"I'm glad I had my revenge."

Martin Sullivan was NOT aging gracefully. He admitted to being 65 but was actually 72. His attempts to appear younger than he really was seemed laughable.

Martin was known to dye his hair, wear eyeliner, rouge and even a little lipstick. And then there was that toupee! A patch of fake hair held in place with a thin string tied under his chin. He wasn't fooling anyone, except for maybe himself. But while vain, he was probably harmless. Or was he? Well, Martin was certainly spry - as you'll see. Follow along with the map below.

Martin Sullivan was a widowed Duquesne, PA police officer who mostly worked as a traffic cop now that he was getting on in years. Whether or not Martin was guilty of raping 12-year-old Antoinette Vukelja we'll never know for sure. Within a few hours of his being arrested for that offense, Martin managed to elude the Constable entrusted to escort him to prison, then shoot 6 people - killing 5 of them. Every one of them had accused him that day and he wanted revenge.

In a span of 45 minutes, Martin managed to slip away from custody, return home to pick up his service revolver, grab additional ammunition then shoot 6 people in three different locations. He even found time to stop for a quick drink at a Polatas Resturant & Bar before committing his last murder. I've marked and numbered each stop on the map. The location of the Vukelja house is an approximation only because there is now a public park where McCrae Street* once was.


*I'd like to note that newspapers at the time, should you be researching this yourself at some point, spell McCrae as McCrea but Census records and maps from the day spell it McCrae.

Here's how it all kicked off - At 7 PM on December 17, 1936, Constable Gallagher arrived at Martin Sullivan's home and escorted him to Alderman C. Dewain King's office, which was really just the back room of King's jewelry store on 17 W. Grant Ave. That's where Martin was to hear for the first time the charges leveled against him. Martin vigorously denied sexually assaulting the girl but was told he would have to wait until the District Attorney was available before bail could be set. In the meanwhile, he was to be placed in a prison cell.

Present at that hearing was Mrs. Laura Bacon, a social worker, the parents and one brother of the young girl and Antoinette herself, who spoke so softly that Martin couldn't even hear exactly what it was he was alleged to have done. Not present was Mrs. Benda who Martin was sure had set things in motion and he was right. It WAS Mrs. Helen Benda who first told Antoinette's mother that there might be something unsavory going on.

The Bendas were well-known to Martin. Their daughter Helen had been Martin's housekeeper for 2 years, starting when she was 15-years-old. It is through Helen that Martin became acquainted with Antoinette Vukelja. The younger girl was friends with Helen and would visit the Sullivan home when Helen was there. It was rumored around town that Martin had fallen in love with Helen and at one point approached Mr. Benda's to ask her hand in marriage but he was turned down because of the significant age difference plus the fact the Helen had no interest in marrying Martin. It was believed that Martin had held a grudge against the parents since then.

Four months before the shooting, Helen had wed Lawrence Stiver, a man much closer to her age but one who would land her in trouble with the law. They'd both been arrested for larceny (the theft of two gold watches) and were incarcerated at the time of the murder spree.

Not one to hold a grudge...against Helen anyway.... Martin had kept in contact with the young woman after her marriage to Lawrence and had recently sent her a check for $6 when she'd written to complain her husband was out of work and that she had no shoes. This doesn't appear to be from his own bank account but money belonging to Helen that was coming from a Christmas savings account. Of course, Martin couldn't help but rub her face in it a little when he told Helen in a letter "I gave you six months until you would be sorry for leaving me in the way that you did. I am sorry but my guess had come true."

After Alderman King's ruling, Constable Gallagher was told to escort Martin to the police station at 12 South Second Street. Gallagher had known Martin for 30 years and so no reason to handcuff him. It was now 8:50 PM.

Upon exiting the jewelry store, Martin asked Constable Gallagher if it would be okay to stop off at his son's place first so that he could make him aware of the situation and hand over his house keys. Gallagher didn't see the harm in this. In fact, it made sense. Martin's son rented rooms above a drug store, located on the corner of Second and Priscilla.

Again, because of their longtime association, Gallagher didn't think it necessary to accompany Martin to the second floor. He instead positioned himself out on the sidewalk and waited for Martin to come back down the stairs. Gallagher had no way of knowing that Martin's son wasn't even home at the time.

Nor did Gallagher realize that Martin had no intention of coming back down those front steps; he had slipped out a back door, ran eight blocks up a hillside then sprinted the last 1/2 mile to his house. Martin was home just long enough to grab his .38 caliber Colt revolver and extra ammunition. He will reload twice that evening.

Martin then walked the two blocks from his house down to the Benda household at 10 Erwin St. Martin accused Joseph & Helen Benda of setting him up, they denied it so Martin shot them both; the two Benda sons who were present scattered. Mr. Benda died instantly; Mrs. Benda would linger for 2 hours and was found draped over the body of her dead husband. Martin left the house and reloaded.

