Histories

Kansan, April 6, 1939

Carl Bernhardt Vogel, 74 years old and a resident of Newton for the past 34 years, ended his life Wednesday afternoon by hanging himself at the home, 506 west First street. Mr. Vogel, a retired Santa Fe blacksmith, was a native of Germany and came to this country from Danzig, Germany in 1905.
Mr. Vogel's body was discovered by his housekeeper, Hilda Wright, when she returned from a trip downtown shortly after five p.m. Officers were summoned immediately and Dr. M. C. Martin. corner, pronounced it a case of suicide. Neither relatives nor officers found a note, but friends of the family said the act apparently was prompted by despondency. Dr. Martin said Mr. Vogel had been dead about two hours.
Mrs. Wright had left home about two o'clock to visit the dentist and upon her return three hours later, she found Mr. Vogel lying on the floor of the back porch. Sheriff Harry Goodman, who visited the home with Under sheriff Bruce Walker, Police Chief Alden Mathews, County Attorney Kenneth G. Speir and J. L. Holzer, Santa Fe special officer, said Mr. Vogel had placed a a belt around his neck and fastened the belt to another one. He then stood on an empty cartridge box, tied the belt to a large spike in the roof plate of the porch and jumped off the box.
When the body was found, the spike had been pulled out but he had been hanging sufficiently long enough to cause strangulation, the coroner said.
Mr. Vogel was born September 9, 1864 in Tilsit, East Prussia, Germany, and started work for the Santa Fe here in 1905, the same year he came to Newton from Danzig. He was retired from the railroad in June of 1937. his wife Caroline Vogel, died in 1931.
Mr. Vogel is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Frank Priest, Newton and Mrs. Helen Miller of Haven, Kansas, and one son Richard A. Vogel of Newton, one brother Harry Vogel Newton and a sister, Mrs. Bertha, in Germany.