1914-12-30st

“Ruffino Raefelli, charged with the murder of Catani Mileni, received his preliminary hearing before Magistrate Jelfs this morning and was committed for trial.”

Hamilton Spectator.   December 30, 1914.

It had been a brutal incident, resulting in a death. A coroner’s jury had been hastily called and after a short session at the Sherman Avenue Police Station returned the following verdict:

“We find that Catani Mileni came to his death from a bullet wound, caused by a revolver in the hands of Ruffino Raefelli”¹

¹ “Raefelli Fired First at George Gherri”

Hamilton Spectator.   December 39, 1914.

The next morning Raefelli was taken to the Hamilton Police Court :

“Raefelli was not represented by counsel, and he appeared to treat the case as just an unfortunate incident in his checkered career. He promised that he would secure counsel before he was placed on trial for his life at the high court.”¹

Practically the same evidence which had been presented at the coroner’s inquest was given, more formally, at the police court hearing.

The evidence was summarized in the Spectator as follows :

“George Gherri, the man who the crown is endeavoring to prove, was intended to be Raefelli’s victim, repeated his story of the quarelling that led up to the shooting.

“He said that Galileo Gherri, his younger brother, had a quarrel with Ruffino on the morning of Sunday, December 20. Raefelli said that the Italian flag was the best flag in the world. Young Gherri said that it wasn’t the best flag, because Italians had to go to other countries to get work.

“Then he told Raefelli that he didn’t understand what he was talking about. Raefelli, the witness stated, immediately pulled a knife and tried to stab young Gherri He was finally quieted and the party dispersed.

“Later in the afternoon, the witness and his brother called at Raefelli’s boarding house, 245 Brant street. They both said ‘Hello,’ and Raefelli replied ‘Hello, wait a minute.’

“The prisoner went into his bedroom and returned with a revolver in his hand. Then he pointed it at the brothers and said, ‘Get the h--- out.’ The Gherri brothers did leave, but called at the house in the evening to make friends with Raefelli. George and Raefelli shook hands in the dining room and Raefelli, the witness stated, wheeled around, entered his bedroom and walked back to the dining room with a revolver in his hand. He took aim at George Gherri, pulled the trigger and said, ‘That’s for you.’

“Catani Mileni, who had no part in the argument, and who was standing with his left side towards Raefelli, crumpled to the floor, mortally wounded. Raefelli fired again at Gherri, and said, ‘And that’s for you,’ but the second bullet just burned a hole through the back of Gherri’s coat, and Gherri ran from the house, and dodged through an alley until he reached his home.”¹

In the are around Sherman avenue, north of Barton street, there were many boarding houses which offered cheap accommodation to new immigrants, especially those who had found employment in one of the nearby industries. Many of the boarding houses held dozens of boarders each, virtually every room was used as a bedroom, and some were occupied on a shift basis, so that when a boarder was at work, someone else would use the bed.

At the previous evening’s inquest, over a dozen Italians who were in the boarding house at the time of the shooting, gave testimony.Those men were not at the police court.

Hamilton Police detective Shirley had inspected the scene of the crime and testified that he had found three bullets buried in the wainscoting in the dining room.

Magistrate Jelfs immediately picked up on the number of bullets which had been located:

“ ‘But there has been no evidence that more than two shots were fired by this man,’ said the magistrate.

“ ‘No, because those witnesses don’t want to tell all they know. We are trying to prove, too, that someone fired back at Raefelli, but we aren’t making much headway. Business was meant, that’s for certain,’ replied Mr. Washington, crown attorney.”¹

Generally, the Italians who had been quite loquacious at the inquest were non-factors at the police court. Someone had been pressuring the witnesses to not make any trouble for Raefelli.

It was learned that Raefelli, before coming to Hamilton, had worked at Port Nichol, as part of a gang of 130 men. Each man had to pay Raefelli $1 each week to keep peace with him.

The police court appearance was not very lengthy as it was a foregone conclusion that Raefelli would be sent to jail until his trial at the next assize.

In a corner of the police courtroom, all be herself, was a person badly affected by the events at the boarding house:
          “Mileni’s pretty little Italian bride of three weeks, sat through the hearing this morning and sobbed bitterly.”¹