I am an avid genealogist. The past is very important to me. I spend a lot of time in cemeteries photographing tombstones to upload on website the FindAGrave.
I enjoy recognizing long dead people by putting memorials to them online. However, every once and a while something grabs me about a specific grave. It could be the name, or the dates or a ceramic photo. In those cases, I feel compelled to dig a little deeper. That's what this series of blogs is about: The tales behind those graves. Some of my subjects will be heroes. Some will be villains. Some will be victims. And some will linger in between, like most of us. However, don't be surprised if the tales are inherently tragic. These are grave tales. They all end in death.
For this tale I return once again to Ohr Knesseth Israel Anshe Sfard Cemetery. It remains one of my favorite cemeteries. Although, as a Findagrave volunteer, I have moved on to other locations, the stories of some of people resting beneath its soil still haunt me. One of those people is Philip Friedel. I was drawn to his grave by his age at death: 37 years. I looked him up when I got home. He was a suicide. Normally I do not post suicide stories since I know some people find them triggering. However, I want to tell this story because it had a hopeful coda.
Here's the story....
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 07 June 1912, Fri:
DIES ON ANNIVERSARY
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Philip Friedel, Married Seventeen Years, Kills Himself.
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HIS ACCUSING WIFE SWOONS
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Had Charged Him With Threats To Hurt Her
And With Battering In Door.
Despondent at the refusal of his wife to admit him to her home, while he was drinking, Philip Friedel, 108 North Pine street, yesterday evening, on the seventeenth anniversary of his marriage, killed himself by inhaling gas in a room at Frank Culotta's, 807 East Baltimore street.
Though she had sworn out two warrants yesterday afternoon for her husband's arrest, Mrs. Friedel was so overcome by news of his death that she fell fainting when told of it. She had heard rumors that he had attempted suicide, but did not know he was dead until told later in the evening by a friend.
Her little daughter, 4-year-old Gertrude, who was clinging to her dress, screamed in childish fear, "O, mister, why did you say that?" It was several minutes before the mother and wife was brought back to consciousness.
He Left Her A Year Ago.
About a year ago, Friedel and his wife disagreed and he went to Ohio. Returning several weeks ago, he took up his residence at his wife's home on Pine street. A fresh disagreement arose and last Friday Friedel left home and went to Culotta's, where he rented a room.
He returned to his wife's house yesterday about noon and sought admission. She noticed that he had been drinking, and fearing that he might harm her or their children she closed the door in his face. He tried to persuade her to open it and upon her refusal swore that he would break it down and kill her.
In his anger he smashed the glass panel, hurling threats at the woman cowering within. Fearing arrest, he left without entering, but threaten to return and kill her.
Mrs. Friedel believing that he meant it went to the Western Police Station and swore out two warrants for Friedel's arrest, for threatening her bodily harm and for disturbing the peace.
Waiter Finds His Body.
Friedel returned to Culotta's about 3.30 o'clock and left word to be called at 7 P.M. A colored waiter went to the room to awaken him at that hour. Repeated knocks brought no response and the waiter opened the door.
He found Friedel dead on the bed. The windows of the room were shut and the gas was turned on full. The negro turned off the gas, threw open the windows and notified Mr. Culotta. The police were summoned and after an investigation by Coroner Russell, of the Eastern district, Friedel was pronounced dead.
When the news of their father's death was brought to his home, his children, with the exception of Gertrude, were playing in the street. Neighbors took charge and they were kept in ignorance of the tragedy.
Besides this widow, Friedel is survived by five children -- Lillian, Samuel, Isador, Sadie and Gertrude. They are all small, the eldest being about 15 years old.What a horrible emotional rollercoaster ride the Friedel family went through. First, a violent, drunken domestic encounter and then a death by suicide. They reeled from one horror to another. The mixed emotions were emphasized in the following story that appeared in The Evening Sun later that day.
The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 12 February 1919, Wed:
MRS. FRIEDEL SOBS FOR DEAD HUSBAND
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Animosity That Led To Warrants
Disappears After He Killed Himself.
Her condition changed in a few hours' time by the suicide of her husband, Philip Friedel, Mrs. Rose Friedel is unconsolable. Though surrounded by her own friends and relatives after home, 108 North Pine street, and though her five small children attempt to pacify her, she cannot be quieted. Sobs and tears are her only replies to any questions asked her.
The temporary animosity she harbored toward her husband after he attempted to gain admittance to her home yesterday afternoon, when he battered down the door, has disappeared. Despite her efforts, the love which she held toward him until he left her more than a year ago has asserted itself and she now bewails the mood that made her refuse him admittance, which caused him to take his life by inhaling gas in a room at 807 East Baltimore street.
