The Diabolical Murder of Michael Howrilso

Mrs. Howrilso

Perhaps no part of Pennsylvania can boast a record of unfathomably cruel murders as the anthracite coal region, particularly Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties. It was in Exeter where, on Valentine's Day of 1891, Edward McMillan impaled his wife on a red-hot poker before torturing her with searing steel tongs. It was also Valentine's Day, in 1930, when a drunken Gervase Castner sawed his wife in half in their home in Avoca. In 1902, a fiend fatally poisoned five innocent children with arsenic in Olyphant; no arrests were ever made. And few murders were as barbaric as the one carried out by Joseph Karni, who, in the fall of 1914, beheaded his newlywed wife in the basement of their Wilkes-Barre home.

But there is another contender for the title of cruelest killer in coal region region history-- 17-year-old Knidsu Howrilso of Dunmore, who, in 1907, put into effect a diabolical plot to dispose of her husband.

In 1906, a recently-married couple from Poland (some sources say Austria, but this probably because southern Poland was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time) arrived in America and took up residence in Pennsylvania. The husband, 26-year-old Michael Howrilso, was the first to arrive, and he went to Pittsburgh in search of work. His young wife, Knidsu, came over a short time later, staying with a brother in the Lackawanna County borough of Taylor. It was June of 1907 when the Howrilsos settled into an upstairs room in a boardinghouse at 211 Prospect Street in Dunmore, in a part of town known as Sport Hill. Unbeknownst to the Howrilsos at the time, however, was the fact that someone was watching them very closely.

Just a short distance south of Sport Hill, in East Scranton, coal miner Ignatz Hutro was keeping a close eye on Mrs. Howrilso, and for a very simple reason.  A few years earlier, back in the old country, he and a girl who looked just like Knidsu had been lovers. After making inquiries, Ignatz learned that young Mrs. Howrilso was indeed the very same girl he had loved so dearly back in Poland. His heart leaped with joy, then ached longing, and then burned with bitter resentment. What was a pretty girl like Knidsu doing with a man as old as Michael? For Ignatz was younger than his rival, better looking, and since both men were miners Ignatz knew that he could provide for her every bit as well as Michael Howrilso. 

What should he do?

After a few days Ignatz decided to introduce himself to Knidsu, just to see if she remembered him. And, much to his ecstatic delight, she did. At first, their meetings were discreet and casual, but Ignatz soon grew bolder. He became a frequent visitor at the Howrilso home, and Michael didn't seem to mind. For all he knew, Ignatz was just a kid who had grown up in the same small village half a world away, a former childhood playmate of his wife. If anything, Michael seemed to enjoy having the young man around. He was fine company, and, besides, Michael was often too drunk to pay any attention to the romance that was rekindling beneath his less-than-watchful eye. 

Soon, Knidsu and Ignatz were talking about marriage. But little did the happy lovers know that their romance would soon come to a tragic end.

 

The Burning Bed

Shortly after 11:30 on the night of July 1, 1907, the boarders at 211 Prospect Street were awakened by Knidsu, who was running from the house screaming, "Fire!"  Some of the boarders, armed with buckets, ran upstairs to extinguish what they believed was a blazing mattress. But when the steam and smoke cleared, they saw-- to their horror-- the blackened body of Michael Howrilso. Astonishingly, he was still alive. Dr. Myles Gibbons was summoned to the scene and ordered the victim removed to the State Hospital, though it was apparent to everyone that it was a lost cause. Michael died twenty minutes after reaching the hospital without ever regaining consciousness.

By now the Dunmore police had arrived on the scene. Knidsu was in a hysterical condition, and could provide no rational explanation for what had happened to her husband. Perhaps he had passed out drunk while smoking a cigar, she theorized, or maybe he had accidentally pulled the oil lamp onto himself while tossing and turning in his sleep. Yet she could not explain how she had gotten out of the tiny one-room apartment completely unscathed, without a single hair on her head or thread from her nightgown singed by the flames. The police notified County Detective Michael A. Rafter, who promptly ordered Knidsu's arrest. As soon as she was taken into custody, she broke down and, through an interpreter, told a shocking story.

