A Horrifying Robbery and Murder of Shop keeper and 2 customers just over the state line over 40 years ago goes unsolved.

East Liverpool  was once a bustling town along the Ohio River  just across the Pa. State line and the thinnest section of the W.Va. panhandle as its known at Chester where you can see the worlds largest tea pot
Located along US 30 the town was once considered the china and pottery capital of the world  I  Remember riding thru East Liverpool on Sunday drives my dad would take our family on and passing all the china  outlet shops of the E. Liverpool Factory's  including ones  located along US 30  in Imperial  Pa.  such as Scio China near Pittsburgh which unfortunately burned to the ground couple decades back.
But it too became a victim of the rust belt when the steel mills went down not needing all the ceramics used in industrial  steel process and cheap foreign imports only a couple factory's now exist in the whole valley .
Still a beautiful old town to ride thru where you can still see some of the industrial kilns and tour a pottery museum it was also the scene of a most horrific robbery murder of a shop keeper and his  2 customers in. 1973

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2011/01/03/Documentary-details-Ohio-cold-case-from-1973/stories/201101030181

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19730804&id=8koNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Dm0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3621,499351

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19730731&id=rOtVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2EANAAAAIBAJ&pg=6249,4225070

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19730801&id=3-sjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nFQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7339,23555

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19730802&id=4OsjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nFQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5554,420204

I was just old enough to be entering high school when it happened and remember  hearing about it on evening news.

It was a hot day when the robber or robbers came into used furniture-antique store of elderly  Earl Tweed and during the robbery  2 possible customer's who walked in on it where also killed a pregnant 22 yr old Linda Morris and her 4 yr old daughter Angela  in a most horrific beating and stabbing .

Just blocks from local police station. 

The robbery and murder was like none before and drugs and junkies where not yet at the point of proliferating in the Ohio valley  and crimes where small in the town. 

With US 30 just 2 blocks away  it could have been a transient and the Lady walking in with her daughter just complicated matters  during the robbery and beating or it could have been some one local but for as violent as this murder was you think some one would have heard or saw something with the murders happening around what is beloved to be the noon hour.You think some one would have heard a scream.

One angle I do not know if police looked into was fact Mr. Tweed  had rental property's was it some disgruntled renter or was it some one who came to inquire about a rental and instead decided to go for the money they possibly saw?

1973 was also the time when Debbie Makel was killed in a most horrific fashion in Rices landing Pa.  as well any link. Was this a serial killer on the prowl? 

Some day hopefully we will know thru DNA but I am afraid once again the killer will have long been dead or too old to truly prosecute. 

It appears from Google Earth the ramshackle shop no longer exists US 30 is to the left

A body found in Pieces all over Allegheny County and a Murder Mystery still unsolved since 1988

Like something out of a Edgar Allen Poe Novel as a head is found in a dumpster  in North Versailles  and what appears to be a lung in a garbage bag in North Braddock  and other body parts are found all around Allegheny county in the winter of 1988 and into  the spring of 1989   A most heinous of murders which played out almost everyday as the search for more body parts went on .
The victim it was determined was Anthony Michalowski

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19890403&id=4-UNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_W0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5377,269736

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19890105&id=sJ5RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2G0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6636,751720

 A young man with a history of drug use  and living on the street  and getting into trouble by himself or with his brothers and who was last seen on Christmas eve  at his family home asking for $3.00 which he promised to repay.

The coroner at the time Joshia Perper determined that Anthony had a high amount of drugs in his system and was probably unconscious when decapitated. 

But who he aggravated to the point they would do this to his body has never been determined .

Add onto the family's misery that they would loose another son Richard  to a suicide  which he committed  after he was arrested and lodged in the county jail. that summer 

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19890627&id=ROlRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zm4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6743,8167299

There was even speculation he may have been a victum of the infamous Jeffery Dahmer which was a hot subject at the time.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19910726&id=_hwhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5mMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1116,4035513

Which proved to be false but Dahmer did live in Penn Hills as one time.

There was also speculation the killing was so horrific it was a message being sent to junkies your next if you do not pay up but there also appeared to be nothing to it as well.

The horrific killing and mutilation has gone cold  with no further leads and luckily there has not been another such case since then.

Was it a drug dealer so pissed it was a message?
was it a serial killer ?
Was it of a satanic ritual?
Was it some one local or from another city who did the deed? we will probably never know unless DNA was lifted and a future match is made.

New Castle and Lawrence County an area of many unsolved Murders and Arson's

Located along US-422 in the central section of Western pa. is located Lawrence county and its City of New Castle both with a long history of unsolved Murders back to 1800's  and Crimes which includes a current Arson Fire Spree .
New Castle was primarily a Railroad  connecting town with several railroads having junctions there including the famous Nickel Plate Road  and a heavy industrial manufacturing base which suffered like the rest of Pa when big steel went down.
I have spent a good deal of time around Newcastle when I was a kid being involved with collecting minerals and attending the mineral shows at the magnificent Scottish Rite Masonic Hall on the hill  and currently service customers in the town which suffered greatly and is now rebuilding and looking good.
However there are those determined to ruin it with a constant string of arson fires despite numerous arrests and convictions.

One of the oldest  unsolved criminal cases goes back to the late 1800's where a New Castle City Treasurer was killed during a robbery of the treasurers office  one criminal admitted to it but was discounted .

