Murder in Old Chippewa Falls - Part One, The Wrong Corpse!

This will be a True Crime Story in five parts.  Not my usual fare, but I ran across this while looking for something else.  Which actually is how this story begins....

__________________________________________________________________________________

On August 3rd, 1905 Ole Madson had an unpleasant duty to perform.  He was dragging the river bottom near the rail road bridge above the Chippewa Falls dam, looking for the remains of Andrew Gonyers, a log driver who had recently drowned near that spot.  Madson had a long "pike pole", and when he snagged something and started to pull very hard, he thought he'd accomplished his grim task.  With considerable force he hauled up a dead body.  Gonyers had been found.

Or had he?

This body had been in the water for a much longer time, and had been weighted down with 100 pounds of metal, including "rail road iron".  The body was pulled from the river, examined, and pronounced to be - most probably - that of Felix Fourboul Sr.

Oddly there are still piles of abandoned rails on the shore near the bridge!

Felix had last been seen on Wednesday, April 19th, some three and a half months earlier.

He was an interesting character, of the sort more common in earlier times than today.  Born in France circa 1844 he had spent some time as a sailor.  Indeed, it was nautical tattoos on the body that helped make the ID.  When he came to Wisconsin is not clear.  He is said to have arrived in Chippewa Falls in 1874, although that would seem to be partially at odds with other information.  Because he was also said to have lived on the Lac Corte Oreilles Reservation near modern day Hayward, where he married an Ojibwa woman and had a child with her circa 1885.  He must have been part of the early populace who bounced back and forth spending winters in the northern logging camps and summers in the more settled river towns to the south.

Felix's first wife had died around 1890, at which point he married a woman named Zele and moved more permanently to Chippewa Falls or its environs.  He farmed a bit, but by 1905 he and his wife were running the boarding house at Theriault's brick yard west of town.  Mrs. Fourboul was said to be in declining health, and the couple were getting ready to give up the boarding house and buy a home in town.  Evidently some money had been set aside for this....but it went missing.

The prime suspect in the disappearance and subsequent demise had actually been in custody for a while but had been released.  When Felix Fourboul Jr. was told that his father's body had been found in the river he said: "Is that so!".  And he asked for an attorney.

Next time: The Suspect

Detritus - 2025

I shall at least start the new year of writing with good intentions and a plan.

FIRST Robotics kicks off at the end of this week.  So for January, February and March expect one robot post per week.  More than one on occasion, certainly for tournaments and if anything unusual happens.

I recently stumbled into an interesting local history tale.  It has forced me to start a new "tag", True Crime.  This is not a genre I generally peruse, but it appears to be of some interest.  I'll spin this story out over the next few weeks. 

Back to Vindolanda in May.  The usual stuff.  Dry stones, dry British wit, ale moistened evenings in the pub.

The year going forward will have more of my "Silly Grandpa" schtick, as helping out a two-jobs, daycare is pricey family is useful.  I'm relying more on guile than endurance than five years ago with the first batch of grands, to say nothing of several decades back with our own kids.  

I should go fishing more often.  

I certainly will attend a lot of baseball/soccer/hockey/dance events.  

Probably no Florida this spring.  We bring a curse to areas down there we visit...hurricanes keep clobbering them.  Maybe Alaska this year or some year soon.  The unofficial standard is whether our fishing grandson would be bigger than the fish!

So, Happy New Year a bit early.  We are now past Solstice, the shortest day of the year.  Yes, I know, the increase in daylight is miniscule for a few weeks, but I cherish those few measly photons and enjoy them out of proportion to their actual numbers.  

After all, from now on every day gets brighter.  Enjoy each one.

Baits and Bling - Merry Christmas 2024

Hope you had a swell Christmas and got what you wanted.  I did.  Some time with our adult kids, some hugs, high fives and "knucks" from the grands.  Material things, nah, I have enough of those.

Not that there is anything wrong with the giving or receiving of gifts.  It's another way to show you care.  Of course shopping is hard for some of us, so as a public service I offer this:

Baits and Bling, in beautiful downtown Chetek, Wisconsin.  As the sign says, "Everyone's happy!".  They are closed until Spring, but I can imagine fishermen coming in, buying minnows and night crawlers....realizing they are not being particularly attentive spouses, and buying "bling".  I think they are leaning heavily into ear rings fashioned out of lures.  Stuff like this:

The sign out front looks pretty swanky, upscale and new.  The one on the side has more of a "Bait Shop" vibe to it.  I bet it smells like minnows and night crawlers.  So do their customers, which is why the side line is probably working out pretty well for them.  Everyone's happy.

