# Wilmington Evening Journal, 13 March 1909, page 1: Slain by the Black Hand: Petrosino killed in Palermo

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/clippings/clip-wilmington-evening-journal-1909-03-13-p1/

The Wilmington Evening Journal front page of 13 March 1909 carries a United Press dispatch from Rome reporting that New York police detective Joseph Petrosino was shot dead in Palermo.

Front page of the Evening Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, Saturday, 13 March 1909. The headline reads "Slain by the Black Hand: Chief of Italian Detectives of New York City Assassinated in Palermo," with the deck "Was Unearthing Evidence Against Gang." The headline was confirmed on the page image.

The United Press dispatch, datelined Rome, 13 March, says Joseph Petrosino, chief of the Italian detectives of the New York police, was shot dead the night before in a Palermo square "by agents of the Black Hand Society, according to messages just received from Palermo." It says he had been sent to Italy to gather evidence, that he drew his revolver and exchanged shots with his attackers, and that the Palermo police believed he was killed for papers he carried.

The attribution to the Black Hand is the dispatch's, from first reports, and is not verified here. The page is filed as a record of the first-day coverage. The Detroit Times page of the same date is filed separately.

## Sources

- Library of Congress, Chronicling America: https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85042354/1909-03-13/ed-1/?sp=1
- Library of Congress OCR text of this page: https://tile.loc.gov/text-services/word-coordinates-service?segment=/service/ndnp/deu/batch_deu_dover_ver01/data/sn85042354/0038334329A/1909031301/0918.xml&format=alto_xml&full_text=1