Sep 12, 1929: Recently Dispensed Gardener Shoots Former Employer in Cold Blood

September 12, 1929 was a dry, warm day in Euclid Village. Situated north of Euclid Avenue was a picturesque white, wood framed house perched upon an 18-acre estate owned by Joseph and Barbara Irr. Joseph Irr was president of the Cleveland Billiard Supply House and was a former Euclid Village Councilperson. His wife, Barbara (nee Diebolt) Irr, was the heir to the Cleveland brewing company of the same name.

A brief history of the Diebolt Brewing Company: 

The Diebolt Brewing Company was a small, family-run brewery in Cleveland, Ohio, that operated from the late 19th century until the late 1920s. It was founded in 1888 as a partnership between Anthony J. Diebolt and August Uehlin, initially named Diebolt & Uehlin. A year later, Uehlin was replaced by Edward A. Ruble, and by 1892, the brewery became known simply as the Diebolt Brewing Company. It was located on Pittsburgh Avenue, near the intersection of Jackson (now E. 27th) Street.

The brewery became well-known during a period when many German immigrants were establishing Cleveland's brewing industry, helping to introduce lager to the local population. Despite its success, the brewery shut down in 1928 to make way for the Union Terminal development, marking the end of its brewing operations. The company officers transitioned to the real estate business, forming the Diebolt Co. in the Keith Building. The brewery's stable, which housed beerwagon horses, remained standing until 1980, when it was torn down to make way for a new post office​.

 

Looking east along Pittsburgh Ave. and the Diebolt Brewery, 1922. Cleveland Memory

 

Late August, 1929, Michael (aka Michele) DiTirro, an Italian immigrant living in East Cleveland, went to New York. Reasons differ as to why, but two are given: He had a wife and children there, or he went there seeking out relief for a rheumatic injury that had been his affliction for 3 years. Upon his return to Euclid Village during the first week of September, 1929, DiTirro found out that he had been replaced as gardener of the Irr estate. He had been in the employ there for 17 years. Was he fired, or did he voluntarily give up his position? Either way, he was replaced by a man named Joe Paratore, one of five people who would later be called as a witness in the murder case.

DiTirro tried all manner of getting his job back, resorting to begging and pleading with any member of the family who would listen. After the murder, members of the family and servants claimed DiTirro promised he would bomb the home if he were not reinstated. 

 

September 12, 1929

On the morning of September 12, DiTirro left his home at 2119 East 125th Street without eating breakfast and headed to the Irr home. Upon arriving at the Euclid Village home, he spoke with Paratore, the new gardener, again. Paratore told him in no minced words to leave. 

 

Michael DiTirro was allowed a small plot of land to use as he saw fit while employed there, and he picked some of the corn he had grown and placed it in a basket. He approached the back porch of the home, where he found Mrs. Irr. She may have been sitting at the kitchen table when he arrived with his basket of corn. He again begged for his job back and told Barbara Irr that Paratore had to go, having "threatened to run (DiTirro) out of Cleveland if he kept coming around."

Barbara Irr then agreed with Paratore's position and told DiTirro he was a good employee and that she was fine with Paratore telling him to go. She then told DiTirro to leave, or she'd summon the police. Conflicting reports say what happens next happens either on the back porch or in the kitchen of the home. 

"I asked her then, how about my grapes, how about my corn, how about my hay stored in the barn?" DiTirro said. He said Barbara then doubled down on her statement about sending for the police and then flipped a towel at him.

DiTirro produced a .32 caliber pistol and shot Barbara Irr once. She fell to the ground immediately, but DiTirro shot her twice more in the head.

 

Michele (Michele) DiTirro

Theresa Mosser, the maid, was in the basement when the shooting occurred. She immediately found Barbara and called the police and a doctor. Meanwhile, DiTirro had left in his automobile.

After DiTirro had spoken to the new gardener Paratore, he snuck into the room of the chauffeur, Morgan R. Fritz. It was in Fritz's room that DiTirro found the .32 caliber pistol.

