Introduction
EDWIN THOMAS MILLS was born in Ossining, New York on April 13, 1891 to Jacob and Katie Mills. His father was a shoemaker. When the census was taken in 1900 the family, which included a younger brother, lived on North Highland Avenue in Ossining. The Mills family was still on North Highland Avenue in Ossining as late as 1910. Edwin Mills was by then working as a driver for an express company.
Edwin Mills had moved to Camden by 1914. He was then working as a driver and living at 2614 Federal Street. When he registered for the draft in June of 1917 he had married. He was at that time working at the Keystone Leather Company plant at 16th and Mickle Streets. By 1919 he had taken another job as a machinist at one of Camden’s shipyards. Edwin and Eulalia Mills were still living at 2614 Federal Street as late as 1920.
By 1924 Edwin Mills had joined the Camden Police Department. 2614 Federal Street was by this time the location of the East End Trust Bank. Edwin and Eulalia Mills had moved to 2214 Federal Street when the 1924 City Directory was compiled. By 1929 he had moved to 240 Eutaw Avenue. Edwin T. Mills had been promoted to Detective by February of 1933.
Edwin T. Mills was traveling in a police radio car with detective George Zeitz when a bus collided with their vehicle on March 16, 1943 at Broadway and Mickle Street. Both officers were injured.
On June 9, 1944 Detective Mills was granted a disability pension by the Camden Police Department. He had been suffering with kidney disease. Sadly, his kidneys failed completely while he was at his summer home in Wildwood NJ. On June 11, 1944 he died from uremic poisoning at Atlantic Shores Hospital in Somers Point NJ.
Mrs. Mills and daughter Ruth Mills were still living at 240 Eutaw Avenue when the 1947 City Directory was compiled. 240 Eutaw Avenue was later the home of Camden Fireman Earl A. Smith Sr.
World War I Draft Registration
Edwin T. Mills, World War I draft registration
Camden Police Department
Camden Courier-Post —
2 HELD IN RAID AS NIGHT CLUB HAS OPENING
Proprietors Fight Claim of Police They Operated in Violation of Law
NORTH CAMDEN PLACE HAS SHORT EXISTENCE
Case Sent to Grand Jury After Hearing in City Police Court
Although they were not included among the 500 guests invited to the “grand opening,” First district police last night visited the new Ambassador Club at 519 Main street on orders of Mayor Roy R. Stewart and arrested the two alleged proprietors and six other persons.
Stephen Kirby, 33, of 552 Bailey street, former boxer and city fireman, and Eugene Lorenzo, 33, who gave the club as his address, were held by Judge Garfield Pancoast, in $500 bail each for the grand jury as proprietors after they pleaded not guilty in police court this morning to charges of operating a disorderly house. The other six, including two women, were released in their own recognizance as material witnesses.
Police charged that the establishment had no soft drink license and that two half-barrels of high-powered beer were found on the premises. Kirby held that the place was privileged to operate as it had been incorporated by the state as a club and that he had a half-barrel of near beer.
The raid on the alleged whoopee house follows the raid made Monday night on a Chinese gambling establishment at 507 North Fifth street, one block distant. Both raids are part of Mayor Stewart’s announced program to “clean gangsters and their lairs from Camden.”
Police said that Kirby appeared at police headquarters last Monday night and offered bail for the 57 Chinese prisoners but that the bail was taken from another bondsman.
Although the establishment advertised in invitations a “grand opening” for last night, it had been in operation for some days past, said Lieut. George Ward, commander of the district who led the raid. He was accompanied by Detectives Alfred Shire and Walter Smith.
Incorporation Claimed
Kirby told police the club was incorporated by himself and six men, and that it had been closed on Monday night following a visit there by Lieut. Ward, Shire and Smith. This visit followed the complaint of Eli Carson, of 5101 Chester avenue, Philadelphia, that he had been robbed there of a watch, Kirby said. This was verified by police.
“We held a meeting yesterday,” Kirby maintained, “and decided that as a club, incorporated by the state, we had the right to open irrespective of police orders. We had even an official reopening and it was known as ’grand reopening.’”
Two barrels of alleged high-powered beer were found in the club, and bottles, believed by police to have contained whisky.
Lieutenant Ward ordered all the prisoners to be held as “principals” until identity of the proprietor could be established. On his order Sergt. Gus Koerner refused to accept a $1000 surety bond proffered for release of the seven other prisoners last night.
On Sunday night Detective Edwin Mills went to the club and received the watch Carson contended was stolen from him. Kirby declared that the watch was accepted as security for a $7 loan by Lorenzo and denied an allegation of Carson that women frequented the upper floors of the club.
