Lawrence 'Larry' Doran

Introduction

Larry Doran, Camden County detective bureau — Camden County detective bureau

LAWRENCE T. “LARRY” DORAN was born in 1879 in New Jersey. He married his wife Catherine shortly after the turn of the century. After working as a Camden police officer and as a game warden, in August of 1910 he was hired as a detective by then Camden county prosecutor Henry S. Scovel. He then served under Charles A. Wolverton, who went on to become a 16 term Congressman from Camden. At the time of the 1920 census he lived at 1115 Mechanic Street in Camden NJ. In 1925 he was named chief of detectives in the Camden county prosecutor’s office by prosecutor Ethan Wescott. He also served alongside noted prosecutors as Samuel P. Orlando, Gene R. Mariano, and Mitchell Cohen, later a federal judge.

During his years with the prosecutor’s office, Larry Doran helped crack several famous cases, helping send killers Walter Dworecki and William John Stephan to New Jersey’s electric chair. He was involved with most every major investigation in Camden County for a quarter of a century.

Larry Doran retired in April of 1950 after serving four decades as a county detective, 25 of which as the chief of detectives. He was succeeded by Wilfred L. Dube.

Philadelphia Inquirer — August 23, 1910

John S. Smith, Henry Scovel, Lawrence Doran, Philadelphia Inquirer August 1910 — CAMDEN NEWS NOTES

** Thrown to the pavement by stepping on a loose brick, Mrs. Annie Brown, aged 61 years, of Fourth and Webster streets, sustained fractures of small bones of the right hand.

** A handsome portrait of Street Commissioner Sayrs was yesterday suspended from the wall at the headquarters of recently Engine Company No. 7. It is the gift of the Seventh Ward Republican Club.

** Isaac Minsky, of Newark, has been chosen rabbi of the Congregation of the Sons of Israel, whose synagogue is at Eighth and Sycamore streets.

** Accused of the theft of 100 pounds of cable wire from a storehouse of a telephone company at West Collingswood, the case will be arranged before Recorder Stackhouse for a hearing tomorrow.

** Stolen last Wednesday from its anchorage in Philadelphia, a motor boat belonging to James S. Mackell, of 2222 North Fourth street, Philadelphia, has been restored to its owner by the Camden police. The boat was found by the police near a dredger after the thieves had abandoned it.

** The Philadelphia Sand Lime Brick Company filed articles of incorporation in the office of the County Clerk yesterday. The capital is $100,000, and the incorporators are Frank R. Hansell, John A. McPeak and I. G. Clow.

** Charging that fire caused by sparks from a locomotive destroyed their ice house, stables, barn and carriage house, Francis A. Muckenstrum and wife, of Rosedale, yesterday instituted suit in the Supreme Court at Camden against the Atlantic City Railroad Company for $10,000. The fire took place on the morning of August 12, and all the buildings and their contents, with the exception of the dwelling were consumed.

** Former County Detective John A. Smith, of Camden, is again in the sleuthing business. Governor Fort having made him a member of the State Detective Board. Roland C. Bayne, of Trenton; Jacob Dunn, of Hackensack, and George A. Hoffman, of Passaic, were also named. The appointment confers power to make arrests anywhere in the State.

Philadelphia Inquirer — January 24, 1911

Philadelphia Inquirer — November 22, 1911

Philadelphia Inquirer — April 28, 1912

Philadelphia Inquirer — December 2, 1913

Accused of abusing twelve-year-old Mary Fitzpatrick, of Tenth Street and Federal Street, S. Cleveland Davis was committed to jail by Justice Huyett yesterday. Detective Doran made the complaint on information received.

Philadelphia Inquirer — March 23, 1914

Philadelphia Inquirer — April 1, 1914

MURDERER AND FORGER ESCAPE JAIL AFTER SHOOTING KEEPERS, KILLING ONE

Camden Post-Telegram — July 18, 1916

Wilson Ashbridge, Who Shot and Killed Mrs. Elizabeth Dunbar and George E. Thompson, Check Swindler, Trap Jailor Hibbs by a Ruse and After Slaying Him Shoot Joe Ellis Who Intercepted Them in Flight.

Used Revolver Smuggled Into Prison by Confederates and Leave Jail Wide Open in Their Flight, a General Delivery Being Averted by Police Who Were Summoned by the Wounded Men.

Murdering one jailor and wounding another with a revolver that had been smuggled into them by outside confederates, Wilson T. Ashbridge, slayer of Mrs. Elizabeth Dunbar, and Francis Murphy, alias George E. Thompson, a check forger, made their escape from the county jail a few minutes before seven o’clock last night.

Ashbridge with his wife was caught at noon in the Keystone Hotel in Chester PA where they registered at one o’clock this morning.

Thompson is still at liberty but from the confident manner of Prosecutor Kraft his early arrest seems assured.

The murdered jailor was Isaac Hibbs, aged 65 years of 913 South 8th Street. The wounded keeper is Joseph Ellis, aged 45 years, of 416 Carteret Street. Shot twice, he is in Cooper Hospital. His condition today is very satisfactory.

Thompson, who is 41 years old, forged a check for $650 which he gave to V.M. Fulton as part of the purchase price of an automobile. The forgery was discovered before the deal was completed and his arrest followed on June 8. He also passed a forged check for $15 on State Motor Vehicle Agent Kraft. He, too, was awaiting trial. In spite of the positive evidence against him Thompson had spurned all efforts to have him plead guilty and it is now believed that he was sparring for time while hatching a plan to escape. He is no doubt the master mind.

R.L. Hunter, a farmer of Bensalem Township, Bucks County PA, about four miles above Torres dale, reported to the Philadelphia police the morning that he had seen a man answering Ashbridge’s description on the Bucks Road at daylight. The man asked the way to Riegelsville.

According to Hunter, the man was dressed in a dark suit, and had no hat. His clothing was wet. Hunter did not see anything suspicious in his actions, and after giving him directions, they parted.

Upon seeing the paper with a picture of Ashbridge, the farmer was struck by its resemblance to the man with whom he had talked. He hurried to Tacony and notified the police.

The State police, who patrol that section of the county, and who have an office at Langhorne, were immediately notified as were the surrounding towns.

The shootings took place in different parts of the jail. Hibbs was murdered in the exercise room just outside the cell room on the Sixth and Arch corner of the building. Ellis was shot down in the corridor just outside the Market Street end of the building when he heroically grappled with Ashbridge after the latter had pointed a gun at his head. In spite of his wounds Ellis dragged himself to a telephone and after notifying Police Headquarters of what had happened he collapsed.

Only one of the two bullets is still in Ellis. It entered the groin on the right side and is buried in the muscles of the leg, having taken a downward course for seven or eight inches. The other bullet struck Ellis in the right breast and came out in the left breast, traversing the upper fleshy parts of the body.

Hibbs was almost instantaneously killed by a bullet that went within an inch of his heart, producing a hemorrhage. The bullet was extracted this morning from the body early this morning in an autopsy performed at the morgue by County Physician Stem. In spite of the fact that it is pretty well established that three shots were fired in the attack on Hibbs, only one of the bullets took effect.

“But it makes little difference which of the two men handled the gun” said Prosecutor Kraft this morning. “Both are equally guilty of this murder and what we are concerned about now is the recapture of the gunmen.” Mr. Kraft added that it his purpose to examine all of the prisoners in that part of the jail where Hibbs was murdered to determine fully who fired the fatal shot.

The escape had been carefully planned and timed to the minute. Of course the desperate prisoners were aided by confederates on the outside and it is the general belief that a high powered motor car was in waiting for them not far from the jail. They are known to have been in possession of money and openly boasted yesterday that it was their intention to leave the prison last night. These boasts were made to two young ladies connected with a religious organization who called on the two men yesterday to offer spiritual reconciliation. The girls are frequent visitors to the jail and naturally their efforts at evangelization were directed in the main toward Ashbridge, because of the fact that he was accused of murder. These girls, whose identity officials will not disclose, were closeted with Prosecutor Kraft until one o’clock this morning. Both declared that on their visit yesterday they were told by Ashbridge and Thompson that it was the last day they expected to spend in jail.

“We are going to get away from here tonight and we’ve got money to help us after we are out” said Ashbridge, who further told the girls he had considerable cash sewed up in the waistband of his trousers. The girls begged the prisoners not to do anything that would cause them more trouble and they told the Prosecutor that Ashbridge and Thompson promised them that they would not make any effort to escape. In their talks with the girls neither of the prisoners said a word that would indicate that they would kill if necessary to escape. The full force of their boast did not dawn on the religious workers and for this reason it never occurred to them to inform the Sheriff of what the prisoners had said.

A general jail delivery of at least all the men confined in what is known as the untried department, where the two were held, was only averted by the prompt arrival of the police on their beat, which was made easy by means of the keys taken from the prostrate body of Hibbs. Ashbridge and Thompson left all of the doors open and the vanguard of the inrushing police found the prisoners swarming all over the corridors on the east side of the prison. In the wild excitement following the double shooting and escape none else thought of freedom and a checking up of the inmates after they had been herded in the exercise room of the untried department accounted for all but the fugitive slayers.

The department, in which the two men were confined is the same one which William Brown and Charles Berger made their sensational escape several years ago by sawing away the bars on the Federal Street front of the jail. Thrilling as it was, the former escape was insignificant in comparison with last night’s tragic event.

With the full force of the keepers out of the way — one dead and the other suffering from gunshot wounds at first supposed to have been fatal — Ashbridge and Thompson had nothing between them and freedom but the door entering from the spiral stairway leading to the narrow entrance of the Sixth and Market Streets end of the Court House. With the keys taken from Hibbs they opened the door and in a few seconds were breathing the free air. It was still daylight when the daring murderers walked from the building and although they were no doubt seen by some of the scores of persons passing it is certain that they managed to control themselves to such an extent as not to arouse any undue suspicion. The exit they used to escape is that used by the general public and therefore persons passing calmly in and out of the door would not in any manner be thought to have been connected with a jail delivery. However the shots which had laid low the keepers had been plainly heard on all four sides of the building and it is strange that no one has yet been found who can give positive information as to what course the fleeing men took and whether they were aided in their flight by an automobile.

