Thacker-Shafer Murder in Rockwood, Ohio

The Cincinnati Enquirer – Cincinnati, Ohio
15 June 1907, Sat  •  Page 1
Special Dispatch to the Enquirer

Huntington. W. Va., June 14 – Charles Shafer, who slew his wife, mother-in-law, and little son at Rockwood, Ohio, near here, yesterday afternoon, was, found dead today in the weeds, a mile from the scene of the crime.

His weapons were at his side. In his right band, tightly clutched in the death grip, was an empty bottle that contained carbolic acid. Indications are that Shafer had been dead only a few moments when discovered and that he took his life to evade the capture which he saw was certain.

Armed men in the district where the murders were committed had spent the night and early part of the day searching for Shafer. The woods in which he was found were surrounded so that escape was impossible.

Shafer’s mother, aged 60 years, is now under arrest, charged with complicity in the crime. Shafer’s three victims were given a funeral in the little church at Rockwood this afternoon and were buried side by side in the family cemetery.

Mrs. Shafer was formerly Miss Carrie Brammer. The Brammers are a highly respected family in Lawrence County, Ohio. A brother, Roy Brammer, is the manager of the Huntington Dispatch. Another brother, Ellis Brammer, is the chief clerk for the S. H. Nigh Lumber Company, of Catlettsburg. Kentucky.

When a ‘schoolteacher’ fell in love with Shafer and he betrayed her, it is said, but later married her. He did not provide well for her and they separated a number of times owing to this and his cruel treatment of her and the children. But her love for the man was so great that in each instance she forgave him and went back.

The row that brought on the tragedy came about over a broken windowpane that was knocked out by hailstone last Monday. Shafer did not know the window was broken until Wednesday. Then, when he found it out. he unmercifully whipped the little boy, accusing him of having broken the glass.

Mrs. Shafer started to explain how it was broken and Shafer knocked her down. Neighbors had him arrested. After the officer had taken Shafer away his wife left home and went with the children to her mother, fearing his vengeance should he be released or escape from the Constable. He returned home at o’clock at night in a rainstorm. The next day on their way to attend his trial the women were waylaid.

MOST FIENDISH OF MURDERERS
SLAYS WITH SHOTGUN

The Raleigh Herald – Beckley, West Virginia, 20 June 1907, Thu  •  Page 1

Charles Shafer of Rockwood, Ohio, atrociously Murders His Wife, Eight-Year-Old Son, Dangerously Wounds His Mother-in-Law – Then Takes His Own Life With Poison – Cause of the Crime

The most cold-blooded and atrocious murder ever recorded in the annals of Lawrence County, Ohio, and believed to be unparalleled in the history of Ohio was that committed yesterday afternoon by Charles Shafer when he shot his wife, eight-year-old, son and mother-in-law, killing the first two and seriously wounding the third.

The scene aa the awful tragedy was the public road about a mile from Rockwood, Ohio, just across the river from Huntington.

A simple recital of the crime almost surpasses belief. His wife, his mother-in-law, Mrs. George Thacker, and his two children, one a boy eight years old, and the other, a girl of a few months, were in a buggy driving from the home of Mrs. Thacker towards Rockwood.

When about a mile from that village and just opposite the home of John Yates, Mrs. Thacker, and her daughter saw Shafer coming in the opposite direction and seeing that he carried a shotgun and around his waist was strapped a belt filled with shells and remembered his threats to kill them all, they became alarmed, and at once stopped the horse and got out of the buggy.

Seeing what they were doing, Shafer quickened his pace and came up to them just as they had gotten out of the buggy. He said not a word, but pointed the gun at his wife, pulled the trigger, and discharged the contents of the shell, which was loaded with buckshot, full in the abdomen of his wife. She fell with a smothered groan to the road.

Paying no more attention to her he ran after his mother-in-law and eight-year-old son, Herschel, who, frightened almost to death, were trying to get to the house of John Yates, where they could gain a refuge.

Just as Mrs. Thacker had reached the house, Shafer overtook her and shot her. Fortunately, his aim was poor and Mrs. Thacker was not hit in a vital spot. She fell to the ground and Shafer, believing that she was dead, passed on and soon overtook his son.

Grabbing him roughly by his arm, he led the boy back, so frightened that he could not utter a word, and so paralyzed from fright that he had to be literally dragged along the road. He calmly loaded his shotgun.

