Local history. Kelayres is a small (population around 500 in 1934 when the incident took place; still not much bigger) anthracite mining town in central east Pennsylvania; the nearest larger towns are Scranton to the northeast and Allentown to the southeast. The town was controlled by the Republican political boss, Joseph “Big Joe” Bruno. Bruno or family members controlled the justice of the peace, the school board (he financed the local school and got it named after him), the county police, the bank, the gas station, the auto repair shop, and tax collection; they also ran slot machines, the local brothel, and had run bootlegging before Prohibition repeal; they continued to run “coal bootlegging” – stealing coal from mine piles where it was waiting for shipment. They were far and away the wealthiest family in town; Joseph Bruno’s house was twice as valuable as the next largest in the township. However, things changed with the 1934 off-year elections, when Democrats swept all the state offices. On election night, November 5th 1934, the exultant Democrats decided to stage a torchlight parade – right past the Bruno mansion. As the parade passed, somebody opened fire (at the trial the Brunos claimed it was one of the Democrat marchers, but witnesses said it was one of the Bruno family and many more quickly joined in, firing from the mansion windows). The firing was so rapid it was reported to police as “machine gun fire”. When it stopped, there were three dead on the street; two more died in then next few days. Police entered the Bruno home and found three rifles, three shotguns, and six pistols; more weapons were found nearby in Bruno family homes and apartments.

Although the Brunos claimed they had armed themselves because the family had received death threats (which is possible; the Democrats were not led by grass-roots concerned citizens but by another local family trying to get a share of the pot) the jury thought otherwise and Bruno family members were sentenced to terms varying from life to six years. So far, so good. Joseph Bruno was held in the Schuylkill County Jail in Pottsville, where he apparently quickly made friends with the warden and guards; these allowed him unsupervised visits from friends and family members. On December 18, 1936 – the day before he was scheduled to be transferred to the Eastern State Penitentiary - a guard took Joe to a dentist in Pottsville to repair bridgework. The guard seemingly didn’t consider it remarkable that Joe was wearing civilian clothing rather than a prison uniform. Because there was nowhere to park, the guard dropped Joe off outside the dentist office and drove away to find a spot. He came back hours later and was apparently shocked to find that Joe was not waiting to be picked up. He then drove around town for five more hours looking for Joe before finally calling the warden. Joe was eventually recaptured eight months later in Manhattan and returned to prison. He was paroled in January, 1948, after having served the longest sentence of any of the Kelayres murderers, and died of heart failure in 1951.

Kelayres is something of a pilgrimage site for murder aficionados; there are still houses with bullet holes in the brickwork and Bruno’s house is still there. (However, “Brunos School” has been changed to “Kelayres School”).

Author Stephanie Hoover has written a nicely readable account of local history. There’s an anachronism; she twice mentions local ladies wearing “nylons” even though these were first sold in 1939. There’s also a little confusion about firearms terminology, she described one weapon recovered at the scene as a “12-gauge Winchester pump rifle”; that’s a shotgun, not a rifle. One bit of firearms trivia that intrigued me is police recovered numerous rounds of “.351” ammunition; that was quite an unusual caliber, only fitting the Model 1907 Winchester semiautomatic rifle. This weapon was heavily marketed to police and military, and could be outfitted with 5, 10, or 15 round magazines; perhaps Bruno obtained one though his police department connections. That would make the Kelayres massacre one of the first mass shootings with a high-capacity semiautomatic rifle.

Lots of photographs, including the various Bruno family members, some of the victims, and scenes around Kelayres. No foot- or endnotes, but there is a bibliography. ( )