While the police and detectives of Camden and all other cities in the East are watching railroad terminals, steamship lines, and all other avenues of travel in response to the general alarm sent out last night, Prosecutor Kraft is bending all his energies to learn who smuggled in the revolver which the fugitives used. Thus far this feature of the case is as complete a mystery as it was last night. Mr. Kraft and Sheriff Haines are satisfied, however, that only one gun was used for both shootings. It was at first thought that each man had a pistol when they left the jail; that one of them armed himself with the gun that Hibbs was supposed to have carried, but it was determined that Hibbs was not armed when he went into the jail last night. There was no occasion for him to come in contact with any of the prisoners and for that reason he left his revolver in his desk in the office. Even had he carried it he would have little chance to use it, so cold-bloodedly was he slain as he unsuspectingly fell into the trap laid for him by the desperate gunmen. There is also some conflict as to how at least one of the fugitives was dressed. Alfred Williams, who witnessed the murder of Hibbs, said that Ashbridge was without coat or hat when he dashed out of the cell-room, and that Thompson carried his coat and hat under his arm. However in a description of the two men given at the Prosecutor’s office it was set forth that Ashbridge wore a blue serge suit and a checkered cap. The coat that he is supposed to have taken bore the mark of “Tull — the Tailor,” of Jacksonville, Florida, and had been borrowed by him from another prisoner. He wore tan shoes. Ashbridge is 27 years old, 5 feet 7-1/2 inches in height and weighs 137 pounds. He has brown hair, smooth face and is of light complexion.

Thompson wore a brown suit and a Panama hat. He is 41 years old, 5 feet seven inches in height, and weighs 175 pounds. He has brown bushy hair, is minus one of the fingers on his left hand, and is light complexioned.

The tan shoes worn by Ashbridge were also borrowed from one of the prisoners. He got them on Saturday and remarked that he wanted to look neat.

Keepers Ellis and Hibbs were reading in the prison office last evening when Hibbs glanced up at the clock and noticed that it was a few minutes of seven. “Joe, I’m going back and put the boys in their cells,” he said to Ellis and with his keys in his hand he started for the cell room in the untried department. A thirty foot long corridor runs from the office to the barred and grated door opening into the department in which the cells are situated. This department is about the size of three ordinary school rooms and in the southeastern corner of the jail are the cells, in two tiers.

Around the cells is a three foot corridor into which all the cells doors open and in which all the prisoners are permitted to walk when they are not allowed out in the main room. When the inmates are ordered into their cells and their doors closed the doors are locked from the outside of the steel cage by means of a lever worked by the jailor. Thus every cell door can be made secure without the keepers coming into actual contact with the prisoners. In addition to the bars around the corridor fronting on the double tier of cells there is a fine mesh heavy wire screening.

As Hibbs approached the lever which is operated to shut the cell doors after the prisoners have retired from the corridors, Ashbridge was leaning against the grating of his cell, Number 18. Thompson was lounging a few feet away.

“Daddy, open the door, I want you to see this note,” said Ashbridge to the keeper, at the same time displaying a piece of paper which he had in his hand. Never giving a thought that he was about to perform an act that was absolutely necessary for the carrying-out of the well laid plot, or that he was going to his doom, or was even in danger, “Daddy,” as the aged keeper was known to all the prisoners, opened the door without hesitation.

As he swung wide the big steel frame, Ashbridge quickly stepped out and the next instant was pressing a gun against the abdomen of the jailor.

“Throw up your hands, you ___ ___ ___” he commanded.

“What are you up to, what’s this mean?” asked the keeper, apparently not realizing he had been trapped.

For reply Thompson jumped out the door, wrenched the gun from Ashbridge’s grasp and with an oath began firing at Hibbs, who sank to the floor at the first shot. Only a few feet away and the only other person in the exercise room, although the shooting could have been seen by any other prisoners who had not retired to their cells, Alfred Williams, trusty, is emphatic in his assertion that Thompson fired the shot that killed Hibbs and that he fired three times.

“It’s a wonder they did not get me,” said Williams. “Ashbridge and I could not hit it and in his desperate mood I am surprised he didn’t kill me, too.” Williams, who has just completed a six months’ sentence for obtaining money from Italian grocers by falsely representing himself as an agent for a wholesale house in Chicago and who is wanted in the Windy City for the same offense, says the whole transaction took less than a minute and that the moves came so fast he and the other prisoners were powerless to aid.

“It was like a flash of lightning,” said Williams, “and before I could fully understand what had happened Ashbridge had grabbed Daddy’s keys, which had fallen to the floor, and was off like a deer for the barred door. Ashbridge had taken the smoking gun from Thompson, who had his hat and coat under his arm and who was right behind the other one.

“As they hurried through the door after Ashbridge had opened it with Daddy’s keys Daddy called to me to raise him. I put my arm under his head and lifted him slightly from the floor. ‘Hold my hands’ he said to me. I took hold of his hands and the next minute he died in my arms. Then I heard two more shots and I knew they got Joe Ellis.”

Startled by the shots, and he is emphatic there were three in rapid succession, Ellis leaped to his feet and without taking the time to arm himself ran from the office and turned into the corridor just as Ashbridge, wild-eyed and gun in his hand, came running toward him. Halting three yards away Ashbridge pointed the revolver at Ellis’ head and ordered him to throw up his hands.

For reply and without fear of himself the keeper dashed at the murderer and the next instant they were locked in each other’s embrace. Working loose the hand which held the gun, Ashbridge pulled the trigger. The bullet struck Ellis in the breast, but the wound was not sufficient to render him helpless. However, before he could grip the pistol arm, Ashbridge fired again and the keeper fell back with a bullet in his groin.

“The second shot got me,” said Ellis to Prosecutor Kraft and Assistant Prosecutor Butler at the hospital. “The first one wasn’t bad but my strength left me when the second bullet struck. Ashbridge was the only one I saw. I did not see Thompson.”

Dragging himself to the office Ellis managed to reach a telephone and called up the police.

“This is Ellis at the county jail; come quick. Ashbridge has shot me,” he weakly said over the phone to Captain Hyde. Then the receiver fell from his hand and he dropped to the floor, but after a minute or two managed to climb into a chair.

While patrol loads of policemen were being hurried to the Court House from the First and Second District station houses, Reserve Officer Charles Hose, on duty at Broadway and Federal Street, who had heard the shots, ran to the Court House and from the office of Assistant Custodian John Lack phoned up to the jail. Ellis managed to answer and in a few words told what had happened. They ran up to the jail and were admitted by Ellis, who was rapidly growing weaker from loss of blood, the trail of which plainly showed just where the injured keeper had moved.

“I guess Ashbridge got away and the jail is all open, you had better take care of the rest of the prisoners,” said Ellis to Hose and Lack. The fugitive-murderers had left all doors open and the other occupants of the untried department were swarming through the corridors. Their curses and yells and the shrieks and cries of the female prisoners had turned the place into a perfect bedlam. With the aid of other policemen who swarmed into the Court House like bees, the prisoners were soon herded into the exercise room, where Trusty Williams checked them up and accounted for all but Ashbridge and Thompson.

With the faint hope that the missing pair had not risked leaving the building but had secreted themselves in the structure, the courthouse was searched from pit to dome, but no trace of the men were found.

Detective Doran was the first of the Prosecutor’s staff to reach the scene. Mr. Kraft and the balance of the staff soon followed. In the lower end of the county, on official business, Sheriff Haines was reached by phone and Under Sheriff Hewitt was summoned from Pitman and until an early hour this morning the officials were in conference and examining numerous prisoners.

State Detective Walter Le Torneau furnished Prosecutor Kraft with a promising “tip” this morning when he learned that Thompson gave a letter to Freeholder Howard Marshall, of the Eighth Ward, to mail on Sunday. Mr. Marshall states that the letter was addressed to a woman by the name of Mrs. Shelton, in Baltimore MD.

Marshall was attending religious service in the jail when Thompson approached him.

“Put this in your pocket and mail it for me when you go out,” said Thompson to Mr. Marshall, who agreed to carry out the request. Dropping the letter in the mail box Marshall allowed the incident to pass without further notice.

Detective Le Torneau learned this morning that Marshall had spoken to the incident to a friend and the sleuth notified the Prosecutor. The tip will be run down the Prosecutor stated.

Funeral services for Hibbs will be held on Thursday from his late residence. The body will be taken to Langhorne PA where interment will be made in the Friends’ Cemetery under the direction of the Schroeder-Kephart Company. Services will be conducted Wednesday evening by Reverend Henry Bradway, pastor of the Eighth Street Methodist Episcopal Church.

POLICE QUICKLY AT WORK

Although the murderous prisoners made their escape, it was no fault of the local police department, which threw out a “dragnet system” that covered practically every outlet from the city. As soon as the call reached headquarters the red lights were flashing and every officer and detective who could be reached was sent out on the “man hunt” which was pursued with vigor.

Passing automobiles were pressed into service by the detectives and officers and all haste was made for the ferries, railroad yards, terminals, and trolley points. Citizens cooperated with the police in their efforts to run down the escaping prisoners.

Assistant Chief Hyde received the call from Jailor Ellis, who though wounded himself summoned strength enough to reach the phone.

“This is Jailor Ellis. Hibbs and me have been shot by that man Ashbridge and help quick!” was the startling message which came over the phone to Chief Hyde about one minute past seven.

It was just at the time the shifts were going on and off at the local station houses. Chief Hyde lost no time. He called to machine operator “Eddie” King to send the message to the station houses and flash the red lights. This was done and as fast as the men could run they covered the various points.

The auto patrols were dispatched with all hands to the Court House and the wounded men hurried to the hospital. Coroner Robert G. Schroeder reached the hospital as Hibbs and Ellis were being admitted and he took charge of the situation and got in touch with Prosecutor Kraft and County Physician Stem.

Detective Captain Schregler was hurriedly summoned, and his men were sent in all directions. Detective Brothers boarded a waiting automobile and a record run was made for the Federal Street ferry. Sergeant Humes was picked up and in four minutes after the call was received from Ellis Detective Brothers had the ferry covered.

