Black Sheep Sunday - Murder-Suicide Makes Headlines Nationwide

Daily Capital Journal - 16AUG1950, pg2

The not so booming metropolis of Hazleton/West Hazleton made national news when my great uncle's wife was murdered in a bar. The news clipping mistakenly lists the location of the "taproom" as being in Hazleton, but it was West Hazleton. I suppose that's not really a significant error. They're right next to each other. You blink and you've left Hazleton and entered West Hazleton or vice versa.

Here is a clipping distributed through the Associated Press and landed in the Daily Capital Journal in Salem, Oregon.

"Two Killed in Hazleton Bar

Hazleton, Pa., Aug. 16 (AP) - A 60-year-old man shot a woman to death in a Hazleton taproom early today and then killed himself, Police Chief Carl Meiss reported.

Miss said the man, Andrew Harvilla, a retired coal miner from nearby Treckow (sic), entered Beltz's cafe shortly after the woman, Mrs. Helen Bronsavage, 33, and asked her to have a drink with him.

She refused, Meiss said, and asked Harvilla to call a taxi. Then she went to a table. Miss said the man walked to her table, drew a .38 caliber revolver from his pocket and fired a bullet into her head. Then, the police officer said, he walked eight feet away and fired a bullet into his own head.

Mrs. Bronsavage was acquitted of murder charges last October. She was accused of firing the shotgun charge that killed Louis Broton, 34, at a cabin near Freehand last May 1."

I've blogged about Helen Bronsavage nee Sabulash previously (see below), but I never realized how far her murder was broadcast. It made national news when she killed a man, claimed self-defense, and got off. Perhaps that's why this was picked up by the AP. Her murder happened less than a year after her acquittal. I had been looking for information on my Bronsavage line on Newspapers.com when this article (and several others like it) popped up.

I always get a bit angry when I read about her. I think that's why I share the articles/information. It's a way to vent. In my opinion she was a terrible mother and wife and got her just desserts. Her husband was in a wheelchair and she went around with other men. She didn't divorce him, she just screwed around on him. She had a little girl at home too that she apparently wasn't taking care of. How different their lives could have been if she hadn't decided to do the things she had done. I suppose that's true with everything though.

Related posts:
Thriller Thursday: Some People Just Can't Be Good, Part I
Thriller Thursday: Some People Just Can't Be Good, Part II
Thriller Thursday: Some People Just Can't Be Good, Part III