Robert Bumbrey
ROBERT BUMBREY, along with Edward Phillips, were involved in the illegal lottery, or “numbers” racket which was the focus of much attention on the part of law enforcement in Camden in the years after the repeal of Prohibition. Bumbrey was reputed to be a “big shot” in the operation, and received a suspended sentence in January of 1939.
Looking at this from the point of view of 2003, in a state which has run a lottery for about 30 years, the idea that law enforcement spent time and resources on this activity seems rather silly. On the other hand, the bureaucracy that was created by Prohibition had to find something to do to justify its existence. Imagine if drugs were decriminalized or the need for welfare eliminated. All the DEA agents and social workers would be unemployed!
Robert Bumbrey appears to have been born in New Jersey around 1881. The census for 1930 lists his occupation as merchant. The cigar store mentioned in the news article below had been established before January of 1920. It was later run by Louis Bumbrey, and was known as Lou’s Smoke Shop in the 1947 Camden City Directory. Robert Bumbrey appears in the 1930 Census at 735 Walnut Street.
A well known baseball team known as the Bumbrey Giants played in the independent amateur leagues that flourished in Camden in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. This team was most likely sponsored in whole or part by Robert or Louis Bumbrey.
Robert Bumbrey was struck by a car and killed on Kaighn Avenue on January 1, 1939.
725 Kaighn Avenue
725 Kaighn Avenue — November 9, 2003
Three Toss Bomb From Auto Onto Porch in Jersey
Shamokin Daily Times —
Several People Injured Slightly When Thrown From Beds by Force of Blast.
Camden, N. J., Sept. 12 —(UP)— Three men tossed a bomb from a passing automobile under the porch of the Rest-A-While Club today and wrecked the building.
Several persons, thrown from their beds, were injured slightly and nearby buildings were damaged. Hundreds of persons were awakened by the blast which broke windows within a quarter of a mile radius.
Police attributed the bombing to gangland’s “number” racket fights, expressing the belief that the perpetrators might have come from Philadelphia. Camden “number” writers have been invading Philadelphia territory.
Bombing Stirs 2-City War on Number Game
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Blast at Camden Club Is Blamed on Philadelphia Rivals of Lottery Ring Across River
Grand Jury Inquiry Looms in Jersey; Twenty Arrested in Raids Here; “Sub-headquarters” Found
[Photo caption:] A bomb hurled into the building of the Rest-A-While Club, at 822 Kaighn Ave., at 5 A. M. yesterday wrecked the structure, as shown in the above picture. Camden detectives believe the attack was part of the numbers racket war for control.
The numbers racket “war front” spread out to Camden yesterday with the bombing of a club while in Philadelphia, continued police drives against number writers here resulted in a series of raids which netted 20 suspects.
After the Camden club had been bombed and dozens of persons jolted out of their beds at 5 A.M., an investigation was started. Later in the day it was predicted freely in Camden’s courthouse that the county September Grand Jury would probe the numbers racket. Justice Frank Lloyd, of the New Jersey Supreme Court, was known to be considering such a move after police reports to him of the bombing indicated it had been the work of numbers racketeers.
Blamed on Phila. Gang
The outbreak in Camden was said to have been engineered by Philadelphia “numbers men” who used the bomb as a threat against a group of colored numbers writers in Camden, who reputedly were “poaching in Philadelphia.”
While New Jersey officials were planning an offensive on the east side of the Delaware, Philadelphia police were making raids here.
What was described as a “sub-headquarters” of the racket, on Richmond st. near Huntingdon, was raided at 5 P.M. by Detectives Roland, Waldron and Weiss and 13 men arrested. A man, who gave the name of Michael Malonpulan, 36, of the address raided, was held as operator.
Raid Shoe Shine Parlor
A short while before, Captain Hallman and a detail from the 28th and Oxford sts. police station raided a shoe shine parlor at Columbia ave., west of 32d st. and arrested four men, one of whom, William Swain, 39, colored, of 33rd st. near Columbia, was said to be proprietor. The other three men, all white, were accused of aiding and abetting a lottery.
The raiders found 1000 numbers slips which indicated, they said, a daily business of approximately $1500. They also found records which led to a second raid and the subsequent arrest of Edward Cleidner, 45, of Baltz st. near Indiana ave., as operator of a lottery. A man, giving the name of Chester Davis, 20, of Bailey st. near Jefferson, said to be the “pick-up man,” was slated for aiding a lottery and George Klingerman, 28, of 31st st. near Girard ave., in whose store all were arrested, was charged similarly.
