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TRAGEDY IIIPOLICE STATIONITALIAN HITS PRISONER OVERHEAD WITH CHAIR. »I (AVENGING AN ASSAULTi ] Might Have Killed the Man but for the Intervention of Others—The Two Had Bloody Fight in CourtPark.From Monday’a Dally.Enraged into frenzy by the terrible heating given him; answering the cry for venegance that rang from the blood of a hundred Italian ancestors, James Scarponi, who formerly ran a saloon at the comer of Fifth and Railroad streets, seized a chair in police headquarters this morning, and*• t \brought it down with crashing forceon the head of Andrew A. Sink, who• **had been arrested for assault, and was%seated in the station telling Desk Ser-v.geant Costello and Prosecutor George*A. Custer, why he had beaten the complainant. Sink dropped to the floor like a log, but quickly recovered and got to his feet just as Scarponi was bringing the chair down for the second time. He seized the chair, and the two struggled for a moment, each striviug to wrest the cumbersome weapon from the other. William Gri* ner, barber, who happened to be in the station at the time, and Costello grabbed' Scarponi, while Captain George W. Graham and E. Beveridge Dill seized Sink. The Italian was hus-t'ed away, and Sink, who was bleedingprofusely from an ugly scalp wound,«broke from his captors. He started for Scarponi, hut Dill rushed from behind ?nd catching him about the middle.Apinioned his arms and held him captive. He was quieted by Graham, and Scarponi was hustled over to' thecounty jail. Dr. John C. Bradfleld was•I .called and he took a dozen stitches in the wound in Sink’s head, which hadf \ * r ^ Jbeen made when Scarponi brought the.. . « *. % . *heavy chair down upon it. During the operation he calmly'SiffokdcTa cigar-ette and discussed the cause of theA• • — s whole affair. The blow on the headT--v as an ugly one, and while the skull was not fractured, a concussion might have resulted. Dr. Bradfibld refusedlo pass any opinion on tho seriousness 3f the injury.According to Sink, Frank Sullivan Is tne indirect cause of the trouble. Ho alleges that when Scarponi kept the saloon of Fifth street, Sullivan secured a dollar’s worth of liquof and cigars at the saloon and charged them :o Miss Sarah Mooney, Sink’s cousin. Scarponi has been trying to collect :liis amount of Miss Mooney, and :hreatened to sue her. She told Sink 3f Scarponi’s activity, and charged that he had addressed insulting language to her. Sink states that he started out this morning to see Scar-oni and make him apologize. Theynet in Court park and had words.» * ••Sink claimed that his cousin did notwe the money, and according to him.» ,Scarponi made an insulting remark ibout Miss Mooney. Sink told him not ,o repeat what he had said, and Scar-)ont, he charges, repeated the remark vith more vehemence. Then Sink hit md knocked him across a fence and hen to the ground. He then fell on• * * ,Top of him and beat hint unmercifully. It is claimed that he used his heel*t battering the fallen man, but this to denies. The beating that he was administering to Scarponi was such hat others in the park yellbd to him o desist, fearing that he would killi' . -be prostrat man. When a crowd came ;p, Sink arose,and picked up his coat, vhich he had thrown off, before tin lostilities began. He was walking• Away when Desk Sergeant Costello ap-ieared and placed him under arrest, ■carponi was also taken to police teadquarters. Prosecutor George A. ’uster was called, and he and Cos-ello were questioning Sink. There yere a half dozen in the station at the*ime, and they were crowded around link. Scarponi had been seated at the ack qf the room behind the telephone ooth, but while the others were en-nepA In listening tn Sink tell his Stlt;^, he dropped his-cane, and with lair in hand, he hobbled stealthily^ ^ . ► t •* i *tthe group. Then unnoticed by any-, le, he raised it high over his head* * t h - ** iid brought it down with rce against the back of the s head. At the time Sink was seat-[ in chair, and he tumbled out and the floor.; The first that anyone'S'-■pfiew of Scarponi’s designs, was hear-of the chair as itt
Newspaper Details
Logansport Weekly Reporter
Logansport, Indiana, US
Tue, Sep 01, 1908
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 02 Feb 2020
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