The body was removed to the home of Mrs. Friedel after Coroner Russell, of the Eastern district, had given him a certificate of suicide. Other than that the funeral will take place on Sunday no ration replies from Mrs. Friedel could be secured. A brother will probably take charge of the arrangements.
Sergeant Mark School, of the Western district, went last night to serve on Friedel the warrants for disturbing the peace and threatening harm, which had been sworn out by Mrs. Friedel yesterday afternoon. This morning they were returned to the police station with a note attached telling of Friedel's death -- an unusual occurrence.
Mrs. Friedel had appeared at the Western Police station several times previously. Two weeks ago she asked Justice Sayler for a warrant charging her husband, who had been away for a year, with nonsupport. She then intended to have him arrested upon his return to the city, he having informed her by letter that he would be back.
My heart goes out to the family. When someone takes their own life, it is common for family members and close friends to wrap a cloak of guilt around themselves and wonder if there was anything they could have done. I'm not surprised that no amount of consolation would soothe Rose Friedel. I'm sure the repercussions would reverberate in the lives of his wife and children for the rest of their lives.
Rose Friedel never remarried. She died on 28 August 1945. Here's her death notice:
I was wondering how the children fared, and that obituary indicated that son Samuel Friedel seemed to be doing fine. He was a Baltimore City Councilman at the time of his mother's death. He would rise even higher in the world of politics. He would later be elected to the United States Congress. He died on 21 March 1979. Here's his obituary:
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 22 March 1979, Thu:
Samuel Friedel dies at 80;
was congressman 18 years.
Samuel N. Friedel, veteran congressman from Maryland's Seventh district, died at 6:10 P.M. yesterday at Manor Care Nursing Home in Towson after a long illness. He was 80.
Mr. Friedel, a Democrat who represented a district that encompassed Northwest Baltimore for 18 years until he was narrowly defeated in the 1970 primary by Parren J. Mitchell, had suffered several strokes in the last few years.
A resident of the Village of Cross Keys, he had been at the Joppa road nursing home since October. Previously, he had been hospitalized at Sinai Hospital and Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital.
While in Congress, Mr. Friedel served as chairman of the powerful House Administration Committee for two years and was ranking member of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and chairman of its Subcommittee on Transportation and Aeronautics, where he looked out for the interests of Friendship Airport.
A liberal Democrat who was pro-civil rights, he was a strong backer of the Johnson administration's War on Poverty program.
Mr. Friedel also was an early supporter of federal aid to education, contending that grants to local school systems posed no threat of federal control.
Former Representative George H. Fallon (D., 4th), a longtime friend, last night called Mr. Friedel "a loveable guy, a hard-working boy and a good representative."
Mr. Fallon, 76, who served with Mr. Friedel on the City Council as well as in Congress, said his former colleague "just followed through -- he didn't leave any stone unturned when he started on something."
Former Representative Edward A. Garmatz, 76, (D., 7th) recalled how he, Mr. Fallon and Mr. Friedel would kibbitz with one another while they served together in the house.
"I always tell people that we had Fallon, Garmatz and Friedel --a Catholic, Protestant and a Jew. What more would you want?" he said.
He called Mr. Friedel "a very fair, honest, decent person. He didn't kid you around. I was happy to consider him one of my friends."
 |
| Samuel N. Friedel |
Before he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1954 as the first congressman from the newly created Seventh district, Mr. Friedel served one term in the state House of Delegates representing the First district and three terms on the City Council -- twice representing the First district and once the Fifth district. In the 1930s and 1940s, he lived in the First district, where he was a member of the political organization dominated by the D'Alesandro family. When he moved to the Fifth district in Northwest Baltimore, he aligned himself with the political club run by the late James H. (Jack) Pollack.
While on the City Council, he served as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and over the years became known as an expert on city finances. He also took a deep interest in smoke and smog abatement.
City Councilman Reuben Caplan (D., 5th), another member of the Pollack organization, last night praised Mr. Friedel: "He went through life making no enemies. He was a leg man for the entire community. He would go to all places for people. The community lost a devoted servant when they lost Sam Friedel."
Aside from his own political career, Mr. Friedel is credited as the man who gave former Governor Mandel his start in political life. In 1951, he urged Mr. Mandel to run for the Democratic State Central Committee and Mr. Mandel said later that he "agreed to run as a favor."
In 1971, then Governor Mandel appointed his old friend, who had been defeated by Mr. Mitchell the previous year, to the chairmanship of the newly created board of review of the state Department of Transportation.
