100 years ago in The Record
Friday, Nov. 15, 1918. Francisco Otti, the man accused of murdering a coworker at the Buffalo Blast Furnace in South Troy last Monday, is arrested in the city of Buffalo tonight.
Otti allegedly shot Michael Kutz of Green Island through the heart at pointblank range with a .32 caliber revolver, believing that Kutz had informed a foreman that Otti was carrying the weapon. Otti had been brandishing the gun in the company locker room after getting sent home early for coming to work drunk on the day Trojans celebrated the end of the world war.
Bank transactions pointed the way to Otti. Learning that he had an account with a local bank, Troy chief detective Edward Flanagan instructed the bank to notify him of any account activity.
Today, the bank informs Flanagan that they’d received a request to transfer Otti’s balance to a Buffalo bank. Flanagan contacts his Buffalo counterparts, who take Otti into custody at the bank.
Detective John Lawrenson and district attorney’s special officer Marcus O. Jones are dispatched to Buffalo to claim Otti. After confessing to the Buffalo police, Otti tells the Troy officers that he shot Kutz because “the latter called him a foul name and made a grab for his face with his fingers.” He claims that “he had no trouble with Kitz before last Monday night” and “gave no sign of regret for what he did and took the situation, which may mean the forfeit of his life, quietly.” Otti is expected back in Troy tomorrow night. He will be arraigned for first-degree murder next Monday. Troy Schools May Not Get Sage Money After reporting earlier this week that RPI and the Emma Willard School could get additional millions of dollars from the estate of the late Olivia Slocum Sage, The Record today admits that its initial report was in error. It was already unclear whether RPI would get the entire $750,000 or Emma Willard the entire $1,500,000 promised in Sage’s will. On the understanding that the will had been signed in October 1908, our reporter speculated that monetary gifts Sage had given to each school between then and her death earlier this month would be counted against the bequests. Our writer blames the New York Sun, which originally reported the filing of the will, for getting the document’s date wrong. Sage actually signed it in 1906, before her largest donations to both schools, which now must also be counted against the bequests. That most likely wipes out RPI’s bequest entirely, while what Emma Willard gets depends on its legal relationship with Russell Sage College, another major beneficiary of Sage’s largesse.