Clement Kieselfskie: The Crippled Killer of Coal Township

Inmates at the State Industrial Home for Women, Muncy, Lycoming County

 

During his many years on the Northumberland County bench, Judge Charles K. Morganroth sentenced a considerable number of killers. Having been elected to the bench in 1931, Morganroth's tenure as judge coincided with the era of the Great Depression, the end of Prohibition, and the resulting incidental surge in organized crime. However, in December of 1932, Judge Morganroth passed sentence on a cold-blooded killer the likes of which he had never encountered before or since. The murderer, Clement Kieselfskie, was a cripple paralyzed from the waist down.

During the fall of 1932, spirits were running high among the Polish-Americans residing in the Shamokin Area. On October 11, a massive celebration was held in the Shamokin suburb of Springfield, Coal Township, whose main street* was officially re-christened as Pulaski Avenue in honor of Casimir Pulaski, the Polish-born nobleman who became a military hero during the Revolutionary War. The celebration included a parade featuring a half dozen bands, which marched to Pulaski High School, where a large crowd had gathered to witness the dedication ceremony. Speaking at the ceremony was Henry Konopnicki, the Polish ambassador, along with prominent local physician Victor Baluta, and county judge Charles K. Morganroth. 

Little did Judge Morganroth realize at the time that there was a killer in his midst; less than one month later, the Polish-American community of Springfield would be rocked by the heinous murder of a 70-year-old man named Jacob Stancavage, who lived in the last house at the end of Pulaski Avenue with his wife, Mary.

A Gruesome Scene

On the morning of Tuesday, November 15, 1932, police were summoned to the Stancavage home at 1783 Pulaski Avenue. It was a gruesome scene which greeted Corporal Earl Pepple of the State Police, who, along with District Attorney Robert M. Fortney, had been apprised of the crime by the neighborhood milk man who was making his rounds through Springfield. The body of the retired miner was stretched out on the floor of his bedroom, his eyes open but lifeless. Blood had stained the pillow, along with the white curtain of a nearby window, and had splattered the bedroom walls. A bloody carpenter's hammer, wrapped in newspaper, was later discovered in the outhouse.

When police arrived, they had found Jacob's wife, Mary, downstairs on the living room couch, seemingly in a state of unconsciousness. After she regained her senses she could provide no information to the police, who had only been able to learn that the 49-year-woman had been married to Jacob Stancavage for just seven months. Before the marriage, she had been Mary Zenini.

There was only one other occupant of the house, 47-year-old Clement Kieselfskie, who was the step-son of the murdered miner. Clem, as he was known, was badly crippled, and could only move around by strapping leather pads to his knees and dragging his paralyzed body with his hands. 

His Body Was Still Twitching: The Step-Son's Story

"I was lying in bed in the back room and was unable to get to sleep," Clem had told the police. "My step-father and his wife had retired early and I suppose had been asleep for some time. It must've been some time between midnight and four o'clock. Suddenly I heard the sound of breaking glass. I recognized the noise as coming from the kitchen door directly beneath one of the windows. I listened, but could hear nothing further, and at last I decided to get up and investigate.

"It took me some time to get the heavy leather pads on my knees, but without them I cannot move about... I made my way through the room next to mine to the door leading out into the hall, which ends with my step-father's room at the front of the second floor. I found the door locked so I rattled the knob. I heard a moan, and by that time I was pretty badly scared. I rattled the knob again and someone cried out to go away... I realized something was wrong so I looked about for a screwdriver which I had in my room. I finally succeeded in prying part of the lock off the bedroom door and crept out into the hall.

"The back room was dark but I had a flashlight and made my way to the door. From there I could see my step-father lying on the floor. His body was still twitching. On the bed I could see his wife lying. Her hands and feet were tied and a scarf was wrapped around her face. I cut her loose and then examined my step-father. He had stopped moving by that time.

"I went downstairs and just about that time the milk man came to deliver milk. I told him what had happened and he said he would see that the police were notified.

The Milkman Spreads the Alarm

Harry Crowe, a deliveryman for the Shamokin Sanitary Milk Company, ran across the street to the home of John Hornyak and began pounding on the door. This aroused next-door neighbor Charles Tosloskie. After relating the news to the men, Hornyak telephoned the Tharptown barracks of the state police. It was shortly after 5:00 in the morning when Troopers Kuech and Scheidel, accompanied by Corporal Pepple, arrived at the Stancavage home. Trooper Cyril Edwards and District Attorney Fortney arrived a short while later.

