Missing / Stolen Reward 1910 Mauser 1910 handgun - 25 caliber - do you buy or collect or where given one of these guns did you check its back round if not there are serious consequences for being in possession of this stolen gun

A man my wife knew Jeff  who who did some  wood  work on our house about 20 years ago and did gun smithing as a hobby and lived on School Street in Penn Hills Pa and is now deceased . He  either lost ,sold or was otherwise stolen from him a Mauser 1910  25 caliber 6.25 mm  hand gun which I had given him to repair . aprox. 20 years ago . It was Reported Stolen  to Penn Hills Police  and not seen since.
  Serial number # 213979

Not a particularly expensive  or historic gun  war and millions where made and many Germans carried them for personnel protection.

Though the gun was well made it had one fatal flaw and that was the flat springs in the gun which would frequently break and which Jeff was going to fix for me. Well he never did and kept putting me off finally admitted to me lost it in his house.   I immediately called Penn Hills  Police who took a report .

You can still buy these guns at any gun show for around $150-$500 depending on condition and certain models could go much higher if you had case etc.  mine was closer to the $150.00 dollar  more of a family heirloom than a practical gun to carry and I would like to get it back so I can pass it down .

This is a problem with these old guns  they are still applicable to all state and federal firearms laws Just like a brand new gun and if you bought , found or where given  one and did not run a back round check on it and  if are found in possession of one of the many stolen guns like mine you will be charged with a felony and can face 5-10 years in prison  weather you knew it was stolen or not  If you inherent or buy or other wise find an old gun and decide to keep it run it thru the local police and or gun shop and make sure it is not stolen or prepare to face the consequences. Better to turn in a gun with no consequences than face legal and jail time .

One of those Strange Tragic Coincidences in life it has happened to me

Back in December of 1992 I feel 12 feet  from an attic and crushed my heal in a horrific way when a pair of  portable steps gave way while working at a customers home.

What happened a pair of pull down steps gave way  at the joint where they connected to the attic now this unlike modern pull down folding stairs was a regular pair of steps attached on one end and chains on other with weights which allowed it to be pulled up and down

I was permanently crippled at the age of 33 with a permanent limp to make matters worse the home owners insurance company never paid one cent  to me for what I went thru . My working career ruined I had to completely change what work I did and what jobs I took on.

So here I am trapped in a room my helper 12 ft above can do nothing the door opens into the room blocked by the collapsed steps and chains laying on me . My friend wife Bev heard the noise and called 911 when I told here what happened she could not get door open in the mean time one of the nicest guys you would ever meet Known as Pete the painter had come running up the massive staircase and started  slowly to help me move the staircase and debris and he was able to wiggled in as he was short and skinny and get the door open he had Bev run and get ice and packed my foot in it .
 We wait and wait 20 plus minutes a medic unit shows up  911 screwed the call up  seems with 911 in Allegheny County  you either get excellent service or total complete screw ups for operators the horror storys I can tell.

Once medics realize I did not fall down steps it was a steps collapse they called for extra units and carefully and skillfully got me down out of there and to the hospital they medics where great they told me how lucky I was to even be alive  and how many they had found dead or later died from similar accidents .

Well it would be many painful days and eventually operation plates and screws and a life time of pain  and almost 3 years till I was able to put a full days work in. When I went into surgery they where not sure they could save my foot but thru grace of god and skilled surgeons hands they where. Dr Gruen  and UPMC did a fantastic job.   Come to find out I had NASCAR drivers to thank for the surgery he performed because the type of break I had they see a lot with drivers when they would break a heal  driving into wall and foot is on brake pedal.

So I get my life and business back on track and  almost 10 years to day I had my accident I would later find out from a co worker that Pete had tragically died when he fell down a set of steps and struck his head.  The best guy you ever wanted to meet on the job who saved my life when steps almost took my life  had his taken by a pair of steps in his own house.
Ironic absolutely and  absolutely spooky.

