Arthur Edmund Seriva (abt. 1910 - 1923)

Born about Jan 1910 in Taunton, Bristol, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Died 5 May 1923 at about age 13 in Taunton, Massachusetts, USA

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Biography

Arthur Edmund Saraiva was the brutally murdered 13 year old son of Miguel Jarriello Saraiva and Maria Coucine (Carvalho) Saraiva. He was the first of his family to be born in the USA after they immigrated here from Vila Franca do Campo, Sao Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal. Although his exact birth date is unknown, the 1910 Census has him as being 3 months old when his family's information was provided on April 15th, 1910. Arthur was sometimes called Eddie as reported by newspapers at the time.

He was found on May 7th, 1923 badly mangled at the bottom of a hole in a gravel pit at the end of Silver Street Extension in Taunton Massachusetts. The police first assumed due to the large amount of physical damage that Arthur had been run over, and dumped by the driver to cover up the crime. After autopsy, however, it was found that the cuts were clearly from a knife, and that the only broken bone was his neck in a way consistent only with manual separation by another person. He was murdered.

After a botched investigation by the idiots at the Taunton Police Department, the murder was found to be 35 year old convict Frederick Baker, but the District Attorney was not confident in the conviction. Before the official autopsy results were released, the police detectives were so sure he had been run over that they got Arthur's best friend to state that he saw Arthur get run over by a truck, and had it announced in the paper. The next day when the autopsy results were released, the boy admitted he was scared of the police and agreed with everything they said to avoid being sent back to Lyman School for Boys, the first reform school in the USA. He then gave the testimony that led to Frederick Baker, who pled down to manslaughter, spent a few years in Charlestown State Prison before being sent to Bridgewater State Farm for being too mentally incompetent for prison life. After letters to the British Consulate, where he mistakenly thought he was a citizen, and to the Canadian Consulate, he was granted permission to come back to Canada with the understanding that he may never return to the United States and would be put in the Nova Scotia Psychiatric Hospital for the Criminally Insane until the day he was considered not a threat to the public, far from the justice he deserved.

Arthur' Seriva. ^[1][2]

Edward Seriva. ^[3] Found multiple versions of name. Using Arthur Seriva.

Born ABT JAN 1910. Massachusetts^[4][5]

Died Murdered and found in a gravel pit 500 ft off Cohannet Street, Taunton. Frederick Baker convicted. ABT 5 MAY 1923. Taunton, Massachusetts, USA. ^[6]

Residence Marital Status: Single; Relation to Head of House: Son. 1920 Taunton Ward 8, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. ^[7] Marital Status: Single; Relation to Head of House: Son. 1910 Taunton Ward 3, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA. ^[8]

Photo: #M159.

File .

External Files

• File M159. File: C:\Users\jvelm\Documents\Family Tree Maker\Marvel-Bonenfant Full Merger Media\Arthur Seriva Picture.jpg. Format: jpg. Arthur Seriva Picture. May 1923. Picture from Taunton Daily Gazette after his murdered body was identified.

• External File: M159 File: C:\Users\jvelm\Documents\Family Tree Maker\Marvel-Bonenfant Full Merger Media\Arthur Seriva Picture.jpg Format: jpg Arthur Seriva Picture May 1923 Picture from Taunton Daily Gazette after his murdered body was identified.

• File M306. File: C:\Users\jvelm\Documents\Family Tree Maker\Marvel-Bonenfant Full Merger Media10 United States Federal Census(4).jpg. Format: jpg. 1910 United States Federal Census. Year: 1910; Census Place: Taunton Ward 3, Bristol, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_580; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0233; FHL microfilm: 1374593.

• File M309. File: C:\Users\jvelm\Documents\Family Tree Maker\Marvel-Bonenfant Full Merger Media20 United States Federal Census(4).jpg. Format: jpg. 1920 United States Federal Census. Year: 1920; Census Place: Taunton Ward 8, Bristol, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_688; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 201; Image: 424.

• File M914. File: C:\Users\jvelm\Documents\Family Tree Maker\Marvel-Bonenfant Full Merger Media\Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980(27).jpg. Format: jpg. Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980.

Sources

1. ↑ Source: #S36 File
2. ↑ Source: #S20 Year: 1910; Census Place: Taunton Ward 3, Bristol, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_580; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0233; FHL microfilm: 1374593 File @M306@
3. ↑ Source: #S21 Year: 1920; Census Place: Taunton Ward 8, Bristol, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_688; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 201; Image: 424 File
4. ↑ Source: #S20 Year: 1910; Census Place: Taunton Ward 3, Bristol, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_580; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0233; FHL microfilm: 1374593 File
5. ↑ Source: #S21 Year: 1920; Census Place: Taunton Ward 8, Bristol, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_688; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 201; Image: 424 File @M309@
6. ↑ Source: #S36 File
7. ↑ Source: #S21 Year: 1920; Census Place: Taunton Ward 8, Bristol, Massachusetts; Roll: T625_688; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 201; Image: 424 File
8. ↑ Source: #S20 Year: 1910; Census Place: Taunton Ward 3, Bristol, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_580; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0233; FHL microfilm: 1374593 File

• Source: S20 Ancestry.com 1910 United States Federal Census Publication: Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.Original data - Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Was; Repository: #R1
• Repository: R1 Ancestry.com
• Source: S21 Ancestry.com 1920 United States Federal Census Publication: Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data - Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Reco; Repository: #R1
• Source: S36 Ancestry.com Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980 Publication: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2013; Repository: #R1