McDevitt to Confer
Support was given to the prospect of the Camden Grand Jury investigation when it was learned that Judge Harry S. McDevitt, who still threatens a probe by the Philadelphia Grand Jury, will confer with Justice Lloyd and Judge Samuel M. Shay, of Camden Criminal Court, this afternoon.
Today’s conference, it was disclosed by Judge McDevitt, will be for the purpose of obtaining cooperation between the authorities on this and the Camden sides of the river in the efforts being exerted to stamp out the racket.
The Camden Grand Jury, with all its criminal business completed, is in a position where Justice Lloyd could convene it and instruct it to probe the racket tomorrow.
Whether this will be done, it was learned yesterday, will depend largely upon the results of the conference between the Philadelphia and Camden jurists today.
The bombing of the Rest-a-While Club, 822 Kaighn ave., Camden, brought pointed comment from Judge McDevitt, who reiterated and augmented his warnings to Philadelphia police that the numbers game must be eliminated here.
Demands Action
“The outrage goes to show,” he said, “to what lengths these number racketeers will go if police do not wipe out the thing immediately.”
As a result of the bombing, Camden police were searching for Robert Bumbrey, 30, colored, of Walnut st. near 8th, Camden, who is said to be president of the club.
Bumbrey is also described by police as having long been under suspicion as a numbers “big shot,” one who directed the sale of numbers tickets in both this city and Camden on a large scale.
A minor fire started as a result of the blast, but burned itself out before the arrival of fire engines.
Police learned from Miss Alberta Hall, 28, who lives nearby, that shortly before the explosion, two men, apparently of Mediterranean extraction, were in the vicinity.
Saw Two Men
“I leaned out my window and told them to go away,” she said, “but they seemed drunk, and started to sing ‘Bye, Bye, Blackbird.’ Then they staggered away. A little while later I heard the explosion.”
With this demonstration of numbers methods and power as an example before the Philadelphia police, Judge McDevitt yesterday asserted that he believed they were making no real effort to clean up the situation.
“Some people think,” he said, “that I have abandoned entirely the idea of a Grand Jury investigation. That is not so. If the police can’t do their job, I will have to see that the racket is broken up myself.”
Resent Intrusion
Police said that investigation had led them to believe the bombing had been perpetrated by Philadelphia racketeers, who resented the intrusion of the Camden numbers writers into the Philadelphia field.
It was established that the Camden numbers writers did go to work in Philadelphia following the numbers catastrophe of August 16, when Philadelphia numbers racketeers failed to pay off won bets of more than $200,000. The bad odor in which the Philadelphia racketeers consequently fell among the numbers gamblers opened the way for “foreign” invasion.
Wrecks Front of Club
The bombing itself wrecked the entire front of the club and caused damage to a dozen homes in the vicinity. The damage was principally broken window glass. No one was in the club at the time of the explosion.
Judge McDevitt reiterated and amplified his assertion, made on Sunday, that he had obtained from numbers sellers in Moyamensing Prison information which led to a belief that the Philadelphia police have worked, and at present are still working, hand in glove with certain of the numbers “big shots.”
He said he had learned that certain numbers writers carry identification cards, which are respected by the police. Those in Moyamensing Prison, he said, told him they were arrested because they had no such cards.
“The numbers prisoners in Moyamensing,” he said, “are small fry. They apparently could not raise protection money. Some of the prisoners were afraid to talk. One said he was arrested by a policeman only after he refused to pay for protection.”
Told to “Pay Up”
“He said he showed the officer a courtesy card given him by the man for whom he worked, and that the policeman said, ‘that stuff don’t go now. It’s pay up or go to jail.’
“I am convinced that the numbers men who pay go unmolested. Those who don’t are locked up.”
In once again warning police that they must look to their duty, and clean up the racket, Judge McDevitt said:
“They’ll have to do more than arrest a few children to convince anybody they are stopping the racket.”
His reference was to four children arrested on Saturday when they delivered numbers slips to an alleged South Philadelphia numbers writers. Three men were held in bail for further hearing in connection with these arrests.
The children, Bernard Kramer, 8, of 337 Christian st., and three colored children, James Brown, 7, of 3d st. near Christian; Leon Jackson, 11, of Christian st. near 4th, and Pearl Titman, 13, of Pemberton st. near 4th, were held in the House of Detention until yesterday, when they finally convinced police that they knew nothing of numbers, and had merely taken the job of delivering the slips for reward of a couple pennies.
ATLANTIC CITY, Sept. 12 — Belief that the Camden numbers lottery interference today caused numbers writers here to take no chances, as they have cut their odds from 500 to 1 to 100 to 1 and even to 75 to 1.
