Bread maker Mehlsen Chr. Mehlsen
This is the story of bread driver Mehlsen Chr. Mehlsen (October 1, 1863 – December 25, 1916) from Skive and his grandson, who died during a Christmas excursion to Vridsløselille in Christmas 1916.
Mehlsen’s background
For 24 years,Mehlsen Chr. Mehlsen was employed as abread driver at Skive Mølle in Møllegade, where he had the route around Skive, so he was known by almost everyone in town.
The trip to Copenhagen
At Christmas 1916, he and his wife Marie were visiting a daughter who lived in Copenhagen. During their stay, they took a trip on Christmas Day to Vridsløselille, where one of Mehlsen’s daughters was married to a warden at the penal institution. They wanted to return to Copenhagen on an evening train and called the nearest station to find out when trains were running. They were unable to get a specific message about the departure times. So, in order not to be late, they headed up to Vridsløselille Trinbræt, accompanied by a daughter and a grandson, eight-year-old Ernst August (Chr. Jensen), in good time.
The accident
On the way to the platform, they had to cross the railway line, and that’s when the accident happened. In the dead of night, they didn’t realize that the express train from Korsør to Copenhagen was roaring ahead as they crossed the line. Mrs. Mehlsen and her daughter just managed to get across while Mehlsen, who had Ernst August at hand, was on the track. Both he and his grandson were hit by the train and carried away.
Skive Folkeblad reports dramatically on December 27, 1916: “The boy’s decapitated body was found a short distance away in the ditch, whereas Mehlsen’s body was taken a little further.” And the magazine adds. “It will be understood that both mother and daughter were deeply shocked by the terrible event and by the fact that they themselves only narrowly avoided suffering the same fate.”
The tragic accident attracted a lot of attention and several different versions of what happened were released. The above is primarily based on Skive Folkeblad’s description of the events, but Skive Avis and Skive Social-Demokrat have other versions of the accident.
Postscript
Mehlsen Chr. Mehlsen left behind his wife and six adult children, three of whom live in Copenhagen.
Although Ernst August’s mother lived in Copenhagen, the family chose to have the two deceased buried together at Skive Cemetery.
Sources
- Skive Folkeblad December 27, 1916
- Skive Newspaper December 27, 1916
- Skive Social-Demokrat December 27, 1916