Detectives Troncone, Painter and Murray and Captain Schregler covered the Kaighn Avenue, Vine Street, and Cramer Hill ferry lines.

Detective Brothers got in touch with the Pennsylvania Railroad officials who put their detective force to work searching freight and passenger cars. The orders were sent out from the railroad office to stop and search every freight train. Dispatches were also sent to Trenton, Mount Holly, and Burlington and it was not long before the news of the atrocious deed had spread throughout the country and many distant places.

Trolley cars were stopped and searched by the police, but not the slightest trace could be found of the escaped prisoners. The police left nothing undone in the “man-hunt.”

When news of the affair spread through the city phone calls began to come in to headquarters. Over fifty persons called up to tell the police that they had seen the two men at various places. The “tips” were all run down but none materialized.

Officers Arthur Colsey and Theodore Guthrie, who were on their vacations, lent their aid to Chief Hyde. Policeman Colsey pressed his automobile into service and carried the police to various parts of the city.

Co-operating closely with Prosecutor Kraft’s detectives the city officials formed a combination which in nine times out of ten would have been successful, but the escaped men cleverly eluded their pursuers.

Assisted by Coroner Schroeder, County Physician Stem held a post mortem examination on Hibbs’ body. The bullet which caused the death was located in the region of the heart. It passed through the victim’s lung, causing a hemorrhage, which resulted in death. Following the examination the body was taken by the Schroeder-Kephart Company at the family’s orders to be prepared for burial.

ASHBRIDGE’S FIRST CRIME

The brutal crime for which Ashbridge stood indicted but untried was committed on the night of January 22 at Ninth and Market Streets. It developed that the murderer had followed his intended victim from the morning hours. He trailed her to the home of her sister, a Mrs. Meredith, of 911 Market Street, and laid in wait in the darkness of a building that fatal Saturday night.

Mrs. Dunbar came out of the house and stood on the northeast corner while waiting for a ferry-bound trolley car. She intended going to Sicklerville that night to visit her relatives. With her at the time was her 7-year-old daughter, Eleanor, and her father, Charles Dunbar. Ashbridge advanced toward the woman, who was startled when she saw him. She called to her father that she “didn’t want anything to do with Ashbridge.”

Before the father could interfere the young murderer whipped out a revolver and covered the father and the woman. He then struck the woman violently in the face with his fist and as she was reeling under the force of the brutal blow Ashbridge fired, the first bullet taking effect in the woman’s chest. The brutal murderer then stood over his prostrate victim and holding the revolver less than five inches from his victim’s body he pumped four more shots into her.

Policeman Howard Smith and Policeman Taylor were a square distant. Smith saw the entire proceedings and screamed at Ashbridge to stop shooting. A crowd quickly gathered and Dr. Maldeis, who lives nearby, came running to the scene to aid the stricken woman.

Officer Taylor espied Ashbridge in the crowd. The murderer made no effort to run, but stood his ground. Detecting the murderer trying to slip something up his sleeve, Taylor pounced upon him and bore him to the ground, at the same time taking the gun away from him and slipping the handcuffs over the murderer’s wrists. Policeman Taylor had to draw his revolver to keep back the large crowd that was threatening. Showing no concern whatever, Ashbridge calmly waited until the police auto arrived. In the meantime the murdered woman’s still warm body was placed in a “jitney” and with Officer Smith and Dr. Maldeis a hurry run was made for Cooper Hospital but when the institution was reached, Mrs. Dunbar was pronounced dead.

Ashbridge was taken to the hospital by Policeman Taylor in the police auto. He asked “how she is.” Informed that he had accomplished his purpose, the young murderer asked to see the woman. When the white sheet covering the still form of the murdered woman was drawn from the face Ashbridge leaned over and kissed the forehead of the woman. He was then taken to the County jail and locked up. Before Recorder Stackhouse on the following Monday Ashbridge pleaded guilty.

Ashbridge was infatuated with the woman, who was a member of the Temple Theater chorus. Because of Ashbridge’s persistent attentions she was compelled to give up her position. Mrs. Dunbar had previously accepted Ashbridge’s attentions, thinking that he was unmarried, but upon learning that he had a wife and child she informed him that it would be best for them not to see each other, but the young man refused to discontinue his attentions.

On the day of the shooting Ashbridge was seen in various places. He is said to have followed the woman to the Federal Street ferry, but lost track of her. Around noon he was seen at Front and Pearl Streets by Policeman Boyd, who ordered him to move on. Boyd was about to arrest him as a suspicious character, but Ashbridge pleaded that he was looking for a friend. All that day Ashbridge followed the woman until night, when he cruelly murdered her.

The murderer came from a respectable family. Dissipation is thought to have caused the young man to lose his sense of reasoning. Rather good-looking, Ashbridge had tender baby-like eyes and his case excited sympathy among the more tender-hearted people.

Sweetmeats, tasty sandwiches, and other small luxuries were said to have been given the young murderer while he languished in his cell. He had many visitors. Recently Ashbridge was taken violently ill after eating some crabs which were given him by a friend. He and Jailor Hibbs were very friendly.

THOMPSON A CLEVER FORGER

Thompson, or Murphy, was a self-styled lawyer and was committed by Recorder Stackhouse in June for forging checks to the amount of $1,055. The worthless checks were “worked” on the McClelland-Fulton Auto Company and Motor Vehicle Agent A.C. Kraft.

When a check for $150 presented to the automobile company by Thompson and drawn to the order of “G.E. Thompson” on the Harrisonburg, Virginia National Bank came back from the home office of the Studebaker Company as worthless, Mr. Fulton called in the police.

Thompson had previously presented a check for $890 as payment on an automobile. This check was drawn on Thompson’s favor on the Coatesville National Bank and was purported to have been signed by Louis L. Gibney, a hotel man of Downington PA. This check was still in the possession of Mr. Fulton when Thompson was arrested after the first check was returned marked “no funds.”

The clever swindler also presented a bad check to Agent Kraft for $15 for which he received the license to operate the automobile which he proposed buying.

Detective Troncone arrested Thompson at Fifth and Market Streets on June 2. The defendant had been living in a room at 220 North Fifth Street.

Giving his home address as Daytona, Florida, Thompson represented himself as a lawyer. Well dressed and wearing nose glasses, Thompson was an intelligent appearing man, he had a bushy pompadour which was streaked with gray and talked in a persuasive manner. His forgeries on Mr. Gibney’s signature were so clever that Gibney himself could not tell the difference.

After Thompson’s arrest Detective Captain Schregler sent out notices to several southern cities. He received responses from Harrisonburg, Norfolk, and Petersburg Virginia and that Thompson was wanted in all three cities for check forgeries.

Bert Hibbs, a city foreman and a son of the slain jailor, was murdered early Sunday morning, December 25, 1910 when his throat was cut by Charles Ridgway, a negro, aged 22 years, of Seventh and Sycamore Streets. It was about 12:20 on Christmas morning that Hibbs while crossing the lots at Seventh and Sycamore was accosted by Ridgeway, who wanted to shake hands with Hibbs. The latter refused, a quarrel ensued and Ridgeway whipped out a razor and slashed Hibbs across the throat with such violence that his head was nearly severed. Hibbs died while on the way to the hospital. Ridgway was arrested after a battle by Detectives Schregler, Painter and Brothers and several officers at his home, 1207 Lilly Row.

Indicted for murder Ridgway pleaded non vult. On April 24, 1911, to a charge of murder in the second degree, he was sentenced to 25 years in state Prison at hard labor.

SECOND MURDER IN JAIL

This is the second murder and second escape from the present jail. The first murder took place in November, 1907, when George Stewart, a young negro, stabbed to death John Snell, who was awaiting trial for carrying in the business of fortune telling. Stewart was in jail on a charge of dealing in opium and cocaine. He had a complete opium layout in his cell. He and Snell had a quarrel and he stabbed Snell to death in his cell. He was tried and convicted and sentenced to be electrocuted during the week of February 8, 1908. He was electrocuted on February 4, being the first man to suffer the death penalty by electrocution.

On July 13, 1910 William T. Brown, alias Gillespie, who had been sentenced to seven years on a charge of forgery, and Charles Berger, who was under sentence for picking pockets, made their escape from jail after sawing the bars on the Federal Street front. They climbed over the balustrade to the roof, descended through a trapdoor, climbed down stairs and walked leisurely through the Court House building and out into the street unnoticed. They entered an automobile and were driven away. They crossed to Philadelphia on a North Cramer Hill Ferry boat.

Several weeks later Brown was arrested in New York City and was sentenced to Auburn Prison on an old charge. His term will expire shortly and he has also applied to the Court of Pardons of this State for a parole. A detainer has been lodged against him at the State prison where he is located and he will be brought back and resentenced. Berger was captured in Chicago and was brought back and served a term at Trenton.

REVOLVER, SMUGGLING IT IN COVERED BY FRUIT / MURDERER’S WIFE SUPPLIED IT

Camden Post-Telegram — July 19, 1916

Confessing Supplying Pistol, in Spite of Husband’s Denial That She Was Guiltless, Mrs. Ashbridge Is Held Without Bail on Charge of Conspiracy in Aiding and Abetting Escape From Jail

Mrs. Marion Ashbridge — With Wilson T. Ashbridge under guard in a cell in what was formerly known as Murderer’s Row, the police and county detectives today redoubled their energies towards the capture of George E. Thompson, the forger who escaped with Ashbridge from the County Jail on Monday night after murdering one keeper and wounding another. Stirring the police of all cities in the East to renewed activity, another circular was sent out today by the authorities giving notice of the reward of $500 offered for Thompson’s capture. Attention was strongly directed in the circular due to the fact that one of the fingers of Thompson’s left hand is missing.

The gun with which Ashbridge murdered jailor Isaac Hibbs and wounded Jailor Ellis was smuggled into the jail by Mrs. Ashbridge on Saturday morning. With it went a box of cartridges. The weapon and bullets were passed to Ashbridge in a basket of fruit, being at the bottom of the basket. The jailors were busy at the time she called and as she frequently had brought her husband fruit they did not take precaution to search the basket. Mrs. Ashbridge bought the gun and cartridges on the written request of her husband.

