Kelayres massacre
| Kelayres massacre | |
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Funerals for three victims, at the site of the killings. Bruno's house has the white roof.
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| Location | Kelayres, Kline Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 40°54′03″N 76°00′14″W / 40.90083°N 76.00389°WCoordinates: 40°54′03″N 76°00′14″W / 40.90083°N 76.00389°W |
| Date | November 5, 1934 After 9 PM |
| Deaths | 5 |
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Non-fatal injuries
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12–25 |
| Perpetrators | Joseph James Bruno and family |
The Kelayres massacre was a shooting attack that took place the evening of November 5, 1934, in the coal-mining village of Kelayres, Pennsylvania. An election-eve parade and rally by Democrats was fired on by multiple shooters as it passed the home of Joseph James Bruno, known as "Big Joe", the local Republican boss. Three victims died almost immediately and two others died over the next two days.
The attack received national news coverage, and accounts of it shared the front page with early election news in several major newspapers. The top newly elected Pennsylvania Democrats attended the funerals. Six members of the Bruno family were eventually found guilty of multiple murder charges in four trials, with Bruno and his brother Phil receiving life sentences.
Bruno escaped from prison, leading to the then-largest manhunt in Pennsylvania history. He was caught eight months later.
All of the Bruno family members were eventually paroled. None ever admitted guilt, and no motive was ever formally established.
Kelayres is a small community of about five city blocks by ten. Surrounded by coal mines, slag heaps, and a reservoir, there are only two streets that connect Kelayres, to the neighboring towns of McAdoo and McAdoo Heights.
Joseph James Bruno was the first child of James Biaggio and Marie Antonia (Abbato) Bruno. James Biaggio Bruno first emigrated from Italy in 1877, and went back several times, in 1882 marrying Marie Antonia (Abbato). Marie and their son Joseph emigrated in 1886, on one of James return voyages, well after James settled in Kelayres, making way for his young family. They were from a small village called Bucita, in Cosenza region of Calabria, Italy.
In Kelayres, the elected school boards had the power to hire and fire schoolteachers, and related contract work was subject to cronyism. A 1907 election which many locals considered questionable led to Bruno becoming school board director and a cousin Louis the school principal. Brother Philip also became a tax collector.
From this point, Bruno's influence grew. He would serve as justice of the peace, county detective, and an officer at the bank. He ran a garage which maintained the local school buses. He also ran slot machines and bootlegged coal. In nearby Pottsville, he ran a brothel. Critics claimed he abused his powers to enforce loyalty.
In 1932, the old wooden schoolhouse burned down. Bruno led the construction of a new building, the "Bruno School". His brother Louis, the acknowledged brains of the family, was killed in an automobile accident, and Bruno's ways of dealing with opposition became cruder and more antagonizing.
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