The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-12-27
STABBlNG AffRAY
IN MONTROSE JAIL
A Tramp Named Kroskey Is Muir
derously Assaulted by Another
Tramp Named Turrell.
Special to the Scranton Tribune.

Special to the Scranton Tribune.
Montrose. Dec. 26-At the Susuue-
hanna county Jail, in this place, this
morning, shortly after 10 o'clock,
terrible stabbing affray took place, in
which one prisoner was murderously
assaulted with u knife by another
prisoner, inhicting injuries which Jail
Physician G. u. Mackey believes will
prove fatal.
The victim was Il tramp giving at
the time of his arrest the name OF
Frank Brown. who pleaded guilty 10
the charge of resisting an officer ana
was sent to Jail for thirty days By
Justice NJ. II. Van Scoten, and his
term would have expired in a few
days. He now gives his name as Jack
Kroskey. and his residence as "S
Chambers street, Newark. N. j.. and
his statement is generally credited by
the authorities. His alleged assailant
is another tramp, who gives his name.
probably assumed, as james Turrell,
and his residence as Scranton, an ac-
count of whose arrest for larceny and
his commitment to jail to await action
of the grand jury has been previously
given. He was anxious to get into
Jail. but he will doubtless lose such
anxiety before he again breathes the
air free man.
Inquiries by Tribune representa-
tive elected the following particulars
regarding the affair:
This forenoon Turrell, who was re-
garded at the Jail as an inOffensiva
sort of an Individual, was given a
knife and permitted to pare potatoes
for dinner While thus engaged in the
upper corridor, shortly after 10 o'clock
a. m.. he seemed to be taken with Il
sudden frenzy, and as kroskey came
near him, he sprang upon the latter.
and before they could be separated,
had viciousy attacked the defenseless
man and inflicted with the knife
wounds which Jail Physician Mackay
considers fatal, though KrOskey is, at
this writing, still alive.
KrOskey's left ear was almost en-
tirely cut off, u stab in the back OF
the neck severed an artery or larg"
blood vessel another stab was almost
directly between the ribs. While an
other, and the most serious. was JUST
below the heart, a cruel cash, about
two inches long and four inches deep.
Or. Mackay at once notified the Jail
officials of the gravity Of the mans
condition, and Justice nj. II. Van SEQ
ten was sent for to take what is likely
to prove the ante-mOrtem statement
of kroskey, and also, at the mans re-
quest. Rev. Father a. ~. Broderick,
pastor Of st. Mary's Catholic church.
was summoned to give spiritual COM
fort and to administer the last rites
of the church for the dying.
In his statement. Kroskey claims
that the assault upon him was unpro-
voked. names Turrell as his assailan.,
and AYERS that there was and had
been no quarrel between them. The
knife used was an ordinary jack-knife,
of good size. This knife is alleged TO
have been thrown away by Turrel!.
after the stabbing, but was afterward
found, and is now in the hands of the
authorities. 1t is said that while there
was no actual quarrel there had been
a general disposition among the other
prisoners to plague or pick on" Tur-
rell. and this, it is believed, had rc-
suited in the murderous assault upon
Kroskey, upon whom Turrell appears
to have vented his spite.
Az a late hour this afternoon, kros-
key is resting more comfortably than
earlier in the day. but no hope Of
his recovery is held out, and the priest
has made a second visit to the appar-
emily dying man.