web1_casale_edit.jpg

When to speak to your doctor about back pain

web1_Ubaldini.jpeg

Police: Two arrested, including wanted fugitive with heroin, during Hazleton chase

<p>Amateur boxer Nicholas Sura, who went by the ring name &#8220;Kid Bozo,&#8221; was enraged his wife, Irene Sura, left him and their two children during the summer of 1943.</p><p>Sura would follow his wife where ever she went, insisting she return home at 389 S. Empire St. in Wilkes-Barre to care for their children.</p><p>Irene Sura&#8217;s persistence not to return was too much for Sura, 42, who was employed by the Glen Alden Coal Co. as a coal miner at the Wanamie Colliery in Newport Township.</p><p>Shortly before 8 a.m. on Dec. 9, 1943, as Irene Sura, 35, and her sister, Gabriela Beck, 28, arrived at Woodbury Mill, a garment manufacturer on Woodbury Street in Hanover Township, Sura attacked them with an axe, the Wilkes-Barre Evening News reported Dec. 9, 1943. </p><p>Woodbury Mill manufactured hammocks, nets and flags under a contract with the United States Department of War during World War II, according to the Wilkes-Barre Record newspaper on Oct. 29, 1943.</p><p>&#8220;While they were getting out of the car, a man sprang at them in the darkness, wielding an axe. He struck one one of the women over the head several times as she sank screaming to the ground. He then turned on the other sister and struck her as she attempted to get out of the machine (vehicle),&#8221; the Evening News reported Dec. 9, 1943.</p><p>A Keith Street resident outside with his dog at the time of the attack and two employees at the mill heard the screams and saw a man running away.</p><p>Irene Sura recovered from her head injuries. Beck died several hours later at Mercy Hospital, Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>Beck&#8217;s husband, Henry Beck, would not learn of his wife&#8217;s passing until he arrived home. Henry Beck was a truck driver and delivered furniture to a store in Binghamton, New York, on Dec. 9, 1943., the Evening News reported Dec. 10, 1943.</p><p>Township Police Chief Herbert Woodeschick, Luzerne County Det. Henry Jones and state police trooper Richard Flick investigated the brutal assault.</p><p>Sura was detained later on Dec. 9, 1943, as he emerged from his South Empire Street home with a dog and carrying a shotgun. He told investigators he was taking the dog to determine if the animal was gunshy.</p><p>Sura initially denied being at the scene, telling investigators he had an alibi. He later recanted and admitted he attacked his wife and sister-in-law.</p><p>Sura&#8217;s trial took place in Luzerne County Court in February 1944 before Judge Thomas F. Farrell. </p><p>Sura&#8217;s lawyers, Edward F. McGovern and Michael Bohan, made a plea for clemency while District Attorney Leon Schwartz asked for a first-degree murder conviction and death penalty.</p><p>A jury of seven women and five men deliberated for 23 hours over three days, convicting Sura of second-degree murder. The jury, which was sequestered during the trial and deliberations, was deadlocked on first-degree murder, the Evening News reported Feb. 11, 1944.</p><p>As Sura was escorted by sheriff deputies to the elevator after the jury&#8217;s verdict was announced, his two children rushed to kiss and hug him.</p><p>Farrell sentenced Sura to 8-to-16 years in prison he served at the Eastern Penitentiary. Before he was shipped to state prison, Sura was granted permission to see his children in the county jail&#8217;s library, the Evening News reported Feb. 14, 1944.</p><p>Sura was denied parole several times in the late 1940s and 1950s. He died Jan. 2, 1982 at Summit Health Care Center in Wilkes-Barre, the Times Leader reported Jan. 5, 1982.</p><p>Irene Sura remarried and died Jan. 7, 1995, at Wyoming Valley Health Care Center in Plains Township. Her obituary, published in the Times Leader Jan. 9, 1995, listed Sura as her first husband. </p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_Nicholas-Sura-Evening-News-12101943.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nicholas Sura - Wilkes-Barre Evening News Dec. 10, 1943 </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_Nicholas-Sura-Evening-News-12101943.jpg</photo0><caption0>Nicholas Sura - Wilkes-Barre Evening News Dec. 10, 1943 </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Amateur boxer attacked wife, sister-in-law in 1943