The Mysterious Death of Helen Hepler

 

On the cold, dreary Monday morning of January 10, 1916, two sets of parents awoke to discover their children were missing. In a home on Garfield Avenue in Schuylkill Haven, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Mengle were looking for their 20-year-old son, Clayton. At approximately the same time, just across the Schuylkill River in the neighboring borough of Cressona, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hepler of Silliman Street were alarmed to discover that their 14-year-old daughter, Helen, was nowhere to be found. The Heplers and Mengles weren't sure where their children had gone, but of one thing they were certain-- that Clayton and Helen had run away together.

Both families had been dead set against the relationship and had refused to allow Clayton and Helen to get married, and so the lovers did what young, forbidden lovers have done since the dawn of time-- they left their homes under the cover of darkness and eloped. Those who knew the pair insisted they had gone to Maryland, where Helen's tender age wouldn't be a deterrent in obtaining a marriage license. Whether they ever reached Maryland is unknown; for three months no one saw or heard a thing from either Clayton or Helen. Supervisors at the Eastern Steel Mill, where Clayton had worked, had not heard from him. Whatever events took place during that time remains a mystery, but when the young lovers were finally discovered, many believed that Clayton and Helen had never made it out of sight of their homes.

It was around eight o'clock on the morning of April 5 when a 14-year-old schoolboy, Norman Nagle, saw something floating in the river behind the Bast Knitting Mill in Schuylkill Haven. The boy's excitement turned to horror when he realized it was a dead body, and he reported his find to a nearby resident. Armed with stout poles and rope, Daniel Reed and Samuel and Walter Bast disentangled the corpse from a pile of logs and debris and fished the body from the swirling, black water.

When Deputy Coroner Santee arrived on the scene from Cressona, he immediately suspected that the body was that of Clayton Mengle. Photographs and postcards found in the young man's red and black checkered overcoat seemed to verify the identity of the corpse. Henry Mengle, who was working at the Pennsylvania & Reading Railroad car shop at the time, was summoned to the scene and knew at once that it was his missing son. There was no doubt about it; Clayton was a handsome young man who took great pride in his appearance. Henry immediately recognized the blue suit, the gleaming tie pin, the gold pocketwatch and expensive cuff links. Clayton had been dressed in his Sunday best at the time of his death, which, according to the stopped pocketwatch, must've occurred at 6:30 in the morning. 

 Because of the advanced state of decay it was unclear if Clayton had sustained any injuries, and this led authorities to believe that Clayton and Helen had jumped into the icy water on the day of their disappearance after making a suicide pact. Rumor had it that a letter written by one of the missing youngsters, found in a tin box by children playing near the river, had described their plan to take their own lives by jumping from the Lehigh Valley railroad bridge, and the condition of the badly-decomposed body proved that it had been submerged in the water for quite some time. 

The river was immediately dragged for Helen's body, and even though the search continued for days, searchers were unable to locate the missing teenager. Meanwhile, an autopsy revealed that Clayton had not gone into the icy water unscathed; physicians discovered that his skull had been fractured, the bones of his cheek, nose and forehead crushed. There were several fractures in the bones of right arm, and several broken ribs. Teeth were missing, as if knocked out. These details presented authorities with a riddle-- had he been struck by a train while crossing the railroad bridge? And, if so, had Helen managed to escape the same grisly fate?

Of course, they could not rule out the possibility of suicide. Clayton's injuries could have been sustained from falling from a great height, and the bridge was sufficiently high enough. And while the Schuylkill River was swift, it was deceptively shallow, its bed strewn with jagged rocks and boulders. Until Helen Hepler could be found, the nature of Clayton's death would have to remain a mystery. Unfortunately, time was not on their side; the rotting remains of Clayton Mengle had to be buried at once. On Saturday, April 8, a funeral was held for the young man at the family home on Garfield Avenue.

 

A Startling Rumor

While state police from Pottsville were dragging the Schuylkill River for the body of 14-year-old Helen Hepler, evidence developed that Clayton Mengle was not the only man who had been in pursuit of Helen's affections. Had Clayton been murdered by a rival suitor? 

