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 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", but papers identified the man, and the probable cause for his murder, a month after it occurred in 1904. That information was likely 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.
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.
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.
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.
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"
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.
===================
HISTORICAL FICTION
A Novel by W.A. Conway
====================
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:
==========================
READ MORE
==========================
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... "
==================================
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.
.jpg)
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment
I'll read the comments and approve them to post as soon as I can! Thanks for stopping by!