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"Farmer Charged With 27-Year-Old Slaying," Montreal Star. July 28, 1943. Page 3 & 14. ---- Discovery of Bones In Cellar Held Sign Of Crime of Passion ---- THE turn of a shovel in the cellar of a St. Hubert house last week brought to light yesterday what may be a crime of passion committed 27 years ago.

The shovel, in the hands of a hired man, revealed a human skeleton-and from this grim revelation came a half-told story of the disappearance of a man - and hints of a murder.

With the help of modern science and painstaking checking and investigation by police - the case was built up - the skeleton was identified - the disappearance revealed and perhaps the proof of a crime shown.

Today, Luigi Stabile, 60- year-old Ville La Salle farmer, was arraigned on a charge of murder, after a coroner's jury yesterdray held him criminally responsible for the death in 1916 of his brother-in-law, Carmeno Festa.

Coroner Richard Duckett, in summing up the case hinted at jealousy as a possible motive. "It may have been some other motive," he stated, "but we have the testimony of two witnesses who say they saw their father in a room with their aunt."

Not Reported Missing The coroner summing up followed testimony by the dead man's son and two daughters about the events of the day in October, 1916, and a review of evidence gathered at the scene of the crime by provincial police.

A question asked of the victim's son by Coroner Duckett was why the dead man had never been reported missing. The son replied that his family had just arrived from Italy at the time of his father's disappearance and was not acquainted with the proper procedure to be followed.

The jurymen leaned forward in their chairs and listened with rapt attention as Mrs. Raphael Costello, of 970 Minto avenue, daughter of the victim, identified her father's shoes as those he wore on the day -she last saw him 27 years ago. She was 16 years old at the time.

Mrs. Costello spoke carefully as she informed Chief Crown Prose- -cutor Gerald Fauteux, K.C., that she had come to Canada from Italy in 1915 with her mother, sister and three brothers and went to live with the uncle, Luigi Stabile, at St. Hubert. The former Armella Festa said that her father, Carmeno Festa, had come to Canada earlier.

Mrs. Costello said that her family lived in the Stabile home for five months, after which her father rented a house on the opposite side of the railway tracks. Festa had been in the employ of Stabile during this time, she testified, and continued so after the family moved.

The witness described the wound over her father's left eye, corroborating the evidence given by Dr. Rosario Fontaine, medico- legal expert, concerning marks found on the skull. She identified the boots unearthed as those worn by her father the last day she saw him alive in October 1916, and also corroborated evidence given by Dr. Fontaine concerning the missing teeth.

Never Came Out of House Mrs. Costello, still under questioning by Mr. Fauteux, said she was working in a shed sorting onions on the fatal October day when her father, called to her brother Joseph, then 11 years old. to fetch some milk. The brother went about the errand and Festa, the father, entered Stabile's house. That was the last time she saw him alive, she testified.

When Joseph returned with the milk, the father could not be found and was never seen again, Mrs. Costello stated further. Following Festa's disappearance, Stabile did not speak to her, she stated.

Stabile, however, suggested the following night that the family search for Festa in the ditches alongside the road, in case he had fallen, the witness told the court.

A few days later, Stabile took the family to Montreal by wagon and placed them in an abandoned house which was later given up for another house on St. James street, Mrs. Costello said. The witness later stated that on one occasion she had seen her father alone with her aunt in one of the bedrooms of the Stabile home.

Sister Next to Testify Mrs. Costello was followed to the witness stand by her sister, Mrs. Julio Adamo, of 1347 Lapierre avenue, who identified a coat lapel found with the skeleton as that which formed part of a coat worn by her father when he was last seen.

Mrs. Adamo, whose maiden name was Assompta Festa, produced a certificate of baptism as evidence that the victim was 40 years of age.

Joseph Festa, of 605 Sixth street. Rochester, N.Y., a son of the victim, then testified that it was his habit to fetch milk for the family daily. He recalled the night in October, 1916, when he was told by his father to get milk. He was 11 at the time, and said he recalled the facial wound over his father's left eye.

Festa stated the family had visited Stabile only once in 10 years after the father's disappear- ance. When reference was made as to the whereabouts of the father, the question was dismissed. as being "just one of those things," the witness said.

Romeo Jacques, a St. Hubert farmer in the employ of Antonio Abandonetto, in whose home the skeleton was found, testified that the skeleton, when found by him last Tuesday, was in a reclining position with the face turned down. He identified the boots when shown them in court.

