Memories of Kaukauna - June 1948

June 1948 - The Gerend Millinery shop

Thin streaks of sunlight sifting through cracks in the roof pierced the murky gloom of the garage attic behind the Gerend Millinery shop on E. Third street where two young boys were cleaning up boxes of discarded merchandise. The boys had been hired to haul out the dusty cartons of old hats, papers and other stored items. The had filled two burlap bags with old hats to be thrown out and placed them near the stairs. Then they started work on a dusty old trunk, taking out hats and putting them in another bag. One on each side of the trunk they worked quietly until the last layer of hats were removed. THEN at the bottom of the trunk they saw a woman’s torso, a long-jagged cut across her throat and glassy grey eyes staring at them. Terror-stricken they stood there to petrified to utter a sound. Then with screams of horror they raced for the door and down the stairs to the alley. “We’d b-b-b-better call the cops” one of the boys stuttered.

“Let’s take another look first just to make sure,” suggested the other. Cautiously and with faltering footsteps they climbed up the stairs and crept up to the open trunk. Yes, it was a body no mistake about that. She had a scarred face, but she had no arms. “There’s no blood on her” breathed the younger boy. “Touch the body,” said the other. “No, you do it.”  Picking up a nearby lath, the older boy poked the body a few times. “It’s hard,” he muttered. He managed to turn it over. “Why it’s only a dress dummy” “What were you so scared about” “Me? I wasn’t scared as you were.” Neither said another word as they quickly gathered up the three bags of junk and hurried out of the attic after one more curious peek at “the body.”