1905 WB Record Almanac, Capital Crimes  in 1904

Murders That Were Committed in Luzerne County during the Year 1904

Typed by Irene Transue

There were not so many murders in Luzerne County during the year 1904 as
for some years previous. in 1902 there were sixteen and in 1903 there
were thirteen including three doubtful cases. In 1904 there were six.

February 3 Harry Myer of Georgetown died of a fracture of the skull,
having been assaulted by two men with whom he had some trouble. Two
arrests were made.

April 17 James Casal of Brodrick was found dead in his home, his head
and other portions of his body having been mutilated with an ax. The
night previous he came home intoxicated and had some words with his
wife. It is alleged. The wife says she went to the house of a neighbor,
leaving her husband and some other men in the house. That is the last,
she alleges, that she saw him alive. It was hard to fasten clues upon any
one, although suspicion as to the guilty parties was strong, Several
arrests were made.

May 26 Mrs. Torillo, an Italian of Pittston Township, died at the
Pittston Hospital. She had been shot a couple of weeks previous by her
stepson after a quarrel. The young man escaped. A child was born to the
woman while she lay in the hospital.

June 17 Harry Orkwine of Glen Lyon, 75 years of age, died at the City
Hospital from stab wounds inflicted a few days previous. He was found
along the roadside with his tongue almost cut from his mouth, wounds in
the abdomen and other parts of the body. Orkwine and  a young man named
Martin Razmas were returning home, when it was alleged that they
quarreled  and Raszmas was arrested, charged with the brutal crime.
Razmas was September 14 convicted of murder in the first degree.

August 12 Charles Bates was so seriously stabbed on the Ross lawn,
Wilkes-Barre, that he died a few hours later in the City Hospital. The
Ninth Regiment Band was holding a fete and Bates and Samuel Miller, both
colored, were in an amusement tent, which they conducted. They quarreled
over a small sum of money. It is alleged that Bates hit Miller with a
chair and the latter pulled out a knife and stabbed Bates in the breast.
Miller gave himself up to the police. He was acquitted on the ground of
self defense.  

September 22 John Scanlon, a mine boss of Hudson, was shot through the
heart by John Coleman of the same place in the latter's saloon. Coleman
was arrested and claimed that he acted in self defense. Scanlon died a
few minutes after being shot. At the trial Coleman was acquitted.