Introduction
Briggs Cafe operated at 1197 Lansdowne Avenue, the corner of Louis Street and Lansdowne Avenue in Camden’s predominantly Polish Whitman Park neighborhood.
Matthew Derengowski and family were living at 1197 Lansdowne Avenue when the census was taken in April of 1930. Matthew was then working as a hardwood floor scraper. Matthew Derengowski’s daughter Stella married Roy Briggs in 1938. The young couple lived in Hainesport, New Jersey with Roy Briggs’s family before returning to Camden. By 1942 the Briggs and Derengowski families were operating a bar at 1197 Lansdowne Avenue known as Briggs Cafe. Sadly, both Matthew Derengowski and Roy Briggs had passed away by the time the 1947 Camden City Directory was compiled.
The 1947 Directory indicates that the bar was owned by Mrs. Mary Derengowski, the widow of Matthew Derengowski. She operated the tavern with her daughter, Mrs. Stella Briggs, the widow of Roy Briggs.
The bar operated in the late 1960s and early 1970s as Walt’s Cafe, and during the 1990s as the Camelot Lounge.
Marriage Licenses
Camden Courier-Post —
Roy Briggs, 23, of 115 Ardmore avenue, Westmont, and Stella Derengowski, 24, of 1197 Lansdowne avenue.
Gunmen Robbed Them of $1020 and Car
Camden Courier-Post —
The three persons pictured were robbed by gunmen yesterday. Two bandits pointed pistols at Mrs. Mary Derengowski, 56 (left), and took approximately $1000 from the till of a saloon she operates with her daughter at Lansdowne avenue and Louis street. When William Szymborski, 40 (center), of 1165 Kenwood avenue, and Joseph J. Lesniewski, 28, of 1179 Lansdowne avenue, gave chase in Szymborski’s automobile and caught up with them, the thugs turned their guns on the pursuers, forced them to drive them to Eighth and Mt. Vernon streets, and then took the car and Lesniewski’s wrist watch and $20. The car was abandoned at Second and Clinton streets.
In Cafe Holdup
Camden Courier-Post —
Police Search All Night for Thugs Who Took $1000
Camden police today arrested three men in connection with an armed holdup yesterday of a Camden saloon.
Police worked through the night on the case. They broke off the investigation for a short rest at 6 o’clock this morning, however, and were to continue it later.
The saloon, Briggs Cafe at Lansdowne avenue and Louis street, was robbed of about $1000 at 3.05 p.m. yesterday by two neatly dressed, armed bandits.
Shortly afterward the bandits took a watch, $20 in cash and the automobile of two men who pursued them.
Truck Driver Quizzed
Booked on “suspicion” at 5.30 o’clock this morning at Camden police headquarters was Angelino J. Martelli, 22, a truck driver, whose home at 1173 Lansdowne avenue, is near the Briggs Cafe. Police explained he is being held for further questioning.
At 5.45 a.m. two other men were booked as material witnesses in the case. They are Charles Beyer, 23, an electrical worker, 727 South Eighth street, and Dominic Maione, 24, a salesman, 405 South Fifth street.
Detective Capt. Koerner took charge of the investigation late yesterday, and, with Detective Sgt. Trout and Detective Cahill, Sgt. Trout and Detectives Cahill and Schultz, worked through the night.
2 Women Held at Bay
The saloon owner, Mrs. Mary Derengowski, 52, and her daughter, Mrs. Stella Briggs, 34, reported the bandits held them at bay with pistols while they rifled a cash drawer and cash register.
Mrs. Briggs was upstairs painting when the robbers entered the saloon.
Mrs. Derengowski was in a back room when she heard the door bell.
As she approached the bar to serve two men standing there, she noticed they had drawn pistols.
Warned to ‘Keep Quiet’
“Keep quiet,” one told her, “and you won’t get hurt.”
She told police, however, she screamed as one of the gunmen forced her into the back room.
Attracted by the screams, Mrs. Briggs ran downstairs and was confronted by a gunman who ordered her in the back room with her mother.
At that point, the women said, the bandit holding them at bay became nervous. He ran over to his partner in the barroom and told him to hurry and take the money.
Mrs. Derengowski slipped through a side door into Louis street and screamed for help.
Victims Chase Them
The bandits fled down Lansdowne avenue toward Rose street with the women chasing them.
Joseph J. Lesniewski, 28, of 1179 Lansdowne avenue, took up the chase and was gaining on the thugs when he noticed an automobile driven by William Szmborski, 40, of 1165 Kenwood avenue, moving in the same direction.
Lesniewski leaped on the running board, told Szmborski of the holdup and persuaded him to follow the fugitives down Rose street to a point near Mechanic street, where the car drew abreast of the bandits.
Szmborski stopped the car and Lesniewski leaped from the running board just as the bandits turned their guns upon him and ordered him back to the machine. They forced Lesniewski into the car and climbed in behind him.
The bandits forced Lesniewski to surrender $20 in cash and his wrist watch, then ordered the driver to “get going.”
Drive Off In Car
Szmborski drove to Louis street near Mt. Vernon, where the bandits ordered their pursuers from the car and drove it away.
Radio car Patrolmen James Caputi and William Prucella were notified and took up the hunt. The car was found abandoned at Second and Clinton streets.
A short time after the holdup, Police Sgt. John V. Wilkie recovered an abandoned machine which he said apparently was to be used as a “get-away” car.
The auto, a green sedan with the key in the ignition lock, was found in the 1200 block of Lansdowne avenue.
Neighbors told Wilkie they saw three men drive up in the car shortly before the hold-up. Two, who Wilkie said fitted descriptions of the robbers, left the car and walked toward the saloon. The third remained at the wheel.
Third Man Escapes
Wilkie said when the bandits fled from the bar they apparently became confused and ran west on Lansdowne avenue, instead of east toward the car. The third man abandoned the car and fled on foot.
Mrs. Derengowski told police the cash drawer contained about $1000 to cash checks.
One bandit wore a panama hat pulled low over his forehead and a black jacket. The women said the second thug had a mustache and wore an Army jacket and pants.
Navy Vet Sought
The automobile abandoned near the scene was registered in the name of Joseph A. Gimello, 20, of 325 Washington street. Wilkie declared Gimello’s parents said he had not returned home and admitted he owned the machine.
They said the youth enlisted in the navy when he was 17, served three years and was discharged recently. However, according to Wilkie, the parents stated his entire attitude had changed and they feared he was suffering from a mental condition.
An alarm has been broadcast to hold Gimello for questioning in connection with the holdup.