title
The Kaufmann House Mystery BY WAYNE FANEBUST
T
he cool essence of October is Halloween, the chilly, autumnal time for ghost stories and other tales of suspense and horror, of which there are many. There is, of course, the old saw that “truth is stranger than fiction.� The Kaufmann house mystery bears evidence to the veracity of the old expression, for the terrible ordeal of young Agnes Polreis, who worked in that house, is one of truth in its most profound and painful form. Whether one believes she died of disease or at the hands of her employer, the
18 out and about |
HISTORY
suffering of Agnes Polreis was tragic and brutal, but it was preventable. Agnes Polreis, a 16 year old Hungarian immigrant, was hired to work as the livein maid for Emma Kaufmann, the wife of Moses Kaufmann, a millionaire Sioux Falls, S.D., businessman and part owner in a successful brewery. Agnes had been living with her family near the small town of Parkston, S.D., when, on February 15, 1906, she reported for work at the Kaufmann mansion. She could not speak English, but was not able to go to school,
for like other teenagers in a poor family, she had to work to supplement the meager income of her parents. She was promised that she would be working in a loving, caring home, but that was not to be. On June 1, she died a mysterious death that set in motion one of the most sensational and shocking criminal cases in South Dakota history. Her body was quickly prepared for the grave in a manner that suggested a coverup. But foul play was suspected and after the body of Agnes Polreis was exhumed