Following the closing of the place Kirby said that an invitation was “sent out to 500 members for the official reopening.”
Kirby declared last night that the raid was unjust.
“I am an American citizen and ex-service man, as are three others arrested with me,” Kirby said. “We are incorporated as a club and make no disturbance, but we’re raided. I can’t understand that, in view of the fact that that Chinese place raided the other night still shows lights at 2 and 3 o’clock in the morning.
“I was released pending a hearing when I posted $100 cash, but the police would not accept a bond of $1000 for the other seven. They wanted cash, but finally the others were released in $500 bail each for a hearing this morning. And yet those Chinese arrested were released in $10 security.”
Chain Store Held Up by 3 Armed Bandits
Camden Courier-Post —
Take $40 From Cash Drawer, Flee After Threatening Manager
Three armed bandits held up and robbed the manager of an American Store at 752 Ferry Avenue, Saturday night and escaped with $40 taken from the cash register.
Willis told police the three men entered the store shortly before 10 p. m., all flourishing revolvers. They commanded him to stand against the wall and while two of them kept their guns leveled at him, the third man ran to the cash register and took its contents, about $40.
He gave Detectives Edwin Mills and Robert Ashenfelter descriptions of the bandits but was unable to tell whether they had made their escape by automobile or on foot.
Pennsauken Man Held as Burglar Suspect
Camden Courier-Post —
Camden’s oldest burglar suspect was held without bail for the grand jury when arraigned in police court before Judge Pancoast Saturday. He entered a plea of guilty to breaking into and robbing the home of Watson M. Mervin, at 3266 Pleasant street, of jewelry worth $150 and a loaded revolver.
He gave his name as John H. Evans, 63, of 2254 Forty-first street, Pennsauken. He was arrested by Patrolman Clarence Barnes as he was leaving the Mervin home. Barnes said he found a rear door had been forced.
Detective Edwin Mills told Judge Pancoast that Evans had been arrested a number of times for burglary and had served several terms.
Woman Held for Jury After Fatal Stabbing
Camden Courier-Post —
Declaring she was “just playing with a knife” when Rudolph Spicer, 28, colored, of 146 Walnut street, was stabbed to death Sunday night in her home, Mrs. Emma Pollard, 32, of 1065 Ivins street, was held without bail for the grand jury yesterday on a murder charge.
Police Judge Garfield Pancoast also held without bail, as a material witness, William Epps, 44, colored, of 203 Pine street, at the request of Detective Edward Mills. Mills said Epps was present when Spicer was stabbed in the chest.
Light in Basement Starts Burglar Scare
Camden Courier-Post —
Abe Block had a burglar scare at 1:30 a. m. Saturday in his tailor shop at 527 North Eighth Street. Block was passing the shop on his way home when he saw a light in the basement. He thought thieves were ransacking the place. He telephoned police and Detectives Walter Smith, Edwin Mills and John Trout sped to the shop.
Letting themselves in cautiously, they made their way to the cellar, and found that occupants of the second floor of the house were fixing the heater fire for the night.
Employee Charges E. C. Cades With Attempt to Kill
Camden Courier-Post —
Apartment House Owner Held Under $500 Bail on Man’s Complaint
Accusation Is Denied
Edwin C. Cades, 26, one of the owners of the Cades apartment houses in North Camden, was held under $500 bail yesterday pending grand jury disposition of a charge that he assaulted an employee in an attempt to kill him.
When asked why his employer would want him dead, Devlin testified in police court that he has two insurance policies, one for $3000 with double indemnity for death by accident and another for $1500. In both policies, Devlin declared, Cades is named as the beneficiary.
Devlin was found unconscious at Nineteenth street and River road late at night on May 16. Taken to West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital, he was found to have suffered a fractured skull and broken jaw. Police at first believed he was a hit-run victim but nevertheless, City Detective Edwin Mills was assigned to investigate the case.
Devlin testified yesterday that Cades invited him out for an automobile ride, alighted somewhere to look at a soft tire. Devlin asserted he found the tire to be hard and was getting back into the car when something struck him on the head. That was all he remembered, he said, until he regained consciousness in the hospital.
L. Scott Cherchesky, attorney for Cades, said he had a statement obtained by Cades from Devlin in the hospital on May 17 in the presence of Detective Mills. In the statement, Devlin purportedly asserted that Cades did not attack him and he did not know who his assailant was.
Cherchesky also had two affidavits from tenants in the same apartment house where Devlin resides. They are William H. Dougherty and William Widerman. Dougherty attested he saw Cades return at 8:30 p. m. with Devlin and the latter went into the house, “mumbling drunkenly.” Widerman also added that at about 9:45 a. m., he saw Devlin leave the house, alone.
