Katie Bronk

1872 Winona - 1893 Winona

Katie! Katie! Come on out!
All summer long, those Pine Creek boys always
Calling my name. There were other girls.
Maybe I wasn't the prettiest
But I was clearly the most fun.
No milk pail for this farmer's daughter.
No wedding ring and house full of children
No convent. Out of the question.
Instead I skee-daddled across the River
To Winona, with its hotels and saloons and
Bright lights and fancy parties and
Charming, handsome beaux, and
Working girls to show me the ropes.
I once had plenty of work at the Jewel, the Tremont,
And the Green Bay House on East Second and Johnson.
But in time I found myself out of a job, and
Out of male admirers.  I was hungry. And cold.
I kept house for the Huffman brothers
In their second floor apartment
South of the Milwaukee Road tracks, sending
For their wives to come over from Germany.
Where Alex Huffman found me one night
On a rick of straw, clad in a shirt and a woolen skirt
One stocking on one leg, stone cold dead.
One bottle of rheumatism medicine, and a bottle of eyedrops
According to the idiot coroner - when every woman knows
The effect of eyedrops on an unborn child.
The ruling was "no foul play."
They telegraphed my father to come claim my body.
Your lirtle Katie is dead!
But here I lie in Winona, in an unmarked grave
Unwept and unremembered.