The Cabin on South Nineteenth Street
A brutal murder in Tacoma’s Italian community shocks the city, leading to a swift conviction of a man who carried holy relics to his own trial.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On Wednesday evening, March 2, 1892, an Italian neighbor complained to an officer that Conchilli Saivadore, a fruit dealer living in a cabin at the corner of South Nineteenth and D streets in Tacoma, had not been seen all day. The door was fastened, and when the officer forced it open, a horrific scene was revealed. Saivadore lay on his bed with his brains beaten out by a hatchet and his chest punctured by three stiletto wounds. He had been butchered while asleep. The suspect, Moreci Pecani, aged 29, was soon arrested, his own clothing stained with blood. It is believed the crime was motivated by Pecani’s desire to wipe out a debt he owed Saivadore for a fruit stand, intending to use the proceeds to return to Sicily. During his trial, Pecani, described as a brutal-looking man with a history of violent behavior, sat in the dock holding a picture of the Virgin and infant and an Italian prayer. On May 2, 1892, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree.
“Moreci Pecani, the murderer of Conchilli Saivadore, held a picture of the Virgin and infant and a prayer printed in Italian at his breast during his trial.”
The intersection of South 19th and D Street sits on the edge of modern Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood, an area that has long served as a center for immigrant communities. This 1892 report reflects the era's often-sensationalist coverage of violent crimes within immigrant enclaves, contrasting the brutality of the act with the defendant's use of religious iconography to influence the courtroom.
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