News: Unity (Suicide - 1922)

Contact: Robert Lipprandt

E-mail: bob@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surname: Rindquist

----Source: The Wisconsin Rapids Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, WI) 6/17/1922

Authorities Unable To Solve Unity Murder Case

Unity, Wis. - The mystery of how Charles Rindquist, bachelor farmer near here, met his death and of what events led up to the fire which leveled his home and buried his charred corpse in its ashes, which heightened on Friday following a search of the ruins of the isolated Rindquist residence.

Relatives of the dead man, aided by village officers, sifted ashes and debris for several hours at the scene of the tragedy, seeking missing members of the body, and failed to find any trace of them.

Friday night the village, hitherto antagonistic to the theory that Rindquist had been murdered before his home was set afire to cover the crime, was buzzing with the question:

"Was Rindquist murdered; if not what became of his arms, legs and skull."

When the body was removed from the still smoldering ruins of the burned farmhouse, all that remained of the corpse was a blackened trunk. Arms, legs and head were missing, presumably burn off.

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----Source: The Wisconsin Rapids Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, WI) 6/30/1922

Coroners Jury Claims Unity Man Killed Self

Unity, Wis. - Charles Rindquist, farmer recluse of this city, whose dismembered body was found in the ruins of his home after an early morning fire on June 13, killed himself, in the opinion of a coroner’s jury sitting in the mystery case here on Wednesday.

The Jury’s verdict was that Rindquist planned suicide for some time, accomplished his own death by the use of dynamite and that resulting fire destroyed most evidence of the deed.

Testimony at the inquest indicated that Rindquist was an expert in the handling of explosives, met deliberate death by exploding a dynamite cap which he had place in this mouth.

Had Been Unbalanced

The theory of the suicide accounts for the fact that, although ashes of the burned home were carefully sifted for the remains of the head, arms and legs, missing from the charred corpse when the ruins were searched, no trace of the skull was found.

Note: A Charles Ringquist is interred in Brighton Cemetery, Town Brighton, Marathon County, Wisconsin. Rindquist is the spelling used in both newspaper accounts from the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune.