Albert Mirzwienski

Albert Mirzwienski (his name is spelled in a multitude of ways- this is the family spelling on Ancestry.com) was found via the Hartford Courant in an article entitled, “Elmwood Man Held Without Bail for Killing Workman”.  

On July 7, 1915, Albert Mirzwienski went to work at the Whitlock Coil Pipe Company just as he had each workday for twelve years.  Unfortunately, an ongoing quarrel with a former friend, John Maruszak, would come to a head that afternoon and Albert would be dead within hours.

The article dated July 9, 1915 tells of Maruszak’s confession “which is in Polish” and the details of which were “not given out”. Apparently, the men were good friends until about 1912, even sharing a two-family home on New Britain Avenue. A witness to an event years before said that, “there had been quarreling over chickens”.  Maruszak and his family had moved to South Street several months before Albert's death. The details that are given state that on the 7th of July, Mirzwienski told  a coworker that Maruszak was “a devil”. An altercation took place, which witnesses could not make out completely, and Maruszak ended by hitting Mirzwienski with a club.

Maruszak went back to work, and paid no notice to Mirzwienski , who was barely conscious on the floor. Other workers brought the injured man to a floor office, then to a local hospital.  Mirzwienski died after an operation to stop the bleeding and swelling in his brain.  Maruszak was arrested that evening. He was first charged with assault, but the charge was changed to manslaughter after Mirzwienski died.

These are the basic facts laid out by the Courant. An article in the Hartford Times offers similar information.   There is no mention of Mirzwienski wife’s name, just that he was married and left her with four children. No subsequent articles could be found about Maruszak’s trial, or what happened to their families after the attack.  The court records from the trial, found in the State Library, stated very little. Maruszak was found “not guilty” of manslaughter and was given a fine of $100.  This could have been up to two months worth of wages.

It seems that both men were immigrants, and very little is known about either of them other than what was found in the Courant.  I was unable to find records of them or their families arriving at Ellis Island, no census records, and no death records and/or obituaries for either of them.

Mary Bissell Estey Part 2

Apparently, I needed a break from Mary! So here were are at Mary Bissell Estey Part 2!

And now, the exciting conclusion... ;)

Elias Ives came around the corner of the house and shot John right in the chest. Mary heard the shot and thought McGuire had fired at the house. She screamed and ran downstairs into the dining room. In the dining room, Mrs. Sedgwick cried out that John was shot. Mary spoke to Ives, saying, “‘What is the matter?’ to which he replied, “I’ve shot him”. Mary said, “If he ain’t dead he’ll be to and kill all of us”. Ives walked over to the corpse carrying his pistol, in case John was"playing opossum”.  According to a newspaper article about the trial, “[The body] was about two feet from the gate, inside the yard; [it] lay out on the back; the limbs were somewhat drawn up; the hands lay by the side”.

After making sure John was dead, Ives ran to the local constable's house and brought him back to the farmhouse. Ives was arrested for the murder of John McGuire and brought to the Hartford County Jail.

The next morning, while West Hartford’s residents amassed at the schoolhouse, Mary, Ives, Parsons, and Hartford detective Cowles traveled to Hartford in search of attorney S.F. Jones. As Jones was unavailable until Monday, the group returned to the Bissell farm, where Ives prepared to spend the weekend in jail. When Mary found that he would not be staying at the house, she said, "What, going to jail?" she exclaimed; "You've done nothing," and began to weep”.

At this point, Mary seems to have been hysterical, giving Ives “a bag of doughnuts and a pint of gin” and asking him if he wanted strawberries for tea, while becoming increasingly confused as to the sequence of the evening’s events. A newspaper reporter was in attendance at the house that morning, and quoted Mary as saying that she, “said it was a wonder that she was not crazy, she had gone through so much trouble”.

Elias N. Ives arrest warrant, June 12, 1877.

Ives went through three separate trials, one to decide whether he should be charged with murder in the first degree, one for murder in the first degree, and one for manslaughter. He was found not guilty of all charges. 

Mary went on to live a long life after the events of 1877. The story of her second husband will be the subject of an upcoming post.

If you're interested in learning more about this particular story, it just happens that I was so obsessed that I wrote my Master's thesis on Mary. Click here to read more.

James Wallace Pine, Poet

Partially reprinted from an article I wrote for The Spectator, the Noah Webster House's member newsletter in 2009.

Oh, summer, how lovely,

The forest so green,

Does wave in wild splendor

Wherever it’s seen.

Though autumn’s harsh breeze

Of it’s beauty has slain,

Sweet summer has come

And restored it again.

When farewell I shall say

To this splendid scene,

The forest all clad

In its foliage so green;

When my labors shall cease

And at rest I am laid,

Let me lie in the forest,

That beautiful shade.

From “Sweet Forest Shade”

Written in 1906 by James Pine

Connecticut Poet James Wallace Pine was born in Danbury, CT in 1839. When he died in West Hartford in 1907, the Hartford Courant noted that he was, “one of the best known colored men hereabouts.” Pine’s fame came from his involvement in the community and from his two published works- “The Pilgrim’s Hope; and Other Poems” and “Shadows of the Evergreen, or Poems for the Gay and Merry, and for the Lonely and Desponding”. “The Pilgrim’s Hope” is available at the Connecticut Historical Society, as well as on Google Books. It is unknown as to whether any copies of “Shadows of the Evergreen” exist today.

While he lived in Danbury, Pine was licensed to preach (but was not ordained) and acted as a substitute preacher in Danbury, as well as in surrounding towns. After moving to West Hartford, he became well known as the public gravedigger and was sexton (“a church officer or employee who takes care of the church property and performs related minor duties”) for a brief time. He was also the Selectman of Public Cemeteries during a period after January 1903. 

According to the Hartford Courant, Pine’s “one great hope” was that he should be able to own his own home before he died. In an article dated May 19, 1903, a statement reads, “work resumed upon Rev. James W. Pine’s house on Fern St”. Apparently, a Mr. F.C. Benedict had given Pine the piece of property in 1901. He was able to realize his dream just before he died, “through the interest of his friends”. The property was known as Lot 105 on the south side of Fern Street in West Hartford Heights.

Pine's property is outlined in red. The current home there was built in 1939. Geneva Avenue is and was known as Arundel Avenue.

James Pine passed away on Tuesday, June 11, 1907. When he died, he left his wife, Hannah, and six grown children.