The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-06-06
|COP SHOOTS Two
| CHILDREN IN MOB
Attacked in Making Arrest,
Sends Bullet Through Boys
Head; Wounds Girl.
LAD PROBABLY WILL DIE
Policeman Assaulted as He
Seizes CarOusel Owner Who
Stabbed Rival.

Nincenzo Merolla, 80 Nostrand ave-
nue., and Nicholas Garafola, 90 Have
meyer street. both of Brooklyn, are rival
carousel owners. For two or three years
they have gone about the Brownsville
section. each with an old, tired horse
dragging carousel. with It's four little
hobby horses and battered old me-
chanical plano that produces weird and
blaring noises by the turning Of a crank.
1t has been their custom to stop their
outfits In crowded section, load the
four hobby horses with kids at 1 cent
each, and then turn tho crank and start
the music and the carousel, giving the
youngsters ride OF some five minutes.
But for several months there has been
bad blood between the two men. Their
living is precarious at best and of late
so much money is needed for rent and
food and everything that the children
haven't many pennies any more. So the
incomes Of Merolla and Garafola de-
creased. and as II decreased their en-
nifty increased. Each accused the other
OF stealing his customers and of taking
his carousel to the haunts of the other.
Yesterday they met at South Third and
Havemeyer streets. near the williams
burg Bridge Plaza, and renewed their
quarrel.
You steala my business" shouted
Merolla.
"Steala nothin' !" cried Garafola. ct
gotta da license! 1t says go anywhere
please to 20 with my carou'!''
Merolla struck Garafola, and Cara
foia hit Merolla in the face with his fist
Merolla then drew knife and stabbed
Garafola in the neck. Garafola fell.
Thousands Of persons were getting of
the trolley cara from Manhattan. and
within a few minutes there was a mob
OF people there that reached for a block
or two in every direction. Most Of them
were shouting. Men In the centre seized
Merolla. Others looked for a policeman,
but there was no policeman. Finally a
boy ran to Broadway and Hsvemeyer
street, where Patrolman August Grom of
the Bedford avenue station was on post.
and told the policeman that man had
cut another mans head off.
Patrolman Grom ran to the scene and
grabbed Merolla, who struggled with
him. While they struggled the crowd
pushed and pulled and presently some
one hit the policeman in the back.
tried to grab It. BY that time the crowd
was so excited that II began fighting
both the policeman and the Italian.
Somebody hit Grom in the head some
one else pulled his cap of. and another
person seized his coat and began to pull.
Having the idea that a gang was trying
to get him, the policeman began shoot
ing.
The first shot he fired struck Isidore
Aronowitz. Il. OF 212 South Third
street, and the bullet went through
the boys head. The second hit
Phoebe McDermott, IL. OF 2s4
Broadway. in the right side. Both
the children fell. and the crowd.
frightened by the shots drew back. BY
that time Capt. Wakefield had arrived
with the reserves from the Bedford ave-
nue. station and an ambulance had come
from the Williamsburg Hospital. Me
rolla and the two children were taken
to the hospital, where 1t was said the
Aronowitz boy would die.
Patrolman Grom was taken to the
police station and suspended from duty
pending an investigation by the District
Attorneys Office. Later he was arrested
on a charge of felonious assault.