_My dear Brother_:
Upon receipt of your news I feel very happy to feel you are well,
and the same I can assure you from me. Dear Brother, you cannot
believe the joy I feel after such a long time to know where you
are. I have been looking for you for two years, and never had any
news from you. I could not, as you wrote to me to, come to you,
because I had no money, and then I didn't know where to go because
I have been always in the country. Know that what little money I
have I sent it to mother, because if I don't help her nobody will,
as you never write to her. I believe not to abandon her, because
she is our mother, and we don't want her cursed. So then, if you
like to see me, you come and take me. You spoke to me about work
thither, but I don't understand about that work which you say, and
then what will I do because here I have work, therefore, if you
think I can come and work with you let me know because I have the
address. But if you want to do better you come and take me. _Dear
Brother_, I remind you about our mother, because I don't earn
enough money, which she is your mother also. DEAR BROTHER, I hope
you did not forget our mother. Dear Brother, let me know the names
of your children, and I kiss them. Many regards to your wife and
Aunt. I beg you to write to me. Dear regards, your brother, Antonio
Torsielli. When you answer send the answer to the address below,
Antonio Strollo.
Strollo made no attempt to explain the possession of this letter, which,
if sent at all would naturally have come into the possession of the
addressee.
"And what was Vito's address at Yonkers?" inquired Petrosini.
"1570 Yonkers," answered Strollo.
"Is that the street number of a house or a post-office number?" asked
the detective.
"Neither," said Strollo. "Just 1570 Yonkers."
Thus the infamy of this villain was made manifest. He had invented out
of his own brain the existence of Vito Torsielli in Yonkers, and had
himself written the letters to Antonio which purported to come from him.
He had used the simple fellow's love for his long-lost brother as the
means to lure him to his destruction, and brutally murdered him for the
sake of the few dollars which his innocent victim had worked so hard to
earn to reunite him to his mother and his betrothed.
The wounds in Strollo's hand and knee were found to correspond in shape
and character with the thirty-six wounds in Torsielli's body, and the
mushroom digger unhesitatingly identified him as the man in the company
of the deceased upon the afternoon of the murder.
It almost seemed like the finger of Providence indicating the assassin
when the last necessary piece of evidence in this extraordinary case was
discovered. Petrosini had hurried to Lambertville immediately upon the
discovery of the letter and visited the post-office.
A young lady named Miss Olive Phillips had been employed there as a
clerk for twelve years, and had lately had charge of what are known as
the "call boxes"--that is to say, of boxes to which no keys are issued,
but for the contents of which the lessees have to ask at the delivery
window. These are very inexpensive and in use generally by the Italian
population of Lambertville, who are accustomed to rent them in
common--one box to three or four families. She had noticed Strollo when
he had come for his mail on account of his flashy dress and debonair
demeanor. Strollo's box, she said, was No. 420. Petrosini showed her the
envelope of the letter found in Strollo's pocket. The stamp indicated
that it had been cancelled at _Lambertville_ on July 26. When she saw
the envelope she called Petrosini's attention to the fact that the stamp
was a two-cent red stamp, and said, to his surprise, that she was able
to identify the letter on that account as one _mailed_ by _Strollo_ on
July 26. As there is no local delivery in the town, she explained, "drop
letters," or letters mailed by residents to other residents, may be
franked for one cent. Now, in the first place, no Italian in
Lambertville, except Strollo, so far as Miss Phillips could remember,
had ever mailed a letter to another Italian in the same town. A frugal
Italian, moreover, if he had done so, would have put on only the
required amount of postage. On the 26th of July, Strollo had come to the
post-office and pushed this identical letter through the window, at the
same time handing her two cents and asking her to put on a red stamp for
him. She had been surprised at this, and had at first thought of calling
his attention to the fact that only a one-cent stamp was necessary, but
she had refrained and put on the stamp. At the same time she had noticed
that it was addressed to "Antonio Torsielli, Lambertville, New Jersey."
Strollo had then taken the letter and slipped it into the "drop" and she
had cancelled the stamp, taking the opportunity to examine the letter a
second time. A stranger coincidence could hardly be imagined, and this
observing young lady from the country was thus able to supply the most
important link in the chain against the murderer, and to demonstrate
conclusively that the wretch had himself been mailing in Lambertville
the letters purporting to come from the fictitious brother in Yonkers.
Strollo was now placed in the House of Detention as a "witness," a
course frequently pursued when it is desirable to prevent a suspect from
knowing that he is accused.
The case against him was practically complete, for it did not seem
humanly possible, that any jury would hesitate to convict him upon the
evidence, but juries are loath to find any one guilty of murder in the
first degree upon purely circumstantial evidence, and this was the first
purely circumstantial case in a long time. Inspector Price, therefore,
conceived the idea of trapping Strollo into a confession by placing a
detective in confinement with him under the guise of being a
fellow-prisoner. It was, of course, patent that Strollo was but a child
mentally, but he was shrewd and sly, and if he denied his guilt, there
was still a chance of his escape. Accordingly, a detective named Repetto
was assigned to the disagreeable task of taking the part of an accused
criminal. He was detailed to the House of Detention and remained there
for five days, from September 8 to September 13. Here Repetto became
acquainted with Strollo and the other prisoners, giving his name as
Silvio del Sordo and his address as 272 Bowery. He played cards with
them, read the papers aloud and made himself generally agreeable. During
this period he frequently saw the defendant write and familiarized
himself with his chirography.
The scheme worked and Repetto afterward received five letters from
Strollo, sent after the latter had been removed from the House of
Detention to the Tombs and indicted for the murder of Torsielli. The
first, dated September 22d, was merely to inform his supposed friend
Silvio of the change in his residence and to inquire the whereabouts of
another prisoner named Philip. The second would be pathetic were it not
written by the defendant in the case. It carries with it the flavor of
the Calabrian hills.