by Wilson Conde

Jersey City's Casa Columbo is inviting history buffs and fans of crime mysteries to a book signing with Hoboken author Holly Metz, who will discuss her book "Killing the Poormaster" at the 4 p.m. event on Nov. 16. Fran DePalma-Iozzi, Casa Colombo's programming chair, said the book chronicles the death of a Hoboken welfare official, then known as a "poormaster," in the late 1930s.

The death occurred on Feb. 25, 1938, when Hoboken's poormaster Harry Barck died during a scuffle with an unemployed resident named Joe Scutellaro. Barck suggested Scuttelaro's wife go into prostitution, rather than give Scuttelaro any public assistance benefits, Iozzi said.

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Source: http://www.nj.com/