Unsolved Murder of Fred Wescott (1867-1912) 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 11 Theme: "Brick Wall"

An unsolved murder can pose a very tantalizing brick wall. Who did it? What  happened? Why was it never solved? These questions remain unanswered with respect to the stabbing of Fred Wescott, my maternal grandmother's uncle.

Colorized photo of Wescott family group in Wisconsin 1902 - Fred is third from right, back row beside wife Josephine in white blouse; some of the children in front are theirs
(My grandmother Idella Edwards is front row far left in front of her mother Mayme Wescott)

Frederick Wescott (1867-1912) was the 4th child born to George Garner Wescott and his wife Sarah Catherine Bullen. He was the first of their children born after George's return from fighting in the American Civil War as part of Co. D, 12th Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. That might have sounded like an auspicious start but Fred's life was not to be a smooth sail on a sunny day.

His 1894 marriage to Josephine Nikodem had resulted in the births of 6 children between 1895 and 1908. The couple split up in 1906 and remarried in 1907. Sometime after the census of 1910 Fred left his family in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin and headed to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he took a job as a cook in the Rising Sun, a somewhat seedy restaurant.

A decade after the photo above captured what were presumably happier family times, newspaper headlines from across the northern United States shouted Fred's tragic ending.

Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN 3 June 1912

Seattle Post Intelligencer 5 June 1912

Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN 4 June 1912

Grand Forks ND Daily Herald 8 June 1912

I don't know how my grandmother Idella Edwards (aged 14), or her mother Mayme, Fred's sister, learned of his untimely passing. They were living in Kalispell, Montana at the time and one would hope they were able to hear the tragic news from the Wescott family before seeing it in newspapers.

A more complete report on Fred's early life and the newspaper coverage of his murder can be found in another story. To summarize: 

• Fred Wescott was murdered about 10 p.m. on Saturday 1 June 1912 by being stabbed in the back at the Rising Sun Restaurant where he worked as cook
• The police were not notified until after 3 a.m. Sunday morning
• Cause of death at first called a heart attack until the coroner arrived and the body was turned over
• Stories told by his employer Mrs. Isabelle Getzman and her husband contradicted one another; both were arrested at first
• A third person arrested was Daniel Moon, clerk at a nearby hotel; he had been in the restaurant that evening and may have been the last person to see Wescott alive
• Both men were soon released, but Mrs. Getzman (aka "Scotch Maggie") remained in jail and remained silent on advice of counsel. The newspapers were not kind to her. 
• The Rising Sun was closed immediately but two canaries and a parrot were left behind

Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN 9 June 1912, Newspapers.com 

• The disappearance of Hubert Jacobs, the only witness, led to the discharge of all charges against Mrs. Getzman
• Hubert Jacobs at one point confessed to the murder, but later repudiated the confession
• On 2 April 1913, Mrs. Getzman was rearrested and she and Hubert Jacobs were both indicted by a grand jury to stand trial later that month.
• Both were released for lack of evidence.

Minneapolis Star Tribune 13 June 1913, p11

This marked the end of the investigation. There was so much confusion caused by all the conflicting stories told by the people involved.  Was Mrs. Getzman the guilty party? Or was it her husband? Or was it Hubert Jacobs? Did Daniel Moon have any involvement after all? Today, forensics would likely come up with ample incriminating evidence from such a murder scene. But the case remains unsolved more than a century after Fred Wescott so tragically lost his life.