The
following article from The Buffalo Enquirer refers to Samuel O.
Crooker, a former resident of Boston, Norfolk County. His brothers are
residents of Boston now and returned on Tuesday from attending the
funeral.
Samuel
O. Crooker, who was brutally assaulted in the rear of his his little
bicycle shop, 100 Goodell Street, late Monday night, died at his home
shortly before 9 o'clock this mor-ning. Traumatic meningitis, resulting
from the man's wounds, was the immediate cause of death. Crooker's death
may change the charge against George Shaetzer of 636 Woodlawn Avenue,
the man charged with committing the assault from first degree assault,
to first degree murder.
Crooker
lived alone in a couple of rooms off his little shop. It was his custom
to go to the theater on Monday night. Last Monday night he went to the
Teck Theater. He reached home about 11 o'clock, and according to his
story, was just about to to enter his home when Shaetzer approached him.
He followed the old man into the place and asked Crooker for the money
which he claimed was due him. Crooker, it is said, refused to give him
money and told him to leave.
Shaetzer,
it is asserted, picked up a chair and struck the man in the face.
Crooker fell to the floor, blood pouring from his mouth and nose. The
blow knocked out several of Crooker's teeth and fractured his nose.
Crooker
then tried to get to his feet, and, it is said, his assailant again
struck him, felling him to the floor. The man again attempted to rise,
and again it is said, Shaetzer felled him with the chair. Then, it is
claimed, while he was on the floor, wallowing in his own blood, his
assailant became frenzied and pounded him repeatedly on the head with
the chair. Each time the man attempted to regain his feet, it is said,
Shaetzer knocked him down.
A
lamp was knocked to the floor in the scuffle, and a passing citizen
heard the crash and started toward the house. At that moment a man
rushed out the front door and started to run toward Ellicott Street. The
citizen went back to the shop and found the man lying on the floor
bathed in blood.
Dr.
A. G. Dellenbaugh, whose office is nearby, was hurriedly summoned. He
dressed Crooker's wounds and notified the police at the Pearl Street
station.
Detectives
were put on the trail of the assailant. In the meantime, Crooker
regained con-sciousness and told the police the man who assaulted him
was George Shaetzer of 636 Woodlawn Avenue. Two detectives went to the
man's home and arrested him. He was locked up in the county jail pending
the result of the assault.
According
to the police, Shaetzer admits beating Crooker. He claims that the man
owed him $6 for labor. He says he worked for Crooker as a repair man,
and that the money was coming to him for some time. He went to the home
on the night of the alleged assault, he claims, for the purpose of
collecting the money. The man refused to give him any money and told him
that none was coming to him. Whereupon, he claims, he picked up the
chair and "gave him a good beating."
Dr.
Dellenbaugh, the man's attending physician, said the man's head was
terribly incer-ated. At one time the physician thought that the skull
was fractured. There were eight frightful cuts on Crooker's head, and
they had to be stitched.
About
a year ago Crooker suffered from a stroke of paralysis on the right
side, and the doctor claims, his physical condition at the time of the
assault had a great deal to do with his death.
Crooker
grew steadily worse from the day of the assault, his condition being so
serious on Thursday afternoon, that Medical Examiner Dauser took his
ante-mortem statement. Last night, Crooker lapsed into unconsciousness.
Next
Tuesday afternoon at 3 o'clock Judge Murphy will begin an inquest into
Crooker's death, and this will determine the exact charge which Shaetzer
must answer.
Medical
Examiners Dauser and Howland held a post mortem examination on the body
at the morgue this afternoon. At the conclusion of the examination they
gave out the state-ment that death was due to meningitis, resulting from
blows on the head. Crooker's skull was not fractured, nor were any bones
broken. There were many lacerations and bruises on the body, but the
skull was of unusual thickness.
The
police claim Shaetzer admitted going to Crooker's home on the night of
the assault with the intention of "doing him up." If the
police can prove the case is one of premedi-tated assault, the charge
becomes first degree murder.
Crooker
was not an old man, as had been generally believed. He was 47 years old.
Crooker has a married son in Buffalo.
