Photo published in the Times Leader on July 16, 1925.
A watchman at the English & Durland Lumber Yard on North Main Street, Pittston, heard five gunshots just after 2 a.m. on July 16, 1925.
Rushing to the area where he heard the shots, the watchman, Thomas Miller, found the bullet-ridden body of 42-year-old Paul Richlemi, a father of seven children, who lived at 60 Bolin Ave., Pittston.
“A membership card of the Pittston Aerie of Eagles identified the body as Richlemi,” the Times Leader Evening News reported on July 16, 1925.
Pittston policeman Thomas Sheridan had passed the lumber yard minutes before the gunshots were heard.
Richlemi was killed as he was passing the Cyclone Machine Works building located within the lumber yard. After he was identified, the police learned Richlemi had attended a party in Hughestown with former Pittstonian Frank Rau.
Rau was detained after being found at the Hotel Keating in Pittston.
“Rau denied any connection to the shooting, although he admitted that the two had been together for a time during the night. Grilled by detectives at police headquarters, Rau asserted his innocence, declaring that he left Richlemi before the shooting,” the Times Leader reported.
Richlemi and Rau attended a party in Hughestown that drew nearly 30 people. John Garrett, a former police chief in Hughestown, told policemen in Pittston that he saw Richlemi and Rau leave together.
A post-mortem examination revealed Richlemi sustained four gunshot wounds to his chest.
A coroner’s inquest was held in Pittston on July 17, 1925, which officially stated Richlemi was killed by an unknown assailant.
“Frank Rau, held as a suspect following the murder of Paul Richlemi in Pittston, has been released,” the Times Leader reported on July 17, 1925.
The story reported Rau had a “satisfactorily” alibi that he was sleeping in his room at the Hotel Keating when Richlemi was gunned down.
Policemen believed robbery was the motive due to the position of Richlemi’s body.
“The man’s arms were evidently raised above his head as he fell before a barrage of bullets. It may have been possible that the man was the victim of highwaymen,” the Times Leader reported of the coroner’s inquest.
No one has ever been arrested for Richlemi’s murder.
Richlemi was buried in St. John’s Cemetery in Pittston.
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