The Hensel Case:
A Murder Mystery
Victim: Eva Jane VanDusen Hensel
Suspect: Charles Arthur Hensel (Her Husband)
Setting: A farm outside of Princeton, Illinois, August 30th, 1901
The quiet, rural town was shaken to its core in the autumn of 1901 when the gruesome murder of Eva Hensel came to light. The young woman's charred remains were discovered in the smoldering ashes of a granary fire, and suspicion soon fell upon her husband, Charles Hensel, a respected local. The evidence against him was circumstantial but damning – as the autopsy revealed Eva may have been killed before the fire took place. Charles maintained his innocence, claiming the fire was an accident and that he had rushed to get help, but the townspeople were not convinced. Making matters even more haunting was the work of a mysterious local medium who communicated with the spirit of Eva. What secrets did Eva impart through the thin veil separating life from death? Theories swirled that Charles had brutally strangled his wife during a heated argument, then attempted to cover up his heinous crime by setting the barn ablaze to destroy the evidence. The trial that followed captivated the entire region, as the prosecution methodically built their case against the accused murderer, presenting damning forensic evidence and testimony from witnesses who described Charles' suspicious behavior in the hours after the tragedy. Included in the group of 12 jurors were a few Tiskilwa natives: Frank Smucker, M.D. Kitterman, and Charles Mills. Was Charles guilty of murder? Read on for the chilling account from the local newspaper…
“Murder Trial Stirs Illinois County” – The Times, February 22, 1902
It was on the evening of August 30, 1901, that Mrs. Hensel met her death. Five months before she had married Hensel, who had two children. Hensel had hauled gravel that day and alleges he injured his back. That evening his wife rubbed it with liniment and he fell into a doze while lying on the lounge. He says he remembers Mrs. Hensel telling him that she would take the lamp and go to the granary-an old house eighty feet distant-and fill it from the five-gallon kerosene can stored there with the same amount of gasoline. That, he alleges, was the last time he saw her alive. He does not know how long he slept and when he awakened and did not hear his wife, he says he went to the rear dooryard and was horrified to see the interior of the granary ablaze. Inside the door five feet back, he said, he saw a dark object lying on the floor. Then, he says he ran to the telephone in his house and calling the Princeton exchange, notified the operator, and requested that his neighbors be informed of the fire and “that his wife was burning up.”
He then awakened his 9-year-old son, Harvey, and when Sanford Stiles and H.A. Johnson, neighbors, arrived they found him making frantic efforts to throw water over a corncrib twenty feet away and out of the path of the fire. Hensel is alleged to have pointed at the roaring furnace inside the granary and directing his finger at the dark object is said to have remarked, “She is in it.” The farmers secured poles and, after pushing the corner of the building away, dragged the charred body out…
Coroner W.M. Kaull was notified and held inquest. The verdict of the jury after it heard Hensel’s and Johnson’s testimony was that Mrs. Hensel’s death was “caused by an accident.”
Sensation after sensation followed in quick succession after the arrest of Hensel by former Sheriff Atherton Clark. On Oct. 1 friends of Hensel learned that State’s Attorney Porter and Coroner Kaull intended to visit Limerick cemetery in secret to exhume the body…
Check back for part two of this chilling true crime story
Part II
Before we continue on this tale of woe, we must travel back further in time to another unfortunate event: The death of one Mrs. Julius Gilham, stepmother to Charles Hensel’s first wife, Millie, who would later depart this world in 1896.
True Republican, 23 February, 1889
-Mrs. Julius Gilham, the wife of a farmer living a few miles north of Princeton, was accidentally shot in the head and killed the other day by her son-in-law, Charles Hensel. Hensel had married into the family only a few weeks ago and had just returned from his wedding tour…
Bureau County Tribue, 6 September, 1901
-Mrs. Hensel called to her husband, Charles, that there were some prairie chickens nearby and that perhaps he could shoot one. He went upstairs after his shotgun and stepped out through the kitchen door putting a cap on the gun when the charge exploded…Mrs. Gilham died two hours afterward.