Fortney, who had a reputation for leaping before he had finished looking (it was Fortney and Pepple who had botched the investigation into the murder of Claude Haas earlier that year), immediately concluded that Jacob Stankiewicz had been killed during a robbery attempt. With no evidence to go on, except for a bloody hammer, Fortney ordered the arrest of two men who lived near the Stancavage home whom he believed to be the prime suspects. 

 

Robert M. Fortney

Fortney's Folly: Details Emerge

Meanwhile, the police turned their attention to Stancavage's wife, Mary Zenini. Not only was she twenty years younger than her new husband, she was also around the same age as Stancavage's step-son, Clem Kieselfskie. Mary claimed that the night of the murder had been a blur to her; she couldn't say how many men had entered the bedroom, or give any physical description about what she might've seen. This puzzled investigators. Unlike the district attorney, who firmly believed the robbery motive, the police realized that there was little-- if anything-- of value inside the retired miner's simple home. They also realized that the killer, or killers, had to have some familiarity with the layout of the Stancavage home.

Not only was Kieselfskie crippled, but his step-father was also disfigured by a mine accident that had occurred years earlier. Unable to provide for themselves, the family had been recieving aid from the Shamokin-Coal Township Poor Board. Shortly after Jacob and Mary were married, the old miner extensively remodeled the six-room house. How did he obtain the necessary funds? Police believed the answer to this question might possibly provide the motive for the gruesome murder.

There was other evidence suggesting that the killer was not a stranger to the Stancavage home. In the bedroom, dresser drawers had been pulled out and clothes had been strewn about to give the impression of a robbery. However, the perpetrator had tied up Mary Stancavage using a cut piece of clothesline and had gagged her with one of her scarves. Surely, the robbers hadn't brought their own clothesline with them, so how would they know where to find it? How could anyone noisily rummage through the dresser for a clean scarf and stuff it inside Mary's mouth without waking her up, or without her screaming for help? 

But the most damning clue overlooked by District Attorney Fortney was Mary's nightgown, which she was still wearing when the police and the district attorney arrived. Inside one of the pockets was found a roll of bills. If robbery had been the motive, why didn't they take the money?

A Startling Discovery Produces Widow's Confession

The county coroner, Dr. A.J. Ancerawicz, conducted a post-mortem investigation at the Glazik mortuary and reached a startling conclusion. There had to have been a second murder weapon, in addition to the carpenter's hammer found in the outhouse. He had found eleven wounds to the back of Jacob's head, and only some of them had been inflicted with the hammer. These wounds suggested a sharp instrument, presumably a hatchet or a heavy butcher's knife.

The following day, the identities of the two men whose arrest had been ordered by Fortney were disclosed to the public. The suspects, Mike Pock and Charles Dambroskie, had been charged with assault by Mary Stancavage in September. The lone witnesses at that September hearing before Magistrate Hancock had been Mrs. Stancavage and the crippled step-son, Clem Kieselfskie. Pock and Dambroskie maintained that they were innocent, and insisted that the assault charges had been a "put-up job" by Mrs. Stancavage and Kieselfskie. It was also reported that witnesses had once heard Jacob remark that if anything should ever happen to him, that his estate would go to his step-son.

By now, public sentiment had turned against the widow and Kieselfskie, who seemed to have acted in tandem on more than one occasion. On Wednesday night, Mary Stancavage confessed to the crime and implicated Clement Kieselfskie. Mary had been taken to the juvenile detention room at city hall for further questioning, at by 10:00 her lips had loosened. She made her confession in the presence of Chief of Police Levan, County Detective Donald Zimmerman, and District Attorney Fortney. She was taken from city hall to the house on Pulaski Avenue, where she was directed to re-enact the crime.

After the murder had been re-enacted, Mrs. Stancavage and Clem Kieselfskie were taken to the home of W.D. Culton, a justice of the peace, at the corner of 6th and Pine streets. Culton, who was asleep at the time, was roused from bed and told Chief of Police Levan to meet him at his office on Independence Street, where he would hold a hearing. At Culton's office, Corporal Pepple formally charged the pair with murder. Justice Culton then ordered Mary to stand. "Are you guilty or not guilty?" he demanded. Without a tremor, the widow replied, "I am guilty."

"Who hit him first?" asked the magistrate.

"I did," Mary replied.

"Who struck him the second time?" he asked. 

"I did," Mary replied again. When asked who struck Jacob the thrird time, the widow pointed to the crippled step-son. "He did," Mary declared. Mary Stancavage and Clem Kieselfskie were then formally arraigned and taken to the county jail in Sunbury. After the coroner's inquest, the body of Jacob Stancavage was laid to rest at St. Stanislaus' Cemetery in Shamokin.

