Mystery Solved

While we were in Utah a few weeks ago, we went to the new Church History Library next to the conference center. I was enthralled with all the old books, journals, newspapers and magazines that we were available to us. 

David and I put our detective skills to the test to see if we could find an old 1940s newspaper article about the murder of Mrs. Hallen. My grandma tells a story about my great-grandma's neighbor (Mrs. Hallen) being killed by an axe murderer and my great-grandma finding the body in the cellar. This story has whirled around the Hansen Family for years with several different versions being told by different cousins. I have always wondered what the true details of the story are. 

All the old newspapers and obituaries were on micro film. We started by looking through the cartridge with obituaries from 1940-1945. We weren't sure how to spell her last name and we didn't have her first name. Eventually, we came to the obituary of "Mrs. Anna C. Hallen - Killed by robber." We couldn't believe it, this had to be it! The obituary conveniently listed all the newspaper articles that mentioned Anna C. Hallen.  We quickly scribbled down all the newspaper references and David ran to the filing drawers to find the microfilm of those newspaper articles. 

We loaded the the microfilm containing The Salt Lake Tribune from December of 1940. We quickly scanned through the pages until we came to the front page of the Dec. 6 1940 issue which read, "Robber Slays S.L. Woman With Hatchet." I squealed with excitement, I couldn't believe we actually found it! We read all the newspaper articles and learned that the true version of the story is almost identical to the way my grandma tells it. Even the way my grandma describes Mrs. Hallen was exactly how the newspaper betrayed her.  I had so much fun solving this old mystery, I am beginning to wondering if my time in nursing school is a waste... I should probably be a detective instead :)