Something over four years ago his [first] wife, Millie Hensel, died.
A year ago his house took fire and was consumed, and now has come this last and most terrible calamity.
The misfortunes that plagued Mr. Hensel were truly astonishing in their frequency and severity, leading many to wonder if he was simply the victim of an extraordinary string of bad luck or if something more nefarious was at play. From devastating house fires to debilitating illnesses, calamity after calamity seemed to befall him throughout his adult life, leaving his loved ones in a perpetual state of distress and heartbreak. Just when it seemed the poor man could catch a break, another tragedy would strike. The final and most perplexing blow came with the passing of his dear wife, Eva, an event shrouded in mystery and unanswered questions. It was only after the funeral, as authorities began digging deeper into the circumstances surrounding Eva's demise, that disturbing new evidence and witness testimony came to light, prompting the local Sheriff's Department and the State of Illinois to take the unprecedented step of exhuming her body in the hopes of uncovering the truth. As the investigation unfolded, a dark cloud of suspicion began to loom over Mr. Hensel, with some speculating that the string of calamities that had plagued him for years may not have been mere coincidence after all, but rather the result of a sinister plot orchestrated by the man himself. The road ahead was sure to be a difficult one, filled with painful revelations and the possibility that the man they had all known and trusted was not who he seemed.
Bureau County Tribune, 4 October, 1901
-It has been steadily stated and published that on the morning after the fire, the two five-gallon cans-the gasoline and kerosene cans-were found in tact, burned and blackened but not exploded.
A Loud Call
For Charles Gross
In 1897, he disappeared from Mr. Hensel’s House
Mr. Gross was a peddler who made his headquarters with Mr. Hensel…in 1987 he disappeared. Stirred by the storm cloud of doubt, distrust and suspicion that now clouds the past life of Mr. Hensel, the people of Northwest Bureau are now puzzled more than ever to account for the mysterious departure of Mr. Gross…
The bodies were starting to pile as high as the evidence against Mr. Hensel. The death of his mother-in-law and first wife and the disappearance of a farmhand. The revelation that Mrs. Eva Hensel had taken out not one, but two separate life insurance policies, each for a substantial sum of $2,000, in the mere weeks leading up to her untimely demise, cast a troubling shadow over the character and motives of her husband, Mr. Hensel. This suspicious timing immediately raised red flags, as it suggested a premeditated plan to profit from his wife's death through nefarious means. Investigators closely examined the policies, scrutinizing the fine print and circumstances surrounding their hasty procurement. The unusually large total coverage amount of $4,000 - a small fortune in those days - only heightened the sense of impropriety, leading many to speculate that Mr. Hensel may have had a hand in orchestrating his wife's demise in order to cash in on the lucrative payouts. With growing suspicion surrounding his potential involvement, the life insurance policies emerged as a key piece of evidence that contradicted Mr. Hensel's professed innocence and called into question the true nature of his relationship with the deceased. This unsettling revelation cast a dark cloud over the case, as authorities worked to uncover the full truth behind Mrs. Hensel's untimely passing and her husband's potential culpability.
Ultimately, Mr. Hensel was arrested and indicted on 10 counts and trial began in May, 1902.
Charles pleaded not guilty.
Check back for the final installment of The Hensel Murder Case
Part III
The Conclusion
Bureau County Tribune
May 24, 1902
A crowd of people numbering from forty to fifty persons gathered at noon Friday at the residence of Mr. Charles Hensel, who is on trial in the circuit court of Princeton for the murder of his second wife. They took spades and shovels with them for the purpose of making explorations concerning the alleged missing German peddler over whose whereabouts there is claimed to be a cloud of mystery.