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F60711FA3E5913738DDDA00894D9405B8985F0D3

http://www.lawrencecountymemoirs.com/lcmpages/744/murder-swamp-taylor-twnp-pa

It is also believed that a Cleveland Ohio Serial killer known as the Torso Killer may have dumped victims in a swamp in Lawrence county with it only being a 2-3 hour ride away.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19040109&id=eswiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DnMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2748,745854

While others say it was a totally different killer

When I was a member of the New Castle Mineral Club we held a yearly show open to the public at the big mason lodge and I would often stay over night as part of the security for it and to save driving back and forth from Pittsburgh aprox. 2 hr drive and we often had a New Castle Police officer they would hire especially when we hosted the national mineral show in 1976 and had a piece of the moon rock on display. Got to know several of them best guys you would ever want to meet and we often talked about the community and they said there job was for the most part dealing with locals who caused crimes very few strangers from outside the area caused problems as most people just bypass the town on US  422 bypass   Which is why some murders more than likely went unsolved  as there was no trail as they where done by outsiders . But this was
before the industrial base was destroyed in Lawrence county  it was mostly  Bar fights, bookies and gambling and domestic disputes with an occasional rare  murder.  But as industry went down and jobs where lost drugs came in and section 8 housing proliferated  New Castle became a battle zone. With constant series of Arson Fires , shootings and stabbings.Most of it due to drug activity with I-79 a well known drug Corridor which runs near the community .
While they have worked hard to keep the town from falling apart and keep crime low I feel perfectly safe working in town  and you know what areas to avoid like many city's  it is a constant battle in the town and I wish them the best in continuing to make the town shine like it once did.
The officers and officials of New Castle and ts surrounding Lawrence County are to be commended for their hard efforts in making Lawrence County a great tourist destination. 

Shawnee Chief's Corn Stalks Curse is it responsible for so many tragic Fires, Accidents , Deaths and Disappearances in the Tri State area ?

With all the things that have happened to me over the years  people often ask have you been cursed ?
My reply no I am still here and managed to survive whats happened  by Gods will and it was his will I went thru what I did to make me ready for when the Stage IV Colon Cancer came and be ready to battle it.

My 6th Great Uncle was a Indian Missionary John Heakewelder  and negotiated with many of the Indian Tribes  for the US Government  so if one of them is mad and put a curse on the family  for being double crossed because my Great uncle negotiated with them and you wanted to say yes this is why all the things that have happened in my life have happened so be it. But there are many family members who have not had any such issues. So to say its a curse is nonsense.

http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-22B

Well the same question you may ask of the Tri State area of Pa. OH. and W.Va.
As many times when a tragedy happens they are quick to point to Chief Corn Stalk  and the Moth Man.
Yes really the Moth Man seems he shows up before a tragedy happens.
I can tell you this there are many creepy and scary places all over the tri state and there have been many Tragedy's  to numerous to even list  .  Is it a chiefs curse  the moth man or just human nature ?

Well first lets look at the Curse put on the area by the leader of the Shawnee Nation Chief Corn Stalk

"May the curse of the Great Spirit rest upon this land. May it be blighted by nature. May it even be blighted in its hopes. May the strength of its peoples be paralyzed by the stain of our blood.”

This was Chief Corn Stalks  parting words as he lay dying after being double crossed by the white man.
The whole story of which can be read in the  link below
http://www.prairieghosts.com/cornstalk.html

As far as all the tragedy's that have befallen those who live in the Tri- State for the most part it was because of mans own undoing.
When you look at the Matwain Coal Mining strike and massacre  when you look at the Hatfield s and Mcoy's Incident  or the Point Pleasant bridge collapse  its all mans own doing.

They talk about the Seven Deadly Sins and when you look into each and every disaster  one or more of them are a factor . Not a chiefs curse but mans own hand causing it. Which is what the Chief loosely said would happen when you read his words
Mans own Greed , Arrogance,Ignorance ,Pride  Stupidity and Uncaring selves.
But of course that does not explain all the strange things which have happened in the area which some seem almost supernatural so maybe there is something with a curse.
But trying to scientifically prove it that's another issue all together.

Better we allow Chief Cornstalk to rest in Peace and give the native Americans the respect the deserve than
fool with mother nature and gods laws but some how we never learn and pay the consequences.
Just like the chief said .

Fayette County State Troopers call it Fayettenam ! For a reason for all its violence . But did you know there is also treasure hiding there?

Fayette County  Known by Locals as Fayette Nam   has a long history of Violence, Murder, Arson ,explosions   Labor Disturbances , Mine and railroad disasters , Floods   and Mystery's

http://www.heraldstandard.com/law_and_order/cold_cases/

 Dubbed Fayette Nam By newly commissioned  Pa. State Troopers who work in the county as a break in for there eventual permanent duty posts  Fayette county is the perfect training ground for fresh troopers  which is mostly  rural  has few local police and has the highest rate of  Unemployment and Poverty in the State its no wonder it is in the evening news almost constantly.

With its rolling mountains and deep hidden valleys  there is plenty of story's and lore about the area.

One of the  things Locals warn you about are the Inbreeds and Mountain People who live in the more remote sections of the county.
You only need to go shopping in Connelsville  at Pechins Village  along US 119 on certain nights and see the characters there shopping when they come down out of the mountains . There is nothing you have seen on Face Book or Realty TV even comes close , having experienced the mountain people and inbreeds myself  while working in more remote areas of the county.

http://www.pechin.com/

But even with all the bad there is so much good to see and do there if your careful and mind your manners.

One persistent rumor that has always been it seems in the county is hidden treasure of 16 tons of gold and silver bars and coins  which was plundered  from troops escorting payrolls during Civil war  or stolen by Highway bandits and hidden away in caves  waiting to be discovered. It is even suggested a chest of treasure was left behind by British troops who where attacked in Braddock and left it along the trail some where in hasty retreat back to Maryland

http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Get-The-Paranormal-Report/596778

There is even the strange case of a relic which seems to be from middle east even being found in one such cave.

http://paoddities.blogspot.com/2013/05/was-queen-of-babylon-buried-in-fayette.html

If I was going to hide treasure or a body if I was a mob member Fayette county would be the place to do it with all its abandoned coal mines with deep shafts and deep hidden ravines and cutbacks you could easily hide something right in plain sight yet not be seen.
There was even rumors of a small silver mine up near Laurel caverns along US 40 in late 1800's

But the real treasures are the beautiful mountains and streams and water falls  which can be found on just about any back  road you take off of US 119 .

