Valley Girl Views: The Attempted Murder Of A Watsontown Boarding House Owner, 1924

On Nov 29th 1924, 46 year old Bruce Fenstermacher of Watsontown attempted to kill Mrs. Mary Bomboy Ammon, age 35, while she was at the home of her nephew and niece in Milton.

Fenstermacher, twice widowed, with 11 children, was reportedly somewhat obsessed with Bomboy. When he showed up, intoxicated, to speak with her in December of 1924, she rebuffed him. He then shot at her, firing twice. One shot was blocked by her elbow, and the other missed her completely, hitting the chair behind her.

The article tells us that Mrs. Ammon opened a boarding house "in the lane leading to Star Five brick plant of Fiske & Co" between Milton and Watsontown, around 1918. In 1924, she had been operating the boarding house for 6 years.

Fenstermacher was sentenced to The Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. Two years into his sentence, in March 1927, he underwent surgery to remove a tumor from his brain. He died as the result of an operation in August of 1927.

WATSONTOWN MAN IN DRUNKEN STUPOR

SHOOTS WOMAN

Bruce Fenstermacher Faces Serious Charge as Result of Near-Tragedy at Home of David Ranck at Milton on Saturday Shortly After Noon With the words "If you don't talk to me now you never will," Bruce Fenstermacher, aged 46 years, of Watsontown, in a drunken rage about noon Saturday shot Mrs. Mary Bom-boy Ammon, aged 35 years, of Watsontown, at the home of her nephew and niece, Mr. and Mrs. David R. Ranck at Milton.

She threw her arm before her breast or the bullet would have pierced her heart. Instead it struck her left arm below the elbow, inflicting two ugly wounds where it went in and came out. Not content with the first shot, he fired another from his .32 revolver, but Mrs. Ammon jumped away and it hit a chair on which Betty, aged three years, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ranck was sitting, but the little girl was not harmed.

It is thought he would have emptied the gun in an effort to kill the woman if it had not been for Mr. Ranck who grabbed him and pushed him out of the house. Officers C. W. Showers and Mark C. Budd were called to the scene, but Fenstermascher had escaped before the police reached the house.

Later he was taken into custody in a club-room in the central part of the town. He was lodged in the Milton lockup on Saturday afternoon and was later removed to the county jail at Sunbury. Mrs. Ammon for six years conducted a boarding house in the lane leading to Star Five plant of Fiske and Company, between Milton and Watsontown. For some time she has been making her home with her mother, Mrs. Joseph Young at Watsontown. She came to Milton several days ago to take care of her grandniece, Betty Ranck, while Mrs. Ranck was working in a local plant.

Fenstermasher had been "keeping company" with Mrs. Ammon for the past several months. He was very jealous of her. She always told him she would not talk with him while he was under the influence of liquor. Saturday when he went to the Ranck home with Mr. Ranck he brought a picture of his daughter-in-law and asked how it suited her. Then he asked her if he could talk with her and if she would go in the room for the talk. She knew he was drunk and told him she would not talk with him while he was in that condition, as she had often told him before. He became angry and grabbed her by the wrist and held her as he pulled the gun from his pocket and fired the first shot. Only her quick action in throwing up her arm saved her life, as he was right in front of her when he pulled the trigger. A local physician was called to dress Mrs. Amnion's wound, which is not serious although it is very painful.

Mr. Fenstermacher has been working in Tamaqua. Mrs. Ammon stated Saturday that in the past several months he had not been drinking to any great extent. He has been married twice and is the father of eleven children. His two wives are both dead.

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Fenstermachers first wife was Daisy Alice Menger, the daughter of Stephen & Sarah [Mincemoyer] Menger. She died in 1911 at age 30, a sudden death from an embolism related to a large vascular goiter.

His second wife, Sadie [Kisner] Fenstermacher died in October 1921, at age 34, of typhoid fever. Two of their children were also hospitalized with typhoid at the time.

Two years after his arrest, Bruce Fenstermacher underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor. His first surgery was in March of 1927, and in August of 1927 local papers reported that he had died as a result of a surgery.

Fiske Company had taken over the Milton Brick plant in 1921.

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-milton-brick-company-1914-1940.html

Born February 6 1890, Mary A. Bomboy was the daughter of John C. & Mary Alice [Robbins] Bomboy. On June 21 1906, 17 year old Mary married 26 year old Lake Dressler Ammon, a painter from Milton. They appear to have divorced sometime prior to 1924, when Lake married Rosetta Phelps.

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