People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1894 — A Drunkard's Crime. [ARTICLE]

A Drunkard's Crime.

St. Paul, Minn., Oct. 1. —Seven persons were drowned at Chaska, Minn., Saturday evening. Louis Scharf and family, who had attended the fair, started home at 7 o’clock. Scharf was intoxicated and was driving fast. When within a block of the river he was stopped by J. Kunz, of Minneapolis, who told him to drive slower. Scharf promised to do so, but no sooner was he released than he whipped his horses and furiously dashed down the river bank, over the ferry and into the river. His wife, five children and Miss Mary Roskus, Mrs. Scharf’s sister, were drowned, as were the horses. Scharf clung to the wagon box and was rescued. The bodies of Mrs. Scharf and two of the children were recovered.