How An Attempt To Save Her Sister Resulted In
Murder and A Mysterious Disappearance
The Kinderknecht family were members of a German ethnic group now called Volga-Germans. They were Germans who migrated to Russia in the 1760s and after to settle, at the invitation of Catherine the Great, along the Volga River north and south of Saratov. These settlers, in addition to developing this vast agricultural area economically, served also as a buffer to marauding tartar tribes to the east, who swarmed and raided the Volga area from out of what is now generally known as Kazakistan. In the 1880s, the Volga-Germans began emigrating to other countries because earlier promises and guarantees of the Russian Government were coming to an end.
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| Anton Kinderknecht and his Mother, in Russia |
In St Marys the men worked on the railroad and the women as domestics. By 1895, they were living in Paulina on the south edge of Topeka where Anton rented a small farm. In 1896, Nick and his sister, Catherine (Kate), found themselves in Ellis County, near the settlement of Catherine. Jacob followed in 1898 with a team of horses and planted a small wheat crop. Anton and the rest of his family joined them in 1899.
By 1917, the Kinderknecht family had been in Ellis County for eighteen years, were quite settled and by some standards, prosperous. The family lived on their farm southwest of Hays and near Yocemento in the summer, and in Hays on Wilson Street in the winter.
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| The Hays home of Anton and Anna Kinderknecht and their family. |
Sometime in 1916, Mary, then aged 21 and described as “a strikingly pretty girl” began to keep company with an older, married man. Her family was not happy and tried to discourage her. The man who caused such concern to Mary’s family was Frederick Richardson, age 41, born in 1875. Richardson was an insurance salesman, was prosperous enough to travel by car, and had abandoned his wife and children in Hebron, Nebraska,
Mary’s parents and siblings were, of course, devout Catholics and “old country” in background and culture. Richardson was in the habit of picking Mary up in his car, often on her way home from church, and they would tour the area, stopping at hotels before returning to Hays in the evening. From later testimony we learn that Mary’s family was terrified that she was being taken advantage of, being “ruined”, or somehow being lured into “white slavery”.
As this family dynamic played out, sometime in January 1917, Anton sent to Denver for his daughter, Olinda.
Olinda, Anton’s fourth child, was born in Marienthal, Russia, in January 1885. She was six when the family arrived in the United States. In the old country custom, she lived at home until, at age 22, she entered a nurse training program at Stormont Hospital in Topeka, Kansas. After her nurse training, Olinda, who is known and referred to by her friends and in court as “Lena” worked in the Hays area for a period. In addition to nursing, family lore is that she sometimes cared for children. Older family members say that at one time she was asked by a wealthy family to travel with them to Hawaii as a nanny for their children. By 2015 we know that she lived in Denver. The 1915 and 1916 Denver City Directories list Miss Lena Kindernick [sic] as living at 1463 Washington Street, now the site of a Natural Grocers store.
Upon arrival in Ellis County, Olinda was as upset as were other family members at Mary’s behavior. In a family confrontation, Olinda told Mary that she was never to see Richardson again. A later newspaper article describes Olinda as “violent” in this exchange, however that term is not consistent with any other report of her demeanor.
It seems that Mary agreed, but four days after Olinda’s return, she met up with Richardson again. There is a family conference and the agreed plan of action is to confront Richardson and try to scare him into leaving Mary alone. This night, February 5th, a Monday, Olinda, John, and their father, Anton, left their home on West Wilson Street (now 207 West 6th Street) and went two blocks east, to a point where they expected Richardson to let Mary off. After a short wait, Anton complained of cold and went home. Olinda and John went home with him but soon returned. This time Olinda carried a cane and a gun and John carried a heavy three-foot stick.
