Dead Woman’s Crossing: A tantalyzing confession
Layer Three
Recap: An inquest blamed the 1905 murder of Katie James on Fannie Norton, who denied responsibility – and then killed herself.
Katie was killed near Deer Creek northeast of Weatherford, Oklahoma. It didn’t take long for people to give the location its macabre name.
The first print mention is a blurb in the Custer County Republican of March 12, 1908: “Mr. Parr was circulating a petition for a bridge across Deer Creek at the Dead Woman’s crossing, last week.”
In July 1911, newspapers report a startling development in the Katie James murder: A couple arrested in Colorado may have been involved.
Under questioning, the man, Harry Hood, admits to stealing some money in Colorado. He also confesses to taking some horses and mules in New Mexico. Asked if that’s all, he says, “No, we murdered a woman some six years ago in Custer County, Oklahoma.”
Hood and his wife, Alta, are extradited to Raton, New Mexico, where the horses and mules were stolen. Katie James’s father, Henry DeWitt, goes there to interview Hood and returns to Oklahoma with remarkable sworn testimony.
Hood confirms Fannie Norton’s story that Katie boarded another wagon on the day she was killed. He also says his wife was friends with Norton and knew Norton committed suicide before she could “squeal.”
Hood also suggests Alta – not Norton – shot Katie. According to his testimony, Alta once told him to kill a family in Colorado and he said he was incapable of murdering anyone, to which she answered, “Pshaw, I killed a woman in Custer County six years ago and escaped just as easy.”
Hood’s knowledge of the details of the murder lead Oklahoma authorities to believe he and his wife were involved.
They ask New Mexico to send the couple to Oklahoma to face justice, anticipating a trial that will “eclipse all other court proceedings in Custer County,” according to an August 18 story in the Arapaho Bee.
Then… nothing.
The story drops from the headlines. There is no record of the Hoods going to Oklahoma. In 1970, Weatherford News reporter Gary Witcher contacts the county clerk’s office in Raton, New Mexico, and learns there are no records on Harry or Alta Hood, going back as far as 1908.
“Road to Nowhere” is the title of Witcher’s series of articles. But the Katie James murder has one more secret to share, as we’ll learn in Dead Woman’s Crossing Layer Four: How does a body lose its head?