So if you go looking for treasure mind your manners and enjoy the day and just be aware of your surroundings .

Volunteer Firefighters and Arson the Deep Dark Secrets of the Thin Red Line

While one of the most horrific Arson Streaks by a firefighter  period was by a paid professional Fire Officer John Orr who is in prison  for life . It is rare a professional fire fighter is charged with arson.
On the other hand the Volunteer side sees 50 times the numbers of professionals who get convicted of arson.
The problem Volunteer depts do not have the resources and the rules to become a firefighter like paid company's and open their doors to all willing to help.
With this in mind you would think volunteer depts would do more to discourage such practice and look for signs of it but they do not . In fact there have been cases in PA where Convicted Arsonists  have served as Chief officers in PA. depts.
 It happened in  Braddock where an officer who was convicted of torching a grocery wholesaler was still serving despite the arson conviction.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=20010413&id=-ehRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bnADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4895,1031639

 At Penn Hills Station 224# Point Breeze  where I once volunteered I left in complete and total disgust by what I saw going on by so called brothers.

 In fact  Firefighters at Penn hills  224#  and 223#
where suspected in helping   with arson in a string of barn fires in Plum Boro in the 80's and 3 Plum Boro fire fighters ended up charged  and another was sent thru ARD program for a  small fire at a Penn hills school  restroom and another time a chief got suspended after he allowed a friend in fire hall and he shows them video of fire he started and recorded on a VHS tape .

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19890728&id=SXQcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xGMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3305,6463781

http://www.hoopieworld.com/incidentsum/2007/031107_plum.htm

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19821215&id=s4JIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nG0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3972,3696992

So What drives these firefighters to do it.

Boredom seems to be one of the big things firefighters not having the big fire breathing dragon to fight get easily bored especially young firefighters who then decide to start some activity .It starts with small fires and leads to bigger and bigger fires or firefighters getting injured as was the case in Penn hills when Firefighters where caught pulling a fellow firefighter by inner tube around a Penn Hills park and would get injured

http://news.google.com/newspapers?

nid=1129&dat=19950316&id=qddRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bW4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6473,294911

Then there was the Ex firefighter thought to be behind false fire alarm tones being set off in Penn Hills  as well

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19960229&id=Xi8xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g28DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4549,7612372

Unfortunately Penn Hills has become the Laughing stock and butt of jokes in the tri state  for all its antics.
 Which never seem to stop.

Thankfully the Pa. Association of Arson Investigators which I belong  to and have taught electrical causes of fire classes , has started a" Hero's to Zeroes "
to help combat firefighters who get the itch to start fires .
But arson is just the tip of Firefighters and their behavior.

Theft of funds , Intimidation and threats to members ,being drunk on duty
Deliberately damaging property and hurting fellow firefighters, racism yes it all goes on and is too many time
it is condoned and not discussed and swept under the carpet .

 I will never forget as a kid when on the way home from my grandparents my dad spotted red flashing lights on an adjoining hill and took us to see the fire and one of the depts from Carnegie area showed up and firefighters where so drunk they fell of a ladder and got hurt trying to climb it.

When on a drill one night in a truck yard off Plum Street 224# firefighters loaded up and took several sections of large green  plastic sewer lines with them and shoved them in the squad  from  work being done in the truck yard ,because a fellow firefighter wanted to use them at his cabin to improve roadway into it.

They will all deny it but I was there and they where there and they know what went on.

or take the time before small fireworks became legal in Pa. at the time Pennsylvania had some of the strongest restrictions when it came to possession and setting of of fire works.
That did not stop Penn Hills Station 226# in one of there vehicles after being at a fireman parade from taking the vehicle and in there uniforms driving over the Ohio state line buying illegal fire works bringing them back and when confronted by a reporter from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review Reporter about the illegal fire works blowing it off by saying its no problems we know the local cops.

Just like always sweep it under the rug. a furious Penn hills council did nothing but give lip service.

Then there was the case of a drunk fire chief wrecking a fire truck in Indianola Pa.  but in that case the dept was dissolved after not correcting problems as was a dept in Fix Chapel who would not follow rules but that the exception not the rule when it comes to misbehaving firefighters .


I was also the exception when I filed a discrimination complaint against Penn Hills 224#  and several other firefighters have done the same with other depts to try and get the dark side which goes on with in depts. stopped.
This is why you will see so many firefighters belong to 3 or more depts over their fire career as they hop from dept to dept to try and find one where they fit in and work as professionals not clowns looking to slay the dragon and be heroes.

Sea Planes flying around Pittsburgh in 60's ? Yes they where here .

Pittsburgh has 3 rivers the largest inland port in the US  so to see all kinds of river touring craft would not be unexpected like the Gateway Clipper Fleet and the WWII Duck Boats. Trucks which float and take tourists around the rivers to see the Locks & Dams etc. You can even charter a helicopter
But at one time in early 60's you could get on a Sea Plane and tour the city as well.Sea planes? you think of them more for use on lakes but
located on whats now called the North Shore  a small fleet of Sea Planes operated for several decades near Brunot Island & Manchester. using the Ohio River for take offs and landings and the base was  located on the Allegheny River  near sixth street bridge .
 The service was started in 1940s  by William Graham  who also ran the  Pittsburgh / Butler  Airport at the time .

