The house located at Na Klarove 135 was once the witness to a horrifying event. In 1815, it was housing the tavern of the not very well-off young innkeeper Josef Hoffman. One evening in the fall, the neighbors were surprised not to hear the usual sounds that normally can be heard outside a tavern, so they called the guards. Those stepped inside and what they saw was frightening. Personal belongings were covering the floor of the whole pub and in the middle laid the bestially murdered bodies of the young innkeeper, his wife and even their nine months old daughter with a broken head. An investigation was instigated and a suspect was found, with the victim’s blood on his clothes and even the murder weapon in his pocket.
His name was Jan Masson and at first it seemed he came from Sicily, but it was eventually clarified that he actually came from the Zatec region and that he was already responsible for numerous crimes, he was among others pursued for desertion. The sad story of the young family was
gradually revealed. Masson, who didn’t have any money, was drinking in the Hoffman’s tavern by putting his upper garments in pledge. He then demanded that the innkeeper give him his clothes back without paying. Hoffman refused to comply so Masson got up, murdered Hoffman without scruples and then also brutally killed his wife and baby daughter. He then tried to find some valuables in the house but with no luck, since the innkeeper didn’t belong to the cream of society and was definitely not wealthy.
During the trial, Masson proved cold-blooded and didn’t show any regret, answering to all questions by monosyllables. He was sentenced to death by hanging. He once tried to escape from the condemned cell by beating up the guard who had brought him food, but he was pacified and chained until the day of the execution. On the 26th of June he was executed by hanging in front of a crowd of onlookers next to the New Town Hall. And this is the end of the sad story about the House at the Little Black Deer.