Where was DiTirro going? He first went to the location of the recently torn-down police department to find it was gone. He then walked into a butcher shop and asked where the police station went. The butcher pointed him in the right direction, and DiTirro went straight there. 

Sergeant John Kosler had already departed for the Irr estate when DiTirro walked in to find Chief Frank Batchelor and patrolman Jerry Sullivan about to follow suit. DiTirro shook Sullivan's hand and said, "Put me in a cell. Lock 'em up." When Batchelor and Sullivan tried to brush DiTirro off, he then plainly told the officers, "No, no! Here, I kill her." He handed over the .32 caliber on the spot.

 

Barbara Irr was dead at 62 years old, cause of death homicide, gunshot wound to the brain. She left behind her husband and four adult children.

 

September 13, 1929

 

Cuyahoga County assistant prosecutor Emerich Freed called the slaying "the clearest case of first-degree murder to come into the prosecutor's office this year."

 

DiTirro's defense attorney, Salvatore Lo Presti, stated that if an indictment was returned, he would enter a plea of insanity. DiTirro refused to even discuss the murder with his representation, stating, "I've been talking to the prosecutors and reporters for three hours and I'm tired. Go cheer up my wife and children."

Five witnesses subpoenaed for the case were gardener Joe Paratore; Matthias Diebolt, Barbara's brother and someone who DiTirro had badgered about being rehired; chauffeur Morgan Fritz, who owned the murder weapon; maid Theresa Mosser; and Sergeant John Kosler of the Euclid Village police.

The Evening Review, September 13, 1929

September 14, 1929

 

Barbara Diebolt-Irr's obituary from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

 

September 18, 1929

Mike DiTirro pleads not guilty in the murder of Barbara Irr by reason of insanity.

November 1, 1929

DiTirro took the stand in his trial. When cross-examined by prosecutor Ray Miller DiTirro gave the full story of the murder, but had earlier testified he was unable to remember any details regarding the slaying. He also testified that he had been charged and convicted 17 years earlier for a shooting. He received probation, and his victim made a full recovery. Prosecutor Miller had no doubt that DiTirro's defense of "emotional insanity" would not stand up. The state was seeking the death penalty.

November 4, 1929

Mike DiTirro was found guilty of the murder of Barbara Irr but avoided the death penalty.

Defiance Crescent News, November 4, 1929

Michael DiTirro received a life sentence that November. 

Late 1934

Ohio Governor George White gave DiTirro an early release after serving just five years of his life sentence. Upon his release, DiTirro was required to be returned to his native Italy, never to return to the United States. DiTirro was released and deported back to Italy, but...

Just 18 months later, in February 1936, an anonymous tip was called in to Cleveland police detectives that DiTirro was back. Upon visiting his wife's home in Cleveland, they found 41-year-old DiTirro in bed, asleep. They brought him in, and he admitted to having "paid plenty" for a fake passport that allowed him back into the United States.

In the 1940 census, his wife Marianna and three children are living at the same Murray Hill address as they were in 1930, but his Marianna tells the census taker she was a widow. She was not. Likely they were divorced, although I'm not sure when that occurred. She married again 7 months later, in November 1940.

I can't nail him down on the 1950 census, either. I suppose with a pardon from the governor in 1934, he was free and clear. If at any time he went back to Italy again, he would end up back in the United States. He was residing in Lorain, Ohio, when he passed away on March 30, 1970. It would appear he served just 5 years for his crime. He is buried in Lorain's Calvary Cemetery.

Barbara Diebolt-Irr is buried in Cleveland's Calvary Cemetery along with her husband, Joseph Irr, who died about 16 months after his wife.

Today, where the Irr estate and its orchards and gardens once stood is the Euclid-Richmond Shopping Center. The land for the "old plank road" property was deeded from the village to Barbara in 1925. Apples were still being grown and sold from the orchard there as late as 1944. Euclid-Richmond shopping center opened September 18, 1952.