Bumbrey Refused Acquittal Verdict in Gambling Trial
Camden Courier-Post —
Reputed Numbers Figure Claims 20 in Place Wanted ‘Shines’
Robert Bumbrey, reputed one-time kingpin of the numbers racket in Camden, went on trial in Criminal Court, here yesterday on an indictment charging him with maintaining a gambling house at 725 Kaighn avenue.
Three city detectives who raided the place September 25 and arrested Bumbrey and 16 others testified as prosecution witnesses. Bumbrey took the stand in his own defense. He was subjected to a sizzling cross-examination by Assistant Prosecutor Patrick H. Harding.
Judge Clifford A. Baldwin denied two motions by William A. E. King, defense counsel, for a directed verdict of acquittal and after Harding and King had summed up, he adjourned court at 4 p. m. until 10 a. m. today, when he will charge the mixed jury.
The detectives who testified were Sergt. Louis Shaw and District Detectives Joseph Leonhardt and Louis Prucella. The raid, it was brought out, was after 11:15 p. m. and was in the ground floor, with a front room ostensibly a cigar and shoe shine shop, a middle room furnished with tables and chairs and a large poolroom in the rear.
Dice on Table
Sgt. Shaw testified that when he entered the place with Leonhardt and Prucella he saw men standing in the cigar store. He said Bumbrey was in the middle room playing cards with three other men.
The witness said he ran into the back room where a crowd of men were ranged around a pool table. One man had a cigar box with money in it, and money and dice were on the table, he said. He made a dive for the money and the dice, he testified, but in the confusion somebody grabbed the dice and money box and got away. Others also escaped through windows and the back door. Shaw said he got one $1 bill and half of another which he yanked from a man’s hand.
Shaw asserted the men were playing craps, but on cross-examination by King he admitted there was no gambling paraphernalia in the place, such as roulette wheels or run-down sheets for horse-race betting.
Leonhardt on direct examination by Harding testified he did not see any dice or gambling of any kind. He said he was stationed in the front room to see nobody got out that way.
Heard Scrambling
“I heard scrambling and confusion,” he said, “but did not go back until later. I saw Shaw wrestling but did not see dice on the table. I saw Bumbrey but he was not doing anything when I saw him.”
The defense attorney smiled as Leonhardt ended his testimony. “No cross-examination,” he said complacently.
The next witness was Prucella, who also said he heard a scramble in the back room and saw a crowd around a pool table but did not see any dice or money.
The assistant prosecutor looked surprised at the testimony and turned the witness over for cross examination. “No questions,” said King.
Then the state rested and King made a motion for a directed verdict. “It is no sin to play with dice,” he argued. “In the best of homes in this county they play with dice. Even the children play with dice. They play monopoly and parcheesi. There has been no evidence here that a craps game was in progress. Neither has there been any evidence that Bumbrey encouraged gambling and if there was gambling in the back room my client did not know it was going on. There is no evidence the place was opened as or used as what we call a gambling resort. There was no roulette or other gambling paraphernalia.”
Question for Jury
King cited several Supreme Court cases to uphold his contention but Judge Baldwin decided it was a question for the jury.
Bumbrey then took the stand. He denied the charge and testified he saw no gambling in the place.
On cross-examination, Harding asked him about the large crowd of men in the place at the time of the raid. The defendant said they were frequenters of his club. “What club is that?” Harding shot back.
A. “The Delsea Club.”
Q. “What are you in the club?”
A. “Last year I was elected president.”
Q. “Are you a holdover then?”
A. “I’m supposed to be.”
Q. “How many were in there the night of the raid?”
A. “About 20.”
Q. “What were they doing there?”
A. “They came in to get shines.”
Q. “There was quite a run in shines, eh?”
A. “Yes, about five people were in the store in front. I was in the middle room. I didn’t know and I don’t know what was going on in the back room. All, were club members and they were only sitting around and talking as far as I know.”
Just Sitting Around
Q. “Were they there when you went for supper?”
A. “Yes.”
Q. “When the cops broke in they were still there?”
A. “Yes.”
Q. “Just sitting around and talking?”
A. “Well, I guess the boys were coming in and out all the time, meeting each other.”
Q. “You heard Detective Shaw say they were shooting dice, didn’t you?”
A. “I don’t know anything about that.”
At the close of the cross-examination King again moved for a direct verdict but again Judge Baldwin refused.
