Introduction
Walter H. Smith
WALTER H. SMITH was appointed to the Camden Police Department on April 30, 1914. By 1925 he had been promoted to Detective, and was still serving in that capacity until going out on pension on February 15, 1935.
Walter Smith was born in Camden, New Jersey on June 6, 1879 to William Henry Smith and his wife the former Harriet C. Stewart. He was the ninth of eleven children. The Smiths had come to Camden, with their five living children, shortly after the April 1873 birth of daughter Sue. Three sons were born after the move to Camden, Howard M. Smith, Clarence S. Smith and Walter H. Smith. The 1880 Census shows the family at 726 Federal Street, with children William H. Jr., Virginia C., Augustus D., Sue G., Howard M., Clarence S., and Walter H. Smith. Two more sons came in the early 1880s, Crawford M. Smith and Roy A. Smith.
William Henry Smith died in 1886. Known in Camden as “Policy Bill,” William H. Smith had become notorious for running a “policy game”—an illegal lottery—what in modern times is called the “number racket.” His widow, Mrs. Harriet Smith, with five children at home under the age of 12, kept the family business going. She had a number of brushes with the law between 1886 and 1898, and at one time or another the Smith brothers and sister Sue did as well.
The Smith family was living at 14 South 8th Street by 1890. William H. Smith Jr., popularly best known as W. Harry Smith, was already working, and by 1890 second son Augustus D. Smith found work as a blacksmith. W. Harry Smith began involving himself in local politics in Camden’s 9th Ward as a Republican, and over the years this served him and the Smith family well.
By the summer of 1890 they had moved to 741 Carman Street. The 1894 Directory has the family at 758 Federal Street, the 1895 edition has them at 750 Federal Street. After Harriet Smith and her sons were indicted on “policy” charges in 1898, she and her sons still living at home went to Philadelphia to avoid prosecution, living at 506 Hope Street. Walter Smith was still living with his mother and older brother when the 1900 Census was taken. By 1904 they had moved back to Camden.
Walter Smith’s sister, Sue G. Wagner, was married to Harry J. Wagner Sr., who was politically active, had briefly served with the Camden Fire Department and was with the Water Department for much his working life. Possibly due to the influence of W. Harry Smith and Harry J. Wagner Sr and possibly due to the fact that the Camden Police Department’s baseball team needed a pitcher, older brother Howard M. Smith was appointed to the Camden Police Department on March 20, 1906. He was a very active policeman from the beginning, and he was promoted to detective on January 1, 1918. Howard M. Smith served in this capacity until his retirement on January 1, 1933, much of the time spent being on loan to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office where he investigated and solved many homicide cases. Younger brother Roy A. Smith, was appointed to the Camden Fire Department in 1910 and served until 1933, before retiring on disability.
Walter Smith married Elizabeth “Betty” Callahan around 1910. A son, Augustus Hamilton Smith was born on June 20, 1911. The Smiths lived at 423 North 8th Street from 1909 through 1914.
Walter Smith was appointed to the Camden Police Department on April 30, 1914. The 1915 City Directory shows a move to 936 Penn Street where they stayed until at least 1924, across the street from his brother Howard at 933 Penn Street. By 1927 the family had moved to 417 North 10th Street.
Walter Smith was promoted to Detective in 1925. He retired February 15, 1935. Walter and Betty Smith were still residing on North 10th Street in 1944, but both he and his wife are not listed in the 1947 City Directory. His son, Hamilton Smith, was listed, at 603 North 5th Street.
Walter Smith’s nephew, the son of his sister Sue, Harry J. Wagner Jr., served as a member of the Camden Fire Department for 39 years and 8 months, reaching the rank of Acting Chief of Department. Harry J. Wagner Jr.’s brother Roy Wagner owned and operated Roy’s Tavern on Federal Street for many years, employing brothers Philip B. Wagner and George C. Wagner as bartenders.
Nephews Belford Edwin “Bud” Smith and Edward Baker Smith, the sons of Crawford M. Smith, worked security at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard. Bud Smith died of a heart attack at work in 1969. Edwin rose to head of security at the shipyard, and later worked as an investigator with the Camden County Prosecutor’s office. A grand-nephew, J. Kenneth Crane, grandson of his brother Howard Smith, became Chief of the Collingswood Police Department.
