Introduction
EDWARD A. SCHLERETH was a Camden police officer who gained notoriety in August 1912 when he was shot in the face at the home of Mrs. Martha Hearn, 301 Wilson Street. He was 28 years old at the time and lived with his wife and two young children at 700 Vine Street. He died of his wound eight days later at Cooper Hospital. The circumstances of the shooting — whether accidental or deliberate — were the subject of intense police investigation and a high-profile murder trial. Mrs. Hearn was ultimately acquitted.
Earlier in his career, Schlereth was associated with Engine Company No. 2 of the Camden Fire Department, appearing in press coverage of the Victor Talking Machine Company fire of 1904. He was a member of Camden Lodge No. 111, Order of Moose, and was memorialized at the Lodge of Sorrow in March 1913.
Victor Talking Machine Fire
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Named: Dr. Frank Neill Robinson, Joseph Nowrey, Edward Schlereth, Edward Johnson, Joseph James, Engine Company No. 2, Joseph C. Collings, William Wallace, George Early, Collings Carriage Works, Victor Talking Machine Company, and Lambert & Todd.
Policeman Shot in Nose by Camden Woman
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Struck in the nose by a bullet from a revolver in the hands of Mrs. Martha Hearn at her home, 301 Wilson street, Camden, at 4 o’clock yesterday morning, Policeman Edward Schlereth is in Cooper Hospital. It was at first thought that the bullet had lodged in the head, but an X-ray examination failed to locate it. Another picture will be taken today.
Although both Schlereth and Mrs. Hearn say the shooting was purely accidental, the woman was detained by the police pending a full inquiry. From their stories it appears that the officer, who was not on duty, was showing Mrs. Hearn how to use a pistol. In unloading it the policeman overlooked one cartridge and this was exploded when Mrs. Hearn pulled the trigger in response to instructions from Schlereth.
Police Probe Woman’s Story of Shooting
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Working in conjunction with the police, Assistant Prosecutor Wolverton yesterday took a hand into the investigation of the circumstances of the shooting of Policeman Edward Schlereth by Mrs. Martha Hearn at her home, 301 Wilson street, Camden, early on Friday morning. Immediately after the shooting both Schlereth and the woman declared that he was wounded while giving instructions to Mrs. Hearn in the use of a pistol.
Transferred from the City Hall to the Court House, Mrs. Hearn was long questioned by Mr. Wolverton and city and county detectives. Refusing to divulge the conclusions they had reached, Mr. Wolverton said they would continue the examination tomorrow. Cooper Hospital doctors have not yet located the bullet in Schlereth’s head. The injured officer was resting easy yesterday and was in no immediate danger.
Woman Held to Await Result of Her Shot
Philadelphia Inquirer —
There was an unexpected turn in connection with the shooting of Policeman Edward Schlerth, which occurred last Friday morning, when Mrs. Martha Hearn, of 301 Wilson street, who was with the officer at the time, was held without bail by Recorder Stackhouse, in Camden yesterday, to await the result of the injury sustained by the bluecoat. This was done at the order of Assistant Prosecutor Wolverton who inferred that there may be important developments. Detective Schregler made the complaint on information received.
Both Schlerth and the woman assert it was accidental and that the shooting was done while the policeman was showing her a revolver. The police claim there are circumstances which do not warrant such a story. Schlerth was reported to be in a serious condition yesterday. The bullet was located by means of the X-ray machine in the neck near the apex of the backbone.
Policeman Shot by Woman Succumbs
Philadelphia Inquirer —
She Declares Shooting Accidental, But Police Say It Was Done In Quarrel
From a bullet wound inflicted by Mrs. Martha Hern last week, Policeman Edward Schlereth died in the Cooper Hospital in Camden yesterday. He was 28 years old and lived with his wife and two small children at 700 Vine street. Mrs. Hern will be given a hearing tomorrow before Recorder Stackhouse, and it is likely that a charge of murder will be made against her.
Schlereth and the woman, with whom he was infatuated, were alone in a house when the shooting was done. At first it was asserted by both that the wound had been inflicted accidentally, while the officer was showing Mrs. Hern how to use the weapon. Later, however, when Schlereth’s condition became grave, he said it was done while the two were quarreling. When the woman was closely examined by Assistant Prosecutor Wolverton, sufficient developed to warrant holding her without bail. Now it is believed that it was a deliberate case of shooting. Mrs. Hern has admitted, the police say, that Schlereth was angry with her, that they quarreled and that he struck her. This was followed by the shooting.
