1907:
The Year of
The Black Hand
One year- 1907, seems to be a year that Cambria
County newspapers concentrated on exposing the criminal
activities of the secret society known as "The Black
Hand". A folder in the Society's files holds numerous
articles with intriguing headlines such as: "Devilish
Deeds Of The 'Black Hand' Revealed", "Escaped From
The Black Hand" and finally "Black Hand Is Wiped
Out".
The Black Hand, or Mano Nera, was an
American version of Sicily's century's-old Mafia or Naples'
Comorra. Locally, however, the groups do not appear to be as
well organized.
Typical Black Hand tactics involved sending
a letter to a victim threatening bodily harm, kidnapping,
arson, or murder. The letter demanded a specified amount of
money to be delivered to a specific place. It was
"decorated" with threatening symbols like a smoking
gun or hangman's noose and signed with a hand imprinted in
black ink; hence the name.
Many members of the Black Hand were
themselves forced to join the gang and commit the crimes.
The news accounts typically featured
suspects with Italian-sounding names, but not exclusively. The
victims, however, were always part of the Italian-American
community.
The following is a synopsis of the Black
Hand newspaper reports for the year 1907 as reported by the
Johnstown Weekly Tribune.
January 4th- "Expose Of Black Hand
Is Promised" Four men who had previously sent an
intimidating letter demanding extortion money accosted an
Italian merchant from Dysart.
January 11th- "Three Are Arrested" Five men
harassed a Carrolltown family by shooting at them with
revolvers after being denied the $100 they demanded from the
terrified family. Three men were later arrested.
February 15th- "Vicious Italian Not Yet Taken"
After a man and several of his friends were ejected from the
Coney Theatre for being rowdy, a scuffle broke out and a local
man was shot. The gunman mistakenly thought the victim worked
at the theatre. Several young men were arrested but the
gunman, who had only arrived in Barnesboro two weeks earlier,
escaped and was never seen again. The victim was not expected
to live.
February 22nd- "Black Hand Bled Him Every Month" Two
men were arrested for extorting $5 every two weeks for 18
months from a Barnesboro man. The victim was also arrested on
charges of having a concealed weapon. He claimed he had the
gun because he feared the Black Hand. The victim was one of
several Italian men rounded up during the search following the
Coney Theatre shooting.
May 31st- "More Arrests In Black Hand Cases"
Two men are held in the Dunlo lockup while Detective J. L.
Berkebile departs for Chicago to escort back to Cambria County
a couple who had fled the area after years of intimidation by
the pair. "Some interesting facts are expected to come
out at the trial next month".
May 31st- "Looks Like We'll Have To Kill You"
Four men are surprised during a raid in the back room of a
Lilly business. The four had been planning the punishment of a
Cresson man who refused to pay their $200 demand. Leading the
raid was Detective J. Berkebile.
June 14th- "Escaped From The Black Hand" A
twelve-year-old boy, who was kidnapped from his neighborhood
in Pittsburgh, found himself in a cabin in the woods with
several other boys. He escaped at night and caught a freight
train to Altoona where authorities notified his father. The
father confirmed that the abductors demanded a ransom of
$1,000.
June 28th- "P.F. Campbell To Tell His Story"
Now sitting in an Italian jail, a man is accused of killing
Charles Hays and wounding P.F.Campbell in a holdup near
Portage. He got away with $3,000.
June 28th- "Implicated in Lilly Homicide"
Before he dies, a Lilly miner gives the names of his
assailants to authorities. After wounding the miner, the two
thugs administered an anesthetic. The coroner's inquest
concluded that even though the victim would have died from his
wounds, the anesthetic only hurried it along.
September 20th- "Devilish Deeds Of The Black Hand
Reveled" "Woman witness in court tells of being
torn from her husband and forced to live with another man, to
whom she bore a child."-
A woman testifies in one of the more bizarre episodes of this
on-going story in which she and her husband were confronted by
nearly fifty members of the Black Hand and forced to separate.
The husband fled to Chicago and the wife was forced to live
with one of the gang leaders. The woman was witness to much of
the gang's criminal planning and was made to stand guard
during a shake-down outside of Spangler. Eventually the gang
leader was sent to the penitentiary and the woman was free to
tell her story to the District Attorney. She wrote to her
husband and he sent money for her to meet him in Chicago.
September 27th- "Black Hand Is Wiped Out"
Johnstown's Weekly Tribune newspaper declares that as far as
the Black Hand is concerned "the battle started" and
it was up to District Attorney J. W. Leech and County
Detective James L. Berkebile to end it. They were thanked
"for practically wiping out the worst gang of outlaws
who ever invaded Cambria County."
During the course of 1907, the courts had
convicted twelve members of the Black Hand Society primarily
by infiltrating their ranks with "trusted" Italian
men. Most of the cases were brought before Judge O'Connor.
Aside from some follow-up stories in 1909, it seems that the
Black Hand had indeed been "Wiped Out" in Cambria
County...at least as reported in the local newspapers.