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| There are no pictures of Olinda. One Kansas newspaper printed this fanciful woodcut |
A Coroner’s Inquest was convened without delay and deliberated on the 8th and 9th of February, resulting in the following conclusion:
Coroner’s Inquest Return
An inquisition holden (sic) at the City of Hays, in Ellis County, Kansas, on the 8th and 9th of February 1917, before me, C. H. Jameson, coroner of said county, on the body of Fred P. Richardson, there lying dead, by the jurors whose names are hereunto subscribed. The said jurors, upon their oaths, so say that the said Fred P. Richardson came to his death on February 7th, 1917, in Ellis County, Kansas, by being feloniously shot on the 5th day of February, 1917, in Ellis County, Kansas, with a revolver then and there in the hands of one Lena Kinderknecht; that said shooting and killing of the said Fred P. Richardson by the said Lena Kinderknecht was willful, felonious, deliberate, premeditated and with malice aforethought on the part of the said Lena Kinderknecht, and by her lying in wait; and at that time and place aforesaid one John Kinderknecht willfully, feloniously, deliberately, premeditatedly, and of his malice aforethought, encouraged, counseled, aided, assisted, and abetted the said Lena Kinderknecht in the commission of said acts, shooting and killing aforesaid. In testimony whereof the said jurors have hereunto set their hands this 9th day of February, A.D. 1917.Six juror signatures follow, and then, apparently directed to Alex Weltz, Sheriff of Ellis County is this directive:
You are hereby commanded and required to arrest the said Lena Kinderknecht and John Kinderknecht and bring them forthwith before J. H. Downing, a Justice of the Peace of the City of Hays, in said county, to answer said charge of willfully, feloniously, deliberately, premeditatedly, of their malice aforethought, and by lying in wait, shooting, killing, and murdering said Fred P. Richardson, and then and there return this writ.
This document was signed by D. H. Jameson, Coroner of Ellis County, Kansas, about whom it should never be said that he was guilty of understatment.
There was some initial antipathy toward the Kinderknechts as shown in a February 10, 1917 article in the Ellis County Free Press:
Shot to Death.
A distressing and shocking affair occurred on the main street of Hays Monday night of this week. When Fred Richardson, an insurance agent who has been operating in this vicinity for several months was deliberately and ruthlessly shot to death. The time was, in the early days, when Hays was a border town, every man carried a revolver and was a law unto himself. The occurrence above stated would hardly have caused a ripple in the tide of human affairs, but in these latter days of reason, decency and law abiding citizenship, the affair caused considerable wonder and excitement. There seems to be a “woman in this case” or rather, two of them doing the shooting. |
| John and Mary Kinderknecht on right. Their younger sister Rose on the left. |
The Topeka Daily Capital at the same time reported that Olinda and John had been charged with first degree murder and released on $5,000 bond each. In the same article, the Topeka paper revealed to the public that Richardson was a married man and the Thayer County sheriff has wired Sheriff Weltz that Richardson was wanted for wife and child abandonment.
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| The Brunswick Hotel. Image courtesy of the Ellis County Historical Society. |
Girl’s Suitor Shot
....by Miss Lena Kinderknecht, 32 years old, in front of the woman’s father’s home on South Wilson Avenue here. Miss Kinderknecht objected to Richardson’s attentions to her sister, Mary, 22 years old. Richardson crawled a block and a half to the Brunswick Hotel and called for help after the shooting and hotel authorities at once called the city marshall. Miss Kinderknecht is under arrest and was quizzed for several hours last night and this morning by County Prosecutor E. C. Flood.Mary Quite Contrary. Mary Kinderknecht, a dashing type of Russian beauty, had been keeping company with Richardson for several months, but stopped about two weeks ago at the request of her parents and brother. Four days ago her sister returned from Denver and was told of the occurrence by the family. She was violent in her objections to Richardson and ordered Mary never to be seen with Richardson again. Last night Lena Kinderknecht learned that her sister was out with Richardson in his big automobile. She called her brother John and the two awaited the couple’s return. When Richardson drove up in front of the house the woman attacked him with a cane from one side of the car and John Kinderknecht from the other side with a club. Richardson resisted and was shot down. The two girls and the boy at once ran into the house, leaving Richardson lying beside his car in the road. The wounded man crawled to the hotel where he fainted. The bullet entered the abdomen and lodged. Physicians said today that there was little hope for Richardson’s recovery. Lena Kinderknecht claims that the shooting was accidental. She is allowed to stay at her parent’s home because there is no woman’s quarters in the city jail.