Devlin declared he did not remember making any statement in the hospital to Cades, but that a nurse told him “later, when I came out of my daze and the room stopped swirling,” that he had made such a statement.
“I’ve been working for Cades for 13 years,” testified Devlin. “On the evening of May 17 at about 7 o’clock Mr. Cades called for me to take a ride with him in his car. We rode around the city in circles and while we were passing over a rough road somewhere Cades told me he thought he had a soft tire. He got out of the car and looked at it and then told me to get out and come around and help him fix it.
“I looked at the tire, felt it and it was hard. I told Cades it was all right. As I started to get back into the car, I was struck over the head and that is all I remember until I woke up in the hospital.”
Under questioning by Judge Pancoast, who held a statement given earlier to the police by Devlin, the latter said that Cades bought him a bottle of whisky on that night. He asserted it was his job to collect rents and take care of the apartments in the North Camden section and as pay he received an apartment and food gratis.
Devlin said he could not positively swear that it was Cades who struck him as Cades was behind him. He declared, however, that he saw no one else in the immediate vicinity and no one else was in the car.
“Because he is carrying a big insurance policy on me and has been for two years,” responded Devlin. “One is a $3000 policy with double indemnity for accidental death, and the other is a $1500 newspaper policy.
“The payment of the premium on the policies was to come out of the wages I was entitled to and I was to be retired in 10 years, when I was 64, and kept for the rest of my life.”
“Yes, I was struck on the head with a brick once before and I told my wife to notify my brother immediately if anything happened to me as I thought I was in danger because of these insurance policies.”
Devlin was then cross-examined by Cherchesky and admitted that several months ago he had been beaten by a son-in-law and on another occasion was struck by a man named Conway.
“I took Walter Devlin out in my automobile, as had been my custom, at 7 o’clock and took him home at 8 o’clock on the night of May 16. William H. Dougherty, who lives in the first-floor apartment at 111 North Third Street, saw Devlin get out of the car and walk up to his apartment, and has signed an affidavit to that effect, which I have.
“William Widerman, who also lives at the same address, saw Devlin in his apartment that same evening, and also saw him leave the apartment about 10 o’clock that night, and has given me a signed affidavit to that effect.
“I did not see Devlin until the next morning when I was called to the hospital by detectives. I cannot account for Devlin’s whereabouts after I left him at the apartment house at 8 o’clock.
“I voted at 8:30 at the polling place at Cooper School, and after that spent the evening with my family. This case appears to me as one of extortion by either Walter Devlin or some other interested party.
“Devlin has been working for me for the past 13 years, and our relations have been extremely friendly. I am at loss, therefore, to account for this action.”
Woman Fires Gun After Mistaking Cop for Prowler
Camden Courier-Post —
Awakened by a noise at 3 a. m. yesterday, Mrs. Prossie Corbett, proprietor of a drug store at 725 Broadway, looked out of her third-story bedroom window and saw a man get in a car and hurriedly drive away.
Mrs. Corbett, whose store burglars attempted to enter last Friday by climbing a ladder and removing a window on the second floor, fired three shots to attract the police, but the car already had disappeared down Broadway.
A few moments later, in answer to her call, half a dozen motorcycle patrolmen were outside her place. Just then Detective Edwin Mills came along in his car.
Told of what had occurred, Mills declared it was he who had gotten into the car Mrs. Corbett described to the police. Mills said he had left the car parked there while he made a routine inspection of the neighborhood.
Father Held on Charge Made by Daughter
Camden Courier-Post —
Charles Hellings, 52, of 2164 Berwick Street, was held without bail yesterday on a statutory charge by Police Judge Garfield Pancoast after he heard testimony from the man’s daughter, 14, and a granddaughter, 12.
The children made their complaint to Detective Edwin Mills and Hellings was arrested at his home by Detective Louis Schlam. Hellings said he had been drinking regularly.
Prize Prisoner Held Secretly Seven Weeks Saws Way Out
Camden Courier-Post —
Guarded Rigidly, Segregated From Others, Accused of Two Robberies
Slips Through Hole ‘Too Tiny for Any Man’
Drops to Yard by ‘Rope’ of Sheets; Saw Horse Helps Him Over Wall
He was in solitary confinement, allegedly under special guard and allowed no visitors other than his sister. He sawed away the bars of his cell early yesterday and fled hours before his disappearance was discovered.