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19400512&id=jnIbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UkwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6050,1185619

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19470606&id=NfdPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IVUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5020,6735858

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19390820&id=CfUaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SkwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3471,1228614

I can not find a reason why the service was stopped had it gone bankrupt or was river land needed for development  or if owner had passed away and business not continued. But as a kid I remember standing on Mt Washington and seeing the planes take off and land on the Ohio in the early 60's .
There was also a sea plane base which operated near the Mckeesport -Dravosburg area as well up till late 60's  as well. 

2 mckeesport business owners shot dead in their business in past 4 years and no answers

 The city of Mckeesport is a town which went from a Steel making boom in late 70's to bust by the 80's tens of  thousands of steel making jobs lost which caused a mass exodus of people and where now up to 50% of the structures in the town are considered abandoned. and crime is rampant. But despite conditions there are business owners who still believed  in Mckeesport trying to make it a better place and ultimately paid with their lives for it.
 the first business owner to loose his life a small grocery store owner Aldo Scalfari  an Immigrant from Italy kept his store open in the evening despite his family's pleas not to.   He would  be shot dead in his store late one night trying to help who he thought was a customer in January of 2010 a very grainy poor video camera caught some of the action of Mr. Scalfari being shot and killed and his killer is still unknown to this day.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/east/2010/01/26/McKeesport-corner-store-owner-shot-and-killed/stories/201001260261

The second business owner Voltaire "Volt" Meade  the owner of Meade  Brothers Trucking who would help fix peoples vehicles  give them jobs etc was killed when 2 unknown men came in and opened fire on June 23 2012.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/2012/06/23/Businessman-killed-employee-critically-injured-in-McKeesport-shooting/stories/201206230150

In both cases no leads as to who the perpetrators are and a community that will not cooperate despite how these 2 men helped to make their neighborhoods a better place.
 crimes which will probably never be solved because people who where being helped could care less what happened. what a dam shame. 

There actually is a Spooky Hollow Road in lower Burrell But why do they call it that?

I thought my eyes where playing tricks first time I saw the road sign Spooky Hollow Road off of Pa 56 in Lower Burrell Twp  Westmoreland  county thought at first they where doing it for Halloween but after several years its still there and roads name has never changed .

The curious thing I can find nothing about how the road got its name no ghost tales on some website etc .
so some day i hope to go up it and see why the name which looks like a long windy road.

A Horrifying Murder of Older woman in Arnold goes unsolved over 20+ years

 When I worked at Holmes Protection back in 1980 a job I detested when I saw how they treated their clients and eventually left I would work occasionally with another guy who started around same time I did  Willie Weber  a really good guy to work with he was only at Holmes a month or so when he quit and at the time said he was going to try and Join a police force. I never heard from him again till I was watching the news last year and they mentioned the name Chief Weber I look over at the TV and sure enough it Was Willie he not only had become a Police Officer but was now chief of Police for City of Arnold Pa. which is next to City of New Kensington.
What a great thing for Willie to have made chief.
But along his way to chief he was also a patrolmen and one of the first to respond to a horrific murder of a older woman  in her  Arnold home.
A son came home to find his Mother Stephanie Coyle 74  brutally beaten and mutilated and laying in a pool of blood.
It was a shocking crime even for an area which has seen its share of crime and decline when the mill jobs went away that  hot July 16th 1993 day.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/case-arnold-mother-brutally-stabbed-death-20-years/nYqzj/

http://www.wtae.com/news/local/westmoreland/1993-Arnold-slaying-still-unsolved/7749676#!Xoy02

https://www.crimewatchpa.com/crimestoppers/316/cases/homicide-stephanie-coyle-unknown-suspects-arnold-westmoreland-county-pennsylvania

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/target-11-reopens-case-file-of-unsolved-murder/nD3Fz/

Despite posters everywhere a large reward and plenty of news coverage not one thing has been learned as to who the killer or killers where.  Many believe it was a Junky looking for money or prescription pills for a fix 

but few details on the crime have been released .

If it was a junky chance are there already dead and the family will never have the satisfaction of seeing justice in the case. But to at least be able to know who and how may  bring some closure in a horrific case. 

Almost 3 years and no trace of Ross twp mother who disapaeared into thin air.

Going on 3 years ago young children come home in Ross Twp to find their  mother gone .
 Jamie Patterson 30
Had left behind her purse and Phone  just vanished in a quit  middle class neighborhood .September 26 2011  no note and no trace and no one heard or saw anything.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2012/09/26/police-family-still-hoping-missing-ross-twp-woman-will-be-found/

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/08/12/search-resumes-for-missing-ross-twp-woman/

Just another in a series of mysterious disappearances in our area including 2 men  one from Penn Hills and another from Armstrong County . In our area in last 3 years .

Where they abducted by a Serial Killer ?  Did they commit Suicide?  Did they just want to disappear and start new lives?

If that's the case why would Jamie leave behind  2 beautiful children who need her ?

 This and the other cases have investigators baffled as they try to painstakingly retrace each and every last step and interview everyone who might have had contact with them. 

Hopefully they will all come home some day. 

They called him " Morrie the Match " the Jew who could make Concrete Burn

Arson also called " Jewish Lightning " as a slur against Jewish Business owners who would arrange to have their Business burn to collect the insurance.
Call it what you will but it is a Serious Felony  Criminal Offense .
Which Costs insurance company's millions ,costs hundreds of innocent lives and ultimately takes money out of the pocket of everyone who pays insurance premiums.