He passed where Mrs. Thacker was lying and soon came to where his wife lay. With agony written in her every feature, and with Herculean will power she raised herself up as much as she could with her arms, and with a look that would have melted a heart of flint, begged that he spare their boy. His only answer was to hold the boy tightly with one hand and with the other place the muzzle of the gun next to the wife’s abdomen and fire.

Paying no heed to the dying moans, he started across the road, pulling the boy after him. His wife’s face was in his direction and unable to utter a word as she saw him drag their boy across a shallow ravine that runs along the road and enter the woods, which is very dense. He was soon lost from view.

In about five minutes a shot was heard, followed by a terrifying scream. Then all was silent. In about two minutes, time for Shafer to load his gun, another shot was heard, but there was no cry this time from the woods. The cry was from the mother dying on the road below.

His daughter’s life had been spared by the quick actions of her mother. When Mrs. Shafer started down the road to escape from her husband, she had the baby in her arms. When he shot her the baby was uninjured.

The dying mother kept the baby fast in her rapidly weakening arms, and when she saw her husband returning up the road, pulling her son along with him, and with a mother’s intuition, suspecting his purpose, she, with almost superhuman strength, raised up and threw the baby to the side of the road, where there is a field with high grass. The Shafer baby uttered not a sound and he made no effort to locate it.

The baby was not found until almost an hour after the shots were fired when the mother was able to tell in broken sentences where the baby was. Many hurried to the spot indicated by the mother and there the child was uninjured and smiling. Both Mrs. Thacker and Mrs. Shafer were conveyed to the neighboring house of John Yates, and medical aid was summoned.

Mrs. Shafer knew she was dying and asked that her baby be brought to her. With her heart breaking at the baby’s smile, she took the little daughter in her arms and said, “My boy is dead. I know. I heard the shot. I am dying. Charlie killed me. All the suffering I ever had, he caused.” With these words, uttered with clenched teeth, she passed away.

The fiendishness of the murder of his eight-year-old son is beyond human comprehension. A searching party, following the trail left by the dragging of the boy through the brush, soon came upon the lifeless form of Herschel Shafer. He was lying on his stomach his back were two gaping wounds.

About the wounds the coat which he wore had caught fire, showing that the fiend had thrown him to the ground, and after he had fallen on his face, had placed the gun directly to his back and fired. Stopping long enough to place another shell in the gun, he again fired into the back of the prostate boy, this time between the shoulder blades. Not a sound was heard except the report of the gun. When the search party arrived where the dead boy was lying, no sign of Shafer could be found.

The next day, however, a posse of citizens of the vicinity, armed with shotguns, rifles, and pistols, continuing the search for the murderer, found his body in the woods near the home of his mother, cold in death, the supposition is that he took his own life by administering poison upon realizing the impossibility of making his escape.

Mr. and Mrs. Shafer had lived unhappily together, and the husband, deserting his home and family, had lived several years in the west, to avoid prosecution for the brutal treatment of his wife. On his recent return their troubles broke out afresh, and Mrs. Shafer driven to desperation by the most revolting cruelty had her husband placed under arrest. He was released from custody on bond, and it was on the day the trial was to take place he committed his diabolical crime.

SUICIDE TO EVADE CAPTURE
Slayer of Wife, Mother – in – law and Son Found Dead by Posse
His Aged Mother was Arrested on Charge of Complicity in Murder Victims Buried Side by Side

Washington Post, Washington, District of Columbia, 15 June 1907, page 5

Special to The Washington Post Huntington W Va June 14 – Charles Shafer who murdered his wife, mother-in-law, and little son at Rockwood, Ohio, near here yesterday afternoon was found lying dead in the woods a mile from the scene of the crime with his weapons at his side.

In his right hand tightly clutched was an empty vial bearing a carbolic acid label. Indications point to the fact that Shafer had been dead only a few moments when discovered and that he took his life to evade the capture which he saw was certain.

The people of the district in which the crime was committed, armed to a man almost, spent the night and the early part of today searching for Schafer, and the woods in which he was discovered was surrounded so thoroughly as to render hope of escape impossible.

Shafer’s mother, a woman sixty years of age, is now under arrest, charged with complicity In the crime.

Shafer’s three victims were given a common funeral at the little church at Rockwood this afternoon and were buried side by side In the family cemetery.