Sea Wing Disaster

Title: Victim's Death Certificate
Type: Document
Date: 1890
Source: Minnesota Historical Society

Description: The coroner issued these death certificates to the families of those who perished in the disaster.
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Activities:

1. This death certificate is a "form letter" kind of note, with spaces left for the name and ages of those who died. Why might the coroner have created a certificate like this with much of the information already provided?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: In a situation where there are large numbers of deaths from the same cause, it would have been easier for the coroner to just print up a number of certificates and fill in the individual information by hand, instead of writing the entire certificate out for each person.
2. How was Mrs. Shiffer's body recovered?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Another steamer, the Ethel Howard, was helping recover bodies in the lake and transported hers to the shore. (Her name on this certificate was actually spelled incorrectly by the coroner. This is actually Mrs. John Schoeffler.)
3. Why do you think the coroner wrote in the death certificate that he had not found any signs of violence on Mrs. Shiffer's (Schoeffler's) body?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: It was and still is important to establish that whether or not a crime has been committed caused someone's death. If itappeared that Mrs. Shiffer (Schoeffler)had been killed by someone, the coroner would have to request an investigation to find the killer.
4. With almost 100 bodies to be recovered, what effect do you think this might have had on the coroner at the time?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Obviously, this event put a great deal of pressure on the coroner and the undertakers in the area. Some of the people who worked with the deceased were known to have had nervous breakdowns because of this disastrous event.