Camden Post — October 12, 1898
John L. Semple — Harriet Smith — Charles Gilbert — Wm. Harry Smith — Crawford Smith — Clarence Smith — Howard Smith — Walter H. Smith
Andrew Collins — Theodore Laferta — Dyke O’Brien — Jonathan Cox — Robert Nichols — Robert Nevil — William Parker — George Dace — Sarah Brown — Lavinia Fussell
Camden Post-Telegram — December 12, 1908
S. Linokoski — Annie Nevlin — Albert Austermuhl — Harry Foulkes — William Fithian — Louis Munyan — Louis Leigh — Edward Holloway
Walter Smith — Crawford Smith — Charles Adkins — Hollis Lightfoot — Morris Odell — George W. Kruck — William P. Walsh — Wilfred B. Wolcott — O. Glen Stackhouse
Philadelphia Inquirer — May 1, 1914
Camden at a Glance
Camden county’s Board of Taxation yesterday dismissed the appeal of the Pennsylvania Railroad which sought a cancellation of the tax assessment of 1913 on a bridge partly in Audubon and partly in Haddon Heights. The assessment was for $10,000.
After sixteen years of service, Policeman James Ware has filed a petition for retirement on a pension. He has been disabled as a result of being struck on the head while making an arrest.
Convicted of selling liquor contrary to law, Samuel Suders was sentenced to 45 days in jail dating from his commitment. His time will expire today.
Mayor Ellis yesterday appointed Walter Smith, Second ward, and Harry Newton and Frederick Scharr, of the Eleventh ward, as members of the police force.
After its annual inspection of the municipal water plant at Morris Station, Council’s Water Committee is highly pleased with the conditions. Mayor Ellis, Comptroller McCord and other prominent men were guests of the committee.
Philadelphia Inquirer — July 26, 1921
Named: John Brothers, David P. Kates, and Walter Smith.
Camden Post-Telegram — July 26, 1921
‘Booze’ Mystery Soon Cleared Up
Nothing But Near-Beer on Two Trucks Held Up by the Police
Police Officials Sample Contents
Great excitement prevailed about Police Headquarters early last evening when two five-ton covered motor trucks pulled up to the entrance and Detective Brothers alighted with three other men. In a brief space of time a crowd of at least 1,000 men, women and children flocked about.
It developed that Detective Brothers, scenting a big “booze” delivery, stopped the two trucks as they were coming out of Wright avenue into Haddon avenue. The four men taken to Police Headquarters were: Phillip Gassman, 1012 Wyoming avenue, Philadelphia; John J. Bowes, 1360 North Sergeant street; Arthur Deitlbaum, 1801 North Reese street, all Philadelphians.
Inside the two trucks were barrels carefully covered with burlap. Detective Brothers and District Detectives David P. Kates and Walter Smith jumped on the trucks and grabbed several brown bottles and carried them into the captain’s office.
Assistant Chief Hyde and Captain Humes took charge of the situation. The bottles were carefully arranged on the desk as everybody smiled.
“Looks like beer to me,” said Detective Brothers.
“Well, let’s find out,” exclaimed Captain Humes as he pried off the top of a bottle and raising it, swallowed some of the contents.
“Can’t prove it by me,” said the doughty captain as his face became wreathed in a frown.
Discovery of Caves Under Liberty Street
Camden Courier —
Text transcribed by Phillip Cohen, April 2003
Discovery of the body of a white baby several weeks old, human bones and other gruesome articles in a maze of dungeon-like caves and sub-cellars under 413 and 415 Liberty Street today have led the police to hold without bail “Doctor” H.H. Hyghcock, 71 year-old negro preacher, medicine man and undertaker.
The weird discoveries were made in the fantastically furnished “torture chambers” and “witch caves” under the houses. In addition statements made to Patrolman Charles Naylor and a Courier reporter by a seven-year-old daughter of the accused man, point to a possibility of a woman having been murdered in the place only last week.
“Weirdest Ever” Says Tempest
The labyrinth of underground passages and chambers discovered under the houses is declared by Deputy Director Tempest to be the “strangest and weirdest layout” he ever has visited in all his long career in police work.
Twisting and narrow underground passages and half-buried doors in almost inaccessible portions of the underground passages led to a belief that many more chambers remain for the police to enter in their underground exploration.
Deputy Tempest has ordered that a complete search be made of every corner of the cellars and sub-cellars and that if necessary the two houses above be torn down to make examination possible. The earth of all the cave floors is being dug up by the police in search of further clues.