Martin walked down to Parallel Way, turned right, walked three blocks over to another street and 50 yards to the Vukelja house at 14 McCrae Street. Martin demanded to speak with Mary Vukelja, Antoinette's mother, but she didn't want to hear what Martin had to say, so he came at her with his pistol drawn. Mary's son Milan, aged 23, got between them and grappled with Martin for control of the gun. Milan was shot. Martin took a moment to replace his toupee then shot Joseph Vukelja, Antoinette's father, in the hip. Joseph would live to testify against Martin.

Antoinette, also a witness to the carnage in her own home, had run down into the cellar with Martin, brandishing a fireplace poker, hot on her heels; she would escape through a window and later testify in court. Martin quickly changed direction and ran up the stairs to kill Mrs. Vukelja who had barricaded herself behind a bedroom door. Martin used the poker to pry the door open but he was too late. Mary Vukelja had already climbed out the 2nd floor window, onto a porch roof then dropped to the ground. Martin dashed down the stairs and out of the house. Mrs. Vukelja was on the front lawn screaming for help, "Police! Police!" Martin walked up to her, said "Here he is" and shot her twice - once in the abdomen and once in the head.

Martin walked away, tossed the spent shell casings in an alley between Auril and Catherine then reloaded.

Martin next walked down Aurilles St to Priscilla Ave and reunited with the clueless Constable Gallagher. Martin had been gone about 35 minutes. Gallagher had spent that time hanging out in front of the store talking to passersby, including his sister.

Martin suggested they go to have a quick drink together at the Mike Polatas Hotel at 408 S. Second Street. Whiskey for Martin and a beer for Gallagher. Martin paid.

Martin had been telling Constable Gallagher throughout that he was being framed and just wanted to have a quick word with Mrs. Bacon, the social worker assigned to the case and a woman of influence. They'd be passing by her house anyway as they went to the police station. Martin wasn't sure which house was hers so they stopped at a stranger's house first to ask. The address they were looking for was 229 South Second Street. Gallagher would testify that before he knew what was happening Martin was knocking on her front door. Mrs. Bacon's son-in-law Howard Weisen answered the door; Howard notified Mrs. Bacon that two men wished to have a word with her. Martin and Laura briefly discussed the plausibility of the charges he was facing. Martin didn't like what Mrs. Bacon had to say so he shot her. She would die shortly thereafter.

Martin refused to hand over his gun but he did surrender at once to a startled Constable Gallagher, who was still completely unaware that his good friend Martin had already shot 5 other people. Together they walked up 2nd Street to the Police Station.

Martin's rationale was that if they were determined to see him sent to prison, he'd make sure he had his revenge first. He always maintained that he'd never molested that young girl and it was a frame job. Then why not wait for a trial and prove your innocence? Maybe it was because Antoinette's brother got in Martin's face at the hearing and told him "I will get a mob and have you lynched before you get away from here."

I know it sounds like I'm leaning towards Martin being innocent of the rape charges but honestly, I'm not. I have no idea what, if anything, happened between Martin and Helen or Martin and Antoinette. Martin denied himself of the right to go to trial and prove he was innocent when he chose to kill 5 of the people who would have testified for the prosecution.

Martin was found guilty of 5 counts of first degree murder in May of 1937 and sentenced to die in the electric chair. When the verdict was read, Martin told his court appointed attorney "I don't give a damn. I'm an old man now. I don't care. It's just that this verdict is a disgrace to my family. I don't care except for that."

Martin appeared, not only unrepentant throughout the proceedings, but almost giddy at times. Some questioned his sanity. It was determined that he was sane and sober at the time he committed the crimes but he soon started to crack under the pressure of waiting for the execution to happen. Martin was suffering from night terrors and could be heard screaming in his jail cell. Some offered that it was the ghosts of his victims come back to haunt him.

Martin stated that he wasn't afraid to die but had hoped to escape the electric chair. He joked that it would be funny if the van transporting him to the death house crashed and killed him instantly.

Martin would finally take a seat in Old Sparky on Mach 21, 1938 after two reprieves. He continued to deny he'd ever molested Antoinette Vukelja saying "I wouldn't do a thing like that. I was defending my character. That's all a poor man has, his character."

Helen Stiver nee' Benda and her husband Lawrence would be arrested again in October 1941 on an attempted burglary charge for trying to enter the Dublin township, PA home of Alice C. Harper at 2 AM. Police found them afterwards, hitchhiking along the road; they claimed to be seeking employment amongst the farming community. The Stivers denied the charge. Lawrence was on parole at the time; he'd been arrested for burglarizing a home in March of 1938 while Helen was still serving time on the previous larceny charge.


And what of Constable Gallagher whose misplaced trust in Martin Sullivan made this murder spree possible? The Constable was arrested right alongside his friend and charged with, according to Judge M.A. Musmanno, "a dereliction of duty that is appalling to contemplate." Bail was set at $20,000. In December of 1936, Gallagher was charged with malfeasance in office and permitting a prisoner to escape. If convicted he was facing a maximum of 11 years in prison and a $1,000 fine. In January 1937, Gallagher waived a hearing and was found guilty of 2 counts of criminal negligence and obviously forced to resign. Gallagher served two years in prison before being paroled in February 1939, thanks in large part to a petition signed by 2000 Duquesne residents on his behalf that was submitted to the court asking for leniency.