Introduction
John T. Cleary
JOHN T. CLEARY was born in 1890. He was practicing law in Camden prior to America’s entrance into World War I, serving as assistant prosecutor in 1917. He served in World War I, and was a charter member of Camden Post 7 of the American Legion. He was police court judge from 1922 through 1926. John Cleary made his home at 1316 Park Boulevard in the Parkside section of Camden.
John Cleary closed his office due to illness in 1929. He passed away after a long illness at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital on January 29, 1950.
Camden Eagles Gave Their Annual Ball
Philadelphia Inquirer —
About a thousand persons participated in the sixth annual ball and banquet of the Camden Aerie, No. 65, Fraternal Order of Eagles, at Turner Hall, Camden, last night. There were delegations from many nearby cities and towns. The hall was decorated in red, white and blue streamers. John Cleary, Worthy President of the aerie, and Mrs. Cleary led the grand march. A pretty souvenir in the shape of a miniature gold eagle was given the participants.
Boy's Brutal Murderer Collapses at Hearing
Camden Post-Telegram —
Trio Accused of Murder. Coursey Firing the Shots.
Coursey Breaks Down While Story of Cold-Blooded Killing of Karl Kellmann Is Told by Detective. / Two “Pals,” Too, Accused of Crime
Collapsing when arraigned in Police Court this morning before Recorder Stackhouse on the charge of killing Karl Kellmann, aged 18 years, of 2919 High street, at Twenty-seventh and Sherman streets, shortly before midnight Saturday, Fred Coursey, alias “Mexican Pete,” alias “Cowboy Pete,” aged 20 years, of 121 North Twenty-first street, who admits firing the fatal shots while committing robbery, and Harry Duffield, aged 21 years, of 407 North Forty-first street, who acknowledged masking his face with a handkerchief and being with Coursey, sobbed piteously, resting their heads on the railing of the dock, while John Painter, the veteran detective, was briefly reciting the story.
When Recorder Stackhouse asked what became of the young man who was shot and Painter replied that he died, Coursey and Duffield sobbed afresh, and when Recorder Stackhouse committed them without bail Policemen Frost and Kay had to help them.
Linnans Staley, aged 21 years, of 1819 Federal street, who confessed that he was in the robbery plot but later got scared and hid in the bushes, was scarcely able to stand, and when his mother broke down as he was committed as a principal he staggered and would have fallen but for Sergeant McClong.
Prosecutor Boyle announced this morning that the Grand Jury will be recalled for Thursday of this week and the case will be made the special order of the day.
Without the slightest clue to start with in the most brutal murder committed in recent years in Camden county, police and detectives under the personal direction of Chief Gravenor in two hours arrested two of the three prisoners and obtained their signatures to confessions and before sunrise the other was lodged behind the bars at the City Hall.
According to their statements to the police the prisoners while drinking on a lot near Twenty-first and Federal streets on Saturday night planned to go to a lone spot near Twenty-seventh and Sherman streets to hold someone up to get money and jewelry to buy more drink. Coursey had a 38-calibre cowboy pistol and Duffield used Coursey’s bandanna as a mask. Staley weakened before the spot selected was reached and at the time of the murder was hiding in a clump of weeds a short distance away.
The murdered boy was the son of Karl and Lulu D. Kellmann. He was a member of the Bible class of Grace Presbyterian Church, East Side, and active in church work.
Saturday night was the closing of a carnival given on High street between Twenty-seventh and Thirtieth streets. Karl was there and made several purchases. At one booth he bought a necktie, from another some ice cream and a box of candy and spent some time conversing with the young ladies connected with the church.
When it grew rather late he noticed that Misses Bertha and Bessie Skillen, of 815 North Thirty-fourth street, the latter a teacher in Grace Church Sunday-school, were without an escort and he volunteered to see them home. They accepted his invitation to be their escort. He saw them safely home and he was on his way back and had reached a point on the east side of Twenty-seventh street south of Sherman street and near the foot of the bridge that spans the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks when two men jumped out from behind a tree and as one commanded him to hold up his hands the other began to shoot.
The first shot struck him in the breast and turned him partially around. The next ploughed a hole through his neck, knocking him down, and the third went wide.
