Bed Bugs Related DEATH - Daniel Andersson, SWEDEN

Daniel "Dan" Andersson (born 6 April 1888 in Skattlösberg, Grangärde parish (in present-day Ludvika Municipality), Dalarna, Sweden, died 16 September 1920 in Stockholm) was a Swedish author and poet. He also set some of his own poems to music. Andersson married primary school teacher Olga Turesson, the sister of artist Gunnar Turesson, in 1918. A nom de plume he sometimes used was Black Jim. Andersson is counted among the Swedish proletarian authors, but his works are not limited to that genre. 

Andersson grew up under poor conditions in the village of Skattlösberg where his father, primary school teacher Adolf Andersson and his wife Augusta Scherp (herself previously a teacher), worked in the school. The village is located in the so-called "Finn Woods" of southern Dalarna, where Forest Finns immigrated to cultivate new land. On his father's side, Andersson descended from these Finnish settlers. Andersson took odd jobs during the first years of his life, for instance as a forestry worker and school teacher. It was difficult to make a living. The family had considered trying to find a better life in America, and Andersson was sent there as a 14-year old in 1902 to see if it would be possible for the family to join him. But in a letter from the U.S. he wrote that there were no better opportunities for the family there than in Sweden, upon which his father asked Andersson to return to Sweden. The family moved from Skattlösberg in 1905, but Andersson returned there to live with his parents and siblings 1911-1915. During this period, he wrote a number of stories and poems. Large parts of his Kolarhistorier and Kolvaktarens visor were probably created during this time.

Dan Andersson died in room 11 at Hotel Hellman in Stockholm on 16 September 1920, where he had gone to look for a job at the newspaper Social-Demokraten. The hotel staff had used hydrogen cyanide against bedbugs and hadn't cleared the room as prescribed. At 3 pm Andersson was found dead. At the same time, insurance inspector Elliott Eriksson from Bollnäs also died. The hotel was located at Bryggaregatan 5 in Stockholm, but was demolished in the 1960s.

Andersson is buried at Lyviken Cemetery in Ludvika.


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