The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-01-09
LIFE
PRISONER, DIES
AFTER 23 YEARS
Undue Anxiety About Discovery
of Murderous Weapon Lead
to Prisoners Conviction
HAD MANY TIMES
BEEN DENIED PARDON
Crime of Nearly Quarter of Cen
fury Ago Recalled by Death
of Principal In Prison

Word reached this city today of the
death in the State prison, Wethers-
field. yesterday Afternoon, of Rudolph
Stoeffel, a life prisoner, sentenced by
Judge Prentice in the Fairfield County
Superior court on Oct. Is, 1889, upon
his plea of second degree murder. He
was 63 years of age. Heart failure
was the cause Of death.
The death of Stoeffe1 calls to the
minds of those whose memories cover
the last quarter century. one of the
most notable murder trials in the
criminal annals of the state. StOeffeI
stolidIy maintained his absolute inno-
cence of the crime curing a protract-
ed trial and succeeded in casting SO
much mystery about the case that d
jury disagreement resulted.
Only his own fear of possible dis
covery of further evidence led to the
unearthing of evidence that finally re-
him so strong that he finally agreed to
confess to the crime with the under
standing that he was to escape the
On June Z, 1889, Andrew ]. Peck, a
farmer in a remote section of New
town, was shot from ambush. He
Lockwood, supposedly his common
law wife, was the chief witness. She
testified that when che rushed out
after the shooting, Peck gaSped, Ru-
dolph did this and thereupon lapsed
into a senselesS condition and died
shortly after.
StoeffeI as the guilty man He and
Peck were neighbors. They had had
frequent quarrelS, and just preceding
the murder had disputed over the i'm
pounding of Stoeffel's cattle The ar
rest of StoeffeI however did not lead
to the expected unearthing of evidence
and there was grave DOUBT that con on
viction could be obtained until the
state, in an entirely unexpected way,
obtained the missing links
The County jail where Stoeffel was
incarcerat ted following the disa gree
ment of the jury was overcrowded:
Two WsstnaEt men. Carl Meyers and
sault, and owing to the congestion,
Movers was thrust into the cell with
the alleged murderer The two be-
| came friendly, and Stoeffel at length
made a confidant of his cell mate.
He confessed the murder to Meyers
and begged him to aid in covering up
traces of the crime He told that al
ter the murder he had thrown the
shot gun with which it was done, into
a thicket, and he feared this would be
discovered and would help in the sec
ond trial to fasten the crime on him.
He persuaded Meyers, on the COM
pletition of the latter's term, to go to
! Mrs. Stoeffe1 and help conceal the
All this was disclosed when the
state, surprising the defence with the
new found testimony, obtained a plea
IStoeffel's plan, Meyers and Mrs. Stoef-
feI discovered the shot gun, burned
the stock. and buried the barrel in a
garden beneath a cabbage bed. The
| lock and other remnants of the weap-
on they concealed in the walls OF the
house.
Meyers and Stetson exchanged con-
hdences, and before leaving the vicin-
| ity of Bridgeport, for Long Island,
they confessed what they knew Of the
murder to Rev. William Ritmann, pas
tor of the German Baptist church, and
asked his advice. He counselled them
proper authorities, but fearing the
outcome they fled to Long Island. 1t
was through the clergyman that the
authorities finally learned all these
detectives, gathered the remnants of
the gun, and forced confession from
Mrs. Stoeffe1.
After his sentence, Stoeffel discuss
he had lain in wait, in the shrubbery
| in front of his enemy'S home, from
11:3O p. M to $50 a. M and had
shot Peck as he was about to leave
grasshopper, said the murderer. de-
scribing the effect of his shot
| StoeffeI had been drinking cider
brandy freely the day before. and
was armed with the shot gun two
pistols and a butcher knife.
| Judge Prentice who sentenced Stoef-
fel has since become a member of the
Supreme court bench. The prisoners s
counsel were the late Judge David B.
Lockwood, and Judge George w.
| Wheeler, the latter now a supreme
court judge. The late Samuel Fessen-
den was the states attorney, and he
was assisted by John @. Chamberlain,
then Bridgeport's prosecuting attor-
ney, and Judge William o. Beecher,
| of Newtown.