Headline in the Wilkes-Barre Record Feb. 2, 1903
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A Luzerne County detective and policemen in Plymouth commandeered private horse carriages to transport 21 men to the Luzerne County Jail for the slaying of Con Smith outside a Plymouth Township saloon on Feb. 1, 1903.
Within three months, murder charges were withdrawn against all and Smith’s killing went without justice.
The badly bruised body of Smith, whose real name was Constatine Sabulewski, was found along the D&H Railroad tracks near the No. 3 Coal Breaker just across the boundary line of Plymouth.
“About 8 o’clock yesterday morning while Patrick Casey was walking along the railroad near his home he came upon the remains a few yards from the tracks. Mr. Casey gave the alarm and the body was removed to Moore Bros Morgue in Plymouth,” the Wilkes-Barre Weekly Times reported Feb. 7, 1903.
Stories in the Wilkes-Barre Record and the Wilkes-Barre Times newspapers reported Smith was at a saloon when an altercation broke out inside. Those inside the saloon were striking coal miners and had a distaste for their colleague, Smith, who crossed the picket line.
“The proprietor of the saloon seeing a fight was imminent put Smith out. He was followed by a crowd and in the melee outside, he was struck on the head with a sharp held of a file and his scalp was bady cut,” the Wilkes-Barre Record reported.
Smith was pummeled as he laid on the ground and struck multiple times with iron bars and a stove pipe.
After Smith’s body was found, a detective along with seven policemen and constables gathered private horse carriages to round up those who took part in the fatal donnybrook. Some were immediately taken to jail while others were handcuffed together and transported by trolley.
Three more men would be arrested in later days.
During what would be called today a preliminary hearing, the 24 men appeared before two judges to hear the case on Feb. 15, 1903.
Anthony Strachinski, in whose saloon the fight occurred, was the first witness to testify. Strachinski said a ball was held in a rear room when Smith entered about 8 p.m. Those present did not like Smith because he worked during a recent coal strike.
Smith left but returned with six men that resulted in the melee, Strachinski testified.
Other witnesses and defendants testified to seeing a group of men kick, punch and stomp on Smith inside and outside the saloon.
Following the hearing, the two judges cleared five men of any wrongdoing, leaving 19 men to face murder charges at the next level of court.
The case was presented to a county grand jury in April 1903, which ignored the bill to indict the 19 men on murder charges for trial.
“There was a big exodus of prisoners at the jail this morning, the 19 Plymouth Township men who were arrested for murdering Con Smith being released. The bill against them was ignored by the Grand Jury yesterday,” the Wilkes-Barre Times reported April 9, 1903.
As the 19 men walked out the front door at the jail, many boarded the Plymouth/Edwardsville trolley on their way to Lowertown, Plymouth Township.
The county detective who investigated Smith’s murder hoped the release of the 19 men would benefit in narrowing down the actual suspects.
“It was predicted that as soon as the men would gain their freedom, the mystery would be solved,” the Wilkes-Barre Times reported April 13, 1903.
One man, Paul Ludosky, was accused of “being took talkative,” and was harassed by his defendant colleagues.
Ludosky was on his front porch of his home in Lowertown, Plymouth Township, when he was attacked by two men who were locked up with him.
The investigation involved three undercover Pinkerton detectives who secured employment and went down into the coal mines with several of the defendants hoping to pick up chatter about the Smith slaying.
The scheme by the undercover detectives did not work and Smith’s murder went unsolved.
