Jersey Journal/1926/Indict Man For Murder

Indict Man For Murder. Fatal Quarrel Was on the Question of Who Should Buy the Next Drink. Ralph Grimaldi is charged with stabbing and killing Felix Szczesny, 50, of 160 Steuben Street, in a drinking bout in a Steuben Street speakeasy several weeks ago, now stands indicted for murder. This is one of a batch of about thirty bills presented by the September Term Grand Jury to Judge Robert V. Kinkead yesterday. Grimaldi, known in police circles as "Joe the Wop", lived with his wife and seven children in New York. He was employed by the Hudson & Manhattan R.R. Co. as a car repairman. Early on the morning of the murder, according to the police version of the story, he went to the Seezesny's home and engaged with Seezesny and another man of Polish descent in a drinking fest. An argument arose over whose turn it was to buy a drink. Seczesny's wife forced the trio out of the place when the commotion started. Once on the street the altercation terminated in blows and Grimaldi is alleged to have flashed a knife, mortally wounding Seezesny and stabbing the other man. Grimaldi fled from the scene of the crime and kept in hiding for more than a week, but was later captured by Lieutenant Charles Ballerine and Detective John O'Neill of the local detective bureau, when they found him hiding in a deserted section of upper New York State. The indictment against Grimaldi presented in the Court, Oyer And Terminer was the only one for murder. The others were for atrocious assault and battery and offenses of minor nature. Assistant Prosecutor Louis J. Messano presented the indictments with Foreman Dr. Davis Pindar.