Sinister Plot Revealed

In her confession, which was repeated to County Detective Rafter through Deputy Constable Edward Jerkowitz, who acted as interpreter, Knidsu said that Ignatz Hutro went to her boadinghouse late that morning while her husband was at work. They shared a few drinks in the kitchen and reminisced about the good old days, and eventually, when none of the other boarders were around, Hutro said that he had a plan to get her husband out of the picture-- and she followed it through to its gruesome conclusion.

When Michael Howrilso returned home from work at 6:30, she prepared supper as usual before giving him some whiskey. She encouraged him to drink more, though Michael wasn't exactly known to need any encouragement, and he did until he was thoroughly intoxicated. At around eleven o'clock he stumbled upstairs to their room and was soon fast asleep. Then Knidsu poured herself a drink to steel her nerves.

Satisfied that her husband was in no danger of waking, Knidsu took the oil lamp which was already burning in the kitchen. She stealthily carried the lamp upstairs. Michael wasn't awakened by the opening of the door, and he continued to snore as his wife unscrewed the brass cap, carefully removed the hot glass globe, and poured the oil from the reservoir all over his body and the mattress. But then Michael began to stir. According to Knidsu, she lost her nerve and dropped the lamp onto the bed, which, in an instant, became enveloped in flames. It was at that point she ran from the house.

Shortly after midnight, Ignatz Hutro was taken into custody at his home near Nay Aug Park with little resistance, thought he insisted that he had nothing at all to do with the ghastly crime. In the morning, the lovers were dragged to the office of Assistant District Attorney T.A. Donohoe, where they gave separate statements, with each blaming the other. Later that afternoon they were given a hearing before Justice of the Peace Cooney in Dunmore. Knidsu was arraigned on a charge of murder, while Hutro was charged as an accessory before the fact. They were both remanded to the county jail.

The boardinghouse as it appears today.

Knidsu Changes Story

The following day at the county jail, Deputy Constable Jerkowitz visited Knidsu for additional information, and was told a slightly different version of the story than what he had been told the night of her arrest. She told Jerkowitz that Ignatz Hutro had physically assaulted her in her bedroom at the boardinghouse until she agreed to murder her husband. According to Knidsu, he said: "You better do away with your husband tonight. Poison him or burn him up. Yes, that is the better way. Just take the screw off the lamp and pour the oil over him while he is sleeping, and then set fire to it.  It would be a good plan if you got some whiskey to give to him, so that he will sleep tight."

She also changed her story about her relationship with Ignatz Hutro, claiming that, back in Lithuania, Hutro used to bother her with unwanted advances until her father finally intervened and scared him away-- but not before Hutro vowed that he would kill the entire family if he couldn't have Knidsu. She also claimed that Hutro had first spotted her while she was attending mass at the Greek Orthodox Church in South Scranton, and that he had stalked her ever since. 

The following day, Knidsu's attorney, Morris Moskovitz, hinted that his client's defense would be insanity. He also declared that she had been plied with whiskey by Deputy Constable Jerkowitz in order to extract her confession Meanwhile, County Detective Rafter told reporters that he had found numerous witnesses who were willing to testify under oath that the Knidsu and Ignatz had been having an affair, which had begun in Austria after she married Michael Howrilso and had continued right up until her husband's death.

New Details Emerge at Inquest 

Coroner James Stein held an inquest on Friday evening, July 12, at the borough hall in Dunmore. Although the role of a coroner's jury is solely to determine the cause of death, witnesses who testified disclosed several details which cast doubt on the veracity of Knidsu's story. For instance, the owner of the boardinghouse, Mrs. Annie Rusko, declared that she was the one who had secured the whiskey, at Knidsu's request. During her testimony Mrs. Rusko stated that, after Knidsu had alerted everyone to the fire in her room, she not only failed to return to check on the condition of her still-living husband, but had actually hidden inside Mrs. Rusko's shed while the boarders put out the blaze and, later, under the stairs in the rear of the house.

During the cross-examination of Deputy Constable Edward Jerkowitz by Knidsu's attorney, Morris Moskovitz, the allegation that he had plied Kindra Howstro with whiskey was brought out. Jerkowitz explained that the whiskey was given under a physician's order, as whiskey was a commonly-prescribed treatment for hysteria at the time, and that this was done because Knidsu had several fainting spells while in the district attorney's office. An awkward moment occurred when Moskovitz smugly asked the deputy constable who this doctor was. "Dr. James Stein, the coroner," the witness replied. Knidsu's attorney could only grit his teeth when Coroner Stein, who was presiding over the inquest, vouched for this fact.