The greater part of the time was spent in digging about the place and in waiting for the spiritualist to get the incentive as to a location. This she finally did, and those who were there say she was highly successful in what she set out to do. After what is termed as the ‘lost well’ was found, those present state they felt well repaid for their trouble.
The peddler, it will be remembered, is claimed to have left suddenly several years ago. Last fall, many rumors circulated after Mr. Hensel was placed in jail. The principal argument is that the peddler should be able to call with his whereabouts.
The spirit medium at one time went into a trance for the purpose of locating the bones of the peddler. Under her directions, members of the crowd dug about, making holes several feet deep without result. The spirit medium told the crowd, while in a trance, the Mr. Hensel had not only killed his second wife, but that he had killed two other persons and that their remains or bones would be found at the bottom of the old well. The medium said Mr. Hensel used a sledge hammer out by the row of willows, and dealt a violent blow that caused death.
She then went to the spot where Mrs. Hensel was found and said: ‘She struggled hard. He chased her and she ran into the little house. She struck him and he struck her in the back of the neck. He was terribly crazed. Then he poured kerosene on some boards and set them on fire.’
A search did find a well, covered over by rocks and board. After hours of digging, the group found no evidence of human remains.
Bureau County Tribune
June 13, 1902
“We the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder”
The group of 12 jurors, including 3 residents of Tiskilwa, deliberated overnight and passed their final judgement at 9 a.m. on June 11th. Among the key pieces of evidence were breaks in Eva’s neck, found during a second autopsy, that officials felt could not have been caused by a fallen board during the blaze. There was also the matter of Eva’s charred clothing, which Mr. Hensel quickly and quietly disposed of after the body was taken from the residence. Then, of course, the statement from the spiritual medium herself. Even though no remains were found on the property after an extensive search, the townsfolk couldn’t help but let their imaginations run wild.
“For an instant, Hensel sat bolt upright, staring straight ahead”
July 18, 1902
There has never yet been proven against this defendant the train of circumstances that establish his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. No bone has been proven to be broken by him. A broken bone was exhibited to which doctors couldn’t agree. Circumstances were proven that would account for that break.
Mrs. Hubbard, a lady who worked at the house, testified that Eva was in the habit of going out at night after dark to fill the lamps, filling the cans with oil, and that she was careless in regard to lighting matches around the gasoline tanks.
Then there was the testimony of the young child of Mr. Hensel. “Children and fools tell the truth” is an old adage with more wisdom than the prosecution. If that child’s testimony is true, then that man is innocent. It proved the relation to be kindly between those people, no motive for crime, no anger, and yet the jury disregarded it.
How was this trial met? It was met with vituperation. It was met by the baying of the hounds. It was met by the newspapers coming out with glaring headlines about the murder and being talked about til the echoes of the newsboys could be heard a mile away.
It was a jury of prejudice and population.
The case of Mr. Hensel was a complex and intriguing one, with many layers of mystery and uncertainty. Initially, it seemed that he had been spared the ultimate punishment, as the death penalty was not imposed, and he was instead sentenced to serve time at the State Penitentiary. This in itself suggested that perhaps there were mitigating circumstances or a lack of conclusive evidence that had swayed the judicial system to show leniency. However, the fact that he went on to marry for a third time upon his release only added to the intrigue - was this the action of a reformed man, or perhaps someone who had evaded true justice?
Adding further complexity was the detail that Mrs. Louise Hensel, his wife, outlived him by a full 16 years. This could be interpreted in multiple ways - was she a steadfast partner who stood by him despite his past transgressions? Or did she endure a troubled marriage with a man whose dark impulses were never fully healed? The uncertainty lingers, begging the question of whether Mr. Hensel was truly a murderer, or merely a victim of his own misfortune and the cruel twists of fate. It is impossible to render a definitive judgment - but the tangled web of details certainly paints a picture of a life shrouded in mystery and the eternal struggle between good and evil. The legacy of Mr. Hensel remains ambiguous, a puzzle that may never be fully solved.