Pittsburgh has had the reputation for being the Arson Capital of the world more than once over the years just the shear number of fires which happen in this region is mind boggling. I can ride around Ohio and West Virginia with the Fire Scanner on not hear one fire call yet as soon as I cross into Western Pa the scanner is non stop with 3 or more fires going at once some days
Over the years many arsonists have been caught but still the successful prosecution  of arson fires is dreadfully low.
Some arsonists where home brew others like  Merrill  "Morrie " Klein  have been brought in from out of state to do jobs.

ttp://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=1976030h7&id=WPEjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PlcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6803,1184631

One arsonist from Cleveland use to bring  a newspaper from Cleveland with him and set fires and was eventually caught by way he set fires with  his Cleveland Newspaper.He was finally caught in the 80's  after setting a string of fires in the Mexican War Streets area of Pittsburgh  where people where buying the old houses start doing repairs and dummy everything up then arrange to have them burn and collect on the insurance.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19771109&id=HtAyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AO4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1020,5018183

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19770212&id=2nIqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IFcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3164,3091134

One story I heard about Morrie but have not been able to confirm is he destroyed a factory in Butler County by taking the water out of the sprinkler system and replacing it with gasoline then turning  the water on behind the gasoline. He then started a  fire and sprinklers went off spread the fire even further and then when water did finally come out of pipe it was too late. Morrie is a very old man now almost 90 if he still is around the area which I doubt as he was more than likely given a new identity and town to live in  for being a stool pigeon .
How many fires he actually committed we will never know unless he comes out with a book  which I am surprised he never did.

When it came to investigating fires years back it was often thru the use of junk science  and unproved theory's and arsonists defense attorneys where smart in getting there clients off because they knew the science behind catching arsonists was not yet properly developed.
Unless you had finger prints or other solid evidence to get convictions  it was hard to bring Charges and Insurance company's just paid off  VS a court fight and District Attorneys not wanting to look bad  losing a case  and hurting there chances of becoming a judge often did not want to prosecute.Something that still goes on with too many DA's turning down cases they might loose.
Then you also had Crooked firefighters, investigators,Insurance adjusters  and judges etc all in on the fix .

It still goes on to this day where advanced rings of arsonists operate freely with out risk of prosecution.
and the fact  many fire codes even to this day do not require anything more than a lock and chain on a sprinkler valve to prevent it being closed.
Plus there are still too many fire investigators out there investigating fires who do not have proper training doing there jobs  and those who are trained who posit theory's and have nothing to back it up with than the fancy initials behind their name.
For every fire ruled arson and then found to be not arson after trails etc  you can bet money on the bank there are just as many fires ruled accidents that where really arson.

They say Prostitution is one of the oldest crimes on the book well arson is right there with it being mentioned in the bible.

The Kill for thrill Murders 35 + years of Justice Denied

 It happened only a couple of miles down the road where I take care of WAVL 910 AM transmitter site.
I remember that winter in 1979 in SW PA  as a young man who was out trying to get his business going  and working as a guard all over the place and worried about what was going on as you can see  from one of the many reports at the time .

It was on December 29, 1979, the body of 49-year-old Peter Levato was found near the Loyalhanna Dam and reservoir near Saltsburg, PA. Convicted Killer s John Travaglia and Steven Lesko forced Peter Levato to drive them out of Pittsburgh. When the got to Loyalhanna they then bound his hands and feet, hit him in the head, and pushed him over a bridge into the lake . Travaglia shot him once in the chest and twice in the head after discovering Peter was still alive.

Then on January 2, 1980, 26-year-old Marlene Sue Newcomer’s body was found in her vehicle in a Pittsburgh parking garage. She was likely killed the day before. Marlene had offered Travaglia and Lesko a ride in her vehicle, where she was shot several times before being robbed.

It was then that Thirty-two-year-old William Nichol's was abducted on January 3, 1980, by Travaglia and Lesko. The three drove in William’s car to Blue Spruce Park, where Travaglia and Lesko bound and gagged William and filled his jacket with rocks before pushing him through a hole in the ice of Blue Spruce Lake, where William drowned.

The final victim was a 21-year-old rookie police officer Leonard Miller. January 3, 1980, was Leonard’s third day of work. He made what he thought was a routine traffic stop. A car had repeatedly sped past Leonard’s police cruiser. In that car were Travaglia, Lesko, and a juvenile male, who were attempting to lead Leonard away from a convenience store they wished to rob. Leonard was killed as he approached the car. There crime spree came to an end several days later.

  When officer Millers Body was discovered this was one of the first calls to go out over the then newly formed Rainbow Control in Westmoreland county which was the forerunner to nationwide  911 service.

Thou Travaglia and Lesko where both convicted of murder in Officer Millers case  all those years ago 

 they still sit on death row  claiming they are changed men and should be given life instead of death sentences and since that time its been one appeal after another the latest death warrant signed last month by Governor Corbett  has been held up by a judge to allow all appeals to be heard . Truth is these 2 will never be executed they will die old men in prison just another mockery of the criminal system and the citizens of PA.  to make matters worse many of these killers have groups of people trying to get them freed for what they did saying they where wrongly convicted and do not deserve death.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-north/execution-set-sept-13-for-killer-travaglia-645539/

Stretch of road where Officer Miller was killed 

Store Lesko and Travaglio planned to rob

Memorial to officer Miller 

http://murderpedia.org/male.L/l/lesko-john.htm

There's a new book on the murders by a former Apollo cop the you tube trailer for it is below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_4YnwslZNw 

Of course these where not the only spree killers around this area there have been several including Stanly Hoss who just had a book released on his life  called " Born to lose  "

http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/a-first-time-local-author-offers-a-painstakingly-researched-account-of-perhaps-the-regions-most-notorious-crime-spree/Content?oid=1397527

Unfortunately we seem to breed  major spree killers around here   there  was  also  2 spree killers who went on rampages in 90's Ronald Taylor and Richard Baumhammers  as well  as 80's  Kevin Cooper who escaped from Mayview State Hospital  and killed a family in California and the notorious  Edward Surratt . Leaving behind many unanswered questions for victims family's  some of whom like in the case of Stanley B. Hoss have never been found
 Also believe it or not  Serial Killer Jeffery Daumier spent part of his young life right here in Penn Hills  his father a scientist worked for PPG Industries .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Cooper_%28inmate%29

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Baumhammers

http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkiller_news/S/SURRATT_edward_a.php

http://murderpedia.org/male.T/t/taylor-ronald.htm

Some people say its something in the water around here and some times you wish it was that easy and answer but some times there are no answers as to why these men have killed .