 

Judge Charles K. Morganroth

 
 
The Sentencing of Mary and Clem

The defendants were ordered to stand trial before the Northumberland County grand jury on December 5. Mary entered a guilty plea to the charge of first-degree murder, though Kieselfskie plead not guilty. At the hearing Fortney laid out his case, alleging that a twisted love triangle had been the motive for the murder. He insisted that Mary had admitted during her confession that Kieselfskie "was a pervert" and "that she and the cripple had carried on an unnatural relationship". This signed confession was entered as evidence. True bills of indictment were returned by the grand jury, and the trial date was set for December 12.

The December term of court was notable for the viciousness of the crimes committed in Northumberland County. During the week of the Stancavage and Kieselfskie trial, the court would also be hearing the commonwealth's case against Joaquin Perosh, a Kulpmont indicted for murdering Alex Fodor, and the murder trial of John Abromitis, who was accused of killing his married paramour, Victoria Ference, in her Shamokin home. It was strongly believed that Abromitis would go to the electric chair (he was eventually acquitted), and perhaps the thought of being strapped into "Old Sparky" compelled Kieselfskie to change his plea before his trial before Judge Morganroth got under way. It was a smart decision; by pleading guilty to second-degree murder, he knew that his life would be spared. If he had been convicted of first-degree murder, there would be no such guarantee. Judge Morganroth immediately passed sentence, imposing upon Kieselfskie a sentence of 10 to 20 years at Eastern Penitentiary.

District Attorney Fortney, however, was unwilling to accept anything less than a first-degree murder conviction for the miner's widow, even though a recently-passed state law allowed the judge, rather than the prosecution, to fix the degree in cases in which the defendant pleads guilty. because of this change of law, there would be no jury.

On the stand, Mary told of the plot she had concocted with Clem to kill Jacob Stancavage. They had initially planned to poison their victim, but she had lost her nerve. Now that the step-son had already been tried and sentenced, Mary had no qualms about painting Clem as the mastermind of the tragedy-- she was merely a poor, confused woman who didn't know any better. During her testimony, she claimed that she was "under the influence" of Clem and that she was emotionally unbalanced because she was going through menopause (or "change of life", as newspapers reported it in those days). "Always Clem urged me to kill him," she testified, "so we could have a place alone."

Mary expressed not one ounce of emotion as she recited the gory details. "My husband was sitting up trying to put on trousers," she explained. "I took the hammer with both hands and hit him on top of the head as hard as a I could. The Clem hit him in the small of the back. We went out and had a couple of drinks. We came back to see if Jacob was still alive. He was still kicking. Clem hit him a couple more times until he lay still."

Judge Morganroth wasn't fooled by the duplicitous plot to lay the blame at the feet of Clem Kieselfskie; in the absence of a jury, he found her guilty of murder in the first degree on January 30, 1933, and sentenced her to death in the electric chair. However, in March, Richard J. Beamish, of the Board of Pardons, commuted her sentence to life imprisonment, which she served out at the Muncy State Industrial Home for Women in Lycoming County until her death in 1941 from a gallbladder infection. Though her original sentence was commuted, she holds a place in history as the first woman ever sentenced to death in the electric chair in Pennsylvania.

As for Clement Kieselfskie, no further records of him exist; the 1941 death notice for Mary Stancavage indicated that he was still alive and serving his sentence at Eastern Penitentiary.



*Prior to Oct. 11, 1932, Pulaski Avenue was known as Oneida Street.

**Other sources spell the last name as Stankiewicz. Either would be correct, as they are essentially pronounced the same way, though Stankiewicz would be the more traditional Polish spelling, while Stancavage would be the Anglicized spelling.

Sources: 

Shamokin Daily News, Oct. 12, 1932.
Shamokin Daily News, Nov. 15, 1932.
Shamokin News-Dispatch, Nov. 16, 1932.
Shamokin Daily News, Nov. 17, 1932.
Harrisburg Evening News, Nov. 18, 1932.
Shamokin News-Dispatch, Nov. 19, 1932.
Shamokin News-Dispatch, Dec. 6, 1932.
Shamokin News-Dispatch, Dec. 12, 1932.
Shamokin Daily News, Dec. 13, 1932.
Shamokin Daily News, Jan. 31, 1933.
Shamokin Daily News, March 16, 1933.
Sunbury Daily Item, Feb. 15, 1941.
Shamokin News-Dispatch, Sept. 8, 1941