The famed “Jimmy Valentine” of Camden-Philadelphia mobsters was a mystery prisoner at Mt. Holly. In February Adamski, alias Harry Burns, was sent to State Prison for a three-year term by Judge Samuel M. Shay, following conviction on a gun-toting charge. Several weeks ago Judge Shay issued a secret writ ordering his appearance in the local court and the sentence was suspended and Adamski turned over to Burlington county authorities.
Ellis H. Parker, chief of the Burlington county detectives, said yesterday Adamski was being held on two robbery cases—one at the home of Circuit Court Judge V. Claude Palmer, Moorestown, and the second at the home of Kirkland Marter, Burlington. Parker declares Adamski was indicted on both robbery charges by the Burlington county grand jury last week. The indictments were among the 45 impounded by the court and not made public, Parker said.
Adamski was in the south wing of the jail, in a cell block known to inmates as “murderers’ stir.” Forty other prisoners were in the north wing of the jail. The wardens office separates the two wings, with the prisoners exercise yard, surrounded by a 30-foot wall, in the rear.
At 11 p. m. Saturday Deputy Warden Atwood Wright and Lovando Pond, a special assistant only recently hired by Sheriff George N. Wimer, visited the south wing and “put the prisoner to bed.”
Attached to one of the remaining bars was Adamski’s bed clothing, knotted together and stretching to within a few feet of the ground, 20 feet below. While his fellow prisoners had been asleep—and the guards apparently busy elsewhere—Adamski had filed the bars, made his rope of bed clothing and fled.
He had to get out of the jail yard. A saw horse placed against the wall of the yard at the sheriff’s house, where Wimer has his offices and a deputy sheriff lives, showed where Adamski had made his final bid for freedom. The wall at this point is slightly lower than around the rest of the yard.
As soon as his disappearance was discovered, Parker, at his summer home in Brant Beach, was summoned, as were Sheriff Wimer and Prosecutor Howard Eastwood. All of the prisoners in the north wing were questioned, but little information gathered from them. Eastwood then questioned both Wright and Pond. Deputy Warden Benjamin F. Farner, who was off duty and asleep in the sheriff’s apartment, also was questioned.
No one could tell how Adamski came by the saws. His last visitor and the only one he has been allowed since put in the jail was his sister, who talked with him last Friday.
A deputy warden stood by her side during the conversation and she was not allowed within arm length of the prisoner. Only once in the last seven weeks has Adamski been allowed in the yard for exercise. And on that occasion two guards watched his every move. No explanation of the care in guarding the prisoner was advanced by Burlington authorities other than their claim that he was “a tough guy and very tricky.”
Parker sent flyers to every police department in the east immediately following notification that his prisoner had escaped. Adamski is the lone survivor of a gang of 12 men, known to Philadelphia police as the “Seventh and Parrish streets mob.” His delicate sandpapered fingertips have opened a thousand safes without the aid of knowing the combination, police said. He has been arrested scores of times and spent much of his 28 years in jail.
His last arrest was when Camden Detectives Benjamin Simon and Edwin Mills led a raid on a Gloucester cafe, where Adamski and two others, suspects in the $150,000 bond robbery of the George K. Bartle home in Philadelphia, were. The two arrested with Adamski, Adam Szewezak and Solomon Lutz, were turned over to Philadelphia authorities. Szewezak was convicted in the bond job and is serving a 15 year term in Eastern Penitentiary. Lutz was sentenced to a year in Moyamensing for another robbery. Adamski was given three years in New Jersey state prison on the weapon charge by Judge Shay.
After Adamski’s imprisonment there, Parker learned of his connection with numerous Burlington county robberies and sought to have him brought to Mt. Holly to answer for these crimes. Parker said he had recovered part of the loot of the Palmer-Marter home on information he received from Adamski. He said he “had enough on him to send him away for 15 years.”
Wimer believes the saw was concealed in his shoe when he was brought to prison. “I can’t see,” Chief Parker said, “how any man could get through such a small hole. But Adamski must have done so because he’s sure enough gone.”
Boys Smash Desks in Camden School but Take Nothing
Camden Courier-Post —
Suspects Believed to Have Resented Teachers Refusing Promotion
Hiding in the H. B. Wilson School, Ninth and Florence streets, until a Parent-Teacher Association meeting was over and the school locked for the night, several boys turned vandals by forcing open desk drawers, breaking the glass in book cases, marring desks and strewing papers about. A check-up revealed nothing was stolen.
Lawrence Miller, of 814 Florence street, janitor, reported the incident to police yesterday. Detective Clifford Carr after an inspection of the school obtained finger prints from several papers and turned them over to Detective Edwin Mills for duplication. The prints will be compared, Carr said, with the names of suspects taken by him following a conference with teachers. The names included those of boys who had failed to gain promotion or who were troublesome to teachers in the school. The Parent-Teacher Association meeting was closed at 10:30 p. m. Tuesday night. With no windows or doors forced in the school, Detective Carr was confident the boys gained admittance by secreting themselves about the school during the meeting.