^Top
in
the news
Autumn Tour Great Success
The weather cooperated and a full bus of
history seekers trekked back to the 1830's as Society friend,
Cecelia Farabaugh, organized a super bus tour to Old Economy
Village and Harmony, PA on October 12th. Old Economy Village
is the last home of the Harmonists, a nineteenth-century
Christian communal society known for its piety and industrial
prosperity. The group enjoyed a delicious dinner at the
Lamplighter Restaurant in Murrysville on the trip home. Thanks
for all your efforts, Cecelia.
Tour & Taste- "A Keeper"
"This was a great Cambria County
event" said Fr. Daniel Sinisi, at the October board
meeting of the historical society. He was referring to the
first annual Tour & Taste held on October 1st. Andrea
Sims, along with her planning committee, arranged a wonderful
evening of food, friends and music. Participants traveled
through five wine and food stations picking up tasty morsels
and a little bit of history along the way. Music for the
evening was provided by "Sounds from the Porch". And
two young ladies modeled vintage dresses from the Society's
collection. The event was such a success the committee has
already begun planning next year's fete. See page 7 for
photographs of the Tour & Taste evening.
Lecture Series and History Course
Board member Pat Stock is busy planning this
Winter's lecture series. Baseball was the subject for this
year's opener on October 19th.
Additionally, Pat has proposed offering a course in Cambria
County History. Recently retired, Pat taught the course at
Central Cambria High School the last few years. The 6-week
course will probably be offered after the holidays at the
museum. There will be a nominal charge. If interested contact
Kathy at 472-6674.
Collections Input Project
Our Society recently received a computer and
scanner and will put it to use starting in the attic as we
initiate our Collections Input Project. Every item in our
collection will be matched to its accession record,
photographed or scanned, and properly stored for easy access.
This is a major project which will take a lot of time and many
volunteer hours to accomplish. If this project sounds like
something you would enjoy doing please call Kathy at 472-6674
to sign up.
Ghost Town Trail Extension Opened
Congratulations to two of our board members,
Dee Columbus and Jack Bartock, of the Cambria County
Recreation Board, on the opening of the new Ghost Town Trail
extension. The 7.5 mile stretch from Ebensburg to Nanty-Glo
now allows bikers and hikers to travel the 20 miles between
Ebensburg and Dilltown. The October 20th ribbon-cutting
ceremony was followed by an inaugural bike ride to Nanty-Glo.
Art Exhibit along with Open House
The Society's Annual Open House will begin one
hour earlier this year to accommodate the addition of an art
exhibit opening titled; CambriaScape: The Art of Cambria
County's History. The exhibit is a cooperative venture
between the Society and the Ebensburg Art Alliance. The event
will be held on Sunday, December 4, 2005 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm
at the A. W. Buck House in Ebensburg.
^Top
The
Postal Savings Bank
"The first Postal Savings Bank to be
established in Cambria County opened at Patton. This is one of
the most progressive ideas of the government..."
August 14, 1911
Union Press Courier-
Before the days of FDIC, which insures
one's bank balances, many people did not trust banks. Also,
many people had so little money that they did not consider a
bank account necessary.
"The first deposit was made by F. M.
Kinkead, carrier on one of the rural routes, his deposit being
$2. Since the opening day, however, the deposits have been
coming in steadily and the amount keeps growing every day. The
new department is in charge of Edward Hunter, the popular
postmaster".
The idea behind the Postal Savings Bank was
to provide the small depositor, many of them immigrants, a
more trusted place for their money. The post office
represented the United States Government. Immigrants had been
accustomed to saving at postal mail facilities in their native
countries. Also, the Post Office was a more convenient
depository for working people.
Rules for Deposits:
* Ten years of age or older
* Any married woman may deposit in her own name
* No deposit less than one dollar or over $100 in any month
* Accounts cannot exceed $500
* Deposits less than one dollar are made by purchasing .10
cent postal savings stamps affixed to a card totaling one
dollar
* Balances may be converted into tax-exempt Postal Savings
Bonds and do not count toward the $500 balance limit
* The annual percentage rate is 2%
Although bankers first viewed the Postal
Savings System as competition, they were later convinced that
the system brought a considerable amount of money out from
mattresses and cookie jars.
In the case of Patton, funds taken in by the
system were then deposited in the First National Bank of
Patton.
The $500 balance limit was raised to $1,000
in 1916 and to $2,500 in 1918. By 1929 $159 million was on
deposit in the Postal Savings System.
In the 1930's the amount increased to $1.2 billion and then to
$3.4 billion during WWII.
Deposits rapidly declined after the war as
banks raised interest rates and offered the same government
guarantee as the Postal Savings System (FDIC).
The system stopped accepting deposits in
1966 and on July 1, 1967 about $60 million in unclaimed
deposits was turned over to the Treasury Department in trust.
No claims for any Postal Savings System
deposits were allowed after passage of the 1984 Statute of
Limitations.
^Top
The
Heritage is published quarterly and mailed to CCHS Members. A few
of the articles will be published here. 