ARTHUR.T Stories ----A Case of Circumstantial Evidence ----XI---Page 59

Strollo made no attempt to explain the possession of this letter, which,
if sent at all would naturally have come into the possession of the
addressee.

"And what was Vito's address at Yonkers?" inquired Petrosini. "1570 Yonkers," answered Strollo.

"Is that the street number of a house or a post-office number?" asked the detective.

"Neither," said Strollo. "Just 1570 Yonkers."

Thus the infamy of this villain was made manifest. He had invented out of his own brain the existence of Vito Torsielli in Yonkers, and had
himself written the letters to Antonio which purported to come from him. He had used the simple fellow's love for his long-lost brother as the means to lure him to his destruction, and brutally murdered him for the sake of the few dollars which his innocent victim had worked so hard to earn to reunite him to his mother and his betrothed.

The wounds in Strollo's hand and knee were found to correspond in shape and character with the thirty-six wounds in Torsielli's body, and the
mushroom digger unhesitatingly identified him as the man in the company of the deceased upon the afternoon of the murder.

It almost seemed like the finger of Providence indicating the assassin

when the last necessary piece of evidence in this extraordinary case was

discovered. Petrosini had hurried to Lambertville immediately upon the discovery of the letter and visited the post-office.

A young lady named Miss Olive Phillips had been employed there as a
clerk for twelve years, and had lately had charge of what are known as
the "call boxes"--that is to say, of boxes to which no keys are issued,
but for the contents of which the lessees have to ask at the delivery
window. These are very inexpensive and in use generally by the Italian
population of Lambertville, who are accustomed to rent them in
common--one box to three or four families. She had noticed Strollo when
he had come for his mail on account of his flashy dress and debonair
demeanor. Strollo's box, she said, was No. 420. Petrosini showed her the
envelope of the letter found in Strollo's pocket. The stamp indicated
that it had been cancelled at _Lambertville_ on July 26. When she saw
the envelope she called Petrosini's attention to the fact that the stamp
was a two-cent red stamp, and said, to his surprise, that she was able
to identify the letter on that account as one _mailed_ by _Strollo_ on
July 26. As there is no local delivery in the town, she explained, "drop
letters," or letters mailed by residents to other residents, may be
franked for one cent. Now, in the first place, no Italian in
Lambertville, except Strollo, so far as Miss Phillips could remember,
had ever mailed a letter to another Italian in the same town. A frugal
Italian, moreover, if he had done so, would have put on only the
required amount of postage. On the 26th of July, Strollo had come to the
post-office and pushed this identical letter through the window, at the
same time handing her two cents and asking her to put on a red stamp for
him. She had been surprised at this, and had at first thought of calling
his attention to the fact that only a one-cent stamp was necessary, but
she had refrained and put on the stamp. At the same time she had noticed
that it was addressed to "Antonio Torsielli, Lambertville, New Jersey."
Strollo had then taken the letter and slipped it into the "drop" and she
had cancelled the stamp, taking the opportunity to examine the letter a
second time. A stranger coincidence could hardly be imagined, and this
observing young lady from the country was thus able to supply the most
important link in the chain against the murderer, and to demonstrate
conclusively that the wretch had himself been mailing in Lambertville
the letters purporting to come from the fictitious brother in Yonkers.

Strollo was now placed in the House of Detention as a "witness," a

course frequently pursued when it is desirable to prevent a suspect from knowing that he is accused.

The case against him was practically complete, for it did not seem

humanly possible, that any jury would hesitate to convict him upon the
evidence, but juries are loath to find any one guilty of murder in the
first degree upon purely circumstantial evidence, and this was the first
purely circumstantial case in a long time. Inspector Price, therefore,
conceived the idea of trapping Strollo into a confession by placing a

detective in confinement with him under the guise of being a

fellow-prisoner. It was, of course, patent that Strollo was but a child

mentally, but he was shrewd and sly, and if he denied his guilt, there

was still a chance of his escape. Accordingly, a detective named Repetto
was assigned to the disagreeable task of taking the part of an accused
criminal. He was detailed to the House of Detention and remained there
for five days, from September 8 to September 13. Here Repetto became
acquainted with Strollo and the other prisoners, giving his name as
Silvio del Sordo and his address as 272 Bowery. He played cards with
them, read the papers aloud and made himself generally agreeable. During
this period he frequently saw the defendant write and familiarized
himself with his chirography.

The scheme worked and Repetto afterward received five letters from
Strollo, sent after the latter had been removed from the House of
Detention to the Tombs and indicted for the murder of Torsielli. The
first, dated September 22d, was merely to inform his supposed friend
Silvio of the change in his residence and to inquire the whereabouts of
another prisoner named Philip. The second would be pathetic were it not
written by the defendant in the case. It carries with it the flavor of
the Calabrian hills.

