Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-10-31
MADE THEIR GETAWAY"
Notorious Crimes whose Perpetrators
Were Never Apprehended-The
Mysterious Cases Of Major
Wilson and william
Martin
BY GEORGE NOX Mccain

Equally regrettable is the fnct that 20
Vnny Of the perpetrators escape and the
crimes remain unnvenged.
The susceptibility Of the average venire.
man to the sob. stuff Of clever attorneys re.
ceivcd incrited and vitriolic rebuke from
a New York Judge in murder case last
The culprit was freed by the verdict.
lie had assassinatei in cold blood a man
who had warned him to stay away from bis
home.
Judge Alfred J. Talley, addressing the
jury nftcr its verdict, said:
record for such shocking lawlessness. and
the reason, we hold the worlds. record In
crime. and particularly in murder, is .e.
cause jnries render verdic,s Of this kind
THE proportion Of murders that are never
L solved or the criminals apprehended IL
larger than might be supposed.
Lieutenant Belshaw, in charge Of the
murder squad. says that Of 101 murders
from January to October this year, only
four remain unsolved.
This. ! think. is low average.
How does 1t usually come about?
homicide Is committed veiled IN mys.
tery:
There nre no clues. The detectives NIL!
around for Il few weeks, and finally the
search Is abandoned. There's nothing to
work on. and another murder goes into the
or. as in the Mills Hall case. the most
dramnti" episodes surround the crime.
~, But these clues also dissolve after a while,
me public loses l.. rest. the story disap-
pears from the first page Of the newspapers
and the police drop the hunt.
There have been scores Of uch cases in
the police annals Of this city.
THERE is long list Of murders I'M.
- avensed in Philadelphia in the last two
On the night Of November II. 1884.
James +. Colgan and James German had
Vine street.
German refused to pay for oysters he had
,Colean followed German to the street,
where the latter knocked him down. He
died in n few moments.
CiormGn was never apprehended A story
believed TO be fake, was circulated a few
years later that he was dead
Just one month later Charles Gibbs killed
Albert 1.ntusek at IO7 North Second street
with hammer during an ,ltcrcati0n,
Inc murderer escaped and was never
heard of.
Fish Joe's' case was famous at the
tine because it occurred in Germantown.
The crime was committed in Wards court,
Germantown. at that time place Of ragged
reputation.
\ woman. Catherine Ilaggerty. the third
wife OF Cluney, was the cause of the crime,
Cluney came home one day and found his
wife and Joseph Berdon. better known as
Fish Joe. drinking together.
He seized butcher knife from the kitchen
table anu dispatched the intruder. Then he
escaped and vas never apprehended.
IOllN F. SLATER. member of the Leg.
= islature from the Second District in
1899 1903, better known as "Ird" SLATER
because of his vast bulk. figured III a famous
downtown case in 1855
Slater committed suicide /. couple Of years
lie was special officer in South ph.la.
1t was labor union fight In which Rocco
EmIin Knn&ne,i .t;a,; Was charged with reporting
Not long "tterwnrd Nardiello and Roma
n"!li met in a cigar shop a. Eighth and
Carpenter streets.
NardcIlo was accompanied by two Of his
brothers. \ fight ensured in which the sti.
lett" was used with deadly effect on Roma
nclli.
Special Officer Slater was pu. on the case,
but tn" nilrderers got away from the city
anu were never caught.
slater maintained that the Eardelos es.
capped TO Italy before he had chunce to
arrest them.
1OIIN SCHLONE was abusing his wife Mt
y IL Stafford street on October 20, $500.
John Smith intrrfered on behalf of the
woman and was stabbed - death BY the
enrased husband, who disappeared. II was
supposed that he also went TO Italy, as he
was native Of that country.
Still another Italian murder in which the
criminal is supposed 10 have fled TO his
native land was that Of Luigi Sicardo,
IT occurred in July. 1897. over a plug
OF tobacco. The crime was p"rpctrated in q
bakery n S1l Carpenter street. and the
murderer WIS named Enrco Cerutti
William Burke. q convict Just relea sed
from pri .oM, hurled brick at Patrick De.
lancy, Of 21i3 Fisher street, Port Richmond,
on October o. 1891.
It caught Delaney under tho eye and he
Delaney had upbrnided Burke FOR spillin,
dirt on the pavement while unloading some
wond. Burke escaped
Patrollnan Johnson, OF the Lancaster
avenue station, was murdered in the carly
nncti"s by n mysterious man whose iIentity
was never discovered.
lie saw the fellow prowling around the
old Powelton Avenue Station Of the Penn.
sylvan!a Railroad and placed him under
arrest.
The prisoner whipped ont n revolver
placed 1t to the officer. abdomen and dis.
charged it, Johnson died a. the Presby.
terinn Hospital
c"nnor another officer, started after the
man but he was awed by the criminals
gun and permitted him to escape
Connor was dropped from the force
NNE OF the most famous Of IN. mysteri.
" oUs holnirdes in this city was that of
Librarian Major William C. Wilson.
lie was reatcn TO death early in the eve.
ming Of August lG. 1897, nj lis book shOp
and library. 1il7 Walnut street.
No clue that led anywh"r" was ever un-
folded.
The crime was committed in ono ~ tbe
mos, popul"us parts OF the city and within n
few squares Of City Hal
Finally the detectives arrived at the con.
clusion that Marion Stuyvesant. the i.
brarian's colored porter, had some guilty
knowledge OF the crime
lie was arrested, arraigned before md
committed by the Coroner, charged with the
crime.
Considerable difficulty was experienced in
'getting anything" on III" porter, though
81,