Elsie Nollen

Overview

Elsie Nollen was a 30-year-old farm wife of Dennison, Iowa. She backed the family car up to a window and piped deadly monoxide gas into a room, killing herself and her six children. Her action was described as a “suicide” by the filing of a note and the explanation in the note.

Timeline

• 1937 (August 30) — Albert Nollen found Elsie Nollen and the six children dead after returning to his home on Sunday morning; he also found her letter in the mailbox.
• 1937 (Tuesday) — Approximately 3,000 persons stood outside to hear the eulogy of Mrs. Albert Nollen and her six children.
• 1937 (Saturday night) — Mrs. Nollen turned her farm home into a death chamber by piping deadly monoxide gas from the family car into the house, killing herself and six children.
• 1937 (forenoon, about 2000 persons visited the chapel) — About 2000 persons visited the chapel to view the bodies.

The incident

Elsie Nollen backed the family car up to a window and piped deadly monoxide gas into a room. The automobile engine was running. A hose was placed over the exhaust pipe of the car and run through the window. Elsie Nollen died with her youngest child, Viola, 2, in her arms. At her feet was Orvin, 11.

Death caught the other four children as they left their upstairs bedrooms and staggered through the parlor toward their mother’s room: Wilbert, 10; Pauline, 7; Earl, 6; and Leona, 4.

Children

The six children were:

• Orvin, 11
• Wilbert, 10
• Pauline, 7
• Earl, 6
• Leona, 4
• Viola, 2

The husband and discovery

Albert Nollen, the husband and father of the victims, and two friends found the bodies. He found the bodies when he returned to his home Sunday morning after a quarrel with his wife and an all-night “spree.” He found Elsie Nollen’s letter in the mailbox.

Mrs. Nollen’s note explained the action and was described as a “six page note.” Albert Nollen later sat on the running board of the automobile that manufactured the killing gas and told Sheriff A. C. Greene that he and his wife had quarreled Saturday night bitterly.

Albert Nollen’s account of the lead-up

Albert Nollen drove with his wife to Dennison and entered the post office. When he emerged, the car was gone. He went to visit some friends, and they took him home. The car was found backed up under the window of his wife’s room.

As the husband returned to his home after the post office incident and the later visit, he encountered the scene described above with the automobile, the hose, and the running engine feeding gas into the bedroom.

The letter and stated motives

Elsie Nollen left a suicide letter and her explanation included family upbringing, marital conflict, and exhaustion. The letter contained the following statements, in part:

“I'm doing this because I see the family is not going to be raised up right,”

Her note also said:

“He has beat me up lots of times and I always forgot about that just because I loved him and wanted to live with him... I've always said if I coldn't live with him I didn't want to live, because there isn't any other beside Albert... But I getting tired. I hope Albert will be happier when he is rid of us.”

The note also included:

“I am doing this because I can see that this family si not going to be raised up right...”

Elsie Nollen wrote that her husband drank excessively.

Quarrel and description of emotion

Elsie Nollen was described as being “frenzied by jealousy and grief over marital unhappiness.” The account also described an all-night “spree” connected with the quarrel and the subsequent events.

Funeral and public reaction

Approximately 3,000 persons stood outside in Denison, Iowa for almost two hours in the scorching sun on Tuesday to hear the eulogy of Mrs. The assembly heard the Rev. L. M. Grigsby pay tribute to a mother’s love.

Inside the funeral home, seven caskets stood in a row. Seated among the relatives, who crowded all available space, sat Albert Nollen, the husband and father of the victims. During the ceremony he maintained a stoic expression. Only once did he wince visibly, then when the Rev. Mr. Grigsby generalized on the evil of drink.

After the servicees the crowd surged around the doorway leading into chapel and passed in single file by the coffins. Many of the women came out of the exit weeping profusely.

During the forenoon, about 2000 persons visited the chapel to view the bodies. Five hearses were needed to bear the bodies from the funeral home to Lutheran cemetery for burial. As the 30 pallbearers came out of the chapel bearing the caskets, officials had to open a lane through the crowd.

When Albert Nollen appeared, the lane narrowed considerably as people surged forward to see him. He stood a moment then walked unassisted through the crowd to his car.

Other details

• The incident was described as being carried out by piping deadly monoxide gas from the family car into the house.
• Elsie Nollen was described as a “comely farm wife.”
• The event was reported under the headline “Mother Kills Six Children Ends On Life With Them by Running Auto Gas Into Farm Bedroom.”
• In the “suicide” letter, Elsie Nollen explained her action by stating the family was not going to be raised up right.
• Albert Nollen was described as having quarrelled with his wife Saturday night bitterly.