In the days that followed the discovery of the young man's body, reports came in from various locations across the state that Helen had been seen alive and well, though her parents strongly refuted this claim. Like most folks from Cressona and Schuylkill Haven who knew the parties involved, the Heplers were sold on the suicide pact theory. But was this belief rooted in fact, or rooted in a desire to protect their teenage daughter's reputation? Who was the real Helen Hepler? What had she seen? Where had she gone?

The suicide pact theory was also called into question when a prominent physician who had examined Clayton's body announced that it was unlikely that Clayton's injuries were caused by jumping into the river. It was his belief that the injuries were consistent with an act of violence. With little evidence to go on to support this theory, detectives turned their attention to the "suicide note", which had been found in a tin Tweed Linament box on the river bank. Appearing to have been written by a trembling hand, the note read:

On account of the circumstances we have decided to end our troubles. You can find our bodies in the river. C.M and H.H.

If the note had been a hoax, the perpetrator had gone through great trouble making it appear as if the letter had been written by frost-bitten fingers on a wintry night. The shaky penmanship would make comparing handwriting samples difficult, if not impossible. But the police had a plan; if the handwriting matched that of either Clayton or Helen, the river would be dragged all the way to Reading. If a match could not be made, they would continue their search on the assumption that Helen Hepler was alive-- and perhaps an accessory to murder.

 

A Breakthrough in the Investigation
 

A few days later it was determined that the note was indeed a fake, and the nature of the investigation shifted from a recovery operation to a missing person search. Police began running down every lead, no matter how far-fetched or fantastic. They explored the possibility that Helen Hepler may have had underworld connections, and might have been part of a human trafficking ring. Had Clayton been lured to his death by a teenager's seduction? They also wondered if maybe the truth might have been the reverse; perhaps Clayton had abducted the girl with the purpose of selling her into white slavery. Had the 14-year-old girl inflicted such gruesome injuries to Clayton while attempting to escape? While the grieving parents might have found either of these possibilities absurd, the fact remained that Schuylkill County, at the time, had an unsavory reputation for prostitution and gang activity. Because of these speculations, the "Mengle-Hepler Affair" became a sensation, and newspapers rushed into print every wild rumor (the Schuylkill Haven Call even went so far as to claim that the fake "suicide note" had been planted by a reporter from a rival paper, the Reading Telegram-News Times).

On April 13, a coroner's jury convened at the office of Dr. G.H. Moore and investigated the case from every angle, and concluded that there was no proof to support the claim that Clayton Mengle and Helen Hepler had made a suicide pact. Witnesses testified that both had been in good spirits, when last seen alive at seven o'clock on the evening of Sunday, January 9. When last seen, Clayton had left his friends at the corner of Garfield and Center Avenues in Schuylkill Haven and was proceeding toward Cressona. "I'll meet you downtown about nine o'clock," he told his friends as he departed. At approximately the same time, Helen was saying goodbye to her girl friends at the railroad crossing on Pottsville Street before proceeding toward Schuylkill Haven. According to Samuel Killian and Evan Steinbrunn, relatives of Clayton Mengle, they had witnessed Helen's father making threats of physical violence against Clayton. Mr. Hepler, however, denied these accusations, and said that he had nothing against Clayton except for his age.

Lorina Heffner, a friend of the missing girl, also provided some important details. Lorina testified that, on the evening of Monday, January 10, she found a woman's hat on the tracks by the north side of the railroad bridge. Lorina was positive that it was a blue Tipperary hat that had belonged to Helen Hepler. Lorina, who was with her friends at the time, thought nothing of it (she had not yet learned of Helen's disappearance), and left the hat on the ground. 

But the most interesting fact to emerge from the hearing was the fact that Helen had not withdrawn one cent from her bank account before her disappearance, and had left $4.80 in cash in her bedroom on the night she was last seen alive. This seemed to dispel the notion that she was planning to elope with Clayton Mengle.

 

The Schuylkill River as viewed from Landingville

 

A Feast for the Crows

Corporal Everett of the state police ordered another search of the river after retrieving the hat seen by Lorina Heffner on January 10. It was unclear if he had a double-suicide, a murder-suicide or an accident on his hands, but he had a feeling that Helen's body was somewhere in the Schuylkill River. For weeks the search continued, but nothing was found.

