With this
headline, the Emmitsburg chronicle
drew open the curtain on a murder
mystery that would capture the
attention and energy of almost every
Emmitsburg area resident for years
to come.
The story,
like so many others, began many
years before the actual murder. The
chief protagonist, Felix Munshour,
was the youngest of a hard-working
farm family. Five feet eight inches
in height and weighing 210 pounds,
Felix was imposing in appearance.
Yet his structure tended toward
corpulence and, to those that knew
him, he was wanting in any
indication of intellectual capacity.
Around 1875,
unwilling to accept the life of
farmer, Felix headed west to seek
his fortune. His search however
proved illusionary and, in March of
1879 following the death of his
father, Felix returned to Emmitsburg
to claim his share of the proceeds
from the sale of the family farm.
Flush with
over $1700 in ready cash, Felix set
about trying to buy a reputation as
a gentleman of means-a reputation
that he had long desired, but for
which he was unwilling to work.
Felix quickly took up residence in
the Emmit House, purchased a fine
horse and buggy, and became a
standing member at many of the
meeting and drinking houses that
populated Emmitsburg at the time.
However,
without income, Felix's fast placed
life soon rid him of the entire
patrimony that the industry of his
parents had secured to him. It was
said that Jacob's last dollar was
squandered on a horse race, and
soon, the wanna-be gentleman found
himself deeply in debt and reduced
to sleeping in barns, and was at the
mercy and beneficence of others for
his substance.
Prelude to murder
As his debts
increased, and with no hope of a
reprieve on the horizon, Jacob began
to look to the sinister side of life
for relief. He did not have to look
far. Felix's cousin, James Wetzel,
was a hard working, industrious farm
hand. Forty-one and single, he had
resided, up until recently, with his
mother and sister in the tenant
house of Elijah Close.
Upon the
marriage of his sister to John Knode,
Wetzel sold his household belongings
and moved in with them at the old
Morrison farm, near Tom's Creek
Methodist Church. Wetzel had a
profound distrust of banks and, as
such, was known for carrying his
life savings on him. An easy prey
for a desperate man.
In mid July,
Felix, who had taken up part-time
residence with William Rentzel, a
part-time boot smith, had begun to
lay his trap. At every opportunity,
Felix sought out Wetzel's company.
Since he and his cousin had never
really been close, the business of
convincing his cousin to part with
his hard earned cash, took some
time.
As the
association between the cousins
solidified, Felix began to focus
more and more on his timetable and
the benefits of his planed actions.
Even going so far as too haphazardly
commented to _____ Grimes, that by
early August, he would be back in
the money again.
Over the
ensuing weeks, Felix bombarded
Wetzel with illusionary tales of
"get rich" schemes. One that seemed
to strike a cord with Wetzel, who
imbibed more then he should, was the
selling of illegal alcohol. The trap
was now ready to be sprung, but,
unlike a novice hunter, Felix left a
trail leading directly back to him.
On August 2,
Felix borrowed a 12 gage-shot gun
from Daniel Lawrence, telling
Lawrence that he was going hunting
and would return the gun in a few
days with all the money he owned
him. The following day, Felix
crossed paths with Thomas Shorb.
While walking through Stansbury's
woods, Felix shot a squirrel. As he
loaded the barrel with new pellets,
he noted to Shorb that he only used
the right barrel because it had more
power and that he had yet to fire
the left, which still had some old
shot in it.
On Monday,
August 4, Felix met with Wetzel at
John Knode's house and, with Knode
listening in with profound disgust,
discussed the final plans for their
intended business. The two agreed to
meet early the next morning near the
old bridge over Tom's Creek (just
upstream of the present Tom's Creek
bridge) and walked into town to meet
a prospective supplier.
Monday
evening it rained, the first rain
the area had received in weeks and,
as such, most of the rain ran off of
the hard clay soil.
Murder!
