Show f 07 t I T T j I b Arsenio At Right Enmeshed lanio I Chal Saved from v r r y 7 rT I Iv a l Evidence Circumstantial in in a Web Who of i rr 1 Narrowly Escaped w r r Electrocution E for i. i a aa 1 a tic Crime of Which I liea lie He Was Innocent l Tiny Constanzo Who ho W Was II as Slain SI am amI with witha I I t ta h a Shotgun as She Lay LlY Sleeping in in tier Her Lcd Bed I Dy I r I c cv cs 4 cr h v s W n. n i Mp v v 1 m Astounding Airtight b r M ft d' d 1 AM ft ii Accusation Ag Against a 3 k r Excitable Old Man I i. i Which y t tf f u Dissolved t 7 At The Right a r Iother of i bs a s t Old Willie I a n t After tier lIer S s sen When en Boy Confessed Confess ed That Y w v z It Was He lie Who Had Accidentally Accidental tally 1 Fir d dc c f lie he Sho LI i K 4 h 4 r r I i 1 i i i Ii I. I I I I v i Funeral of Little Angelina J Who the Police Thought Had Been Murdered bj b Biaggio Arsenio in in a Vendetta Feud W N INVITATION to six six six-o'clock o'clock breakfast R i t aI AN may sound a a strange thing to some mil millions lions of Americans who habitually lie he abed I j until considerably later but it was not unusual among the and nd They were two humble but happy families l kinsfolk who vho had come from the same little Italian village and who now lived l d on the same sames s 4 foor of a big tenement house at No East Street New Nework York ork City Cit 7 t c One Sunday evening ening a few weeks ego ago Mamma p said to Mamma lamma Constanzo There is salami and also I am planning to make an onion soup you OU and Papa Constanzo come and eat cat at it with th us for breakfast So it happened that Monday morning toward six o'clock the two families were assembled in inthe inthe the apartment However little Angelina seven year seven year old daugh daugh- daughter i ter of the had been left leit sleeping across the hall Willie ten years rears old f. f I gulped down his soup and md ran off of to play in in the k street Presently the two men lighting their pipes started for the daily dl ly work on the new subway excavations So Mamma Constanzo Contanzo and md r r I. I Mamma sat after breakfast drinking it h. rit t 81 tea f f Suddenly across the hall there thre was a loud i II explosion Dio mio cried the two and ran to see what accident had occurred Other ten tenants f ants poured up from below s Little Angelina lay la dead lead in a n pool of blood Is lay there in the bed just ju t as she had been sleep sleeping ing ing She had been killed in fact in her sleep h A discharged dischar ed shotgun the property of Papa Con- Con Constanzo Conr Cony r y t stanzo who sometimes hunted rabbits on Long 1 r J y lla Island lay near the door t. t What screams what tears what hat mutual con consolations and 1 then as the men mn hastily haalil sent n for returned what bitter bitten cries for vengeance I 1 l I Meanwhile of course the police and detectives detect es r also arrived What motive motie could anyone have ha I I had for killing a 3 little seven y seven old ear ear old girl l It was no crime of madness cruelty or abnormality i To the detectives es it was an old story These were foreigners But Dut foreigners or not there 1 cannot exist many man motives for killing a child like that It was bound to be the old story of ofen von ven vendetta vondetta detta family Jamil revenge Some one had struck truck at I Papa Constanzo through his daughter That I hat was wasI I simple enough but who I The answer to the question Who proved pro I equally equall tragically simple Around the corner on Third Avenue lived another Italian family the Arsenios Old OW Man Biaggio Arsenio a seventeen year old year old daughter Francesco and four sons The mother was dead and and the daughter had been keeping house But Dut she had run away eloped with a young oung Sicilian against her fathers father's express commands Biaggio Arsenio Arsen o enraged swore vengeance and with apparently some ome justice blamed the thet Constanzo and families for helping in inthe in inthe inthe t the courtship and elopement lie He believed belie also and perhaps also with justice that the two t families fam dies knew where his daughter was The whole neighborhood knew about it lie He II had been heard cursing and threatening On I the Sunday night just before bc ore he had stopped sixteen year old year old Julia in the tile street and tried to frighten her into giving him the address o of his runaway daughter I I dont don't know where here she is i she sho said You lou i do know and if you ou dont don't tell me Ill I'll cut you to pieces pieces A daughter for a daughter People heard him say it it Neighbors also heard him when he stormed up the stairway to tok k the the Constanzo apartment threatening both families I I-I I y L N I l t i i t. t ka karah You lie lie i shouted the old man rah i- i