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

2013 NJCH Award Winner
 
On February 25, 1938, Hobokens reviled poormaster, Harry Barckwielding power over who received public aiddied. Barck was murdered, the prosecution would assert, by an unemployed mason named Joe Scutellaro. In denying Scutellaro money, Barck had suggested that the mans wife prostitute herself rather than ask the city for aid. The men scuffled. Scutellaro insisted Barck fell on his own paper spike; the police claimed he grabbed the spike and stabbed Barck in the heart. A team led by celebrated attorney Samuel Leibowitz of Scottsboro Boys fame argued that Scutellaros struggle with the poormaster was a symbol of larger social ills. The issues examined in Killing the Poormastermassive unemployment, endemic poverty, and the inadequacy of public assistanceremain vital today.