Eduard Mosblech’s Mysterious Death

I avoided writing about this subject for a while. Aunt Mary Ann, the last of the fourteen Mosblech children passed in 2014. My own mother passed away in 2019, so I do not think anything that I write will bother any family members still living. In some instances, I have been purposefully vague to protect the dead.

When I was in high school, my grandmother told me about her father Eduard (pronounced Ade-ward) Mosblech’s death. St. Louis Police found his lifeless body floating at the foot of Iron Street, where it dead ends at the Mississippi River. Eduard had been in the river for almost a week but one of my great aunts was able to identify Eduard.

The coroner could not determine if Eduard committed suicide or someone murdered him, so the coroner left Eduard’s death as an open verdict. Grandma and some of her sisters believed someone drowned Eduard. They also were not happy that Eduard was supposed to take care of Aunt Gert, who took care of Eduard’s house after Great Grandma, Magdalena Mosblech, hil zen 1945.

Years later, I started looking into Great Grandpa’s death. After researching the public documents, I am convinced Eduard took his own life.

The first thing that struck me was that Eduard died almost eleven years to the day after Magdalena. I also could not see a motive for money because Eduard did not really have any. At the time of his death at 71 urte, Eduard was still working as a clothing salesman and tailor.

Eduard did not own a home, always worked for clothing companies, and had fourteen children. Eduard could not have made enough money to help take care of Aunt Gert despite his best intentions.

I shared my beliefs with Mom, who agreed with me. She said the story of Eduard being murdered never sat well with her so she talked to her aunt who identified Eduard’s body.

She told Mom that her sisters struggled with the possibility of Eduard killing himself but her aunt also believed Eduard took his own life. She told Mom the police told her that a man matching Eduard’s description reportedly jumped from the Eads Bridge several days before they found his body. Eduard would have jumped on the eleventh anniversary of Magdalena’s death.

We will never know why he ended his life. His second wife Mary died eighteen months later. If they knew Mary was sick, Eduard may have decided that he was not going to outlive two wives. We’ll never really know.

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