The Tavern
Charles F. Sattler had a liquor license for 109 North 6th Street as early as 1938. Shortly after he renewed his license in June of 1939, the bar appears to have changed hands. The 1940 Camden City Directory shows the bar as being called The Tavern, and that the proprietors were Taggart and Davis. In 1967 it was Richard and John Hanson named as owners on the liquor license renewal application. By the fall of 1979 a former Camden police detective, Anthony Gresk, owned the bar.
The bar remained open as The Tavern for over 60 years, during which time it acquired a following from students at the nearby Rutgers University campus on Penn Street. The bar changed hands, and after extensive remodeling reopened in 2003 as the 6th Street Lounge.
The Tavern
The Tavern, 109 North 6th Street — September 1979
Double murder shocks Camden
Camden Courier-Post —
Double murder shocks Camden
By KEN SHUTTLEWORTH
Of the Courier-Post
CAMDEN — The murder of two elderly men, whose bodies were found bound and gagged in their two-story brick home early yesterday, has renewed calls by area residents for better police protection.
The victims, Benjamin Shablock and John Barrett, died of smoke inhalation in a deliberately set fire that broke out around 2 a.m. in the house the men shared at 834 Bailey St. in North Camden, homicide detectives said.
Shablock was believed to be in his late 60s, and Barrett was said to be near age 70.
Detective Sgt. Albert Handy said the two men were found in separate bedrooms on the second floor. He said police have no suspects and have not established a motive in the slayings.
HANDY SAID one of the bedrooms in the house appeared ransacked, but police could not tell whether anything had been stolen.
Residents of the predominantly Hispanic and black section remember their two white neighbors as quiet men who passed time sitting on the porch and working at odd jobs.
“They didn’t bother anybody,” said Eifonio Lopez, who lives a few doors away.
Several homes on the street are boarded up and abandoned, including the two on either side of the Barrett property. [continues page 7A]
Double murder shocks city
Continued from Page 1A
A longtime friend of Barrett, Councilwoman Helen McHugh, said he worked many years for the city’s Department of Public Works before retiring several years ago. She said he worked at the now-defunct city dump on State Street, a few blocks from his home. The councilwoman said he helped her with various political chores during his retirement.
Handy said that Shablock worked part-time as a cleaner at The Tavern on 6th Street, near Cooper, about two blocks from the house.
Samuel Benson, president of Concerned Citizens of North Camden, said word of the murders has sent shock waves through the community. His organization was formed about a year ago to improve the quality of life in the most rundown section of the economically depressed city.
As a result of the murders, Benson said he expects to renew efforts to pressure the police department into stepping up its protection commitment to the community.
DEMANDS FOR more officers have been relayed by the organization and others to Police Chief Harold Melleby but, so far, Benson says the response has been unsatisfactory.
Melleby could not be reached for comment, but in the past he has blamed union work rules requiring two-man patrols for a lack of citywide police coverage.
He has expressed confidence that a new agreement due to take effect later this year will enable the department to more adequately deal with the complaints by Benson and other citizens groups.
Bar patrons mourn murdered buddies
Camden Courier-Post —
Bar patrons mourn murdered buddies
By CAROL COMEGNO
Of the Courier-Post
CAMDEN — Regulars at The Tavern are still stopping by as always, but it hasn’t been business as usual the past few days.
The atmosphere at the North Sixth Street bar has been more subdued since Saturday, when many of the patrons learned that two long-time members of their drinking family had been murdered.
The patrons and tavern owner are so grieved and outraged over the loss of their beloved buddies — Benjamin Shablack and John Barrett — that they are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the culprits who bound and gagged the two retired roommates, set fire to their house in North Camden and left them to die.
Barrett, 66, was a retired city employee with the public works department who once was in charge of the now-defunct State Street dump. Shablack, 69, a former printer in Philadelphia, worked as a cleanup man at the tavern.
SINCE MONDAY, patrons at The Tavern — one of the last drinking spots where city oldtimers gather — have been putting dollar bills and change into a can covered with a sign reading, “For Benny and Eggy.”
“They were the most unforgettable characters. They were loved people, they were our friends, and we just don’t want this to get lost somewhere,” said Anthony Gresk, a former city policeman who owns The Tavern.
“Eggy (Barrett’s nickname) fought in Africa (in World War II) and was injured. In his life, he’s been through a lot — as has Bennie — and they didn’t deserve to die like that,” said Gresk, who later told some of Eggy’s more memorable jokes and imitated some of the mannerisms of his two favorite customers.
Former state Sen. Joseph Cowgill, another of the regular patrons, was helping Gresk count some of the proceeds Tuesday afternoon. One contributor dropped his day’s pay into the till; some customers parted with $50 bills for their slain comrades.
Friends described the pair as kind-hearted, street-wise men who were creatures of habit and who had been touched by crime before.
“THEY STILL wanted to live in North Camden even though it’s a really rough neighborhood now. Their hearts were there because they were raised there and had lived there all their lives,” said Rocky Donovan of Camden. “When I got a phone call about their deaths, it was like they were telling me one of my own family had died. We’re going to miss those guys.”
While police suspect the motive for the murders was robbery, policemen and friends of the dead men said the two had very little money.
“Whoever did this thought those guys had money, but they had nothin’. They got their Social Security checks the third of the month and also had small pensions. Bennie kept his money in a Bull Durham tobacco bag that was tied to a string around his neck and inside his shirt,” Donovan recalled.
Barrett once was known to bet on the horses and carry large sums of money, but city police and friends agreed this was no longer the case.
“The only gambling he did was going on errands for City Hall or tavern friends to buy them daily lottery tickets,” said another of his acquaintances.
