The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-22
Two Fruit Vendors Arrested Charged With Murder
 of Peddler
BODY HAD BEEN
 BADLY MUTILATED
Two Bullet Wounds in Head, Two in Heart and Nineteen Stab Wounds in Right Breast-Case Resem-
 bles the Barton Murder

sam Macena and Tony Malana. Ital- ian fruit peddlers. living at Eldorado. a mining camp six miles from Birmingham. were arrested by Deputy Sheriffs Me- Dun and Hartsfield yesterday afternoon at o'clock on the charge of murder. IL being alleged that they were respon- sible for the death of L. Staff. 10l7 Four teenth street, north, a peddler. whose dead body was found yesterday morn ing at 9.30 o'clock two miles from the Jefferson Powder mills, eight miles from birmingham on the Coalburg road. The ma was made by Deputies McDuff and
 iartsneld of the sheriff's office and Chief Eagan and Officers Morrow and Whalen or the police department. The men un- der arrest deny any knowledge of the death of Staff and refuse to mako any statement with the exception that they are innocent.
 The murder of Staff is looked upon py the authorities as one of the most brutal in the history of Jefferson county m many respects it resembles the mur- der of M. O. Barton, who was waylaid and murdered on the Mulga road sev- eral months ago. The body of Staff was horribly mutilated. His throat was cut from ear to ear, the head being almost severed from the body. Two bullet wounds were in his heart two through ms head and 19 stab wounds were found in his right breast.
 The deceased left home last Tuesday morning at 630 o'clock and told his wife ne was going out on the Sayreton road to sell his wares. That was the last she saw of him alive. Tuesday night the horse of Staff drawing a wagon with out any driver appeared at the North Birmingham police station and was taken in charge by Officers Strong and Cole The name of the owner of the vehicle was ascertained through the license tags which Staff had on his wagon and Mrs. Staff was notified Wednesday afternoon at o'clock.
 She became alarmed and told the po- lice that she was sure something had happened to her husband. She said he never drank, was unusually steady in his habits and was a man who seldom stayed out all night unless he was com pelled to do so on account of going so far in the country with his fruit without disposing of it that he had to spend the night on the road and sell the remain der on his way back to town. In the event he did stay on the road all night he always showed up before noon the following day.
 Chief Eagan immediately suspected foul play and dispatched several of his men to the Coalburg road and instructed them to search for the body. They kept up the search all night and Chief Eagan joined them yesterday morning at an early hour. At 9:30 o'clock the search ing party, composed of many citizens and friends of the deceased, found the body Thirty-one dollars in money were found on the person of the dead man and his keys and all papers were intact This Is taken to mean that Staff was mur- dered through hate The body was about 30 feet from the side of the road and was hidden in the dense underbrush. Coroner Spain was notified and imme- diately went to the scene and commenced an investigation.
 Officers working on the case said they had heard that Staff was the most pop ular fruit vender on the road and that proposition had been made to him by two other peddlers to buy him out It is said Staff refused to trade. Deputy Me- Dun stated that Staff was in all prob ability murdered sometime last Tuesday afternoon. The body was in a state of decomposition when found. s The remains were taken in charge by Mackey Undertaking company of North Birmingham and will be held there pend ing funeral arrangements. which will be announced later. The deceased Is sur vived by his widow.