1915-06-03ee

“Constable Walter Stabel has been shorn of his uniform. His days as a sleuth are at an end, and a quarrelsome jag, which he collected yesterday afternoon, is responsible.”’

Hamilton Spectator.   June 4, 1915.

Things were not always calm and collected with the members of the Hamilton Police Force. While on duty in the public realm, good relations among members of the force were always on display. Behind closed doors, conflicts might arise but they did not hit the public’s awareness.

However, that pattern was shattered by Constable Walter Stabel, whose behavior broke the mold:

“Charged with being drunk and disorderly this morning, Stabel his fall from grace and paid a fine of $10.”¹

¹ “Stabel Must Leave Force”

Hamilton Spectator.   June 4, 1915.

Thursday June 3, 1915 was a rare day off for Constable Walter Stabel. Full days off were infrequent for Hamilton policemen in 1915. Unfortunately for Walter Stabel, he did not put his free time to positive use:

“Yesterday was his day off and he awoke with a thirst. At three o’clock in the afternoon, he called around the Central police station and engaged in an argument with Sergeant Lowery.

“ ‘I’m just as strong as you are, serge, and don’t think I ain’t,’ announced Stable, giving his superior officer a shove.

“ ‘You might be at that Stabel. I didn’t say you weren’t,’ replied the sergeant, trying to pacify him.

“ ‘And I’m just as good a man as you are, too,’ added Stabel, bestowing another poke on the sergeant’s shoulder.

“ ‘That might be, too, but don’t shove me around like that,’ shot back the sergeant.

“ ‘I’m just as strong as you are, serge, and I I can show you if I want to,’ said Stabel, and he gavethe sergeant still another push. This third push lost lost his job for him.

“ ‘I’m going to lock you up, Stabel,’ announced the sergeant – and he did, but not before he was forced to call on Sergt. Tuck to help him. Stabel raised a vigorous objection to being placed in a dinky little cooler, and he said so. Finally, he was shoved into a cell and the door banged shut on him.”¹

Word got around around as to what Stable had done, and late in the evening, enough money was raised by his friends to bail him out of jail.

Hung over and felling guilty, Stabel did show up at Hamilton Police Court the following morning. Magistrate Jelfs heard the case and imposed a guilty conviction on Stabel’s record, along with a $10 fine, plus he announced that Stabel was suspended for the Hamilton police force until his his case was discussed at the next meeting of the police commissioners.. Otherwise the magistrate made no comment.

Magistrate Jelfs was one of the three members of the Police Commissioners, and had encountered Stabel previously:

“Some months ago, two men complained to a sergeant that a policeman had kicked them out of a house on King street east. The sergeant called and found Stabel sitting on a sofa, smoking a cigar.

“The charge preferred against him was dismissed by the commissioners, Stabel maintaining that he had been called to the house by a woman who lived there, to chase the man away.

“Several weeks later, he asked a leave of absence to go to a ball game and he did not go back at night to take the night man’s place. The commissioners practically made up their minds to discharge him at that time, but his wife called on Judge Snider and pleaded that he be given another chance.

“ ‘I’ll be good, gentlemen, and I promise that I’ll make a first-class officer,’ Stabel told the commissioners – and he kept his word until yesterday.”¹

Walter Stabel appeared before the police commissioners at their meeting the following Tuesday. With little discussion, their decision was arrived at and announced – Walter Stabel’s tenure with the Hamilton Police Force was over.