Joseph Carpani

JOSEPH CARPANI was born Giuseppe Carpani on October 8, 1894 in Folignano, in the province of Ascoli Piceno, Italy. The 1930 Census indicates that he came to America in 1913, and was a veteran of World War I. He was living with his parents at 600 South 3rd Street when he registered for the draft in June of 1917.

After serving in the military, Joseph Carpani was appointed to the Camden Police Department on January 23, 1922. The 1927 City Directory shows him and his wife Josephine living at 568 Royden Street.

By 1928 Joseph Carpani had been promoted to Detective and often partnered with Sylvester McGrath. Carpani lived at 568 Royden Street, McGrath at 605 St. John Street, just around the corner. The two were friends and in their off-duty hours studied a great deal together in the field of criminology, languages and sociology. The 1930 census shows him, wife Josephine and daughter Julia living at 568 Royden Street, a few doors away from Camden Fire Department Captain Charles H. Errickson, who lived at 574 Royden.

Joseph Carpani was quite interested in inventing, and was issued at least two patents by the United States Government. On July 25, 1932 he filed a patent on a fingerprint card holder, designed to prevent the manipulation of fingerprint cards by unruly subjects. This patent, number 1957628, was issued on May 8, 1934. He filed for a second patent on June 28, 1937 for an automatic fire extinguisher for use in vehicles, which would, by means of a mercury tilt-switch, come on in case the vehicle overturned. This patent, number 2596751, was issued in May of 1952.

By 1936 Joseph Carpani was living at 3258 Lemuel Avenue. When he registered for the draft in the spring of 1942, he was living at 109 South 36th Street with his wife Marie.

In 1951 Joseph Carpani returned to Italy for a visit, along with his wife Marie. They returned aboard the S.S. Independence after 8 days at sea, departing from Naples and arriving in New York on July 23, 1951.

Joseph Carpani remained at that address through at least 1959. He was still a member of the detective bureau as late as 1959. Joseph Carpani appears to have passed away by 1970.

Joseph Carpani may have been a cousin of Private Luigi Carpani, of Camden, who died while serving with the United States Army during World War I. Both men were born in Folignano, had emigrated to the United States, were supporting parents, but were living at separate addresses in South Camden in June of 1917.

Wanted: Targets for Camden's new desperado eliminators. Bandits, burglars, snipers and their ilk are requested by Chief of Police James E. Tatem to apply at police headquarters Monday morning at 10 o'clock, when a practice shooting party will be held.

Chief Tatem said today Camden's bandit-chasing squad is “just rarin' to go” with six new automatic rifles guaranteed to shoot full of holes the toughest bandit in less time than it takes to say “Aligoop.”

For the further enlightenment of the bandit fraternity, Chief Tatem announced detailed instructions on how to use the new carbines will be given this afternoon at 3 o'clock to bandit chasing police by Captain Arthur Colsey and Herman Engle, a representative of Stein Brothers, this city.

The rifles arrived at police headquarters yesterday afternoon. They will be distributed in each of the city's three police districts in the campaign to rid the city of desperadoes.

The weapons can fire a magazine of 20 shots in a few seconds. They will be mounted in the three red bandit chasing coupes used by the district squad members. One of the coupes is now being used by Archie Reiss and Vernon Jones in South Camden, while two others are expected to be delivered within a few days, according to Chief of Police James E. Tatem. They will be assigned to Walter Smith and Joseph Carpani, First district detectives and Louis Schlam and Richard Donnelly in the East Camden district.

Swivel attachments make it possible to fire the guns from a fixed point in an automobile. Detached they may be fired from the shoulder. Besides firing a magazine of 20 shots without stopping, they can be adjusted to single fire, using .45 caliber cartridges.

Instruction in the adjustment and use of the weapons will be given today by a representative of the company that sold them — at $175 each — to the city.

Because she wanted to get married and have a home of her own, 16 year-old Ida Underwood, of Johnstown PA, ran away from home.