Tuesday,
August 5, 1879, began like any other
late summer day in Emmitsburg. Many
were up early to beat the oppressive
summer heat. At 6:00 a.m., Wetzel
left home and headed toward
Rentzel's. On the way, he stopped in
at Thomas Haugh's blacksmith shop.
After a short chat, Wetzel was once
again on the road and his rendezvous
with history.
The two met
as planned around 6:45 a.m. at the
recently washed old wooden bridge
over Tom's Creek and headed toward
Emmitsburg. The two walked silently
down the old Poolsville Road (now
Keysville), with Wetzel in the lead,
and Felix a few steps behind,
carrying the shotgun, which he
supposedly intended to return to
Lawrence while in town.
Fifteen
minutes later, they passed William
Koontz, who was headed in the
opposite direction, toward the
Munshour farm, now the residence of
Felix's brother Jim. After the
customary exchange of pleasantries,
the pair resumed their march.
Sensing something wrong, Koontz
turned around to take another look
at the two, only to discover the two
had left the road.
And left the
road they had. Intending to meet
their supplier in a secluded
location, the two had turned north
and headed into "Myer's woods."
Unaware that he was being led into a
trap, Wetzel led Felix into the
woods and down a gully to the
intended meeting point.
We'll never
know whether Wetzel ever realized
what was going to happen. At
approximately 8:00 a.m., just as the
pair stepped foot into the gully,
Felix placed the end of the shotgun
just below and to the back of
Wetzel's left ear and pulled both
triggers. The right side of Wetzel
head disappeared in a spray of bone
and blood.
The blast
echoed through the valley and was
noted by many. William Koontz, who
had just returned for his errand to
Jim Munshour, noted to his son that
the shot seemed to be just over the
hill, in Myer's Woods.
Acting
quickly, Felix riffled Wetzel's now
limp body and retrieved the goal of
his act, Wetzel's calf-skinned
purse. Which by all accounts,
contained only $52.
Felix
quickly covered Wetzel's body with
leaves and, sure that the body was
well hid, retraced his steps back
through the woods. He no sooner left
the woods when he was spied by
Charles Troxel, who was returning
from his morning butchering run to
Maxell's Mill, located near Tom's
Creek Bridge.
Unaware that
his departure had been noted, Felix
returned to the road and, from
there, to Rentzel's. A short while
later, Rentzel too returned from the
errands he had been on and inquired
about Wetzel and the business deal.
Felix said that he had meet Wetzel
at the head of Rentzel's lot and had
parted company with him there after
"Wetzel had decided not to get a
license to sell the alcohol." Felix
told Rentzel that he told Wetzel
that he "thought that would cause
them more trouble than it was worth"
and broke off the deal and returned
home. According to Felix, "Wetzel
had headed to Emmitsburg where he
had some business to do."
Shortly
thereafter, Felix left and headed to
Motter's Station to buy a bottle of
alcohol. Once across Tom's Creek,
Felix followed the path of the
present day Four Points Road,
pressing forward with strong sense
of purpose. Once out of eyesight,
Felix crept off into Oliver
Morrison's woods and, under the
safety of an old tree, sat down to
inspect the scope of his ill-gotten
gains.
The contents
of Rentzel's calfskin purse were
quickly sorted and most of its
contents stuffed into a hole under
the tree. While Felix sat reviewing
his take, he was unaware that he was
under the watchful eye of Isaac
Bower, one of Oliver Morrison' farm
hands. When the last of the papers
were secretly hid under the tree,
Felix resumed his trek toward Motter
Station, though at a more leisurely
pace.
As if to
show him that fate intended to curse
him for his actions, Felix had no
sooner left the woods than he
crossed paths with Oliver Morrison's
neighbor, William Motter. Motter
inquired about Felix's presence in
his neighbor's woods, to which Felix
replied that he had been out
hunting. Motter looked Felix up and
down and commented that he looked
like he had been up to more then
hunting. Felix's, who by now was
getting a little nervous, could only
think to curse at Motter and turning
away, continued toward Motter's
Station.
Proceeding
directly to the station's bar, Felix
requested a bottle of whiskey.