They say everyone has a double but when your arrested for something your double did it gets complicated and becomes a made for TV movie

I have people walk up to me all the time and start talking to me like they know me, when I do not know them. Ends up I have an exact double his first name is Raymond and we both attended Brashear High School I would end up getting questioned all the time what was i doing in the trade school class halls when I should be upstairs in class.
Eventually i was issued a Carrick High school OVT ID and it showed I was in the Electric Wiring course which helped stop the issues but for those couple months it was a real pain. The Principle Dr. Nicklaus use to get a big laugh over the whole thing.
SO I can sympathize with a gentleman who got accused of robbing and Kidnapping a Girl I went to grade school with Denise Wisniewski  who lived couple blocks from me and  who was a clerk at a Fotomat  kiosk in  Mt Lebanon - Castle Shanon .
Fotomats where very popular kiosk to drop off your camera  film to get developed when I was a young man they where everywhere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fotomat

But when mini labs became affordable and every drug store had one the Fotomats went away.

Fotomat similar to one  Denise worked at.

But of course now mini labs have all but become extinct as digital cameras have hit the market .

the Incident with Denise  happened back in October of 1980

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19801113&id=madRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yG0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2830,1935237

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19801111&id=l6dRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yG0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6881,1493063 

Robbed kidnapped and held overnight in a cabin in the woods till she was finally released  she first Identified 

Robert Dillen  a Photographer as he had a striking resemblance to the true suspect  Frank J. Jezeiorski 

Poor Robert Dillen went thru hell till the real culprit was caught. He had to end up moving out of PA. I do not know if he ever fully recovered or was made whole after going thru $30,000 he borrowed from his parents for legal defenses.

 The whole incident was so intriguing a made for TV  movie  was produced which I am still trying to find the name of. 

This was definitely one of those It could never happen to me nightmares that Happened to Robert Dillen and a NYPD Detective who found himself in a similar situation till culprit was caught. 

and recently happened to a Museum Security guard here in Pittsburgh  who was jailed for almost a year till it was proved he was at class that evening. thats why i always keep track where I am working and what i am dong it is to easy to get accused and then have to prove it was not you. 

Pittsburgh is Famous for Bridge to Nowhere but did you know there is also a Railroad Tunnel to nowhere as well?

When I was a kid the Fort Duquesne Bridge sat for many years uncompleted on Pittsburgh North Side one confused motorist actually tried to cross it and lived to tell when his car almost fell into the river.   But
as you crossover the West End Bridge  from the North Side to West end if you look over to the far right on West Carson Street and look up you will see an abandoned Tunnel of some type that is blocked off about 3/4 of the way up and just top 1/4 of the arch is visible .
No one seems to know its actual origins .
Some say it was the start of the proposed Pittsburgh to Stubenville Ohio Railroad  which sounds possible.
as many railroads where started and then never completed as well  as nothing more than on paper.
There also seems to be no where where it may have come out of the hill as well, just an entrance.
way too big to be used by a brewery  to store barrels of beer which there where many such tunnels in city at one time it was definitely built for a train or trolley.

Tunnel entrance mostly blocked off and chocked with weeds.

At one time where the Pat Bus Way comes off onto Carson I remember before they built it there was once a ramp for what looked like trains to come on to W. Carson and  was designed to feed into the tunnel.
Of course this is not the only mystery construction along W. Carson  There was an aqueduct built under W. Carson raising it several feet where trains pass over W.Carson from Brunot Island  which Penn Dot is now remodeling and lowering road to original level during a multi million dollar revamp of the road.
Even a gentleman who has an extensive web site with tunnels and bridges is unsure what the tunnel  and aqueduct was built for as well . Someday some where in some engineers office some one may come across the original plans and solve the mystery but for now both are unsolved.

40+ years an 8 yr old girls strangulation and Murder goes unanswered in Rices Landing Greene County

Greene County is a very rural area of South West PA. with its rolling hills and farms plus huge underground coal mines  and now with the Marcellus Gas boom it is busier than ever with activity. Which means plenty of unknown strangers and transient workers traveling thru. One of the few areas of Pa. I have not traveled thru extensively as I only had couple customer down there over years and it takes for ever to get from point A to B most people pass thru Greene County like I do Via I-79.

Maybe it was just such a transient who came thru the small rural town of Rices landing in October of 1973
 who strangled and killed little 8 year old Debbie Makel  and partially buried her 500 yards from her home in
Rices landing along the Monongahela River  where it  is extremely rural PA route 88 a 2 lane road travels thru it on its way to Point Marion and the  West Virginia line. Not a road a normal person travelling would take to west Virginia  as Pa 837  and US 119 to Morgantown are much shorter.  It would be used mostly by locals and the occasional back roads traveler sightseer  . But then again such a rural quiet area would be the perfect place to commit a crime and get away with it especially if  your not from the area. Seems to me they where doing a lot of work on a nearby electric power station could it have been some one working on that project? We will probably never know. This was also right along the Monongahela  river with a history of violence and mystery.

http://old.post-gazette.com/localnews/20031012unsolved1012p1.asp

http://news.google.com/newspapers?

nid=1129&dat=19731026&id=uptRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-2wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7215,3793304

http://news.google.com/newspapers?

nid=1129&dat=19731009&id=eOINAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-2wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7254,1146631

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19801008&id=hpkyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZugFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6466,3137885

I did some sub contract camera work in the area in late 80's  and even then it was very rural but that's all changed with The Mon valley expressway PA Toll 43 coming thru the area but Rices landing still sits quietly by itself except for fact some one killed this beautiful 8 year old girl and no one has paid the price for it. 

