On This Date in Minnesota History: November 20

November 20, 1903 – A bloody stiletto with a broken tip was found this morning under the Franklin avenue bridge in Minneapolis. It is believed to have belonged to Tony Calderone, now being sought by police for his participation in the Nov. 18 murder of Salvadore Battalia.

A bloody handkerchief, with Calderone’s initials, was picked up in Prospect Park.

A broken bowie knife, smeared with blood, believed to have belonged to Battalia, was found beneath the bridge.

Indications about the scene of the murder point to an accomplice, but Calderone appears to be the only Italian missing from the two cities. Neither has there been a man found suffering from wounds such as the murderers of Battalia must have received in the struggle.

St. Paul Dispatch; “Search for Murderer, Police of Opinion That Tony Calderone Killed Italian on Franklin Bridge, The Man is Missing from Usual Haunts, Discover of a Stilleto and Bloody Handkerchief  Under the Bridge.”; Nov. 20, 1903; p. 19.

Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain November 20, 2013,
as long as acknowledgement included.

The fact that police could count the number of Italians in Minneapolis-St. Paul in 1903 is fascinating to me. Obviously, there were ethnic communities, but to be able to know that one individual is unaccounted for shows how much the Twin Cities population has grown.