Fourteen-year-old Rosie Grippo was sitting on the stoop of her New York City tenement when a quarrel that had nothing to do with her suddenly turned deadly.
An eighteen-year-old man allegedly hurled a large stone toward the window of a basement grocery store after an argument with its owner. The stone missed its intended target and struck Rosie in the temple, killing her instantly. The young man fled through the crowded streets as several witnesses chased after him.
Only after Rosie’s death did another tragic detail emerge: her seventeen-year-old sister was engaged to marry the man accused of throwing the stone.
Kills Girl With Stone
NEW YORK CITY, New York. — Rosie Grippo, fourteen years old, was instantly killed last night when hit by a large stone hurled by a man who was quarreling with another man. No arrests have been made, although a general alarm has been sent out for Charles Gillepo, eighteen years old, who is alleged to have hurled the stone.
In the basement of the tenement house on West 59th Street, John Muscarello has a small grocery store. For some time, he says, he has been bothered by Gillepo, who, he says, insults him every time he passes the store. Last night the little girl was sitting on the stoop over the store when, the police say, Gillepo passed.
According to the police, the grocer ran into the store and Gillepo grabbed a large stone and hurled it toward the window. The stone, however, did not go anywhere near where Gillepo intended, but struck the girl in the right temple.
She fell down the stoop and the Italian ran down toward 11th Avenue, with a crowd of men after him. Gillepo turned into 61st Street and into a store, and then it is thought he ran to the roof and escaped.
It became known after the girl had been killed that her sister, Margaret, seventeen years old, was engaged to marry Gillepo, who is wanted by the police for throwing the stone. Margaret said that her family knew that the death was accidental, and even if Gillepo was arrested, her family would not prosecute him.
Source: New York Tribune. New York, N.Y. September 2, 1905.
