MAY BE A MURDER.

New York, 1895

Poles and Germans Fight and Two Get Stabbed.

A stabbing affray occurred at Flushing at an early hour Monday morning in which one man was seriously injured and another wounded so badly that his life is despaired of. One of them is lying in the Flushing hospital, and he may die. A number of Poles, who are employed on various farms at Blackstump, on the Jamaica road, Monday decided to have a picnic among themselves. They bought a keg of beer and repaired to the residence of Joseph Czeeski, where they drained its contents and became hilariously drunk.

At about 11 o'clock Monday night two Germans and a Pole intruded and tried to break up the festivities. When ordered off the premises they refused to go and a fight ensued. Joseph Buschofski, one of the picnicers, was stabbed in the left shoulder and it is believed that the knife penetrated the man's lungs. Another Pole named Tommasso Stofflaski was cut in the back.

Coroner Corey took the wounded man's ante mortem statement. Captain Allen and Constable Slavin arrested five Poles on the suspicion of being implicated in the affair. They were taken to the hospital to be identified by the injured man and he named Felix Bushnoski as the man who stabbed him.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, July 5, 1895, p. 1.

Lady Speaks to Him Only with Her Eyes

Indiana, 1916

But Interpreter Spins a Long Story from the Conversation.

Mrs. Joe Pogzelaski, of Hayden street, was called to the stand in the city court, Monday, to testify as to the conduct of her husband, who was drunk Sunday and creating a disturbance at home. Neither Joe nor Mrs. Joe could speak English and an interpreter was called.

Mr. Beklixyzski volunteered the use of both his English and Polish vocabularies.

"Ask him if he is guilty," said Judge H. Waveland Kerr to the interpreter.

"He says he will never do it again," volunteered the interpreter before the prisoner had a chance to say a word.

After some sparring between the court and the interpreter Judge Kerr asked for Mrs. Joe. She was sworn and sat gazing into the face of the interpreter. "Ask her if her husband struck her over the head with a beer bottle," instructed the court.

"She say they been married twenty-two year and never had no trouble and she want him to come home and he won't do it any more" — and a whole lot more, said the interpreter.

Mrs. Joe had said not a word. If she spoke it was with her eyes and she might have wig-wagged the message to the court through the interpreter, but there was reasonable doubt even of that. For five minutes Judge Kerr sought to find out whether Mr. Joe had assaulted Mrs. Joe. It was futile. The woman said nothing, whereas, the interpreter discharged conversation like a whole battery of phonographs.

Then Mr. Joe, Mrs. Joe and the interpreter got their heads together for a three-cornered talk-test, the upshot of which was a translation by the interpreter that Mr. Joe wanted very much to go home. Judge Kerr gave up in despair and continued the case until Tuesday, sending Mr. Joe to jail. When the police arrived at the Hayden street residence Sunday they found no end of beer, a bottle of whisky and broken bottles all over the house and in the street. Mrs. Joe had taken refuge across the street.

—The Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, April 26, 1916, p. 4.