On This Date in Minnesota History: April 11

April 11, 1880 - This evening Mary C. Weishar’s husband was shot and killed in their home near Kasota, Minn. Mary ran to a neighbor’s house and told them that two men were robbing their house and she feared for her husband’s life. When the neighbor returned home with Mary, they found her husband dead from two shots to his heart.

http://www.kasotamn.govoffice2.com/

Mary C. Weishar was 28 years old with four children, 11-, 10-, 8- and 3-years-old. Her husband, whose first name is never mentioned in any newspaper accounts, was said to be a stolid, mercenary German, 10 years older than she, and between the two there existed a wide difference of temperament. Their marriage was neither based on attraction nor love, and these wanting, a union of poverty and dislikes engendered the germ of hate. The Le Sueur Sentinel says her husband was known to be part of a gang of horse and other thieves that had infested the Southeastern part of Le Sueur County, and expressed some sympathy for her situation.

The lot of this woman from infancy was unhappy. She came from Penn. when she was five years old and has resided most of her life in Kasota. Her protection, or lack of protection, was a scapegoat brother, the notorious and desperate Tom Ferrier, whose conduct has much to do with the marriage and unhappiness of his sister. She drudged her way to womanhood and married for a home while yet a girl. The family occupied forty acres of land in Kasota township. Here they existed in the most abject squalor and poverty.

Desperate over her poverty, neglect, ill treatment and lack of affection, Mary admits that she and her husband had a fight on the evening of his death, but denies her guilt, attributing the murder to the secret work of her husband’s personal enemies.  Though the evidence was all circumstantial, she was arrested and charged with the crime of first degree murder.

Weishar’s defense attorney asked that she be held in the Blue Earth County Jail in Mankato, where there were accommodations for female prisoners and where she could communicate with her children. Her trial is expected to take place this fall when the District Court next meets.

Blue Earth County Jail, Mankato, Minn.

http://aytch.mnsu.edu/Minnesota/Mankato/Mankato%20MN/Mankato%20history/B%20E%20County%20Jail.jpg

Daily Globe; “The Kasota Murder. Arrest of Mrs. Weishar on Suspicion of Having Killed Her Husband.”; St. Paul, Minn.; April 28, 1880; p. 1.

Daily Globe; “Crimes and Casualties. A Woman of Le Sueur County on Trial for Murdering Her Husband”; St. Paul, Minn.; November 25, 1880; p. 1.

Daily Globe; “Two Lifers. A Man and Woman Each Convicted of Murder in the First Degree—They Pass Through St. Paul En Route to Stillwater—A Call Upon Them at the Depot.”; St. Paul, Minn.; December 04, 1880; p. 4.

The Le Sueur Sentinel; April 29, 1880; p. 4.

The Le Sueur Sentinel; Dec. 2, 1880; p. 4.

Mary Weishar convicted of first degree murder; see Nov. 26, 2015 blog

Mary Weishar delivers baby in prison; see May 7, 2016 blog

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