OBIT: John Bair, 1912, York, York County, PA

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MYSTERY IN DEATH	

Of John Bair, Native of Hanover, Found Lifeless in York Hotel

John E. Bair, a wood finisher, sixty-two years old, was found dead in his bed in 
a room on the fourth floor of the Hotel Peeling, about 11:30 o’clock Sunday 
morning, says the York family.  Death, it is supposed, was caused by 
asphyxiation by illuminating gas.  The valve of a gas burner in his room was 
partly open and there was a strong odor of gas in the room at the time the body 
was discovered by a chambermaid.  A transom of the door was open and the door 
was slightly ajar.  The strong odor of gas in the ???? led to the discovery of 
the man’s death.

After a physician had examined the body and had pronounced life extinct, John 
Crimins, proprietor of the Hotel Peeling, summoned Coroner Shirey, who at first 
inquiry deemed an inquest unnecessary.  Later in the day however, when he 
learned of some mysterious circumstance associated with the death, he decided to 
hold an inquest.  When a brother of the dead man made a careful search of the 
room he discovered that two watches and a sum of money which Bair was known to 
have had in his possession were missing.

John Frey, a boarder at Hotel Peeling, who had been with Bair Saturday night, 
accompanied him to his room.  After a brief conversation with him, Frey went to 
his own room.  He told the coroner that gas was burning brightly at this time.

Frey, in his statement, said that he was solicitous as to the condition of his 
friend, whom he knew to have a weak heart, and that about 7 o’clock Sunday 
morning he went to Bair’s room and found the man lying on the bed, apparently 
asleep, that the gas had been turned off and that there was no odor of gas in 
the room at that time.  It was this statement of Frey’s and the knowledge that 
some of Bair’s valuables were missing that led Coroner Shirey to decide on 
holding an inquest.

John E. Bair was a native of Hanover.  He had worked at his trade in York for 
many years.  For the past ten years he had been employed at the plant of the 
Home Furniture company.  Since the death of his wife, several years ago, he had 
been a boarder at the Hotel Peeling.

Bair is survived by three brothers, William, now living in Tennessee; Charles 
and Louis, of York, from whose home the funeral will be held.  A son, Charles 
Bair, living in the West, and a daughter, Mrs. Charles Nembold, of that city, 
also survive him.

The Hanover Herald – Saturday, November 2, 1912