Murder of a Journalist: The True Story of the Death of Donald Ring Mellett

3. The Murder

42 · murder of a journalist· 42 · 3 The Murder D uring a golf outing on sunday, July 11, Don Mellett told his partner, Vic Merson, who was on the Daily News’s advertising staff, about the now-frequent threats against his life.1 increasing the pressure was Don’s revelation that he had discovered who killed Paul “Mooney” Kitzig in August 1921. Friends and family knew that if Don did solve the Kitzig murder, it could be very dangerous for him.2 The deeper Mellett got into Canton’s underworld, the more dangerous it was for him, whether he printed what he uncovered or not. it was very risky for the vice lords to have a journalist closely examining their relationship with the police. The Kitzig murder was one of Canton’s important unsolved murders . on his arrest, Kitzig, a low-level driver for bootleggers running liquor from Pittsburgh to Canton and Cleveland, had been easily persuaded to turn state’s evidence. His testimony helped convict Ben rudner, son of a wealthy Canton hardware merchant, on federal liquor law violations.3 rudner had a criminal record beginning at age eighteen, when he hit an old man over the head with a pipe and robbed him of $200.4 years later he was free, pending appeal of his liquor convictions, when Kitzig was found shot in the back of the head at very close range.5 John Mellett revealed that Don had discovered the murder · 43 that a “hophead” (1920s slang for a drug addict) had killed Kitzig for $25. Then the killer himself was bumped off. The insinuation was that Ben rudner was behind it, but Don couldn’t print this accusation because his only source was an addict.6 (occasionally, Mellett had an unfortunate tendency to take informants at their word. This may have been one of those times, for the murder was not amateurish ; it had a professional air to it.) That same sunday evening, July 11, Ben rudner, who bore a passing resemblance to Al Capone in features and build, was involved in a fender bender with a contractor named D. D. Zell. There were no injuries, but Zell insisted they go to Canton police headquarters to report the damage. Ben’s unusual influence with the Canton police was highlighted when a patrolman told Zell, “your car isn’t hurt worth talking about, and you’d better let it drop or rudner is likely to knock you down.”7 No one in Mellett’s circle knew how seriously to take the threats he was receiving. Don honestly believed that his law-and-order campaign was based on principle, and he professed no personal enmity toward any individual. yet in reality, the Daily News had named names, identified criminals to prosecute and policemen to be fired. suggesting someone be fired or arrested was more serious than castigating fraternity boys for profanity, as Don had done in the college newspaper. But the Mellett brothers did not see the difference. They did not truly appreciate that bootleggers and gamblers played by different rules. rumors about threats against Mellett were abundant in the summer of 1926. Many were not credible, one reason Don seemed unfazed by them. And some he never knew about. A local attorney told Chief Lengel that rocco Ferruccio, the local Black Hand leader, had showed him a gun and said he wanted to shoot Mellett.8 (The Black Hand was a particularly violent crime organization often confused with the Mafia. secretive and poorly understood by American lawmen , the Black Hand was especially brutal and ruthless. Blowing up property and people was their specialty.) But the most credible threat came on saturday night, July 10. Don and Florence had gone out for the evening, leaving the four children with the teenaged babysitter, Helen Koons. While they were out, Helen took a strange telephone call. The caller, who refused to 44 · murder of a journalist identify himself, wanted to speak to Don Mellett. eleven-year-old evan saw the distressed look on Helen’s face and snatched the phone from her. But he could not understand the caller’s muffled voice. The next evening, sunday, July 11, at 10:30 p.m., while sitting on the front porch with Florence, the Vails, and Lloyd and his wife, Frances, Don received an anonymous telephone call: “There are three men at your garage, and they have been there several...