Introduction
George Ellis was a member of the Camden Police Department. He was promoted to Detective on September 26, 1944 by then Chief of Police George W. Frost. He was then living at 367 South 27th Street.
Geo. Ellis Promoted To Acting Detective
Camden Courier-Post —
Police Chief Frost yesterday announced the promotion of Patrolman George Ellis to acting detective.
Ellis, who lives at 367 South Twenty-seventh street, has been working in the identification bureau.
Cops Are Checking On Movements of Garrote Suspect
Camden Courier-Post —
LEROY SNYDER
Investigators of the murder of Richard H. Thompson, 36-year-old churchworker, today were checking the whereabouts and movements of a South Camden youth prior to and after the discovery of the crime.
Leroy Snyder, 18, of 736 Cherry street, arrested Thursday night for allegedly attempting to strangle a 16-year-old girl with a piece of clothesline, is under examination in the county jail by City Detectives Ellis and Simon and County Detective McLaughlin.
The probers said they were particularly interested in the piece of clothesline the girl said she wrested from Snyder’s grasp when he tossed it about her neck and pulled her to the sidewalk at Sixth and Walnut streets.
Detectives said the clothesline will be compared with a four-foot length clothesline found tightly knotted about Thompson’s neck when he was discovered Oct. 15 in a small areaway behind a row of garages at Fifth and Mickle streets.
Youth Held in Attempt To Strangle Girl, 16, Quizzed on Murder
Camden Courier-Post —
Police Grill Suspect About Garroting of Church Worker
A South Camden youth is under questioning today in the garrote slaying of Richard H. Thompson, 36-year-old churchworker, after his arrest Thursday night for attempting to strangle a girl with a length of clothesline.
Leroy Snyder, 18, of 736 Cherry street, was arrested on complaint of Gertrude Jones, 16, of 536 Liberty street.
The girl told police she was walking along Walnut street near Sixth about 11 p. m. when she was attacked by a youth who looped a piece of clothesline about her neck and tossed her to the ground.
The girl said she screamed and began to struggle. Her shouts were heard by a minister, the Rev. Isaac Foulkes, pastor of the New Union Baptist Church, 608 Walnut street, of which the girl is a member. The Rev. Mr. Foulkes was looking at books in the church and ran outside. Seeing him, the suspect fled.
District Detective John Opfer responded to the alarm and with the girl in his car began a tour of the neighborhood. About a block from the scene, Opfer said, the girl pointed to Snyder and he was arrested. At police headquarters Miss Jones identified Snyder as the one who attacked her.
Detective George Ellis and County Detective James McLaughlin, who are investigating the Thompson murder, were notified.
Ellis said Snyder would be questioned and the clothesline would be checked against the one found knotted tightly around Thompson’s neck when he was discovered Oct. 15 in an areaway behind a row of garages at Fifth and Mickle streets.
Dzick Frees 2 In Row Over Car Mishap
Camden Courier-Post —
What police called a “quarrel among thieves” was thrown out of Municipal Court Wednesday by Judge Dzick.
He discharged Nicholas Persiano, 22, of Broadway near Pine st., a key figure in the recent $22,000 Freihofer Baking Co. robbery, and Anthony Mona, of the 1400 block S. 4th st. Mona’s brother, Nicholas, 20, is under bail in connection with the robbery.
For lack of evidence in an automobile case, Judge Dzick said he discharged the two “with much regret.”
Both were arrested as the aftermath of an accident in which a car driven by Persiano crashed into the bulk window of the Dial Shoe Store, 1152 Broadway.
Free on Bail
Persiano, who is under $10,000 bail on the robbery charge, is said by police to have obtained $19,000 of the Freihofer loot through a ruse, although he was not directly connected with the robbery. The money has not been recovered.
Judge Dzick said he gave his discharge order because Persiano “recanted” his original charges against Mona and Robert Rodgers, 23, of Mt. Vernon st. near 2nd.
Detective George Ellis testified that Persiano originally told him that his car was forced off the highway by a machine driven by Mona, and that when the car crashed Rodgers was on the running board attempting to beat him over the head with a piece of pipe.