However, owing to the fact that he
was already deeply in debt to the
bar, his request was refused. To the
bartender's surprise, Felix laid a
new $20 bill on the counter as down
payment on his debt, and a bright
new green bottle of whiskey was soon
in Felix's possession.
That
evening, Felix stayed at Rentzel's
house in a room by himself. If he
had any remorse for his actions, he
never openly showed it. Early the
next morning, Felix gave Rentzel a
crisp new $10 bill and asked Rentzel
to return the shotgun and to buy him
some new underclothes. "Don't tell
anyone where you got the money
from," directed Felix, "If they ask,
don't answer." That evening, Felix
asked Rentzel to replace the heels
on his worn boots. On Thursday,
Felix went to town and bought a new
suit, paying $10.32 cash.
The Disappearance Noticed
Wetzel's
failure to return home Tuesday night
did not go unnoticed by his sister
and brother-in-law. On Wednesday,
John Knode stopped in at the
Rentzel's and inquired of Felix
about the whereabouts of Wetzel.
Felix informed Knode that he had
left Wetzel at the Moser's gate,
(which lead to Moser's woods), and
that Wetzel was heading toward Tom
Shorb's house. A direction that
would carry any wood-be searcher
directly away from the location of
Wetzel's body.
On
Wednesday, night Felix once again
stayed alone in a downstairs room at
Rentzel's.
By Thursday,
the mysterious disappearance of
James Wetzel had become the topic of
everyone's conversation and whispers
of "Murder!" soon permeated the
valley. All the while, Felix acted
as if nothing was amiss. Flush with
cash, he reappeared in all his old
haunts, spending his ill-gotten
gains as fast as he had his parent's
inheritance. When asked about the
source of his newfound wealth,
Felix's credited it to a lucky horse
wager and redirected the
conversation by purchasing a drink
for the questioner. That night it
rained for the second time.
By Friday,
John Knode had convinced many of the
neighbors to join him in searching
for Wetzel. A local sheriff, who had
heard of the disappearance, added
his skills to the search. At Knode's
request, Felix was questioned a
second time about Wetzel's
disappearance.
With the
woods now crawling with searchers,
Felix began to feel uneasy about the
unfinished business of burying
Wetzel. On Friday night, armed with
a pick axe stolen from Rentzel and a
shovel stolen from his brother's
farm, Felix's quickly made his way
to the site of the crime. Under the
bright light of the full moon Felix
silently went about the dirty work
of burying the now decaying body of
his victim.
Swings of
the pick ax into the yellow clay
soil were intermixed with swigs from
the green whiskey bottle. The bottle
emptied before the digging and, in
disgust, Felix threw it against a
near by tree, upon which it
shattered.
Once the
grave was wide enough for Wetzel's
body, Felix dragged Wetzel's body
over to the shallow grave and
covered it. Once the body was
covered, leaves were strewn over the
area to hide the new turned ground.
Finally finished, Felix turned
toward home. Minus the spade and
pick ax.
On Saturday,
the search parties expanded their
search to include the route Felix
had taken to Motter's Station.
Felix, now weary that Knode was on
to him, soon began to cast about for
a plausible reason to blame Knode
for Wetzel's disappearance. Aware
that everyone already knew that
Knode had previously killed a man,
Felix took aim at his key
antagonist. "Why should I take the
blame for Wetzel's death," Felix's
told William Mort, "Knode knew about
Jim's and my plans, and could have
easily been in wait and off'ed Jim
after I left."
In spite of
his pleas of innocence, the mood of
the valley continued to swing
against Felix and, on Sunday, at the
request of friends of Knode, Felix
was arrested for the murder of
Wetzel.
During
questioning by the sheriff, Felix,
with flushed face and quivering
lips, acknowledged that he had been
with Wetzel that day, but insisted,
as before, that they had parted
company near the woods and that,
from there, Wetzel had headed off to
Tom Shorb's house. Unfortunately,
Felix had forgotten that the day
prior to the murder, he had met Tom
Shorb as the latter was headed out
of town on business. Felix was
unable to explain why he had not
told Wetzel this and saved him the
trip.