Screaming for help he tried to rise to his feet and was on his knees when Night Yardmaster Albert Ludlow and Brakeman Joseph Wittick, who were on the opposite side of the bridge, ran to his assistance. By the light of their lanterns they saw that he was seriously hurt and they took him to ‘Squire Sasse’s house nearby to await the arrival of the ambulance. As the railroaders sped across the bridge Ludlow saw a man run down the tracks in the direction of Seventeenth street.
In the signal tower at Pavonia station known as C. B. the operator, Thomas Sink, heard the shots and cries for help and ‘phoned to Captain James at Police Headquarters that a murder had been committed. Sink also saw a man run down through the weeds and bushes on the east side of the bridge toward the railroad tracks.
Policeman Hurlock and Schmid, ‘Squire and Mrs. Sasse and several others were out on the street before the railroad men reached the Sasse home and all hurried to ‘phones to notify police headquarters.
In less than five minutes by use of the red light system Captain James had every officer on duty on the East Side hurrying to the scene, officers stationed at every bridge, ferry house and railroad terminal, and the downtown auto with Detectives Schregler, Painter, Brothers and Moffett on its way to East Camden.
On information from the railroad men Sergeant Horner took all the East Side officers and the four detectives and they worked westward among the cars while Captain James started Policemen Colsey and Kelly to walk eastward from Fifteenth street until they met the main body.
The search proved fruitless and as they returned to the bridge one of the men picked up a green bandanna with yellow spots and sheep burrs embedded on it on the incline near the signal tower. Later he recalled that the man who went down the slope wore a Khaki shirt and cap.
The handkerchief was recognized as the kind used by “Indian Bill” May, and Detectives Brothers and Policeman Abbott were sent to arrest him. They found May and Eugene Cafferty asleep in a moving van in Marlton avenue. “Indian Bill” soon established an alibi.
Detective Schregler and a couple of officers who were sure that the description of the man with the khaki shirt tallied with Duffield started for his brother’s house, but failed to find him there. About this time the downtown auto turned into Twenty-seventh street to get Karl’s father, mother and sister and take them to the hospital. Councilman Finkeldey and a friend shouted to the crew that a woman was down and out on a step nearby, but the crew yelled back that they were on an emergency run and the woman would keep until they returned. Fireman J. H. Vickers walked across the street to investigate and found that the supposed woman was Duffield and that he seemed to be asleep.
Vickers shook him and as he got up he said something about the shooting that aroused Vickers’ curiosity and he ‘phoned to Police Headquarters. Captain James immediately notified Chief Gravenor, who was on the scene and the latter sent Detective Moffett to investigate. When Moffett arrived he learned that Duffield had taken a Westfield avenue car. Moffett returned to the bridge and he and Detective Painter and Chief Gravenor took the down-town auto for Duffield’s home.
Painter went to the front door and saw Duffield in the act of taking off his shoes. Moffett in going around to the back door to prevent his escape that way passed by the window at which Duffield was sitting.
Grasping Duffield by the collar Moffett pulled him through the window to the ground. As soon as he landed on his feet, according to the Chief and detectives, Duffield said that Coursey did the shooting.
Placing him in the auto they next drove close to Coursey’s home and with Policeman Potter who knew the man wanted, the detectives entered the house with drawn revolvers while other officers guarded all avenues of escape.
Coursey was found awake on a cot and while he was covered with revolvers Detective Painter searched his trunk and found the weapon that he later admitted using. It was empty. The detectives late yesterday afternoon found three used shells adjoining the house near a spot where Coursey said he had thrown them.
In order to keep the men apart they were taken to the City Hall separately and questioned and after they decided to tell all Sergeant E. B. McClong reduced their statements to writing and they signed them. It was on the strength of these statements that Staley was arrested.
Young Kellmann was taken into the hospital at 12.20 a. m. Chief Surgeon Schellenger saw at a glance that there was no hope for him and so notified Captain James, and Sergeant McClong was sent to the hospital to get all information possible.
The unfortunate youth could only speak a few words at a time because of the hemorrhages. All Sergeant McClong was able to get from him was that he was told to hold up his hands and that the shooting instantly began. The only description he could give was that they were small men and that the attack was so sudden that he could not tell whether they were black or white.
The injured young man kept asking the doctors if he was going to die, but they did not answer. He was conscious when his father and mother arrived and then sank rapidly until the end, dying at 1.50 o’clock, 90 minutes after he was admitted. Mother and father were prostrated and were taken home by the up-town auto.
