By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff
The July 23 edition of the Reader republished a Northern Idaho News story from June 25, 1912, announcing the arrest of Joseph Caprai for the murder of one Charles Falcone, both “prominent members of the Italian colony at Priest River.” While that snippet reported the case as cut and dry, the reality of the unsolved crime is anything but.
The story began around Nov. 18, 1899, when Falcone decided to visit his hometown in the Old Country. According to his banker, Falcone had amassed $700 in savings — the equivalent of approximately $28,000 today — and shortly before his death bought a ticket to Italy and withdrew $150 in cash. He then visited his old friend Caprai, and that was the last anyone saw of him.
Most assumed he’d gone back to Italy, leaving his cattle in the care of Frank Stewart.
“Mr. Stewart said that he took the cattle and kept them for about two weeks, when Caprai came and took the cattle away, saying that he had purchased them from Falcone,” reported the News.
Of course, at this point, Falcone was dead, but residents didn’t suspect anything until an “ill-mannered man” was arrested while attempting to sell Falcone’s ticket to Italy. The man confirmed that Caprai had given him the ticket “to dispose of,” and the mayor of Falcone’s hometown later confirmed that he never made it to Italy.
The case didn’t get any traction for 13 years, until Charles Bossio hired private detective Eugene Montroy to “run down the murderers of his brother,” Henry Bossio, who was shot and killed in his home on May 20, 1912. Montroy uncovered evidence linking Caprai to both crimes, and police arrested him. The News reported that Falcone was buried on Caprai’s farm, and that the police knew the “exact spot”; however, investigators never found the body.
The July 9, 1912, edition of the News opened its newest story with, “Released on the charge of murdering one man, only to be immediately arrested on the charge of murdering another was the fate of Joe Caprai last Saturday.”
Caprai’s lawyers had argued, essentially, “no body, no crime,” and the case of Falcone’s murder was thrown out. However, after Caprai’s arrest, residents of Priest River began to talk, and they all suspected he was Bossio’s murderer.
“Up to the time he was arrested they would not divulge anything that they were suspicious of as they were afraid that they would meet the fate of the other two men,” reported the News.
Gossip at the time maintained that Bossio and Caprai had a dispute over a “wood contract”; and, in retaliation, Bossio threatened to tell the police about crimes Caprai had committed before arriving in Idaho.
“It is stated that Bossio was killed because he knew too much concerning the past life of Caprai,” reported the News.
That being said, Caprai didn’t match the description given by Bossio’s wife, the only witness to his murder. She described the murderer as a clean-shaven Swede in a black coat and derby hat. Why? Perhaps, as the News speculated, because Annie Caprai Bossio was also Joe Caprai’s niece.
She later recanted her description, and The Pend Oreille Review reported, “Girl-wife accuses her uncle of murder.” Annie, “a comely Italian woman of 18,” testified that on the night of the murder her husband had jumped out of bed, grabbed a shotgun and gone to investigate what he suspected was someone in the chicken coop. After hearing a shot, Annie allegedly ran out to find her husband dead and Caprai standing near the body. He shot at her three times while she ran to a neighboring hotel, run by a “Mrs. Krenka.”
Krenka’s testimony muddied the waters, however, as she noted that Annie arrived at the hotel almost fully dressed and calm, despite the murder of her husband. That could be because, according to the defense, Bossio suspected Annie of having an affair with one or both of his brothers, Peter and Charles.
“He said if she did not mind him he would kill her,” said Krenka. “I told him he shouldn’t say that and he said she belonged to him and she would mind him or he would kill her and kill himself.”
After that, four witnesses testified to Caprai’s alibi, and the case was thrown out.
The final mention of the gruesome business came in the Aug. 14, 1914 edition of the News, which announced Annie’s marriage to Charles.
“This marriage calls to mind the Priest River tragedy of two years ago [when] Mrs. Bossio’s husband, brother of Charles Bossio, her present husband, being done to death by party or parties unknown. Her uncle Joe Caprai, was accused of the crime and tried and acquitted and the affair still remains a mystery.”
