Story
Fires, disasters & public safetyGunfire in Kulpmont, March 1909
March 28, 1909
A separate Sunday shooting injured Sam Patello and led to four arrests; it was not the Trevorton explosion.
Some details remain uncertainGunfire broke out in Kulpmont on the afternoon of March 28, 1909. The Mount Carmel Item reported that Sam Patello, who had already lost one leg, was struck in the other and taken to Fountain Springs hospital.
The article described a confrontation inside a room and reported that Joe Rovito fired toward a man who had returned there. It said a revolver and a repeating Gatling-style gun were discharged. Four men were arrested; the paper distinguished the accusation of shooting from allegations that the others had aided it.
An appeal for help brought Chief of Police Heck of Marion Heights, Constable Victor Merretta and Special Officer John White to the scene. The account said two of those arrested remained in Marion Heights jail and two were out on bail.
The newspaper called participants Black Hand members, but its report of accusations and arrests was not a verdict. This shooting appeared beside the fatal Trevorton boxcar explosion on the same page. Their placement together did not establish a common plot.