Office of
Witt Bros.
Livery and Undertaking Company
811 Hickory Street
24 Nov 1912
Dear Sir,
When searching through the effects of Mrs.Torpley, I found your address and since she can't write in German she requested me to inform you that your brother Wilhelm died 10 Oct 1912 in the city hospital in St. Louis. Mrs. Torpley took on the responsibility of burial of the body and he was buried on the 12 October in St. Marcus cemetery. Paster Eilts preached the funeral and blessed the body at the grave. Mrs. Torpley paid us the burial cost in the amount of $112.50 Should you wish further information we are very willing to provide the same to you.
Sincerely Charles W. Witt
13 Dec 1912
Dear Mrs. Ruefenacht,
Please excuse the delay but we have been very busy these days and despite the very best intentions, I didn't get around to writing. In regard to your brother-in-law, I have to first mention that in his lifetime he was completely unknown to me. But as I have heard, he supposedly drank quite a lot and you can only imagine the consequences. In addition, he supposedly always believed he had TB, which, however, was not the case because he died of softening of the brain. As far as is known, he has no family or relatives in the city. Mrs. Torpley has a boarding house for men on the 6th and Market Street. He took care of small repairs and other services according to his abilities for which he received housing, food, clothing, and necessary drinking money. Of course, the last item was the largest. To infer from the various remarks, when he got too ill he went to the city hospital where he died. Mrs. Torpley then came to us and had him buried in a Christian manner in St. Marcus cemetery and completely paid the bill for $112.50. She didn't know how one could find his relatives and she wanted to avoid that his body be buried in the poor city cemetery or ended up on the pathology table. But I have already written to Switzerland which I did when I wrote to you first. Perhaps you might need a copy of the death certificate which you can get from Jefferson City, Missouri. Address it to the Missouri board of health and it'll cost $.50, which you'll have to include in your request. Should you wish further information or have other requests, we are at your service.
Sincerely Charles H. Witt.