And then, on July 3, a workman from the C.A. Fisher coal washery in Landingville, midway between Schuylkill Haven and Auburn, made a horrendous discovery-- the body of a headless female on the canal bank. It was Paul Cogorno who made the find after observing a flock of crows and vultures feasting upon something. Cogorno ran to his house a short distance away, grabbed a shotgun, and began shooting at the birds. After the scavengers took flight, Cogorno waded through the murky water and coal dirt and found the body, which was located about 150 feet from the covered bridge at Landingville, where Main Street/Rt. 2011 presently crosses the river (the canal was filled in years later; the exact spot where the body was located is now a baseball field near the intersection of Main and Canal Streets). Cogorno informed a neighbor, Robert Eiler, who in turn informed the state police.

About ninety minutes later, Captain Wilhelm arrived on the scene, accompanied by the coroner and deputy coroner. By this time word of the discovery had spread, and a large gathering on onlookers flanked the banks of the river. The majority of the onlookers were female, and the Schuylkill Haven newspaper remarked that, "not withstanding the stench that arose from the decomposed body, the women remained until it was removed." It was also reported that the body had been so thoroughly devoured by birds and other animals that, at first, it was impossible to tell which end of the body was which. As for the head, it was not found until Captain Wilhelm and Coroner Moore had cut away the victim's skirt and sweater.

 

 

Charles Hepler was called upon to view the remains, but the body was so badly mangled and decomposed that he couldn't be sure whether or not it was his daughter. For that matter, he couldn't even be sure that what he was looking at was human. The Schuylkill Haven Call reported that the left arm and both legs were missing, and that all of the hair and scalp had become detached, leaving little more than a bare skull. The body found at Landingville was wearing a blue dress, and the locket, bracelet, buttons and other items found on the body were similar to Helen's, though the highly polluted, sulfuric water had eroded them so much that Mr. Hepler couldn't be certain they had belonged to Helen.  The remains were transported to the Schuylkill Haven almshouse, in the hope that Mrs. Hepler would be able to make the identification. She couldn't. It was a local merchant, W.L. McClarren, who finally examined the locket and declared that it had been the very one he had sold to Helen Hepler a week before her disappearance.

As for Coroner Moore, he was convinced that Helen Hepler had been found, and stated that it was his belief that Clayton and Helen had been walking the tracks when they were struck by a train, though no railroaders came forward to claim responsibility. None had recalled striking anything on the tracks on that fateful, mysterious morning, though one train crew did stop that day out of concern they may have struck something on the tracks. They walked the tracks all morning, but found nothing. Nonetheless, Moore declared there would be no inquest, stating that nothing could be learned from the remains. For years after the tragedy, many Schuykill County residents continued to have their doubts about what really happened to Clayton and Helen, though the Heplers and Mengles were content to put the matter to rest.

Helen Hepler's funeral took place at the family home on Silliman Street, and services were conducted by Rev. Schaeffer of St. Mark's Reformed Church. Her body was laid to rest in the Cressona cemetery on July 4, 1916. In a rather morbid coincidence, Paul Cogorna-- the workman who had found the body-- also happened to be the person who found one of the girl's missing legs, after it had been pulled up by the scraper line at the Landingville washery. As the body had been buried over a week earlier, Cogorna decided to throw it back into the water, where, in all probability, it remains to this day.

Sources/Further Reading:

Mount Carmel Item, April 5, 1916.
Lebanon Daily News, April 6, 1916.
Reading Times, April 6, 1916.
Harrisburg Daily Independent, April 6, 1916.
Schuylkill Haven Call, April 7, 1916.
Pottsville Republican, April 7, 1916.
Reading Times, April 8, 1916.
Reading Times, April 11, 1916.
Schuylkill Haven Call, April 14, 1916.
Pottsville Republican, July 3, 1916.
Pottsville Republican, July 5, 1916.
Schuylkill Haven Call, July 7, 1916.
Schuylkill Haven Call, July 14, 1916.