Christian Stabel

Rome Sentinel Wed. evening May 13, 1891 pg. 2

CHRIS STABEL MISSING

Christopher Stabel of 139 W. North St. is missing. He has not been seen by any of his friends since Monday night and they are very anxious about him.

Mr. Stabel is 63 years old and is a carpenter. For some time past he has been working at his trade on a house being built by Christopher Oehm on his farm (the Henecker place, so called) near Fort Bull about 4 miles from this city. He was working there on Monday and during the day drank some whiskey and hard cider. He left his job about 5 o'clock in the afternoon and walked the RW&O RR track toward this city. He called at Anthony Baulig's canal grocery and saloon on the Erie Canal bank about 1 1/4 miles from this city at 7:30 and remained there until 9 o'clock. Mr. Baulig says that he and Stabel were great friends and they spent most of the time talking of old times. Stabel had 10 cents with which he bought a glass of beer for himself and one for Baulig. Afterward, Baulig returned the favor. About 8:30 Stabel began to talk boisterously and Baulig told him he better go home. Baulig says that Stabel was not very drunk. He says he saw him start toward the city and then he closed his house for the night. As Stabel didn't put in an appearance at his home, and had not been to Oehm's on Tuesday, his friends instituted a search for him. One of the places visited was a house a few rods last of Baulig's grocery. Two men and two women were found there. They said they did not know Stabel. They admitted that on Monday night their house was the scene of a fight in which Eugene Campbell was badly beaten by Thomas Pendergast. Previous to the fight they sent Joseph Letter, who claims the household as his own to Baulig's and bought some beer for the company of the men and women in the house.

It is thought Stabel staggered from the towpath on which he started toward home and fell in the canal. The canal is being dragged.

Note: Fort Bull was where Erie Canal Village is now located. If you walk the train tracks going toward Rome, there is a place where the canal and the tracks meet. This is about where Baulig's grocery/saloon was.

ROME SENTINEL Thursday evening May 14, 1891 pg. 2

FOUND IN THE CANAL

Christopher Stabel's body taken from the water near Baulig's grocery.

The dead body of Christopher Stabel was found this morning in the Erie Canal about 30 rods east of Anthony Baulig's canal grocery. The body was badly mangled. The top of the head was cut off above the ears and could not be found. There was a large gash across the stomach and the legs were cut badly. It is thought that the cutting was done by the wheels of tug boats. The body was found opposite the spot by the side of the RW&O RR track where on Tuesday evening Henry Stabel, a son of the drowned man found an empty whiskey bottle which he and family members recognized as the one which his father carried.

Between the RR and the canal is a barbwire fence which is in good repair. It runs down to within 18 to 20 inches of the canal. That point is the only one on the south side of the canal by which a person could walk to that part of the bank, opposite the place where the body was found , about 15 feet from the bank. Stabel had been missing since 8:40 Monday night, when he left Anthony Baulig's grocery. He was 63 years old and worked at the carpenter's trade. He resided at 139 W. North Street. He leaves his wife, 4 daughters, Mrs. John Stone, of Troy, Mrs. John E. Owens, and Mrs. Milton Bradley of Jackson, Mich., and Miss Susie Stabel of Rome, and 5 sons, Henry and Phillip of this city, and Christopher Jr. of Jackson Mich., Charles of Cassopolis, Mich., and James of Chicago.

The inquest is being conducted by Coroner Millington this afternoon.

ROME SENTINEL May 15, 1891 pg. 2

THE STABEL INQUEST

Yesterday afternoon Coroner Millington commenced an inquest in the case of Chris Stabel whose lifeless body was found in the Erie Canal. The jury was composed of W. Dewey Beach, Josiah Newey, Martin Marriot, J. H. O'Connor, R.H. Jones, O.D. Hagerty, B.G.S. Howland, O.T. Hayden, and E. L. Lewis.

Thomas Pendergast testified; I reside in Rome, have resided here 25 years; am a painter and paper hanger, know Chris Stabel; last saw him a month or six weeks ago; was not at William Letter's house on Monday, was there on Sunday, about one and one half hours; drove there with Archie Low; saw a woman named Martha, a girl named Nora, Letter and Eugene Campbell; had a scrap with Campbell Sunday and bruised his face; don't know of anyone else being hurt at Letter's house.