Youth’s Mother Notified. Public sentiment here is against the Kinderknechts and it is believed that there was nothing wrong in Richardson’s attention to the girl. Richardson’s mother, who lives in Nebraska, has been notified of the shooting and is on her way to her son’s bedside. Sheriff Alex Weltz and Prosecutor Flood both refused to comment on the case this morning. Mary Kinderknecht went early to the hospital to see Richardson and spent some time at his bedside. “I still love Fred” the girl said, “and I can’t understand why Lena shot him. We had never done anything wrong and I loved him because he had always been good and kind to me.” John Kinderknecht, a Hays high school football hero and popular student, has not been detained by the authorities although it is believed he may be held in case Richardson dies. He is a twin brother of Mary.
The “youth” whose mother was notified in this article was 41-year-old Frederick Richardson. Richardson came from good pioneer stock in Thayer County, and his family was well liked and respected. We have no hint regarding what caused him to leave his family and home. The difference in age between Richardson and Mary Kinderknecht was not quickly picked up by local newspapers. That his mother was notified instead of his spouse probably stemmed from Richardson’s abandonment of his wife and five children in Hebron, again a lapse in news research that contributed to some in the area not favoring Lena’s case.
Things were quiet in this case until about mid to late May. Both the prosecutor and defense attorneys were preparing for the trial. About 100 prospective jurors had been called, and witnesses received summons for testimony. The Topeka Daily Capital sent a crackerjack reporter, who submits this coverage on May 23, 1917. In the style of the day, the paper runs four headlines before starting the details:
KILLED TO PROTECT HER YOUNG SISTER
DEFENSE ASSERTS
Lena Kinderknecht, Accused of Murdering Frederick
Richardson, is Expected to Plead Variation of Unwritten Law
JURY MAY BE CHOSEN TODAY
Tragedy Occurred When Man Warned to Leave Mary
Kinderknecht Alone. Brought Her Back After Auto Ride.
Hays Kansas, May 22, 1917. From the questions asked the prospective jurors during the first day of the trial of Miss Lena Kinderknecht, charged in the first degree with the murder of Frederick P. Richardson, it appears that the defense is mapping out the way to plead a variation of the unwritten law, which Lena, her attorneys say, invoked to protect her younger sister. The jury is not expected to be selected until Wednesday morning.
Accused Woman in Jail. Although they qualified at the preliminary hearing for $250,000, the bondsmen including many of the leading citizens of Hays, turned in their obligations and surrendered Lena up and for a month she has been in the county jail here. Her brother, John, who is a defendant with her and charged with being an accessory, is at liberty under bond. Mary Kinderknecht, 22 years old and a twin of John, after promising Lena not to “go with” Richardson, an insurance agent, anymore, was suspected of being out riding with him on the night of February 5 in Richardson’s automobile. According to County Attorney E. C. Flood, Lena, John and their father, Anton, left their home on West Wilson Avenue here and went two blocks east to wait for the couple to come home.
State Describes Killing. Flood says that the “state will show that the father got cold and went home. Lena and John returned with him. But came back to their post, and this time Lena had a revolver. When the motorcar approached and stopped, Mary got out and an argument followed, in which Lena fired two shots while Richardson was still in the car. All three then left and Richardson managed to crawl almost a block before he attracted the attention of those in the lobby of the Brunswick Hotel. This was before 10 o’clock. Richardson was rushed to the hospital, where he was visited the next morning by Mary, who said that she liked him and that he had given her flowers and candy and had a “nice automobile,” and that she liked to go out with him. Her family strongly objected to this. The defense lawyers indicate they will attempt to show that Richardson was not thoroughly upright and, that it was to protect her younger sister that Lena fired the fatal shots.
