The evening world., 1911-07-15
CONVENT SHAKEN
BY BOMB FIRED
At BARRIERS DOOR
BlackhanderS Serve Notice by
Explosion That They're Out
of Prison Again.
ONE r E IS MADE.
Wreck Shop of Man They
Once Tried to Kill, but
He Escapes Unhurt.
ONE ARREST IS MADE.

Vincenzo Paloza, q youns man from
Clearfeld, ia. was arrested to-day by
Detective Drum OF the stage street
station and charged with having some-
thing to do with the explosion Of q
bomb at No. 12 Johnson street. Will
iamsburg, last night. The explosion
rocked the n%eighborhood and started a
panic In the Holy Trinity Convent
around the corner. where ffty nuns and
a hundred children ran into the street
In terror.
Paloza was found lettering around the
place early TO day. He ran when Drum
approached him When 1t was found
he was from out Of tow the police
took heed OF the Black Hand practice
Of drafting out Of town members for
deeds Of violence and had him held in
Manhattan Avenue Court init he could
be locked up.
The building attacked Is a three-story
double tenement. housing seven fam
lilies. The ground floor Is occupied by
stores.
Ignazio Brucia. forty-one. a barber.
and the supposed object Of the explo-
sion, has his shop on one side. In the
rear he lives with his wife and four
children. James westello has a shoe
store on the other side and lives there
with his wife and two children. Jacob
Apt. ninety-one years old. g blind man
and owner OF the building, live over
the shoe store.
BUILDING DAMAGED BUT ALL
ESCAPE UNHURr.
Policeman Koch Of the Stage street
station was about 100 feet from the
store when the bomb exploded and saw
no n run away from the building.
BY the time he got there men. women
and children were piling down the stairs
and fire escapes In their night clothes.
Scores In adjoining houses followed In
the same panicky haste in a few min
utes. Brucia was outside his door with
q big revolver. trying to And the bomb
thrower. He and his family had been
hurled from bed. but were unhurt.
The wooden shutters had been blown
of the windows. all the glass In the
front part Of the house had been shat
tered, the frame work blown out. the
cellar door caved In. the hall floor de-
molished and part of the ceiling CT one
side Of the lower fool wrecked.
Not a fragment Of the bomb a left.
The fact that nc one was seen running
away indicates 1t had a time fuse.
The nelghborhood was thrown into
great excitement. and the police reserves
-
were thrown out Of their beds when
the explosion shook the house. The
nuns and every child in the convent
were awakened. but there was no .~nlc.
The sisters succeeded In reassur!ng all
their charges.
The police learned that Brucia Is a
wealthy man. and has been In the build
ing for sixteen years. He owns prop
erty al Coney Island and holds mort
cages on a number OF Brooklyn houses.
TRIED TO KILL HIM WHEN RE-.
FUSED eLAckMAlL.
He told the police that Ave years
ago he began getting Black Hand let
tiers. The first demanded that he leave
1000 In st. Johns Cemetery. He went
there, accompanied by his two broth
ers, but with pistols. not money. No
one showed up. The next day came
another letter telling him II he didn't
leave the money in Central avenue at
a certain spot designated his family
would be killed. Lieut.. Tony Vachris
worked on the case. but could not
catch the blackmailers.
The letters continued to come at ir-
regular intervals. Brucia said he wa
not afraid Of IN extort ), and as
sumed a defiant attitude. On Dee. Is.
1908. he was awakened by a knock on
his door. When he opened 1t t o shots
were fired at him. 1e hit,iaG him In
the side. Only a few letters cam. % ter
that. Two years ago IT," 'oased en-
tireiy.
His theory Is that the blackmailers
were arrested about that time on some
charge and sent to prison, n are just
out again. Brucia Is 4 cousin of Jo-
seph Giambalvo. the lawyer. who was
recently recommended to the Mayor by
prominent Italians as a candidate for
Magistrate to MI a Brooklyn vacancy.