County Physician Jones conducted the autopsy yesterday morning. He said that either wound would have caused death. The bullet in the breast pierced the right lung at the top and lodged in the cavity. It is now in the doctor’s possession. The other bullet went clear through the neck.
Coursey and Duffield have been working in the Pavonia car yard. The former was born in El Paso, Texas, but has lived East nearly all his life. He is an expert shot and was a member of the vaudeville team of Coursey & Cook, according to their letter heads presenting a fifteen-minute thriller.
Duffield was only recently paroled for robbing Gallagher’s saloon, Nineteenth and Federal streets of a lot of drinkables. Staley has been arrested several times on petty charges but was never convicted of crime. When Duffield’s coat was examined at the City Hall, it was found to contain sheep burrs.
To a reporter Coursey said that whenever he was drinking he had to get his gun and shoot something or somebody. He insisted that all were in on the job and that they let the man who preceded Kellman go over the bridge without molestation because he didn’t look as if he had any too much money.
Yesterday morning Assistant Prosecutor Wolverton and Stenographer Cleary called at the City Hall. The prisoners were examined by Mr. Wolverton and their statements taken by Mr. Cleary, but there was little or nothing new elicited.
Camden Democrats File Fusion Ticket
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Former Progressive and Republican on Slate—No Nomination Made for Coroner’s Office
As predicted in yesterday’s Inquirer a fusion ticket is to be supported by the Democrat machine at the coming primaries in Camden. Yesterday was the last day for filing nominating petitions and a mixed ticket is shown by the Democrats.
Dr. Duncan W. Blake, the candidate for Sheriff is a former Progressive, and Louis Le Duc, one of the aspirants for Assembly, is a Republican. The rest of the ticket is made up of Democrats and shows no change from that published yesterday.
No nomination is made for the office of Coroner. For membership-at-large on the county ticket the nominations are Walter Farrell, John Cleary, Russell Carrow and Samuel B. F. Alcott.
Camden Democrats to Invade Trenton
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Aiming to take a thousand men to Trenton to march in the parade the Camden Democratic Club is preparing for participation in the inauguration of Governor-elect Edwards on January 20. A special train will carry the Camden faithful, who will be marshaled by George Kleinheintz. George Fisher is chairman of the committee and is being aided by Samuel Shay, E. J. Kelleher, R. Gimello, John T. Cleary, William Schmid, Joseph Keefe and Frank Homan.
Man Blames Cop as Home Wrecker
Camden Courier —
Accused of Beating 2 Women After Fighting Way Into House
A policeman, whose name is withheld, was blamed for breaking up the home of Michael Brown, 25 years, 650 Ferry avenue, in police court this morning.
Brown was given a hearing and was charged of assault and battery, one preferred by his wife Louise, and the other by Bertha Chamberlin, 620 Central avenue. He was accused of attacking the two women Sunday night in the home of P. L. Goldsn, where Mrs. Chamberlin is employed as a housekeeper.
Brown’s defense was that he forced his way into the house because he had reason to believe that his wife was there with a police officer, for whom she left him two weeks ago. Both women exhibited bruises on their bodies, alleged to have been inflicted by Brown, and Mrs. Brown collapsed while testifying and had to be revived. Brown asserted he had been informed that the unnamed police officer was with his wife and that he had seen him in the house before he entered. He said Mrs. Chamberlin tried to delay him at the door while the officer slipped out a rear window. He claimed to have witnesses to substantiate this.
Judge Cleary held Brown in $150 bail for court on each charge. He was allowed to sign his own bail bond. He left with the intention of swearing out a warrant for Mrs. Chamberlin on a charge of keeping a disorderly house.
‘Voodoo’ Is Held for Murder
Camden Courier —
Discovery of the body of a white baby several weeks old, human bones and other gruesome articles in a maze of dungeon-like caves and sub-cellars under 413 and 415 Liberty Street today have led the police to hold without bail “Doctor” H.H. Hyghcock, 71 year-old negro preacher, medicine man and undertaker.
The weird discoveries were made in the fantastically furnished “torture chambers” and “witch caves” under the houses. In addition statements made to Patrolman Charles Naylor and a Courier reporter by a seven-year-old daughter of the accused man, point to a possibility of a woman having been murdered in the place only last week.