Mr. Friedel seemed to have a penchant for close campaigns. In addition to his 38-vote loss to Mr. Mitchell, he lost his City Council seat by only 12 votes in 1947. He was defeated by John T. Booth, a relative unknown.
Recalling the 1947 race last night, Councilman Dominic Mimi DiPietro (D., 1st) said he opposed Mr. Friedel in that contest -- and supported Mr. Booth -- although both Mr. DiPietro and Mr. Friedel were members of the same political organizations.
The reason for Mr. DiPietro's opposition? Two race track passes that he said Mr. Friedel had promised him, but had given to someone else.
"I had my feelings hurt," Mr. DiPietro recounted.
Later, however, he and Mr. Friedel would joke about the dispute, and Mr. DiPietro would tell him: "What the hell, I made you a congressman by beating you."
Mr. Friedel, who was born in Washington, had lived in Baltimore since his parents brough him here when he was 5 months old.
After attending public schools and a business college, he became a mail clerk, later a newspaper wholesaler and, in 1926, president of the Workman's Finance Corporation, an industrial loan firm.
He won his first elective office in 1934, representing the First Legislative district in the Maryland House of Delegates. Subsequently, he was elected to the City Council from the First district in 1939. He was re-elected in 1943, but lost by 12 votes in 1947 to Mr. Booth.
Undaunted, Mr. Friedel moved his residence to Northwest Baltimore in the Fifth district and won a council seat there in 1951.
Mr. Friedel claimed he was inspired to run for office by President Woodrow Wilson, whom he met once in Washington before World War I.
He recounted years later how he was a member of a contingent of newsboys who went to Washington to meet the president. President Wilson asked the newsboys, who were of mixed ethnic and religious backgrounds, if they fought among themselves."
"No sir, we are neutral," the teen-aged Mr. Friedel said, and President Wilson laughed and hugged them.
"As long as I live, the memory of that instant will remain with me and I sincerely feel that the experience of that moment was the stimulus of my entrance into active politics in Baltimore, Mr. Friedel later wrote.
Mr. Friedel was elected to the House of Representatives in 1952 by a narrow margin of 3,000 votes as the first congressman from the sprawling district where blacks and Jews made up nearly half the population.
His victory margins climbed over the years, and he won his seventh term in 1964 by 73,898 votes over Thomas C. Hofstetter, a Republican.
But by 1970, Mr. Friedel, who was then 72, had become politically vulnerable, and Mr. Mitchell, a black politician who had unsuccessfully opposed him in the primary in 1968, defeated him by a mere 38 votes.
Mr. Friedel asked a special House committee to investigate the election results, charging "serious irregularities." He claimed the vote count in 26 precincts exceeded vote authorization cards by 216 votes. The committee later said they found no "gross" irregularities.
Soon after his defeat, the House Administration Committee, of which he was the lame-duck chairman, proposed to create a $35,505-a-year job for Mr. Friedel as a House deputy sergeant at arms. But the congressman ultimately decided that he was not interested in the job.
Mr. Friedel is survived by his wife, the former Regina Johnson, and a sister, Gertrude Justman, of Blythe, California.
Funeral service will be held at 9 A.M. tomorrow at Levinson funeral establishment, 6010 Reisterstown road.Samuel Friedel was thirteen-years-old when his father took his life so dramatically. That was a very sensitive age. It would be easy to imagine him being burdened with psychological and emotional scars that would have hindered his ability to function successfully in society. Instead, he rose to an esteemed position.
Although Congressman Friedel credits Woodrow Wilson with his desire to enter politics, I can't help but feel that the pain of this childhood trauma helped inspire him to pursue a life of public service. I can't say that he succeeded because of his father's death, but it certainly didn't hold him back. I hope the same was true of all of his siblings.
Rest in peace, Philip. And you too, Samuel.
Remember, there is a story behind every grave. You never know what you're missing when you walk past one....
Grave Tales:
My novel Chapel Street is now available! You can buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble. Chapel Street is the tale of a young man battling a demonic entity that has driven members of his family to suicide for generations. It was inspired by an actual haunting.
Learn more about the book, click
Here.
Listen to me read some chapters here:
Read about the true haunting that inspired the novel here:
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 1, An IntroductionThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 2, The HouseThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 3, This Is UsThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 4, ArrivalThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 5, MethodologyThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 6, Clara's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 7, Clara's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 8, My Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 9, My Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 10, My Tale, Pt. 3The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 11, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 12, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 13, John's Tale, Pt. 1 The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 14, John's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 15, Come Inside!The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 16, Marion's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 17, Marion's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 18, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 19, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 20, Lisa's TaleThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 21, Recap, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 22, Recap, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 23, Recap, Pt. 3
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