The Haunted Cabin That Killed Twice

The Tragedy of a Haunted House.

RANCHO, S. I., April 1 — The death of Frank W. Hepp on April 1 has created the sensation that the crime was committed by a man already nearly five years in his grave. The residents of the neighborhood are firmly convinced of something supernatural, and it is doubtful if a jury can be found in the country to convict a prisoner who alleges such manifestations.

In the summer of 1904, Hepp and Thomas Barber formed a partnership, bought a 'bunch' of cattle and engaged in business as ranchers. Both were barbers and lived in a sodhouse eleven miles north of this place. For two years they went well together. Then a dispute arose concerning division of profits. Hepp left the ranch and commenced suit against his partner for an accounting. Before the case came to trial, a settlement was offered, the partnership was re-established, and the men turned housekeeping together.

About two months afterward, Hepp rode into town and gave himself up to the sheriff with the statement that he had assaulted him and that he had killed him in self-defense. On visiting the house, the officer found Barber lying where he had fallen. He had evidently been sitting or standing in front of a rude fireplace in the cabin, and had been killed by a knife-thrust between the shoulders. The fact that he was stabbed in the back is an ugly look.

While Hepp was in jail, the knife with which Barber was killed disappeared in a most mysterious manner. The night before the case was called, the prosecuting attorney put a knife in his safe. He locked the safe and sat down for an evening's work. Before leaving, he reopened the safe to his astonishment to discover that the knife had disappeared. He had not left the office during the evening, nor had anyone but himself entered it. Nothing else in the safe, which contained a considerable sum of money, was disturbed.

Soon after Hepp's departure, it began to be 'mysterious' that strange things were happening about the deserted cabin. Passing cowboys said that groans, imprecations and shrieks for aid came from the windows, and that sometimes a figure was seen standing inside. The majority, spurred by a spirit of adventure, went after dark. The banker scoffed at the tales, but no one cared to investigate closely. So far as known, the hut was never entered until the time Hepp left it until the night of April 1.

Hepp himself and Casmar were the first to revisit it. After making nearly five years on the Texas cattle ranches, Hepp returned to the northwest and obtained employment on a ranch nearly 100 miles north of Karlina. On the 27th they entered Prudhoe county. Toward evening a snowstorm set in. Both men were exhausted and worn by snow. Casmar suggested riding into Karlina for shelter. On the way Hepp led him, either by accident or design, toward his old and haunted spot. Hepp proposed stopping there for the night.

The house was in a very dilapidated condition, but the cowboys built a fire on the hearth, prepared their provisions and a flask of whisky and were soon comfortable. It was late when they arrived, and when, after partaking of their impromptu luncheon, Hepp seated himself on a stump in front of the fire, on nearly the same spot where Barber had been stabbed one year before. Casmar thinks it was between 12 and 1 o'clock.

Casmar says he had stepped to the door to see whether there is any signs of a cessation of the storm, when he was startled by a yell of agony from his companion. Listening inside he found the latter lying on his face in front of the fire, his forehead actually in the ash and a knife sticking in his back. Afraid to stay in the lodge longer, he mounted his bronco and started for Carlina. He was unfamiliar with the country, as soon became painfully apparent.

Such was the story which he told when found early next morning, wandering aimlessly over the prairie. Rescuers accompanied him to the cabin. Hepp still sat there with the knife sticking between his shoulder blades. On drawing it out the spectators were horrified to discover that it was the same weapon which had so mysteriously disappeared from the Prudhoe county prosecuting attorney's safe.

Casmar was brought into town and locked up. Though he might have pleaded self-defense with at least as good a chance of acquittal as Hepp, he insists that the latter was killed by an invisible assailant. The knife has been fully identified as the same one with which Barber was slain. Public opinion is strongly with the prisoner.