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Archiver > FLAVEL > 2006-08 > 1154832353


From: "Julie Shellberg" <>
Subject: Newspaper article about Harry Flavel Grandson of George Conrad Flavel.
Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2006 19:45:53 -0700
In-Reply-To: <002f01c6b8f0$72671d60$3401683a@SERVER>


Hello again Satima and everyone,
I have seen the family line with George C Flavel from Ireland although I
wasn't able to locate any source material to back it up with yet. I am
using New Jersey as his birthplace for now as that is what he and his
family list on the United States census reports. Meanwhile I am trying
to locate some information about his parents. I am going to see what I
find on his brother Roland and the parents names you supplied me with in
the previous emails. When I find some more information I will pass it
on to you guys.

***By the way our personal family Flavell line is through my husband's
side of the family. Our first ancestor that immigrated to America was
Joseph Fellows Flavelle born 06 Feb 1875 and came from Sedgley,
Staffordshire, England. ***



Here is one of the articles I found about Harry Flavel and the stabbing
incident. They do portray him in a negative fashion and stabbing
someone is a serious offense. While I have been reading about Harry and
his family I have gotten a picture in my mind of him as someone who
might have Asperger's syndrome which is a mild form of Autism where the
person who has this disease very intelligent and book smart usually with
high I.Q's but have a hard time socially and interacting with people...
We have also spoken with Harry's last lawyer who even though he isn't on
good terms with the family anymore stated that he didn't believe that
Harry was guilty of the crimes in which he was charged.
I guess what I am trying to say is that because I have only heard one
side of the story and the media portrays Harry and his family in a
negative light that I do not believe that is necessarily the true
situation. I also don't want to portray to anyone reading these email
messages that they should believe it either. There are always two sides
to a story.

I also want to let you guys know that the fellow who was stabbed also
sued Harry Flavel in Civil Court and won a judgment of approx $730,000.
Against Harry which to my knowledge has not been paid in full to Alec
Josephson.



Here is the article...

JAN FLETCHER (1991, March 25). Astorians wonder where is Harry Flavel
The great-grandson of Capt. George Flavel is wanted in connection with a
stabbing case :[03 Edition]. The Oregonian,p. B1.
Copyright Oregonian Publishing Company Mar 25, 1991

ASTORIA - Alec Josephson says he normally wouldn't have stopped his car
to confront Harry S. Flavel that Friday night. But Josephson thought the
chain leash Flavel had whacked against his Honda Civic had broken a
window.

Josephson didn't know why the man hit his car with the chain, and he
didn't know that Flavel bore a famous name out of the town's past. But
Josephson knew he was mad. He grabbed Flavel's coat sleeve and demanded
his name so he could call the police.

Then it happened, though Josephson says he never saw the knife coming.
In an instant, the blade had sliced into his abdomen, gone through his
intestines and stopped a half-inch from his spine.

Now Josephson says all he wants to do is forget the February 1983
incident and get on with his life. But the fact that his assailant - now
a fugitive - has yet to serve a day of his sentence keeps the memory
alive.

Josephson isn't the only one who would like Flavel found. So would Glenn
Faber, chief deputy district attorney for Clatsop County. And many
residents of Astoria are at least curious about what might be the next
development in the case, which involves the great-grandson of one of
this city's most important historic figures.

Flavel has been running from Oregon authorities since August, when,
after exhausting a string of appeals, he didn't show up for sentencing
on the 1985 assault conviction. Later, he was arrested in Pennsylvania
on a minor theft charge, but when it came time for his extradition
hearing earlier this month, he again failed to show. He's still at
large.

Flavel, 63, is a descendant of Capt. George Flavel, who came west for
the California gold rush in 1849 and was lured north when issued a
license by the Oregon territorial government as a pilot on the Columbia
River Bar. He became Astoria's first millionaire and amassed large
chunks of local property, some of which the family still owns.

"The Flavels are larger than life in this town," said John Goodenberger,
a historical landmarks consultant for the city of Astoria. "There are
legends that revolve around them." Started with an argument

Harry Flavel told police that he hit Josephson's car with his dog's
leash because he was tired of speeders in the neighborhood. He stabbed
Josephson, 30, while they argued behind the Star of the Sea School in
Astoria.

After the stabbing, Flavel left. But luckily for Josephson, the Rev.
Arthur P. Dernbach, priest at St. Mary's Catholic Church, had overheard
the two men arguing just outside the rectory and called the police. They
arrived minutes later to find Josephson lying on the ground, bleeding
and barely conscious.

Between Flavel's arrest on March 2, 1983, for the stabbing and his
failure to appear at his extradition hearing in Pennsylvania on March 5,
1991, Flavel's case has wound a circuitous course.

When the case first went to trial, it was moved to neighboring Columbia
County because of the publicity. In a pretrial motion, Flavel's
attorney, Des Connall, asked that his client be allowed to use as
evidence a lie-detector test in which Flavel asserted he acted in
self-defense.