In spite of
deep suspicion of the sheriff,
without a body, the sheriff had no
grounds to hold Felix. Felix's
release on the grounds that there
was no body, caused the number, as
well as the effort, of the searchers
to be magnified exponentially.
Monday
proved to be a tense day in the
valley. Felix used every opportunity
to spread his story that Knode was
behind Wetzel's disappearance.
Valiantly trying to use the fact the
he was Wetzel's cousin to garner
sympathy for his case. But the
searches continued unabated.
The Body Discovered
On Tuesday,
August 12, around 4:40 p.m., Jacob
Root, along with Oliver Morrison and
William Crabster, were making one
last sweep of Myer's woods, when all
of a sudden Root's horse shied at a
sickening smell that originated
beneath the leaves. Dismounting,
Root cleared away some of the leaves
and discovered a piece of bone and a
quantity of blood and vermin. Root
called to his companions, who
quickly joined him. Following the
trail of maggots, they quickly found
the newly turned earth and all
realized that they had finally found
"Poor Jim."
Word of the
discovery of a grave spread quickly
and shovels were soon brought to the
scene. Wetzel's body was soon
uncovered and the sheriff sent for
and, upon his arrival, a corners
inquest was held at the graveside.
William Koontz retold his tale of
passing Felix and Wetzel as he
headed toward Jim Munshour's for a
dung fork. Koontz noted that he
thought it strange that they had
disappeared when he had turned
around and he now realized that they
had turned into the woods.
Charles
Troxel told the jury of seeing Felix
come out of Myer's woods, near where
the body was found. Though all the
facts were circumstantial, the
preponderance of evidence weighted
heavenly against Felix and the jury
voted that he be rearrested and
remitted into the hands of the
Frederick County sheriff.
As fate
would have it, William Ashbaught, a
constable from Carroll County who
had been assisting in the search for
Wetzel, met Felix as he was passing
by the area, headed toward
Emmitsburg and another night of
drinking.
Ashbaught
told Felix, "They've found Jim's
body." Felix's countenance flashed
red. "The hell they did." Replied
Felix and, without getting
directions, led Ashbaught off at a
double-quick pace directly to the
grave.
Silence
descended upon all as Felix
approached the grave. The human wall
that had surrounded the body now
parted, allowing Felix access to the
body. With a cigar in his mouth,
Felix presented an almost
disinterested attitude as he looked
down on the decaying remains of his
victim. "Somebody should put a
blanket over him." Felix finally
said.
A mummer of
disgust went up from the crowd.
Felix stood silently as the sheriff,
handcuffs at the ready, approached.
"Felix Munshour, I place you under
arrest for the murder of James
Wetzel." Felix once again loudly
protested his innocence. The sheriff
however listened to none of this and
promptly cuffed him.
As Felix was
marched away, those that remained
behind resumed their efforts to
disinter Wetzel's body. It was
quickly noted by all that, while the
ground around the grave was dry,
Wetzel's clothes were soaking wet,
as if they had been rained upon.
Once free,
the body was loaded onto a wagon and
carried a few hundred yards to
William Gilson's farm for closer
inspection. The entry wound,
characteristic of a shotgun blast,
was clearly visibly to all. The next
morning, Wetzel's body was
re-examined by Dr. Annon, who
confirmed the conclusions of the
night before. As now being well into
a state of advanced decay, and with
no further purpose for it, the body
was quickly buried at Tom's Creek
graveyard.
The efforts
of the community, which for the past
week had been focused on the search
for Jim, now shifted gears toward
the collection of evidence.
A search of
the area around the grave for clues
soon revealed boot prints. The
length and depth of the heel was
measured and recorded. Rentzel's
boots were procured and brought to
the scene of the crime. The distance
from the heel to the toe of the boot
fit the boot print near the death
scene to a tee. However, as the heel
of the boot had just been replaced,
it filled the indentation made by
the killer's heel with room to
spare.