Four Days After Tragedy. Richardson died February 7 and no arrest was made until February 9 upon a Coroner’s Inquest Warrant. After a complaint was also signed by Thomas J. McClelland, of Hebron, Neb., the home town of Richardson. Lena and John were released on $5,000 bonds by Justice of the Peace J. P. Downing. At the preliminary hearing, February 24, Lena’s bond was raised to $10,000. Mary was held under a $5,000 bond to appear as a witness for the state. The Kinderknecht family is well known here and is well to do. Anton Kinderknecht owns 460 acres of land in the county and his residence is Hays. Lena is 31 years old and for several years lived in Denver as a dressmaker and nurse. Mary is a strikingly pretty girl. John was a star football player on the Hays high school team during the season of 1916. The defense is expected to endeavor to show that Richardson had a wife and child at Hebron, Neb., and that he was wanted there for wife and child abandonment. The Sheriff of Thayer county, Nebraska, wrote Sheriff Alex Weltz of this county to that effect at the time of the killing.
Regarding withdrawal of Lena’s bond, later revelations are that the reason for her bondsmen turning her over to the sheriff was that in the spring, the Kinderknecht family moved out to their farm. Lena would not go with them. Anton told the bondsmen that as she did not accompany them to the country, he could not be sure to produce her for trial.
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| Sherifff Alex and Josephine Weltz. Image courtesy of the Ellis County Historical Society |
Covering the Friday, May 25 trial proceedings, the Hays Free Press reported:
Prisoner Collapses in Court.
When Lena Kinderknecht was brought into the court this morning, she collapsed and a recess was forced until this afternoon.The jury was completed late last night. Eleven jurors are married, and nine have daughters. Eight are farmers.
Mary told a straightforward story, as the state’s star witness, in relating the incidents which occurred on the night of the tragedy. Under cross-examining by E. A. Rea, however, she admitted that during the year and a half she had been going with Richardson her parents and Lena, her sister, had pleaded with her to stop. All of them told her, she testified, that Richardson was married.
The Richardson-Kinderknecht Trial. The admission by Mary Kinderknecht that her sister, Lena, had warned her that her life might be blasted if she continued to associate with Frederick Richardson, and that she might be led into white slavery, furnished a sensation in the trial of Lena Kinderknecht on a charge of first degree murder here this week. Lena is accused of killing Richardson when he returned from taking Mary for an auto ride, contrary to the wishes of her parents.
Hangs Head During Testimony. The witness said that she realized that her actions seemed to be breaking her mother’s heart. Mary broke down and cried during this recital and hung her head when she admitted that Lena had warned her of disgrace and danger of white slavery as the penalty for going with a married man.
The state also introduced testimony of Alex Weltz, sheriff, who declared that Lena and John Kinderknecht had walked around on the dark corner of Chestnut and Wilson Avenues for almost an hour waiting for Richardson to return with Mary. The shooting, it is alleged, occurred after Richardson had driven up and allowed Mary to leave the car.
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| The Ellis County Courthouse, where the Richardson-Kindernecht trial took place. |
Court Room is Crowded. Glen Tillotson, a barber, declared on the stand that when Richardson was found on the sidewalk the engine of the car was still running and the lights were on.
The court room today was filled and for the first time many women were present.
Lena Kinderknecht, the accused woman, wears a simple blue suit, white waist, and a small black hat. For two days she has scanned the pages of an old magazine. She tried to read it during the examination of the eighty-one veniremen, but whenever the County Attorney asked the prospective juror if he believes in taking the law into his own hands to the extent of killing a fellowman, she raised her eyes from the printed pages. In the court room she is seated between her brother, John, held as an accomplice, and her father.
When the state asked for a life imprisonment verdict today, she appeared outwardly calm, but there were tears in her eyes.
The defense announced today that their plea would set forth that Lena had two manias. One is sex morality and the other is religion.