Bone of Forearm is Found
The white baby’s body was found shortly before 1:00 PM today, lying in a large glass jar in one of the sub-cellars. What is believed to be the bone of a child’s forearm had been found in one of the passages a short time before. In another glass jar the police found what they report to be a human stomach.
To count the rooms, or divisions, of the many underground passages is impossible, because of the irregular arrangement, up and down and in all directions. Some of the policemen engaged in the exploring task have estimated there are more than 75 different compartments.
Second Arrest is Made
While the police were exploring the place shortly after noon a colored man walked into the Liberty Street entrance and started down the tunnel leading to the underground chamber as if he were well acquainted with the place.
Arrested and taken into police custody was Louis Reeves, 23 years, 1061 Ivins Street. He had been employed as a chauffer to drive the voodoo doctor’s automobile, he said, and he had been accustomed to visiting “Doctor” Hyghcock daily and being given a bottle of soda water. That was the only purpose of his visit today, he declared, and he disclaimed any knowledge of the activities of Hyghcock.
The little daughter of the “proprietor” of the strange “place of horrors” made her hair-raising statements while being questioned in regard to her father’s recent activities.
“Shot a Woman”—Took Her Away
“How many people has your father killed here?” she was asked.
“He never killed nobody until last week” she replied with childish frankness. “Then he shot a woman, and he took her away in her automobile at night.”
In his cell at City Hall, Hyghcock maintains an air of mysterious silence. He is of an impressive personal appearance. although below medium height, he has a proud bearing, made more compelling by his white hair, mustache and imperial.
He has boasted to acquaintances that he is the father of 32 children.
Bootblacks tell of him giving 50 cent tips.
Hyghcock was arrested last night when he appealed to police, demanding a warrant for an unknown thief about whom he told a weird tale of threats to return and kill him. Hyghcock styles himself a clergyman, physician, an undertaker, a real estate operator, a clairvoyant, a palmist, and a fortune teller.
Hyghcock was held on $500 bail early today on the charge of obtaining money under false pretenses and in an equal amount on the charge of practicing medicine without a license when arraigned before Police Judge Cleary this morning.
He could not raise the money and was held in jail.
Then, when the other discoveries were made, he was held without bail.
A visit to his place by the police led to the exploration of the intricate series of underground chambers. They were separated by swinging doors operated by mechanical springs. Some of the cave-like dungeons contained weird contraptions, like ancient machinery of torture, believed to have been used in connection with “cures,” is to which patients of the voodoo man were terrified.
Patient Believes In Him
Besides Hyghcock police arrested as material witnesses Mrs. Bipp Hyghcock, 43 years old, said to be his wife, and Mrs. Lotte Ingram, also a negress, 43 years old, of 59 North Peach Street, Philadelphia.
Mrs. Ingram, who was found in the house at 413 Liberty Street, said she was there to receive treatment for heart disease from Hyghcock. In a statement to Detective Hunt, Mrs. Ingram said she gave Hyghcock $25 as part payment for the cure of her disease, and that she had been visiting his house for several months. Upon questioning she revealed further that Hyghcock had given her herb medicines, adding that she had faith in his powers and believed she was being healed.
Hyghcock has no license to practice medicine, police say.
The revelation of the startling interior of the place and the practice of Hyghcock, at the Liberty Street houses, both of which were rented by him, was brought about when the “doctor” inquired for a magistrate to issue a warrant for a Philadelphia man who, he said, stole some automobile tools from him and threatened to return to slay him. Hyghcock made the first inquiry of Howard Westsell, 797 Mt. Vernon street, who was standing at Railroad and Kaighn Avenues at 6:00 o’clock last night. Westsell referred him to Howard Fisher, a negro policeman of the Second District, who approached the two.
Cops Take Him Home
Fisher, becoming suspicious, questioned Hyghcock, who became evasive and insisted that the officer could not aid him. Fisher placed him under arrest, summoned Policeman James McTaggert and William Prucella, of the Second District, who were in plain clothes at the time, and went to the Hyghcock house, where they were admitted.
In the house at 413 Liberty Street the policeman found Mrs. Ingram, Mrs. Hyghcock, and the latter’s 7 year old daughter. The two women were sent to police headquarters for questioning.
The dingy front room of the house was heated with a glowing coal stove and dimly lighted with a flickering kerosene lamp, faintly disclosed several ancient and musty articles of furniture, several dozen bottles of soda water inside a glass showcase most of whose sides were missing or broken, several mysterious looking grips, bed-clothing, bric-a-brac, and other odd articles scattered about, it suggested what might be found in the rudely constructed entrances to chambers beyond.
