Killing the Poormaster
A Saga of Poverty, Corruption, and Murder in the Great Depression
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- $20.99
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
Reflecting on a sensational murder trial from the late 1930s, this chronicle focuses upon the death of Harry Barck, a poormaster who was granted the authority to decide who would and would not receive public aid in Hoboken, New Jersey. Unemployed mason Joe Scutellaro was said to have stabbed Barck in the heart with a paper spike after the poormaster suggested that Scutellaro's wife prostitute herself on the streets rather than ask the city for aid. A legal team led by celebrated defender Samuel S. Leibowitz of "Scottsboro Boys" fame swooped into Hoboken from Manhattan to save Scutellaro from the electric chair, arguing that the jobless man's struggle with the poormaster was a symbol of larger social ills. The book details Leibowitz's transformation of the Scutellaro trial into an indictment of public relief as a tool for imposing social and political control nationwide. Grappling with issues that are still vital now—massive unemployment, endemic poverty, and the inadequacy of public assistance—this examination lends insight into the current social contract, relaying a gripping narrative that shockingly reads like today's news.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Despised as a miser, Hoboken, N.J., poormaster Harry Barck responsible for doling out relief to the poor died on February 25, 1938, after an altercation with Joseph Scutellaro, one of the city's many unemployed citizens. Barck was known for turning away starving families, assuming the men were too lazy to find jobs. President Roosevelt's relief program, the Works Progress Administration, did little to ease the situation, as the unemployed far outnumbered available jobs. Complicating matters was the deep-seated corruption of both City Hall and the police department, which kept anyone outside the inner circle from finding work. Scutellaro who'd repeatedly applied for aid and received a paltry a month to feed a family of four claimed the poormaster fell on a sharp desk spindle and died, but he was still charged with murder. Journalist Metz recounts Scutellaro's trial represented by famed Scottsboro Boys attorney Sam Leibowitz and paints a sad picture of the lives of the poor in Depression-era Hoboken. Metz also focuses on Herman Matson, whose efforts to organize Hoboken aid seekers met with mixed success. While Metz's well-rounded historical portrait possesses a genuine human center, she fails to whittle down her wealth of interesting material into a streamlined narrative. Photos, map.