One Arrested as Cops Here Raid ‘Arsenal’
Camden Courier-Post —
Guns Found in Cramer Hill After Tip From Underworld
War on Detectives Believed Planned
Camden detectives yesterday arrested a paroled convict and seized a miniature arsenal on a tip that Philadelphia gangsters were hiding here to “knock off” local officers.
The tipster said the “knock off” was in revenge for “bearing down” on gangsters and racketeers.
The arrest was the first move in the local drive to harry haven-seeking Philadelphia racketeers from this city.
The convict was arrested and his arsenal seized in Cramer Hill, when police raided the place.
The man arrested is Philip Caplan, who told police he lived at the house raided, 919 North Nineteenth street. According to police, Caplan has a record “as long as your arm.”
Believed ‘Master Mind’
Police expressed an opinion that Caplan was the “master mind” of several recent holdups here. They said they believed he directed the holdups, although not appearing at the scene of the crimes.
Three revolvers, their numbers filed off, and several boxes of cartridges and shot-gun shells, were found in a closet in the house.
Detective Lieut. Louis Shaw said he believed Caplan “and his gang” fled to this city to escape the gang probe now under way in Philadelphia.
Betting Slips Seized
A brief case, containing thousands of number betting slips and other papers, also was seized. Police are attempting to check on the contents.
Caplan was held on suspicion and for possession of weapons.
Detectives Benjamin Simon, George Zeitz, Clifford Del Rossi and Edwin Mills staged the raid, after having had the house under observation four days.
Police learned of the alleged gang headquarters through a “tip” from the underworld. They were informed that several Philadelphia gangsters had rented the house and “were laying in wait for the opportunity of knocking off Camden detectives who were ‘bearing down’ on racketeers and holdup men.”
Detective Simon said their informant told them they would find several guns in the place and two or three sawed-off shotguns, all of which have been used in recent holdups in this city. Police believe some of the guns were removed from the place recently.
Caplan admitted to ownership of the guns when questioned at detective headquarters, but said he was not carrying them on his person and asked that they be returned to him.
Was Paroled Recently
Caplan was paroled recently in Philadelphia, after having been sentenced to serve 15 years in the Eastern Penitentiary for holdup and robbery at the point of a gun.
“This man Caplan has a record as long as your arm,” Lieutenant Shaw said. “He is a racketeer and is now on parole from a 15-year sentence for holdup and robbery at the point of a gun. I have reason to believe he is an expert safe cracker and may be wanted in some other cities. The contents of the brief case will be investigated. It may be this man and his gang were chased out of Philadelphia in view of the current war on numbers and crime there. I do not believe this man is in the numbers business, but I do believe some of the gang he is connected with may be number barons.”
Police arrested a second man outside the Nineteenth street dwelling, but he was released after questioning at police headquarters. They did not reveal his name.
Simon said known “crooks” have been going in and out of the Cramer Hill address since the police have been watching the place.
Phillip [sic] Caplan
Paroled Philadelphia convict, who was arrested yesterday when detectives raided a dwelling in Cramer Hill and seized a small arsenal.
Detectives With Pistols and Ammunition Seized in Raid
City Detectives George Zeitz, Clifford Del Rossi and Benjamin Simon are shown examining pistols seized yesterday in a raid on a house in Cramer Hill, at 919 North Nineteenth street, where Philip Caplan, paroled Pennsylvania convict, was arrested and held “on suspicion.” The raid followed a tip that Philadelphia gangsters had rented the house and were waiting for an opportunity to “knock off” local detectives who have been “bearing down” on racketeers and holdup men. The briefcase on the table, detectives said, contained thousands of “numbers” betting slips.
Detective Recovers 300-Pound Stolen Pipe
Camden Courier-Post —
A pipe 25 feet long, 10 inches in diameter, weighing 300 pounds and valued at $25, stolen from in front of the blacksmith shop of Horace S. Greenwell at 7 North Second Street, was recovered today less than an hour after its theft had been reported.
The pipe was recovered by Detective Edwin Mills in a junkyard at Second and Pine Street. Joseph Fugaro, an employee at the establishment, told Mills that two boys, about 16, brought the pipe last night in a pushcart and that when he refused to buy it, dumped it in the street. Fugaro said he rolled the pipe in.