Takin' the day off.

 Merry Christmas.  No need for the internet this one day of the year.

Christmas Comes Early

"Christmas came early" is a phrase usually used when a bit of unexpected good fortune comes along.  A windfall of some sort.  In actuality having your Christmas occur before December 25th is usually a matter of logistics, and is sort of a mixed affair.

We have three kids, each with their own families.  So we share them with other fams around the hols, and sometimes it works out that we don't get to see them on the 25th.  So, how about on the 21st then?

Stockings hung.  More of them than in years past...

Dog knew something was up, he was extra vigilent.

All visitors piled in within ten minutes of each other.  Dog went crazy.  Piles of boots and such by front and back doors.

Also large quantities of beans.  Ah, it would take a bit of explaining.....

There were plenty of presents which were tuned into happily received new possessions and bags full of torn off wrapping paper.

Unexpected highlight of the afternoon was The Great Dog Escape 2.0.  One of the visiting mutts is always plotting ways to break out of the yard/house, and got a chance when a gate was left ajar.  Off she went at top speed, with full intent to evade all pursuit.  Every able bodied adult suited up and joined the chase, which went on until the dog made the mistake of running into a yard with a partial chain link fence.  This is the same trick she pulled a few years ago and is a good way to run off those Christmas eating calories.

I guess one good thing about the off date celebration is that things are open.  So while some elements of the family have dispersed (one branch has a Solstice Bonfire to attend!) others went bowling before we all sat down to Indian curry.

Yes, some of these are odd family traditions but we are an odd family.

Some Days Nothing Much Happens

It snowed.  Not as much as predicted, but already at morning coffee time everything local had been cancelled due to alarmist reports.  Or heck, maybe the schools all wanted to trim a day off of the minimal learning days that lead up to a major holiday. 

So robotics practice off, and an evening social occasion also cancelled.

Didn't even have enough snow to make a proper job clearing it.  Those eager beaver neighbors got their snow blower out first and did the out front sidewalk.

So, boring day.

Ah well, for logistic reasons our "Christmas" will be over the weekend, so there's that.

That's not today, but from a previous snowfall.  It's more fun when the grandkids are around.

The Stockyard - a rare Business Review

Sometimes you just have to say nice things.

Vojtik's Stockyard is an unusual business enterprise.  Two locations a short distance apart, one is a meat packing business the other a classic Wisconsin bar and grill.  I've enjoyed the work of both.

When we were laboring in the heat of July, building that off grid house, The Stockyard (restaurant) was our go to place.  Food.  A cold beer.  Several glasses of ice water.  We left considerably restored.  That by the way is the base meaning of the word restaurant, and they did a darn good job.

They also have their earlier building just up the road a stretch.  This used to be the restaurant in front, meat packing out back.  Now its all meat, all the time.

And they do wild game processing.  Deer mostly, but I'm sure if you pulled up with a defunct bear or some such they'd rise to the occasion.

As I've mentioned the business side of this is delightful.  When I asked how to get the ball rolling when I had a deer I was told: "First, go to the bar".  Deal.  Paperwork done in five minutes then then up the road to drop off the deer.  I admit, this year's bag was of a rather small critter - which I consider a testament to my skill as an archer! - but the guys who pulled it off the truck were cheerful and enthusiastic.  "Nice deer!"

The process - inadvertent pun - on the other end is also simple.  They call you up.  You go to - you guessed it - the bar.  And they have a refrigerated trailer with everyone's processed steaks, sticks and sausage ready in a marked tub.  

Time did not permit a celebratory beverage at either end of the procedure but you sure could do that.

I have the deer in my freezer now.  I had cleared plenty of space.  More than I needed as it turns out.  And the first venison stick has been sampled.  Mmmm, good stuff.

So, on the off chance you are looking for cheerful, efficient game processing in rural Western Wisconsin, head to the Stockyard.  Or if you are laboring outdoors in 90 degree heat, also highly recommended.

Cheers