“Unknown Causes”: The Mysterious Death of Albert J. Bates

A mysterious night, missing belongings, and a crushed skull. What really happened to Albert Bates in 1929?

Albert “Alva” Jerome Bates (1868-1929) was born in Ashland County, Ohio, to farmer Elias Bates (1831-1891) and his wife Harriet Charlton (1824-1900). His early life was marked by hardship when, at the age of two, he suffered a bout of infantile paralysis withered and permanently disabled his left arm. This disability shaped the rest of his life and ability to find steady work. Albert remained with his family throughout the 1870s and 1880s after they moved to Tuscarawas County. Albert was unable to find steady work and continued to live in his parents’ household as he grew into adulthood.

Albert married widow Eva Stietz Bair (1881-1936), known as Effie, in Tuscarawas County in November 1899. They began their married life in Strasburg, Ohio, where Albert worked as a coal hauler and where they welcomed their first child in 1900. The Bates family grew to include two more children, and Albert was employed as a farm laborer in Franklin Township, by 1910. Unfortunately, Albert and Eva’s marriage was a troubled one. Albert accused Eva in 1911 of infidelity and initiated a lawsuit against her alleged lover, which culminated in a divorce. By the time of the separation, the couple had four children in total and Effie sued Albert in 1917 for alimony, underscoring the continued strain and complexity of their relationship.

Throughout the 1920s, Albert adapted to his changing circumstances and available work in the community. He started the decade boarding in another family’s home in Franklin Township and worked as a blocker in a sawmill, likely performing tasks that accommodated his physical limitations. However, by the end of the decade he worked as a painter and lived in a workshop-turned-into-residence on South Main Street in Strasburg, Ohio. Albert often socialized with other workers in Strasburg, and travelled to Dover frequently to partake in the night life there. It was on one such trip that Albert mysteriously lost his life.

In the early hours of Sunday, November 3, 1929, the lifeless body of Albert J. Bates was found on the edge of the pavement on Wooster Road, just north of the Dover line. The discovery, made around 5:00 a.m., revealed a gruesome scene: Bates had sustained a crushed skull, shattered jaws, and deep lacerations to the face. His chest and knee bore severe puncture wounds, with the knee cap split apart entirely. Notably, his watch, coat, and a small sum of cash were missing. Bates’ violent death followed a disjointed night in Dover, where Bates, accompanied by friends Henry Harvey (1875-1948) and David Hartline (1907-1976), visited several homes—including those of Emmett Wells (1887-1966) and a man named “Rusty.” Their night of social calls concluded with Bates’ sudden disappearance after the three men separated at Rusty’s home on West Fifth Street.

The timeline of events painted a chilling progression toward Bates’ death. After telling his ex-brother-in-law he would attend an event at the Garver Store and return home early to listen to the radio, Bates instead met Hartline at 8:00 p.m. at the Buckeye Garage and proposed a trip to Dover. They later regrouped with Harvey in Strasburg and returned to visit Rusty’s residence. When Hartline and Harvey briefly left and returned, Bates had vanished. An unnamed witness later reported speaking with Bates in Dover between 1:25 and 3:25 a.m., during which Bates claimed he had been robbed of his coat and watch by a man on West Fifth Street. His friends searched unsuccessfully for him at locations in Dover and his home, only to learn hours later of his brutal death.

Authorities spilt on how Albert J. Bates died. Sheriff Harry Smith (1876-1964) believed that Albert, while walking home along the Wooster road early in the morning, was truck by a passing automobile and killed. Though Smith admitted it did not explain the deep and narrow puncture wounds to Bates’ chest and knee cap. Coroner John F. Lewis (1899–1977) however believed that Bates’ injuries occurred elsewhere and that his body was dumped along the side of the road by the perpetrator. No driver ever admitted to, or was arrested for, striking Albert Bates and when the death certificate was filed Bates’ cause of death was merely given as “unknown.”

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© Noel B. Poirier, 2024.