Her confession as to the very grave part she played in the escape and murder was made to the Prosecutor late yesterday afternoon after she had first insisted she had no knowledge of how the gun got into the jail and after her husband had repeatedly declared that the revolver was supplied by Thompson. The revolver, fully loaded, was still carried by Ashbridge when he was captured in the Keystone Hotel…

… by Recorder Stackhouse without bail for conspiracy in aiding and abetting the escape of her husband and George E. Thompson from the County Jail on Monday night.

The court room was packed to suffocation by a morbidly curious crowd, composed primarily of women. A strange silence spread through the court room when the little woman was led into the court room by Captain Schregler. The regular formality of placing prisoners in the dock was dispensed with the woman’s case.

Prosecutor De Unger pointed to the high witness chair and Mrs. Ashbridge sat in it. She evaded the gaze of the crowd, looking intently at the floor and through a window on the Washington Street side. She wore a blue skirt and a white waist. She was without her hat. Her hair was carefully arranged and she wore nose glasses.

Resting her chin on her right hand her arm and hand were seen to tremble slightly. So quiet was the room that a pin dropping could have been heard.

“Mrs. Marian Ashbridge,” called the Recorder.

“Yes, Sir,” was the faint reply of the woman, who did not even look up at the call of her name.

“This complaint charges you with delivering to Wilson Ashbridge and George E. Thompson a pistol and aiding and abetting them in escaping from the County Jail, where they had been lawfully committed. Do you plead guilty or not guilty?” said the Recorder as he read the complaint.

The woman said nothing. Detective Schregler was then called as the complainant. He told of the confession made by the woman and produced the revolver which the woman purchased and which Ashbridge used in his daring escape. The gun, Captain Schregler said, was purchased in a pawnshop at Eleventh and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, on Friday of last week and was delivered to Ashbridge on Saturday morning along with a box of cartridges. “Marian, I will hold you without bail,” said the Recorder.

As the woman was being led from the court room by Captain Schregler and Sergeant Reed the crowd made a rush for the door leading from the court room, whereupon orders were given by the police to the crowd and many were prevented from rushing out. Everybody seemed anxious to secure a closer look at the unfortunate woman.

Visitors were denied Mrs. Ashbridge. Not even her children were permitted to be brought before her, although the broken-hearted mother asked for them.

“Oh, God, I don’t know why I did this; why I left the little ones to go with Wilson,” tearfully expostulated Mrs. Ashbridge to the kind-hearted matron, who spent the best part of last night with the distraught woman.

“If I could only see little Marian,” sobbed the woman in the arms of Mrs. Kirkpatrick, who informed her that perhaps she could see them today.

Last evening the only support Mrs. Ashbridge had was a cup of tea. The morning she sipped a portion of a cup of coffee. She told Matron Kirkpatrick that she was not hungry.

“Everybody hounded me, I had no friends, and that’s why I went with my husband, because he was the only friend I had left,” said Mrs. Ashbridge. “He was a good boy, but was easily led.” The wife said even before her marriage that Ashbridge would run around with other girls, but he always returned to her and she forgave him. She said he seemed to have a spell over her and she couldn’t leave him.

“I love my husband, still and will stand by him to the end,” sobbed the little woman to Mrs. Kirkpatrick. She told how her relatives disowned her and how after her father’s death she went to live with strangers. When her husband fostered the plan to escape she willingly consented to aid him. She drew $100 out of the bank and purchased clothes and the gun and bullets. She never faltered in her plan.

“My heart aches for that woman,” said Matron Kirkpatrick this morning to a Post-Telegram reporter. “She’s a good girl, but was easily led into her present predicament. It only goes to show what a woman will do for the man she loves, no matter how base a wretch he may be. Mrs. Ashbridge is more to be pitied than scorned.”

Recorder Stackhouse this morning produced a copy of the marriage of the couple, performed by him on July 28, 1914. The marriage was performed at the instance of Assistant Prosecutor Butler after Ashbridge wronged the girl. Constable William E. Headley and William C. Ashbridge, the latter father of the murderer, were witnesses.

As told in yesterday’s Post-Telegram, Ashbridge and his wife and their captors arrived at the City Hall from Chester shortly after 2:00 o’clock. After a brief stay they were taken to the Court House and turned over to Prosecutor Kraft, Ashbridge being taken into the Prosecutor’s private office and Mrs. Ashbridge being placed under guard in the ante room.

Taking full blame for the murder of Hibbs and the wounding of Ellis, Ashbridge declared that none of the shots were fired by Thompson.

“I shot both men,” he declared, “but Thompson gave me the gun. He had it since Saturday.” He repeated this assertion several times in the course of his examination, adding each time that his wife had no part in supplying the firearm. His voluntary insistence in…

… exercise corridor of their cells in response to his request that he wanted to show him a note that had been left for him, he asked the aged keeper to step inside the corridor. Evidently suspecting something was wrong Hibbs refused to enter the corridor. When Ashbridge repeated his request that Hibbs step inside, Thompson, who was immediately behind Ashbridge, said something to the murderer. Ashbridge could not exactly recall what the expression was. At any rate it was then that he fired and Hibbs fell to the floor with his death wound. To take Hibbs keys and open the door leading from the exercise room to the corridor was the work of but an instant. It was then that Ellis confronted Ashbridge at the other end of the corridor. He refused to throw up his hands when the murderer so ordered. Instead, the plucky jailor grappled with the slayer, who again brought the gun into play, twice wounding the remaining jailor.

Ashbridge did not say why he wanted Hibbs to step inside the corridor. One surmise is that the pair had planned to get the old man into the corridor, overpower him, take his keys and after gagging him place him in a cell, depending on the gun to awe any prisoners who might make an outcry. But whatever their plan was in this respect it miscarried. Hibbs would not enter the corridor and was shot down where he stood.

Thompson carried both his own and Ashbridge’s coats when they fled. As Ashbridge had decided to do the talking with Hibbs when the jailor came to lock them in their cells it was agreed that it would not be wise for the murderer to be wearing a coat. This might look suspicious to Hibbs and in all likelihood he would refuse to open the door. Hence it was decided that Thompson should take both coats. He also carried Ashbridge’s cap and his own Panama.

The coats and hats were adjusted as they ran down the spiral stairway leading to the street. They walked slowly into Sixth Street; increasing their pace up Sixth Street after crossing Market and after turning into Cooper walked very rapidly. They turned north on Third Street to Main and thence to the Vine Street ferry, where they caught the boat leaving at 7:15 for Philadelphia. Landing on the other side the fugitives exchanged hats. They walked rapidly to Broad Street Station, where Mrs. Ashbridge was in waiting, this arrangement having been made when she smuggled the gun in to her husband on Saturday morning.

Accompanied by Thompson the Ashbridges walked out Market Street to Thirty-second Street. Here Thompson left them and after walking the street for a brief while longer the slayer and his wife boarded a trolley car for Chester, where a few hours later the murderer’s short-lived liberty was so dramatically terminated.

Although jailor Ellis still insists that three shots were fired before he was attacked and in spite of the positive declaration of Alfred Williams, the trusty, that three shots were fired at Hibbs, Ashbridge claims that Hibbs was shot only once and that two bullets were used on Ellis. He said that the three empty shells which the detectives found in his pocket contained the only bullets fired in the jail. The post mortem examination made yesterday by County Physician Stem bears out his contention as to the number of shots fired. Only one bullet was found and that had penetrated the jailor’s heart.

“That’s the truth about the shooting,” declared Ashbridge. “I fired the shots — three of them in all — and the gun was given me by Thompson. My wife had nothing to do with it. Don’t blame her.”

Enroute back to the prison from which he had made his tragic getaway on Monday night, Ashbridge passed through the ante room where his wife was under guard. He stopped, kissed her, gently caressed her cheek, told her not to worry and passed on to the jail, from whence his next exit will be to the electric chair.

Haggard and very weak Mrs. Ashbridge was at once taken before the Prosecutor. With due regard for her condition Mrs. Ashbridge was handled very gently. At first she insisted that she had no part in getting the gun, but under skillful handling she finally broke down and confessed that she had supplied the revolver.

She stated that on Friday night she received a letter from her husband telling her that he planned to escape from the jail on Monday night and that he needed a revolver to make certain that his scheme would not fail. He requested that she procure the pistol and cartridges and personally deliver them on Saturday. Being anxious to aid her husband in every way possible she readily decided to do as he requested.

Accordingly she purchased the needed articles in a Philadelphia pawnshop on Friday afternoon, paying $3.00 for the pistol and 67 cents for the cartridges. She kept them over night and on Saturday safely delivered the weapon and bullets to her husband in the bottom of a basket of fruit. At the same time Ashbridge asked her to go with him and when she agreed to share his fate he told her to meet him in Broad Street Station, Philadelphia, shortly after seven o’clock on Monday night. He further told her that he had carefully studied the situation and did not see how it was possible for his plan to miscarry. On Monday morning she sent her children to the home of Mrs. Anna Dick and later in the day sent the letter to Mrs. Dick telling of her “rash deed” and enclosing $10 for the children.

As Mrs. Ashbridge told her story she spoke in a very low tone. Most of the time her eyes were cast down and as she concluded her brief narrative she sobbed convulsively and was in a state of utter collapse. Reviving somewhat when given cold water Mrs. Ashbridge was turned over to the police and taken back to City Hall to await her hearing this morning.

The prison key stolen by Ashbridge from Hibbs’ murdered body was recovered this morning by Detective Doran in the yard of Dr. Frank, 2025 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. The recovery of the key was due to information given by Ashbridge, after he had been locked up in jail yesterday afternoon. Ashbridge, when questioned as to the whereabouts of the key, said that Thompson had it and that he had seen him toss it over a wall of a residence near Twenty-third and Chestnut Streets on Monday night while he and his wife and Thompson were walking to Thirty-second Street.

Detective Doran and Constable Voight went to Philadelphia late yesterday afternoon and searched in vain for the key in the vicinity of Twenty-third and Chestnut Streets until darkness came on. Detective Doran renewed the search early this morning. There is a high wall fronting the yard at the home of Dr. Frank, and a search of the grounds resulted in the finding of the key, which was returned to Sheriff Haines.

