08/22/2026
“FALL KILLS BOY AT ST. LUKE'S
JOHN ANGERHOFER, 17 YEARS OLD, MEETS SUDDEN DEATH IN THREE-STORY FALL
John Angerhofer, 17-year-old student at the Northern Normal Institute, was instantly killed this morning when he fell from a third-floor fire escape at the St. Luke's Hospital to the ground, some fifty feet. Death was instantaneous, according to doctors at the hospital, who found the youth outside.
Angerhofer went to the hospital early today to be present at an operation which was to be performed on a boy friend. Fumes from the ether administered to his friend made Angerhofer become faint, and he left the operating room to get some fresh air. He stepped onto the fire escape of the third floor and it is thought, was so faint that he lost his balance and fell over the railing.
As far as could be learned no one witnessed the accident and the exact manner in which the young man met his death probably will never be known.
Officials at the hospital this afternoon would not discuss the accident.
Angerhofer was the son of Rudolph Angerhofer of Highland township, eight miles southwest of Aberdeen. His father has been notified of the death and is expected to come to Aberdeen tonight to claim the body.”
- Northwest Square Deal (Aberdeen, S.D.)
Friday, March 19, 1920
Page 1
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“JOHN ANGERHOFER KILLED IN FALL
VISIT TO FRIEND AT ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL TERMINATED IN FATAL ACCIDENT
John Angerhofer, aged 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Angerhofer, who reside ten miles southeast of Aberdeen, was killed yesterday forenoon when he fell from the platform of a steel fire escape on the south exposure of St. Luke's hospital this city.
The young man's fatal fall was the result of the effects of inhalations of ether. He had gone to the hospital with another young man named John Stellner, to call upon a friend who was formerly employed on his father's farm who was a patient at St. Luke's and who was to submit to a surgical operation yesterday. The young men were admitted to the room during the operation and John Angerhofer was rendered ill by the ether which was being applied as an anesthetic to the man on the operating table. Leaving that room John walked down a hall to the south end of the building and stepped through an open window, upon a steel platform which is a part of the fire escape on the building. That platform is some thirty feet from the earth and between it and the earth are two other similar platforms, directly beneath which is the cement area way which leads to the basement of the building.
Stellner followed Angerhofer out of the room in which their friend was and also went to the window leading to the fire escape. He saw Angerhofer bending over the iron railing which extends along the four sides of the fire escape platform, at a height of about four feet. Stellner discovered that Angerhofer was ill and also noticed that the latter's feet were slipping. He made a spring forward in an effort to save his friend from the head foremost plunge over the railing. He was too late, however, and only succeded in securing an insecure grasp on Angerhofer's feet.
Angerhofer went over, missed the railings on two similar platforms below that from which he fell and alighted with his head, upon the cement wall of the area way into the basement. His neck was broken.
He was removed at once into the hospital and surgical aid was summoned, but the young man died within a few moments.
The remains were removed to the Wilson undertaking rooms and prepared for the funeral the hour for which had not been set yesterday.
Mr. and Mrs. Angerhofer, parents of the young man were summoned from their home immediately after the accident and were grief stricken at the death of their son, who was an industrious young man, much esteemed by those who knew him. When they had last seen him at his home, he was in the best spirits and had in mind the call upon the sick friend at the hospital.”
- Aberdeen (S.D.) American News
Saturday, March 20, 1920
Page Six
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“JOHN ANGERHOFER, STUDENT OF NORMAL, VICTIM OF SAD ACCIDENT FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 19TH
John Angerhofer, student of the Normal, son of Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Angerhofer of Brown County, near Warner, was almost instantly killed when he fell from the fire escape from the third floor of St. Luke's hospital, Friday morning, March 19.
The young man had gone to the hospital to watch an operation on a friend, W. G. Kantor, a young man living in the same neighborhood with the Angerhofer family.
John Angerhofer became sickened with the smell of ether and the heat of the operating room and stepped into the hall and went out on the fire escape.
He suddenly became sick and faint while sitting on the rail of the fire escape and lost his
balance.
He lived but fifteen minutes following the accident.
The young man grew up in Brown County and had always made his home south of Aberdeen in the Warner district.
Mr. Angerhofer was enrolled in the short course at the Normal and will be missed in all his classes by his many friends.
The faculty and student body extend their deepest sympathy to the bereaved.”
-The Exponent, March 27, 1920
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John Angerhofer was born in 1899 to Anna “Annie” B. (Parsch) & Rudolph W. Angerhofer
He died at the age of approximately 20 years old on March 19, 1920 (sources vary on his age).
He was laid to rest at St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Brown County, SD.
May he rest in eternal peace and be remembered.
-Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113453985
