In November 1874, a Scranton newsboy found a man dying at the foot of an embankment on Mifflin Avenue. What followed was a murder investigation that led straight to the city's own Chief of Police, and then, stranger still, a year-long political war over who actually held that job. This one has it all: a mob beating, a bribed mayor, three simultaneous police chiefs, and a family legacy that outlived the scandal.
The deeper I dug into the 1872 murder of John Garrity, the clearer it became: this was not just a story about a killing. It was a story about an entire community. Irish immigrants bound together by family, friendship, hardship, and secrets buried in the records of Scranton’s Notch.
The 1872 murder of John Garrity was an open-and-shut case. Part I follows the crime, investigation, and sentencing. But there was more. Part II uncovers the family story the newspapers never reported.
Before dawn on September 21, 1872, a man was found dead in a pool of blood near a place known as Fellows’ Corners in Hyde Park. His skull had been crushed. His killer was never found. Who was James Monaghan? And what really happened that night in the early days of Scranton?
A deadly 1875 encounter leaves one man dead and the shooter haunted, sparking a gun control debate 150 years ago.
Exploring historic crimes in NEPA 