In the glow of their flashlights the officers made a hurried search of the premises.
Entering the kitchen the trio descended a narrow, winding cellar-way into a gloomy cellar.
Tunnels Explored
McTaggart branched into one passageway, while Fisher and Prucella each chose a different path. After stumbling upon blind tunnels which ended in closets or in compartments from which there were no exits, the three officers joined into one party.
Stooping at times under low ceilings, squeezing between the sides of converging walls, jumping over pits covered with rotted trapdoors, and pushing through a seemingly endless series of doors rudely constructed of odd pieces of lumber, and each equipped with a powerful spring, the officers wormed their way through a tunnel extending 50 feet under the yard after leaving the cellar. It ended at a trapdoor in the floor of a ramshackle refuse littered woodshed in the rear of the yard.
As soon as they emerged they took Hyghcock, who had accompanied them through the tunnels, to police headquarters.
Cops Go Look For More
Hyghcock, his wife, and Mrs. Ingram were placed under arrest. Captain Arthur Colsey assembled Sergeant Charles Smith and Policemen Prucella, McTaggart, Howard Fisher, Harry Kreher, William Bryant, Herbert Anderson, and John Bryant of headquarters for a needed investigation of the premises. On the way to the house the patrol picked up Officers Enoch Johnson, Charles Smith, and William Michalak.
With the arrival of the patrol a crowd gathered in front of the unkempt buildings. Bordering the gloomy houses on each side are modest, well-kept two and three story homes, inhabited by white families.
Guided by flashlights and lanterns, a long line of policemen laboriously wound through the circuitous underground passages, scrutinizing every nook, and opening every container upon which they came.
Many Rooms Entered
At least seventy-five rooms or compartments were entered and hurriedly examined. Contents of innumerable closets and holes in walls were left undisturbed for fear that they would litter the narrow passageway and block the progress of the searchers.
In one room was found a large cartwheel daubed with dabs of white paint on each spoke. The wheel was mounted on a short upright axis set into the ground, permitting its rotation. Above the wheel was suspended a stuffed bird. The legs could be made to twitch and the wings to flap by the manipulation of a set of strings attached to them and fastened to a stick in an adjoining den.
Beside these the room contained an old iron bed, an oil lamp, and an oil stove. Other dens were similarly furnished.
Wires and Bells and Things
Closets and alcoves revealed odd collections of preserves, trinkets, charms, and indescribable odds and ends. In one closet in the kitchen of 413 Liberty Street were discovered a complicated set of improvised signaling devices. Wires attached to sticks will ring bells and unlock doors and various rooms of the house. Each door was equipped with a spring and bolts, and contained bells of various shapes and sizes.
In the rear of 413 Liberty Street partitioned with odd boards, curtains, and rags was a chapel. This room, about 10 feet wide by 13 feet long, contained an old wheezy organ, an altar, and religious pictures. Two more organs helped furnish two other rooms.
In a bedroom by the third floor of 413 Liberty Street, evidently occupied by Hyghcock, the searchers found charms sewed up in bags, odd implements, and three high silk hats.
Mrs. Hyghcock said that she, her husband and daughter had occupied the two houses for eight years. Hyghcock, she said, had been working on the tunnels and underground dens for four years, carrying out earth in small quantities and depositing it in the back yards. Police doubt that all the sand extracted from the subterranean dens would have been dumped in the yard, and believe that Hyghcock must have carried it away under the cover of darkness.
The Police Knew Him
A year ago Hyghcock was arrested by District Detectives David Kates and Walter Smith on Mount Ephraim Avenue near Van Hook Street. At that time he was searching for a policeman to report a hold-up. Looking into the closed automobile, the detectives found in the tonneau a bed in which lay a young negress, a lighted lantern hung from the roof, and a kerosene lamp on the floor. After questioning at police headquarters Hyghcock so changed his first story of an alleged hold-up on Kaighn Avenue and Cooper River bridge that the police disbelieved his tale.
Captain Colsey will notify the fire department today to safeguard the buildings from fire hazards and also will call to the attention of the health department the unsanitary condition of the place.
In his seventeen years completed with the police department, Captain Colsey said he has never seen such a layout.
Camden Courier-Post — September 2, 1927
Man Held for Court, Neighborhood Nuisance
Described by police as a nuisance to his neighborhood, because of frequent fights with his wife, Walter Schinski, 46 years old, 1027 Segal Street, was held in $500 bail for court, on a charge of assault and battery, by Police Judge Bertman today.