- Circuit Judge John Hunnicutt agreed to allow the test results as
evidence. When the district attorney's office appealed the judge's
decision, the trial was delayed until the state Supreme Court ruled that
Hunnicutt had erred in agreeing to allow the results as evidence.

The trial finally began in April 1985, and a jury convicted Flavel of
first-degree assault. Hunnicutt ruled that Flavel could remain free
until his initial rights of appeal were exhausted. The judge also
suspended his 20-year sentence to prison on condition that he serve a
one-year jail sentence and be placed on probation for five years.

Flavel filed eight rounds of appeals, but all were turned back except
for the last one, which has not yet been decided.

Authorities finally ordered him to appear Aug. 17 in the Clatsop County
Circuit Court to be sentenced to a year in jail.

But when the court date arrived, Flavel didn't.

For two months, Astoria authorities had no idea where he was. But in
October, Harry Flavel was arrested and accused of stealing motel towels
in Willow Grove, Pa. Police there became suspicious when Flavel refused
to give his name. They subsequently discovered an outstanding warrant
from Oregon. He was held while officials in Oregon scrambled to file
extradition papers.

Flavel delayed court hearings in Pennsylvania twice: first because he
had just hired an attorney who couldn't make the court date, and second
because he fired his attorney the night before the next hearing date.

In the meantime, Flavel's sister, Mary Louise Flavel, had raised the
$50,000 cash bail needed to free her brother while he awaited his
hearings. She and their mother, Florence Flavel, had accompanied Harry
to Pennsylvania.

Finally, a third hearing date was set on March 5, and again, Flavel
failed to appear.

Part of history

The stabbing occurred just three blocks from a house Flavel shared with
his 65-year-old sister and their mother, who turned 95 on March 1.

There are two Flavel houses in Astoria. One is a major tourist
attraction and was deeded to the county in 1933 by a Flavel family
member living in California, Patricia Flavel Johnson. The Flavel House
Museum, at Eighth and Exchange streets, draws more than 25,000 visitors
a year. Capt. George Flavel built the mansion in 1885. His story is, in
many ways, the story of Astoria and Northwestern Oregon.

'But in recent years, not all has gone well for his descendants, who
have developed a reputation for being a bit odd. People say that after
the captain died his descendants became reclusive, even strange at
times. There are stories about shots fired inside the house on Halloween
and New Year's, about quarreling and about the night that police
officers were called and told that Harry Flavel had locked his mother
and sister, clad in their nightclothes, outside on an upper-story
widow's walk. It was cold and he allegedly was squirting them with a
garden hose. Police rescued the pair with a ladder.

Dernbach, who is a priest at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in
Portland, said some townspeople thought Harry Flavel was odd.

"But once he got into the legal system, he was very astute," Dernbach
recalls. He added that Flavel always had contended the stabbing was
self-defense.

Now the Flavel house in which Harry lived with his family is a
dilapidated mansion. It's at 15th and Franklin, eight blocks away from
the historic Flavel mansion.

With only a hint of its stately grace remaining, the house has been
empty since last summer, when all three Flavels left town in the
aftermath of Harry Flavel's failure to appear at his Aug. 17 hearing.

Bad situation

A lot of the once-extensive Flavel family property holdings are gone.
Much of what remains is between Ninth and 10th streets on Commercial
Street, Astoria's main downtown thoroughfare, and is owned by Mary
Louise and Florence Flavel. But only a handful of businesses continue to
operate in the twin string of storefronts.

Peter Kolb, a tenant of the Flavels and owner of Peri's Sandwich
Express, is busy these days painting the empty storefronts on either
side of his business - for free. It is his attempt to make the best of a
bad situation.

"I really can't afford to move," he said. "I have a huge investment in
this place."

Kolb pays his rent by mail into a Flavel account but said he hasn't
talked to the Flavels since the end of January.

Meanwhile, Goodenberger, the historical consultant, says his experiences
with the Flavels have been very positive. "Mary Louise is a really warm
person," he said, and "Harry is incredibly intelligent but has had a
hard time relating to people."

Should Flavel again surface, he faces not just a one-year sentence, but
a reinstitution of the original 20-year sentence, according to Faber,
the assistant district attorney. Faber's office has requested a hearing
on whether Flavel's probation should be revoked.

But will Harry Flavel be found? Faber believes so. He thinks Flavel will
be found the same way he was apprehended in Pennsylvania - by chance,
through a mistake of some kind. Although no police agency in the country
is responsible for tracking him, Faber says many fleeing - felons are
usually caught for simple mistakes and crimes.

Josephson said he did not know that no one was tracking Flavel, but he
was not surprised.

"That's the way it's gone all along," he said. He added that he could
recall at least 10 to 15 "amazing" turns and twists the case has taken
since that February night eight years ago.

Josephson now lives in a Portland suburb but he feared his location's
being made public. He added that he has yet to collect on an $800,000
civil award in connection with the stabbing and has tried to get on with
his life.

"I really don't want to think about it too much," he said. "I just try
to put it out of my mind."



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