Introduction
The bar at 1102 South 4th Street, at the corner of South 4th and Chestnut Street, went by a number of names over the years, and was expanded from a bar into a nightclub as time went by. The bar dates back to at least 1887, when John J. Brown was the proprietor. His son, William D. Brown, was Camden’s City Clerk in the 1920s and early 1930s.
At the time of America’s entry into World War I, Daniel Lamb was the proprietor. The bar was sold in the 1920s to the Corda family. Anibale Corda was listed as the proprietor from 1926 through 1929, when Luigi Corda took over; he operated the bar through 1931. After Prohibition was repealed in 1934, Marsilio Daziani acquired the business and operated it under the name of Monte Carlo Cafe for a few years, before moving to a building in the next block at 1016 South 4th Street. By 1937 Luigi Cinaglia purchased the property, operating the bar and living with his family on the second floor of the building. His son Pete later operated the bar as Pete’s Cafe. During the Cinaglia family’s tenure as owners of the bar, it became quite well known in Camden for its sandwiches. The Cinaglia family operated the bar through 1964.
The bar appears in 1966 as Joe’s Cafe. The ethnic makeup of the neighborhood, which had a strong Italian-American presence prior to the riots of 1967 and 1971, had changed by the 1970s. 1102 South 4th Street was by this time known as Baron’s Lounge. At some point in the late 1970s or 1980s the property next door on 4th Street was acquired, and the two buildings were merged, providing the bar a dance floor on the first floor and a second floor lounge. A woman named Pauline became the owner during this period. She leased the bar out in the mid-1980s. Operating as the Phase 2 during the 1980s, 1102–1104 South 4th Street became a popular nightspot until a shooting forced the bar to close in the late 1980s. Pauline reopened briefly under her own name, prior to selling the property.
In the early 1990s new ownership gave the bar a total makeover. The new owners, Moses Battiste and a fellow named Sid, completely remodeled the property and renamed it the Cotton Club. Despite the protests of most of the neighbors, the bar was allowed to reopen, in part due to apparently undue influence on the part of certain parties within Camden’s Regular Democrat Organization. While the Cotton Club operated quite profitably throughout most of the 1990s, it attracted a young and increasingly violent crowd, and after a series of shootings the bar closed after the 2001 murder of Jermaine Glasco. The Cotton Club reopened for brief periods occasionally after that incident, but for the most part the doors remained shut. As of December 2013, no one had attempted to operate a business of any sort out of this building in at least 10 years.
Photos
Cotton Club, 1102–04 South 4th Street, October 2002.
Burglar Trapped By Sleepless Girl
Camden Courier-Post —
Father, Brother Awakened, Fell Intruder After Short Chase
Miss Olga Cineglie’s sleeplessness last night resulted in the capture of a robber who was looting her home. The man, a Negro from Carteret, was knocked unconscious by a blow with a stout stick from Luigi Cineglie, 55, a saloon keeper and the girl’s father, while his son, Peter, 18, grappled with the intruder. The man arrested gave his name as John Jones, 41, and said he is a stevedore.
Miss Cineglie, 20, told police she could not go to sleep and was reading a book in her second floor bedroom at 702 South Second street.
Telephones Police
She heard a noise downstairs and listened long enough to be convinced someone was moving about on the first floor. She tiptoed silently to the telephone and called police in a whisper. Then she quietly roused her father and brother.
The trio was descending the stairs when the intruder heard them and bolted for the kitchen door. He threw the door open and leaped a back fence and ran into Line street. Peter, a factory employe, was on his heels and had made a partial flying tackle, which had slowed the intruder.
Cineglie, as he ran from the house, picked up a hardwood stick, used as the cross piece in an automobile top. When Peter slowed the fleeing man with his tackle, his father was able to gain enough ground to get within range.
Picks Up Brick
As Cineglie caught up with him, Jones was aiming a brick, seized in his flight, at the head of Peter. He was unarmed otherwise. He struck Jones on the head and knocked him unconscious.
At just that moment, Radio Cruise Car Patrolmen Walter Vecander and Wilbur Prentiss arrived. They arrested Jones and took him to Cooper Hospital where several stitches were required to close the head wound caused by Cineglie’s stick.
Jones, police said, had been drinking but was not drunk. He was held on suspicion for investigation. He told police he reached Philadelphia Saturday and slept Saturday night in the Philadelphia jail.
Cineglie’s saloon is in the front downstairs section of his home, and the living quarters are in the rear on both the first and second floors.
Cotton Club Owner Moses Battiste
Camden Courier-Post —
Cotton Club owner Moses Battise has made several changes in an effort to cut down on problems.
Murder of Jermaine Glasco, 2001
Camden County Prosecutor’s Office — January 4, 2001
Camden County Prosecutor Lee A. Solomon and Camden City Police Chief Robert Allenbach reported that Jermaine Glasco, M/28, of the 2000 block of Broadway, Camden, was shot multiple times last night. At approximately 11:33 P.M. on January 3, 2001, Camden Police received reports of gunshots fired outside the Cotton Club bar located at Fourth and Chestnut Streets. Upon arrival, police located the body of the deceased at Seventh and Chestnut Street. It is believed that Glasco was shot at a location near the bar, and sometime after the shooting he was dragged by a motor vehicle for an approximate distance of a half-mile to the location the body was found. The investigation into the identity of the shooter(s), and the driver of and type of vehicle which dragged the victim, is continuing.
Camden County Prosecutor’s Office — January 10, 2001
Camden County Prosecutor Lee A. Solomon and Camden City Police Chief Robert Allenbach reported that Earic S. Billue, M/25, of the 3000 block of Carman Street, Camden, along with his attorney, surrendered to authorities at the Camden Police administration building. He is charged with Murder in connection with the January 3, 2001, shooting death of Jermaine Glasco. Jermaine Glasco, M/28, of the 2000 block of Broadway, Camden, was shot multiple times at approximately 11:33 P.M. on January 3, 2001. Allegedly, Billue shot Glasco near the bar, and then ran over the victim with his vehicle, dragging the victim for an approximate distance of a half-mile. All persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
Jermaine Glasco (left) with Tim Merrill at Camden’s Fellowship House (1995).
Camden Courier-Post — February 3, 2004
Shooter will be sentenced March 12
A city resident convicted of fatally shooting a man outside a South Camden nightclub two years ago faces up to 30 years in state prison. Earic S. Billue, 27, of Carman Street, will be sentenced for aggravated manslaughter on March 12.
Witnesses told jurors Billue fired several shots at the victim — Jermaine Glasco, 28, of Broadway — outside the Cotton Club at 4th and Chestnut Streets on January 4, 2001. Billue then got into his car and drove over Glasco, dragging him with the car. Glasco’s body was found at 7th and Chestnut.
A medical examiner’s report showed Glasco died of bullet wounds, not from injuries suffered when he was struck and dragged by the car. Billue had been free on $200,000 bail. Upon receiving the jury’s verdict Friday afternoon, Superior Court Judge John T. McNeill III granted a request from Assistant Prosecutor Michele Morgera and revoked Billue’s bail.