BERKS COUNTY POLICE HEROES FUND
  • Affiliates
    BERKS LODGE #71 FOP
    READING LODGE #9 FOP
    PHILIP MELLEY MEMORIAL LODGE #65
    Follow Us!
    Facebook icon
    Important Links
    PA State Lodge
    Grand Lodge
    Berks Lodge 71 FOP
    Upcoming Events
    No Events Found
    << March 2024 >>
    S M T W T F S
    1 2
    3 4 5 6 7 8 9
    10 11 12 13 14 15 16
    17 18 19 20 21 22 23
    24 25 26 27 28 29 30
    31
  • PRIVATE TIMOTHY KELLEHER
    Updated On: May 27, 2018

    PRIVATE TIMOTHY KELLEHER
    PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE

    END OF WATCH: September 14, 1907

    Timothy Kelleher was born March 18, 1878, in County Cork, Ireland. He enlisted in the Constabulary on December 15, 1905.
    While en route to the Reading Barracks to report for duty on September 14, 1907, he heard a woman’s screams. He saw two men beating a young woman and went to her rescue. During the struggle one of the men plunged a knife into Kelleher’s side. The assailants carried his body and tossed him over a railroad embankment into a dump. His body was discovered the following morning by J. Oscar Seidel, of Reading, a Pennsylvania Railroad employee.
    The examining physician stated Kelleher died within minutes from severe lacerations. The woman, Bertha Bernhart, was located and stated that Kelleher had saved her life because the two assailants had threatened to kill her. One, Salvatore Guto, was arrested at Warwick, New York, and the other, Stefano Pucella, was apprehended at Graycourt, New York. The trial was brief, as Bernhart faced her assailants in court and identified them as the killers. On October 29, 1908, Guto was hanged at the Berks County Prison. Pucella was sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in the Eastern Penitentiary.
    Kelleher was survived by his father, Mr. Timothy X. Kelleher of County Cork, Ireland, and two brothers in Pittsburgh. Kelleher’s body was released to his brothers.


  • BERKS COUNTY POLICE HEROES FUND

    Copyright © 2024.
    All Rights Reserved.

    Powered By UnionActive

    37880 hits since Jun 01, 2018


  • Top of Page image