Obit: Metcalfe, Dorothy (1921? - 1938)

Contact:  Crystal Wendt

Surnames: Metcalfe, Christianson, Olson, Herian, Miller

----Sources: Neillsville Press (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) 27 Jan. 1938

Metcalfe, Dorothy (1921? - 19 Jan. 1938)

MURDERED GIRL IN NEILLSVILLE MOST OF LAST SUMMER

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Miss Dorothy Metcalfe, 17 Found Dead In Car With Milk Hauler Near Osseo

Miss Dorothy Metcalfe, 17, who spent four months in Neillsville last summer and whose parents formerly lived in the town of Hewett and were frequent visitors here, was found dead in a car with Ben Christianson, 38, about four miles north of Osseo last Wednesday. Trempealeau County officers decided that Christianson had killed the girl and then himself. A revolver was found with five discharged shells, and gasoline had been poured around the interior of the car and then set on fire likely about the time that Christianson shot himself. Both bodies were badly charred and that of the girl slumped in the front so it was not seen at once.

A likely motive was thought to be that the girl had told Christianson she could no longer keep company with him because she was going with someone else. This is thought to have prompted the man to end it all by killing the girl and himself.

About 6 o’clock last Wednesday night Robert Olson saw a car on fire a short ways off highway 53 on a country road. Officers were called and the two charred bodies found and removed. They found a 5-gallon gasoline can and a 22 caliber revolver with five shells fired, and two shells loaded. Christianson had been keeping company with the girls for several years.

Miss Dorothy Metcalfe was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eli Metcalfe, formerly of the town of Hewett, where she was born. Last summer she spent four or five months with her aunt, Mrs. Henry Herian, who lives close to Neillsville, Wis. Several years ago her parents moved to a farm about a mile south of Osseo. Dorothy attended Osseo high school for several years but did not complete the course. Several years ago she met Christianson and they had been keeping company up to the time of the tragedy. He was a milk hauler for the Osseo condensery. The Metcalfe girl is survived by her parents, three sisters and one brother, and her grandfather, Herman Miller, of Humbird.