Poormaster is the name of a now obsolete job position similar to that of

Paymaster A paymaster is someone appointed by a group of buyers, sellers, investors or lenders to receive, hold, and dispense funds, commissions, fees, salaries (remuneration) or other trade, loan, or sales proceeds within the private sector or public secto ...

. Most of the states in the early

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

had their own poormaster. The duties of a poormaster were to validate those who applied for

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

and issue funds. The job was often a political sinecure before the 1930s. However the job was not without its risks. Those rejected often held grudges, and poormasters were sometimes guarded by police officers during the Great Depression. Harry L Barck was one such. He held the position of Poormaster for the city of

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

. He was killed by Joseph Scutellaro, a frustrated applicant, on February 15, 1938. Scutellaro, who killed Barck with a

spindle Spindle may refer to: Textiles and manufacturing * Spindle (textiles), a straight spike to spin fibers into yarn * Spindle (tool), a rotating axis of a machine tool Biology * Common spindle and other species of shrubs and trees in genus ''Euony ...

, received two years in prison. The occupation ceased to exist after the 1940s, with the advent of

social assistance Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

References

Works

*Historian Holly Metz has received a grant to write a book on Barc

to be titled ''Killing the Poormaster'

*{{cite book , last = Livermore , first = Mary , title = My Story of the War , publisher = A.D. Worthington and Company , location=Hartford, Conn. , year=1888 , chapter= Chapter 31 , chapter-url = http://www.ourstory.info/library/1-roots/Livermore/story11.html * Killing the poormaster : a saga of poverty, corruption, and murder in the Great Depression (book) https://lccn.loc.gov/2012021790 Social care in the United States Historical economic occupations