Today she is waiting in the detention home at police headquarters for her father, who has told police he would come to Camden to take the girl home.

Ida and her “boy friend,” Charles Morris, 23 years old and also from Johnstown, were arrested Saturday night by District Detectives Walter Smith and Joseph Carpani. The couple had stopped officers to ask directions to Atlantic City. The sleuths recognized Ida as a girl for whom they had been told to search.

After being questioned Morris was released. Ida, however, was held at police headquarters while her parents were notified.

She told Captain John Golden she had left home because she wanted to get married. She had been on her way to the shore with Morris, she said, to carry out her plans.

Carpani Finds Old Pal About to Wed; Becomes Guest, Delays Duty

Two men of the law were last minute “guests” last night at the wedding of a Camden man, whom they arrested following the ceremony on a charge of receiving stolen goods.

In fact they had planned to arrest Harry Chamberlin, 43, when they arrived at his apartment, 936 Broadway, shortly before 7 p. m. last night. But they postponed that event to allow the more important one to take place.

And here is the reason Chamberlin was taken from his bride, the former Miss Helen May Doerr, of 443 Mechanic Street, right on the threshold of their married life.

Several days ago a man named Frank Suolski, alias Schultz, of Parry, is alleged to have stolen a $50 radio from the store of John Etris, at Palmyra, and sold it for $20 to Chamberlin, Suolski's former boss at a Philadelphia shipyard, where both once had worked.

Police learned Suolski was near the store shortly before the robbery. Arrested, he confessed.

Last night Police Captain Joseph H. Rogers, of Palmyra, came to Camden with a warrant for Chamberlin. He was accompanied to the house by City Detective Joseph Carpani. They noticed a taxicab at Chamberlin's door.

Rogers guarded the cab. Carpani went to Chamberlin's apartment. He found the place filled with people, many in evening dress.

Carpani asked for Chamberlin. To his surprise he found the man to be a former fellow workman at a local factory. That was 18 years ago.

But Joe remembered Harry and Harry remembered Joe.

Then Joe made known his errand. Chamberlin nearly collapsed. Would his old friend wait before arresting him, Chamberlin asked. He was about to be married.

For old times' sake Joe would, provided, however, he was included among the guests at the wedding.

So Joe went along to the parsonage of the Union M. E. Church, 1034 South Fifth Street. Rev. Edward T. Weeks performed the ceremony. The bride still unaware of the last-minute guests' business. He was an old friend, it had been explained.

After the wedding Chamberlin told her but explained his innocence at the same time.

Many tears, a few embraces, and Chamberlin was taken to Palmyra, released in $200 bail to appear when wanted — and spent the night with his bride after all.

Two Youths Escape After Robbing North Camden Grocery Store

A bullet whizzing past them caused several men to cease pursuit of two bandits on Elm Street near Ninth Saturday night after the pair had obtained $18.75 in the holdup of a grocery store proprietor at 841 Elm Street.

The victim was Herman Kacmowitz, whose store was broken into and robbed twice recently. Kacmowitz said the two youths, about 17 years old, entered and asked for candy. When he started to get it, one pointed a pistol at him and demanded that he “stick 'em up.”

While the one “covered” him with the weapon, the other robbed the cash register. As they fled, Kacmowitz ran after them screaming. His alarm attracted the attention of several men passing, who started in pursuit of the bandits east on Elm Street. One fired a pistol, however, and the men abandoned the chase.

The youths were about five feet five, Kacmowitz said, and wore gray caps. One had a dark gray overcoat and the other's was a light gray.

Detectives Joseph Carpani and Sylvester McGrath are investigating.

A purse-snatching and theft of a leather bag from an automobile also were reported to police. The theft of brass and copper fittings also is under investigation with a 17-year-old youth under arrest.

