Father: George Allas
Mother: Mary Sleva Petruscak (not Anna Mantyo as shown on death certificate)
_____________________________________________________
Allegheny County Coroner Case number 193112_68, involving a 12-year-old boy, was originally ruled an accidental death from a concussion from playing football. About six or seven months later, however, the body was exhumed and an autopsy was performed, with toxicology testing. It was discovered there was no head injury at all, but instead the death was caused by "phlegmonous enteritis." This condition consists of a "severe acute inflammation of the intestine, with edematous bowel wall infiltrated with pus." This time the death was ruled a murder, as the boy had been poisoned with "soluble salts of tin in stannous condition" ingested in tea and milk.
It was discovered that the boy had been murdered by his stepmother, Anna Allas, with the assistance of her friend Mary Chalfa, both of whom were eventually tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment (see Commonwealth v. Chalfa et al., 313 Pa. 175 1933). The exhumation was ordered as part of an investigation into a later death, 193208_162. Apparently the victim's murder was part of a plan to get insurance money, in which six members of the defendants’ families had been insured for large sums of money. Three people, including the boy who was exhumed, were probably murdered by poison, and there was evidence that Anna Allas had poisoned her previous husband before he died in a fall down some stairs. It was noted that the poison works "insidiously by irritating the intestinal tract, causing cramps and convulsions, followed by a terrible death.” One of the defendants, who admitted their guilt, said "if they take him out of the ground twenty times the American doctors cannot discover the poison." Apparently the defendants were wrong about that, since the poison was found during toxicology testing. Unfortunately three people had to die before the insurance companies got suspicious enough to request further investigation, or so it seems. Probably the poison described as "soluble salts of tin in stannous condition" was Stannous Oxalate. It is a toxic organic compound, taking the form of a white powder soluble in water, alcohol, and ether. Tin salts have a variety of industrial applications and are even today unregulated so it was probably not difficult to acquire in an industrial city like Pittsburgh in 1931.
Mother: Mary Sleva Petruscak (not Anna Mantyo as shown on death certificate)
_____________________________________________________
Allegheny County Coroner Case number 193112_68, involving a 12-year-old boy, was originally ruled an accidental death from a concussion from playing football. About six or seven months later, however, the body was exhumed and an autopsy was performed, with toxicology testing. It was discovered there was no head injury at all, but instead the death was caused by "phlegmonous enteritis." This condition consists of a "severe acute inflammation of the intestine, with edematous bowel wall infiltrated with pus." This time the death was ruled a murder, as the boy had been poisoned with "soluble salts of tin in stannous condition" ingested in tea and milk.
It was discovered that the boy had been murdered by his stepmother, Anna Allas, with the assistance of her friend Mary Chalfa, both of whom were eventually tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment (see Commonwealth v. Chalfa et al., 313 Pa. 175 1933). The exhumation was ordered as part of an investigation into a later death, 193208_162. Apparently the victim's murder was part of a plan to get insurance money, in which six members of the defendants’ families had been insured for large sums of money. Three people, including the boy who was exhumed, were probably murdered by poison, and there was evidence that Anna Allas had poisoned her previous husband before he died in a fall down some stairs. It was noted that the poison works "insidiously by irritating the intestinal tract, causing cramps and convulsions, followed by a terrible death.” One of the defendants, who admitted their guilt, said "if they take him out of the ground twenty times the American doctors cannot discover the poison." Apparently the defendants were wrong about that, since the poison was found during toxicology testing. Unfortunately three people had to die before the insurance companies got suspicious enough to request further investigation, or so it seems. Probably the poison described as "soluble salts of tin in stannous condition" was Stannous Oxalate. It is a toxic organic compound, taking the form of a white powder soluble in water, alcohol, and ether. Tin salts have a variety of industrial applications and are even today unregulated so it was probably not difficult to acquire in an industrial city like Pittsburgh in 1931.