“Weirdest Ever” Says Tempest
The labyrinth of underground passages and chambers discovered under the houses is declared by Deputy Director Tempest to be the “strangest and weirdest layout” he ever has visited in all his long career in police work.
Twisting and narrow underground passages and half-buried doors in almost inaccessible portions of the underground passages led to a belief that many more chambers remain for the police to enter in their underground exploration.
Deputy Tempest has ordered that a complete search be made of every corner of the cellars and sub-cellars and that if necessary the two houses above be torn down to make examination possible. The earth of all the cave floors is being dug up by the police in search of further clues.
Bone of Forearm is Found
The white baby’s body was found shortly before 1:00 PM today, lying in a large glass jar in one of the sub-cellars. What is believed to be the bone of a child’s forearm had been found in one of the passages a short time before. In another glass jar the police found what they report to be a human stomach.
To count the rooms, or divisions, of the many underground passages is impossible, because of the irregular arrangement, up and down and in all directions. Some of the policemen engaged in the exploring task have estimated there are more than 75 different compartments.
Second Arrest is Made
While the police were exploring the place shortly after noon a colored man walked into the Liberty Street entrance and started down the tunnel leading to the underground chamber as if he were well acquainted with the place.
Arrested and taken into police custody was Louis Reeves, 23 years, 1061 Ivins Street. He had been employed as a chauffer to drive the voodoo doctor’s automobile, he said, and he had been accustomed to visiting “Doctor” Hyghcock daily and being given a bottle of soda water. That was the only purpose of his visit today, he declared, and he disclaimed any knowledge of the activities of Hyghcock.
The little daughter of the “proprietor” of the strange “place of horrors” made her hair-raising statements while being questioned in regard to her father’s recent activities.
“Shot a Woman”—Took Her Away
“How many people has your father killed here?” she was asked.
“He never killed nobody until last week” she replied with childish frankness. “Then he shot a woman, and he took her away in her automobile at night.”
In his cell at City Hall, Hyghcock maintains an air of mysterious silence. He is of an impressive personal appearance. Although below medium height, he has a proud bearing, made more compelling by his white hair, mustache and imperial.
He has boasted to acquaintances that he is the father of 32 children.
Bootblacks tell of him giving 50 cent tips.
Hyghcock was arrested last night when he appealed to police, demanding a warrant for an unknown thief about whom he told a weird tale of threats to return and kill him. Hyghcock styles himself a clergyman, physician, an undertaker, a real estate operator, a clairvoyant, a palmist, and a fortune teller.
Hyghcock was held on $500 bail early today on the charge of obtaining money under false pretenses and in an equal amount on the charge of practicing medicine without a license when arraigned before Police Judge Cleary this morning.
He could not raise the money and was held in jail.
Then, when the other discoveries were made, he was held without bail.
A visit to his place by the police led to the exploration of the intricate series of underground chambers. They were separated by swinging doors operated by mechanical springs. Some of the cave-like dungeons contained weird contraptions, like ancient machinery of torture, believed to have been used in connection with “cures,” to which patients of the voodoo man were terrified.
Patient Believes In Him
Besides Hyghcock police arrested as material witnesses Mrs. Bipp Hyghcock, 43 years old, said to be his wife, and Mrs. Lotte Ingram, also a negress, 43 years old, of 59 North Peach Street, Philadelphia.
Mrs. Ingram, who was found in the house at 413 Liberty Street, said she was there to receive treatment for heart disease from Hyghcock. In a statement to Detective Hunt, Mrs. Ingram said she gave Hyghcock $25 as part payment for the cure of her disease, and that she had been visiting his house for several months. Upon questioning she revealed further that Hyghcock had given her herb medicines, adding that she had faith in his powers and believed she was being healed.
Hyghcock has no license to practice medicine, police say.
The revelation of the startling interior of the place and the practice of Hyghcock, at the Liberty Street houses, both of which were rented by him, was brought about when the “doctor” inquired for a magistrate to issue a warrant for a Philadelphia man who, he said, stole some automobile tools from him and threatened to return to slay him. Hyghcock made the first inquiry of Howard Westsell, 797 Mt. Vernon street, who was standing at Railroad and Kaighn Avenues at 6:00 o’clock last night. Westsell referred him to Howard Fisher, a negro policeman of the Second District, who approached the two.