Anna Whiteman, 16, 1606 Pershing Street, reported that two boys, about 15, snatched her purse containing $1 while she walked with a companion, Ada Hans, 16, of 1342 Lansdowne Avenue, on Lansdowne near Norris Street. She pursued the boys but was compelled to give up the chase when she slipped and fell.

A black leather bag was stolen from the car of Frank Grotaski, of Cape May, parked Saturday night at Fifth and Arch Streets. The door of the car was forced open. The empty bag, minus clothes and letters it had contained, was found later by two boys in an alley on South Sixth Street, near Stevens.

At liberty, under $500 bail, George Dotterer, 17, of 928 North Twenty-fourth Street, is charged with larceny, although the brass and copper fittings he is suspected of stealing have not been identified as to ownership. Dotterer was arrested by Patrolman Herbert Botts when the youth asked for aid in recovery of the fittings from a junk man to whom he had “sold” the goods. He said the man, George Elliott, of Twenty-fourth and Pierce Avenue, kept the fittings and refused to pay him. Botts presumed after examining the fittings “they could not have been picked up as junk” and arrested the youth in the belief they had been stolen from the Pavonia railroad shops. Detective Sergeant Joseph Tully declared the fittings had not been stolen from the shops. The boy is to face Police Judge Garfield Pancoast this morning.

Intruders Open Three Safes in Building But Take No Loot

Although they ransacked the entire building from basement to third floor, forced open three safes and attempted to open two others, thieves who entered a law office building at 106 Market Street obtained nothing for their work early yesterday.

The attempted robberies were discovered by Miss Mary Booth, stenographer in the office of former State Treasurer William T. Read and Joseph L. Thomas. Read is president of the Camden Fire Insurance Association. Miss Booth reported the ransacking of the offices to William Heron, a watchman employed at the building during the day. He in turn notified Detective Joseph Carpani.

Two safes were rifled in the real estate office of Wilbur J. MacAllister on the first floor, after the combinations were knocked off with an iron bar used to shake the grate of the heater and a wrench the thieves found in Heron's locker in the basement.

Papers and office paraphernalia were strewn about the floor in the office and the intruders left the top of a stocking which Carpani believes they used to muffle the sound of their blows on the safes.

A combination was knocked from a safe in similar manner in the offices on the second floor of French, Richards and Bradley, well known Camden attorneys, but the intruders again failed to take anything.

In the offices of Read and Thomas on the first floor two combinations were hammered from the safes, but the thieves were unable to get the strong boxes open. Papers were thrown over the floor in this office also.

A filing room on the third floor of the building was ransacked after the burglars forced their way in by breaking a lock from the door.

Heron told Carpani that the entrance to the building was gained by forcing a side window. All the attorneys said they do not keep any cash in their safes.

Accident Hoax Broken by Cops After Grilling Family; Friend

On Deathbed, She Orders 4 Children to Say She Fell on Stairs

Command Arouses Concealed Detectives

Woman Slashed by Broken Decanter; Man Faces Murder Charge Today

A death-bed command of a South Camden mother to her four children to stick to their story failed of its motive last night and the woman's husband was arrested on suspicion of murder.

The charge will be changed today, police said, to one of murder.

“Say only what I say, that I fell down the steps.”

Mrs. Philomena Marcozzi, 41, died in West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital shortly after she made that remark, at 4 p. m. yesterday. She bled to death from a severe cut on her left arm.

At her bedside were her children, Josephine, 15; Ida, 13; Louise, 17, and David, 19.

Cops’ Suspicions Aroused Nearby

Out of sight of the dying woman, stood Detectives Clifford Del Rossi and Fiore Troncone.

Their suspicions aroused, the sleuths renewed their investigation. As a result the woman's husband, Guilio Marcozzi, 55, of 321 Pine Street was put in the city jail last night, charged with the death of his wife.

Mrs. Marcozzi was cut with the jagged edge of a broken wine decanter, during an argument with her husband over the cleaning of some hardshelled crabs.

