The Murder of Peter Cutler

Hardware merchant Peter Cutler was murdered in November 1932, setting in motion one of the largest manhunts in northeastern Pennsylvania history.Local newspapers followed every twist of the dark Prohibition era investigation, the dramatic capture of the violent outlaws known as the "Ashley Desperadoes," and the sensational Luzerne County courtroom proceedings that followed. Yet over time, the sensational crime was remembered while the victim himself was largely forgotten.Drawing on years of archival research, official court records, historical newspapers, and rich genealogical discoveries, Harry Karp delivers a gripping historical true crime narrative. He reconstructs not only the brutal murder and the intense hunt that followed through the Wyoming Valley, but the life of the immigrant merchant at the center of the story-restoring Peter Cutler to the Pennsylvania coal country history from which he quietly disappeared.