Says Car Skidded
In court Wednesday, Persiano said his car skidded, and his testimony was supported by that of Thomas Myers, of 632 Benson st., and James Walker, of 945 Newton ave., occupants of another car in the neighborhood at the time of the accident.
On Persiano’s complaint, police arrested Mona. When Persiano failed to appear in court Monday, Judge Dzick issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
Rodgers, who was not arraigned, was in court with an attorney.
Despite earlier statements police said he made, Persiano testified Wednesday that he “wasn’t sure” Mona drove the other car which threw him into a skid, and he “wasn’t sure” the man riding his running board was Rodgers.
Mona had been charged with reckless driving and Persiano with careless driving.
Two Suspects Held in Bail of $25,000 Each
Camden Courier-Post —
10 Burglaries:
Two suspects, linked by police with 10 burglaries in the city during the last 6 weeks, were held in $25,000 bail each today by Municipal Judge Marino.
Held on one count each, pending a continuing investigation and a further hearing Tuesday, the men were identified as William J. Porter, 26, of Fern st. near 8th, and Howard James, 25, of Fogarty ave. near Federal st.
Marino commended police work in cracking the case and four detectives assigned to it, Marshall Thompson, Thomas Scarduzio, George Ellis and Russell Young.
James, a brother-in-law of Porter, was in the county jail to await grand jury action on a charge of breaking into a Cooper st. service station Dec. 11, police said, when the case broke Wednesday.
Street Attack Suspect
Porter was wanted for questioning in the stabbing of Miss Joann Green, 19, of 313 Chestnut st., Tuesday night, according to police.
Scarduzio said police searched Porter’s house Tuesday night but he could not be found. However, Scarduzio said, Ptl. Richard Brooks picked up a cash box in the house.
Wednesday, when the box was shown to Sgt. Earl Quinton, he suggested it may have been taken from the Asam Wallpaper Co., 1001 Market st., Nov. 17, according to Scarduzio. The box was later identified as the one taken from that concern, Scarduzio added.
Caught at Gun-Point
Detectives returned to the house Wednesday in an effort to pick up Porter. While Thompson and Young covered the front of the house, Scarduzio went to the back. Scarduzio said he apprehended Porter at gun-point as Porter fled from a rear door.
A search of the place by daylight turned up loot believed connected with robberies in which the two suspects are implicated, Thompson said. Included in the find were 20 new paint brushes, barber shop supplies and a letter scale.
At first, Porter denied any knowledge of breaking and entering, Thompson stated. James was brought from the jail and questioned by Thompson more than three hours. Thompson said James finally admitted the jobs and implicated Porter, who later confirmed James’ statements, Thompson said.
Thompson reported James admitted breaking into a grocery at 635 Carman st. Nov. 2 and looting a barber shop at 303 S. 3rd st. of $304 in equipment Nov. 9.
Other Victims
The two of them allegedly broke into the office of an engineering firm Nov. 7, taking a computing machine valued at $500 and took $650 in appliances from Thrifty Buyers Store, 313 Market st., Nov. 13.
The wallpaper firm was entered Nov. 17 when $712 in cash and $200 worth of postage stamps was taken. On Dec. 10, they purportedly entered Asam’s again and ransacked the second-floor offices of Camden Ink and Color Co. and Cutler Metal Co.; the Fitwell Coat Co. on the third floor, and the Wilkie W. Faust Co., next door at 1011 Market st.
Scarduzio said a warrant has been issued for Porter’s wife, Jean, charging her with assault and battery on the Green girl. The girl underwent an emergency operation Tuesday night in Cooper Hospital, after being left there by Porter, Scarduzio said.
Police also disclosed that Porter was wanted on an assault and battery warrant issued on complaint of his wife.
Ransackers Tour Building on Market St.
Camden Courier-Post —
Cash, Stamps Taken
Burglars took between $30 and $40 cash and 200 three-cent stamps during the night while ransacking office and warehouse space of five firms in a building at 10th and Market sts.