William Letter testified: I reside in West Rome; there is no number on my house; it is located between Dominick St. and Armstrong Avenue; am 56 years old; am a common laborer; took my meals at home Monday; was downtown during the day; went to bed between 7 and 8; heard no noise during the night; there was no wind; I wake readily; had no beer at my house after 6 Monday night, did not leave the home after 6; Martha Williams is a widow; she has kept house for me for 19 years, Nora Williams is her daughter. Nora has a little girl named Lulu Hetsel; Eugene Campbell was not at my house Monday; he was there Sunday and had a fight with Pendergast; the men were not there long; I never knew Chris Stabel; my house was open Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Martha Williams testified: I am a widow, make my home with Letter; have kept house for him 8 or 9 years; me and my daughter do the housework. I was at the house Monday ; Letter was down street part of the day; had supper about dark, went to bed between 7 and 9, our clock does not keep good time; my sister Mrs. Ruby Button, Henry Plato, and Charles Button called on me Monday evening; they came a little after 6; they did not stay long; no one else called during the day; was not acquainted with Stabel; was home on Sunday morning and saw the fight; Pendergast was intoxicated; saw him hit Campbell; heard no noise on Monday night.

Nora Williams testified: I live with my mother, Martha Williams, and William Letter; was at home May 11; no one called except Mr. and Mrs. Button and two small boysl do not know of any beer being in the house that night; never knew Stabel.

Anthony Baulig testified: I reside at 206 South Charles Street; my wife keeps a saloon; have known Chris Stabel 11 years; saw him alive on Monday evening; he came to my place; it was 7:30; he was not intoxicated; we visited and each drank two glasses of beer; he talked to me about a lawsuit he had and a lot he had bought in a cemetary at Wright's Settlement; about twenty minutes to nine he said good night and started for home; I think I saw him go past the snubbing post near the bridge; that was the last time I saw him alive; the bridge and canal are about 25 feet from my place; it was moonlight; there was no person around that I saw; heard no disturbance that night; during our talk Chris said he supposed that when he died all the loafers in Rome would come to his funeral; he said he thought horses could not draw him; I told him I would push. I can not identify the body found today. Letter did not come to me for beer Monday, but came Sunday. I gave him none because he was poor pay; I live 250 yards from Letter's house; the neighbor's complain a good deal about Letter's house.

Philip Stabel testified: My father Chris Stabel was home Sunday; he left home Monday morning for Oehm's ; father had a falling out with a man named Bellinger, a carpenter at Oehm's; father quit but went back again about a week ago; he came home from Oehm's every other night; we did not expect him home till Tuesday night. Oehm told me that father drank a pint of brandy and a pail of cider on Monday; and packed his tools and left; I helped drag the canal; the body was found at 9 o'clock this morning 150 or 200 feet east of the railroad bridge; (witness identified the watch and other property of his father); don't know what money he had; don't know of him having any trouble with anyone who would injure him; I found a bottle near the railroad track, there is a barb-wire fence between the spot and the canal; observed no tracks there.

Henry Stabel testified: I am a son of Chris Stabel; went to New London on Tuesday; stopped at Chris Oehm's to see father; they told me he went home Monday; when I returned home I found he had not been there; my brother and I searched for him; Oehm said he left his place at 5 pm on Monday, drunk; heard that Eugene Campbell had a fight at Baulig's Monday night. With Officer Smith, and others I called at Letter's house on Tuesday; we found two men and two women there. They told contradictory stories about themselves and the house; my father was 62 years old; I identified the body I pulled ashore as that of my father.

Thomas Casey testified that Eugene Campbell told him he had been whipped at Baulig's, would not say when it was.

Thomas Lynch testified; At 9:10 pm on Monday I was at Pat Dunn's Gilsey House, Letter came in and got a quart of beer.

The inquest was adjourned till 8 pm today.

(NOTE: I typed this as it was written in the paper, poor punctuation and all.)
My father, Bernie Staple, told me that his father, Francis Staple, was told by his father Philip Staple that he understood that Christian had something going with a woman. He also told him that Christian had $10 on him which would have been alot of money in 1891. Also, William Letter's house my have been a house of prostitution that were so common along the canal in those days.