The Newtown bee., 1889-10-25
RUDOLPH'S CRIME.
He Pleads Guilty and Receives
 a Life Sentence.
Rudolph Stoeffel Dogs Andrew J. Peek's Steps for Months, Watches for Him All Night and Shoots Him
 Down in the Morning Like Rat.
 How the Crime was Unearthed.

Greatly to the surprise of all save those most intimately connected with the case, Rudolph Stoeffel was brought from the county jail to the Superior court room in the Bridgeport court house on the afternoon of Friday, October 12 and put to plead on the charge of the wilful murder of Andrew J. Peck. In voice which, despite his efforts to steady it., trembled with emotion, he answered :: "Guilty of murder in the second degree" :" The penalty for this is life imprisonment in the State prison at Wethersfield and to this he was at once sentenced by Judge Prentice, then on the bench. He was taken back to jail, there to remain few days before being lodged in State prison.
 Sufficient evidence to have hung him Rudolph's lawyers, seeing the utter futil- ity of an attempt at defense, yielded to the inevitable and advised Rudolph to plead guilty, if he would save his neck This evidence came into the possession of the State through chain of circum- stances having it's origin in mere acci dent. When Rudolph was re-committed to jail to await a new trial, after the dis agreement of the jury in March, 1889, public opinion leaned in his favor and it was doubted by many if he was ever brought to trial d second time. Rudolph himself seems to have shared in this be- lief, for he became more communicative to his fellow prisoners. The jail was sad ly overcrowded and it was necessary to place two men in nearly every cell. Ru- dolph's room mate was Carl Meyers, d young German, who, with William Stet- son, was sent up from Westport charged with manslaughter To him, Rudolph told the story of the murder, freely ack- nowledging the crime and urging him to see ''the old woman" (Mrs Stoef1el) and get her to ''tix" the gun. When Meyers was released, he lost no time in doing so. He and Mrs Stoeffel procured the gun, which, after an intellectual search, she had found by accident where Rudolph had hidden it, only 12 feet from the beat en path between Rudolph's and Peck's and midway between the two houses She had then secreted it in the woods With Meyers help, she splintered ant burned the stock, buried the lock and the
 metal part of the stock ill the cellar ano placed the barrel IS inches deep in the garden, planting d bed of cabbages over it. Stetson, after serving out his sen tence, joined them, for he, too, had beer taken into Rudolph's confidence. The two men remained in the vicinity until late in the Summer; hen,apparently be, coming conscience smitten, they went tC Bridgeport and told their story to Rev William Ritzmann, pastor of the German Baptist church. He advised them to ge at once to the Newtown authorities but they declined, having had enough they said, of American law. They also refused to tell their story to Lawyer Chamberlain and hastily left town. Rev MT RitZmann at once communicated theiI statement to Lawyer Chamberlain, who placed it before State Attorney Fessen- den. Meyers was traced to Promised Land, l.. l., where Detective Esten and Sheriff Hayes made an unsuccessful search for him. Although assured by 1 the proprietor of the mill that no such person was there, Esten returned later with Sheriff Driscoll of Westport, who knew Meyers :; but he recognized Driscoll and fled. He was placed under surveil- lance on his return and q German detect I
 i've worked, ate and slept at his side, ob- taining from him the story as he had told it to Rev MT Ritzmann. Stetson . who was found at Northport, l.. l., was similarly guarded.
 Armed with this information, Sherif Glover, Detective Esten and Constable James Kelly visited Mrs Stoeffel on Sun day, September and said that Car
 Meyers had given the whole thing away |that he had told Bridgeport people abou hiding the gun in the garden and tha they wanted it. She at last owned III
 that Rudolph had shot Peck. She des
 cribed the fixing of the gun and offer
 ed to show where it was hidden. Sh had been standing ill the doorway whil
 talking and now stepped out into tn
 garden to find the gun. As the officer followed, a fellow named Abram Davi stole from behind the door, hastened t : Bedding Ridge and told Henry White N head and others of the discovery of tn gun. In this way, the newspapers an i, Rudolph got hold of what should hay ! been profound secret. The gun, how ever. was found, badly rusted and wa brought to Newtown. At Judge Beecf er's office, it was afterward identified, a
 far. as possible, by Michael Turner an
 E. Victor Swartz, who had sold Rudolp
 gun which could not be found after tn
 murder
 On Tuesday, September 3 Judge Beecf
 CT proceeded to Easton and obtained tn
 sworn statement of James 5. Tyler, Rt l dolph's neighbor. Tyler was 10th to sa 5 anything more than had been brougf
 out by his testimony at the first trial, 3
 he did not want to give evidence ths e would cause Rudolph to hang. Agaii ' he feared that, if the evidence was nc
 sufficient to warrant d conviction, R'
 dolph would some day regain his ibert , and hunt him down. When assured tn; e both Stoeffel and his wife had confesse' [. he gave his story. He saw RudolE
 [come into his house about ten minut'
 past (, the morning Peck was shot. | n was soon called up there and RudolI a asked him to hoe his potatoes, sayil is that he was sick and afraid he would di
 Tyler told him that he was sick, too al