Letters and effects found in Richardson’s clothing when he was shot, including notes from Mary Kinderknecht, were offered as evidence by the defense, but the court took under advisement the objections of the state. He will make his ruling tomorrow morning.
In a different slant on the story, and showing a feisty effort by Lena to protect her freedom, the Topeka Daily Capital printed this information from May 25th:
ACCUSED OF MURDER SHE BARES SISTER’S SHAME
Lena Kinderknecht Takes the Stand in Own Defense
Swears Man She Killed Had Taken Mary to Hotels
In Neighboring Town
May 25. After making insinuations regarding relations between Mary Kinderknecht and Frederick P. Richardson, which they allowed the state to successfully combat, the defense sprang a surprise this morning in the testimony of Lena Kinderknecht, charged with the murder of Richardson. Lena bared her sister’s shame to protect herself. She testified that Richardson had ruined Mary and that he had taken her on Sunday auto rides to Natoma, Plainville, Victoria, Walker and Munjor, and that they returned late, once at 6 o’clock the next morning and once at 3 o’clock. Lena testified that she had gotten Mary to give up Richardson’s presents (gifts) and a $150 diamond. Lena said Richardson had gotten a power over Mary and that after Mary would promise to give him up she would run away and go with him to the hotels in these towns. Lena testified as to the extent Mary’s life had been wrecked, even to the character of the tablets given her by a physician. Although her father testified that he had written to Denver for Lena to come home to shield Mary, the defense County Attorney E. C. Flood got Lena to admit that she did not know of the affair until the Sunday afternoon after she had come back to Hays on Christmas day. The defense put on two of Lena’s brothers, Leo and Jake. They testified to ordering Richardson off their farm when he came for Mary there, and how they threatened him not to return.
Flood showed on cross-examination that they had gone during this time for beer drinks with Richardson, who himself had furnished the beer and the Dutch lunches. The defense rested late this afternoon. E. C. Flood made his opening argument just before court adjourned for supper. J. H. Simminger began the argument for the defense after supper. His plea is emotional insanity, self-defense and a variation of the unwritten law.
We don’t hear much about the unwritten law these days, although there are many that believe in the concept of jury nullification. The unwritten law as it was probably applied here in 1917 is a law that rests for its authority on custom, judicial decision or other, distinguished from law originating in written command, statute, or decree. It is the principle of the right of a person to avenge wrongs against personal or family honor. Some say this is especially applicable in cases involving relations between the sexes. A 1955 court held that unwritten law is the law not promulgated and recorded, but which is, nevertheless, observed and administered in the courts of the country. It has no certain repository, but is collected from the reports of the decisions of the courts and treatises of learned men.
Apparently, the jury struggled with this concept, because it deadlocked. After three ballots, with a majority but not unanimity for acquittal, the jury was dismissed early on Sunday morning, May 27th. The first vote was 8 to 4 for acquittal. Seemingly getting closer, the last vote was 11 to 1 for acquittal. But obviously, at least one juror was holding out for another result. Judge Ruppenthal ruled a mistrial. In Judge Ruppenthal’s ruling it was clear that a second trial would take place. She must be convicted of murder or acquitted. He allowed no alternative degree for the jury to consider.
Anticipating the second trial, one newspaper reported that;
“Lena testified that she never knew she shot at all until the sheriff came after her, but that if she did so it was in self-defense when Richardson kicked at her as he stood up in the automobile in which he and Mary had just returned from a ride. Lena said he was standing up behind the wheel. Flood will attempt to show at this trial that this is impossible. The case is attracting wide attention.”
In the second Kinderknecht trial the prosecution sought to introduce new information that would sway a jury. From the Topeka Capital:
BRAGGED OF KILLING RICHARDSON
Witness testifies Lena Kinderknecht Remarked
After Shooting, “We fixed Him Tonight.”
