Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Sentenced To Be Hanged: The Tragic Story Of A Danish Immigrant, Peter D. Thomsen

The Bridge

Several years ago, Thorvald Hansen who was then in

charge of the Danish Immigrant Archives at Grand View

College, Des Moines, Iowa, asked if I would be interested in

writing the Peter Mathiasen story. I had previously told him

that in my childhood home I had heard bits and pieces of this

tale and that what I remembered most was how intensely it

was discussed by some of the immigrant people with whom

my parents associated. Little did I realize they were talking

about something that happened fifteen years before my

birth.