned to Appleton at noon.
“There is no question in my mind but that William Mailahn killed his father, brother and sister and then slew himself, for there was every condition about the premises to substantiate that theory,” said Coroner Johnston to a representative of The Post at noon today.
The six men who served on the coroner’s jury were: W. B. Riehl, George Smith, Herbert Hoerning, Charles Holz, Jeff Welch and Charles Smith.
Page 1, Column 6
BURY FOUR BODIES
THIS AFTERNOON
FARMERS FOR MILES AROUND
ATTEND FUNERAL AT
MAILAHN HOME
TODAY.
HARD BLOW FOR SURVIVORS
Life of Eight-year-old Boy Could
Have Been Saved Had the Older
Brother Given Consent to Permit
Chap to Go to School - Kept at
Home on Account of Cold Weath-
er - Murderous Weapons Are
Turned Over to District Attorney
Appleton, Wis., Monday, Feb. 5.
A quadruple funeral service was held at 1 o’clcok this afternoon at the Mailahn home in the town of Center, when the bodies of the victims of the murderer-suicide were taken from the scene of the tragedy and laid to rest in the town of Black Creek cemetery. The obsequies were conducted by the Rev. M. Uebele, pastor of the Evangelical church at Center.
Several hundred farmers for miles around attended the funeral, which in point of attendance was perhaps the largest ever held in Outagamie county. The cortege was long and some of those at the service travelled a distance of fully ten miles.
The only surviving members of the immediate family are Edward, aged 24 years; Walter, aged 14, and George, 15 years. The brothers, at first nearly prostrated by the overwhelming details of the horrible triple murder and suicide and beside themselves with grief, have become reconciled in a measure to the terrible situation and have about regained their composure.
An extremely pathetic feature of the sad affair is that John, aged 8 years, might be alive today had be been permitted to go to school with his brothers on Friday morning as he requested. The fact that the morning was colder than usual prompted his older brother to deny him that privilege, with the promise that he could go with his brothers as soon as the weather moderated. This story was told to Coroner Thomas F. Johnston by Edward Mailahn and the fact that he could have been the means of saving his little brother’s life with just one word of consent, is what makes the blow so much the more severe for him.
The razor, mirror, stick of fire wood and shotgun, which figured conspicuously in the tragedy have been turned over to District Attorney F. J. Rooney by Coroner Thomas Johnston. Each tells a mute but astounding story of the greatest series of crimes ever perpetrated in Outagamie county.
Page 1, Column 7
STUNNED VICTIMS;
THEN CUT THROATS
MURDERER STILL ALIVE WHEN
YOUNGER BROTHER FOUND
HIM IN WOOD-
SHED
WAS TOO WEAK TO TALK
Effort Was Made to Get Story of
Tragedy from the Man but Death
Prevents Only Chance of Getting
First-hand Information Concern-
ing Horrible Affair - Heads of Vic-
tims Show Marks - Were Struck
With Blunt Instrument
Undersheriff Martin S. H. Verhagen, who made a careful and thorough investigation of the situation on the Mailahn farm where the triple murder and suicide occurred yesterday afternoon, told a representative of this paper upon his return from there at noon today that one of the little boys said when he found William in the woodshed, still alive, he asked him where Johnny was. The murderer made an effort to reply, but was too weak. William gashed himself twice in the neck and on the wrists to make certain that he would complete self destruction. John was found lying in the smokehouse face downward. His throat was cut from ear to ear, the gash being so deep as to nearly sever his head. A wound on the forehead indicated that he had first been struck with a blunt instrument. Dora’s throat also was deeply gashed, and a wound on the temples also revealed the fact that she had been struck blows with a stick of firewood, which, clotted with blood was lying beside the death couch.
Mr. Verhagen said the four bodies presented on of the most grewsome spectacles he has ever seen and only those who visited the scene of the tragedy can fully appreciate the situation. It is without parallel in the history of Outagamie county, he says, so far as his knowledge of crime in concerned.
Coroner Johnston declared this afternoon that Edward Mailahn, older brother of the man who committed the murder, told him this morning that two days ago William tried to form a suicide pact with him, the plan being that each member of the family, including the aged father, commit suicide. “We’ve all got consumption and we’ll all die of the disease in a short time, so we might as well end the whole thing right now,” said William to his brother. Because the elder Mailahn did not approve of his son’s murderous pact, the latter no doubt determined to take things in his own hands, but planned to carry out the fiendish plot during the absence of his older brothers.