A bartender at the grill said he gave Shablack $5 Friday morning because he was broke.
Christine Patterson of Woodlynne, Barrett’s niece, said her uncle had great family pride but was a loner.
“WHEN I’D see him, he would say he had been beaten or robbed at least once a year, but he seemed to laugh it off,” she said. “He had a great disposition and always wore a white shirt, hat and tie no matter where he went.”
Camden Detective Lt. Edward Michalak said Barrett was last seen leaving The Tavern about 8 p.m. Friday and that Shablack had gone home before dark, as was his habit.
The two were found in their underwear at 2 a.m. Saturday after police and firemen responded to a fire call at their two-story brick rowhouse at 834 Bailey St. in a predominantly Hispanic and black neighborhood. The houses on either side of their home are vacant.
Michalak said four city policemen and three investigators from the Camden County prosecutor’s office are working on the case and have interviewed more than 100 friends, relatives and neighbors, and street people.
“There are no new developments and we have no suspects at this point,” said Michalak. “We have not found any wallets and have not been able to establish if anything was taken.”
City Fire Marshal Harold Pike released a report Tuesday that concluded the fire was deliberately set in four locations inside the house — a first-floor closet in the front room and closets and a mattress in two of the three upstairs bedrooms. One of the bedrooms was ransacked, leading police to believe the initial motive was robbery.
PIKE SAID firemen found no sign of forced entry and did not find traces of flammable liquids, which often are used to set fires. “It appears that clothes in the closets and the mattress were set afire with a lighter or something else that could have been easily lit,” Pike said.
Autopsies showed both men died from smoke inhalation and that Barrett had bruises and was bleeding from the head because of a beating. Police, however, said the beating did not appear to be severe.
Shablack and Barrett were buried today.
Two charged in double murder
Camden Courier-Post —
Two charged in double murder
By KEN SHUTTLEWORTH
Of the Courier-Post
CAMDEN — Two Camden County Jail inmates have been charged with the double murder of two elderly men in their North Camden home last month.
Authorities say an informant’s tip led to the charges.
John Lee Stewart, 25, and John Wayne Edmonds, 24, both of the 500 block of Penn St., Camden, were charged about 9:30 last night with murder, arson and burglary and were to be arraigned Friday, police said.
A police spokesman said both men had been jailed previously on unrelated charges.
According to police, the two suspects robbed both of 834 Bailey St., on Sept. 22, gagged and bound the men with wire and set fire to the house.
The victims were found in separate bedrooms of the house by firefighters. The cause of death was smoke inhalation, according to the county medical examiner.
Residents of the largely black and Hispanic neighborhood were shocked by the murders of Barrett and Shablack, who they described as quiet men.
Patrons at The Tavern, a neighborhood bar on North 6th Street, offered a $1,000 reward for information about the killers. Anthony Gresk, a former city policeman, said the check was sent to the county prosecutor’s office Wednesday “in hopes that it would move somebody.”
Shablack, a former Philadelphia printer, worked as a cleanup man in the tavern. Edmonds was arrested yesterday on a related charge. Police did not know whether the tipster collected the money.
Man admits robbery, setting fatal fire
Camden Courier-Post —
Man admits robbery, setting fatal fire
By CAROL COMEGNO
Of the Courier-Post
CAMDEN — After avowing he had become a born-again Christian, one of two men charged in the murder of two senior citizens last year in North Camden confessed yesterday to the crimes.
John Lee Stewart, 25, of the 500 block Penn St., told Superior Court Judge Leon A. Wingate that he set fire to the house where Benjamin Shablack and John Barrett lived, after tying them up and stealing a ring and a pocket calculator.
He also told the judge he later went back to house to try to save them.
The bodies of the two buddies, who were both 66 years old, were found Sept. 22 by firefighters who responded to a blaze at the home at 834 Bailey St. The men died as a result of smoke inhalation, according to autopsy reports.
Stewart confessed to the murders moments before he was to go on trial yesterday before Wingate. The defendant recanted earlier statements to police in which he denied knowledge of the crime.
He said yesterday that he went back to the house to try to save them before firefighters arrived, but was hampered by smoke and left again.
William Levine, an assistant Camden County prosecutor, said Stewart also absolved the other co-defendant, John Wayne Edmonds, 24, of any involvement in the murders. Edmonds, also of the 500 block Penn Street, is to be tried separately.
Levine said his office has made no decision about dropping charges against Edmonds in light of Stewart’s statements.
Stewart told the judge he became a reborn Christian on April 3 and now wanted to tell the truth.
Levine said Stewart now claims he entered the house before midnight by breaking in through the back door. He asked one of the men for money, was told there was none, then went upstairs looking for the man’s friend, according to Levine.
Man admits robbery, setting fatal fire
Continued from Page 1A
“After they both told him they had no money, he tied and gagged them with ties and a lamp cord in the front, second-floor bedroom. He said he piled up some old clothes, set them afire with matches and then left with the ring and calculator,” Levine said.
Stewart said he walked to an apartment about eight blocks away, but had a change of heart and decided to go back to try to rescue the pair. Levine said Stewart’s contention that he managed to pull the body of one of the men into a hallway may be true, since firefighters found one of the bodies in the upstairs corridor.
Barrett — better known as “Eggy” — and Shablack were longtime Camden residents. Barrett was a retired city public works department employee. His roommate was a retired printer who worked as a cleanup man at a city taproom.
Both were frequent patrons of The Tavern on North 6th Street, whose customers put up a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office has been reluctant to say whether anyone has received the reward.
Stewart faces a maximum penalty of two life terms in state prison plus 40 years.