Coroner John B. Schreiter of Carroll County said today William Prowant, 85 year old bachelor killed his bed-ridden 91 year old sister with a hammer Saturday night (December 6, 1947) and hanged himself. The coroner said a note found by the bed of Mrs. Catherine Musselman whose skull was crushed and coverd with a bloody scarf, was signed by Prowant and said he had killed his sister "in love" because he could not bear the thought that "she will be taken away from me again."
Schreiter said Mrs. Musselman had twice been placed in a mental institution because of nervous breakdowns. A bloody hammer was found on a kitchen table of the Prowant home yesterday and that Prowant's body, a chain around the neck, was found hanging from a crudely built scaffold in the garage. A pile of currency worth several hundred dollars was placed beside the note on Mrs. Musselmans bedside table.
The deaths apparently occurred Saturday night and were discovered by neighbors and became alarmed Sunday when no smoke issued from the chimney. Prowant, a retired rancher and his sister came to Chadwick 12 years ago from Kearney Neb. A neighbor Mrs. Beth Humbert told the coroner she was accustomed to dropping in on the couple daily but that for the last few days Mr. Prowant had refused her admittance saying his sister was about the same. For that reason, the neighbor said she kept an eye on the house. Schreiter said Mrs. Humbert related that about 7:30 Saturday night she saw Prowant sitting beside the sisters bed reading the Bible. A few minutes later Prowalt arose, pulled down all the shades in the house and turned out all the lights.
Dixon Evening Telegraph December 8, 1947
William Prowant born 11 January 1866 & Catherine born 09 May 1856 were two children
of the six children of William & Helena (Betchel) Prowant.
*** The newspaper spelled this name PROWALT but that is incorrect. The Prowant's were a well established family of Chadwick. Catherine Prowant married Aaron Musselman 24 April 1877. They had five children - William, Edward, Addison, Nora & Franklin.
Aaron M. Musselman died 14 April 1912 and is buried in Kearney Nebraska. Their son Franklin born 28 Nov 1888 is also buried in the Kearney Cemetery along with his wife Esther (Forney) Musselman. Frank died 20 Jul 1921 and she died 17 July 1921 both of blood poisoning.
