Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Caselli, Armando August 20, 1940 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Robert Woolfitt http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008401 November 11, 2022, 3:59 pm Virginian-Pilot August 28, 1940 Death of Italian Seaman Still Mystery Despite Coroner Probe Man Found on Street Told Shipmates He Was Unhurt, 
Just Drunk; Later Found to Have Internal Injuries
 and Broken Pelvis, Which Proved Fatal The mysterious death here on August 20 of Armando Caselli, seaman from the Italian steamer San Giuseppe, which has been tied up in Hampton Roads since Italy went to war with Great Britain, remained a mystery yesterday after a lengthy inquest conducted by Dr. C. D. J. Macdonald, city coroner. Caselli, according to the coroner's verdict, died at a local hospital August 20 of shock, hemorrhages in the abdomen and multiple fractures of the left pelvis. But, the verdict continued, “the cause of these injuries, after a thorough investigation, are not known to the coroner; but the injuries referred to were not manifested until several hours after he was placed on the ship,” the San Giuseppe. On Monday night, August 19, according to testimony yesterday, Norfolk Patrolmen H. B. Brinkley and E. N. Allen stopped at the gate to the old Army Base and were informed by a base officer there that a man was lying “down the road” in the direction of the Naval Operating Base on Hampton boulevard. Both officers, skilled in first aid, made efforts to find out if the man was hurt, they testified, but he signaled he was not, according to their testimony, and Officer Alien caught Caselli by the arm and he walked to the police car and “crawled into the back seat unassisted.” Appeared Unhurt The man was taken to a pier at the Army Base, now the Transport, Trading and Terminal Corporation, and Officer Brinkley went aboard the San Giuseppe and returned with the first mate, F. De Filippi, who questioned Caselli and was told by the seaman that he, Caselli, was not hurt, “just drunk,” according to the testimony. A fireman from the steamer then aided the man to board the ship and he went to bed, but later complained of pains in his leg and abdomen, according to testimony. The police officers had offered to take him to a hospital, it was testified, both by the patrolmen and ship's officers. The next morning, Dr. R. C. Ruggieri, a physician, and the Italian consul, were called to the ship and he ordered Caselli removed to the hospital, where he died that night at 7:15 o’clock. X-rays showed the man’s pelvic bone badly crushed, according to Ruggieri, who said that, in his opinion, Casseli could not have walked after he was so injured. Maggi Attilio, fireman from the ship, testified yesterday that he joined Caselli at a bar near the old Army Base on the afternoon of August 19 and was with him until that night when they both were struck by an automobile. Attilio admitted on the stand that he had been so drunk himself that he did not know that Police Officers B. V. Moore and James Justice, in uniform, took him back to the ship that night. Attilio told the coroner that he did not remember much after being hit by an automobile, but that he had gone for help for Caselli. The fireman's testimony was given with the ship’s captain, B. S. Saglaito, acting as interpreter. Captain Saglaitto testified he had talked to Caselli and that the seaman had told him he had not been hurt when he came aboard ship. Physicians’ Statement De Filippi, the mate, also testified that he had talked to Caselli and was told by the seaman that nothing was wrong with him except that he was drunk. The mate corroborated the testimony of the police officers that the latter had offered to take the man to a hospital, but had been told there was nothing wrong with Caselli. A. Menetto, another seaman from the San Giuseppe, corroborated the mate's testimony and several witnesses told the coroner that Caselli had walked and got into and out of the police car without aid. The physicians stated at the hearing, however, that a man with a crushed pelvis could not have done this. The ship’s officers testified that Caselli showed no signs of having been hit by an automobile nor that he had been injured in any other way when he came to the ship on the night, of August 19 and that they thought he was “just drunk." H. O. Durham, of 1611 Hampton boulevard testified that, on the night of August 19, he was driving along the boulevard and a man was walking in front of him and failed to get out of the road when he blew his horn. Durham said he had to stop and then proceeded to where he saw another man lying by the road. He stopped, he testified, and waited with another automobile until police officers came and took the man away. There was no sign that the man had been hurt then, appeared only to be drunk, Durham testified. Attilio. the fireman who insisted that both he and Caselli had been struck by an automobile, was very indefinite in all his statements and when he said he was not taken to the ship by uniformed police officers, Detective Leon Nowitzky, coroner's investigator, stated before the coroner that he thought Attilio had been too drunk to remember anything himself and that his testimony was discredited. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/norfolkcity/obits/c/caselli5503nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/vafiles/ File size: 5.7 Kb