Obit: Mehlberg, E. H. (1890 - 1940)

Contact: Stan

Surnames: Mehlberg, Fechtner, Gunzel, Tauchek, Olson

----Sources: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Clark County, Wis.) 07/04/1940

Mehlberg, E. H. (18 Mar. 1890 - 1 July 1940)

E. H. Mehlberg, age 50, former owner of the cheese factory in Colby, Wis., and a former mayor of Colby but who had been operating a tavern in Spencer the past several years, was found dead with a rifle slug between his eyes Monday morning at 8:00 o’clock in a bed in the rear of the tavern he operated. Dr. Fechtner, Marathon county coroner, termed the death suicide.

Dr. Fechtner and Sheriff Ralph Gunzel, who investigated, said Mehlberg apparently was despondent over financial reverses. In one note he left he declared he had "lost everything in the tavern." In a second note, addressed to his divorced wife, Mrs. Clara Mehlberg, Colby, he declared he was "leaving her forever," and bid her farewell.

The body was found by Frank Tauchek, Marshfield, a beer-truck driver, who stopped at the place to deliver beer.

Dr. Fechtner estimated the man had been dead about four hours when he was found.

The man, the coroner said, used a rifle with a short barrel.

Funeral services were arranged for Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 o’clock at Swarthout’s funeral home in Spencer with Rev. J. A. Olson of Unity officiating and burial will be made in the Colby cemetery.

Mehlberg was born in Hunting March 18, 1890. He is survived by a son, a daughter and four brothers and his divorced wife.