I was just starting High School when Debbie was murdered and I still remember it in the papers .

25+ years Young Woman's murder goes unsolved in East Pittsburgh Apartment

It has been 25 + years since a killer crept in Carole Kresiks Ridge Ave.  Apartment in East Pittsburgh  on December 6 1986 strangling and killing her and there have been no further clues to her murder
Despite Bill Boards  and TV shows announcing a reward.
Ridge Ave is very well off the regular travel route  which you would think it was some one who knows the neighborhood not a transient passing thru. But to this point there have been no developments.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/24-years-later-friend-offers-reward-in-unsolved-mu/nGpQS/

http://helpcarolekresik.info/

Like Father Like Son a Wolf family affair when it came to Arson Fires in Sharpsburg how many where they responsible for?

My late friend Grizzly in 70's  was a Volunteer Firefighter at a little fire dept known as Pleasant Valley one of the stations which served Ohara twp and surrounding community's
It was during this time he meet a fireman from Sharpsburg  Herman  " Buddy" Wolf a hard working volunteer willing to always help out with all the tasks others did not want to do and seemed to be an all around good guy .
So you can imagine how Grizzly and every other firefighter in the valley where shocked when Buddy as he was known was arrested and admitted to starting a horrific fire on November 2 1981 which would kill 3 young boys as they slept in there beds.  Some could not believe he could do something so evil and thought he was forced into the confession but in the end he was convicted and sent to prison for life. How many previous fires did buddy set is unknown and so
The end of the story or so you would think.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19811112&id=SnJiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KXcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2769,2150134

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19811112&id=BhovAAAAIBAJ&sjid=e10EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6997,6746224

But the story does not end there a series of fires all over the Sharpsburg and surrounding area started breaking out in 1994 and low and behold a Volunteer firefighter from Sharpsburg is accused and convicted and sentenced to 6 years probation  Kenneth Wolf .
Yes buddy wolfs son .
Why he was ever allowed to join the dept is beyond me maybe they felt bad he grew up with out a father and if he had a clean record it would be wrong to deny him but you think they would have kept a much closer eye on him .Many  including myself wished he would have spent the rest of his life in prison with his father but he only got probation.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19940810&id=PdpRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NW8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6441,4077089

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19940830&id=yl5VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kD4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=5556,6460489

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19940909&id=Y8haAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B3ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=3452,3987612

They still have arson fires in the area and its all new players again . There just seems to be something about volunteer firefighters and arson in this area. which I will discuss in later article. 

A young Woman found murdered near Light Rail Tracks in Dormont in 1989 still unsolved

I was working recently in Dormont  at a church renovation  installing a Fire Alarm when I was reminded by the death of a young woman whose remains where found couple blocks away in a back yard on Voelkel  ave which the light rail system runs by .
It was a warm summer night that July 22 when Catherine Corkery attended a party along Academy Ave a road with many apartment buildings along it  in Mt Lebanon to leave the party around 2:00 Am and at some point was attacked and murdered and dumped in the back yard.
It was a shock to Dormont community . A community which is  still nicely maintained and friendly
having survived the decline of steel mills while many other nearby city neighborhoods next door like Beachview have greatly declined . As protective and guarding the people of Dormont are of their community no one heard anything go on that night which is hard to believe some one did not hear something or see something as dense packed as the area is even if it was in the dead of night .

In the 20 + years since this murder no one has come forward or suspect identified. but some have suggested a killer with similar  tactics  Glen Roger  but there is no evidence to link him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Edward_Rogers

Most likely she was attacked by a transient who frequent the Light Rail line known as the T
Because Mt. Lebanon and Dormont are not community's you would regularly travel thru unless you live there since they put I-79 thru and US 19 no longer has the predominance it once did as a travel route unless your going to go shopping or visiting in area .

http://news.google.com/newspapers?

nid=1144&dat=19900607&id=1HUcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zmMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1749,3779700

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-65252.html

http://news.google.com/newspapers?

nid=1129&dat=19890724&id=OLRRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Wm4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6806,6336928

Almost 15 years since women's remains found in abandoned railroad tunnel in Homestead still unidentified

It was a cold October 3rd in 2000 when a security guard on patrol checked a recently fenced off utility tunnel under the Railroad tracks of the long gone USS Homestead works when he made a grizzly discovery of human remains despite the best efforts of the coroners office and even facial reconstruction she still remains unidentified to this day. Thought to be a new immigrant due to type of dental work she had  which is not used in US   the coroner even worked with immigrant society's etc in an effort to identify her but no luck.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=20010927&id=5TkxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eXADAAAAIBAJ&pg=3725,4826600

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=20001126&id=OasuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NNoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1661,6389669

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=20010316&id=bfFRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aXADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6431,4402438

 At the same time the coroner was also trying to identify other remains including a child found on river bank of neville island .

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=20001124&id=0LNRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gG8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6873,1756799

Ghost running up tracks with lantern in Etna warns railroaders of Train ahead to prevent crash ?

I first saw this story appear in the Weekend Magazine in the now closed Pittsburgh Press  which featured local area haunting's in an article in early 70's .
It mentioned railroaders who would see a ghost of an old man with red eyes and holding an old fashioned train lantern running up the tracks  in Etna toward their train as in an effort to stop or warn them of an impending crash.
 this is the first and only time I have seen this tale in writing and I have asked  many I know around Etna including Railroaders if they ever heard of the tale and none has.
Yes there were serious train wrecks in Etna in 1909 which took 3 lives and many others over the time period which would support a ghost trying to warn approaching trains but if it was such a great legend you think there would be more to it than an article in a paper 40 years ago.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19070427&id=8gkbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ykgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5733,6510297

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19090328&id=c_0aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zEgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1269,5542612

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19021205&id=-f4aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=l0gEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3915,2514453

This once again looks like a totally made up legend  by an editor to sell newspapers.
With no other writings or persons who know  about it to be found.