Racket in Cleaners Laid to Prisoner
Camden Courier-Post —
Police Charge He Got One on Credit, Sold and Then Reclaimed It
One of the strangest gyp rackets discovered in Camden in recent years—a vacuum cleaner sales scheme—was believed broken up yesterday with arraignment of Leonard Hauser, 218 North Eighth street, before Police Judge Mariano. Hauser was arrested at his home by Patrolman John Ferry after an investigation by Frank Thompson, representative of a nationally-known vacuum cleaner company with offices at Sixth and Cooper Streets.
Ferry testified Hauser paid $10 down on a cleaner for a certain trial period. Then, Ferry said, he represented himself as a salesman for the company and sold it to Mrs. Mary Kirby, 552 Bailey Street, for $25, plus her old cleaner for a trade in. Later, the cleaner mysteriously broke down. Hauser called and said he would take it back and bring a new one. He took the cleaner, said Ferry, but never was seen at the Kirby home again.
Mariano said he had information that Hauser was “working a real racket and that a number of other North Camden residents had been similarly defrauded.”
William Shaw, of 1474 Broadway, identified Hauser, according to Mills, as the man who collected $5 from him for an electric toy which was to have been Shaw’s little son’s Christmas present. The toy never arrived, Mills said Shaw told him.
Mrs. Emily C. Hedley, of Berlin, and Mrs. Howard Brown, of Williamstown, also identified Hauser as the “vacuum cleaner salesman” who duped them, Mills declared.
Camden Police Department
Camden Courier-Post —
Named: Edwin T. Mills, Anthony Chico, Albert Covitto, Daniel Chico, South 3rd Street, South 4th Street, Winslow Street, and Viola Street.
Dog Dies Fighting To Rout Thieves From Junk Yard
Camden Courier-Post —
A German shepherd dog gave its life yesterday in routing thieves from the junk yard of its master at Eighth and Liberty streets. Walter Gintoft, proprietor of the yard, found the dog lying beside a pushcart that had been filled with automobile tires and batteries. Its head was crushed.
Gintoft told Detectives Edwin Mills and Frank Crawford he was awakened by a rumpus in the yard, but arrived too late to save the dog. Detectives are seeking to trace ownership of the pushcart.
Gang Is Arrested for Eight Holdups
Trenton Evening Times —
Charged with Robbing Couples on ‘Lover’s Lane’ Camden
CAMDEN, Aug. 20 (P).—Charged with being members of a holdup gang which robbed couples in parked automobiles in a “lover’s lane,” five girls and two boys were held without bail today by Police Judge Mitchell Cohen.
Detective Edwin Mills, who said he traced eight holdups to the group, accused 18-year-old Dorothy Pearce of directing the gang’s activities. She and Rose Cavalier, 17, were charged with conspiracy.
Joseph Rockko and Ernest Whilden, both 17, and Franklin A. Dyer, 18, are charged with larceny, while the other two, Edward Henry, 17, and Roy Ludwig, 18, are accused of carrying concealed weapons.
Fred Klosterman Hit by Pump Gun Fire
Camden Courier-Post —
NUMBERS KING FELLED AS CAP CUTS INTO HIS
Near Death in Hospital After Shooting Outside House Adjoining Cafe
‘WELCHING’ ON PAYOFF AMONG RUMORS PROBED
Four blasts from a pump gun last night felled Fred Klosterman, convicted South Camden numbers baron and cafe operator, outside his Club Cadix, Mt. Ephraim avenue and Mechanic street.
Klosterman, 39, was believed dying today in West Jersey Hospital. He was shot by one or more assailants in an automobile which blocked his parked car in which he was seated.
Before lapsing into semi-consciousness, Klosterman told police he could not understand why he was shot. He said he knew of no enemies. He could give no description of his assailant or of the car in which they escaped.
Detectives were investigating several possible motives for the murder attempt.
One was a report that Klosterman “welched” on paying off bets when the number “444” hit Friday.
Arrested Many Times
Klosterman had been arrested many times for numbers activities during the past decade and was on parole from a three-to-five year State prison sentence, served with his brother, Joseph.
Two months ago, police said someone fired a shot through the window of Klosterman’s saloon and broke the mirror behind the bar. The shooting occurred after hours and no one was in the place. The shot was fired after Joseph Osinski, 21, was shot in the leg in the office of the R and M Amusement Company. Osinski, police said, was employed by a man formerly associated with Klosterman.
The mystery shooting occurred at 10:05 p. m. when Klosterman, who lives at 1048 Mechanic street, next door to the saloon, went to the street in front of his home to put his automobile in a garage for the night. An hour before, he and his wife had returned home from a motion picture theatre.