Breaking through connecting doors after scaling a ladder in the rear of 1011 Market st., the thieves invaded Wilkie W. Faust & Sons millwork firm, a storage space of Cutler Metal Products Co., offices of Camden Ink and Color Co., Fit-Well Coat Co. and Asam Bros. Inc., a wallpaper firm. The latter three have entrances at 1001 Market st.
Dets. George Ellis and Marshall Thompson said the petty cash and stamps were taken from Camden Ink and Color where desks and filing cabinets were rifled. John Erickson, 5754 Irving ave., Pennsauken, owner, fixed the loss.
Entrance there was through the storage area of the Cutler firm where a broken glass in a door apparently cut someone. Blood was spattered on the door and floor.
The investigators said a ladder at the rear of the building permitted the thieves to force a second-floor window of the Faust firm. But Wilkie W. Faust Jr., of Wynnecote, Pa., said nothing appeared to be missing. He was called by John Gosik, a special watchman, who notified police when he discovered the entry at 4 a. m.
Joseph Allman, 1250 Stirling st., Philadelphia, manager of the coat firm, told detectives he found nothing missing.
At the wallpaper office, Andrew Oliver, 615 Graymar rd., Moorestown, said desks and cabinets were ransacked but nothing was missing.
Wilkie Son Dies From Gun Shot
Camden Courier-Post —
Youth, 17, Found Suicide in Home By Officer
The 17-year-old son of Camden Police Sgt. John V. Wilkie was found shot to death in his home early Sunday, with his father’s service revolver lying on the living room floor beneath his body.
James S. Wilkie, of 1144 Princess ave., was found by his father shortly after 2 a. m.
Coroner John A. Healey, after an autopsy Sunday afternoon, also said he was “satisfied the death was suicide.” He issued a death certificate with that finding.
Younger Children Questioned
Benjamin Asbell, first assistant prosecutor, with County Detective Chief James J. Mulligan, City Detective Capt. Thomas P. Murphy and Detective George Ellis, questioned Wilkie, two other Wilkie children, their friends and neighbors for more than three hours in detective headquarters Sunday night.
Capt. Murphy reconstructed the death as follows:
W. Richard Wilkie, 16, and his sister Teresa, 14, with Paul Ragone, 15, of Bridgeboro rd., Moorestown, a friend of Richard, were decorating the living room of the Wilkie home for Christmas when James came home about 1.30 a. m. and evidently had been drinking.
A quarrel followed in which Richard chided James about “coming home drunk,” and James wanted to fight his brother, but Richard and the Ragone boy went outside the house. At that point, James went to his father’s second-floor front bedroom and took Wilkie’s .38-caliber police revolver from a chest of drawers and returned to the living room.
‘I’ll Kill Myself’
James ordered his sister to tell Richard to return to the house, and Richard instead directed Teresa to “come outside,” Asbell said. When the girl left the home, James went to the front door, waved the gun and shouted, according to Asbell:
“If you don’t come in I’ll kill myself.”
The children said James then turned and went back into the house. They stated he slammed the front door so hard the blind fell off.
Seconds later, Richard heard what he called a shot. Richard, Teresa and Ragone called for James at the front and rear doors but got no response.
After trying unsuccessfully to reach Sgt. Wilkie, the three were taken by a friend of Ragone’s to the home of Mrs. Tessie Bogacki, mother of the Wilkie children, in Woodlynne. Mrs. Bogacki remarried after she and Sgt. Wilkie were divorced several months ago.
Father Finds Body
Wilkie told the investigators he had been to a restaurant and discovered the body when he returned shortly after 2 a. m., but thought his son had cut his head in a fall. The weapon beneath the body was not found until after police, summoned by Wilkie from a police box at Haddon and Kaighns aves., arrived and moved the body.
The spent bullet was found near the body in a pool of blood by Detectives Edward Shapiro and John Moffa. Another bullet taken from the gun, police said, showed evidence it had misfired.
Police said a preliminary investigation by doctors at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, where James was pronounced dead on arrival at 3 a. m., indicated the bullet had entered the left side of the head and left the right temple, but no powder burns could be found on the left side.
Autopsy Performed
The body was transferred to Cooper Hospital where an autopsy was performed by Dr. William T. Read. Healey said the autopsy showed conclusively the bullet had been fired into the right temple and left through the left temple. Powder burns were found on the right side, Healey stated.