Ashbridge is confined in a large cell in what is known as Section E. As cellmates he has two persons who are being held as witnesses to the crime. Sheriff Haines has assigned three constables, Gardner, Ford, and Addison. They will work on eight-hour shifts and will see that Ashbridge does not attempt any further escape or try to end his life.

Sergeant Detective Kane of the Chicago Police Department today took to Chicago Alfred Williams, who was an eyewitness to the murder of Hibbs. Williams, an Italian, served six months here on a charge of false pretence in obtaining money from a number of Italian grocers under the pretence that he represented the Roma Grocery Company. After his arrest and sentence here the police of Chicago lodged a detainer against Williams who is wanted in the West for a like crime.

The body of Jailor Hibbs will be exposed to view tonight at his home, 913 South 8th Street. Services will be conducted by Reverend Harry Bradway, pastor of Eighth Street Methodist Episcopal Church. Members of the Seventh Ward Republican Club, Mutual Aid and the Liberty Beneficial Society will attend in a body.

Tomorrow morning the body will be taken to Langhorne, where services will be held in the Friends Meeting House, after which interment will be made in the burial ground by the Schroeder-Kephart Company. Friends may call this evening to pay their respects.

Ashbridge will not be tried until December. On the day he was listed for trial of murdering Mrs. Dunbar his lawyer, Assemblyman Wolverton, was ill. In the interim the entire panel of jurors for the April term of court was discharged following a case of alleged tampering. This makes it necessary that he be held until September for trial unless the Court should otherwise decree, which is hardly likely.

Ashbridge is 22 years old and not 27, as previously stated. His real age was disclosed by the certificate of his marriage. He was 20 when he wedded two years ago.

The Howard Marshall who mailed a letter to a woman in Baltimore is not Freeholder Howard Marshall of the Eighth Ward, as was reported to the Prosecutor yesterday. Mr. Kraft’s investigation disclosed that Freeholder Marshall does not know either Ashbridge or Thompson and that as a matter of fact the Marshall in question is an East Sider and no relative to the freeholder, who was naturally much upset at being mistakenly dragged into the case.

E.S. Fry, proprietor of the Keystone Hotel, Chester, where the couple were caught, told the story of the capture both to the city police and Prosecutor Kraft.

“Late on Monday night I received a call from another hotel, requesting that I take care of a man and his wife for the evening,” said Mr. Fry. “I waited until a little before midnight when the couple arrived. He seemed nervous and registered in a shaky hand, and I was suspicious that there was something wrong.”

“I did not pay much attention to the way he registered until the next morning when I examined the register and saw that he had neglected to register his wife. He signed ‘Mr. Smythe, Washington, D.C.’ I communicated my suspicions to my wife and told her to go observe the couple, too. Then I went out on the porch and picked up a morning newspaper. On the front page were the pictures of the two men who escaped.”

“I instantly recognized Ashbridge, but was not just sure of my identity of the man, so I decided to get a better look at him. At the breakfast table I observed him more closely and feeling sure of my ground I called Captain Schregler, afterward securing the service of two negro policemen, whom I placed on guard outside the hotel, giving them orders not to allow the couple to leave. The officers, William Padgett and William Robinson, took their positions outside the hotel, ready for the signal to enter when I gave it.”

“Ashbridge arose.”

“What’s the matter?” he exclaimed. “You know what’s the matter,” replied Mr. Fry, who brought in Captain Schregler and Detective Hunt. Schregler and Hunt instantly recognized the fugitive.

Before Ashbridge had a chance to move his arms were pinioned by his sides and Policeman Hunt had extracted the murder gun from his right hip pocket. It was fully loaded. In the same pocket were seventeen additional cartridges and in a suitcase in his room, Number 9, was a fresh box of cartridges.

“The little wife was crying bitterly,” said Mr. Fry. “She leaned her head upon his shoulder and the husband tried to console her.”

Captain Schregler sent a telegram to Chiefs Gravenor and Hyde with the startling news that Ashbridge had been caught.

On the way back to Camden Mrs. Ashbridge began to cry. She was sitting beside Captain Schregler, and he tried to console her. Her sobs increased, and Ashbridge called to her to “take it easy.”

This seemed to quiet her a bit, and Schregler spoke to her kindly, saying that she would not be blamed very much for her part in the escape. “That’s not worrying me,” she answered. “I am worried about ‘Wil.’”

“Well you women beat me,” was Schregler’s comment. “What did you want to help him escape for, anyhow? He had beaten you, deserted you for another woman and when she turned him down, he killed her. Yet you make up with him, leave your kids and risk everything to help him escape. Seems to me the worse men treat you women, the more you will do for them.”

“Lots of truth in what you say,” remarked Mrs. Ashbridge, with a sigh.

Mr. Fry was the center of attention. Everybody seemed anxious to hear his story.

“I’m not going back until I collect that $500 either,” he was heard to say. The capturer was formerly coroner of Delaware County.

Scenes of excitement were prevalent when the automobile of Chief Gravenor with Detective-chauffer David Hunt at the wheel, Captain Schregler and the prisoners in the rear and Chief Dodd, of the Pennsylvania Railroad police force in the front seat came from the Federal Street Ferry. E.S. Fry, the hotel proprietor who caught the Ashbridges, was also in the car.

Ashbridge and his wife were instantly recognized. The news spread like wildfire and was passed along the route of the machine to police headquarters.

Thinking that the prisoners would be brought to the Prosecutors office, a battery of newspapermen and photographers were camped on the Court House plaza. When someone cried in bellowed tones “There they go,” the scribes and photographers started in hot pursuit behind the automobile.

The officers upon reaching the City Hall had to fight their way through the dense crowd which had gathered outside Police Headquarters. Many stood tiptoed to get a good glance at the prisoners who were abashed at their predicament.

Pulling her black straw hat over her face, Mrs. Ashbridge leaned on her husband’s arm. To hide his face the murderer pulled the Panama hat, which he had secured from Thompson, over his countenance.

Preliminary questioning was done by Captain A.L. James, after which the officers and prisoners were escorted upstairs to the office of Chief Gravenor.

Still clenching the stump of a cheap cigarette in the corner of his mouth, Ashbridge had a pitiful look on his face. He was much thinner than he was when he was arrested for the murder of the Dunbar girl. On his upper lip was a small mustache, which he raised during the last week.

His beautiful and baby-like eyes still retained their piercing stare. The murderer looked wild-eyed at persons in the room. He seemed to take delight in singling out persons in the room and “staring them out.” None seemed courageous enough to return Ashbridge’s strange stare. He looked distressed but the only betraying sign of nervousness was his incessant twitching of his fingers. Seated on the couch in the chief’s room, Ashbridge talked freely.

His wife dried away the tears as they trickled down her reddened face but after regaining her composure she seemed quite calm. She intently watched Captain Schregler and Detective Hunt as they searched through her husband’s clothes.

When the trip for the Court House was being arranged the two prisoners, still handcuffed together, walked in the outer room of the chief’s office. It was then that the wife broke down slightly. She choked back a sob and leaned her head on her husband’s shoulder. Ashbridge did likewise and patted her on the back, at the same time saying something in a suppressed tone of voice. The only persons in the room at the time were Assistant Chief Hyde and a Post-Telegram reporter. Neither was able to catch the words uttered. Captain Schregler, Chief Gravenor, and Detective Hunt later entered the room and the start for the Court House was made.

The crowd below which was camped about the entrance to the building awaited with patient expectancy, when the news was spread that the prisoners were leaving the building.

Camera men took their positions, ready to snap the couple, but the Ashbridges fooled them. Before the door leading to the street was opened Ashbridge drew his wife to him and with their free hands pulled their hats over their faces, thus eluding the photographers, who resorted to every means to secure a photograph.

Once inside the automobile the prisoners seemed content until the Court House was reached when another large crowd was on hand to greet them. Both repeated the trick of hiding their faces.

After Ashbridge was taken to his cell his wife was ordered taken to the detention department in the City Hall. Captain Schregler and Detective Hunt half-carrying the sobbing and broken-hearted woman, who has aroused some sympathy for her courageousness in taking such a desperate chance for the man she loved, the father of her children and a cruel murderer.

“What other woman would do as much as she has for her husband?” was the query advanced by one of the spectators in the Court House corridor as Mrs. Ashbridge passed through on her way to the waiting automobile.

Gettysburg Times — July 27, 1916

Hacked Remains of David Paul, Missing Bank Messenger, Discovered by Gunners

(Mt. Holly) New Jersey Mirror — October 20, 1920

The Authorities of Burlington county have another baffling murder mystery to solve.

On Saturday four duck hunters, William and James Cutts, and C.B. Inston, of Tabernacle, and George W. Duncan, of Audubon were passing through the pine forest at Irick’s Crossing, near Tabernacle, when their attention was attracted by an automobile track following an old and rarely used trail leading to a stream toward which the gunners were making.

As the car was miles off the nearest traveled road the tracks aroused the curiosity of the men and they followed them. In a short time they came upon a freshly made mound over which dead leaves had been thrown. Leading to the mound from the shallow stream nearby were tracks of men and also marks as though some heavy object has been dragged by the men making the tracks. Thinking perhaps that a deer had been shot and secreted there, one or two of the men scratched around the end of the mound with sticks and within six inches of the surface a human foot was unearthed.

This put an unexpected phase upon the situation and the gunners decided to let Sheriff Haines continue the investigation.

Word was hastily phoned to the jail at Mount Holly and the Sheriff and Detective Parker lost no time in reaching the scene of the tragic discovery. The new-made and crude grave was then opened under the Sheriff’s direction. The body proved to be that of a man, fully dressed except for his coat which was lying buried deeper and under the body. The feet were tied with a heavy rope such as is used in towing automobiles and they were resting upward and back over the dead man’s head. As soon as the features were uncovered Sheriff Haines recognized the dead man as David S. Paul, of Camden, a bank runner, who had been reported missing by the Broadway Trust Company of Camden ten days before, with $65,000 in cash and liberty bonds and $12,500 in checks besides a number of cancelled checks. The body was badly mutilated and it was evident that a brutal murder had been committed.