NEW YORK, _October 17, 1905._
SIR SILVIO:

I write and believe not to sicken you with my words, but it is

enough that you are well in health. I take the liberty again not

having any one else but you, and I believe to find a brother in

you, not a friend. I ask you nothing, only if you have time to come

and see me as soon as possible. I ask you this as a favor because I
know and believe to find a true friend, as I want to ask you a
certain thing at the cost of my life. I will not say any more.
Bring me five cents of paper and envelopes to write letters and
when you come I will give you the money. Nothing else. I am yours
ever. Servant and

Perfect friend,
A STROLLO.

The third letter from the perfect friend to his equally perfect friend

is an extraordinary combination of ingenuity and ignorance. It contains the only suggestion of a defence--that of an alibi.

NEW YORK, _October 30, 1905._

ESTEEMED FRIEND:

With retard I answer in receiving yours. I was very, very glad. I

believe all you told me and I am grateful, and hope you will not

betray me, because you know it will cost the life of a poor

unfortunate, so do as you told me, keep things to ourselves, if you wish to help me you will do me a great service, and if God helps me, you can dispose of my life.

So I will have you called unexpected, saying that I did not know if
you remembered. So if you are called the first thing you must do is
to make believe to look at me, and then you say you remember of
having seen me looking at the pictures in front of place where you
work, and you asked me if I wanted my pictures taken and I said no.
If they ask at what time say 5:20 or 5:30 P.M., and that you spoke
with me for quite awhile. If they ask how was he dressed? The coat
was black, the shoes russet the Trousers with white stripes which
is the one I am now wearing; what tie, I don't remember, I only

know he was well dressed, the hat was brown, if they ask did he

have a mark on his hand? Say no, he had a ring with a black stone,
how many times did you see him, say that after your work you were
going around Mott Street and you saw me again and how it was eight
o'clock or past eight and you saw me with a handkerchief around my
hand, and you said to me, why I had my hand so. And he answered
that some one struck him, I asked if it hurt much, he said he did

not feel it, did both of you go to drink. No. Where else did

Strollo go, Strollo said he was going at the Bleecker Street Hotel

to sleep, did you see him again. No. Nothing else, if you want to

help me reflect well, but you don't need any more words from me say just what I have said and I hope, with faith of a brother not a
friend, I am ever your Friend,

A. STROLLO.

It may, and probably will, appear to the reader that a clearer case of
guilt could hardly be established, but the action of juries is always
problematical, and this was a case composed entirely of circumstantial
evidence. The jury would be obliged to find that no reasonable
hypothesis consistent with the innocence of the accused could be
formulated upon the evidence. Thus, even in the face of the facts proven
against him, some "freak" juryman might still have said, "But, after
all, how do you _know_ that Strollo killed him? Some _other_ fellow
might have done it." Even the "faking" of a defence does not prove the
defendant guilty, but merely that he fears conviction, and is ready to
resort to feigned testimony to secure his freedom. Many innocent men
convict themselves in precisely this way.

Accordingly it was by no means with confidence that the People went to
trial, but throughout this remarkable case it seemed as if it must have

been preordained that Strollo should not escape punishment for his
treacherous crime. No defence was possible, not even the partially
prepared alibi was attempted, and the only thing that savored of a
defence was the introduction of a letter alleged to have been received
by the defendant while in the House of Detention, and which, if genuine,
would have apparently established that the crime had been perpetrated by
the "Black Hand."

The offering of this letter was a curious and fatal blunder, for it was later proven by the People to be in Strollo's own handwriting. It was his last despairing effort to escape the consequences of his crime. Headed with a cross drawn in blood it ran as follows:

I swear upon this cross, which is the blood of my veins, Strollo is
innocent. I swear upon the cross the revengeful Black Hand could
save me. New York, Oct. 12, 1905. Sir Strollo, knowing you only by
name, eight days after that I leave this letter will be sent to
you. I leave at seven o'clock with the Steamer Britain the Harbor.
Therefore I leave betraying my oath that I have held for the last
three years belonging to the Black Hand. I will leave three
letters, one to you, one to the Police Officer Capri, and the other
to the law, 300 Mulberry Street. All what I am saying I have sworn
to before God. Therefore your innocence will be given you, first by
God and then by the law, capturing the true murders. I am sure that
they already captured the murderer of Torsielli. Who lured you to
come to New York was Giuseppi Rosa, who knew you for nearly two
years, and who comes from Lambertville, came among us and played
you a trick. He is a Calabrise and has a mighty grudge. He and four
others are averse to them. Announce the name of the man who stabbed
you with the knife was Antonio Villa. He had to kill _you_, but
_you_ was fortunate. He is in jail for the present time and I don't
know for how long, but I know that he was arrested. Nothing else to
say. I have done my duty in giving you all the information. 407 2nd
St., Jersey.