Capt. Murphy said tests were made of the boy’s right hand and the gun and forwarded to the State Police laboratory at Trenton.
A separate investigation is being made, Murphy said, to determine where the youth had been drinking.
Wilkie, famed for years as Camden’s notebook cop, has been away from duty for several months because of illness. Wilkie told investigators his son suffered a head injury in early youth and had complained of headaches. Wilkie said he felt the death might be accidental and expressed the possibility his son may have staggered and fallen with the loaded revolver. Wilkie said James also had been despondent since the death of another son, John, killed last June in a plane crash in Japan. James was employed as an apprentice by a Philadelphia belt manufacturing firm.
Coroner Healey said the youth’s employers had elevated James in their apprentice program only last week. Young Wilkie celebrated the promotion by buying a new suit and topcoat, the coroner added.
Burglary Victims Recover $4360 In Stolen Goods
Camden Courier-Post —
Display at City Hall Rivals Oriental Bazaar In Variety Shown
Loot valued at $4360 by detectives was returned to its owners in detective headquarters in city hall Tuesday night.
Headquarters resembled an Oriental bazaar as the stolen articles were spread over seven tables, two large desks, and hung on clothing racks.
Detectives are holding George Wilmer, 30, of 521 Liberty street, a parolee, whom they suspect of being Camden’s daytime “phantom burglar” who has been plaguing the department for the last three months. To date police say they have charged Wilmer with 29 counts of breaking and entering and two counts of attempting to break and enter.
Captain of Detectives Thomas Murphy said that Tuesday night’s display was only a portion of the loot and that police believe Wilmer pawned a quantity of the goods in Philadelphia. They also suspect he sold some to secondhand and antique dealers, Murphy said.
The display that met the claimants when they went to headquarters looked like a mail order catalog come to life. There were women’s dresses, men’s suits and top coats, several types of radios, an oil space heater, binoculars, cameras; costume jewelry, empty wallets and even a clothes chest with the clothing still in it.
Missing from the collection were two parakeets which detectives returned to their owner Thursday because—unlike the other items—the birds had to be fed.
Assisting Capt. Murphy in the identification and return of the stolen items were: Detective Sergeants Earl Quinton, William Neal, William Kelly and Clifford Carr, and Detectives William O’Brien, John Huston, August Pfleiderer, George Ellis and Marshall Thompson.
Crowd Views Articles
According to Capt. Murphy the claimants, their addresses, the stolen objects and their estimated value are:
Mrs. Waid Young, 526 Washington street, electric sewing machine, woman’s jewelry, $358; Miss Catherine Sparks, 110 South Fourth street, table model radio, $19; Mrs. Ethel Kelly, 1068 Princess avenue, jewelry, $155; Mrs. Leo Jekel, 548 Haddon avenue, table model radio, portable typewriter, woman’s ring, $85; William Snyder, 1304 Park boulevard, table model radio, $55; Milfred Layser, 416 Chambers avenue, carpenter’s tools, a dress coat, $175; James Glennon, 802 Mt. Ephraim avenue, jewelry, $300; Mrs. Williams Cogswell, 914 Linden street, clothing and jewelry, $1242.50.
Mrs. Lena Bruns, 772 Line street, metal clothes chest with clothes, tool chest, jewelry, $125; Mrs. Anna Halliwell, 870 Haddon avenue, foreign money, no value given; Mrs. Martha Oehlert, 643 Mt. Vernon street, oil space heater, jewelry, $138; Mrs. William J. McCaffrey, 1030 Spruce street, antique clock, $400; Mrs. Lillian Simons, 412 Taylor avenue, clothing and jewelry, $20.
Veteran Boxers’ association, 868 Mt. Ephraim avenue, record player, amplifier and recorder, $100; John McNutt, 1620 Ferry avenue, jewelry and clothing, $300; Romeo Simonelli, 404 Haddon avenue, men’s and women’s clothing, $94; Mrs. Theresa Auletto, 929 South Third street, jewels, $405; Mrs. Vera Doughton, 1023 South Sixth street, table model radio, $16; Emidio Giorgi, 1353 Princess avenue, clarinet and man’s suit, $125.
