St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-04
Which Ended a Celebration on
Bohemian Flats in South
Minneapolis.
One Man Pounded to Death
and Another Badly Hacked
With a Hatchet.
The Murdered Man a Proba-
BILE Aggressor, if the Stories
Told Are True.
A Drunken Debauch Which
May Have a Double Trag-
edy for an Ending.

The West side Bohemian fiat, which
has been a source of trouble to the pO-
lice of South Minneapolis, was the
scene of terrible affray early yester-
day morning, which resulted in the
death of one man, Mark Provornich, the
serious wounding of another, Andrew
Demko, Provornich's slayer, and the
arrest on charge of attempted murder
of Paul Croft, the man who wounded
Demko. Easter Monday is a gala
day among the Hungarians and
Bohemians, and all day Mon
day and far into the night
the day was celebrated by the inhabi-
tants of the fiat by big drunken de-
bauch. Nearly every house was open,
and in each one was beer without limit.
Every one was drinking and visiting
among his neighbors. One party, which
spent the day and the early evening in
going from house to house and drinking,
was composed of Mark Provornich, An
drew Demko, Paul Croft, Mark Strako,
John Bocha and Maik Kulisar, all Hun
garians. About 10 o'clock the whole
party was
TOGETHER DRINKING,
and apparently having good time.
Then Pr0vornich and Strako left the
party and went away. The next seen
of them Provornich was unconscious
from blow on the head and Demko
was bleeding from two dozen wounds
on the body and head. The police did
not hear of the trouble until
about 6 o'clock in the morning.
Then Sergt Krumwede and Patrolmen
Schafer and Collins went down to
the flats, and after making diligent in
0uiry elected the following facts:
Demko and a party of friends were pas
sing down one of the narrow little
streets, Just under the Northern Pacific
bridge, when PrOvornich and party of
his friends stepped out of house. Some
trouble followed, and ProvOrnich made
a dash at Demko with big club which
he held in his hands. Demko grap-
pied with him and had sue
ceeded in securing the club when
PrOyornich'S friends made rush for
him. Demko turned to run, but before
he did so he swung the heavy club
around his head and brought it down on
ProvOrnich's head with telling effect.
Provornich dropped like log, and
DemkO ran. He was pursued by Paul
Croft, who carried in his hand a COM
mon hatchet. Catching up with DemkO
the back of the head, which stunned
him. AS
DEN1K0 FELL
Croft jumped on top Of him and struck
him on the forehead with the weapon,
tearing away the skin and leaving the
bone exposed. He then chopped the
unconscious man twice on the left
shoulder and some twenty times in the
small of the back. Croft then returned
to PrOvOrnich, who was unconscious,
and with the aid of his friends carried
him to the house of Andrew Gyorgvoik.
Demko was cared for by his
friends, and taken to the house
of his brother, John DemkO.
after learning the facts in the case the
police began search for the partici-
pants in the fight. ProvOrnich and
Demko were soon found, DemkO being
about to leave the house, with his head
tied up in white handkerchief, stained
with blood He was left in charge of
Patrolman Collins, while Sergt. Krum-
weide and Patrolman Schafer began a
search for Croft. Schafer was sent to
DG. dul, dllu lOi
whom he brought back and placed
Demko was brought i'll by Patrolman
Collins and was locked up. When the
police found ProyOrnich he was uncon-
scious, and was surrounded by half a
hundred or more Hungarian and Bohe-
mian relatives and friends, all lamenting
and carrying on at great rate. Seeing
that he was badly hurt, Police Surgeon
Kelly and DR.. Hansen were sent for.
Both gentlemen came
AS FAST AS HORSES
could bring them, and did all they
could for the unfortunate man. Demko
was next attended to, his numerous
wounds being dressed and bandaged by
DR.. Kelly as tenderly as possible. He
complained most of the wounds on the
head and shoulder and soon after being
cared for laid down i'll his cell and went
to sleep. Returning to the house where
Provornich lay unconscious, the ply
sicianS found that he was slowly
sinking. His chief mourner was
Maik Carnage, his cousin. AS the noon
whistles sounded PrOv0rnich passed
away, without having once recovered
consciousness. As soon as it was known
that he was dead big crowd surrounded
the house, all talking and swinging
their arms at once. With difficulty the
police forced passage into the house
and placed the dead man on stretcher.
The body was then taken to Gleason
81 Byorum's morgue, where q post
mOrtem examination was held late in
the afternoon. On removing the scalp
it was found that the dead mans skull
was crushed in and cut, beginning at
point lust back of the right ear and eX-
tending straight toward the right ear
for a distance of four inches toward a
point just below the left ear, then
straight up to point about an inch
above the ear, leaving big,
TRIANGULAR PIECE OF BONE
nearly three inches across at the widest
part, pressing iut0 the brain. There
were no organic troubles to be found.
Provornich's body, as it lay on the slab
in the mOrgue, showed him to have been
a man of possibly twenty-three years of
age. He was rather heavily built, and
must have weighed about $50 pounds.
Demko, as he sat in his cell at the
station, presented terrible sight, as the
blood oOZed from under the handker-
chief which was bound around his head.
He is a solidly built map, twenty-nlne
years of age, with rather an intelli-
gent face for one of his class.
As he showed his wounds to
reporter, the huge muscles
of his back and arms were plainly seen.
He did not deny that he had struck the
blow which resulted in Provornich's
death, but said that he did it in self-de-
fense. He spoke English fairly well
and answered all the questions put to
him readily. HWe had been drinking all
day - said he. ssand had separated during
the evening. There had been no trouble