Marabilito Murder

The Marabilito Murder Case

  Sometime in the early evening of June 25th, 1917, at Evansville an Italian coal miner was brutally murdered as he sat with his head down and asleep at his kitchen table.  The perpetrator of this brutal crime were the wife of the victim and her lover.

  The victim, Peter Marabilito¹, and his wife had come to Stellarton, where he obtained work as a coal miner.  Being new Canadians they were unable to speak English very well and kept to themselves.  The were able to obtain a Company house at Evansville.  When another Italian by the name of Natali Salvatori Carrari arrived in Stellarton and went to work in the cola mines, it was natural for he and the Marabilito's to become  friends.  It wasn't long before Carrari left his boarding house to lodge with his new friends.

  This arrangement worked well for awhile, but before long Mrs Marabilito and Carrari found themselves alone in the house when he and Mr. Marabilito were on opposite shifts.  It wasn't long before an adulterous relationship developed between the two.  As this relationship progressed the lovers began to plot the demise of Mr. Marabilito, whom they now viewed as an obstacle to their future plans.

  On the afternoon of his death, Peter, who had worked the day shift returned to his home and found his wife and Carrari waiting for him with a couple of bottles.  They all sat down and had supper and then finished off the two bottles of wine.  Through a combination of a hard day's work, the meal and the wine, Peter fell asleep at the table.  At this point Carrari picked up a meat cleaver and struck Peter in the head, he struck several blows ensuring that the deed was done.  It was still light outside and the lovers' plan had been to dispose of the body in a pit hole at the rear of the property, in the woods.

  They were not able to move the body until after dark so they moved it to a cubbyhole under the stairway.  This cubbyhole had a small trap door in the floor and was used by the Marabilito;s to kill and clean chickens.  The viscera and feathers would be allowed to fall into the cellar where it would be consumed by rats.

 When darkness came the two removed Peter's body from its hiding place and started to carry it to the pit hole.  They were startled by the sounds of a house in a nearby pasture and believing that someone was coming they dropped the body and fled to the house.  For some unknown reason they never returned to complete the job of hiding the body.

  The following morning, June 26th, a passerby discovered the body where it had been dropped and Chief of Police James L Watters was summoned.  Upon being told that a body had been found and it appeared that a murder had been committed Chief Watters sent word to the Sheriff J. S. Harris at Pictou and asked him to meet him at Evansville.

  Together the two officer went to the scene.  It was immediately obvious to them that the victim had been murdered and that the murder had taken place somewhere other than where the body was now laying.  The officers upon examining the body more closely found what appeared to be small white chicken feathers adhering to his clothing.  They made notes of everything that they had found and after the was identified by a neighbour, they went to the Marabilito homto deliver the sad news to Mrs Marabilito.

  When Mrs. Marabilito answered their knock and they delivered the news of her husband's death, the officers were struck with her extreme nervousness and apparent lack of emotion at receiving such disturbing news.  The officers did not linger long at the house and left after a short time telling her that hey would be back later.

  Chief Watters and Sheriff Harris returned to the location where the body had been found and began to examine the area more closely.  They soon found a trail of small white feathers leading away from the scene.  Their suspicions aroused, they followed this trail of feathers carefully and it led them right to the back door of the Marabilito house.  The offices conferred briefly and then entered the house for the second time and confronted Ms. Marabilito and Natali Carrari who was also present this time.  The two were separated and short time Mrs Marabilito broke down and confessed to murdering her husband with Carrari.  A short time after being informed of Mrs. Marabilito's confession, Carrari also confessed.  The two were arrested and taken to the Lock-up where they were incarcerated.  They were eventually taken before the Magistrate who remanded them into the custody to await a trail in Supreme Court at Pictou.

  It was discovered later that Mrs. Marabilito was pregnant and she died in her cell in the Pictou jail from complications of the pregnancy.

  At dawn on January 30th, 1918, Natali Salvatori Carrari was taken from his cell in the County jail to an enclosed court yard where the gallows had been prepared.  He was met on the gallows by "John Ellis" a pseudonym used by all the official hangmen in Canada, the rope was placed round his neck and the trap was sprung.  Natali Salvatori Carrari had paid with this life for the murder of his fellow countryman "Peter Marabilito."

The legal execution marked the last time that anyone was to pay with their life for a crime in Pictou County.

1. Name correction; Marablito, Pietro

The information presented here is from the book; The Stellarton Police Department 1889-1989, One Hundred Years of Service and Protection.  By George Megeney

Police Chief

by George Megeney

Chief James L. Watters son of James Watters and Sarah J. Dingle Watters, started his police career in Westville Nova Scotia as an officer in the early 1900's Then he was promoted to the office of Police Chief in Westville.  Around 1915, Chief Watters was offered the Chief of Police position in Stellarton, in which he accepted.  In the early 1920's moves onto the city on Mahone Bay NS, where he held the office of Chief of Police  for about a year.
 
The following is extracted from the book in the image to the left.   In 1915 Mayor W.C. MacDonald was again conducting the town's business.  He and the Council  appointed the Mr. M.A. Patterson to be Stipendiary Magistrate.   The census that year showed the town's population was 4,970.  In April of the year the Council located an experienced Police Office who was willing to accept the position of Chief of Police.  He was the James L. Watters, a former Chief of Police in Westville.  Chief Edward Fraser willingly submitted his resignation and stated that he was relieved.  He said that his nature was not that of a policeman and he had found it difficult to carry out some duties that were required from time to time. He was thanked by the Mayor and Council for his efforts and loyalty during his short tenure.

James L. Watters was born in Westville in 1869¹. He went to school there and married Margaret McNulty.  They had five children, one daughter and four sons².  He started his police career in his native Westville where he became Chief of Police.  In 1915 when an opportunity came up for a police job in Stellarton he readily accepted and moved his family to Stellarton.  He remained in Stellarton as Chief of Police for many years until accepting an offer from the Town of Mahone Bay, to become their Chief of Police.

  In May of 1922, James renders his resignation to the Stipendiary Magistrate in Stellarton and takes the Chief of Police position in Mahone Bay, a fair distance away.  He remained in Mahone Bay for near a year, where he decide to moves his family back Stellarton..  Upon returned home and secured employment in the Acadia Coal company's machine shop, where he remained until retirement.  He maintained a life long interest in Police work but after leaving Mahone bay was never tempted to get actively involved again.  However, succeeding Chiefs of Police called upon him for advice up until the time of his death at age 74.  Chief Watters had been involved in many interesting cases during his career, however the most widely reported case which was jointly investigated by him and Sheriff J. S. Harris was the Marabilito murder case³.

The Stipendiary Magistrate expressed regret at the resignation of Chief Watters, stating that the Court had lost the service of a very capable Officer, who was well versed in the law.  He also praised Mrs Watters for having rendered a valuable for having rendered a valuable service as matron of the lock-up and noted that her kindness, tender sympathy and strong personality would be missed.

1.  The birth registry for James states his birth was Goldenville NS and the year was 1869.
2.  The children were;  Ellen R Watters, James G Watters, William D Watters, Harry T Watters, Hugh M Watters.
3. The Marabilito Murder will be told in a separate post.

The information presented here is from the book; The Stellarton Police Department 1889-1989, One Hundred Years of Service and Protection.  By George Megeney

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