OBIT: Charles SUDER, 1890, Blair County, PA

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SIX STABS IN HIS THROAT
A GHASTLY DISCOVERY MADE AT DUNCANSVILLE.
Charles Suders Found Lying in the Waters of Blair Creek by a Boy at an 
Early Hour Yesterday Morning. - Opinions as to the Cause of His Death 
Differ - The Coroner Investigating.
SOME PERSONS THINK THERE WAS FOUL PLAY.
Others are of the Opinion That He Took His Own Life While Suffering 
from Melancholia.

  Coroner Poet, of this city, was summoned to Duncansville yesterday 
morning to hold an inquest on the body of a man who was identified as 
Charles Suder, or Suters, and who had been found in Blair creek at 
about half-past 7 o'clock in the morning.  On his arrival he 
impannelled the following jury: J. K. Shoenfelt, foreman; Lyman Price, 
Joseph A. Vaughn, Scott Gibboney, J. T. Akers and Dr. McCreedy.  Before 
arriving at a conclusion, however, the jury adjourned until today.
  The discovery of the body created a great excitement in Duncansville 
and the cause of the death is not positively known, some being of the 
opinion that there was foul play while others, and they are in the 
majority, lean toward the belief that the unfortunate man took his own 
life.  It was about half-past 7 o'clock when a lad named McKillip saw 
what he supposed to be an empty hat in the run midway between the 
culvert, which did service in the days of the old Portage railroad, and 
the turnpike.  Going closer, he saw the man's body.  The hat was upon 
his head, and he lay face downward in the water, only his ear being 
above it.  The boy gave the alarm, and Mr. Joseph Garrigan and others 
pulled the body out.  Then it was that the discovery was made that 
there were a number of stabs in the dead man's neck, and Drs. McCreedy 
and Lindsey made an examination of them.  Two were on the right side of 
the neck in the jugular vein; one of these was an inch and a quarter 
deep and the other one-half inch deep, the third one inch, and the 
fourth one-quarter of an inch.  These later had also struck the 
jugular.
  The man was without coat, vest or shoes.  He had no money in his 
pocket and in his pocket-book the only things found were a pair of cuff 
buttons and a shirt button.  In one pocket was a knife.  It was rumored 
that a coat and pair of shoes had been found at the bluff which is on 
the Hollidaysburg road and near the Y Switches, but the rumor could not 
be verified last evening.  It is said that on Saturday the man was in 
Hollidaysburg.  A lady whose home is in Duncansville stated that just 
about daylight yesterday morning she saw a man coming out of a stable 
which is near the creek.  He was in his shirt sleeves but she could not 
identify the dead man as being the person whom she saw.  Where the body 
was found the water is about eighteen inches deep.  There were no marks 
of any kind whatever, nor were there any traces of blood along the 
shores.  Blood was found along one part of the old Portage road at the 
culvert, but this was explained as having been made by a boy who had 
met with an accident.  If there was any struggle there were no traces 
thereof as would likely have been had there been foul play, and on the 
other hand if it were suicide the stabbing must have been done in the 
water, which removed all trace of blood.
  The deceased was about 50 years of age and evidently a native of 
Blair county.  He was a soldier in the late war, being a member of the 
One Hundred and Twenty-fifth regiment.  His remains were taken charge 
of by the Grand Army post of Duncansville.  He was a plasterer by trade 
and also at one time taught school.  His wife is dead, but he has a 
daughter, who resides with his mother-in-law at Kernville, Cambria 
county.  He also has two other sons and two daughters, but their 
residences are not known.
  One feature of the case is yet to be explained.  On Friday night 
Officers Calderwood and Wynekoop were called to the residence of Mrs. 
King, 2410 Broad street, to take charge of a man who had come into the 
house and was acting in an odd manner.  He was taken to the city 
building and locked up, as he gave symptoms of being mentally 
unbalanced.  One of the ideas which had taken hold of him was that the 
Knights of Labor wanted to kill him.  On Saturday Mayor Burchfield 
conversed with the man who said his name was Charles Suder and that he 
had been a soldier in Captain McGraw's company.  As a plasterer, he 
recently worked on the general superintendent's building in Altoona.  
With other things which he had in his possession was a screwdriver, 
which he explained he used in repairing sewing machines.  The mayor saw 
from the man's talk that he was not altogether in his right mind, and 
therefore notified the almshouse authorities.  Suder was taken to that 
institution on Saturday afternoon.  How he got away from there is not 
known, but it is supposed that not being violent, he threw the 
authorities off their guard and walked out.

Morning Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Monday, November 10, 1890

Where Charles Suter Stabbed Himself.

  Our Hollidaysburg correspondent writes: Charles Suter, the 
unfortunate man whose dead body was found in Blair's Creek, at 
Duncansville on Saturday morning, escaped from the almshouse on 
Saturday night in a demented condition.  The wounds in his neck were 
self-inflicted and had been made with a pen knife, in the hall of the 
almshouse, where the blood was discovered soon after he had 
disappeared.  He left in the building his coat, vest, hat and shoes.  
This is the whole story, and there was no foul play connected with the 
tragedy.  He was brought to the almshouse from Altoona on Saturday 
afternoon.

Morning Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Tuesday, November 11, 1890