The Miser’s Missing $1,500 and the Farmer Who Paid for It
A hidden hoard vanished from a Rosalia stove hearth, a neighbor was arrested, and the case collapsed — leaving an 1894 cold case.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
ROSALIA, March 4.—[Special.]—Who robbed Wesel Marum, the Rosalia miser? It is a question that will probably never be answered. Jurgen Sterk, the German farmer who took dinner with Marum the day he discovered his loss, and who was arrested on his way home, was discharged without the formality of a trial, the justice who issued the warrant throwing the case out of court, declaring the evidence insufficient to warrant a trial.
Marum had the $1,500 hidden in the ashes of his stove hearth, and shortly after Sterk had departed looked for the money and found it missing, and swore out a warrant for the arrest of Sterk. The latter man threatens to bring suit for false imprisonment.
“Who robbed Wesel Marum, the Rosalia miser? It is a question that will probably never be answered.”
Rosalia’s miser story is a reminder that small-town gossip and circumstantial evidence could ruin a reputation before trial — or let a thief vanish. The missing $1,500 and the dropped case make it a 19th-century cold case with a very modern feel.
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