|
‹
Page 2
Upon
arrival, nothing seemed out of the ordinary; however, no one had answered
the door or responded to their calls. A desperate search ensued. Upon
entering the cabin, they found no sign of Jenny or the children but
did find evidence of some kind of scuffle.
Two chairs were found overturned and a small spot of blood was on
the floor. Immediately all had thought the worst and felt that any
hope of finding them alive were pretty slim.
Suddenly, the sound of a sob was heard coming from under a bed. The
party was quick to find five year old Temple hiding under the bed
and scared near to death. The child kept trying to talk but a few
broken sentences was all he could utter. He was never able to give
a coherent account of what had happen to his mother. By the next morning
word had spread throughout the countryside that Jenny Papworth had
been killed. Everyone gathered at the Papworth cabin and a search
party was quickly organized.
A man by the name of Brownlow, although, there is some question if
that was his real name, lived on the Bosque river about five miles
from the Papworths. He was called a “coffee cooler”, a name given
to the type of man who, during the civil war, found more reason to
stay home although he was able bodied enough to fight.
Brownlow was a large obnoxious character that was good at pointing
fingers and was known to have a coward’s temper. He immediately blamed
the Comanche for the murder or kidnapping of Jenny and the baby; however,
there had been no reports of Comanche in the county so many doubted
his claims.
Brownlow made such a yelling stink to quickly blame Indians that it
raised an eyebrow or two and some of the locals began to suspect him
of the deed. The suspicion grew when a quirt, belonging to Brownlow
was found near the Papworth cabin. Brownlow said he had been by the
day before to ask Jenny about some stray cattle and there was no way
to disprove his statement. So the party departed in pursuit of Comanche
but no trail could be found nor any sign of hostile Indians.
Two weeks later, Charlie returned to discover his world had crumbled.
He was in great despair for many weeks. Charlie was told that Indians
had probably taken or murdered his wife and baby. Temple; however,
told his father that the man was white and spoke English. Once Charlie
was able to accept his great loss, he and Temple tried to return to
a normal life in the cabin. Charlie, unable to quiet his mind, began
to turn to thoughts of revenge. He too grew to suspect Brownlow. He
knew the man’s reputation to be tainted.
Back in those days Texas was a land of
the six-gun and ones own justice. Matters went from bad to worse in
the region when groups of local men formed committees and became vigilantes
attempting to put an end to a rash of horse and cattle rustling. Taking
the law into their own hands they often proved more lawless than justified
as they raided in the night gathering suspected thieves, hanging them
on the spot.
Brownlow knew he was under suspicion and his fear grew. He knew he
needed to take the focus off of himself, and soon began to stir up
strife in the territory against Charlie Papworth. Brownlow began to
spread rumors that Charlie was a horse thief and rustler and should
be dealt with.
Most folks refused to believe Brownlow but the seed of suspicion had
been planted and began to spread; especially among those new to the
region who didn’t know Charlie.
Late one night, about 1867, a vigilante group raided the area, going
from house to house near the town of Putnam, dragging men under suspicion
out of their beds for their punishment. Near daybreak the vigilantes
came upon the Papworth place. Several hooded men drug Charlie from
his bed, tied his hands behind his back and forced him to mount a
horse.
Temple fought desperately to save his father. The leader wanted to
kill the boy as well but the other vigilantes had scruples about killing
innocent children and refused to do so. Charlie knew the leader’s
voice to be that of none other than Brownlow.
Soon Charlie and six other men were taken down to the big pecan tree
near the creek and hanged by the neck one at a time, with Charlie
Papworth being the last to be strung up. The light of the morning
began to shine and the men made a hasty retreat as not to be seen
wearing their hooded disguises.
Immediately, Temple ran to the tree, which was his climbing tree.
He quickly retrieved the pocketknife from his father’s pants and cut
his father down. After regaining his strength, Charlie cut the other
six men down but he was too late. Charlie Papworth was the only one
to survive. The very next day, fearing the men would return, Charlie
took Temple, borrowed a horse from Mr. Keith and road off to the Oklahoma
territory never to return.
Three of the men hanged at the Papworth cabin were thought to be totally
innocent of any cattle or horse thieving. It is believed Brownlow
selected them in a scheme that would result in the hanging of Charlie
Papworth.
Brownlow soon heard that Charlie was alive. In fear for his life he
went to the town of Hamilton
and in front of the local constable attempted to steal a pair of shoes.
He was arrested and locked up for three months. Upon his release he
repeated the offense and was again locked up. He did this several
times to insure his security in the event Charlie Papworth came looking
for him.
It
was in the early 1870’s, when Mr. Keith, who lived about four miles
from the McDow and the Papworth cabin, allowed his cows to graze over
the open land. They would always end up down at the McDow hole in
the summer where there was cool water.
Being that Mr. Keith also had the chore of hauling water from the
McDow back to his cabin, he and his 13-year-old son decided to stay
a few days at the abandoned Papworth cabin to save time while the
cattle grazed.
The first night in the cabin, Mr. Keith was awakened by scratching
at the front door and the feeling of someone lurking about in the
house, but he could find no one. He also experienced a cold chill
in the cabin and found that very strange for it was August.
The second night was a night he and his son would never forget. Sometime
during the night he was again awaken by the sound of scratching at
the front door, he got up to open the door and was not ready for what
he was about to encounter. There stood Jenny Papworth with her baby
in her arms, he was shocked, and called out her name, “Jenny, is that
you?" She then began to scream in horror and then disappeared.
Mr. Kieth and his son were terrified and immediately left through
a rear window, never to return. ... next
page
© Bob
Hopkins
More Texas Ghosts |
|
|
HOME
