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Mrs. George Hoopfer and 2-Year-Old Child Were Victims of the Bloodlust of Mad Man. Special to The Evening Record. Mancelona, Mich., March 29.—Sleeping with her baby on her left arm, Mrs. George Hoopfer was sent into eternity this morning by a blow from a stick of wood in the nanas of her crazed husband. A second later, the innocent little child, warned by either the tremor that shot through the frame of the mother at her dissolution or by some prescience of providence, slightly raised itself and it too was sent into eternity. To complete the awful crime, the husband and father then took a keen woodsman’'s axe and carefully chopped the head from the body of the mother and partially sev ered that of the babe. He was arrested by Sheriff Kittle and taken to Bellaire for a hearing. Hoopfer made two attempts at suicide, one with a knife and the other by hanging but was unsuccessful. When a Record representative ar rived on the scene this morning, he found a charnel house replete with horror. On the bed, lay the mother and little child, the baby resting on the arm of its mother. The bed was made on a large leather couch and everything in the vicinity was blood soaked. The walls were spattered with the life blood of innocence and moth erhood while the bed clothes, the two bodies and the floor were soaked with it. Beneath the bed, were great pools of blood. PITIFUL SCENE. Near the bed were the little ga ments of the child and the playthings that it had been wont to amuse itself with. These, stained the deepest crimson, presented a sight that would turn the heart of the strongest. Un der the bed was a little shoe and this was full of blood. A strange sort of brooding silence hung over the place and when the crowd of neighbors, of ficials and spectators spoke, the ech oes throughout the house brought strange feelings. Disheveled, distraught but evidently unrepentant of his awful deed, the father moved about the place and when the camera was adjusted to take a picture of the horrible scene, he insisted on being photographed with his dead. This was denied him and finally a picture of the murderer, his face ghastly after an attempt at self destruction, was photographed alone, THE CRIME. The crime is the most horrible in the annals of Antrim county. For four years, Mr. and Mrs. Hoopfer had re sided on their farm seven miles south west of here. They were well thought of by their neighbors and were appar ently very happy. Hoopfer was pros perous and accumulated quite a little money, besides owning the farm, Hoopfer is 51 years old, five feet, eight inches tall, dark complexioned, his features being very strong. His roving eye, his rambling talk incohe rent at times, and his nervous actions like a caged animal told the story all too well—a story unsuspected by the neighbors, unsuspected by the wife, perhaps—the man is insane. At the usual time last night, the wife, the child and the husband re tired, the wife and child on their couch and the husband on the cot be side them. Just before day break this morning, he arose and going out of the house, secured a huge stick of stove wood. With this, he struck his wife in the head and the baby over the temple. Death was instantaneous in both cases but his blood lust was not satisfied. Taking his keen double, bitted ax, he chopped until the head of his wife fell free from the body. Then with another great blow, he struck the throat of the little child, severing the head until it hung by a mere thread of flesh. Then he went to the home of a neighbor, Ed Eben benstin. WHY HE DID IT. This is what Hoopfer told a Record reporter standing in the room with the corpses. ‘As my wife laid in my arms last night, we talked of our troubles, and she said that it would be better if we all died together. I agreed with her and as I laid there, I made my plans. This morning, I killed them. It was better so. “We quarrelled every once in a while and our quarrels were bitter. We would have an awful quarrel and then she’d turn away and cry. By and by. I'd cry too, and then we'd make up, but it was no use, we'd quarrel again. Rather than live that way, it was better that we all should die.” The man wept bitterly as he told the story, TRIED TO SUICIDE. After killing his wife and child, Hoopfer took a jack knife and cut a great gash in the right side of his throat. ‘The knife was too dull and it wouldn’t go in easily,” he said, “So I gave it up.” Hoopfer then went to the barn where there is a ladder leaning up to the left. Ascending this, he tied a rope to the topmost rung and then jumped off. There was too much slack, however, and he was not injured. TOLD NEIGHBOR. With the blood streaming from the wound in his neck and dying his shirt and exposed neck, Hoopfer went to the Ebenstein farm. Appalled and frightened at the horrible appearance of the man, Ebenstein was compelled to go to the cemetery with him. There, Hoopfer picked out a place where he wanted to be buried with his family. Then he left Ebenstein and returned home. Ebenstein sounded a general alarm, summoning the officers from Bellaire, WHERE CRIME OCCURRED. The house is situated in a hollow next to a school. It is little better than a shanty although the furniture is of good quality. Back of the house is an orchard and in front of it, is a grove of trees. It is evidently a pretty place in the summer but has an air of des olation at present. It was inside the house that Hoopfer was found by the officers. After his crime, the man had taken a rag and carefully wiped off the blade of the ax, setting it in its place. Then he washed his hands and when found, was pacing the floor, muttering and weeping. He does not seem to recog nize the enormity of his offense and his only regret seems to be that he failed in his intention to do away with himself. Mrs. Hoopfer was 32 years old and the baby would have been two years old next September. The woman's hair, blood soaked, was matted over her face. On the child's forehead, over the left eye, was a confused, ugly looking depression evi dently where struck by the crazed father. As the child raised, it had been struck and had died without falling back. Judging by the position of the body, the mother never moved after the blow. Was Disorderly. Special to The Evening Record. Kingsley, Mich., March 2.—John Rogers was fined $1 and costs in jus tice court this morning for being dis orderly in George W. Parker's store Saturday.
Newspaper Details
Traverse City Record Eagle
Traverse City, Michigan, US
Mon, Mar 29, 1909
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Patti W.
USA 22 Jun 2026
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