The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-10-08
That MURDER At JEssUP
Rasquela PcrrettO on Trial for Milling
Michael DemarkO on June 80. =
;rILETTO THE WEAPON USED
.'crrcttO. 1t Is Charged. Plunged II Into
the Heart OF Dcmnrko. Cutting 1t In
Twain Great Part Of the Dny
Spent In Securing q Jury.

V,aSQuela PerftttO, Jessup Atai",',
will be the central figure In a triai
which will occupy THE attention - OF
Judge R. w, Archibald and a jury all OF
this week. Perretto is charged with
having stained his hands with the me
blood of a countryman, Michael De
mar3<o by name, at Jessup, on sunday
June 30, of the present year.
The accused is not an attractive
hooking person. He is about feet IL
inches in height. 1.-the and athletic IN
build. with small deep-set eyes look
ing out from under heavy black eye
brows. The eyes are dark and give the
face a sinister expression. HIS piack
hair is worn short and a small black
mustache shades his large. sensual
looking mouth. Sunken cheeks do not
add anything to the general ensemble:
Perretto is perhaps SO years of age, ana
was dressed yesterday in blue coat,
dark trousers and flannel outing shirt.
laced to the throat.
He was Indifferent while jury was
being selected. showing no intereS,
whatever in the proceeding, but when
John j. Murphy opened the
case to, the jury for the commonwealth.
Perre,tto leaned forward and listened
with eager attention to the statement
of facts the commonwealth professed
Its ability to prove. When Joseph Lau-
risso was placed on the stand Perretto
smiled several times at statements
made by the witness. They Were Sar-
castle smiles that quickly degenerated
into sneering grins. The prisoner has
been in this country about four years
and speaks English fairly well.
Selecting Jurors to Try the Case.
At IL O'Clock the prisoner was form
1. n Nia,tri tat pV
John Il, Jones. who is assisted in the
of the case by Attorney
John, j. Murphy. Perretto Is defended
by Attorneys John II. Martin and Jo-
seph Brown. After the defendants
plea of not guilty had been entered the
work of selecting jury was taken up.
A large number of those called hau
scruples on the score of
capital punishment. but before the
panel was exhausted twelve good men
and true had been found who possessed
the qualifications necessary 10 pass
upon a case where the life or the de-
fendant was a. stake. =,
The Jurors are: Harry Hopewell,
painter, Scranton: Louis Schoen. clerk.
Scranton z. 7. Cure. farmer. Benton;
Il. j. Matthews, farmer. Spring Brook !;
John w. MullineX, blacksmith. South
Abingdon; Clark Lowry, salesman,
Scranton; William r. Burke. miner.
Scranton F. C. KEEPER. pattern-maker
Scranton; John W. Saunders. black
smith, Scranton; Charles Knapp, sur
veyor. Scranton; Israel Ruth. carpen-
ter, Scranton; Thomas G. Moore, fore
man. Scranton. 1t was 3.S5 y. m. when
the last Juror was secured and by di-
rectton of Judge Archibald they were
at once sworn to well and truly try
AL; l.a ha+
and Pasquela Perretto."
This. formality having been gone
through. Attorney John ]. Murphy pro-
ceeded to open the case to the jury for
the commonwealth.
Mr.. Murphy's Opening Remarks.
Mr.. Murphy was admitted to the bar
a week ago yesterday and this was his
maiden effort before a jury. 1t was
therefore listened to with unusual at
teutlon by the members of the bar, a
At its conclusion he was con-
graduated by many members Of
the bar on his admirable effort.
The opening address was a clear, con-
else statement of what the common
wealth expected to prove, delivered in
a convincing manner without attempt
at oratorical display. The speaker
opened by deploring the fact that death
should come otherwise than from the
hands of Providence and after lucldly
defining murder as set forth in the COM
mon law and the statutes. proceeded to
give a graphic description of the mur-
der. which took place in the house of
Angelo Cameroto in Jessup.
In this house on the afternoon of the
tragedy We're Michael Demarko, Nicho-
las Demarko, John Corello, Joseph Lau-
risso. Charles Wardo, Peter Perretto,
Pasquela Perretto and Michael Rich.
A quarrel started and Peter Perretto
drew a knife and made slash at Corel-
10. Seeing this, Pasquela Perretto. who
boarded in the house. went upstairs
and took his revolver and stiletto from
his trunk. He came downstairs and
the revolver to Wardo began
brandishing his stiletto. Michael De-
marko went out in the yard when the
trouble began and was returning into
the house when Perretto bore down
upon him at the doorway and plunged
his stiletto into the heart of Demarko
cutting 1t in twain.
Murderer Tried to Escape
His appetite for blood satisfied, Per-
retto tried to escape but became en-
tangled In the meshes of barbed wire
fence and was delayed long enough to
enable his pursuers to capture him The
fact that Perretto had gone upstairs
to secure the deadly weapons was evil
dence of generalization Mr.. Murphy
contended. and he said that every step
Perretto descended in coming from his
room gave him time to think and re-
fleet on what he was doing; time to
the awful consequences of
the act he was about to commit. In
closing Mr.. Murphy said that the com
expected to show state Of
facts as set form in his opening and
If 1t did they would expect a verdict
of murder In the first degree.
In the fight at Jessrp, which resulted
in the death Of Demarko, his brother.
Nicholas Demarko. was shot in the arm
y Charles Wardo. and he also sus-
b med stab wound on the left should
n. Perretto, the alleged murderer, John
CorelIo and Angelo Cameroto were also
stabbed. Wardo and Peter Perretto
make their escape Immediately after
he trouble and have not been appre-
ihended.
Coroner j. A. Kelley was the first
witness for the commonwealth and de-
strlbed the wounds that resulted in
Dsmarko's death. He was followed by
Joseph naurisso, who was about to re-
late the details OF the trouble that re-
suited in the murder when court adj
journed for the day.
Pleas Of Guilty Entered.
William Loughlin and Andrew Lough-
lin are brothers and they pleaded guilty
of having stolen jug of whiskey from
James II. Byrne, of Carbondale. They
were each sentenced to six months i'm
|prisonment in the county Jail. Will
lam ais, pleaded guilty to assaulting