Apparently Paul had been dead but a few hours and the remains were in a good state of preservation when discovered by the merest chance by the gunning party. There was a deep gash on the head as though made by a axe or hatchet, and the forehead was crushed in. Another ghastly wound just above one ear, alone was sufficient to have caused almost instant death.

Every indication pointed to the man having been killed and buried within twenty-four hours of the discovery of the crime. The rigor of death had not yet set in and the victim’s face appeared to have been freshly shaven. The marks on the ground accompanying the feet tracks leading from the stream about a hundred feet away, were quickly explained when the body was unearthed. Evidently those who brought the body to the unfrequented spot had attempted to secret it in the stream, but finding the water too shallow to conceal the corpse, they had dragged it out again by the rope which bound the feet and pulled it to the spot where the grave was quickly made and the body of the unfortunate man shoved into it.

The clothes which Paul wore bore every evidence of being new. The shoes also had evidently just been purchased and the soles bore no evidence of wear. A search of the body failed to reveal any of the cash which the bank messenger is alleged to have taken when he so suddenly dropped out of sight while on his way across the ferry to go to a bank in Philadelphia to take the money, securities and checks for his employers. Only one cent was found in the pockets of the dead man. In the coat was a bundle of checks, said to have been cancelled.

There had been no attempt to conceal the identity of the dead man. His watch which had stopped at 9:37, was found in his pocket and a stickpin in his tie and a pair of sleeve buttons remained in the cuffs.

How the dead man came to his untimely end and how his body happened to be buried in the far away spot in the pines miles from any human habitation, was a mystery when the body was first discovered and it seems to be as much so today, although the authorities here, as well as those of Camden and Philadelphia, are exerting every effort to run down the criminals.

It will be recalled that Paul, who was 59 years of age, enjoyed the confidence of the bank officials by whom he had been employed for many years. He was a recent visitor in Mount Holly where he had a son, Harry Paul, and other relatives.

On the morning of October 5, Paul started across the river to Philadelphia in company with another bank employee with a satchel said immediately afterward to contain $10,000 in cash and $12,500 in checks. This statement has since been revised and the amount of cash and Liberty Bonds that Paul carried is now variously stated to have been from $45,000 to $65,000. Upon reaching the other bank the other employee became separated from Paul whether by accident or through Paul’s design is not yet known and after an attempt to find him at the ferry house, he went at once to the bank and reported his companion’s disappearance.

The Central Trust Company was immediately notified and after all efforts to get in touch with the missing messenger had failed the Camden and Philadelphia police were asked to locate Paul. Nothing more was seen or heard of him until his hacked body was discovered in the pines near Tabernacle ten days after his disappearance. What the missing bank runner did during the interim, where he spent his time or with whom he associated while the police of the county were searching for him has not yet been learned but it is expected that the mystery will be solved before long.

One clue which seemed to put under suspicion the occupants of a yellow car turned out to be valueless when the owner, hearing of the authorities suspicions, came forward, gave his address as Haddonfield and proved that he drove a party in his yellow car inspecting some real estate in the pines shortly before the discovery of the body of the murdered man.

Detective Parker yesterday said that he had just picked up what he considered the first piece of valuable evidence in the case since he stated to work on it on Saturday. He declined to state what this evidence was for the present.

There are endless theories being advanced as to how the dead man met his fate and in explanation of his disappearance with the large sum of money entrusted to his custody. Some officials incline to the view that Paul was killed either in Philadelphia or Camden and his body taken to the lonely spot at Irick’s Crossing in the confident belief that it never would be discovered or at least not until time had obliterated identifying marks.

Another theory is that the murdered man was taken alive in the automobile and killed near the spot where his body and rifled clothes were found. There is no means of telling which theory is correct at this time, quite as possibly both theories are at fault.

The body was taken in charge by Coroner Isaac Clover who ordered it removed to the undertaking establishment of Cline & Sons, at Vincentown. There Dr. Longsdorf, of Mount Holly and Dr. Stein, of Camden, performed an autopsy, the result of which showed that Paul came to his death by wounds to the head, probably inflicted by a dull axe or hatchet.

There was a conference in Mount Holly on Sunday in which officers of Camden and Burlington counties participated. Those taking part were reticent after coming out of the room in which that meeting was held. In the discussion of the crime and the preparation of plans for running down the murderers, if there were more than one, were Sheriff Haines, Clifford R. Powell and County Detective Parker, of this county, and Prosecutor Wolverton, and Detectives Schregler and Doran, of Camden county.

A reward of $1,000 offered by the Broadway Trust Company for the apprehension of Paul shortly after his disappearance is to be increased now for information leading to the capture of his murderers. It is easily the most mystifying case that had come to the attention of the Burlington county officials for many years but they express confidence that it will be solved and the criminals run down.

Magnolia Garage Robbery

Philadelphia Inquirer — December 9, 1921

Camden Daily Courier — November 9, 1925

Trenton Evening Times — March 7, 1927

BABE PARADISE ADMITS HE IS NARCOTIC KING

Camden Courier-Post — January 2, 1928

3 Others Held by Camden Police as Leaders in Dope Peddling Gang

OPERATIONS COVERED ALL OF SOUTH JERSEY / Tell of Making Buys With Auto Used as ‘Silent Salesman’

Captured after a lengthy investigation, Anthony ‘Babe’ Paradise, of Camden has confessed to being the head of a narcotic ring operating throughout South Jersey, it was declared yesterday by Captain John Golden, head of the city detective bureau.

Paradise also admitted that he is a drug addict, Golden said, making the fact known when he became ill in his cell at the city jail and calling for Dr. W.G. Bailey, who has been treating him for the drug habit.

With three other men, who are accused as accomplices, Paradise is being held for a preliminary hearing in Police Court tomorrow morning. The four men, Golden said, will probably be held without bail pending grand jury action and be committed to the Camden County Jail. At the jail, detainers will be lodged against the quartette by Federal narcotics agents, who co-operated with city and county authorities in the investigation, which resulted in the arrests.

Golden declared that city detectives had purchased more than $500 worth of drugs from Paradise and his agents, in obtaining evidence against the ring, which authorities said reaches into Atlantic City and other South Jersey communities as well as Camden.

The three men arrested with Paradise are James Mucci, 18 years old, of 324 Stevens Street, Rocco DeCord, 21 years old, of 221 Spruce Street, and Andrew Hill, of Locust Street, near Kaighn Avenue. According to the detectives, the base of operations of the “ring” was in the Third Ward. Mucci and DeCord were arrested in a barbershop at Third and Locust streets, three blocks from the Wiley M.E. Church where the pastor, Rev. John S. Hackett, recently exposed vice conditions existing in the Third ward and assailed the Department Public Safety for laxity. The arrest of Paradise and the others is believed to be a result of the clergyman’s scathing sermons.

Paradise and Hill were arrested several hours before the other two men. Fearing that they get word to other members of the “ring” police took the two men to Merchantville police headquarters, where Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Varbalow and Chief County Detective Lawrence T. Doran were waiting. Statements were obtained from the two, and meanwhile Mucci and DeCord were taken into custody. Paradise, who is 34 years old, served a year in State Prison five years ago for selling narcotics.

Detectives George Ward, Louis Shaw, and Thomas Cheeseman, of the city, and M.H. Shapiro and J.H. McFadden, of the federal office in Philadelphia, arranged the purchase of a ‘deck’ of heroin from Paradise, and ‘caught him with the goods’ when he met them at Nineteenth Street and River Road, near his home at 927 North Nineteenth Street.

Paradise was in his expensive automobile when arrested. It was the machine he had used to distribute narcotics to his agents and addicts during the past few years, the detectives said.

Decks of dope which sold for $1.50 each, police said, were placed in the automobile which was driven to a certain point as prearranged, and then Paradise would leave it parked, the detectives said.

Peddling Scheme Bared

At a stated hour an agent or addict would approach the machine, take the “dope” inside, and leave money as payment. Paradise would return and collect the money received, it was said.

That the ring extended to Philadelphia, New York, and other large Eastern cities was indicated by the many times the automobile was parked at Camden bridge plaza for hours, when exchanges would be made, the detectives said.

SHEIK SWINDLES HER, WOMAN CLAIMS HERE

Camden Courier-Post — January 10, 1928

Camden Victim Says Jailed Lothario, 60, Took $4200, Vanished

GANGSTER SHOT DURING MELEE IN SIXTH WARD

Camden Courier-Post — January 14, 1928

Joseph Devon Held On Murder Charge After Death of Boxer’s Brother; ‘Mose’ Flannery and 4 Others Held as Witnesses; Was Craps Game Says County Police

HOLDUP ATTEMPTED CITY COPS DECLARE

Victim of a shot fired in a melee, the exact cause of which remain undetermined, Joseph Cimini, 31 years old, was killed in the Sixth Ward Republican Club, 908 Broadway.

Cimini, declared by police to be a Philadelphia gangster, was killed before the eyes of two district detectives, Clarence Arthur and Clarence Bunker, who had been summoned to the club by warning that a fight was in progress.

Joseph Devon, 28 years old, known to his associates as “Polack Joe” and a colorful figure in Third Ward politics, fired the shot that killed Cimini.

Declaring that he had fired in self-defense, after Cimini struck him with the butt of a revolver, Devon was locked up without bail on a charge of murder.

Joseph ‘Mose’ Flannery, 26 years old, picturesque Eighth ward political worker, was held as a material witness. Detectives had seized Flannery who was to have precipitated the battle by brandishing a revolver just before Cimini was shot. The officers say that Flannery fled after the shooting and was captured afterward at Broadway and Federal Street.

The name of the dead man was given as Joseph Gannon, but shortly before one o’clock this afternoon, he was identified as Joseph Cimini, 1301 Ellsworth Street, Philadelphia. The identification was made by a brother, William Cimini, a pugilist who has boxed in this city several times under the name of “Billy” Gannon.

Joseph Devon — Six Others Quizzed

Six other men who were present at the time of the shooting, or when the argument began, were questioned by city and county detectives.

