JOHN SIEBER

LOCAL MAN IS KILLED UNDER TRAIN WHEELS
Body of John Sieber, 56,
Found By Youths Near 16th Street Entrance To Shipyards
John Sieber, 56, White House Milk company employe, died under the wheels
of the North Western road's Ashland Limited near the 16th street entrance
of the shipyards shortly after it left the depot at 10:21 last night. He
was decapitated.
Youths Find Body
Sieber's body, the head between the rails and the torso on the outside,
was discovered by two unidentified youths who, in turn, notified a rail-
road signalman, Norris Rasmussen. Rasmussen reported to his superiors.
Police were notified at 11:10 and called Dr. Gerald Rau, coroner. The
body was then removed to the Pfeffer funeral home. Dr. Rau termed the
death "accidental" and said there would be no inquest.
Sieber and his wife left their home, 728 S. 25th street, early last
evening, and went to the residence of their "back-door" neighbors, Mr.
and Mrs. William A. Trefz, 729 S. 26th street, to remain with the Trefz'
young son while his parents attended a banquet at the Hotel Manitowoc.
At 10 o'clock Mrs. Sieber advised her husband to go home and retire for
the night, inasmuch as he was required to be at work at the condensery
at an early hour. When Mrs. Sieber reached home sometime after 11
o'clock her son, Reuben, informed her that Mr. Sieber had not come home
at all.
Reuben and Mr. Trefz went to the police station and reported that Mr.
Sieber was missing. Police told them of the finding of a body on the
railroad tracks in the shipyards and suggested that they go to the
undertaking parlors and view the body. At the funeral home Reuben ident-
fied the body as that of his father.
Hard of Hearing
Members of the Sieber family said that Mr. Sieber was extremely hard of
hearing. They were at a loss to explain his presence in the shipyards
except to say that he might have intended to walk over to the condensery
for a chat with the night crew. To do this he might have intended to cut
through the shipyards and cross over on the railroad bridge instead of
walking to the plant by way of 21st street as was his usual route. The
body was found about ten yards west of the 16th street entrance to the
shipyard. The young men who made the discovery stumbled over the body.
They reported their discovery to the signalman but left without giving
their names.
The casket will be sealed immediately and the body cannot be viewed.
Mr. Sieber was born at Red Jacket, Mich., July 24, 1879. As a boy he
came to Manitowoc county to live with his uncle, Henry Mathias, Sr.,
in Sheboygan county. He lived in Sheboygan county only one year, the
family moving to a farm in the Town of Liberty. On April 20, 1910, he
married Miss Augusta Borgwardt. Survivors are the widow, one son,
Reuben, at home and one sister, Mrs. Laura Graff, Sheboygan.
Funeral Saturday
Funeral services will be held Saturday at 1:30 p.m. from the residence
and at 2 o'clock at the First German Evangelical Lutheran church. Burial
will be at Evergreen cemetery.
Manitowoc Herald Times, Thursday, May 7, 1936 p.2
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[cause: decapitated by train/bur. on Reuben J. Sieber lot]
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John R Sieber was the son of Rudolph Sieber and Louisa Kuemmet or Gimbel.
Rudolph Sieber immigrated from Switzerland in 1855 along with his sister Anna
Maria, Lucy, and half siblings Elisabeth, Johannes, and Jacob, as well as his
parents Niklaus Sieber and Anna Maria Kaderli Sieber.
The family first settled in the Sheboygan area. Rudolph's sister Anna Maria
married Henry Matthias and moved to Manitowoc. Rudolph married Louisa Kuemmet
or Gimbel, and moved to Houghton County, upper Michigan. After his wife Louisa
died in Michigan, Rudolph left John with his sister Anna to be raised. Rudolph
remarried, had one additional son, and moved to Butte, Montana, and later to San
Diego, California, where he died.