Summing up for the state, Harding told the jury: “If you were school children you might get away with this story of these innocent men sitting around talking and twiddling their thumbs for hours and hours. If you believe Bumbrey’s story you will believe anything. We have shootings in Camden and these are the kind of games that lead to shootings when arguments arise among the players.”
Bumbrey Pays $200, Owes $150 on Fine
Camden Courier-Post —
Jail Term Suspended on Condition of Payment in Conviction for Gambling
Robert Bumbrey, credited by police with being a “big shot” in the Camden numbers racket, yesterday was fined $350 by Common Pleas Judge Clifford A. Baldwin. He was convicted two weeks ago on a charge of maintaining a gambling establishment.
Bumbrey also received a prison sentence of one year to 18 months but this was suspended on condition the fine be paid within two weeks.
The court accepted a $200 payment on the fine and said the balance of $150 must be paid on or before February 7.
Bumbrey was arrested last September 25 when the police vice squad, led by Detective Lieutenant Louis Shaw, raided a cigar store and poolroom at 725 Kaighn avenue. The cigar store, according to Shaw’s testimony, was a “blind” for a gambling establishment of various kinds in the rear of the building.
Harry Wilson, of 743 Kaighn avenue, who pleaded non vult to a charge of maintaining a gambling establishment, was fined $200 and given a suspended sentence of one year to 15 months.
The plea of Wilson that he be allowed to pay the fine in weekly instalments of $2 was rejected by Judge Baldwin. “Borrow the $200,” the jurist said, “and repay the lender in weekly instalments of $2. You stay in jail until the fine is paid.”
Camden Man Killed
New Jersey Mirror —
Robert Bumbrey, 57, colored, of 735 Walnut Street, Camden, a pedestrian, was killed at 4:40 on Friday morning when he was struck on the sidewalk at Eighth street and Kaighn Avenue, Camden, by an automobile that was hurled onto the walk by a collision with another car. Bumbrey died in West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital from internal injuries and a compound fracture of the leg.
Drivers of the cars in the collision were Augustus Fisher, 25, of 1839 South Eighth street, Camden, and Ralph H. Deubel, 31, of 115 South Poplar avenue, Maple Shade. It was Fisher’s car that killed Bumbrey.
Richard H. Watson, 50, of 26 South Spruce Street, Maple Shade, a passenger in Deubel’s machine, suffered a head injury which was treated at West Jersey Hospital. Two other passengers, James A. Wharton, 22, of Company F, 18th Infantry, U.S.A., Staten Island, and Harry C. Bechler, 30, of 16 West Main Street, Maple Shade, were arrested by Policeman Fred Mueller, as the result of an altercation as he was taking them to the police accident bureau in a patrol wagon.
Policeman Mueller charged Wharton with assault and battery on an officer and Bechler was held as a material witness. Bechler’s wife, who was also in Deubel’s car, reported the loss of a wrist watch valued at $15. Fisher and Deubel were held in $1,000 bail each on charges of death by automobile.
2 Drivers Held in Bail in Crash Killing Man
Camden Courier-Post —
Two drivers in an automobile accident which resulted Sunday in the death of Robert Bumbrey, 57, of 735 Walnut street, were held in $1000 bail each for the grand jury yesterday by Judge Mariano in police court.
The drivers are Augustus Fisher, 25, of 1839 South Eighth street, and Ralph Deubel, 31, of 115 South Poplar avenue, Maple Shade, both of whom pleaded not guilty to charges of “manslaughter by automobile.”
One of the cars crossed the sidewalk at Eighth street and Kaighn avenue and pinned Bumbrey against the steps of a store on the southwest corner. Bumbrey died in West Jersey Hospital.
Damages Suit Filed
New Jersey Mirror —
Damages aggregating $150,000 are asked by Mrs. Charlotte Bumbrey, 27, for the death of her husband, Robert Bumbrey, widely known sportsman who was fatally injured on New Year’s Day when he was crushed by an automobile.
The suit was filed last week in Camden county Supreme Court by Walter S. Keown, counsel for the plaintiff. Defendants named in the action are Augustus Fisher, of 1389 South 8th street, Camden, and Ralph H. Deubel, of 1125 South Poplar avenue, Maple Shade.
Both were drivers of cars that collided at 4.40 a. m. on January 1 at Eighth Street and Kaighn Avenue, Camden. Bumbrey was walking along Kaighn Avenue with Thomas Mitchell, of 1858 South Eighth Street, when the cars skidded and crashed on the icy paving. The Fisher car careened to the sidewalk and Bumbrey was crushed between the car and steps in front of a store. He died three hours later in the West Jersey Hospital. Mitchell was not injured.