They are Newton Blanchard, 30, 923 St. John Street, former Camden boxing referee and declared by some of the witnesses as the man who conducted the crap game at the club; Michael Dandrea, 26, 1067 Norris Street; Russell Sage, 26 years old, of 1102 Marion Street a taxicab driver who is said to have driven Gannon and Flannery to the club in his car; Maurice O’Brien, 27 years old, of 1429 Bradley Avenue, a former New Jersey State Trooper; Harry Waterhouse, 28 years old, whose address was given as the same as Sage’s; and Charles “Chick” Hunt, 27 years old, of 1218 Broadway, a former Camden boxer. Blanchard and Dandrea were released after questioning and after each had made a statement to Chief of County Detective Lawrence T. Doran. The others were held with Flannery as material witness.

Differences of opinion between county and city detectives investigating the shooting were heightened during the afternoon. The county sleuths insisted upon the theory that the shooting had resulted from a feud between Flannery and Hunt, with Cimini taking the former’s side and Devon the latter and said that the heat of the argument had possibly been heightened by disagreement over a crap game.

The city police, on the other hand, declared that the entire affair was the result of an attempt by Flannery to hold up the other men. Devon’s statement to Chief Doran made no mention of a hold-up.

Building up a case against Flannery, the officers this afternoon lodged charges of attempted hold-up, carrying concealed deadly weapons, atrocious assault and battery and assault to kill against him. The two latter charges were made as the result of identification of Flannery as a participant in two recent robbery attempts. J.E. Feinstein, café proprietor of 508 Kaighn Avenue, declared that Flannery, Cimini, and Sage were three of four men who held him up on New Year’s Day. He defied them and they left when he said, “Go ahead and shoot,” he asserted. Flannery was also identified, according to police, as the man who had beaten and attempted to rob Henry Mehrer, an Audubon policeman, and his two companions outside the Ringside Inn, on the Black Horse Pike, a fortnight ago. Mehrer and Feinstein were taken to police headquarters by County Detective Howard Smith, who is authority for the statement that they identified Flannery.

Cimini was shot shortly after 3:00 this morning and died almost instantly. Doctors at Cooper Hospital pronounced him dead on arrival. He had been shot just above the heart by a bullet from Devon’s gun.

Events preceding the shooting remain, to some extent clouded today. Chief Doran said he learned of an enmity existing between Flannery and Hunt. Devon appeared to have attempted to quiet “Mose,” the county detectives said. Cimini struck Devon and Devon fired.

Chief John Golden of the Camden city detective bureau stated, on the other hand, that the shooting had apparently followed an attempt to hold up the other men in the room. Golden based his view on the statements of Clarence Arthur, a city sleuth. According to Arthur, when he and Bunker appeared at the door of the room, Flannery and Cimini held revolvers and the other men in the room were standing with their hands upraised.

According to the story pieced together by county detectives from the statements of witnesses, a group of men had apparently gathered at the club for a crap game. Blanchard, it was stated, acts as the “stick man,” the term used in gambling parlance to designate the man who conducts a crap game.

City and County agree that Flannery and Cimini arrived together in Sage’s taxicab. Whether there was an argument, the result of an enmity between Flannery and Hunt, or whether the attempted hold-up theory is correct, remains to be learned by additional official investigation.

Chief Doran stated the witnesses had told him that words passed between Flannery and Hunt and that the former had gone downstairs. Returning he brandished a revolver.

Two Flee Place

It was at this point that Blanchard and Dandrea left the room and fled down the stairs. On the street, they encountered Detectives Arthur and Bunker, who were patrolling Broadway in a police automobile.

In describing the subsequent events today, Arthur declared that Blanchard had informed him that “two Philadelphia gunmen are up in the Sixth Ward Club holding up a bunch of fellows.”

The detectives did not immediately go to the club, but found Patrolman Frank Del Rossi and followed him up the stairs of the building.

“There were about fifteen men in the room,” Arthur asserted. “When we got to the door Flannery and Cimini had their guns out and apparently were about to search the others. The other men had their hands in the air.

“When they saw us Flannery and Cimini threw their guns down and the others lowered their hands. I went up to Flannery and started to frisk him. Bunker went to another man, whom I don’t know, and started to frisk him.”

It was then he said that he heard the shot. Believing that it was Bunker who was shot, he released his hold on Flannery and swung around. As he did Flannery turned and fled downstairs, Arthur declared.

Bunker said he believed that it was Arthur who had been shot and he too released his grasp on the man he had been searching. The detectives turned in time to see Cimini fall.

“I did it! I shot him!” Devon is declared to have shouted, throwing his revolver on the table.

According to the story told by witnesses to the county detectives, however, Devon had stepped up to Flannery just before the shot was fired and had said: “Mose, you can’t get away with this here.”

Flannery is said to have had a gun in his hand at the time.

As Devon spoke, the witnesses say, Cimini stepped behind him and struck him with the butt of a revolver. Just then detectives entered. Devon whirled and, drawing his gun, fired.

Cimini was placed in a police ambulance and taken to the hospital. After he had been pronounced dead his body was taken to the morgue, where it was awaiting identification today. Neatly dressed, Cimini is of Italian extraction. He has coal-black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. Coroner Charles T. Murray will perform a post-mortem examination, he said.

Flannery Captured

When he fled from the club, according to Arthur, Flannery jumped on a Public Service bus driven by David Smith, of 423 Haddon Avenue, which was passing at the time.

“Faster! Faster!” he is declared to have urged Smith as the latter drove along Broadway in the direction of Federal Street.

At Federal Street and Broadway, Arthur and Bunker caught up to the bus and arrested Flannery as he descended from the vehicle.

“Why don’t you give me a chance to get to Philadelphia?” Arthur declares Flannery asked him. “I can get bail over there.”

Seek Written Statement

Chief Doran stated this afternoon that he was attempting to obtain a written statement from Flannery and would also seek to have Devon sign a statement regarding the shooting. During the morning, Flannery refused to talk while Devon, although admitting that he fired the shot, declared that he shot in self-defense. He made no reference to the hold-up attempt, according to the county detectives.

Cimini has a Philadelphia police record but, according to his pugilist brother, “was not bad but just wild.” He was recently arrested in Philadelphia after a fight with policemen.

“But he never held up or robbed anybody,” his brother declared this afternoon after identifying the body. “He got into a jam now and then. Yes, I know that he knew ‘Mose’ Flannery, but I never mixed with that crowd.”

It was reported at City Hall this afternoon that Samuel Orlando had been retained as attorney for Flannery and that Walter Keown, Camden county solicitor, would represent all the other men.

Flannery for years has figured in police cases and in political warfare in the Eighth Ward, where he was sometimes a lieutenant and sometimes an opponent of “Mikey” Brown, the Republican leader of the ward. Last March he was arrested and indicted on charges of atrocious assault and battery on his wife and her mother. At one time he was held as a suspect in a Philadelphia shooting but later was released.

The accused man, Devon, is a short, slim little man with an air of meek complaisance. He has been a taxicab driver and was last arrested on a charge of drunken driving. In May of 1926 he attempted suicide by shooting himself after he had failed to effect a reconciliation with his estranged wife. At that time, he shot himself but the bullet only grazed his chest.

Joe Devon, long a political power in the Third Ward, first flashed into citywide prominence in 1925, when he was employed by federal authorities as a deputy U.S. Marshal to guard the padlocked Poth brewery at Bulson Street, just off Broadway. At the time Devon was thus maintaining the sanctity of the Eighteenth Amendment, he was also operating a bootlegging establishment downtown and had been arrested once or twice for violating the Volstead Act.

The Courier at that time exposed this paradoxical situation, with the result that the U.S. Marshal summarily dismissed Devon. He keenly resented the political chicanery that had been used to put Devon in office. In explaining how Devon was appointed, the Marshal said that he had been recommended by “prominent Republican leaders” in Camden, chief among whom was William D. Sayrs, now a city commissioner but then a field agent in the office of the Internal Revenue Department.

Sought City Job

Not long after Devon’s dismissal as brewery guard, Sayrs and other Republican leaders made strenuous efforts to secure a city job for him under the Non-Partisan administration. They sought to exact a promise from The Courier that this newspaper would remain silent in the event Devon was appointed to a city position. No such promise was made and Devon remained jobless, politically at least.

Then came a humorous twist to the situation. Sayrs disagreed with some of the Organization leaders and, for a time, walked his own political footpath. Some of the leaders, fearful of what Sayrs might attempt politically, killed two birds with one stone by hiring Joe Devon to shadow Sayrs and to report to them the number of times he conferred with Non-Partisans. Thus, Joe had a job and Billy was watched.

Sayrs knew he was being shadowed by his old friend, and apparently he knew who had hired Devon to do the work, but he refused to take the situation seriously and chortled, frequently, when he would see his “Shadow” trailing about town.

In the last year, however, Devon has again been the particular political protégé of Commissioner Sayrs and also has won the friendship of many other political leaders. Nevertheless, he has not been, so far as can be determined, the recipient of any particular political patronage, though his political influence in the Third and Fifth Wards is said to have expanded rapidly under the new administration.

Joseph Cimini — Six Others Quizzed

Six other men who were present at the time of the shooting, or when the argument began, were questioned by city and county detectives.

They are Newton Blanchard, 30, 923 St. John Street, former Camden boxing referee and declared by some of the witnesses as the man who conducted the crap game at the club; Michael Dandrea, 26, 1067 Norris Street; Russell Sage, 26 years old, of 1102 Marion Street a taxicab driver who is said to have driven Gannon and Flannery to the club in his car; Maurice O’Brien, 27 years old, of 1429 Bradley Avenue, a former New Jersey State Trooper; Harry Waterhouse, 28 years old, whose address was given as the same as Sage’s; and Charles “Chick” Hunt, 27 years old, of 1218 Broadway, a former Camden boxer. Blanchard and Dandrea were released after questioning and after each had made a statement to Chief of County Detective Lawrence T. Doran. The others were held with Flannery as material witness.

