Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1901 — KILIS HIS FOUR CHILDREN [ARTICLE]

KILIS HIS FOUR CHILDREN

Evidence of the Terrible Crime of William Rotenfield, BODY OF ON£ VICTIM FOUND. V Search for Other Little Ones Prooeeetod Along the Mississippi Near Fort •nailing—Father Supposed to Haro Drowned Himself after Committing Deed. The finding of the body of 9-yaar-old Joseph Rosenfleld in the river near Fort Snelling is regarded by the police of St Paul as almost positive evidence that William Rosenfleld drowned his four small children and himself a week ago. Rosenfleld had been separated from his wife for some time. She had been living in Minneapolis, while he lived in St Paul. The children were being kept by a relative. A week ago Rosenfleld took the children from the house of the relative. At the same time he tried to persuade his wife to go along. When she refused he told her that the next time she saw either him or any of the children she “would be wearing crape.” The next morning the horse which Rosenfleld had driven the day before was found near the Marshall avenue bridge over the Mississippi, the children’s pet dog still in the buggy. No trace of either the father or the children could be found until today, when the watchman of the St Paul Broom Company found the child’s body floating in the river half a mile this side of Fort Snelling. The appearance of the remains indicated murder. The noee was broken, the forehead was caved in, resulting from a blow against some heavy substance. Both injuries were such as would be sustained by a fall over a bridge. The lad was fully dressed with the exception of hat and overcoat. The search for the other bodies will be pushed rapidly. The missing children are Mary, aged 7; William, aged 4, and Samuel, aged 2.