Dr. Rosario Fontaine, medico-legal expert, testified that the skeleton brought to the morgue was practically complete. It was that of a male and, under examination, indicated a former height of five feet 7 1/2 inches. Dr. Fontaine added that the scar over the d left eye had been caused some time before death and could have been inflicted by an axe or sabre.

The medico-legal expert said the man was not over 48 years of age, the age being ascertainable through study of the measurement and condition of the bones, which had been preserved by the dampness of the earth.

Dr. Fontaine informed the jury that no clothes had been found with the skeleton. The fact that the clothes had rotted away, he explained, indicated that the body had been buried for the past 15 or 20 years. He added that two teeth were missing and these had been out for some time previous to the man's death.

Chief of Detectives Jargaille testified that investigation showed Luigi Stabile, the uncle, continued to occupy the house for a year after the disappearance of Festa. He then moved to Montreal where he has lived ever since, the court was told.

/// "Philo Vance Thriller": Modern Methods of Analysis Tear Veil From Murder of 1916 --- Medico-Legal Expert's Research Spoils Almost "Perfect Crime" ---- "A PHILO VANCE thriller" exclaimed a spectator, as a noted criminologist related at an inquest yesterday how modern methods of analysis and unerring laboratory tests tore the veil from a 27-year-old murder.

Coroner, Jury and public listened with amazement as the criminologist, Dr. Rosario Fontaine, medico-legal expert of the Attorney-General's Department, took them step by step over the scientific course that it is hoped will solve the murder mystery.

Theories flew thick and fast when a skeleton was found about a week ago in the cellar of a farmhouse at St. Hubert, and within a few hours, due to his having lived in the place about 20 years ago, the prevailing theory was that the skeleton was that of Ciro Niegri and that he had been murdered by his former friends for "squealing" in the famous Hochelaga Bank hold-up of 1924.

Gang Murder Theory Quashed Dr. Fontaine and his assistants at the morgue laboratories, however, brought cold, scientific calculations to bear on the case, with startling results. Not only did he eliminate the hold-up gang murder idea, but he traced back the age and sex of the victim and the approximate date of the murder. The skeleton was that of a man, he testified, who was between 38 and 40 years of age and who was slain with a blow from an axe on the head 27 years ago.

More than a quarter of a century had made of it an almost "perfect crime," but not quite. The human bones remained, and Dr. Fontaine, with F. Pepin, chemist at the morgue laboratory, set to work to examine them minutely. The analysis showed the age and sex of the victim. The murderer also failed to destroy the clothing, leather boots and belt of the victim, so these also were subjected to scientific examination. This in turn established the approximate date of the murder and the placing of the body in the cellar, where it was discovered only by accident when a workman started on some excavation work under the house.

Evidence of Scar Found More positive identification was now the goal of the medico-legal expert and his helpers, and here their microscopic examination of the skeleton gave them their ace clue a slight indentation on the frontal bone of the skuli. The doctor's findings had sent the detectives off on a new trail of investigation, which resulted in the discovery that Carmino Frank Festa, then 40 years old, had disappeared at St. Hubert 27 yeas ago. "Did Festa have a scar on his forehead?", the doctor asked the detectives. At first, those questioned denied that the missing man had, but eventually it was admitted by some who knew him that Festa's forehead was so marked that strangers referred to him as "Scarface."

Identification was complete, but Dr. Fontaine and his assistants eleven checked the buttons, straps e and fasteners on a leather coat, found with the skeleton, to cinch the case.

Photo caption:

Witnesses and accused are pictured above as they took part in a two-hour inquest which resulted in a coroner's jury finding Luigi Stabile, 60-year-old Ville LaSalle farmer, criminally responsible for the death in 1916 of his brother-in-law. Left to right above are Mrs. Julio Adamo, of 1347 Lapierre street, daughter of the victim; Frank Festa, of Buffalo, N.Y., the eldest son; Mrs. Raphael Costello, of 978 Minto avenue, another daughter: Romeo Jacques, of St. Hubert, who discovered the bones; Joseph Festa, of Rochester, N.Y., another son of the victim; and Sgt. Det. Rolland Jargaille. In front of the bar may be seen the accused, Stabile, and Albert Oggier, provincial detective.

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