At the conclusion of the proceedings, the coroner's jury rendered its verdict, declaring that "Michael Howrsto (sic) came to his death from burns resulting from a lighted lamp dropping from the hands of his wife, Knidsu Howrsto, setting fire to kerosene oil which had been poured over his body."

In September, both Knidsu Howrilso and Igantz Hutro were indicted on murder charges by a Lackawanna County grand jury.

 

The Trial

The Commonwealth's case against Knidsu Howrilso was called during the December session of criminal court. The trial opened on December 3, 1907, with Judge E.C. Newcomb presiding and the prosecution, District Attorney O'Brien and Assistant District Attorney Donohoe, asking for a verdict of murder in the first degree (under state law at the time, the degree of guilt was determined by the judge).
The first witness called for the prosecution was Mrs. Annie Rusko, who related the same testimony she had provided during the inquest. A dramatic moment occurred when her testimony was interrupted by Ignatz Hutro, was was led into the courtroom by a deputy sheriff. After taking his seat, Knidsu stared coldly at him throughout the rest of Mrs. Rusko's testimony.

During cross-examination by Morris Moskovitz, the defense attorney hounded and harassed Mrs. Rusko with asinine questions, at one point even asking her if she thought Michael Howrilso was a handsome man. Finally, the peeved proprietor of the boardinghouse rebuked Moskovitz. "Don't ask such foolish questions. How do I know what he looked like? I have too much work to do at home to sit here all day answering you." Also taking the witness stand that morning were Coroner Stein, Dr. Myles Gibbons and County Detective Rafter.

On December 4, much of the morning was spent arguing over the admissibility, and inadmissibility, of Knidsu's confession. The confession, which was rules admissible, was read in court by Edward Jerkowitz. The highlight of the afternoon session was the testimony of Mrs. Mary Luckes, who lived next door to the boardinghouse. When asked by the prosecution how Knidsu and Ignatz behaved towards each other, Mrs. Luckes replied, "Just the same as if I should jump on your lap and throw my arms around you and kiss you." The fact that she mimed this behavior as she was describing it elicited guffaws of laughter from the gallery.

The defense, perhaps feeling desperate after the Commonwealth closed its case on December 5, chose to spring a jaw-dropping surprise. When the court reconvened in the afternoon, Moskovitz called Knidsu Howrilso to the stand, where she told a remarkable story. On the day of the murder, Ignatz Hutro dropped by the boardinghouse unannounced and raped her after gagging her mouth with a handkerchief and putting a revolver to her head (oddly, she had never mentioned any of these details in the three confessions she had given in the presence of County Detective Rafter and Deputy Constable Jerkowitz). Afterwards, she was so distraught that she begged Hutro to use the revolver to put her out of her misery. At that point, Hutro allegedly said he'd kill both Knidsu and her husband if she didn't murder Michael Howrilso and run away with him. 

A Wife's Wild Story

According to Knidsu, Hutro was hiding behind the bedroom door after Michael had passed out drunk. She claimed that was when Hutro unscrewed the cap and poured the oil over the sleeping man's body before setting him on fire. Hutro, she claimed, ran out the back door while she ran screaming for help, since she and her husband were "very dearly in love". When questioned about the confession, Knidsu claimed that Jerkowitz had warned her that if she didn't take responsibility for the murder, he would see that she was hanged. However, on cross-examination, District Attorney O'Brien succeeded in getting Knidsu to contradict herself multiple times. She could also provide no reason why Jerkowitz, who was a stranger to both Hutro and the Howrilsos, would want to see the teenage housewife on the gallows. 

When asked on cross-examination about her previous relationship with Ignatz Hutro in Poland, Knidsu told a wild story about how Hutro's mother had surreptitiously spiked her drink with an aphrodisiac that "aroused within her an overwhelming passion for Ignatz that increased with time", and it continued working its wonders even after the Howrilsos had left for America. The fact that no medical experts were recalled to the stand by the prosecution to refute the existence of such a marvelous elixir underscores the primitive state of sexual health in 1907; even today's most powerful prescription libido-booster for women, bremelanotide (also known as PT-141), clears completely from the bloodstream within 12 to 24 hours.

