"The Shamokin Head" - An Overview

 

After finding, and reading, the historical fiction novel The Murder At Hickory Ridge, by Nathan Benson [pen name for W.A. Conway], I wanted to lean more about the real murder the story was based on.  

It's a gruesome tale, full  macabre myths, and some rather macabre fact too.   

In 1904 a man, Antoni Cerelli,  was murdered.  His decapitated head, found some time after his body was discovered,  was embalmed, and displayed in a Shamokin funeral home, then stored in a basement, then displayed in a museum, until a legal battle ensued to have it removed, and then it was buried in an unmarked grave.

For years the head has been called "unidentified".  Local papers however,  identified the Cerelli, and the probable cause for his murder, a month after it occurred in 1904.

    That information was possibly lost to time and memories, when the head was relegated to a box in the basement of the funeral home.  When it was recovered for display in a museum in the 1970s, it was listed as "unidentified human head."  

Here's the Rest Of The Story, Behind the "Shamokin Head": 

In  November 1904  a nude body was discovered by three hunters, about 100 yards from the Hickory Ridge Colliery.  

There were actually TWO nude bodies discovered that month, so the newspaper reports can be a little confusing.   

One was discovered by hunters, one by church goers.  One at Hickory Ridge, and one in Mahonoy City.  One with a head, one without.

  

George Anderson, 1966

A $50 reward was offered to anyone who could locate the head, for the murder victim near Hickory Ridge Colliery.  

 On November 29th 1904, the a search party using a scent dog located the head under a pile of rocks.  Two boys George Anderson age 18 & Joseph Kamintski age 16 each received $25, the reward for making the find.

The head was embalmed and displayed at Farrow Funeral Home.  It was then stored in a box in the basement of the funeral home for..  a long time.  Some say 70 years, but I haven't  personally worked out the exact time line.  

When the Anthracite Museum opened, the head was put on display in the museum - under a black cloth.  Visitors were permitted to peek under the cloth to see it.

July, 1976

A judge, visiting the museum, was outraged, and a legal battle began. 

 On November 24th 1976 a court order was issued to remove the head from the museum.  

When the coroner arrived to take possession, the head was "missing", haven been hidden by members of the museum committee.

In a 20 minute youtube video, Chet Davis tells how the mayor of the town brought him the head in a box, and asked him to make a plaster copy of it, which he did.  

  Legal wranglings continued, and finally, in February of 1977, the famous "Shamokin Head" was buried in an unmarked grave.  [Yes, I do know where. No, I will not share that information.]

The plaster replica, displayed at the anthracite museum, fell and  was broken.  It was deemed not worth repairing, and  no longer exists. A picture of the broken plaster replica appears in the above mentioned documentary.

The original head is buried in an unmarked grave, his body having been buried in Potters field at Mt Carmel Cemetery in 1904.

In 2023 Dave Tamkus published a book about the "Mystery"

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The Victim

Antoni Cerelli, Italian Custom House Agent

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THE VICTIM IDENTIFIED, THE MOTIVE GIVEN

Originally, Newspapers reported that the victim appeared to be of Italian descent.  The condition of his hands indicated that he was most likely not a mineworker.

An early article reported:

"The authorities are of the opinion the victim was an agent for a' metropolitan mercantile agency. During the twice a month pay days at the mines collectors of that kind of agencies arrive in the coal region and travel through the hamlets collecting money, miners buying large quantities of goods on credit. It is likely that the victim, having collected a large amount, was on his way to this place or Mount Carmel and was held up by highwaymen, who killed and robbed him. An important discovery was made by a searching party last night in a coat, pair broken suspenders. two new gloves, four the tie shape and of a a stick heart pin, of the colored head being glass, all, in the opinion of the police. having belonged to the dead man. The articles were found 200 feet from where the body lay and were half covered with leaves.."

In December of 1904, the man was identified as Italian custom officer Antonio Cerelli.  Why the head continued to be referred to as "unidentified" I do not know.  Several articles named him, repeatedly. 