Edward Wayne Edwards a little known Serial Killer who prowled around Pa. from 1983-86

Edward Wayne Edwards grew up in Akron Ohio  but spent time as an incarcerated  juvenile  in 1948   near Philadephia
 Then again in 1967 in Lewisburg  Federal Prison near Philadelphia and again in 1982 for Arson of a rental home all while plying his trade as a serial killer  it is believed he could have killed as many as 100 people during his 66 years  of causing havoc and terror . One detective believes he could be behind some of the Zodiac killings and Black Delilah murders as well. Having recently released the book  " Its me " Edward Edwards the serial killer you never heard of http://coldcasecameron.com/

http://murderpedia.org/male.E/e/edwards-edward.htm

http://criminalminds.wikia.com/wiki/Edward_Edwards

This is another case of what all he did in his life and who he  may have killed will never be known .
He passed away in prison while awaiting execution , and unless bones or other evidence  show up specifically linking him to a crime in this area we will never know but with his track record you would have to believe he was active here as well.
There where plenty of unsolved rapes and murders  at the time he was running around here , but he was not the only one running around. He is not specifically being looked at for any murders in Pa. at present but you never know.
I do not know what attract these individuals to this area but it seems  the region is a cross roads many travel thru as they go about there crime sprees . This area is also very active with illegal drugs and there transportation as well.  

Questions still surround the fire which destroyed the Vogue Terrace in 1963

One day in 1986 while doing electrical work for a contractor at the Burnam Wood Apartments in Monroeville  an older gentleman who  looked to be in his 70's who was moving to a new apartment asked if I could help him get couple heavy things up to his car. Sure I said when its lunch time in 30 minutes. I went up and helped him move couple boxes and he tried to pay me and I said no just a cold drink would be fine and he gave me a can of coke.
I asked If he had lived in complex long and he said about 10 years . He asked me had I ever heard of the Vogues? the singing group yes I had my parents listened to them when I was a kid on the radio.
Well he goes on to tell me his name is Elmer Willet  and he was the manager of the Vogues at one time. Wow that's neat my parents will get a kick out of that I told him.
 He then asked me of I heard of the old Vogue Terrace where the group got its name ? I had I told him  I had and that it burned down when I was a little kid my parents had told me about it . Elmer went on to tell me how he had an office there and how terrible the fire was and how a manager for a group appearing  there died.
Elmer also lived there and how he almost lost his life and had to crawl out on a ledge .He said he had lost everything in the fire but luckily came out of it OK. He said he still to that day thought something funny about the fire and explosion he heard with it  happening a day after the place opened after being remodeled into a full night club. But it was investigated and they believe it started in basement furnace room.

http://triblive.com/home/2373495-74/terrace-fire-vogue-mckeesport-club-april-reported-area-early-miller#axzz33Py0iRSb

http://meadowbrookproject.com/dinner%20theatre%20inc/vogue%20terrace.htm

http://news.google.com/newspapers?

nid=1129&dat=19540417&id=9pVRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nWoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3643,741928

http://news.google.com/newspapers?

nid=1129&dat=19630425&id=mM5RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KmwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3314,3735824

http://news.google.com/newspapers?

nid=1144&dat=19630504&id=1W0jAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7k4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6713,1058772

http://news.google.com/newspapers?

nid=1129&dat=19630425&id=mM5RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KmwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5981,3832198

The owners of the club  did all they could to make everyone whole but where not able to rebuild unfortunately they where financially ruined by the fire.
I saw him  a couple more times during the remodel project in 86  that summer never to see him again  and later read in papers he died  in 1991 .
I forgot about the whole thing .
Then as a Fireman I got interested in Fire Investigation having how many customers having been thru fires before hand and seeing what caused them while doing repairs  and then joining the Fire service and after looking into the Fire at the Vogue Terrace and descriptions of how fast and violent it was one would think arson was a possibility especially in light of all the other fires in region at that time so Elmer was right to be concerned. Had some one deliberately burned out the owners? Its possible but we will never know .

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19630502&id=020jAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7k4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7359,469300

Consider that even today there are still massive court fights about fires being ruled incorrectly  as many Arson Convictions are being thrown out  for use of junk Science in determining how a fire started.

 Where talking 1963 when I was a little kid Fire Science has greatly expanded  but still even today an experienced arsonist can make a fire look accidental and the fact the club burned a day after it opened you better believe lots of people including insurance company's had questions so they used what technology they had available at the time to come to the conclusion.

It has been too many years and any evidence long gone and memory's fading and witnesses and perpetrators if there where one  have passed away . So even if a compete investigation was done today using the most advanced investigative techniques  little could be found out or proved and who could you prosecute?  like in so many case where a fire burns so intensely

  all you can do is speculate as to how the fire started .

I have heard a couple old timers say Morrie the Match an infamous arsonist in the City of Pittsburgh started it so club owners could collect on the insurance , but it was all talk and speculation and was looked into as far as In can tell   and nothing to it Morrie was not operating in area at the time  from what I can tell.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19760307&id=WPEjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PlcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6803,1184631

 Anything I could  add to the fire hypothesis  would be strictly speculation as well.
You also have to remember back then fire resistant building construction codes where not in place and few buildings had Sprinkler systems so this could also account for why the club went up so fast and explosions heard during fires are normal as a fire overtakes a room .
So for all intents and purposes its another  tragic fire lost to history and all we can do today is speculate.