J. James Hainsworth Jr.
J. JAMES “BIG JIM” HAINSWORTH JR. was the son of long-time Camden political figure John J. Hainsworth Sr. and his wife Sabina. The 1920 Census shows the family at 1009 Ferry Avenue, the corner of Ferry Avenue and Mulford Street, in what was Camden’s Eighth Ward. He was one of fourteen children. John J. Hainsworth Sr. served as the Democratic County committeeman from Camden’s Eighth Ward in the early 1930s, and supported Emma Hyland and Harry Maloney over Edward J. Kelleher for control of the county organization.
John James Hainsworth Jr., better known as J. James “Big Jim” Hainsworth, was also active politically. He won close election for Camden County Sheriff in 1951, where the results were disputed and court action was taken to certify the results. He served two three-year terms as sheriff, losing the position in 1956. He then was appointed Register of Deeds, and served in a number of positions in Camden County Government until his retirement in 1981.
J. James Hainsworth married around 1926. By April of 1930, when the Census was taken, his wife Anna had given birth to two sons, George and J. James Hainsworth III. The family lived at 533 Jackson Street at the time of the Census. By 1940 three more children had been born, Joseph, Renee, and Shirley. The 1940 Census and 1943 City Directory shows them at 1909 South 6th Street. By 1947 J. James “Big Jim” Hainsworth and family had moved to 1907 Fillmore Street where they remained as late as October of 1970. They later moved to Camden’s Fairview section. After spending some time in hospice, he passed away at his daughter’s home in Turnersville on April 3, 1990.
Son John J. “Jim” Hainsworth III, was also active in Camden city and county politics. Son Joseph C. Hainsworth served 31 years with the Camden Police Department. Nephew James R. Asher, served for over 29 years with the Camden Fire Department, retiring as District Chief in 1976.
Sgt. Wilkie Is Still Held in Jail, His Bail of $50,000 Unchanged
Camden Courier-Post —
Cut Considered After Retraction Of ‘Confession’
Police Sgt. John V. Wilkie, Camden’s notebook cop, remained in jail today in default of $50,000 bail despite his admission Thursday he “confessed” accidentally killing his son in an effort to have full burial rites of the Roman Catholic Church accorded the youth.
Wilkie’s admission of the fabrication as a desperate self-sacrificing attempt for his son came Thursday afternoon after he learned the church had reiterated that his son, James, 17, could not be given requiem rites and be buried in consecrated ground.
Wilkie admitted that when he returned to his home, at 1144 Princess ave., at 2.18 a. m. Sunday, he found his son dead of a revolver shot instead of having been shot in a struggle with Wilkie for the latter’s service revolver.
Services for Wilkie’s son will be held Monday at 11 a. m. in the Robert J. Blake Funeral Home, 851 Haddon ave. Burial will be in New Camden Cemetery, Mt. Ephraim and Ferry aves., a nondenominational cemetery. There will be a public viewing at the funeral home Sunday night.
Wilkie, a member of Sacred Heart R.C. Church, Broadway and Ferry ave., will be permitted to attend the services under guard.
Asked about the continuing high bail, Prosecutor Mitchell Cohen said there has been “no request from Wilkie nor his attorney, Elmer Bertman, for reduction of bail.”
Favorable to Lower Bail
Cohen, however, continued, “In light of the new circumstances, I certainly would entertain such a request.” He continued:
“In view of the holiday weekend, I probably won’t be in my office until Monday. Nor is the sheriff’s office open during the weekend to receive the bail.
“It would be necessary to contact me with a request for bail reduction and also to make special arrangements with Sheriff Hainsworth to post the bail.”
Late Thursday, Cohen told reporters he had no alternative but to present all of the facts in the case to the grand jury and “let them decide.”
Tells of Repudiation
“In the presence of Chief Mulligan and Capt. Dube of the county detectives staff; Capt. Murphy of the Camden City detective bureau; Samuel P. Orlando as a friend of Wilkie’s, and Fred Albert, court stenographer, Wilkie has made a statement which repudiates a ‘confession’ he made to me earlier this week.