"MURDERED MAN HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED

 Head of the Body of a Man Found at Hickory Ridge Recognized as Italian Custom Officer. SHAMOKIN, Pa., Dec. 24.--

The head of the body of a man who was murdered on the Hickory Ridge road November 19 last was today positively identified as that of Antonio Cerelli, custom officer in the employ of the Italian government. came from Europe in October to attend the wedding of a sister at Natalie near the place the body was found. A photograph of the bridal  party was taken.
He was in the group. He had plenty of money and prolonged his stay. Nov. 18 he mysteriously disappeared. The next day the body was found full of o bullets.
No one came forward to identify him here. Mail began accumulating in the post office for him. This gave the detectives a clue. They procured a photograph the bridal party and compared Cerelli's face with that of the head. It was a perfect resemblance.
The authorities today took the head to Natalie, where relatives recognized it as that of Cerelli's. Arrests will shortly be made."   [More articles naming him are included at the end of this post]

Arrests were not shortly made. Or, ever made, from what I can tell.  A later article gave the motive for the crime:

Cerelli was from a wealthy family, and that he would inherit. However, after his death, the family money would go to his sister.  "It is believed that Papula, the brother-in law, and his father knew all the details of the crime, but Detective Schwartz has been unable to secure enough evidence to warrant any arrest in the case"

December 27th 1904

December 30th, 1904

MURDER PARTLY SOLVED


Detective Schwartz Tells Name of Murdered Man

Man Found Dead With Head Severed was Antonio Cerelli, who Came to This Country to Attend His Sister's Wedding--Schwartz Receives Note of Warning to Keep Away From Natalie.

The Hickory Ridge murder mystery has without a doubt been solved in SO far as the identity of the murdered man is concerned.

Thursday evening Detective Reuben Schwartz returned to his home at Shamokin, from Natalie, and tsated that the murdered man was Antonio Cerrelli. To prove that he is correct Schwartz produced a photograph of Cerrelli which tallied exactly with the murdered man's head | which was found hid under a pile of stones near Marion Heights. According to the story as told by Schwartz, Cerrelli left his home 10 Italy, to come to this country to attend his sister's wedding. who resides at Natalie. He arrived at Natalie on October 17.

On October 21, his sister was married to Emisla Papula and following the wedding ceremony there was celebration after celebration at the home of the newly married couple which continued for several weeks. According to the story as believed by Schwartz, some time before the body of the man was found, which was on November 18, a big celebration was beld at the Papula home to which a number of Italians residing in the vicinity were invited. Whisky and beer flowed like water and in the early morning when the guests left for their homes Cerelli accompanied them down the road toward Hickory Ridge and Marion Hights and was then shot and cruolly murdered, the guests from Marion Heights taking the bead while the guests from Hickory Ridge carried away and concealed the body. This accounts for the finding of the head near Marion Heights and the body near Hickory Ridge. It is reported that the parents of Cerelli, who reside in Italy, are wealthy and that he was to receive the greater part of their wealth at their death.

In case of Cerelli's death the money and property would go to the married sister and it is supposed that this was the motive for the crime. It is believed that Papula, the brother-in-law, and his father knew all the details of the crime, but Detective Schwartz has been unable to secure enough evidence to warrant any arrests in the case. It is a well known fact at Natalie that Cerelli suddenly disappeared and learning of his strange disappearance gave Schwartz his first clue leading to identifying the murdered man as Cerelli. That Schwartz has positively identified the man and that there is something in his version of the murder has proven to be correct by the fact that a note of warning was received by Schwartz Thursday evening, warning him to keep away from Natalie. It is now suggested that the County Commissioner; take charge of the case and employ an Italian detective from New York city to run down the criminals and bring them to justice..

MORE CONFESSIONS

There were  confessions.  In January of 1905, Charles Koppenhafer of Mt Carmel confessed.  It was reported however, that he was of unsound mind and that there was "not the slightest possibility he was connected with the crime."

In 1932 a man, on his deathbed in Buffalo, also confessed to the 25 year old murder.  The name of the confessor was not given.  It is possible this was the brother in law, originally suspected of the crime, but I cannot know that for certain, as he was unnamed. It's also possible it was yet another false confession.  Surprisingly, there were a lot of those, for most murders at the time.