At the hospital it was found that the young man had been shot in the face near the nose and that the bullet had lodged near his back bone. He never rallied sufficiently to submit to an operation.
Camden's Court Docket Is Brief
Philadelphia Inquirer —
CAMDEN'S COURT DOCKET IS BRIEF
Smallest Number of Cases In Years for Session Opening Tuesday
In the various courts which will open for the September term in Camden on Tuesday, the respective lists of cases are shown to be exceptionally brief. This not only includes the Supreme Court, where there were but seventy issues scheduled, but also the Circuit Court, Common Pleas and the Criminal Courts. As a result most of the civil business will have been completed in a few weeks' sitting by the judges.
As to the new grand jury which will be summoned and sworn in before Supreme Court Justice Garrison, there will be presented by Prosecutor Boyle the smallest number of cases in a number of years. Where it has been customary to have at least four or five hundred such issues, there are a little over two hundred and most of them are of such comparatively trifling import that they will not reach court for trial. This is due largely to the holding of special sessions throughout the summer, which has had a tendency to keep the calendar clean.
Mrs. Hearn Indicted for Murder
Philadelphia Inquirer —
For shooting and fatally wounding Policeman Edward Schlereth at her home on Wilson street August 16, Mrs. Martha Hearn was yesterday indicted for murder by the Camden grand jury. Arrested immediately after the shooting, the woman claimed that her revolver was accidentally discharged while the policeman was instructing her in its use. Her story was corroborated by Schlereth, who died a week later in Cooper Hospital.
Seven in Camden Face Homicide Trials
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Six Men and a Woman in Shadow of Either Electric Chair or Prison
Beginning with this morning, Supreme Court Justice Garrison will hold a several days’ session in Camden, at which six men and a woman accused of homicides will face juries, who will decide whether they are to go to the electric chair, serve terms in prison or go free.
William Gould will be the first defendant to be tried. He is under indictment for slaying his sweetheart, Maud Daisy. He alleges it was accidental, that he shot the girl while playing with a revolver. Prosecutor Boyle will press for a first degree, however.
Samuel and Edward Farr will stand trial for the murder of Harry Sturgis, who died after a fight with the brothers. Then the most important case, and the one which will be the hardest fought, will occupy the attention of the court. That will be the trial of Frederick Coursey and Harry Duffield, who are under indictment for fatally shooting Karl Kellmann, a youth, when they attempted to hold him up. John L. Semple, the lawyer who made the fight to save the neck of Theodore Lambert, will be chief counsel.
There are two other murder cases, in one of which Martha Hearn is charged with fatally shooting Policeman Edward Schlereth. The other involves James H. Haney, who is accused of shooting his sweetheart, Eleanor Tunnell, several weeks ago.
In addition to these, Charles Ford, convicted of shooting Effie May Wagner, his common law wife, is awaiting death in the electric chair at Trenton during the week of November 24.
Says She Killed to Save Herself
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Camden Woman Who Shot Policeman Declares He Was Choking Her
She Tells the Jury That Killing Followed Drinking Bout and Quarrel
Asserting that she had been choked and beaten and was in fear of her life, Mrs. Martha Hearn, tried for the murder of Policeman Edward Schlereth, told the jury before Supreme Court Justice Garrison, in Camden yesterday, that she had shot the officer in self defense. She thus repudiated several statements made to Prosecutor Boyle and his officers that she had accidentally shot Schlereth, but justified her action by declaring the dead policeman had told her to tell such a story. The case will go to the jury today.
Schlereth was shot in the woman’s house on Wilson street during the early hours of the morning of August 16 after the two had returned from Washington Park. The circumstances were such that Prosecutor Boyle did not press for a first degree verdict. He presented witnesses tending to show that the two had quarreled and that Mrs. Hearn had declared Schlereth was accidentally shot while showing her how to “work” a revolver.
Placed on the witness stand by her counsel, Lawyer J. Mercer Davis and Senator J. Warren Davis, the woman, who is well-spoken, told how she had gone to Camden to live a year ago last March, how, despite the fact that both she and Schlereth were married, the officer persisted in paying attention to her. She said he had demanded that she get a divorce and that he would himself secure a separation, at one time trying to prevail upon her to go to Wyoming with him. Mrs. Hearn said she tried in vain to get rid of him, but finally fell in love with the bluecoat.
