Bar patrons mourn murdered buddies
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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.