Father: George Allas
Mother: Mary Sleva Petruscak (not Anna Mantyo as shown on death certificate)
_____________________________________________________
Allegheny County Coroner Case number 193112_68, involving a 12-year-old boy, was originally ruled an accidental death from a concussion from playing football. About six or seven months later, however, the body was exhumed and an autopsy was performed, with toxicology testing. It was discovered there was no head injury at all, but instead the death was caused by "phlegmonous enteritis." This condition consists of a "severe acute inflammation of the intestine, with edematous bowel wall infiltrated with pus." This time the death was ruled a murder, as the boy had been poisoned with "soluble salts of tin in stannous condition" ingested in tea and milk.
It was discovered that the boy had been murdered by his stepmother, Anna Allas, with the assistance of her friend Mary Chalfa, both of whom were eventually tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment (see Commonwealth v. Chalfa et al., 313 Pa. 175 1933). The exhumation was ordered as part of an investigation into a later death, 193208_162. Apparently the victim's murder was part of a plan to get insurance money, in which six members of the defendants’ families had been insured for large sums of money. Three people, including the boy who was exhumed, were probably murdered by poison, and there was evidence that Anna Allas had poisoned her previous husband before he died in a fall down some stairs. It was noted that the poison works "insidiously by irritating the intestinal tract, causing cramps and convulsions, followed by a terrible death.” One of the defendants, who admitted their guilt, said "if they take him out of the ground twenty times the American doctors cannot discover the poison." Apparently the defendants were wrong about that, since the poison was found during toxicology testing. Unfortunately three people had to die before the insurance companies got suspicious enough to request further investigation, or so it seems. Probably the poison described as "soluble salts of tin in stannous condition" was Stannous Oxalate. It is a toxic organic compound, taking the form of a white powder soluble in water, alcohol, and ether. Tin salts have a variety of industrial applications and are even today unregulated so it was probably not difficult to acquire in an industrial city like Pittsburgh in 1931.
Mother: Mary Sleva Petruscak (not Anna Mantyo as shown on death certificate)
_____________________________________________________
Allegheny County Coroner Case number 193112_68, involving a 12-year-old boy, was originally ruled an accidental death from a concussion from playing football. About six or seven months later, however, the body was exhumed and an autopsy was performed, with toxicology testing. It was discovered there was no head injury at all, but instead the death was caused by "phlegmonous enteritis." This condition consists of a "severe acute inflammation of the intestine, with edematous bowel wall infiltrated with pus." This time the death was ruled a murder, as the boy had been poisoned with "soluble salts of tin in stannous condition" ingested in tea and milk.
It was discovered that the boy had been murdered by his stepmother, Anna Allas, with the assistance of her friend Mary Chalfa, both of whom were eventually tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment (see Commonwealth v. Chalfa et al., 313 Pa. 175 1933). The exhumation was ordered as part of an investigation into a later death, 193208_162. Apparently the victim's murder was part of a plan to get insurance money, in which six members of the defendants’ families had been insured for large sums of money. Three people, including the boy who was exhumed, were probably murdered by poison, and there was evidence that Anna Allas had poisoned her previous husband before he died in a fall down some stairs. It was noted that the poison works "insidiously by irritating the intestinal tract, causing cramps and convulsions, followed by a terrible death.” One of the defendants, who admitted their guilt, said "if they take him out of the ground twenty times the American doctors cannot discover the poison." Apparently the defendants were wrong about that, since the poison was found during toxicology testing. Unfortunately three people had to die before the insurance companies got suspicious enough to request further investigation, or so it seems. Probably the poison described as "soluble salts of tin in stannous condition" was Stannous Oxalate. It is a toxic organic compound, taking the form of a white powder soluble in water, alcohol, and ether. Tin salts have a variety of industrial applications and are even today unregulated so it was probably not difficult to acquire in an industrial city like Pittsburgh in 1931.
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