Murder At the Almshouse
Murder At the Almshouse

Reported in the New Jersey Mirror Aug 2 1893:
What appears to have been a deliberate murder was perpetrated at the County Almshouse, on Saturday, the victim being James Reynolds, a feeble old man in his 75th year. Charles Hunter, who committed the deed, is a muscular colored man about 28 years old. There seems to have been no just cause or provocation for the murder. Hunter is subject to fits of epilepsy and previous to and after an attack becomes sullen and of an ugly disposition. This was his condition on Saturday morning. Steward Gaskill put him at work unloading coal and then left the place for Camden upon business. Hunter began to grumble and finally quit work, saying he would do no work unless he was paid for it because they were hiring tramps right under his nose and that there was going to be trouble before night.
No further attention was paid to him by those who were at work or loitering about the premises. Just about the dinner hour a body was heard to fall in the hallway, followed by groans. Joseph George, a colored inmate, rushed to the spot and saw old man Reynolds lying upon the floor in a pool of blood. Hunter stood near by, gazing intently upon the body, still retaining a big pocket knife in his hand, the instrument with which he had committed the deed. The old man died almost instantly, as he never spoke a word after he fell. When George upbraided Hunter for his terrible crime he replied very unconcernedly "I intended to do it." He made a similar reply to Mrs. Gaskill, the Steward's wife, when she spoke to him about it. When it became known that a murder had been committed, there was some excitement about the premises, but Hunter made no effort to escape. Then a scuffle ensued to capture him and Joe Ellis, the hostler, says he acted very ugly and that Joe Clatts, the foreman, had to knock him down once on the way to the cell. Steward Gaskill had not returned home when the affray occurred. Upon his return he immediately drove back to Pemberton and had a warrant issued by Justice Benjamin White for Hunter's arrest.
He was brought to Mount Holly, on Monday morning, by Constable Frank Blanks and lodged in jail. He seemed in good spirits and said he committed the deed in self-defense. On Monday, Coroner John J. Kelley, of Bordentown held the inquest, having viewed the body on Saturday afternoon shortly after death. The following jury was impaneled, all citizens of Pemberton:

Accompanied by Dr. John W. Webb, of Pemberton, and Dr. Edward E. French, of Bordentown, they went to the Almshouse, where a post-mortem examination of the body was made and the heart was removed. In the afternoon the jury sat at the Pemberton Inn to hear such evidence as might be given regarding the affair. Prosecutor Budd was present, representing the State, Samuel A. Atkinson, of Mount Holly, who will defend Hunter, and Justice White wrote down the testimony for preservation. There were but two witnesses. Joseph George, colored, was called upon first to testify. He gave the Bible a resounding smack as he took the oath and waved his arms in military salute to the Coroner as a notification that he was ready to tell what he knew. Joseph was voluble and replied to all questions in a manner that showed he believed everything he was saying.
He said:
"I have lived at the County House for 13 or 14 years. I was in the stable when the affair happened, but ran out at once and saw the old man lying dead near the door of the hall. It was about dinner time. Charley Hunter stood near the body, his eyes fastened upon it. Blood was running from the wound upon the floor. Hunter didn't look up when I came near and didn't say a word. I picked up a knife in the hallway while the others were trying to catch Hunter. The knife was closed when I found it. I dropped it in my pocket and took it to Mrs. Gaskill."
The witness was shown two knives, picked up at the scene, and identified the one he had found.
"I never heard Hunter make any threats against Reynolds. He was a good-natured old fellow and we all had fun with him. I saw blood in Hunter's eye that morning just as if he had been on a terrible drunk, but I didn't think he was going to kill anyone. He seemed to have something on his mind. He helped unload some coal in the morning, but quit work later, saying he wouldn't work any more."
Joseph Ellis, the hostler at the Almshouse was the next witness. Joe had his individual opinion of Hunter and he showed plainly by his evidence that he believed Hunter to be a bad man. He said:
"I have been employed at the place about 18 months. I was coming from the barn and heard Reynolds fall and groan, when I got to the old man he had drawn his last breath. I went inside and saw Hunter standing near the old man's body with an open knife in his hand. I says "Charlie, that man's dead. What did you do that for ?" He answered back, "I intended to do it." He walked around there with the knife open. Mrs. Gaskill came out and told him he ought not to have done it. He said to her the same as to me, "I intended to do it." He had rags wrapped around the handle of the knife. One day last week we sat out under the trees on the lawn when Hunter asked me whether he would go to heaven if he killed any one. I told him I didn't know, as I had never been there. "He's a bad nigger," exclaimed the witness, "and no crazy nigger either." Resuming his testimony he said Hunter kept the knife until Joe Clatts came in.
Two knives were shown witness both of which were found upon the floor immediately after the murder, one belonging to Hunter and the other to Reynolds. Witness picked out Hunter's knife at once. Continuing(,) witness said the boss put Hunter at work in the morning unloading coal. Hunter was in a bad humor and said there is going to be trouble here to-day. After a little while he knocked off saying he wouldn't work for nothing when they hired tramps right under his nose. "It ain't the first dirty trick he's played up there," put in Joe again on his own account. "He bit a piece out of Ed Emmon's cheek once and another time he bruised Joe Branson up scandalous." Continuing(,) he said Tom Davis, Joe Clatts and himself put Hunter in a cell. He struck Joe Clatts once on the way and Clatts knocked him down. Hunter had fits but not very often. He would just fall over, but never offered to fight. He had not had any fits that day and none for three or four weeks before. He does not drink. Dr. Edward E. French, of Bordentown, testified that he assisted Dr. J. W. Webb, of Pemberton, in making a postmortem examination of the body. They found that a sharp instrument had entered the right breast about an inch from the breastbone, between the second and third ribs, penetrating the right auricle of the heart. The wound was fully 3 1/2 inches in length. The heart was produced and the wound pointed out and described to the jury. This closed the evidence, and the jury, after a short deliberation, returned the following verdict: We do find that James Reynolds came to his death by a stab penetrating the right auricle of the heart by a knife in the hands of Charles Hunter, on the 29th day of July, A. D., 1893, at the Burlington County Almshouse. Hunter has been an inmate of the almshouse for about five years, and has never caused any trouble before. Prior to that he lived in Mt. Holly with the late Dr. Grigg, who obtained him from the almshouse. Steward Gaskill said later that Joe Ellis, one of the witnesses at the inquest, had no business to say that Hunter was "a bad nigger." It was not so. He also said that Hunter had an epileptic fit in his room the night before the crime was committed. Had he known of this on Saturday morning Hunter would have been locked up as he is considered dangerous after such attacks. James Reynolds, the old man whom he killed, came to the almshouse several years ago from the neighborhood of Recklesstown, and for many years drove the stage between Bordentown and New Egypt. He has well-to-do relatives in Bordentown. Mr. Gaskill says that Saturday's shocking affair is the only serious occurrence that has taken place since he has been Steward of the institution. Hunter increases the number of persons in the jail, held for murder, to three. A significant circumstance, and one which may be used in Hunter's favor, is that when his knife was picked up the blade was closed, while the blade of the one belonging to Reynolds was open. As no one was present when the stabbing occurred it is not known whether Reynolds had his knife out in self-defence or whether the affair was the outcome of a quarrel.