Differences of opinion between county and city detectives investigating the shooting were heightened during the afternoon. The county sleuths insisted upon the theory that the shooting had resulted from a feud between Flannery and Hunt, with Cimini taking the former’s side and Devon the latter and said that the heat of the argument had possibly been heightened by disagreement over a crap game.

The city police, on the other hand, declared that the entire affair was the result of an attempt by Flannery to hold up the other men. Devon’s statement to Chief Doran made no mention of a hold-up.

Building up a case against Flannery, the officers this afternoon lodged charges of attempted hold-up, carrying concealed deadly weapons, atrocious assault and battery and assault to kill against him. The two latter charges were made as the result of identification of Flannery as a participant in two recent robbery attempts. J.E. Feinstein, café proprietor of 508 Kaighn Avenue, declared that Flannery, Cimini, and Sage were three of four men who held him up on New Year’s Day. He defied them and they left when he said, “Go ahead and shoot,” he asserted. Flannery was also identified, according to police, as the man who had beaten and attempted to rob Henry Mehrer, an Audubon policeman, and his two companions outside the Ringside Inn, on the Black Horse Pike, a fortnight ago. Mehrer and Feinstein were taken to police headquarters by County Detective Howard Smith, who is authority for the statement that they identified Flannery.

Cimini was shot shortly after 3:00 this morning and died almost instantly. Doctors at Cooper Hospital pronounced him dead on arrival. He had been shot just above the heart by a bullet from Devon’s gun.

Events preceding the shooting remain, to some extent clouded today. Chief Doran said he learned of an enmity existing between Flannery and Hunt. Devon appeared to have attempted to quiet “Mose,” the county detectives said. Cimini struck Devon and Devon fired.

Chief John Golden of the Camden city detective bureau stated, on the other hand, that the shooting had apparently followed an attempt to hold up the other men in the room. Golden based his view on the statements of Clarence Arthur, a city sleuth. According to Arthur, when he and Bunker appeared at the door of the room, Flannery and Cimini held revolvers and the other men in the room were standing with their hands upraised.

According to the story pieced together by county detectives from the statements of witnesses, a group of men had apparently gathered at the club for a crap game. Blanchard, it was stated, acts as the “stick man,” the term used in gambling parlance to designate the man who conducts a crap game.

City and County agree that Flannery and Cimini arrived together in Sage’s taxicab. Whether there was an argument, the result of an enmity between Flannery and Hunt, or whether the attempted hold-up theory is correct, remains to be learned by additional official investigation.

Chief Doran stated the witnesses had told him that words passed between Flannery and Hunt and that the former had gone downstairs. Returning he brandished a revolver.

Two Flee Place

It was at this point that Blanchard and Dandrea left the room and fled down the stairs. On the street, they encountered Detectives Arthur and Bunker, who were patrolling Broadway in a police automobile.

In describing the subsequent events today, Arthur declared that Blanchard had informed him that “two Philadelphia gunmen are up in the Sixth Ward Club holding up a bunch of fellows.”

The detectives did not immediately go to the club, but found Patrolman Frank Del Rossi and followed him up the stairs of the building.

“There were about fifteen men in the room,” Arthur asserted. “When we got to the door Flannery and Cimini had their guns out and apparently were about to search the others. The other men had their hands in the air.

“When they saw us Flannery and Cimini threw their guns down and the others lowered their hands. I went up to Flannery and started to frisk him. Bunker went to another man, whom I don’t know, and started to frisk him.”

It was then he said that he heard the shot. Believing that it was Bunker who was shot, he released his hold on Flannery and swung around. As he did Flannery turned and fled downstairs, Arthur declared.

Bunker said he believed that it was Arthur who had been shot and he too released his grasp on the man he had been searching. The detectives turned in time to see Cimini fall.

“I did it! I shot him!” Devon is declared to have shouted, throwing his revolver on the table.

According to the story told by witnesses to the county detectives, however, Devon had stepped up to Flannery just before the shot was fired and had said: “Mose, you can’t get away with this here.”

Flannery is said to have had a gun in his hand at the time.

As Devon spoke, the witnesses say, Cimini stepped behind him and struck him with the butt of a revolver. Just then detectives entered. Devon whirled and, drawing his gun, fired.

Cimini was placed in a police ambulance and taken to the hospital. After he had been pronounced dead his body was taken to the morgue, where it was awaiting identification today. Neatly dressed, Cimini is of Italian extraction. He has coal-black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. Coroner Charles T. Murray will perform a post-mortem examination, he said.

Flannery Captured

When he fled from the club, according to Arthur, Flannery jumped on a Public Service bus driven by David Smith, of 423 Haddon Avenue, which was passing at the time.

“Faster! Faster!” he is declared to have urged Smith as the latter drove along Broadway in the direction of Federal Street.

At Federal Street and Broadway, Arthur and Bunker caught up to the bus and arrested Flannery as he descended from the vehicle.

“Why don’t you give me a chance to get to Philadelphia?” Arthur declares Flannery asked him. “I can get bail over there.”

Seek Written Statement

Chief Doran stated this afternoon that he was attempting to obtain a written statement from Flannery and would also seek to have Devon sign a statement regarding the shooting. During the morning, Flannery refused to talk while Devon, although admitting that he fired the shot, declared that he shot in self-defense. He made no reference to the hold-up attempt, according to the county detectives.

Cimini has a Philadelphia police record but, according to his pugilist brother, “was not bad but just wild.” He was recently arrested in Philadelphia after a fight with policemen.

“But he never held up or robbed anybody,” his brother declared this afternoon after identifying the body. “He got into a jam now and then. Yes, I know that he knew ‘Mose’ Flannery, but I never mixed with that crowd.”

It was reported at City Hall this afternoon that Samuel Orlando had been retained as attorney for Flannery and that Walter Keown, Camden county solicitor, would represent all the other men.

Flannery for years has figured in police cases and in political warfare in the Eighth Ward, where he was sometimes a lieutenant and sometimes an opponent of “Mikey” Brown, the Republican leader of the ward. Last March he was arrested and indicted on charges of atrocious assault and battery on his wife and her mother. At one time he was held as a suspect in a Philadelphia shooting but later was released.

The accused man, Devon, is a short, slim little man with an air of meek complaisance. He has been a taxicab driver and was last arrested on a charge of drunken driving. In May of 1926 he attempted suicide by shooting himself after he had failed to effect a reconciliation with his estranged wife. At that time, he shot himself but the bullet only grazed his chest.

Joe Devon, long a political power in the Third Ward, first flashed into citywide prominence in 1925, when he was employed by federal authorities as a deputy U.S. Marshal to guard the padlocked Poth brewery at Bulson Street, just off Broadway. At the time Devon was thus maintaining the sanctity of the Eighteenth Amendment, he was also operating a bootlegging establishment downtown and had been arrested once or twice for violating the Volstead Act.

The Courier at that time exposed this paradoxical situation, with the result that the U.S. Marshal summarily dismissed Devon. He keenly resented the political chicanery that had been used to put Devon in office. In explaining how Devon was appointed, the Marshal said that he had been recommended by “prominent Republican leaders” in Camden, chief among whom was William D. Sayrs, now a city commissioner but then a field agent in the office of the Internal Revenue Department.

Sought City Job

Not long after Devon’s dismissal as brewery guard, Sayrs and other Republican leaders made strenuous efforts to secure a city job for him under the Non-Partisan administration. They sought to exact a promise from The Courier that this newspaper would remain silent in the event Devon was appointed to a city position. No such promise was made and Devon remained jobless, politically at least.

Then came a humorous twist to the situation. Sayrs disagreed with some of the Organization leaders and, for a time, walked his own political footpath. Some of the leaders, fearful of what Sayrs might attempt politically, killed two birds with one stone by hiring Joe Devon to shadow Sayrs and to report to them the number of times he conferred with Non-Partisans. Thus, Joe had a job and Billy was watched.

Sayrs knew he was being shadowed by his old friend, and apparently he knew who had hired Devon to do the work, but he refused to take the situation seriously and chortled, frequently, when he would see his “Shadow” trailing about town.

In the last year, however, Devon has again been the particular political protégé of Commissioner Sayrs and also has won the friendship of many other political leaders. Nevertheless, he has not been, so far as can be determined, the recipient of any particular political patronage, though his political influence in the Third and Fifth Wards is said to have expanded rapidly under the new administration.

BANK EMBEZZLER JOKES WHEN TAKEN TO COUNTY PRISON

Camden Courier-Post — February 28, 1928

Garrett Waives Reading of Indictment for $19000 Systematic Thefts; His Wife Remains Loyal, Discrediting His Confession

Laughing at photographers who tried to snap a picture as he covered his face with his hat and joking with the officers who accompanied him, Burd S. Garrett, for seven years a teller employed by the East End Trust Company was taken from the West Jersey Hospital this morning at 11:15 to the County Courthouse.

When arraigned before Justice of the Peace Peter J. Wallace in the office of Lawrence T. Doran, chief of county detectives he waived reading and hearing of the complaint charging him with embezzlement of $19,000 of the bank’s funds.

Less than ten minutes after he had entered Chief Doran’s office, the confessed embezzler, accompanied by Detective William Cleary, reappeared and walked to the county jail where he was committed.

Prosecutor Ethan P. Wescott did not attend the arraignment and it was expected that he would set Garrett’s bail sometime this afternoon, when he would announce his intentions as to presentment of the case to the grand jury.

Garrett, who according to Assistant Prosecutor Joseph A. Varbalow admitted manipulation of the bank funds, which he lavished on his wife and the six children he had instructed from birth in the principles of honesty, appeared unmoved this morning by the proceedings.

His face has regained the color it had lost when detectives first began questioning him, as he lay in a coma on a cot at the hospital last Saturday. Since Sunday afternoon, when he broke down and admitted the charges against him, he has chatted with his constable guard.

Garrett’s appearance today was that of a businessman in comfortable circumstances. He was well dressed, in a gray suit, dark overcoat, and wore a light gray soft felt hat. His eyes, behind tortoise shell glasses, were bright, and minus the stare of three days ago.

His wife, despite his reported confession reiterated her belief today that “it can’t be true.” Firmly declaring that she used economic measures in her housekeeping…