Sale!

Killing the Poormaster: The Depression-Era Murder That Put America’s Welfare System on Trial

Amazon.com Price:  $15.66 (as of 02/05/2019 19:58 PST- Details)

Description

On February 25, 1938, Hoboken’s reviled poormaster, Harry Barck—wielding power over who received public aid—died. Barck was once murdered, the prosecution would assert, by an unemployed mason named Joe Scutellaro. In denying Scutellaro money, Barck had suggested that the person’s wife prostitute herself fairly than ask the town for aid. The boys scuffled. Scutellaro insisted Barck fell on his own paper spike; the police claimed he grabbed the spike and stabbed Barck within the heart. A team led by celebrated attorney Samuel Leibowitz of “Scottsboro Boys” fame argued that Scutellaro’s struggle with the poormaster was once a symbol of bigger social ills. The problems examined in Killing the Poormaster—massive unemployment, endemic poverty, and the inadequacy of public assistance—remain necessary nowadays.

Home » Shop » Books » Subjects » Arts and Photography » History and Criticism » History » Americas » United States » State and Local » Killing the Poormaster: The Depression-Era Murder That Put America’s Welfare System on Trial

Recent Products