Hays, June 28. The answer to the question of whether or not a man can stand up behind a steering wheel of an automobile, lean over the side and choke a star football player on the running board and at the same time kick at his sister approaching from the other side of the car to such an extent that shooting him twice constituted self-defense, will decide the fate of Miss Lena Kinderknecht, on trial for the murder of Fred P. Richardson here February 5, after he returned from a joy ride with her sister, Mary. The third day of the second trial brought out the issue.
The state introduced a new witness, Miss Anna Kinderknecht, of Victoria, a distant relative of Lena’s who happened to be visiting in Hays the day of the shooting. She testified that Lena carried the revolver before she went up the street to await the return of Richardson and Mary. She also said that when Lena came back from the shooting she told her, “We fixed him tonight”. John Kinderknecht, charged as an accomplice, denied all the statements he is alleged to have made to County Attorney E. C. Flood and Sheriff Alex Weltz the week of the arrests. The testimony otherwise is much the same as in the first trial.
When all was said, and the jury retired, it was out for more than 22 hours on Thursday and Friday. Returning to the courtroom, the jury read a verdict of not guilty in that Lena Kinderknecht was insane at the time of the killing. This should have been a relief to the Kinderknechts. It meant that the jury was persuaded by the use of the Natural Law defense by Olinda’s attorneys. The jury was sympathetic to Olinda and sought a choice other than “guilty”. It was, however, the beginning of the end for Olinda.
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| Judge Jacob Ruppemthal, who presided over the Richardson-Kinderknecht trial. |
Records for Olinda next surface six months later in the form of a January 11, 1918 letter from Wilbur N. Mason, a member of the Kansas Board of Administration overseeing educational, charitable and correctional institutions, to Judge Ruppenthal. Mason was a social worker by profession, and in 1918 was president of the Kansas Conference of Social Work. He revealed in this letter that Olinda was then residing at the newly created Industrial Farm for Women, at Lansing. Mason says to Ruppenthal:
“You have shown especial interest in the case of Miss Lena Kinderknecht of Hays, Kans. The Board of Administration has become deeply interested in her. Our investigation of the situation in which she is placed reveals the fact that there is a difference of interpretation of the law. Meanwhile, Lena is having a trying and unpleasant experience thru her detention at the Industrial Farm for Women at Lansing. I have talked the case over with Judge Smith, Parole Clerk, and have also talked with Governor Capper with the thought that this is a case where executive clemency might be properly exercised.”
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The Kansas Industrial Farm for Women, established as part of the Lansing Penitentiary in 1917. |
“I have talked a number of times with Lena, and several times at considerable length. She seems to be a young woman of reasonable and sane mind. No evidence of any malevolent or vindictive spirit appears in anything that she says or in her actions. She conducts herself in a dignified and womanly way and does not appear to be a dangerous person to be at large. As we have discussed the tragedy in detail, it does not appear that she had a murderous intent”.
Many of us, in our secret heart, wish indeed that someone would speak so kindly of us.
But there’s more going on. Probably unbeknown to Mason, J. H. Simminger and E. A. Rea, attorneys for Olinda had filed in the District Court of Ellis County, Kansas on October 8, 1917, a simple document:
APPLICATION OF LENA KINDERKNECHT
For
DISCHARGE FROM THE WARD OF CRIMINAL INSANE
Now comes the above-named defendant, Lena Kinderknecht, and presents to the Court a certificate from the Warden of the State Penitentiary of the State of Kansas showing her to be in her right mind and also a certificate from the medical superintendent of the State Hospital for the Dangerous Insane of the State of Kansas to the same effect, together with other testimony corroborating said statement, and asks that this Honorable Court do forthwith make an order to J. K. Codding, Warden of the State Penitentiary of the State of Kansas authorizing the release of the said Lena Kinderknecht.
To follow up on this information we find In Eileen Kinderknecht Doherty’s 1981 research papers on this case a handwritten note, made from a telephone or personal conversation with an appropriate person, regarding case #3543:
Lena Kinderknecht - Killing human being – being insane at the time …. Insane ward of the penitentiary ….
Is now sane.
