Fight of His Life: The 1915 Trial of Frank Rose

A young Italian laborer fought for his life twice; first in a Bolivar boarding house and then in a court of law.

Frank Rose (1895-?), born Francesco Russo in Caronia, Italy, immigrated to the United States aboard the S.S. Italia, arriving at the Port of New York in April 1913. A laborer described as 5’4” tall with a dark complexion, dark brown hair, and brown eyes, he traveled to Canton, Ohio to join family there while leaving his mother in Italy. He arrived in Bolivar around September 1914 and found work at the Bolivar Brick Works along with many other immigrant laborers. At the end of November 1914, Rose suffered a workplace injury that left him unable to work, forcing him to recuperate at a nearby boarding house.

Andy Vzonar (1881-1914) and Steve Habin (1879-?) were Austrian-born laborers who had been living in Bolivar for several months. Both men were also employed at the Bolivar Brick works and housed in the same boarding house as Rose. Neither Vzonar nor Habin had any relatives residing in the United States. The situation between the parties turned volatile on the night of December 8, 1914.

That night, at approximately 10:30 PM, a violent confrontation erupted. Frank Rose was confronted in an upstairs room by Vzonar and Habin. According to Rose, the two men ordered him to leave the house because he was no longer working, and he feared they intended to rob him of $60 he kept in his pocket. An angry quarrel escalated into a physical struggle, during which Rose pulled a stiletto from his pocket and slashed Habin twice, severing an artery in his arm and inflicting a severe abdominal wound.

As Habin fell to the floor, Rose fled the room and ran out of the house with Vzonar following closely behind him. Upon reaching the sidewalk, Rose turned and plunged the knife into Vzonar’s chest, piercing his heart and killing him instantly. Rose then fled to the home of his foreman, while authorities arrived to find Vzonar’s body in the street and Habin nearly unconscious from blood loss. Rose was arrested at the foreman’s house shortly after; he offered no resistance and admitted to the stabbing, and claimed he had fought his way to safety to escape being robbed or killed.

In January 1915, a grand jury indicted Frank Rose on a charge of first-degree murder for the killing of Andy Vzonar. During the trial in March, Rose required an interpreter due to his limited English and spent three hours on the witness stand detailing his plea of self-defense. He testified that Vzonar and Habin had entered his room, attacked him, and attempted to rob him of his $60 savings, forcing him to use his knife to fight his way to safety. The prosecutor countered this by presenting evidence from the surviving victim, Habin, and the examining physicians while the defense team emphasized Rose’s fear for his life.

After seven hours of deliberation, the jury, which was initially split with nine favoring acquittal and three seeking a conviction, reached a compromise to reduce the charge to assault and battery. On March 19, 1915, the judge in the case sentenced Rose to pay a $1.00 fine and $266 in court costs. Rose was unable to pay the significant costs himself, so he remained in the county jail for several days until friends and relatives raised the necessary funds. Upon his final release, Rose shook hands with nearly everyone in the courtroom before immediately boarding a streetcar for Canton to reunite with his relatives and start a new life.

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© Noel B. Poirier, 2026.