Shot Fired In Fight At Old Colonial Cafe-This Day in Norwood History-July 11, 1957

A fight allegedly over a woman that started in the Old Colonial Cafe on Savin Avenue early yesterday ended with one man having ten stitches taken in his head and another man held on assault charges and for having a revolver in his possession after the fight was resumed outside. Held in $2000 bail, double surety by Judge Gilbert W. Cox in District Court yesterday on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon and in $500 for having a revolver in his possession without a permit was Robert C. Shilowski, 22, of 156 Sumner Street, East Walpole Treated at the Norwood Hospital for severe head cuts was Robert A Hope, Jr., 19, of 45 DeSeto road, West Roxbury.

According to the Norwood police and testimony before Judge Cox, Shilowski and Hope became involved in an argument in the Old Colonial Cafe over a woman Shilowski left the cafe anti when Hope emerged, set upon him with the gun, and started to beat him about the head. One shot was fired from the gun into the air during the melee. First inkling that the fight had occurred came from the Norwood Hospital when police were notified that a man had been brought in with bead injuries and was believed to have been shot. Diagnosis disproved the man was a shooting victim. Police questioned the man and learned that the fight bad occurred outside the Colonial Cafe.

In the meantime, a woman resident of Savin Avenue called the police and told them that a man was looking for something in the gutter along Savin Avenue. She was told to get the registration number of the man’s car and the check by the police disclosed his identity as Shilowski, Police went to his home and placed him under arrest. After his arrest and on being questioned at the Norwood police station by Police Chief Mark Folan, Shilowski is alleged to have told police that he threw the gun into Willet Pond. Later he changed his story and revealed that the gun was hidden behind a cardboard siding near the front seat of the car.

Police located the gun and revealed In court that it was a .45 calibre Colt automatic, the property of the United States Army. Shilowski is alleged to have told police that he found the gun, rusted, on Bird’s dump in East Walpole. Five bullets were found in the gun chambers by the police. Asked by the court where he got the bullets for the gun, he told Judge Cox that he had them at home after finding the gun. Patrolmen William Costello and James Curran worked with Chief Folan on the case.

(All articles were originally published in the Norwood Messenger unless otherwise noted)