Late at night on the last Sunday in November, 1930, as flurries of snowflakes as big as half dollars fell from the sky (but failed to lie as the streets were too wet), a patrolman noticed a broken ground-floor window in the H G Preston Wholesale warehouse on Grove street. He called in his suspicion that there had been a break-in and two more officers were sent out to join him. John Dagres—known locally as […]
In 1789, a revolutionary war veteran named Andrew Nye, the son of a German immigrant who had left Europe forty years before, bought four hundred acres of land on the banks of the Connoquenessing creek and set up a farm, where he lived with his wife, a dozen or so children, a horse, three or four cows and a yoke of oxen. Later generations of his family spoke of him as the first white settler […]
Ralph Largo’s younger brother, Frank, had spent time in Huntingdon reformatory for larceny and had been arrested in the company of Vincent DeLillo, an incorrigible drug addict and thief, a few years before. He was on trial for living off a prostitute’s earnings—taking bawd money—and adultery. The prosecution’s case relied on the evidence of a young woman named Josephine Coloa, who was perhaps the prostitute in question. Ralph arranged to meet Josephine for a drink […]
The man who crashed into two cars on Hiram way on 8 November 1936 told the other drivers his name was Charles McCombs, then drove a few blocks to Ray street before abandoning the car. At that moment, however, Charles McCombs was at the police station reporting that his car had been stolen. The damaged car was returned to Mr McCombs. The thief was never caught—at least, not in connection with that crime. The only […]
Small Town Noir 