Helena Wojtczak
08-22-2011, 02:09 PM
In connection with my forthcoming book, I am struck by the fact that the only information about Klosowski's activities in the USA all emanate from one solitary newspaper report that has never been corroborated.
All the witnesses at the trial ever said was that he went to the USA then Lucy returned after about 6 months then he returned about five months after her. Nothing about a barber shop or a knife.
One newspaper report stated that they had gone to NJ, opened a barber shop, and he had attacked Lucy and after she found a knife under the pillow, threatened to cut off her head and bury her.
Given the amount of nonsense I have found in the newspapers, I am very sceptical of this story's provenance.
Lucy did not give evidence. Her siblings did but never mention New Jersey, a barber shop OR the knife incident. Klosowski didn't give evidence, either.
So, if that press report (it was the Daily Chronicle, 23 March 1903) was an invention, then we have absolutely no idea what Klosowski did in the USA, where he lived, and whether he ever even HAD a barber shop. let alone attacked Lucy.
Any comments?
Helena
PS Here it is in full:
"Klosowski’s real wife, Lucy Klosowski, who was present in the Central Criminal Court last week, has made a startling statement as to what occurred in the New Jersey shop. She states that on one occasion, when she had had a quarrel with her husband, he held her down on the bed, and pressed his face against her mouth to keep her from screaming. At that moment a customer entered the shop immediately in front of the room, and Klosowski got up to attend him. The woman chanced to see a handle protruding from underneath the pillow. She found, to her horror, that it was a sharp and formidable knife, which she promptly hid. Later, Klosowski deliberately told her that he meant to have cut her head off, and pointed to a place in the room where he meant to have buried her. She said, ‘But the neighbours would have asked where I had gone to.’ ‘Oh,’ retorted Klosowski, calmly, ‘I should simply have told them that you had gone back to New York.’" Daily Chronicle 23 March 1903.
All the witnesses at the trial ever said was that he went to the USA then Lucy returned after about 6 months then he returned about five months after her. Nothing about a barber shop or a knife.
One newspaper report stated that they had gone to NJ, opened a barber shop, and he had attacked Lucy and after she found a knife under the pillow, threatened to cut off her head and bury her.
Given the amount of nonsense I have found in the newspapers, I am very sceptical of this story's provenance.
Lucy did not give evidence. Her siblings did but never mention New Jersey, a barber shop OR the knife incident. Klosowski didn't give evidence, either.
So, if that press report (it was the Daily Chronicle, 23 March 1903) was an invention, then we have absolutely no idea what Klosowski did in the USA, where he lived, and whether he ever even HAD a barber shop. let alone attacked Lucy.
Any comments?
Helena
PS Here it is in full:
"Klosowski’s real wife, Lucy Klosowski, who was present in the Central Criminal Court last week, has made a startling statement as to what occurred in the New Jersey shop. She states that on one occasion, when she had had a quarrel with her husband, he held her down on the bed, and pressed his face against her mouth to keep her from screaming. At that moment a customer entered the shop immediately in front of the room, and Klosowski got up to attend him. The woman chanced to see a handle protruding from underneath the pillow. She found, to her horror, that it was a sharp and formidable knife, which she promptly hid. Later, Klosowski deliberately told her that he meant to have cut her head off, and pointed to a place in the room where he meant to have buried her. She said, ‘But the neighbours would have asked where I had gone to.’ ‘Oh,’ retorted Klosowski, calmly, ‘I should simply have told them that you had gone back to New York.’" Daily Chronicle 23 March 1903.