Three Men Held Without Bail in Tavern Holdup
Camden Courier-Post —
Trio Nabbed at Shore Identified by Victim Of $2000 Theft Here
Three men suspected of the $2000 robbery of a Camden woman tavern owner last Friday were held without bail for further hearing by Judge Dzick today.
Dzick acted in compliance with a request by Detectives Marshall Thompson and George Ellis, who said the investigation was not complete. The three were arrested Sunday in Atlantic City.
Booked on charges of armed robbery were Stanley Slagle, 22, of 1408 Broadway; James J. Lenahan, 24, of 1734 Broadway, and Robert Sharp, 26, of 19 N. Johnson blvd., Gloucester.
Identified as Boxer
Slagle was identified as a middleweight boxer, who started to fight last fall and appeared twice at a Philadelphia club.
Arrested at 2 a. m. Sunday the men were returned to Camden, where they were identified by Miss Mary Lynch, 44, who operates Lynch’s Cafe at 3rd and Erie sts. Charles Clark, 33, of 538 N. Front st., a patron who was slugged on the head with a blackjack, was able to identify Lenahan and Sharp as participating in the daylight holdup, according to Detective Capt. Thomas Murphy.
Murphy said the men will be included in a police lineup Tuesday at 8 p. m. so that other victims of holdups in the area during the past year may view the suspects.
Atlantic City police said Patrolmen Adelmo Fidelli and Edward Shaw, acting on information from Camden detectives, nabbed Lenahan in the Nomad Club.
Fifteen minutes later, other officers took Sharp and Slagle into custody in the Jockey Club.
Shore police said they had been notified Camden authorities in a raid on an apartment in Camden had learned from a girl-friend of one of the men that she was to meet them in Atlantic City.
Some Money Recovered
Murphy said $600 of the stolen money was recovered on the men, in addition to $125 discovered in the apartment in the 1700 block on Broadway.
The detective captain said Detectives George Ellis and Marshall Thompson, who along with Detectives Harry Tracey and Sgt. William Kelly returned the suspects from the shore, had spent 43 hours without sleep on the trail of the bandits.
Murphy said the key to the capture was a license number obtained by Patrolman Oliver Morgan from an automobile seen near the scene of the holdup.
Car Was Stolen
The car, Murphy said, had been stolen from John J. Hegar, 640 Federal st., a certified public accountant, who was unaware of the theft until after the car was recovered Saturday on 7th st., between Liberty st. and Kaighn ave.
Later Saturday, Murphy related, Detective Harry Kyler and Detective Sgt. Vincent Conley obtained information linking Lenahan to the job and, still later, the apartment in Camden was raided.
Discovered in the apartment, Murphy said, were a .45-calibre automatic and the cash, found hidden under a chair cushion.
Murphy said Lenahan and Sharp, under questioning Sunday night in Camden, admitted their part in the holdup. Slagle, however, denied knowledge of the crime, Murphy added.
Discarded Weapons
Reconstructing the holdup and the trail of the gunmen, Murphy named Sharp as driver of the getaway car and said the men drove around the city and then later threw a shotgun and blackjack from the car.
The men went to Philadelphia, Murphy continued, where they purchased new clothes and wrist watches and other accessories and agreed to meet in Atlantic City.
Murphy said all have police records, Lenahan having been paroled in July from state prison after serving a term for grand larceny in Atlantic City. Sharp was released from state prison last year after serving a term for larceny of an automobile in Camden County and Slagle was released from the prison where he was sent for robbery, Murphy said.
Holdup suspects booked at police headquarters
Camden Courier-Post —
HOLDUP SUSPECTS are shown as they were booked Sunday on charges of armed robbery of a Camden tavern which netted $2000 Friday. Left to right are Stanley Slagle, 22; Detective Sgt. Vincent Conley; James Lenahan, 24; Detectives Marshall Thompson and George Ellis, and Robert Sharp, 26. Desk Sgt. John V. Wilkie records the information.
—Courier-Post Photo