But it wasn't the children who said that.

A neighbor, Mrs. Ida Lupini, 31, of 311 Line Street, was in the Marcozzi home when the children returned Sunday night from a crabbing trip to Sea Side Heights. She told police, they declared, that she saw the children jubilantly deposit their catch on the kitchen table.

Then she watched, alarmed and afraid to leave, as Marcozzi told his wife to “throw 'them out.”

The wife refused.

The husband insisted, and when his wife told him he should clean the crabs, he grasped the wine decanter and struck the mother over the temple, Mrs. Lupini said.

Cut by Jagged ‘Glass’

The decanter broke. Grasping the long neck of the bottle, Marcozzi continued to attack his wife. He swung the jagged edge towards her breast, and to protect herself she raised her arm.

The broken bottle cut deeply into her skin. An artery was severed.

Then the children rushed the mother to West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital.

That is the story Mrs. Lupini told, according to Acting Chief of Police John W. Golden and Assistant Prosecutor Rocco Palese.

The mother told hospital attaches she fell down the steps of her home, cutting her arm on the broken bits of a bottle she was carrying at the time.

The children, hearing this story, corroborated her.

Wife Dying — Man at Work

The father failed to appear at the hospital. Police were forced to get him at his work yesterday, according to Detective Joseph Carpani, when his wife was dying.

Last night he denied the crime. He said he was not at home when his wife suffered the fatal injury.

But his children, confronted with Mrs. Lupini's tale, broke down and confessed, according to police.

Eighteen hours of almost constant questioning of the Lupini woman by Detectives Carpani, Del Rossi and Troncone solved the tragedy. All three were complimented last night by Acting Police Chief John W. Golden.

Material Witness Will View Suspects Caught by Camden Sleuths

Brickner Questioned by Colsey on Holdup

Police Order All Persons Arrested to Face ‘Line Up’ in Slaying Probe

Seven men and women held by Camden police as material witnesses in the murder of Detective William T. Feitz two weeks ago in an alleged South Camden disorderly house will look over two men arrested in Chester PA after a store holdup here.

This was announced today by County Detective Lawrence T. Doran, who is directing the investigation for Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando.

At the same time, Chief Doran disclosed that after a conference with Police Chief Arthur Colsey, orders were issued that every person arrested in Camden, whether the charge is trivial or serious, will be placed in a police “lineup” and the material witnesses will face them to see if any of Feitz's killers are among them.

Chief Doran was not sure whether the Camden County authorities would be able to bring the two robbery suspects to Camden because they are also wanted in Pennsylvania for almost a score of other holdups and burglaries.

Will Visit Chester

In the event that Chester authorities will not turn the two men over to Camden detectives, the witnesses will go to Chester to examine them, Chief Doran said.

Those held in Chester in connection with the holdup Wednesday night of the candy store of Michael Guzik at 1301 Sheridan Street identified themselves as Peter Muraska, 10, of 342 McDowell Street, and Ray Tuttle, 30, of 2529 West Ninth Street, both of Chester.

While neither Chief Doran nor Chief Colsey believe Muraska or Tuttle may be implicated in the murder of the detective because they are not known to be killers, both declared the suspects will be questioned as to their whereabouts at the time Feitz was shot to death.

“We are letting nothing slip through our fingers at this stage of the investigation” Chief Doran said. “There is a bare possibility that either of these two suspects may be implicated or have some knowledge that would be useful to us in solving this crime.”

While negotiations were under way between Camden County authorities and Chester police to bring the suspects here, Chief Colsey was making inquiry into the actions of Patrolman William Brickner during the holdup.

Questioned by Colsey

Brickner was summoned to Chief Colsey's office at City Hall today to explain why he had rushed from his home at 1263 Chase Street to the scene of the holdup when told by neighbors that it was taking place and then gave his gun to his son Elmer so he could watch the place so he the policeman could telephone police headquarters for help.

