NEWSPAPERS: SEVEN MURDERS FOR TRIAL:  The Daily Courier, Thursday, February 20,
1919
Connellsville, PA, Fayette Co PA
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SEVEN MURDERS FOR TRIAL-JOHN SELANIK & MRS. PAULINE MARTELLA, FRED
GRIFIN & WADE P. HEROD, FRANK AMEROTO OF BELL VERNON, ANDY KUCHNER OF
ELM GROVE

Seven murder trials during the five weeks of the March term of court in
Uniontown have been placed on the trial docket by District Attorney S.
John Morrow.  Six of the killings have been committed since August 21,
1918.

Perhaps the greatest interest centers on the case in which John Selanik
and Mrs. Pauline Martella are charged with the murder of the latter's
husband, Nicholas Martella, at Herbert, on August 21.  It is alleged
that the couple murdered Martella to get him out of the way so they
could marry.  The body of the murdered man was found in an outhouse with
a portion of the dress of the Martella infant jammed in his mouth and a
string tied tightly around his neck.  Officers stated that Selanik has
confessed.

The second case on the docket is that where Fred Griffin of Florence
mines is charged with the killing of Wade P. Herod on the night of
November 10 last.  The trouble is alleged to have started over a poker
game staged in a pig pen.  Herod, a friend of Griffin and a psectator,
was killed when Griffin attemptd to shoot another man in a dispute over
a quarter.

Frank Ameroto of Bell Vernon will be arraigned on the charge of having
slain Tony Gula at the Belle Vernon glass house on November 7.  The
quarrel, which resulted fatally, is said to have been over a woman, not
named.

Andy Kuchner of Elm Grove is alleged to have struck Adam Schilsky over
the head with a blunt instrument during a brawl, inflicting a mortal
skull wound.  The assault occurred on November 18.

Arthur Williams of Isabella is charged with having murdered Mary Lou
Brown, when she interferred in a quarrel between himself and his wife.
The commonwealth will contend that when Miss Brown interceded for the
wife, Williams struck her, knocking her down and fracturing her skull.
The trouble occurred November 30.

W. F. Johnson of Dunbar is accused of killing J. H. Johnson, no
relation, in an argument which occurred at Dunbar on November 12.  The
victim was struck on the head with a blunt instrument, later dying in
the Cottage State hospital in Connellsville.

Ralph Tate, the proprietor of a taxicab line at McClellandtown, will be
called upon to answer to the charges of slaying Roman Bustic, when he
and three other men attacked Tate, following a dispute over a taxi
bill.  The men refused to pay the sum charged them by Tate's son and
when the father was consulted, the quartet rushed the father, one man
felling him.  Tate claims that it was when he was rushed into a corner
and he seemed to be in imminent danger of losing his life, he fired into
the ranks of the men.  A second foreigner, whom Tate struck on the head,
was seriously injured but recovered.