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| Monuments in St Joseph Cemetery - the pillar spells his name "Rudolf" and the stone "Rudolph" |
It is (mostly) coincidence that I post about a man named "Rudolph" so near Christmas, as I feel his story deserves a telling. His injury sounds very painful and agonizing, though I cannot quite picture in my mind the type of machine that injured him. Was it a horse-pulled device, perhaps one for mowing hay, or was it something intended for a yard? I've tried to look up information about mowers during this time period but found nothing conclusive about what this may have been.
This obituary is from the Kentucky State Journal of February 23, 1891.
Cold Spring “Mr. Rudolph Kroger, who was so seriously injured by a mowing machine on last Saturday a week ago died at his home on Monday afternoon at 3 o’clock after nine long days of intense suffering, Blood poison was the cause of death. Mr. Kroger leaves a widow and five children, two boys. His funeral took place from the Cold Spring Catholic Church Wednesday morning at nine o’clock. Funeral services were conducted by Father Hunt."
He was buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Cold Spring and I believe the church mentioned is now known as St Joseph Catholic Church.
He was a member of the 18th Independent Battery, Ohio Light Artillery. This unit remained in the western theater, and participated in campaigns and battles such as Chickamauga and Nashville.
Unfortunately, I cannot read the writing on the bottom of the pillar. It is in German, and I could not even guess at the letters and words when I tried to view it in person. Maybe someone familiar with that language can do so better than I, but the only word I could make out was "kinder" which apparently means "kid" so I presume this was an inscription about his family (there are a couple other "Kroger" headstones like his near the tall monument).
The link below states that he and his wife were both from Germany, so perhaps that is what the writing says.
cemetery link
Rest in peace, soldier.
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