Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-04-18
JOSEPH CAPRIO'S
ANTECEDENTS
Tried to Kill the Man Who Fad Befriendsd
Him

A gentleman in this city has received
letter from F. L. Tuttle, a prominent
business man of Hawley, relative to the
ahtecedents of Caprio, the Italian, whose
treacherous murder at the Hospital for
the Insane, here, is still fresh in the
minds OF our readers. The letter. from
one who befriended and assisted the
Italian time and again, does not in ef
1ect reflect much credit on the general
character of the man. He proved his
treachery by attempting to kill the per.
son who had been his benefactor. 1t was
this otfense which led to procedure
which resulted in his incarceration in
the Hospital here.
"Pasquale Caprio commonly called
joe" Mr.. Tuttle writes, "eame to
Hawley at the time of the building o,
the +. c. w. V. R. R. l being in the
mercantile business soon came to know
him. He was unable to read and write
and frequently called on me for small
taVors of that kind. l often loaned him
small sums of money allowing him to
pay 1t back at his convenience, never
croWdlng him. found him to be hon
est, industrious, and sober, anxious to
provide comfortable living for his
family. He got into trouble with an
other Italian who had him arrested, when
went his bail to keep the peace.
Shortly after he became desirous
to move into town and buy a property
which was much run down. He wished
me to buy 1t for him on contract and al
low him to remodel it to his own taste.
which | did, paying the bills as they ac-
cumulated for supplies and work. He
was shoemaker and gave him work
When L had anything to do in his line.
lie often professed gratitude for what
L had done for him until l refused him a
loan OF one hundred dollars. Previous
TO this he lost ground by going bail for
a nephew and his property fell into the
hands of the Sheriff; at his solicitation
went to Honesdale and settled the mat.
ter giving him time to repay me. Short
ly after this his wife was sick for several
weeks and he became discouraged and
fault finding.
1.-Two or three days after refusing him
the hundred dollar loan, took some
work to mis- shop. | found him pacing
up and down the shop complaining that
everybody was against him and that he
was going away to find work. At nv
request he permitted me to see our con.
tract, as | wished to get the dates of
several payments of which ! had neg
ected to make any record for myself. |
laid 1t across my knee to get pencil and
RS hiaP6s P6samfhigr mfhigr agaRpte Chs Yh6sa bs stteRnt;
above my right temple, which cutting
through derby hat and sweat-band,
Iacerated the flesh so badly that the
blood streamed down over my face and
l grappled with the Italian
while he still swung his hammer and
succeeded in intlicting two additional
blows before | escaped.
Il had warrant issued for Joe's ar
rest but he fed, later returning and Civ
ing himself up He was released on bail
and in twenty-four hours had assaulted
his wife in a brutal manner, which re-
suited in his going to Jail. He seemed
fully to realize what lie had done and
expressed no regret, but declared his
intention of making Sausage meat of
Tuttle' and doing two others as soon
as he got out of Jail. That he would
carry his threats into execution, if given
his liberty no one doubted, as was
well verified by the sad developments at
Danville.
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