Says He Was Jealous
She asserted that when he drank he treated her cruelly, and that the night of the shooting he had upbraided her because he thought someone else was trying to get her. He fought with her all the way up from Washington Park and forced his way into her home when he grasped her by the throat and threw her to the floor twice. Almost insensible, the woman said she dragged herself to her feet and went upstairs, where she procured a revolver. On her descent Schlereth took it from her and choked her again. Then she took the weapon, and being nervous and hardly knowing what she did, pulled the trigger. The bullet entered the left nostril of the policeman and his death occurred several days later in the Cooper Hospital.
“Mr. Schlereth was always kind to me when he was not drinking,” said the woman, “but when he drank he was cruel. I had so many bruises on my throat that I wore a high collar to hide them. He frequently choked me and knocked me down when he drank and I was afraid of him then.
“On the night the shooting occurred Schlereth asked me to go to Washington Park, but I didn’t want to go because I was tired from working. He prevailed upon me to go, he getting on the trolley car at one street and I at another. We met at the park and were joined by some friends of his. After staying there until midnight we returned, but stopped off at Gloucester City, where Schlereth became involved in a dispute with a man named King, claiming he was getting too intimate with me. After that Schlereth quarreled all the way to my home.
Tells of Shooting
“When we reached my house I tried to keep him out, but he pushed open the door and went in, locking it after him. Then he grasped me by the throat and threw me down on the floor. I was so nervous and overwrought I scarcely know what I did. He came at me with his fingers clutched and his eyes staring so that I was in fear of my life. When I went upstairs I got the revolver and came down again. Then I shot him.”
Mrs. Hearn was unable to recall having told Prosecutor Boyle that it was all an accident, declaring that her first story was given entirely to shield the man.
Find Mrs. Hearn Not Guilty of Murder
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Jury Reaches Verdict in Case of Woman Charged With Killing Policeman in Hour and Half
Hugged and kissed by jubilant and thankful friends, Mrs. Martha Hearn sat in her chair and cried with joy when the jury returned a verdict of not guilty before Judge Garrison in the Camden court yesterday after she had spent a two days’ ordeal of being tried for the murder of Policeman Edward Schlereth. The jury was ready with its verdict within an hour and a half after retiring.
Mrs. Hearn, a comely brunette, was visibly affected when the twelve men filed into the courtroom, but she bravely faced them when Clerk Patterson told her “to look upon the jury.” When Foreman Yates announced in emphatic tones “not guilty,” there was a rush from the spectators’ seats where the woman’s friends had spent the past two days buoying her up during the trial. She was the centre of a crowd of women who almost smothered her with caresses and who mingled their tears with hers.
Judge Garrison at once ordered her release and in company with her loyal friends and counsel, Lawyer J. Mercer Davis, she left the Court House. Her counsel stated Mrs. Hearn will likely leave Camden.
Most of yesterday morning’s session was occupied in the summing up of Prosecutor Boyle and Mrs. Hearn’s counsel. Mr. Boyle was willing to accept a verdict of manslaughter, while the woman’s lawyer asked for her absolute acquittal. Judge Garrison gave one of the briefest charges on record to the jury, not occupying more than three minutes. He said it was a clear-cut case as to whether the State had proved manslaughter or that the defense had shown that Mrs. Hearn had shot Schlereth while fearing for her life. She would either have to be convicted of manslaughter or be freed, he said.
More Than 2000 Attend Moose Lodge of Sorrow
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Members of Camden Lodge of Moose yesterday paid tribute to their “departed brothers” in their annual lodge of sorrow. The exercises were held at the Broadway Theatre and were attended by the 2000 members and their friends. The decorations were beautiful and impressive.
Rev. Dr. John Handley, recently appointed to the pastorate of the Broadway M. E. Church, delivered the oration, while an address was given by former Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Van Dyke Joline. Other features of the program follow: Calling of the roll of the dead by Secretary William M. Callingham; selections by the Keystone Male Quartet; soprano solo, Miss Mary E. Swenk; duet, Charles Law and Harry S. Weidner, of Philadelphia Lodge; tenor solo, Joseph Mainwaring; soprano solo, Miss Mary E. Swenk; bass solo, Harry S. Weidner; closing ode by the audience. The music was furnished by the Third Regiment Orchestra, under the leadership of Brother Joseph Bossle.
There were twelve deaths last year, the “departed brothers” being William F. Jann, Alexander McCallum, Alexander Luker, Edward A. Schlereth, Clarence N. Davis, Frank X. Braun, Edward E. Jefferis, George Foley, George J. Klein, Thomas A. Leach, William B. Stetser and Christian G. Eppinger.