Ashley County Ledger

Hamburg, Arkansas
Wednesday, April, 2 1997

Sheriff's deputies usually see everything, and nothing surprises them, but radio call about a man pulling a coffin in a cart along U.S. Highway 82 10 miles east of Hamburg piqued the curiosity of Ashley County Sheriff's deputies late Friday evening.

Deputies stopped the man about 6:38 pm Friday in the Snyder community east of Hamburg after the Ashley County Sheriff's Department received a call from a citizen about a man walking along U.S. Highway 82 pulling coffin. Deputies searched the man for weapons and after receiving consent to search the coffin, took a deep breath and opened the lid. They didn't find a body, but did find several plastic bags with marijuana residue and several marijuana pipes and other drug paraphernalia inside.

The man, Rudolph Stolfer, 47, from Pennsylvania was "passing through" Ashley County, carrying his belongings in the coffin, which was made of heavy cardboard.

Stolfer, told deputies he is an "advocate for the legalization of marijuana."

They were not impressed and Stolfer is in the Ashley County jail charged with possession of an instrument of a crime- drug paraphernalia. Stolfer didn't give a reason why he kept his belongings in a coffin and it is not known if Stolfer is a vampire, since that question isn't included in the booking report.