F.J. Thrun Part V: A halo of mystery

Continued from previous week

“Even his companions on the night of the fire believe that Thrun escaped from the house,” stated a Nov. 10, 1892 Marshfield News headline.

The article said that a “halo of mystery” remained following the fire and that “hardly anyone” believed that Thrun perished in the fire.

“Even his companions express themselves of the belief that he did not perish in the burning building,” it said.

“The story told by Thrun as to how his wife came by her fortune has since been retold by Mrs. Thrun, and the stories are identical with the exception that Mrs. Thrun is better able to explain the details.

“The last she knew of where the money was hidden, in a tin box made by Mr. Thrun, but she fears that he had removed it and secured it on his person as he intended taking it to Chicago within a few days, where he was to complete the arrangements for the big boiler works to be built by the company he had organized.

“She fears that the money burned with Thrun, together with all the patent papers and the correspondence with the men with whom he was going into partnership.”

Detectives pored over the scene of the fire.

The house had been constructed with planer shavings used as insulation, which also made the fire burn rapidly; however, one of Thrun’s companions that evening said that he had at least five minutes to get in and out of the room with the money, which included an exterior window.

A month later, Thrun still had not been located.

“Attorney Follett, of this place, has charge of Mrs. Thrun’s interests, and after making proper demands on the (insurance) companies, will at once commence suit in the circuit court of this county, for the collection of the amounts,” a Spencer Tribune stated.

“Mrs. Thrun was at Colby this week, and says there are no new features to the case. Her attorneys consider the evidence of Thrun’s death sufficient to collect the insurance.”

That air of mystery gave the story a life of its own, as papers around the state and in Chicago picked up on it, as Thrun’s wife took on the insurance companies.

In Oshkosh, where one of the now eight insurance companies holding policies on Thrun was located, reporters were quick to develop new storylines.

“Oshkosh reporters have been busy on the case and have learned Mrs. Thrun has a somewhat different story as to the amount claimed to have been found by her in a haunted house at Neenah, and they also try to connect her find with the money stolen from the Abbotsford depot several years ago, which was supposed to have been buried,” the Marshfield News stated.

To be continued