Rewarding heroics

As I research the "Out of the Past" column, I frequently run across stories that cannot be contained in the daily feature. They're too interesting or too complicated to conveniently fit the structure of the "Past" column.

I located two such stories recently from early 1922.

The first is about a man named Jacob Kirchoff of Cape Girardeau. As a teenager, Jacob saved the life of his wealthy uncle, Casper Kirchoff. At his death, Casper left a third of his estate to his nephew in gratitude for his heroics.

The second article is a reunion story. Brothers Casey Ransom and Sherrell Ransom find each other after a 15-year separation. We've done a lot of reunion stories over the years, but this one is interesting because of the parallel lives the brothers lived.

Published Feb. 20, 1922, in the Southeast Missourian:

HEIR TO PART OF BIG ESTATE IS SOUGHT HERE

JACOB KIRCHOFF, FORMER CAPE GIRARDEAN IS BEING LOOKED FOR

A third interest in a large estate in Pennsylvania awaits Jabot Kirchoff, formerly a Cape resident, for whom a nation-wide search is being made.

The Missourian today received a letter from William Kirchoff, a cousin of the former Cape Girardeau man, who is conducting the search. He asks the aid of The Missourian in the search for the missing heir.

According to the letter, Jacob Kirchoff was a resident of this city in 1919, working at that time as a track foreman for the Frisco railroad. Inquiry here today elicited the information that a man answering the description of Kirchoff had been here at that time, but that since he has disappeared.

An uncle of Kirchoff died Nov. 20, 1920, in Pennsylvania, leaving an estate valued at several thousands of dollars. Three relatives were named as heirs, with the condition that the estate could not be divided until all the heirs had been located. Up to this time two of the heirs have been located and Kirchoff is the only one missing.

William Kirchoff passed through Cape Girardeau Sunday on his way to Memphis. He had received word that Kirchoff had been there at some previous time. He is expected to stop here on his return. Any one having information on the whereabouts of Kirchoff is requested to call The Missourian.

And call they did. The following day's edition carried a story saying "30 minutes after the city edition of The Missourian was on the streets Monday afternoon 15 calls had come to the office telling of the whereabouts of Jacob Kirchoff." The story further noted: "Kirchoff, however, is a Missourian reader and his wife was quick to see the item in question."

A larger story that day gave more details of Jacob Kirchoff's heroics.

Published Feb. 21, 1922, in the Southeast Missourian:

GIRARDEAN HEARS HE'S RICH
WON'T QUIT HIS JOB, HE SAYS

JACOB KIRCHOFF, CEMENT WORKER, INFORMED HE IS HEIR TO
BIG ESTATE, LEFT BY UNCLE WHOSE LIFE HE
SAVED; HIS WIFE IS ELATED.

Thirty-two years ago, Casper Kirchoff, a wealthy manufacturer of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, was visiting relatives in East St. Louis, Illinois. At the Relay station there he stepped in front of an approaching express train, and but for the prompt action of his nephew, Jacob Kirchoff, who shoved him off the track, risking his own life to do so, he probably would have been killed.

Today, Jacob Kirchoff, yard foreman at the cement plant here, is rich. His uncle died in 1920. He made his nephew here one of three heirs to his vast holdings. The exact amount that Kirchoff will get is not known, but it is expected to exceed $200,000.

Living in Cape Girardeau, Kirchoff has not heard from his relative since early in 1919 and was not aware until Monday afternoon that a search for him was being made, to share in the estate of his dead uncle.

"I did not know until my Missourian came that my uncle had died, and that I was an heir to a part of his estate," he told a Missourian reporter Monday afternoon. "It took me completely by surprise. I had no idea that I would ever get any money from him. We were never friends. He was a gruff old man -- and stingy. I was a wayward, frolicksome boy when he visited us in East St. Louis. He was continually nagging at me. When I pushed him out of the way of the train, he quarreled at me for treating him so roughly. I was never so surprised in my life when I read in your paper that I am one of his heirs."

And -- Kirchoff is not the only happy one. Mrs. Kirchoff, formerly Miss Alma Unnerstahl, daughter of Mrs. Sybilla Unnerstahl, who lives with the couple, is probably the happier of the two.

Wife is happy

The couple married in September 1921 at Jackson. Mrs. Kirchoff has been ill with a nervous trouble for some time and has been worried by family troubles. She was the first to tell The Missourian Monday afternoon that her husband was the heir, and she was happy. A life, with ease and comfort in view is for her, and she will appreciate it.

Asked by a reporter if he intended to keep on working after he got the legacy, Kirchoff replied that he would have to work. "I will have to do something," he said. "I can't lay around and do nothing. I have worked all my life and can't stop now. But," he added, "I am glad for my wife's sake. She deserves everything that the world can give her and she is going to get it now."

Kirchoff was born in East Carondelet, Illinois. His father was William Kirchoff, an engineer. Kirchoff lived there for a number of years, working in the railroad yards and on the river. He came to Cape Girardeau in 1917, being employed as assistant foreman on the extra gang. He went from Neelys Landing in 1919 where he became section foreman. Then it was that his relatives lost track of him. Later in the year he returned here, but a few months later went back to Neelys Landing. He came back to this place last year and was employed as a foreman at the cement plant.

Kirchoff's father was a brother of the uncle who died. The elder Kirchoff is comfortably situated in East St. Louis, Kirchoff said.

Kirchoff wrote to St. Louis Monday night and placed the matter in the hands of attorneys there. He said that he had little education and would rather trust men he knew not to defraud him. The two children of Casper Kirchoff, William and Katherine, are to share with the local man in the legacy.

Is a Hollander

Kirchoff's parents came to America from Holland. He is a typical descendant, short and stout, red-faced and generally in a good humor. He is a hard worker, but a good friend to his workmen, they say. Told of the will of his uncle, Monday, he wept for joy.

Kirchoff tells an amusing story to illustrate his uncle's close habits. "Once," he said, "when Uncle Casper was visiting us, he left his trousers hanging on the bed while he slept. Boy-like, I wanted some fun, so I took a quarter from his pockets. The next morning he was 'wild,' and finally when I gave it back to him he demanded that I be severely punished. When I was not, he became angry and left."

He said that his uncle owned interests in several woolen mills in Pennsylvania, and in a department store. "He was considered very wealthy in 1889 when he visited us the last time in St. Louis," Kirchoff said.

By my reckoning, Jacob Kirchoff was about 14 years old when he saved Uncle Casper's life in 1889. News of his heroic act and subsequent good fortune were picked up by newspapers across the United States in 1922, although none say exactly how much money he inherited.

Jacob was 61 years old when he died in St. Louis, where he then resided. At the time of his death, he was single. A search on Ancestry.com shows that he and his wife, Alma, divorced in the late 1920s.

Check back in this space next week for the reunion story of the brothers Ransom.