Illustrated History of Klickitat, Yakima, and Kittitas Counties Interstate Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., published 1904, pages 119-120 (This event occurred in 1900)
But the year's record was marred by a serious tragedy
in Klickitat county -- a murder and suicide at Trout Lake. The cause of this
unfortunate affair was the old, old one of unreciprocated love. The principals
were Ida Foss, a school teacher, the victim of the murder, and Benjamin Wagnitz,
the murderer and suicide. Coroner Hart, who was called to the scene, reported
the facts, or supposed facts, of the case substantially as follows: Miss
Foss, who was teacher of the district school, was boarding in the Wagnitz
house, in which were Mrs. Wagnitz, whose husband lived in Portland, and her
two sons, Benjamin and August. On the evening of the fatal day, Sunday, May
22d, County Superintendent C.L. Colburn and his wife met Benjamin Wagnitz
and Miss Foss near the bridge crossing the outlet of Trout Lake, and had
a few minutes' conversation with them. They said that the young people both
seemed happy and cheerful. After the meeting, Wagnitz and the young lady
returned home. At the time of their arrival, the mother and son August were
milking a short distance from the house. Hearing a loud scream and the report
of a gun, they rushed home and soon saw Benjamin Wagnitz, gun in hand, leaning
over the prostrate form of Miss Foss. The murderer called to his mother to
come with water, but she was afraid to do so and went rather to a neighbor's
house for assistance. As she left, she heard him exclaim: "Oh, what have
I done! what have I done!" A few moments later a second shot was heard, and
it was found on examination that both Wagnitz and his victim were dead. Miss
Foss was shot in the back, the bullet passing through her right lung and
entirely out of her body. Wagnitz had killed himself by placing the stock
of the rifle on the ground and the muzzle against his heart, then touching
the trigger with a foot-rule. He was twenty-seven years old; his victim was
twenty-five. It is said that several times he had threatened the lives of
mother and brother, and that that was the reason they were afraid to go near
the prostrate girl at his solicitation. Miss Foss was a very estimable young
lady, highly accomplished and unusually proficient in her profession. Her
home was in Hood River, Oregon. There is no likelihood that she ever reciprocated
in the least the affections of Wagnitz, in whose company, however, she had
been seen frequently, and it is known that she had returned the day before
her death a number of letters written to her by Wagnitz during her absence
from Trout Lake. Of the quarrel, which proved the immediate cause of her
untimely taking off, nothing can be known, but it is surmised that an offer
of marriage on his part had excited a declaration on her part that she would
have nothing further to do with him.
The Hood River Glacier, Hood River, OR., May 25, 1900, page 2
TRAGEDY AT TROUT LAKE
The startling intelligence reached Hood River Monday of the death of Miss Ida
Foss at Trout Lake at the hands of Ben Wagnitz. Miss Foss was teaching school
at Trout Lake and boarded at the house of Mrs. Wagnitz. Sunday evening, May
20th, Miss Foss and Ben Wagnitz were left alone in the house, while the young
man's mother and brother were at the corral milking. Upon their return to the
house they found younger Wagnitz lying dead in the yard and Miss Foss dead in
the house. Investigation showed that the young woman had been shot through the
heart and that Wagnitz picked her up, laid her on a bed, examined her wound,
covering it with cloths and the body with a blanket, and then went outside the
house and shot himself. It is supposed the young couple had had a lover's
quarrel, but no one was present, and no one knows the real cause of the tragedy
nor how it happened.
Miss Foss was born and raised in Hood River, where her
parents reside. She was an educated and accomplished young woman, and the news
of her awful death cast a gloom over the whole community.
Ben Wagnitz was a young man, 26 years old, generally
respected in the community at Trout Lake, where he had lived for years. He was
a mountain guide at Mt. Adams, and when at home made himself useful by helping
his mother on the ranch.
The funeral of Miss Foss was held from the residence of
the S.E. Bartmess, Wednesday, and was attended by a large concourse of the
friends of the young woman and the family.
The Hood River Glacier, Hood River, OR., June 1, 1900, page 2
LAST TRIBUTE TO MISS FOSS
A genuine gloom was cast over this entire community
when it learned of the awful tragedy which deprived us of one of our most
highly-cherished daughters. A large concourse of friends and relatives gathered
to do honor to her whom they loved in life and mourned in death. Costly and
beautiful offerings of flowers betokened the high esteem she ever held. The
services were simple and impressive. A quartette sang touchingly the last ham
the deceased had sung in public, "Saved by Grace," and her pastor spoke the
eulogy of her noble life, on the text: "My days are swifter than the past; they
flee away; they are passed away as the swift ships. Behold, my witness is in
heaven and my record on high."
Ms. Foss was born in Portland, September 19, 1875. At
the age of 10 she made a public profession of love to her Savior, and became a
member of the Methodist church. Six years ago she united with the United
Brethren. She led a noble and consistent life ever bearing the name of Christ,
with reverence and without reproach. The witness and the record of her life
recorded in heaven is not forgotten by those who knew her and loved her.
Hers was an affable nature. Warm-hearted and generous,
she made friends of all who met her. To be in her presence was to be inspired
with the brightness and nobility of a sunny life. When others felt discouraged
she banished it with a geniality as genuine and effective as the sunlight of the
springtime. Hers was a busy, industrial career. She saw that life should be more
than mere existence. Her future she determined should count on eternity. She
found a place in the classroom where immortal spirits might be molded and human
character determined. And long after this will it be said: "Ida Foss taught me
the nobility of character and the worth of life." In the church hers was not a
passive Christianity. She need but be commanded and she obeyed. No one needed to
coax her to do what she considered right, and no one could persuade her to do
what she considered wrong. The home, the school, the church will miss Ida.
We sorrow because a loved one is gone. We recall the
apparent needless sacrifice. We decked her grave with beautiful, sweet-scented
flowers. Her memory ever lives with us. We cherish her name and love her life.
Sunny in disposition, charitable in opinion, noble in purpose, cultured in
intellect, gifted and talented, and with the bond of love binding all the
qualities of her nature, Ida Foss shall live forever in the memories of the
undying minds.
"Though oft depressed and lonely,
All my fears are laid aside,
If I but remember, only,
Such as these have lived and died."
The Hood River Glacier, Hood River, OR., June 1, 1900, page 3
CARD OF THANKS
We desire to thank that many kind friends of this community and the surrounding country, for the sympathy and kind deeds during our late bereavement, also for the beautiful flowers which helped to make of the burden lighter.
Mr. and Mrs. W.M. Foss.
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© Jeffrey L. Elmer