I know Pete is in a better place and hope to join him some day and the drinks will be on me Pete

A steel worker shot in an ambush during the Race Riots in Pittsburgh in 60's - Another Cold Case of history lost and a Gunmen goes unpunished

I was a young child of 8  years old when the riots broke out in Pittsburgh in the 1960's after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and it was a scary time when the riots broke out I was attending St. Basil's Grade School in Carrick  29th ward section of city of Pittsburgh. they came over the intercom speaker and advised us all  to get ready to go home there was an emergency and go straight home do not stop any where .
It was when I got home and mom had the TV on that I saw the news had broken in and was showing the rioting going on in the Hill District .
My Mom was worried my dad was at the mill  and he called to say he was staying over a shift till it was safer to come home .
It was a couple days later when they came over the TV news that a J&L steelworker on his way home from evening shift when he was shot by an unknown assailant.

Brady street bridge where sniper layed in wait

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19680406&id=uNhaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=emwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5770,1021678

Luckily it was not my dad he was home but it was one of the guys he knew  who while driving home went up Brady street from 2nd ave and was shot  at the intersection of Brady and 5th ave.  he miraculously survived the shooting  

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19680508&id=ORwcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=D1AEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3550,3370078

The whole area where this happened has completely changed  to ride thru there today you would never know what happened in that intersection or even have any idea there was a different bridge . The Brady Street Bridge was replaced by the modern Birmingham Bridge and has its own tragic story of when it was just shortly opened and old bridge  demolished a worker would loose his leg . J&L Steel which Became LTV Steel in 70's  is gone is well as is the  extremely steep  section of Brady Street which ran between 5th ave and Forbes Ave.  across from Brady.  No gunmen was ever found and its a forgotten piece of riot history  and how people in the neighborhood came to his rescue.

Needless to say even to this day when I ride thru that intersection on occasion I still get that twinge of dread at what happened and constant worry as a kid during those times when we would take my dad to work. 

Ironically while working in the south side across the river  from where the riot took place in the Soho section while working on some flat roofs of buildings my self and others have found bullets laying on the roofs of buildings  which may have been from that time the ones I found I turned into the police  for ballistics investigation and hopefully will help solve any open cases from then.

To ride by this Monroeville Pa. property today you would never know the importance it played during the cold war as a nuclear parts manufacturer for US Navy

Yes thousands of people ride by this place everyday on Monroeville Blvd and have no idea of its history. in the 1990's I had the privileg to do so when I installed an alarm system in the structure as a sub contractor.

What starts out as a one time normal looking big house and was the private residence of William B Kelly it  has behind it several sunken structures with just the roofs visible  rather strange you might say but at one time up to a dozen or more people worked here making essential parts for nuclear reactors for US Navy

http://www.hamillmfg.com/history.htm

By the time I got to put the alarm in the property had changed hands several times and has done so again the house use to be a financial planners office and residence. But when I first looked the job over and saw the sunken and underground structures and heavy power which once went to machines you just knew there had to be a good story behind it. In this case there definitely was.

Ends up a funny story about this place a customer of mine who owned a chocolate shop and worked full time as a machinist  stopped and applied for a machinist job from Mr. Kelly and did not take it thought it was just a small place to work for not knowing how much he did not see that was underground.

The forgotten Eagle Scout Lodge in Allegheny Countys South Park and its interesting history

A Mounted Eagle Scout Troop a deliberately forgotten piece of scouting history

As you travel past the rotting structures of the once proud Allegheny County  South Park  Fair which was permanently cancelled  in late 1960's you will come across an interesting building now called South Park Cottage but originally it was called Eagle Scout Lodge .

Why I wondered was it called Eagle Scout Lodge ?   I remember as an Alter Boy at St Basil's Church  in Carrick 29th ward of City of Pittsburgh Pa.  that we once held our alter boys appreciation  picnic  there for many years  till some of my fellow alter boys damaged one of the vacant buildings next to the lodge in early 70's and our group was no longer permitted there and that it was called Eagle Scout Lodge. Many in scouting I asked  thought it was to honor those who earned the Eagle Scout Award  one old timer told me it was to honor a group of eagle scouts who served as Calvary Scouts in WWI but the dates did not correlate as scouting had just started about that time . So I decided to find out why after never getting a satisfactory answer from any one in executive end of  scouting including the worthless  Allegheny Trails Council now known as Laurel Highlands Council .

entrance to Eagle scout Lodge

Well after doing some research it seems the building was dedicated to the first Mounted Eagle Scout Troop in Allegheny county in 1933
 when South Park first opened.

