Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020

Louis Scharf and Elizabeth Rosckes got married at St. Mark’s Catholic Church on November 25, 1884.

They had five children: Mary Catherine, Anna Catherine, John Henry, William John, and Mary Elizabeth Scharf.

On September 29, 1894, the family, along with a sister-in-law, went to the Chaska Fair.

In Shakopee, to cross the river to Chaska, three ferries were available. One was Major Richard C. Murphy’s ferry, on the south side of the Minnesota River a mile and a half east of Shakopee in what was called Eagle Creek. The second ferry was Luther M. Brown’s ferry which was located half a mile below Holmes Street. Some research shows that it was located on the west side of the original town plat of Shakopee. The third ferry was Thomas A. Holmes’s ferry, located at the foot of Cass Street in the western portion of platted Shakopee. The ferry was located west of downtown to accommodate settlers on the north side of the river.

Louis, Elizabeth, her sister, and the five children lived at Nic Majors farm just outside of Shakopee, and it is assumed that they used the Thomas A. Holmes ferry on Cass Street.

They headed home to rural Shakopee at 7 p.m. They had to take the ferry over the Minnesota River to Shakopee.

Louis might have been drunk. He had been driving very fast.

A block from the river, J. Kunz of the Kunz Oil Company of Minneapolis told him to slow down.

But Louis continued to drive fast, whipping his horses furiously.

The horses kept prancing and jumping. The horses started to run down the bank toward the ferry. Louis tried to control them, but they rushed down, broke the in-gate, and the horses, wagon, and all the occupants headed into the cold and angry river.

The ferry man, Chris, rushed to the scene but could only see Louis, clinging to the wagon box, and crying for help.

A boat was rowed out to get Louis. One paper noted that he was too under the influence of liquor to realize what happened.

The search was begun for the bodies.

The horses and wagon were found at the bottom of the river at the end of the ferry in 15 feet of water.

The body of his wife, Elizabeth, her sister, and the five children were all found in 15 feet of water.

Sad was the spectacle in the undertaker’s room.

Louis was arrested and a coroner’s inquest commenced.

The verdict was that “Mrs. Elizabeth Scharf came to her death by accidental drowning in the Minnesota River, near the city of Chaska, on the evening of the 29th Day of September A.D. 1894.”

The sheriff discharged the prisoner, Louis.

He moved into his wife’s parents house until he married Augusta Haase on September 15, 1896, in Chaska.

Louis and Augusta had four children.

While Louis enjoyed his four children, I am sure he often thought back to his first wife and the five children, including Mary Elizabeth Scharf, who died in the cold Minnesota River.