A
Horrible Story
Source:
Hannibal Mo Courier, February 6, 1869
The
most awful affair that ever occurred in Hannibal took place
yesterday forenoon. A man named Sebastian Hupfer, a German by
birth and a shoemaker by trade, killed his child during a fit of
insanity. The man in question has resided in Hannibal several
years, bearing the reputation of a cruel man to his family. His
wife left him some time since, it being found utterly impossible
to live with him. His conduct has been remarkably strange for a
long time, but was attributed to natural meanness, instead of a
species of insanity. Yesterday morning, as he states, he conceived
the idea that the devil was in his dog, and that by killing him he
would perform a righteous service. He accordingly dispatched the
canine. We believe this aroused a suspicion that all was not right
with him, and a policeman was sent for. The man having no apparent
symptoms of insanity or drunkenness, the officer left him, after
giving some advice. After the policeman had gone, the shoemaker
imagined the devil was in one of his children, a little girl 8
years of age. Calling her to him, he seized her, placed a strap
around her neck, threw her to the floor, placed his foot on her
head, and taking a knife, cut out her heart and swallowed the
coagulated blood. He was arrested some time after committing the
deed He was found in his own house with the door fastened. He
makes no attempt to conceal his guilt, but gives a straightforward
history of the affair, manifesting no regret at the occurrence. He
stated that by drinking the child’s blood he would never want
food, and that he felt justified in the course he had pursued. He
is pronounced by some, if not all, the medical faculty who have
examined him, as a monomaniac on the subject of religion. He has
not tasted food since committing the foul deed, claiming that he
will want no nourishment the remainder of his life. He will
probably be sent to the insane asylum. On any subject aside from
that of the murder he seems rational, but persists in justifying
himself in the perpetration of the act for which he is now
imprisoned. |