According to Guzik, the proprietor of the store, the bandits were in his store 30 minutes. They locked the doors behind them and gagged Guzik and guarded his wife, Blanche, and her sister, Mary Pitura, 18.

The bandits broke open a trunk from which they took $100 in pennies, $30 in scrip, and $4 in silver. Guzik said the pennies represented his profit in a penny vending machine over a period of time.

It was while Guzik was left alone that he shouted from one of his windows and neighbors called Brickner who was at home and off duty. His son Elmer fired one shot at the fleeing car before the patrolman came back from telephoning for help.

Several numbers of the license plates on the bandits' car were covered with tape but one of the youngsters in the neighborhood succeeded in pushing aside the tape and getting the complete number which was turned over to police. Yesterday Detective Lieutenant Ward, accompanied by Detective Sergeant Gus Koerner and Detective Joseph Carpani went to Chester and made the arrests.

The car, which carried Pennsylvania tags, was listed in the name of Archie Hendrickson of Morton Avenue, Chester, police said.

Mrs. Nancy Veit, 20, of 532 Lester Terrace, was admitted to West Jersey Hospital last night after a family row allegedly led her to drink iodine in an attempt to take her life.

Detective Joseph Carpani lodged a detainer against the woman and said she would be charged with attempted suicide, when her husband, Charles, 22, said she drank the iodine after an argument. Hospital officials said Mrs. Veit's condition was not serious.

Friend Identifies Victim and Tells of Accident Near Railroad Here

A severely injured woman, who was found lying in snow near railroad tracks at Front and Division Streets early yesterday, was identified last night as Ida Bernardi, 31. She mumbled the word automobile when she was found and after regaining consciousness at Cooper Hospital she mentioned the name of Samuel Alersi, 215 Federal Street, a friend. Police first thought she had been struck by a train as she was suffering from a compound fracture of the leg among other injuries.

Detective Sergeant Joseph Carpani, acting detective John V. Wilkie and Detective Robert Ashenfelter questioned Alersi, who said the woman fell on the ice and he had to walk to Second Street and Kaighn Avenue to get a telephone to call police. He declared the woman had been removed to the hospital by police before he could return to the scene.

Wilkie said an examination of the scene revealed that her foot had become wedged between a gas pump and a high curbing, causing a fracture of the leg as she fell.

Alersi's statements were corroborated by Frank Losito, 42, of 331 Benson Street. The two men said they had been companions of the woman on a drinking party during the night. Neither was held.

The woman gave her address as a taproom at 221 Federal Street.

Miss Viola Kester, 32, was found dead by her father in the bathroom of her home at 1214 North Thirty-third Street at 11:30 a. m. yesterday. Illuminating gas was flowing from a hose. Cracks around the door had been stuffed with paper. Police described the case as one of suicide.

The woman's father, William, 55, told Acting Detective Sergeant Joseph Carpani, Detective Clifford Carr and Coroner Charles G. Jackson that his daughter had been brooding over the death of her mother, last July, and also the death of an aunt, in October.

The father, who is unemployed, told police that when he left the house his daughter was apparently all right.

Money Won in Audubon Taken From East Camden Man, Cops Told

Allen C. Sheppard, confessed bogus check passer, left a trail of no fund papers in Camden before he departed recently for his seashore home.

Sheppard is in Cape May county jail on charges of issuing worthless checks at resort communities. He confessed yesterday, according to a message sent to Camden headquarters.

Detective Joseph Carpani, assigned to probe Sheppard's activities here, reported a check for $10.00 as passed at the Pelouze and Campbell optical store, 116 North Broadway.

Sheppard, who gave an address of Magnolia Avenue and the Boardwalk, Wildwood, admitted passing several other bogus checks in the Camden area. Carpani was investigating last night statements of Sheppard that he passed a check for $20 on a Camden doctor and defrauded a hotel manager here of $10.00.