A Helix man with a history of violence when intoxicated attempted to kill his wife and son in October 1901, then committed suicide in the county jail.
Fred Albershardt, a 59-year-old immigrant from Germany, was well known to have a violent temper when drunk. The Albershardts lived at the home of John Timmerman about a half mile from Helix, where Mrs. Albershardt worked as a housekeeper after the death of Timmerman’s wife. On Saturday, Oct. 12, 1901, Albershardt was drunk and caused such a ruckus that Mrs. Albershardt and Timmerman had to leave the house until he quieted down.
On Monday morning Albershardt rode the train to Pendleton, where he bought a revolver and cartridges, saying they were for his son. He visited local drinking establishments before heading home. When he arrived, he stopped near the windmill in the yard and called to his wife. She came out onto the front porch, but felt something was wrong and came no closer. He started to walk toward the house, but then turned toward the barn, where their son Gus was sleeping.
Realizing what he meant to do, Mrs. Albershardt asked her husband if he had a gun. When he didn’t answer, she ran to him and pulled his coat aside. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled the revolver, aiming two shots at her head, which missed. He fired a third time at her chest, hitting her in the right shoulder and knocking her to the ground.
Gus, hearing the racket, peeked through a crack in the barn siding and witnessed the shooting. Remembering a recent trip to the mountains with his father, who told him that something was going to happen within a week, Gus hid amongst the horses, and his father was unable to find him when he searched the barn. Albershardt soon gave up and took off on foot through the canyons and stubble fields. Mrs. Albershardt managed to get to the house and hide under the sofa.
The Helix marshal was called, and he notified Umatilla County Sheriff William Blakeley. A manhunt lasting most of the night finally turned up Albershardt about 16 miles north of Helix. He was brought to Pendleton and lodged at the county jail.
When interviewed, Mrs. Albershardt said that for the last 20 years her husband had been cruel and abusive. When they lived near Meacham, she said, he tried to kill her with an axe and she had to run for three miles through the snow to escape him. She had wanted to file for divorce for years but was afraid he would follow through on his threats to kill her and their son.
Sometime during the night of Oct. 17-18, Albershardt hung himself in the county jail. A coroner’s inquest ruled that the attack on his family had been premeditated, and that Albershardt had planned a murder-suicide. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the potter’s field.
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