Allegheny County Coroner Internship

Eric Fantaske

Allegheny County Coroner Internship

1901-1902 Coroner Notes

When first starting into the coroner records from the 1900s, I was first amazed at just how different they are from the records from the 1960s. Yes, it is to be expected that the older records are of course going to be different in terms of medical records, diagnosis, and methods of description within the files in general. However, the one thing I was really amazed with was how well they’ve held together for over a hundred years. There are slight signs of wear and tear among several of the records, but for the most part the only noticeable signs of their age are the paper the records are contained on. At first I assumed before seeing the records from the 1900s that they were going to be a pain to deal with compared to the organized and formulaic 1960 records. However, I’ve come to find that I thoroughly enjoy the older records more so than the newer ones. Beyond the minor annoyance of how dirty some of the files can be, reading these records from over a hundred years ago has been a very interesting and rewarding experience. Many of the records I’ve documented in my notes are very unique to their time period, and because of that it becomes a very valuable tool to glimpse what life (and death) was like for a person living at the turn of the 20th century.

As several other of my fellow interns have already mentioned, one of the most prominent types of files I have found have been railroad accidents and industrial accidents, which I had seen virtually zero of in the records from the 1960s, let alone hearing about any in today’s time period. When an industrial accident occurs today, it instantly becomes a nation wide spectacle, with 24 hour news coverage from the networks. In the files from the 1900s it seems like just about 1 in every 10 files is a railroad or industrial accident, making it seem very commonplace for such types of accidents to occur. For most railroad accidents, the victims tended to die in one of three ways: Either they were sleeping along the tracks and were run over, were walking along the tracks and were run over, or were working for the railroad and became crushed/ran over by the railroad cars. One incident that was different from the norm involved an Austrian immigrant in his twenties who was thrown from the train by brakemen and landed on his head (190109_181). The man and his friend were riding the rails illegally, and the brakemen stumbled upon them while inspecting the cars. According to the witnesses testimony the one brakeman robbed the deceased, and then threw him from the train as it was moving. The witness then quickly jumped off the train of his own accords to avoid a similar fate. The deceased landed on his head and suffered a severe skull fracture, leading to his death. The brakemen were eventually arrested and charged, based on the other man’s testimony. What makes this case even more interesting is the fact the witness and deceased didn’t speak a word of English, so a translator was used in the testimony. “Riding the rails” was a much more common occurrence during the early century, before cars became commonplace, but I haven’t seen one other case where the railroad employee was a murderer and the illegal passenger a victim. It’s interesting to note that the immigrant was actually helped in getting around his language problem, and eventually the guilty were apprehended.

Among industrial accidents in most cases either part of a mine collapsed or there was some sort of accident in the steel mills of Pittsburgh. Many files contained stories of walls of slate collapsing on a victim, a slight cave in killing a worker, or someone running afoul of some of the industrial equipment found in the blast furnaces of a steel mill or mine. All in all it appears that the safety of workers was much less a concern back then when compared with the safety of workers today involved with the railroads or industrial sites. The most interesting industrial accident I noticed in my records concerns an incident that occurred during the construction of the Frick Building on 5th and Grant Street (190108_99&100). A bundle of steel girders fell 6 stories when the floor supporting then collapsed, crushing two men caught at the bottom of the building. The record itself is a very interesting read, with over 100 pages of testimony investigating the cause of the accident, who should be held accountable, and the feelings of the other workers on site in general. Just why exactly does nothing like this occur as much today? The only reason I can come up with for so many accidents in the 1900s is that people just weren’t as concerned for the welfare of the grunt workers employed all over the country in dangerous jobs. Maybe unions played a big part in ensuring the safety of these types of people in later decades? Might be an interesting topic for a research project, seeing how the safety of workers has improved in dangerous occupations and what exactly the cause of improving conditions was.

Beyond accidents involving the railroads and industrial sites, there are many other interesting details found within the records of this time period. Several files contained stories of oil can explosions within residences, in most cases severely injuring or killing most of the occupants within the home. One specific case of an oil can explosion killed an entire family (190107_486-489). Several records detailed death by syphilis (190107_005), which through my own research I found out, was a prominent killer in the early 1900s until the invention of the first reliable test for syphilis in 1906 became available. (Syphillis) Whooping cough was also found to be a killer in several instances, such as the 190211_413 record. Several suicides, especially prevalent among women (190108_97), involved the use of chemicals such as carbolic acid and paris green, which was a rat pesticide. Instances such as these really clarify how different things were as recent as 100 years ago, since most of these causes of death I had to look up outside of the internship just to clarify how it was they died.

Murder still occurred much as it does today, and several records were examples of this. One man was shot while exiting a bar after a dispute with a friend (190107_009), while another criminal was shot by his partner while exchanging fire with police (190109_194). Guns were still prevalent in the United States back in the 1900s, especially since our Constitution was based of the right to bear arms, so this seems to fit in with the norm of today’s murders as well. Guns seem to be a favorite method of murder for Americans, and Allegheny County was no exception. Some other non-gun related murders include an unsolved case where a man was truck from behind while walking home by an unknown assailant (190211_391). I found myself curious about just how unsolved cases were handled back in the 1900s, and what methods were used to solve crimes over a hundred years ago. Also, one very unique series of records details the mass slaying of the entire Cawley family by a sixth member of the family wielding an axe (190211_329-334). It’s a chilling yet very interesting record, since the deceased include 3 children less than ten years of age. No real reason was given for the murders, though the tone of the records seems to point toward insanity as the reason. Interestingly enough this case is eerily similar to another case I know about from a history book on the Steel Valley area, where in the late 1800s another family was killed by another member of the family wielding an axe. Both cases also occurred in Homestead, raising some very interesting questions: Was this a copycat killing? Was this type of murder prevalent during the time period, and are any similar records being found by any one else involving this type of murder (Highly unlikely)? Or, finally, is the history book I have in my possession merely incorrect in dating the incidence, even though the last names are different? To me, these types of incidences are incredibly interesting, as morbid as they are. As a Sociology student, I am very intrigued by the idea of “Just why do people do things such as this?”, and plan to explore that in my research paper. If anyone else has any relevant information on the subject of unsolved murders or unique/mass murders in general I’d be interested in looking into that, since it is of particular interest to me how these cases are handled.

Finally, one topic that I found interesting but only had two prime examples of was criminal abortion during the 1900s. The one case I have (190109_185) details the death of a 23 year old woman who received a criminal abortion, and then later died due to complications about a week afterward. Just what was the stance on abortion during the time period? Though illegal, how generally accepted was the idea of abortion during the time? I plan to delve into this topic as well in my research paper. Specific to this file and a very interesting read are also some of the letters and notes contained in the file. Apparently the doctor that performed the abortions had blackmailed previous patients to keep quiet, and an anonymous letter is contained in the file tipping off the coroner to these charges of blackmail and cover-up with the death of the 23 year old woman. The Coroner even seems to have made his own independent investigation, bringing about images of a mystery novel or private investigator. All in all the records from the 1900s are extremely interesting, and filled with many great topics for further research.