Mounted Eagle Scout Troop?    Like Calvary Troop ?
no not that but close you see in that time period when scouting first started  to be an Eagle Scout you had to show proficiency in Horsemanship because even up into the 30's horse's where still being used  for everything from delivering milk to farm use so it was a needed skill to be able to properly handle a horse. Especially during the depression when only the rich could afford cars in many areas .  You where  even required at one time  to earn the Horsemanship Merit Badge to get to Eagle Scout Rank and award .
 Horseman Ship skills also where important if you where considering becoming a military officer which many eagle scouts did back then because the US military still had mounted Calvary units  into the 40's .
 So this is what this building was all about was the training and advancement of Eagle Scouts to
become excellent in there horsemanship skill and become officer material in the process. kind of like an early ROTC program.  many do not know it but General George S. Patton started out as an expert horseman and Calvary Officer in his early career.
While doing my research on the Eagle Scout Lodge  I came across a couple articles on this which I have included below.
So mystery solved despite the facts scouting has hidden this excellent chapter of its history. Why it has been forgotten who knows why would a group be ashamed of this?  There was not even a mention of it when council held a huge council wide Bicentennial Camporee  in 1976 directly across from it where they held the  Saturday night bicentennial  show at the time.  

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1jcxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NGkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1708,3181920&dq=mounted+eagle+scout+troop+allegheny+county&hl=en

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EjIbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eUsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2011,2128688&dq=mounted+eagle+scout+troop+allegheny+

 

I wonder how many of the members of the mounted Eagle Scout troop went on to serve their country and I posthumously salute and thank you for your service those who did serve .

As you ride down Pa 66 in Apollo you pass the old creepy Hotel Belvedere and yes some one actually lives in it.

https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/intense-flames-that-destroyed-historic-hotel-considered-suspicious/969626916

If you ever take a ride down Pa 66into Apollo before you cross into Apollo you come across one of the creepiest old places you can find in Western Pa. The Belvedere Hotel which is actually located in Boro of Oklahoma

Built in 1905 by Joesph Gianini  a contractor who built piers for railroads  with 28 rooms  kitchen and 2nd floor dining room which featured French cuisine  and a 1st floor candy shop and ice cream parlor it sits in decay as some one still lives in it to this day.

Ice cream Parlor and candy store 1st floor

As you can see in its heyday its  a very fancy place I spoke to a hospice  nurse who visited us while my mother in law was still alive, and she told how as a little girl in 60s' there was a candy counter in there . which you can see in the picture above but apparently its been sitting abandoned looking since at least late 80's

As iit sits today

 But you  can see below it was very nice place at one time but in 2008 Penn dot was worried the building was going to collapse as seen in article below

http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/drivers-concerned-about-sturdiness-of-structure-bo/nGhBG/

A one time favorite for many a traveler  to stop  on their way to Greensburg information has been very hard to find on the place . An  elderly women still lives in the old place having blocked off a couple rooms they heat with wood stove

The Hotel was also the way point for when many soldiers when they left for war on the railroad many never to return and there last memory of the Kiski Valley. So you would have to think spirits are still lingering around .
The hotel was viable till just after WWII when the automobile and decline of trains saw it become apartments and first floor candy shop a bar named the Tin Hut and Giannis at one time .
The elderly woman who bought it wanted to fix it up but it was not to be .

Unfortunately thou just a short distance up the street is where Apollo Policeman Leonard Miller lost his life when he pulled over the  Kill for Thrill  Killers John Lesko and Michael Travaglia . So this place has been a place of great joy and sadness and lingers as one of the best places to get a photo as many come with just the purpose of photographing it.

Here are some videos made by those who have explored hotel 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72zrvcPV_sY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvUE5UUql54

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx6Sw4XqQ_U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6ZHK7Eka0M

UPDATE July 23 2019

Unfortunately hotel was lost due to suspicious fire .

https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/intense-flames-that-destroyed-historic-hotel-considered-suspicious/969626916

after it was condemned and was going to have to be torn down in days before fire front porch posts had badly bent meaning hotel was in state of falling into street .