Realizing
that the heels were new, a search
was conducted of Rentzel's boot
smith workshop for the old heels,
which were quickly found. The heels,
still covered with yellow clay, were
inserted into the track. They fit
perfectly. A further search of
Rentzel's property soon uncovered
the clothes Felix had worn the day
Jim had last been seen.
Two days
after the discovery of the body, the
pick ax supposedly used to dig the
grave was found near the fence line
separating Myer's woods from the
Annon farm. When the blade of the ax
was inserted into marks near the
grave, it fit. Upon its discovery,
Rentzel, with whom Felix was living,
came forward and identified it as
his. Later that week Jacob Myer's
came across a shovel near his fence
line, which Jim Munshour, Felix's
brother, laid claim to. Isaac
Fisher, the bartender at Motter's
Station, identified the broken green
bottle found near the grave as
similar to the bottle he had sold
Felix the day the murder had
supposedly had been committed.
Arrest & Trial
As word of
the discovery of Wetzel's body and
the arrest of Felix for his murder,
spread, neighbors began to recall
seemingly innocuous events involving
the two that had occurred on the day
of the murder. One of the pivotal
pieces of evidence against Felix,
however, was discovered almost by
accident. While out coon hunting
several Sundays after the arrest of
Felix, Charles Richardson, one of
Oliver Morrison's farm hands, came
across some papers stuffed into a
hole at the base of a tree. After
collecting what he could, Charles
turned the documents over to Oliver
Morrison.
Upon
realizing that the papers were
receipts for merchandise sold to
Wetzel, Oliver asked Charles to lead
him back to the tree. With the aid
of Isaac Bowers, another farm hand,
and William Motter, the hole was
widened, and additional papers,
including many with Wetzel's
signatures, were recovered.
Bowers,
realizing that this was the same
tree he had watched somebody sitting
under a few weeks earlier, reminded
Oliver Morrison about telling him.
Turning to his neighbor, William
Motter, Oliver noted that he
remembered seeing Felix come out of
the woods not far from the spot they
now stood, around 11 a.m. that same
day. Motter also recalled seeing
Felix, and recalled to all his
meeting with Felix and Felix's
cursing of him after he had
commented on Felix's dirty
appearance.
A week
before the trial was set to begin,
Wetzel's body was exhumed a second
time. Under the careful eye of Dr.
James Eichelberger, shotgun pellets
were removed from the skull and
compared to that used in the suspect
shotgun. The shot matched that used
by Felix's gun. Upon closer
inspection, the pellets on the right
side of the wound were bright, as if
they were new. Those to the left
were gray and, thus, much older.
By early
October, the state's prosecuting
attorney, John Motter, was ready to
proceed with his case against Felix.
On Wednesday, October 14, the trial
began. One hundred and eleven
witnesses were summoned in the case.
Due to the extreme publicity
surrounding the case, only three of
the first 12 potential jurors were
found not to have already formed an
opinion on the case. At total of 50
addition potential jurors had to be
questioned before the required
number of 12 was selected.
Upon the
seating of the jury, Motter quickly
got down to the business of
establishing Felix's motive for the
murder. Great efforts were taken to
clearly establish beyond a shadow of
a doubt, the time line of the day's
events. Corroborating evidence was
submitted to establish the exact
time that William Koontz had passed
the two on the road, the time of the
shot, when Charles Troxel spotted
Felix emerging from the woods, and
when Felix had arrived at Motter's
Station.
The trial,
with all its witnesses and
spectators from Emmitsburg,
proceeded in due order through the
week. On Friday evening, weary of
the week's events, several jury
members asked permission to visit a
local barbershop for shaves and
haircuts. When word of the
unauthorized activity reached the
judge, he declared a mistrial. The
citizens of Emmitsburg, who either
out of responsibility as a witness
or as curious bystanders, had
trekked to Frederick at their own
expense, burst into outrage. The
cries of shame and foul fell on deft
ears, and the judge directed Motter
to begin his case one again when the
new court's term began in late
December.
