120 Years Ago, 1900

B. S. Higley was awarded second place for his garden by the American Agriculturist of New York. The great garden contest was started the year before and nearly 5,000 competitors from across the nation entered their work through written reviews. The awards were given to the gardens that brought forth products and returns, including receipts and expenses. Revenue was one deciding factor, but the garden methods and beauty were also considered. Higley’s garden took up nearly half an acre full of fruit trees, plants and flowers. A large portion of the space was given to onions that produced a considerable revenue. The flowers were mostly sweet peas and dahlias of noteworthy beauty. The vegetables were all of the market standards with a few special varieties known only to private gardens.

100 Years Ago, 1920

Two murders kept Youngstown police active on a busy Sunday night. The first murder occurred shortly after 6 p.m. in which Antonio Vernucci, 39, a cashier at a bank, was shot to death in one of the most deliberate and well-planned murders ever committed in the area. It was the outcome of a “fake whiskey deal.” Just two days before, two men went to a saloon and offered to sell the proprietor, Tony Baselo, 20 cases of whiskey at a price of $110 a case. Baselo informed them that he was not in the market for any whiskey as he had stopped carrying it with the advent of prohibition. The men asked if he knew of anyone else who might be interested and Baselo mentioned that Vernucci had expressed a willingness to purchase spirits. Arrangements were made to have Vernucci meet the salesmen at Baselo’s saloon on Sunday night.

Vernucci agreed to purchase the goods at the set price provided that the whiskey was of good quality. He made arrangements to have the goods transported with various parties accompanying a few trucks. The first truck, with Vernucci and one of the salesmen, pulled into a driveway on Logan Road where the whiskey was purportedly stored. As the truck came to a stop, the salesman told the driver, Antonio Pololli, to put his hands up as he pointed a gun straight into Pololli’s face. Vernucci, who was in the back of the truck, heard the commotion and jumped down to the road. He was immediately shot by the other salesman in a second truck. The sound of the gunshots caused Pololli’s captor to lose focus, giving Pololli a chance to jump from the truck and run into the woods nearby. A man drove past the scene about five minutes after the shooting and saw Vernucci lying in the road, but everyone else had fled. He hurried to a telephone and called the police.

All involved were Italian, except the two bandits, who spoke very little English. The language barrier proved difficult for the police who eventually found an Italian-speaking officer who took over the investigation. The interviews took only a few hours and both bandits were identified but not apprehended as the culprits took off on a train heading toward Cleveland. The Cleveland police were notified.

The evening’s second murder came after an altercation over a gambling argument and debt.

50 Years Ago, 1970

A crude oil leak upstream from Liberty Lake caused quite a commotion in Vienna. The leak was set afire to keep it from polluting the lake, which served as a source of drinking water for several local communities.

The leak was spotted by an air patrol and immediately fixed, but the oil spill had already done its damage. The crew of Buckeye Pipeline Company, which owns the lake, notified area residents and fire departments of its plans to burn the oil, a common tactic to prevent spills from running into streams and lakes. Several crews worked to control the blaze for about three hours using logs and brush to dam the oil and setting backfires to keep it from spreading into nearby pools.

Compiled from the archives of the Youngstown Vindicator by Traci Manning, MVHS Curator of Education