So far as police were able to learn, there were no witnesses to the shooting. Alfred Giffins, of 1111 Mechanic street, said he heard the firing of shots and ran outside to see what was the matter. He found Klosterman lying on the pavement, his face smeared with blood, and a red stream forming slowly on the sidewalk from the gaping wounds in his body.
Taken to Hospital In Car
Giffins commandeered the first car that came along Mt. Ephraim avenue. It contained a male driver and two girls. The man took Klosterman to the hospital, two blocks away, and left before nurses could obtain his name. According to Acting Det. Sergeant Benjamin Simon, he received a call from Klosterman’s wife, Victoria, that her husband had been shot in front of their home. Simon, with Detectives Edward Mills, Edward Mardino [sic] and Gus Pfleiderer, went to the house, where they met Mrs. Klosterman. She said her husband had been removed to the hospital. They found Klosterman in the receiving ward, conscious but weak from loss of blood.
Simon reported Klosterman said he and his wife had returned from a motion picture show a short time before. He left his car in front of his home, parked against traffic and at an angle to the curb. After going inside with Mrs. Klosterman he went outside again to put his car in the garage.
Car Driven in Front of Him
As he took his seat behind the wheel, Klosterman told Simon, another car approached from the west. It halted in front of his car.
There was a blast from a shotgun. He was struck with the first blast, he said, and ducked down below the dashboard.
Three more blasts followed in quick succession. Three slugs entered his left shoulder a few inches above the heart. Another lodged in his chin and a fifth in his upper lip. Others struck the right side of the windshield and right front window.
The assailants’ car sped west on Mechanic street to Tenth and disappeared north on Tenth street.
Klosterman said he could not obtain the license number of the car, although police were investigating a report the car was a brown sedan with New Jersey plates.
Klosterman said he was able to open the door of his car and slumped to the sidewalk, where he was found by Githens.
The shotgun slugs that struck Klosterman were about the diameter of a lead pencil.
Police Guard at Bedside
An emergency operation for removal of the pellets from his face was performed by Dr. H. Wesley Jack.
After questioning by Simon, Klosterman was questioned by County Detective Chief Lawrence T. Doran. He repeated his earlier story. William B. Macdonald, court stenographer, took down his entire statement.
Commissioner Mary W. Kobus, director of public safety, and Police Chief Ralph Bakley, also were present. They ordered a police guard posted at his bedside.
Klosterman, with his brother, was paroled from state prison July 9, 1936, after serving part of a three-to-five year sentence imposed by the then Judge Frank F. Neutze.
The brothers were convicted by a Criminal Court jury on two of four indictments charging them with numerous violations growing out of their numbers business, then said to have a “bank,” or headquarters, at the Young Men’s Seventh Ward Republican Club, 1411 Mt. Ephraim avenue.
Fined $3000 Each
When Judge Neutze passed sentence, and fined each defendant $3000 in addition to the jail terms, he lashed them for “paying politicians for protection.”
“These politicians can be found in the Third and Fifth wards of Camden,” he said. “Some of them come from Philadelphia. You couldn’t have carried on this business for such a long time without help and consent of certain influential persons in your part of the city.”
A factor in the conviction was subpoenaing of the bank accounts of the accused brothers and testimony of bank officials their bank deposits averaged more than $2000 a day.
Judge Neutze emphasized he would hand out stiff terms when he recalled the defendants were acquitted on one numbers charge in January, 1935, and had gone back into the racket immediately.
This referred to a case heard in Criminal Court before Judge Samuel F. Shay in June, 1933, when both men were convicted and the convictions appealed by their attorney. They were released in $2000 bail each pending the appeal.
Fined in Police Court
In May, 1934, Assistant Prosecutor Isaac Eason announced in court the county was unwilling to stand the expense of a new trial, and asked the sentences be revoked and the defendants made to pay fines of $500 each. Judge Neutze agreed.
On June 14, 1933, Joseph Klosterman was fined $200 by Police Judge Garfield Pancoast for operating a numbers bank in a florist shop on Mt. Ephraim avenue, not far from where his brother was shot last night.
In December, 1931, Joseph Klosterman pleaded guilty to allowing disorderly persons to congregate in his establishment and was fined $100, also by Pancoast.
After the Grand Jury returned the indictments that led to the 1935 trial, Fred Klosterman disappeared from the city. He finally surrendered in February, 1935, and with his brother was placed on trial two months later.
Neighbors said that since the brothers gained their parole in July, 1936, they parted company. Fred, they said, continued to rule the South Camden numbers racket but his brother dropped out.
Gunmen in Philadelphia Murder Colozzi in Numbers War
Camden Courier-Post —
Westmont Victim Reported to Have Been Aide of Klosterman
Scarduzio Death Tieup Also Seen
A reputed employee of Fred Klosterman, Camden numbers baron, was shot and killed in Philadelphia last night in what police there believed was an inter-city fight for control of the numbers racket.
