Valley Girl Views: Sunbury Chief Of Police Murdered, 1913

Chief William John Kerstetter

Killed in the line of duty, February 11th 1913

In 1909, Morris F. Rossiter was one of the brightest students at Sunbury High School. He was also a member of the football team. At a game against Bloomsburg that year, he was tackled and kicked in the head.

Morris was never again normal after that game. He lost all interest in his studies, and shunned his companions. He was prone to outbursts.

Rossiter spent time in the Harrisburg Hospital for the Insane, but after time, showed improvement. His father Charles, a well known florist in town, brought him home. Three weeks later, Morris began to regress. His mother, brothers and sisters were all afraid of him, and the family decided Morris needed to return to the hospital.

Sunbury's police chief, William Kerstetter, was by all accounts, a truly good man. He was known for purchasing meals for tramps, purchasing shoes and clothing for poor children out of his own pocket, and when his friend died, he adopted the mans son so that the boy would not be sent to a childrens home.

On February 11th 1913, Chief Kerstetter told his family he had a bad feeling about his assignment that day, to return Morris Rossiter to the mental hospital in Harrisburg. The Chief even tried to get out of the duty, but Rossiters father insisted that the police chief, who had dealt with Morris before, had the best experience to help with the situation.

At 4:30 that day, Charles Rossiter, a well known florist and father of Morris, along with Chief Kerstetter entered the families home. Morris shot them both with a 32 caliber colt automatic.

Charles Rossiter was shot just below the heart. Kerstetter was shot in the head, throat, left arm and shoulder. Later investigation, based on the entry of the wounds, showed that Morris was kneeling or lying on the ground when he made the shots.

Charles was able to escape and run for help. He warned everyone not to enter the home, that all of the bullets had not been empties from the gun. Three law enforcement officials arrived on the scene, where Morris had closed himself off in the attic. One man watched the attic door, while the others retrieved Chief Kerstetter. The chief was rushed to Mary Packer Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 4:15 am.

Morris continued his stand off, and an "immense mob of the morbidly curious" surrounded the house. The police on the scene decided to use formaldehyde gas, supplied by a local druggist, to force Rossiter out of the attic.

Here the newspaper accounts vary. One version states: When one man went to the attic door to attach the hose with the gas, Rossiter said he would throw out his weapon and surrender. One he tossed the gun out on the steps, Rossiter asked "It is true I shot my father?" He then quietly surrendered.

Another version says:

"Young Rossiter, after being overcome by fumes, was captured after he made an attempt at suicide with the remaining cartridge in his six chambered revolver. The bullet lodges in his wrist and the wound is of minor nature.

While in the Northumberland County prison last evening, young Rossiter regained consciousness, and apparently realizing the enormity of his act, begged the warden to shoot him and end his misery."

Rossiter continued to express regret for shooting his father, but never mentioned Kerstetter.

In May of 1913, Dr H.B. Meredith of the Danville insane asylum found that by strange coincidence, both John Sabo & Morris Rossiter suffered with "dementia paceops", a form of insanity causing maniacal outbreaks at unsuspected moments, making it advisable to keep them under guard and confined to some institution at all times.[Sabo killed Miss Sophia Horbit of NY when she refused to marry his younger brother at a celebration in Kulpmont Pa]

William John Kerstetter was born January 24th 1867, the son of Robert & Harriet [Gass] Kerstetter, of Shamokin Pa. He married Emma L. Haldeman. The couple had three daughters, Olive, Dora, and Viola, in addition to an adopted son named Paul. He was 46 years old when he was killed.

"Fully a thousand people attended the funeral of Chief Of Police W.J. Kerstetter at Sunbury this afternoon. It was the largest funeral ever seen in Sunbury... the dead chief of police was highly regarded in Sunbury. He was a giant physically, and was also a man of unusual intelligence and the whole town paused to honor his memory."

In March of 1913, Morris was refusing food in jail, believing the warden was trying to poison him. An iron bar, wrenched from his cell window, was found under his cot.

In September of 1913, Morris Rossiter and another inmate at Farview Asylum for the criminally insane, escaped. The two men hid in a cave and existed on berries and nuts, before being captured and returned to the hospital.

September 1913

Morris Rossiter spent most of his life in Farview State Hospital for the Criminally insane, in Wayne County Pa. He died in June of 1985, at the age of 95.

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A modern specialist theorizes that it's possible that Morris suffered from Schizophrenia, and his behavior may have had nothing to do with his football injury.