when they told him they knew i nothing of his daughters daughter's where- where whereabouts whereabouts whereabouts and if you jou ou dont don't tell me there will willbe be be blood and Constanzo grew angry an y in turn and md Constanzo got ot his shotgun Arsenio backed off slowly but continued to threaten vengeance Be De sure I shall come conic back he cried He lie was finally finall dragged away by his hisson hisson hisson son Benjamin Denjamin Outside the house he con con- continued continued continued to threaten as 33 he was led around the corner to his homer home I IThe The janitress and several eral other tenants j were standing outside the building Still ex ey excited cited but seeming to change his mood he grabbed one of the women round the tho waist They went upstairs to his apart apart- apartment apartment apartment ment turned on a little phonograph several s eve r a I of them danced Biaggio Dlag io pro pro- produced produced k a wine bottle and r began to drink heavily His own own sons later regret regret- regretfully regretfully J fully testified to it it Biaggio t tJ finally went to bed taking jj 2 f y the bottle with him but awoke earlier than usual t WI i iI I i restless and sullen started t 1 out of the house Where w ware rV i J Jare are you jou ou going going one of tho the 1 1 t 5 sons asked him him- To work ork s fr r. r he ho rejoined savagely savage I i e Later he did appear at work as IS usual but butin j jin 4 A J in in the meantime little f r Angelina ehna Constanzo fh had been slain The R Y muzzle of the shot shot- shotgun shotgun gun apparently had F 1 l been held almost in in r contact with her 1 and then fired tired Blag- Blag gio RIO knew the shotgun was in the apartment He Ile had seen it the night before he had been able to enter the apartment t unseen simple enough since all except the sleeping girl herself were ere across the hall having in Ia breakfast with the Had e ehe he hidden there until the two men went sue away then fired the tho shot and escaped r. r There were ere ere ways was by which he might mig easily 1 L. L have escaped e sell p 6 d dark hallways a backstairs confusion following the shot Bi Biaggio Biag h gio io Arsenio was arrested by Detectives Detectives' Dougherty and Gallagher hurried to the police station where he lie was questioned by Assistant District District Attorney J J. J F P. McGowan l and locked up charged with murder He lie seemed dazed dared lie He admitted all the threats threat but denied that he ho had actually killed the girl No one took his denial denials seriously s Apparently even cven his own sons re re- re reluctantly reluctantly felt that lint he lie was guilty Biaggio Arsenio was headed straight and sure beyond any question of doubt for the electric chair i The fact that he was headed with absolute certainty for the electric chair is 13 no reflection 1 I r i. i 1 f rf IA v J i f l j V I A 4 p 5 r i f M z A Aa a 48 1 r as sr Willie with t r Leaving Police Station He lie y S Saved Arsenio by b Confessing 4 That He lIe Himself Had 1 Accidentally S S Killed e Little s Constanzo iy 4 z A Aon on the police or the District Attorneys Attorney's office Seldom had there ever been built up so complete com com- complete and convincing a case of or circumstantial evi evidence e eti- eti i- i dente dence motive threats opportunity the time tine cle ole clement clement ment the absence of alibi It seemed an air airtight air air- airtight tight case Those who believed him guilty were vere absolutely sincere There was no question of railroading Biaggio io Arsenio would have lune had hail hadn hada n a fair trial And a few weeks later he would have gone inevitably to his death Then an unexpected thing occurred It was wasa wasn a n simple thing Children in the neighborhood were whispering among Imon themselves kids talking in the street and in areaways Apparently they the knew something that the grown ups grown ups didn't Was WasI it something real or just childish chatter What What- I a Ul i 7 V rv Wr V e ever er it was it leaked And when it leaked the police de de- department realized that something was wrong Two days later an undersized boy of ten with an ex extremely pale face and large black startled eyes squirmed about on a chair m in the East Els 10 Hh Street Police Station and tried trie to match his wits with detectives who ho were ere questioning him about seven year seven year old Angelina Constanzo who had been killed with a shotgun This boy bo was the same Willie who had gulped his soup and run off to play pIa on that tragic morning while the and Sal Sal- were drinking onion soup together He was now being badly trapped again and again in his statements concerning what he had done that morning why he had stayed staved away from front home all III that Monday