“He states that he found his son, James, dead of a gunshot wound when he returned to his home early on the morning of Dec. 20.
“Wilkie states that he concocted his story that he and his son wrestled over possession of the gun, which was Wilkie’s service revolver, and that the gun was discharged accidentally.
Father Denied Suicide
“Wilkie told us he had determined to do everything within his power, say anything and be willing to take any kind of punishment, in order to obtain a Catholic funeral for his son.
“He still insists that his son did not commit suicide, that he had just bought some new clothes and had said or done nothing to indicate he might take his life.
“I must say here that the facts available to us do not coincide with a theory of accidental death.
“After Wilkie had made his ‘confession’ to us, we had him illustrate several times with county detectives how he said he tussled with his son. We knew then the son could not have been accidentally shot in such a struggle.
State Police Tests
“All tests by state police laboratories and our medical reports clearly evidenced Wilkie was not telling the truth.
“The bullet entered one temple and emerged from the other on a straight line instead of at an angle. The course the bullet took made it clear the shot was fired with deliberation by a gun held in the decedent’s hands or in some other hands.
“Since a complaint has been made and a court has instructed me to present this matter to the grand jury, I must do so. Therefore the charge of manslaughter will remain pending the grand jury’s deliberation.”
Wilkie, according to Sheriff Hainsworth, spent a “restful day” Christmas in a cell in E block on the sixth floor of City Hall.
The sheriff said Wilkie was in “good spirits and talked frequently with other prisoners.”
J. James Hainsworth, 82, Ex-Sheriff and Ward Power in Camden County
Philadelphia Inquirer —
By S. Joseph Hagenmayer, Special to The Inquirer
J. James Hainsworth, 82, former Camden County sheriff who was a presence in Camden city politics for decades, died Tuesday at his daughter’s Turnersville home. He had lived in the Fairview section of Camden for the last 20 years.
Mr. Hainsworth was born and raised in Camden’s Eighth Ward, where he began his climb through the ranks of the city’s Democratic Party, reaching a pinnacle in 1950 with his election as Camden County sheriff.
He scored a county first by winning re-election as sheriff three years later.
He lost the post in 1956, when an Eisenhower landslide swept many Democrats from office.
He grew up in a political family, his daughter Renee M. Spinosi said. One of 12 children, he grew up “knocking on doors and delivering brochures” in the Eighth Ward, which stretches from Mount Ephraim Avenue to the Delaware River, she said.
Around 1940, he became ward leader, a post he kept for 20 years.
“There wasn’t anyone in the Eighth Ward who didn’t know Jim Hainsworth,” his daughter recalled of the man known as “Big Jim.” When people wanted or needed anything — whether it was coal in the winter or a turkey at Thanksgiving — they came to him, she said.
Mr. Hainsworth’s first job was as a truck driver with the city’s highway department.
In 1937, he was named department superintendent.
However, politics was his life, according to his daughter, and after his defeat as sheriff he was appointed deputy register of deeds in 1957.
He was named assistant superintendent of county highways in 1961 and Democratic registrar of the county Board of Elections in 1963. Mr. Hainsworth became supervisor of elections in the county clerk’s office in 1977, and remained there until retiring in 1981.
Mr. Hainsworth was a member of the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fairview for more than 30 years.
He is survived by his three sons, J. James 3d, Joseph C. and George A.; two daughters, Renee Spinosi and Shirley F. Incollingo; 14 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; a brother, and four sisters.
A viewing will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday at Gardner Funeral Home, 126 S. Black Horse Pike, Runnemede. Relatives and friends will gather at the funeral home at 10 a.m. Monday, with funeral services at 11 a.m. at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Tuckahoe Road, Fairview, Camden. Burial will be in the Harleigh Cemetery in Camden.
Memorial contributions may be made to Samaritan Hospice, 214 W. Second Ave., Moorestown, N.J. 08057.