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HISTORICAL FICTION

A Novel by  W.A. Conway

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HISTORICAL FICTION 

"The Murder at Hickory Ridge” was a fictionalized account of an unsolved murder in the Shamokin area, written by William A. Conway and printed by his two brothers, Alphonsus E. and John J., in the garage that served as the Conway Print Shop."

The novel was printed in serial form in the Shamokin News-Dispatch in 1936, and again in the 1960s.  You can read it in it's entirety here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-murder-at-hickory-ridge-by-wa-conway.html

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READ MORE

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Their record did not improve over the next two decades. All of this brings to mind another "Murder in the Mines" in Mausdale, 1900. It may have been solved - there were a few false confessions, but in my mind, it's still not even concretely decided who the victim was, in that 1900 murder.  Read more about that one here -   https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/01/mystery-of-mine-mausdale-pa-1900.html

In an article about the 1932 confession, a Pottsville paper reported that there was only one unsolved murder in Northumberland County in 1904.  This seems...  laughable.  Northumberland county was WELL known for it's unsolved murders.   In fact, although many murders occurred each year between 1860 and 1908, very few were ever solved.  

In 1899, the Columbian, a Bloomsburg Newspaper, said: 

"Northumberland County has an unenviable record- a record that is doubtless without parallel in the United States... Within the past fifteen years ninety-seven murders have been committed... Only five persons have been brought to trial and only one convicted of murder in the first degree... "

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COAL REGION MURDERS.

 Another Partly Nude Body of a Man Found -Robbery Not the Motive.

 MAHANOY CITY. Pa.. Nov. 20.

-Following closely upon the finding of the nude and headless body of an unidentified man near Hickory Ridge on Friday night there comes another murder mystery that puzzles the police in the southern anthracite region. This morning the partially nude body of a man was found by a party of churchgoers in a thicket about a mile from this town. No marks were found upon the body, with the exception of an abrasion above the right eye. The dead man appears to be about 35 years old. and from letters found on his person it is believed that he is John P. Boyle of either Paterson, J., or Newark. N. J.. and that he was an actor. No one in Mahanoy City remembers having seen him.

An investigation shows that he was not a member of any of the theatrical shows that have played in this section recently. About $40 in cash was found in his clothes, and this precludes the theory, of robbery as a motive for the crime. police will not say whether they think that there is any connection between this crime and the murder at Hickory Ridge. 

SHAMOKIN, Pa.. Nov. 20. -The mysterious murder of Hickory Ridge, as it is now termed, has not yet been fathormed nor the identify of the victim established. The search for the head of the man still goes on. being participated in to-day by several thousand people. who scoured the mountains between the Ridge and Patterson without finding the slightest trace of it.

The authorities are of the opinion the victim was an agent for a' metropolitan mercantile agency. During the twice a month pay days at the mines collectors of that kind of agencies arrive in the coal region and travel through the hamlets collecting money, miners buying large quantities of goods on credit. It is likely that the victim, having collected a large amount, was on his way to this place or Mount Carmel and was held up by highwaymen, who killed and robbed him. An important discovery WAR made by a searching party last night in a coat, pair broken suspenders. two new gloves, four the tie shape and of a a stick heart pin, of the colored head being glass, all, in the opinion of the police. having belonged to the dead man. The articles were found 200 feet from where the body lay and were half covered with leaves..

Yet another murder at Hickory Ridge - in 1937

Spurring memories of the 1904 decapitation

Koppenhaver Confession, Jan 1905

1932 confession

More Legal Wranglings

Hickory Ridge (1870-1948)- Shown here is the Hickory Ridge Colliery at Lower Sagon. In 1870, Jervis Langdon of Elmira built here a colliery and breaker on land owned by Northern Central Railway. In 1873, the Mineral Railroad and Mining Co. bought the land and a new breaker was built a year later by Adam Gottshall. In 1875, a mob of 250 Mollies stopped the men from working, but the unrest had little effect. In 1878, the Mollies set fire to the breaker. It wasn't until 1880 that a small breaker was built. In 1886, the Union Coal Co. took over the buildings and the land, and in 1917 M.A. Hanna took the reins, operating under the Susquehanna Collieries Co. until its closing. The homes of Lower Sagon still exist. Approximately 6.3 million tons of coal was mined here.