and where he had been The small boys boy's lip trembled and he looked about appealingly but he insisted that he knew nothing about how his little cousin couin cou in had met her death Finally one detective told the child that he looked like a good boy He Ile said he had a a. boy of his own about Willies Willie's age and that he would like to help Willie lIe He advised ad Willie sym sym- sympathetically sympathetically pathetically that the law would not punish him him for a thing that he didn't mean to do and that he would be very much better off oU if he told the truth huth The fhe boy weighed hed these words carefully ull then he said did but didn't to I f I it I mean He began to cry He lIe was patted on the shoulder and calmed Then rhen he told how he had run in acro across s the hall that Monday morning to wake up his little lutle cousin because it would soon be time for her hex to get ready for school He bumped into a chair which stood by the head of her liei bed he said A shotgun shot was leaning against the chair and it started to slide toward to ard the floor Willie said he caught at it to pi prevent event its falling and in in grabbing it it went off ort in his hands The fhe muzzle was near Angelinas Angelina's face and the charge of shot hot killed her hei instantly The lad it was clear was s too young oung to know that the law takes motive into consideration and he lie had failed to grasp rasp the distinction between his accidental act and murder Nor did he realize that the law never executes little ten- ten year old boys horror Honor and fear of the electric chair had hid seized him and he fled immediately after the girl was shot The boy insisted that neither his mother nor anybody else had told him to run lun away awa and that the ups grown-ups didn't know or suspect anything about the facts fads He lie said he had run away while the dead girls girl's mother from the fourth story I yo i Ij i t M Mv f f f tt i 1 I t If J os J Z r. r v 1 t ii t I J i d r J I i i J yr 5 tVr ii It I t I t v I. I j L teen Si Old Julia JuHa- Cousin of the Slain Shin Girl Who Wa W r Threatened with wills Death by Old Arsenio However eHr He lie er Sc Manned Harmed Her window was as shrieking for the police He had wandered most of or the day on Third Avenue He lie didn't know what to do He lie played hookey j from school He lie was afraid to face people who knew him lie He had no money and an went hungry At five o'clock hunger drove him home His Ills mother gave him a sandwich and slapped him He went I out again and didn't come conic in until nearly nearl mid mid- I night ni ht The detectives after his confession took look him I to the Constanzo apartment They were con con- convinced convinced vinced but they the felt they the must mu t be absolutely U sure surer The shotgun was given gl him Trembling he placed it against again t the chair and re enacted reenacted e what had happened There could be no doubt that he heIS was IS telling the truth Willie was taken for trial to the Children Children's Court It was not a usual sort of trial In the Childrens Children's Court they never arc are Willie was f not even asked to take the oath He lie simply sat I beside Judge Levy and told him what had hap hap- happened I e poised s sAre Are you sorry sorry asked Judge Jud e Levy Levy Willie hung bung his head and sobbed Case dismissed announced Judge Levy and Willie went hoire haire e 1 with his mother In the meantime another case was dismissed q-j q Old Man Biaggio Arsenio walked out of the door at the Tombs as pathetic and dazed lazed as on the I Iday clay day he had entered He lie is again digging dig ing ditches for the gas company Nobody knows whether he fully realizes that only the accidentally beard tear echo of the whispering kids in the street saved sayed him hint from sure death An All extraordinary hairs hair's breadth escape e cape like this from an honest miscarriage of justice necessarily raises the immediate question of how v many men if any have ever been exe exe- executed executed executed circumstantial evidence w wand for murder on and afterward proved innocent It may surprise readers to learn that while more than a dozen such cases have been sen- sen sensationally sensationally sensationally reported since the Civil War only I Ione I J Jone one has ever been absolutely proved vs In 1890 a negro named Brown was hanged in in Maryland On the scaffold the man who ho died with him made a last moment last moment confession absolving Brown but the sheriff uncertain of his duty went on with the executions and hanged them both Governor Lowndes him him- himself himself himself self afterward investigated the case and an an- announced announced regretfully that Brown was undoubtedly undoubtedly undoubtedly edly innocent L 1 J r rJ 1 1 rJ f if |