Action: Paroled until further ordered for medical treatment
January 5, 1918
It appears that Olinda was paroled indefinitely simultaneously with Wilbur Mason’s efforts to obtain a release for her.
Here begins the mystery of Olinda Kinderknecht’s disappearance. Family lore is that, consistent with cultural mores and custom, Kinderknecht family members including her parents and siblings were embarrassed about this whole event. We are told that Olinda’s name was never since mentioned in family conversations, and that later generations were unaware of this story until about 1981 when a few persons began to ask about the existence of Olinda. A nephew of Olinda’s tells of asking his mother about her around 1940 and being told “You’d better not ask your dad about that or you’ll get it.” This same nephew tells us, however, from information that he learned later that a few days after being released from Lansing, Olinda was taken to the train station at Yocemento and given a train ticket to Denver. One relative reported a few years later that he had seen Olinda on the steps of St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Globeville, a neighborhood in north Denver. No correspondence with Olinda is known to exist. No other sighting has been reported.
It is a century this year, 2018, since Olinda’s disappearance. No documented trace of her has been found. Relatives have queried each other, done genealogical searches, used online computer resources, researched city directories, and done marriage and obituary searches. All have been unsuccessful.
Several things may have contributed to Olinda’s disappearance. It could have been intentional. She may have married and have been known by her husband’s name. She may have moved to some remote area where written records were scarce. She is surely deceased at this time, and her identity at death may have been under another name or simply not known. Recently some persons have speculated that she may have joined and assumed a new identity in an order of nuns. Whatever the circumstances, an impenetrable curtain has dropped between Olinda’s family and her life from this point forward.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
What is Olinda Kinderknecht to us, one hundred years after her disappearance? Why do some of her now distant relatives continue to be haunted by our inability to provide closure to her loss. Life for us will go on, but what lessons can we learn from our relative, Olinda, and from the short period of her life about which we know?
First, let’s try to get closer to Olinda. Her name of choice, used in almost all records that we have, was Lena. So, let’s call her Lena.
Lena had a life of her own. From the time she left home for nursing school, she was her own person – strong, confident, able. It’s no wonder that her father, Anton, turned to her in 1917. We are struck by Wilbur Mason’s description of Lena – he who knew her for a very few months but perhaps better than her family and friends. We think that Mason was looking for the inner person in Lena.
Lena didn’t have to come back to Hays. She didn’t have to be a savior. There is a quality in some of us that makes us want to be of help. To be a giver in the world rather than a taker. The lives of givers are enriched in ways that they usually can’t describe. They seem to emit a glow that can be seen when others step back and look carefully, as we are trying to do now.
We can’t always be successful in our efforts to help. Sometimes we just don’t have the skill or talent to do what needs to be done. Sometimes empathy takes the place of action.
What else have we come to think about Lena? We think that Lena is a heroine in this story. We think that she probably wished that she had better skills to work with her sister, and to guide her to different behaviors. We think that Lena showed strength when she confronted her sister’s abuser on that fateful Monday night. We think that she showed great courage during her trial in maintaining her dignity and presence while facing a situation which she did not control and which might have put her in a most humbling and unpleasant circumstance for the rest of her life.
We know that Lena lived when great numbers of people and families left their previous homes and relatives to emigrate abroad, and never saw their loved ones again. We think that Lena lived in a time and within a culture that negatively labeled her for her role in this tragedy and because of which she felt that she could escape only by self-exile.
We think it’s possible, or likely, that she was told by others that she needed to go away and take her stigma with her. We don’t think that it gave her any pleasure to separate from her family and friends forever. We think that Lena carried a great hurt in her heart for the rest of her life.
Finally, we know that not only is Lena lost to us in history, but she is lost to us as a person. We have no letters from her. No photographs of her are known to us. We know nothing of her life. We wonder if she had children or descendants that we would embrace? We are haunted with the realization that Lena lost her family, but we lost Lena.
Roger Doherty
Eileen Kinderknecht Doherty
September 18, 2018