While Captain John Murphy, of the Philadelphia vice squad, expressed belief the slaying of Colozzi and shooting last Sunday of Klosterman were related, County Detective Chief Lawrence T. Doran was working on another angle.
Doran said Colozzi had been closely associated during the last 10 days with John Lenkowski, 22, a fugitive wanted here in connection with the murder of Andrew Scarduzio.
Philadelphia police, however, seemed certain Colozzi was shot as a result of a new “numbers war.” They said they had information that the dead man apparently was in the employ of a Camden numbers bank.
Credence was given the report that local numbers barons are attempting to “muscle in” on the “Philadelphia play” when Irving Bickel, 34, who admits being friendly with Klosterman, was arrested yesterday.
Detective Sergeant Benjamin Simon and Detective Edwin Mills questioned Bickel in Philadelphia yesterday and said he admitted “knowing Klosterman” but denied he worked for him.
Simon and Mills were in Philadelphia again today working on the Colozzi shooting to ascertain whether there was any connection between the slaying and shooting of Klosterman on Sunday.
Colozzi was murdered at Eleventh and Carpenter Streets, South Philadelphia, last night. The top of his head was blasted by shotgun slugs to end a career in crime that extended over 30 years, with at least 30 arrests.
Klosterman was shot down in front of his saloon at Mount Ephraim Avenue and Mechanic Street at 10:00 PM Sunday as he went to the street to drive his car to a garage. The would-be killer sped away.
The stiffest sentence Colozzi ever got was on December 13, 1934 when Judge Frank F. Neutze sent him and an accomplice to state prison for robbing a coat factory at 7 South 3rd Street four months before.
In passing sentence on the much arrested “Manayunk Joe,” Judge Neutze put aside pleas the prisoner was the father of eight children and sent him “up the river” for a term of six to seven years.
“You’re a typical criminal and a menace to the public,” Judge Neutze said in a searing rebuke. “A light sentence won’t do you any good. Your record is one of the longest shown to me since I have been on the bench. You represent a type that is better off behind bars, for outside of prison you are a menace to the public. I’ll go the limit with you.”
Colozzi’s police record dates back to 1904, when as a child of 12 he was committed to the Glen Mills, Pa. Home for Boys for petty larceny. He served 19 months. In October 1933, he was jailed by U. S. Marshals for violation of the Dyer Act, interstate transportation of a stolen auto, but was placed on five years’ probation. In July 1934 he was arrested in Camden for breaking and entering and in December of the same year was sentenced to six to seven years in State Prison.
World War II Draft Registration
Edwin T. Mills, World War II draft registration, 1942
Intruder Wounded in Return to Party
Camden Courier-Post —
So. Camden Legion Post Houseman Held in Probe of Shooting
Charles Flacco, 22, of 1615 Fillmore street, was seriously wounded by a shotgun discharge in the chest early today when he attempted to return to a party that had already ended.
He was found at 2 a. m. by passersby lying on the pavement at Broadway and Viola street and removed to West Jersey hospital. There he repeatedly muttered: “Don’t shoot, I have a wife and small child.”
Detectives Edward Mills and Robert Ashenfelter learned that Flacco had attended a party at the George Booz Post, American Legion, 1944 Broadway, earlier in the night. Questioning of Pietro Damario, 59, houseman at the post home, revealed he had been awakened by the crash of a window, grabbed a shotgun and fired.
“But I didn’t know that I had hit anyone,” he said. “I didn’t see anyone in the street and went back to bed.”
Albert diGiacomo and Guistino Fizzallo told police they saw Flacco in a taproom at 12.30 a. m. after a party at the Legion hall had broken up. “He left,” they said, “apparently to go home.”
The detectives believe the victim returned to the Booz post home and broke a window while trying to enter the darkened building, still under the impression a party was in full swing. Damario was held on a charge of aggravated assault and battery.
Services on Friday for Detective Mills
Camden Courier-Post —
Services for City Detective Edwin T. Mills, who died Sunday at Atlantic Shores hospital, Somers Point, will be held at 2 p. m., Friday at the residence, 240 Eutaw avenue under direction of the Holl Funeral Service.
Detective Mills was stricken with uremic poisoning at his Summer home at Wildwood and died 17 hours later. He was granted a disability pension last Friday. He was injured when a police radio car and a bus collided on March 16, 1943, at Broadway and Mickle street. City Detective George Zietz [sic], who was with him, also was injured.
He is survived by his widow, Eulalia, and a daughter, Ruth.