The Moose Jaw Genealogy Society has helped a Swedish journalist potentially solve a century-old mystery about a Swedish man who was found dead here in a rooming house.
Journalist Mikael Jagerbrand was looking for information about Oskar Rosengren, who was initially thought to have died in Sweden in 1920 after authorities discovered a body in an abandoned mine. Rosengren had supposedly lived in the United States for several years before allegedly returning to the Nordic country and disappearing.
Over several weeks, police searched for a suspect who had been seen with Rosengren, but they soon discovered that the “victim” was alive and living in Canada. Instead, the dead man was another Swede who had lived in the U.S. and later returned.
Swedish cops caught the actual killer — Bengt Valfrid Krokström — and sentenced him to prison.
Jagerbrand sent a letter to the editor to the Moose Jaw Express in early April, wanting more information about Rosengren since he had found a newspaper article from Jan. 2, 1924, indicating the man had allegedly taken his own life by supposedly drinking poison.
Seeing the inquiry prompted members of the Moose Jaw Genealogy Society to dig through online newspaper clippings searching for Rosengren. They were successful after coming across an article from the Nov. 9, 1923 edition of the Regina Leader-Post. They then emailed a copy to the Swedish journalist.
“He was so happy to get this,” society president Marge Cleave said recently. “He wanted proof — and now he has it.”
Jagerbrand told the Express in an email that he intends to include information about Rosengren in a true crime e-book he plans to write about the murder in Sweden. He is the editor of a series of true crime e-books entitled Publishing House Classic Whodunits.
“Second Sudden Death Occurs During Week” was the headline of the Leader-Post article, while the sub-head said, “Oscar Rosengren Dies in York Rooms, Strychnine Labelled Bottle is Found.”
Police recorded Rosengren’s death in the early morning hours of Nov. 8, 1923, while they found a bottle of Strychnine under his bed, the article said. A Dr. Wardell was expected to conduct the post-mortem, although coroner Dr. J. M. Hourigan had not decided whether to hold an inquest.
At 11:55 p.m. on Nov. 7, York Rooms called police Sgt. Knutton saying there was a man who was seriously ill. The sergeant dispatched Const. Knight to the rooming house, where he found Rosengren in serious condition. The officer immediately summoned Dr. Betzner, but before he arrived, Rosengren died.
Dr. Hourigan was called to the rooming house, where he viewed the body and ordered it be taken to Broadfoot’s Funeral Home.
The Leader-Post reported that Rosengren had booked his room at 1 p.m. on Nov. 7 and then left. He returned around 9 p.m., “apparently in good health and sober.” He grabbed the key to his room and went upstairs.
About three hours later, Perry Shoemaker, another occupant, told the front desk that someone was ill in room 9, which Rosengren occupied, the article said. House employees visited the room, where they found Rosengren lying on the floor.
“The police were informed, but the man died before anything could be done for him,” the article continued.
Police found $25 in cash and other personal effects on the body, as well as a railway ticket to Stockholm, Sask. Papers in Rosengren’s possession showed he was born in 1886, while a tattoo on his left forearm bore his initials and birth date.
A permit to carry firearms in British Columbia was also found, the article added, and was made out to an “Oscar Ross.”
The Moose Jaw Genealogy Society meets at the library on the fourth Wednesday of every month.