Cops Take Him Home
Fisher, becoming suspicious, questioned Hyghcock, who became evasive and insisted that the officer could not aid him. Fisher placed him under arrest, summoned Policeman James McTaggart and William Prucella, of the Second District, who were in plain clothes at the time, and went to the Hyghcock house, where they were admitted.
In the house at 413 Liberty Street the policeman found Mrs. Ingram, Mrs. Hyghcock, and the latter’s 7 year old daughter. The two women were sent to police headquarters for questioning.
The dingy front room of the house was heated with a glowing coal stove and dimly lighted with a flickering kerosene lamp, faintly disclosed several ancient and musty articles of furniture, several dozen bottles of soda water inside a glass showcase most of whose sides were missing or broken, several mysterious looking grips, bed-clothing, bric-a-brac, and other odd articles scattered about, it suggested what might be found in the rudely constructed entrances to chambers beyond.
In the glow of their flashlights the officers made a hurried search of the premises.
Entering the kitchen the trio descended a narrow, winding cellar-way into a gloomy cellar.
Tunnels Explored
McTaggart branched into one passageway, while Fisher and Prucella each chose a different path. After stumbling upon blind tunnels which ended in closets or in compartments from which there were no exits, the three officers joined into one party.
Stooping at times under low ceilings, squeezing between the sides of converging walls, jumping over pits covered with rotted trapdoors, and pushing through a seemingly endless series of doors rudely constructed of odd pieces of lumber, and each equipped with a powerful spring, the officers wormed their way through a tunnel extending 50 feet under the yard after leaving the cellar. It ended at a trapdoor in the floor of a ramshackle refuse littered woodshed in the rear of the yard.
As soon as they emerged they took Hyghcock, who had accompanied them through the tunnels, to police headquarters.
Cops Go Look For More
Hyghcock, his wife, and Mrs. Ingram were placed under arrest. Captain Arthur Colsey assembled Sergeant Charles Smith and Policemen Prucella, McTaggart, Howard Fisher, Harry Kreher, William Bryant, Herbert Anderson, and John Bryant of headquarters for a needed investigation of the premises. On the way to the house the patrol picked up Officers Enoch Johnson, Charles Smith, and William Michalak.
With the arrival of the patrol a crowd gathered in front of the unkempt buildings. Bordering the gloomy houses on each side are modest, well-kept two and three story homes, inhabited by white families.
Guided by flashlights and lanterns, a long line of policemen laboriously wound through the circuitous underground passages, scrutinizing every nook, and opening every container upon which they came.
Many Rooms Entered
At least seventy-five rooms or compartments were entered and hurriedly examined. Contents of innumerable closets and holes in walls were left undisturbed for fear that they would litter the narrow passageway and block the progress of the searchers.
In one room was found a large cartwheel daubed with dabs of white paint on each spoke. The wheel was mounted on a short upright axis set into the ground, permitting its rotation. Above the wheel was suspended a stuffed bird. The legs could be made to twitch and the wings to flap by the manipulation of a set of strings attached to them and fastened to a stick in an adjoining den.
Beside these the room contained an old iron bed, an oil lamp, and an oil stove. Other dens were similarly furnished.
Wires and Bells and Things
Closets and alcoves revealed odd collections of preserves, trinkets, charms, and indescribable odds and ends. In one closet in the kitchen of 413 Liberty Street were discovered a complicated set of improvised signaling devices. Wires attached to sticks will ring bells and unlock doors and various rooms of the house. Each door was equipped with a spring and bolts, and contained bells of various shapes and sizes.
In the rear of 413 Liberty Street partitioned with odd boards, curtains, and rags was a chapel. This room, about 10 feet wide by 13 feet long, contained an old wheezy organ, an altar, and religious pictures. Two more organs helped furnish two other rooms.
In a bedroom on the third floor of 413 Liberty Street, evidently occupied by Hyghcock, the searchers found charms sewed up in bags, odd implements, and three high silk hats.
Mrs. Hyghcock said that she, her husband and daughter had occupied the two houses for eight years. Hyghcock, she said, had been working on the tunnels and underground dens for four years, carrying out earth in small quantities and depositing it in the back yards. Police doubt that all the sand extracted from the subterranean dens would have been dumped in the yard, and believe that Hyghcock must have carried it away under the cover of darkness.
