Butler police arrested a 51-year-old man on charges that he stabbed another man with a knife Monday morning in an alley near West Jefferson Street.

Police suspect James T. Matuke Jr. of Butler stabbed Karl Jageman, 50, in the arm and chest during an argument over money.

Jageman of Butler was treated at Butler Memorial Hospital for two stab wounds.

“He required internal and exterior sutures,” Lt. Detective Anthony Fatta said of Jageman, who was treated and released from the hospital.

Matuke is in the Butler County Prison on $300,000 bail.

Police said that Matuke and Jageman got into an altercation about 11 a.m. at the Shell gas station, the former Cigarette Shop, in the 500 block of West Jefferson Street.

“The suspect demanded money owed to him by the victim,” Fatta said.

The two men argued and then decided “to settle their differences” by fighting.

They walked over to Chase Street, a nearby alleyway.

“The victim thought they were going to have a fist fight,” Fatta said, “but the suspect pulled out a knife and stabbed (Jageman).”

The victim was stabbed in the left arm and the left chest area below the nipple.

Police said they have found no one who saw the stabbing. Afterward, Jageman walked back toward the Shell station with Matuke following him.

The men got into another brief argument before Matuke fled and the victim made it to the station where he called 911, police said.

Officers spoke to Jageman at the store and again at the hospital.

Police searched for, but could not immediately find, the suspect. Later, they got an arrest warrant, and at 4 p.m. went to Matuke’s upstairs apartment, which is across the street from the Shell station.

Officers got no response when they knocked on the door, but they suspected he was inside.

“We heard what sounded like someone tiptoeing across the ceiling,” said police Deputy Chief David Adam.

Police believe in a bid to elude capture, Matuke squirreled himself up the drop ceiling and tried to hide in the rafters. But officers eventually caught him.

When they nabbed him, Adam said, he was carrying a pocket knife that he admitted he used to stab Jageman.

District Judge Lewis Stoughton shortly before 10 p.m. arraigned Matuke on charges of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.

Coincidentally, Monday was Matuke’s birthday.