The jury most likely wouldn't have been convinced that Knidsu was innocent, and so, on December 6, after a private conference between the district attorney and Morris Moskovitz, she agreed to plead guilty to a charge of second-degree murder and was sentenced to ten years at Eastern Penitentiary. As one Wilkes-Barre newspaper wrote of Mrs. Howrilso's performance: On cross-examination, [she] miserably failed to stick to her testimony. 

She would be pardoned in October of 1912, having served less than five years in prison for burning her unsuspecting husband to a crisp, largely due to the efforts of a Philadelphia women's group who took interest in her case.

Hutro Goes Free

All of Lackawanna County eagerly awaited the trial of Ignatz Hutro, which was to take place in February of 1908, especially after it was announced that Knidsu Howrilso would be testifying as the star witness for the prosecution. Hutro's trial opened on February 10, with Judge Newcomb again presiding. The defendant was represented by attorney C.P. O'Malley.

Yet it was the testimony of Charles Rusko, whose wife operated the boardinghouse, which cemented the case for the defense after he testified that Hutro was never in the house on the night of the murder, as Rusko had a clear view of the door from his storefront on the first floor of the building. On February 11, District Attorney O'Brien, having no evidence to corroborate the testimony of his star witness, who once again contradicted herself numerous times on cross-examination, moved for dismissal and Ignatz Hutro was acquitted.

Locals were outraged by the outcome, and they immediately pinned the blame for the Commonwealth's inability to secure a conviction on Knidsu's attorney, Morris Moskovitz. It was evident that the sleazy lawyer had not only dissuaded his client from telling the truth, but had actively encouraged her to fabricate the story about Hutro being the one who had set fire to the bed. 

The Downfall of Moskovitz

Fate would not be kind to Morris Moskovitz. In June of 1910, he was arrested on two charges of embezzlement and one charge of obtaining money by false pretense. Earlier, Moskovitz had borrowed a large sum of money from a friend, Dr. Henry Halpert, giving Halpert a deed to a property in Dickson City as security. After Moskovitz failed to repay the loan, Halpert did some digging around and discovered that the deed was not only a forgery, but that the property listed on the deed didn't even exist. Soon after, others came forward with similar accusations.

But there were other scams; a West Scranton woman named Sophia Barr claimed to have given Moskovitz a large sum of money to invest for her. While some of this money actually was invested, he couldn't account for several hundred dollars that mysteriously vanished. Several others came forward with identical stories-- Adolph Marcus, Hugh Stone, M. Naegelberg, B. Levy, S. Radin, Max Blume. All told, it is believed that Moskovitz swindled between $30,000 and $50,000 (approximately $1.7 million in today's currency). He was promptly disbarred by the Lackawanna County Bar Association.

Moskovitz was arrested and furnished bail on June 17, 1910, before returning to the Hotel Jermyn in Scranton, where he had been living. He packed up his stolen money and fled to Europe. Authorities tracked him to Belgium, where he was arrested, but the wily Moskovitz was able to avoid extradition by fleeing to Austria, where he had been born. And since the Austro-Hungarian Empire had no extradition treaty with the United States, Moskovitz thought that he had gotten the last laugh-- but he didn't count on the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 28, 1914. This was the event that would plunge the world into a war of unfathomable horror.

How the First World War affected Morris Moskovitz mentally is unknown, but records show that he was drafted into the Austrian army and contracted tuberculosis, and surely the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June of 1919 brought back memories of the scores of creditors awaiting him across the Atlantic. As he could no longer appeal to the crown of Austria-Hungary for protection, as there was no longer an Austria-Hungary, Moskovitz once again took flight, this time to Switzerland, where he committed suicide in September of 1928.

Sources:

The Scranton Truth, July 2, 1907.
Scranton Times, July 3, 1907.
Scranton Republican, July 3, 1907.
The Scranton Truth, July 5, 1907.
The Scranton Truth, July 6, 1907.
The Scranton Truth, July 6, 1907.
The Scranton Truth, July 13, 1907.
The Scranton Truth, Dec. 4, 1907.
Scranton Republican, Dec. 5, 1907.
Scranton Republican, Dec. 6, 1907.
Wilkes-Barre Evening News, Dec. 7, 1907.
The Scranton Truth, Feb. 11, 1908.
Scranton Times-Tribune, June 17, 1910.
The Scranton Truth, June 18, 1910.
Scranton Tribune-Republican, Oct. 17, 1912.
The Scranton Times, Sept. 20, 1928.