The Kulpmont Duel of 1921

In St. Mary's Cemetery in Kulpmont a weathered tombstone marks the grave of a young man who died in 1921. Inscribed in Italian, this marker bears the name Domenico Varano, though his name also appears as either Dominick Verano or Dominico Varano in other records, as was so often the case with Italian immigrants who flocked to the coal regions of Pennsylvania in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in search of a brighter future hundreds of feet underground in the inky blackness of the mines.

Unfortunately for Dominic Varano, his dreams of a brighter future were permanently shattered at the corner of Chestnut and 6th Street-- the spot where the 24-year-old immigrant was gunned down while fighting a duel over a sweetheart.

It was the great British poet Alfred Tennyson who wrote, "In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love", and as Saturday, April 23, dawned bright and green love was on the mind of not only Dominic Varano, but also on the mind of another young Kulpmont man named Samuel Lucifero. The only problem, however, was that both men were in love with the same girl.

Varano, who had been living in Scranton until about a week before the incident which cost him his life, returned to his old hometown of Kulpmont after securing employment at the Scott Colliery, with his eye set on the winning back the young woman he had left behind. Unfortunately, Dominic's sweetheart was now involved with Samuel Lucifero, and Sam had no intention of letting her go.

The two men were not strangers; they had been childhood friends once upon a time, and Sam had borrowed $100 from him shortly before Dominic moved to Scranton. On Saturday afternoon the two men met up on Chestnut Street to settle the old score, and Dominic reluctantly agreed to stop seeing the object of his affection if Sam repaid him the money he had borrowed. Truth be told, Dominic never expected Sam to pay up, so when the latter consented to the terms Dominic changed his mind. He not only wanted the original $100, but he also wanted Sam to reimburse him for the expenses he incurred moving from Scranton to Kulpmont. Sam Lucifero balked at Varano's demand, and both men resolved to fight for the hand of the young woman (whose name, unfortunately, has been lost to history).

By five o'clock the argument had become so heated that it boiled over in violence in front of a handful of onlookers. On the corner, where Chestnut Street intersects with Sixth Street, Dominic threw a flurry of punches at the face of his adversary. Sam was no match for Dominic, so it shocked the crowd to see Dominic reach into his hip pocket for a gun as he sneered down at his beaten opponent.

Fearing that he was about to be shot, Sam desperately reached for his own pistol and fired off two quick shots. The first one missed, but the second bullet struck Varano in the left side of the stomach, piercing the intestines and lodging itself in the spine.

When Sam looked down and saw, to his utter amazement, that his former friend was still very much alive-- and very much enraged-- he took off running. As Sam bolted down Chestnut Street as fast as his feet could carry him, Dominic pointed his weapon and fired, his bullet striking Sam in the back of the thigh. Fearing for his life, Sam ran into the nearest house, which was the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Clepps, crying, "Help me! I've been shot!" This sudden intrusion scared the daylights out of Mrs. Clepps, who was bathing her children in a tub in the kitchen at the time.

Dominic's friends, hungry for revenge, swarmed upon the Clepps house. They pounded on the door and knocked on the windows, demanding entry into the home. Mrs. Clepps locked the doors and screamed until Constable Joseph Politza arrived. The mob was quickly dispersed and Constable Politza summoned the deputy coroner, C.C. Cooner, who gave both combatants medical attention before sending them off to the Shamokin hospital.

Dominic Varano died from his injuries at 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday, and six hours later Constable Politza, accompanied by Detective John Kline of Shamokin, arrived at the hospital to arrest Lucifero, who was then taken to the county jail in Sunbury.

It's not surprising that witnesses gave completely different accounts of the altercation, depending on which side they were on. But at the coroner's inquest, held at the Kulpmont city hall on the evening of April 27, two witnesses testified that Lucifero had been the aggressor. Tony Vivino claimed that Lucifero was the one who went for his gun first, though he claimed that he did not see the shooter discharge the weapon. The other witness, Pete Anoia, swore that he plainly saw Lucifero withdraw the revolver and fire two shots.

The murder of Dominic Varano was the second to take place in the borough in less than a month; on February 25 the former Kulpmont chief of police, Charles Malinowski, shot Frank Goldofski in the chest during an argument at Joseph Zubey's bar after Goldofski had teased the disgraced policeman about being fired (not surprisingly, Malinowski was later acquitted of all charges).

Lucifero pleaded guilty to the charge of voluntary manslaughter; he was convicted and sentenced to 4 to 10 years at Eastern Penitentiary. He was pardoned in March of 1924 and lived a quiet, law-abiding life as the owner of a hotel in Shamokin until his death from a heart attack in 1943.




Sources:

Mount Carmel Item, April 25, 1921.
Mount Carmel Item, April 26, 1921.
Mount Carmel Item, April 28, 1921.
Pittston Gazette, May 20, 1921.
Mount Carmel Item, March 26, 1924.
Shamokin News-Dispatch, Nov. 10, 1943. 


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