West Pittston High School nearing completion was damaged by dynamite on Nov. 10, 1927. Picture published Times Leader Nov. 10, 1927.
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West Pittston High School on Montgomery Avenue was nearing completion when a bomb exploded damaging the front doors at 3:25 a.m. on Nov. 10, 1927.
The blast sent debris across the street smashing priceless stained-glass windows of the West Pittston Methodist Episcopal Church and windows of nearby homes.
“Although several hundred people in West Pittston Borough heard the explosion, it was not known that the school building was wrecked until after 5 o’clock when the discovery was made by Thomas C. Nattress, a janitor who found the entrance blown away when he reported for work,” the Evening News reported the day of the blast.
The school was one of several buildings damaged by bombs or dynamite in the greater Pittston area in October and November 1927, putting the area on edge.
“The bombing of the West Pittston High School was the third to occur in Greater Pittston in the last six weeks. About six week ago the factory of Wilkes-Barre Maid Candy Company at South Pittston and surrounding buildings were badly damaged by an explosion of dynamite. Only three weeks ago, a dastardly attempt was made to wreck St. John’s Catholic Church on William Street,” the Wilkes-Barre Record reported Nov. 11, 1927.
Panic continued on Nov. 10, 1927, when policemen in Pittston extinguished a lit fuse that led to 14 sticks of dynamite in a tin lunch pail placed under tracks of the Laurel Line near the South Pittston Station.
“The dynamite along the Laurel Line tracks was discovered at 4:15 yesterday morning by Michael Reilly, of Oregon section of Pittston. he had walked the tracks from his home to the station to board the 4:20 southbound train to go to work,” the Record reported.
Reilly alerted two policemen at the station who cut the fuse.
“Authorities are without any clues to the early morning terrorists, it was said this afternoon. They believe, in view of other recent dynamitings in Pittston and vicinity, that a maniac is responsible for the continued outrages,” the Times Leader reported Nov. 11, 1927.
Several days after the explosion at the school and attempted bombing of the Laurel Line tracks, state policemen arrested Frank Condurso, of James Street, Pittston.
Condurso was suspected of attempting to place a tin lunch pail filled with 12 sticks of dynamite to blow up the home of Dominic Serago of Plank Street in Pittston early in the morning of Nov. 10, 1927, the same morning the West Pittston High School was targeted.
Although suspected of being responsible for the bombings, Condurso was never charged with dynamiting the West Pittston High School, the candy factory and St. John’s Catholic Church.
Condurso was released after furnishing $25,000 bail on Dec. 8, 1927, but as he exited the Luzerne County Courthouse, he was re-arrested at the front entrance and charged with blackmail.
County detectives alleged Condurso sent letters to several homeowners in the Pittston area soliciting money or he would blow up their homes. The blackmail charge was dismissed due to statute of limitations as he allegedly sent the threatening letters five years earlier.
Condurso’s trial for wanting to dynamite Serago’s home began at the Luzerne County Courthouse on Feb. 16, 1928.
Serago testified he awoke and saw two men entering his yard and identified Condurso due to a full moon that lit the sky.
“One carried a bundle wrapped up in a newspaper fearing they were about to dynamite his home, Serago seized a shotgun and fired before firing three more shots from a revolver,” the Record reported.
Condurso was struck in an arm by a bullet.
A jury on Feb. 18, 1928, convicted Condurso of attempting to dynamite Serago’s home. A request for a new trial was denied.
Condurso was sentenced March 9, 1928, to five to ten years at the Eastern Penitentiary. He was released in 1933.
A suspect in the school bombing was never identified.
About a week after the West Pittston High School was damaged, the new school building opened during a dedication ceremony held Nov. 18, 1927.
“The excellent program was enhanced by the fine musical numbers given by the West Pittston High School orchestra,” the Times Leader reported Nov. 19, 1927.