The Police Knew Him
A year ago Hyghcock was arrested by District Detectives David Kates and Walter Smith on Mount Ephraim Avenue near Van Hook Street. At that time he was searching for a policeman to report a hold-up. Looking into the closed automobile, the detectives found in the tonneau a bed in which lay a young negress, a lighted lantern hung from the roof, and a kerosene lamp on the floor. After questioning at police headquarters Hyghcock so changed his first story of an alleged hold-up on Kaighn Avenue and Cooper River bridge that the police disbelieved his tale.
Captain Colsey will notify the fire department today to safeguard the buildings from fire hazards and also will call to the attention of the health department the unsanitary condition of the place.
In his seventeen years completed with the police department, Captain Colsey said he has never seen such a layout.
Missing Man Found Dying in Hospital From Auto Injuries
Camden Courier —
A North Camden man who had been missing from his home since May 29 was found by relatives yesterday in Cooper hospital, dying. He had been hit by an automobile Memorial Day, and had lain unidentified on a hospital cot, with a fractured skull.
The man, Charles Sheean, a printer, 36 years old, 826 Birch street, died last night, surrounded by his relatives, a few hours after they had found him. They had asked police yesterday morning to join in a search for Sheean, reporting him as having been missing from his home since May 29.
Police and hospital records show Sheean was hit by an automobile Memorial Day, at Ninth and Market streets. The driver of the car, Frank Kiene, 423 North Twenty-seventh street, was released in his own recognizance. Police said today Kiene will be re-arrested and brought before Police Judge Cleary to determine responsibility for Sheean’s death.
2 Men Denied Bail in Ward Shooting
Camden Courier —
Alleged Bandits Charged With Assault and Intent to Kill
Edward C. Dillon, 21 years old, 1641 North Phillip street, and Edward Brennan, 23 years old, 1114 Porter street, Philadelphia, were held without bail by Recorder Cleary today on charges of atrocious assault and battery with intent to kill.
Dillon has been identified by Policeman Robert Ward as the man who twice shot him when he attempted to investigate the suspicious actions of seven men in the vicinity of Sixth and Everett streets early last Saturday. Ward is in a serious condition at the West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital, suffering from a bullet wound below the heart and another in his left lung.
Joseph Brennan, 25 years old, 1114 Porter street, Philadelphia, brother of one of the suspects, claims to be the owner of the motorcar abandoned by the bandits. He was released under $500 bail as a material witness.
Dillon appeared unmoved when brought into court but Edward Brennan was nervous and frequently shifted from one foot to the other as his counsel, Walter H. Keown, conferred with Prosecutor Bertman in efforts to secure their release under bail.
Judge Shay to Be Next Prosecutor
Camden Courier-Post —
Camden Trenton Bureau
Trenton, Jan. 31—The name of Judge Samuel M. Shay, of the Camden County Court of Common Pleas, has been handed to Governor Moore as the choice of the Camden Democratic organization for prosecutor, succeeding Ethan Wescott.
The name was submitted to Governor Moore last night by a delegation of Camden Democrats, headed by Edward J. Kelleher.
That Governor Moore will send the nomination to the State Senate appears certain, and it not likely that any serious objection will be raised in that body, inasmuch as Judge Shay’s reputation is of the highest and he has been twice before confirmed for the judgeship by the Senate.
Sees Drastic Changes
The choice of Judge Shay was a big surprise in state Democratic ranks, and started a flurry of speculation. If Judge Shay is appointed to the prosecutorship it will leave a vacancy on the bench of the Court of Common Pleas. Although the Camden Democrats are said to be a unit in supporting Shay and also on the other changes they contemplate, no definite word leaked out as to who will be Shay’s successor on the bench.
Judge Shay’s appointment as prosecutor, it was said by Camden Democrats who were here last night, mean drastic changes to the personnel of the Camden Prosecutor’s office. One of the rumors in effect is that District Court Judge Frank F. Neutze will be elevated to the County judgeship and that Prosecutor Wescott will succeed Neutze. It is also rumored that Judge Shay’s present post may go to either former Judge William T. Boyle or former Judge William C. French. Both Boyle and French formerly held the county judgeship position.
Another rumor is that Samuel P. Orlando will be named first assistant prosecutor and that either Francis G. Homan or Lawrence Gregorio, the incumbent will be named second assistant prosecutor.
