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By Randy WellsGazette Staff WriterThe little Indiana County coal mining town ofWliiskey Run had a life span of only about 40 years. But it gained a bizarre notoriety in the county’s criminal history During its brief existence two dozen unsolved murders were committed there.And it holds the unenviable distinction of being the site of what may have been the county’s only quadruple homicide.When the Iselin coal mines expanded, the Rochester Pittsburgh Coal Co. in 1906 built company houses for the immigrants who came from New York City to workthe mines. The collection of approx-' got its name. One theory is that a imately 20 houses and double hous- stream near the town provided a es about one mile from West constant supply of cold water forthe illegal making of whiskey. An- boarding house. A fourth man diedother story suggests that moon- the following day, and the girl wasshine makers in the town learned wounded in the leg by a stray bullet, that federal revenuers were ap- Cooper wrote that by 1920, reproaching, and the still owners venge appeared to be the motive fordumped the evidence into the some of the town’s slayings. In thatstream. . year Peter Villa and Carmel CosmaFrom its beginning, Whiskey Run were gunned down. Cosma waswas known as a rough and lawless shot 24 times, and Villa nine times,coal town. It was suggested that Cosma may“Whiskey Run’s sinister reputation have had a connection with the or-grew as steadily as the area's mines, ganized crime group called theuntil by 1926 an estimated 22 un- Black Hands, blamed for sendingsolved murders had taken place threatening extortion letterswithin its confines,” Cooper wrote stamped with a black hand print,in an Oct 28, 1978, article for The Cosma reportedly had come aroundIndiana Evening Gazette. • Whiskey Run on paydays to collectThe town’s quadruple murder oc- money for his “organization.”curred on Aug. 13,1911, when three Cooper also found there was amen were shot and killed in an ar- code of silence, that prevailed ingument over the affections of an 18- Whiskey Run. Its residents wereyear-old girl who lived in the same often secretive about the town’s• » crimes and often were not coopera- two American” men from nearbytive with police investigators. On Hartstown, a baseball rival ofsome occasions reports of violence Whiskey Run, enraged a Whiskey— even murders — were hot given Run miner with ethnic slurs. Theto county authorities until a day or , other man, identified as Caspertwo after the crime. Morgant, pulled a .38 caliber re-Such was the case with the Villa- volver and twice shot Thomas Mc-Cosma murders. Clune, 23, in the stomach. He then’Details of the shooting, in true turned on Clarence Frye who wasWhiskey Run form, were nearly im- fleeing, and shot Frye, 28, threepossible to obtain,” Cooper wrote, times in the back.Deterred considerably by the lack Morgant fled town in a Chryslerof cooperation from Whiskey Run roadster, and disappeared,residents, efforts by officials to solve ”... for 22 murderers to committhe crime tapered off into complete their acts of vengeance and all makeinaction.” - successful escapes from the work-Whiskey Run's 21 st and 22nd mur- ings of justice, is record-making andders occurred at the town's general a condition that is so deplorable asstore on Aug. 8, 1926, following an to warrant immediate punitary ac-argument over a baseball game. tion, the Indiana Evening GazetteAccording to Cooper’s story and reported in its Aug. 10, 1926, edi-newspaper accounts of that day, tion.Lebanon in Young Township became known as Whiskey Run.According to Indiana County coal mining historian Eileen Cooper, it’s not known for sure how the town
Newspaper Details
Indiana Gazette
Indiana, Pennsylvania, US
Tue, May 16, 2000
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 28 Dec 2020
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