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Two days after Christmas in 1929, 18-year-old Joseph Pollard was nearing the end of working a double shift at Grey Auto Service Station at 901 Wyoming Ave., Kingston.
				Pollard, who pumped gasoline and checked oil on vehicles, was busy counting the day&rsquo;s receipts and became distracted when a man entered and asked to use the lavatory.
				&ldquo;Pollard had placed in a safe all of the money except some pennies which he was counting when his attention was diverted from his work by a remark from the strange man who asked if there was a toilet in the establishment,&rdquo; reported the Evening News on Dec. 28, 1929.
				Pollard directed the man outside when the stranger suddenly pulled out a revolver.
				&ldquo;Pollard resisted but the odds were against him in his battle with the armed bandit and he fell to the floor mortally wounded,&rdquo; the Evening News reported. Pollard, who lived on Cayuga Street, Forty Fort, died at 4:20 a.m. on Dec. 28, 1929, at Nesbitt Memorial Hospital in Kingston.
				The armed bandit opened the safe and fled.
				Three hours after the fatal armed robbery, about 2 a.m., Wilkes-Barre policemen Frank Flynn noticed a man walking across the Market Street Bridge without wearing a hat and an overcoat. Flynn stopped the man and asked where he was going.
				&ldquo;He said that he was bound for Ashley and he resided on Ashley Street. A subsequent checkup convinced the policemen that the address did not exist,&rdquo; the Evening News reported.
				Flynn detained the man who identified himself as Fred Wilkins and said he worked in the coal mines.
				An investigation later showed Wilkins&rsquo; true identity was Wilfred Flood, 23, a career robber from Michigan.
				Flood&rsquo;s overcoat was found at the murder scene, the Evening News reported.
				A witness walking past the Grey Auto Service Station at the time of the shooting identified Flood as the gunman.
				When Flood was confronted with the witness&rsquo; accounts and blood on his shirt, he confessed to the fatal shooting, the Evening News reported.
				County detectives and state policemen learned Flood was with two other men, John Matlack, of Swoyersville, and Wallace Lapinski when Pollard was killed.
				When Flood&rsquo;s revolver fired during the struggle, Matlack and Lapinski sped away in a vehicle leaving Flood to flee on foot.
				Flood&rsquo;s trial began Feb. 4, 1930, before Luzerne County Judge William Alfred Valentine.
				Testifying in his own defense, Flood said he was intoxicated when he entered the service station intending to rob the business.
				&ldquo;Guilty of murder in the first degree and with death as the penalty was the verdict returned by the jury at 4:30 yesterday afternoon in the case of Wilfred Flood,&rdquo; reported the Wilkes-Barre Record on Feb. 7, 1930.
				The jury deliberated about one hour before finding Flood guilty.
				Lapinski and Matlack fled to New York where they used fake names. Lapinski was captured in Detroit, Mich., in March 1931, and Matlack was caught in New York City on June 14, 1931.
				In return for Flood&rsquo;s testimony, District Attorney Thomas M. Lewis was successful in commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment.
				Flood testified against Lapinski and Matlack, telling jurors they took advantage of his intoxication when they convinced him to rob the service station. Matlack stayed inside the vehicle as Lapinski stood in the doorway when Flood brandished the revolver at Pollard, the Wilkes-Barre Record reported Sept. 21, 1931.
				Lapinski and Matlack were both found guilty of first degree murder and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
				The three convicted murderers had their life sentences commuted in 1948 by Gov. James H. Duff on recommendations of the State Pardon Board, according to news reports from the Times Leader, Evening News and the Wilkes-Barre Record.

Look Back: Teen fatally shot during 1929 holiday season