The Second Trial
On December
28, Felix Munshour's second trial
for the murder of James Wetzel
began. With winter now firmly
established in the area and with the
prospects that the case would lag,
the judge made the unusual decision
that the case would not only be
heard during regular day hours, but
at night as well. Once again howls
of protest went out from the
audience. It was hard enough making
the 25-mile trip to the court house
in the winter, now the residents of
Emmitsburg would have to face either
the danger of late night hacks home
or the added expense of procuring
rooms at local boarding houses for
the duration of the trial.
As he had
done in the first trial, Motter
quickly got down to weaving the
reams of circumstantial evidence
into a preponderance of proof. The
cross examination of state witnesses
by Capt. James McSherry, Felix's
attorney, uncovered several
inaccuracies, yet the inaccuracies
did not fall into a pattern of overt
deception and so, to many, the cross
examinations seemed to be futile at
best.
Upon the
resting of the state's case,
McSherry outline Felix's defense.
"No one," he noted, "had seen Felix
kill his cousin." Thus, the outcome
of the case would be decided upon
the strength of circumstantial
evidence-evidence he believed, he
could cast some doubt on.
Since much
had been made about Felix, having
been without means, suddenly having
money. McSherry called ____ Grimes
to the stand. Grimes testified that
Felix had recently brandished about
a wad of money "thick as my wrist."
In cross examination, Motter
successfully called into question
the time of this event, alluding
that it had taken place several
months earlier, after the sale of
Felix's parents farm and not
recently, as Grimes claimed.
McSherry
then called Josephine Shorb, who
also testified that she had seen
Munshour with "a wad of money."
Motter successfully impinged Shorb's
integrity when he questioned her
about statements she had made to
several witnesses after the first
trial that, if Felix had come to
her, she would have willing washed
the clothes he had worn after
killing Wetzel, so that the state
would not have them as evidence
against him.
McSherry
noted that the boot print that
matched Felix's boot had not been
found until Thursday, two days after
the discovery of the body. McSherry
pointed out that there had been many
people around the grave between the
day of the discovery of the body and
the discovery of the boot print and,
thus, there was a good chance that
it had been made by someone else.
Unable to
shake the time line established by
Motter, McSherry called Felix to the
stand. McSherry walked Felix through
the time line and at each pivotal
point, asked Felix if "he had done
so." "No sir, I did not go into the
woods with him, I left him at
Moser's gate and returned to home."
"No sir, I didn't kill him." "No
sir, I didn't take the pick from
Rentzel's shed." "No sir, I didn't
take the shovel from Jim's barn."
"No sir, I didn't stuff the papers
under the tree." On and on it went.
McSherry read each point of the
state's evidence against Felix and,
in each case, Felix denied it.
On
Wednesday, January 28, final
arguments were heard. Motter walked
the jury through the testimony that
had been presented. Step by step
Motter established that Wetzel had
last been seen heading into Myer's
woods with Felix, who had been
brandishing a shotgun; that, shortly
thereafter, a shot blast was heard
originating from the woods; that
Felix was shortly thereafter seen
coming out of the woods alone; and
that Felix had recently been
existing as a vagabond, but that,
immediately after Wetzel's
disappearance, Felix was awash in
cash.
McSherry, in
his closing comments, attacked the
circumstantial nature of the case.
He pointed out that no one had seen
the murder, that Felix had been seen
in town on the night the body had
supposedly been buried, and that his
boot had to be forced into the boot
print left by the killer.
At the close
of McSherry's comments, the court
gave the jury final instructions
and, at 9:19 p.m., the jury retired
to consider the evidence that had
been presented to it. All night long
the jury debated the merits of the
case, but, like that of many of the
residents of Emmitsburg, the final
decision was a foregone conclusion.
At 11:00 a.m. the next morning, the
jury notified the judge that hey had
reached a decision.