The names of former Police Judge John T. Cleary and Assistant Prosecutor Joseph A. Varbalow also figure in the rumor. Cleary has been mentioned as first assistant prosecutor several times.
Term is 5 Years
Judge Shay is now serving his second term as Judge. He was reappointed for a five-year tenure of office last March. The term of the prosecutor’s office also is five years.
The proposed changes are said to be steps toward a complete reorganization of the Democratic party in South Jersey.
State Senator Joseph H. Forsyth, whose ‘O. K.’ is necessary before the appointment of Judge Shay could become official, under the “Senatorial courtesy rule” would not comment on the situation here today.
Interviewed in the Senate Chamber prior to the opening of today’s session, Senator Forsyth refused to admit that Governor Moore had sent for him last night and had discussed the appointment of Judge Shay. Forsyth’s answer, however, indicated that he had been in conference with the Governor on the subject last night.
“I have not made up my mind as to my attitude on the nomination of Judge Shay,” Senator Forsyth said. “I want to take up the matter with the Governor first. I do not think it would be proper to give my decision to the newspapers before I discuss the matter with the Governor.”
Headed by Assistant Prosecutor Lawrence Gregorio, County Detective Frank Cocchilaraley and Justice of the Peace Jack O’Grady, a delegation of Camden Democrats were scheduled to arrive in Trenton this afternoon for a conference with Governor Moore in the interest of Prosecutor Wescott.
O’Grady stated he will present letters from the Bricklayers and Iron-workers Unions urging the reappointment of Wescott. Cocchiaraley is heading a group of South Camden Italians who are also favoring the reappointment of Wescott.
Thoirs Auxiliary Dates Style Show
Camden Courier-Post —
Mrs. Albert Wehner Named Chairman of Charity Event, March 28
The annual fashion show followed by cards which is sponsored by the Auxiliary to Thoirs Post American Legion has been announced for Monday evening, March 28, and will be held in the ballroom of the Hotel Walt Whitman.
Mrs. Albert Wehner, of Collingswood, has been named general chairman for the event by the president, Mrs. Meyers Baker. Proceeds are used each year for the child welfare and rehabilitation work of the auxiliary.
Mrs. Wehner is being assisted by the following committees: Prizes—Mrs. W. DuBois Brown, chairman, Mrs. Earl Ludlam and Mrs. Raymond A. VanHorn; cards and tallies—Mrs. Edward Hamilton, chairman, Mrs. Earl Young, Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Anne Davis Spooner, Mrs. Peter DaCosta, Mrs. Milton Walker, Mrs. Walter Garlan and Mrs. Rocco Palese; candy—Mrs. Harold Evans, chairman, Mrs. George F. Seybold, Mrs. Joseph Bossle, Mrs. LeGrande Roberts and Mrs. Byron G. Tuttle.
Novelties—Mrs. Russell B. Keen, chairman, Mrs. Frank Matthews, Mrs. Charles Yost, Mrs. John Errickson and Mrs. Heber DeLong; music—Mrs. Frank F. Neutze; tickets, Mrs. Percy L. Bastian, chairman, Mrs. John T. Cleary and Miss Rachel Donalley.
Further plans for the benefit will be made at the monthly meeting of the executive board to be held at the home of Mrs. Percy L. Bastian, 12 Fairview court, this city, on Wednesday, February 23. Hostesses will be Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Bossle, Mrs. Roberts and Mrs. Wehner.
John T. Cleary, 59, Ex-Jurist, Dies
Camden Courier-Post —
John T. Cleary, 59, of 1316 Park boulevard, former assistant prosecutor and former Camden police judge, died Sunday in Philadelphia Naval hospital after a long illness.
Mr. Cleary closed his law office in 1929 because of illness. He served as assistant prosecutor in 1917 and was police court judge from 1922 to 1926.
A veteran of War I, he was a charter member of Camden post 7, American Legion. He also was a charter member of the Camden Lions club.
Surviving are his widow, Anna May; a daughter, Mrs. Jane Frenoy, of the Park boulevard address; a sister, Miss Katherine Cleary, and one grandchild.
Relatives and friends will meet Thursday at 8 a.m. in the Blake funeral home, Haddon avenue and Division street, where friends may call Wednesday night. Requiem high Mass will be celebrated at 9 a.m. in the Sacred Heart R.C. Church. Burial will be in Calvary cemetery.