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Where The Rivers Meet Perry Township, Clarion County

Perry Township in Clarion County has the honor of being bounded by two beautiful rivers, the Clarion and the Allegheny. Just upstream from the Parker Petroglyphs, which put the township on the map with a historical marker, the Clarion enters the Allegheny at a point where several historical events have taken place.

One of those events was murder!

The township was once covered with coal mines, coal banks, oil wells, and oil tanks. Everybody wanted to get rich. Not as many wanted to do the dirty work. Immigrants, particularly Italians, were recruited and brought in to work the mines. In the 1910 census of Pennsylvania, 85% of Italians listed their occupation as a coal miner. From 1850 to 1900, the township census records are replete with names of iron furnace and coal mine workers from Germany, Ireland, and Hungary, as well as Italy.

On July 31, 1918, between a coal mine at the mouth of the Clarion and the railroad station on the same side of the river, Tom Perelle and Tony Malafranio, miners who lived near each other at the mine, sought to settle an old feud that had been brewing for some time. Perelle had filed a suit against Malfranio for stealing chickens and the latter threatened to get even. But Malfranio didn’t play fair. He waited in ambush for Perelle and shot him. The Clarion Democrat of August 8, 1918, explained it this way:

“About 5:00 in the afternoon Perelle left his home at the mines and started for Parker with his pay check expecting to get it cashed and do some buying. At a scheduled spot along the path is a pile of pipe and behind this Tony Malafranio laid in wait for Tom Perelle. As he passed, Malafranio sprang out and fired 5 shots from an automatic revolver, two of which took effect. Perelle was stunned but grappled with the would-be-murderer, who pulled a razor as soon as his gun was empty….” Perelle was found on the ground by area residents and carried to his home where he died. He is buried in Perryville Cemetery.

There is more to the story which can be found in “Black Fox-Dutch Hill –Pickard Valley-Barger Hollow-West Monterey Coal Mining and Black Fox Furnace” which can be ordered for purchase by contacting Sally Reed at 814-782-3918 or sally reed338@gmail.com

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