The Verdict
The word
that a decision had been made
quickly spread and those that had
been waiting in bars and rooming
houses made haste to procure a front
row seat. At 11:10 a.m. the jury
entered the room. Silence descended
upon the court as the judge turned
to the jury and asked, "Has the jury
reached a verdict?" "Yes, Your
Honor, we have. We find the
defendant guilty as charged." A
drone of background noise
immediately erupted from the
audience. Felix, who had expressed
satisfaction only hours before that
he would be found innocent, sat
motionless, staring directly ahead,
making eye contact with no one.
Like many
trials of today, the defense almost
immediately filed a motion for a new
trial based upon improper
instructions to the jury.
Specifically, the judge's
instruction to the jury that one of
two verdicts only could be found,
namely, "Murder in the first degree
or not guilty," was wrong, inasmuch
as the jury had the right to ring in
a verdict of guilty of murder in the
first degree, murder in the second
degree, manslaughter, or not guilty.
The court took the motion under
advisement, and for the remainder of
the year, the fate of Felix Munshour
was held in abeyance.
JUSTICE!
Felix's
application for a new trial was
eventually denied by the Court of
Appeals, and at 9:00 a.m., on
January 4, 1881, almost 16 months to
the day after the killing of James
Wetzel, Felix Munshour was brought
before Judge John Lynch for
sentencing. The judge quickly
dispensed with the preliminaries
and, speaking directly to Felix said
"Felix Munshour, you have been tried
and convicted by a jury of your
country of murder in the first
degree. Have you any reason to
assign why the court should not now
pronounce the sentence of the law
upon you?" to which Felix replied,
"None, sir; except that I am an
innocent man."
The judge
was unmoved by Felix's final
protestation of his innocence.
"Nevertheless," stated the judge, "I
deem it unnecessary to say anything
to you upon the nature of the
offense as you are possessed of
sufficient intelligence to
understand the character of the
crime of which you have been
convicted. The sentence of the court
is that you be taken in charge by
the sheriff of Frederick County, and
conveyed to the jail of Frederick
County until such time as the
Governor of Maryland shall appoint
for your execution, and there and
then be hanged by your neck until
you are dead, and may God have mercy
on your soul."
During the
delivery of the sentence, Felix
exhibited no visible emotion
whatever, not even a quivering of a
muscle on his face was noticeable.
He was neatly attired in a dark
suit, the coat of which was buttoned
closely near the top. His face was
cleanly shaven and he still wore his
large and handsome dark moustache.
On February
11, Felix was read the governor's
warrant for his execution on the 25
of March 1881. At the conclusion of
the reading, Felix, who had been
listening in the same an apparent
attitude of indifference that had
characterized his demeanor from the
first hour he was charged with the
crime, broke out into language
violently abusive and condemnatory
of his counsel.
The
confident hope and expectation that
Felix had so long indulged of
securing a new trial, which would
possibly change the awful judgment
into imprisonment, seemed at last to
have deserted him. Fortunately for
Felix, the writ of error that had
been filed by his counsel after his
sentencing had been overlooked and
the governor's warrant for execution
was annulled the following week.
Like his
previously appeal, however, the writ
of error filed on Felix's behalf was
also denied and a new warrant for
his execution was issued, and, on
November 11, 1881, Felix Munshour
was hanged.
Epilog
Lest you
have any doubt about the correctness
of the jury's decision, on April 7,
1884, while cleaning out the house
formally occupied by William Rentzel,
with whom Felix Munshour was
temporally staying at the time of
the murder, Welty's terrier went
under the shop and brought out an
old calfskin pocket book. When
opened, it contained a piece of
paper with James Wetzel signature on
it. The purse which Felix had
removed from Rentzel after his
death, the purse that he had gone
through while sitting under the tree
in Morrison's woods, the purse that
had remained missing for so long,
had finally been found. With it, any
doubt about the guilt of Felix
Munshour in the death of Jim Wetzel
that fateful summer day, 120 years
ago, was laid to rest forever.