Schinski’s wife appeared in court with a swollen and discolored eye. Her husband asserted that a “table hit her,” and added that she has been “running around with other men.” The woman demanded he prove it. Detectives Walter Smith and Joseph Carpani declared neighbors of the couple have complained of Schinski’s treatment of his wife for some time, and of disturbances caused by him.
Camden Courier-Post — January 2, 1928
City Officials Held in Raid on Dice Game
Ward Leader, Water Inspector Among 9 Arrested in Market St. House
Charged with being players of a dice game, nine men will be given a hearing in police court tomorrow morning. All were arrested Saturday night when police led by Captain Samuel Naylor swooped down on a house at 1138 Market street.
Philip McDonald, 34 years old, was arrested as the proprietor of the “game” and released in $300 bail. He was charged with operating a disorderly house.
Police say that the game was in progress while the men who were arrested said it had not yet begun. The alleged players did not attempt to escape.
McDonald is the Republican precinct committeeman in the Seventh Precinct of the Second Ward. James Lightfoot, election officer, 822 Kimber Street, a precinct committeeman in the Seventh precinct of the same ward and an inspector in the city water department, was also arrested as a member of the group.
Others arrested and released in $10 bail as material witnesses are: Patrick Coyle, 30 years old, 1136 Carpenter Street; William McCann, 22 years old, 614 Cedar Street; Howard Malan, 33 years old, 1100 Federal Street; George Schmidt, 26 years old, 712 Tulip Street; Martin Dempsey, 33 years old, 1417 Mt. Ephraim Avenue, and Thomas Kirk, 29 years old Federal Street.
Camden Courier-Post — January 3, 1928
Named: Bernard Bertman, Philip McDonald, James Lightfoot, Samuel Naylor, Charles Stone, Harry Kyler, Walter Smith, Patrick Coyle, Walter Magan, Howard Malan, George Schmidt, Martin Dempsey, Morris Carrigan, Thomas Kirk, Market Street, Kimber Street, Carpenter Street, Cedar Street, Federal Street, Tulip Street, Pearl Street, and Mt. Ephraim Avenue.
Police Invite Bandits to Nice Shooting Party
Camden Courier-Post —
But Yeggs Must Leave Gats at Home While Cops Practice With Camden’s New Desperado Eliminators
Wanted: Targets for Camden’s new desperado eliminators. Bandits, burglars, snipers and their ilk are requested by Chief of Police James E. Tatem to apply at police headquarters Monday morning at 10 o’clock, when a practice shooting party will be held.
Chief Tatem said today Camden’s bandit-chasing squad is “just rarin’ to go” with six new automatic rifles guaranteed to shoot full of holes the toughest bandit in less time than it takes to say “Aligoop.”
For the further enlightenment of the bandit fraternity, Chief Tatem announced detailed instructions on how to use the new carbines will be given this afternoon at 3 o’clock to bandit chasing police by Captain Arthur Colsey and Herman Engle, a representative of Stein Brothers, this city.
The rifles arrived at police headquarters yesterday afternoon. They will be distributed in each of the city’s three police districts in the campaign to rid the city of desperadoes.
The weapons can fire a magazine of 20 shots in a few seconds. They will be mounted in the three red bandit chasing coupes used by the district squad members. One of the coupes is now being used by Archie Reiss and Vernon Jones in South Camden, while two others are expected to be delivered within a few days, according to Chief of Police James E. Tatem. They will be assigned to Walter Smith and Joseph Carpani, First district detectives and Louis Schlam and Richard Donnelly in the East Camden district.
Swivel attachments make it possible to fire the guns from a fixed point in an automobile. Detached they may be fired from the shoulder. Besides firing a magazine of 20 shots without stopping, they can be adjusted to single fire, using .45 caliber cartridges.
Instruction in the adjustment and use of the weapons will be given today by a representative of the company that sold them—at $175 each—to the city.
Camden Courier-Post — February 16, 1928
2 Boys Nabbed Here for Carrying Pistols
First arrested on suspicion when found loitering along Bridge Entrance road at 2 o’clock this morning, two boys were held by police and charged with carrying concealed deadly weapons.
They gave their names as Joseph Leconey, 16 years old, of 1178 Sycamore Street, and Joseph Romenowski, 18 years old, of 1138 Rose Street.
Detectives Walter Smith and Joseph Carpani found a .38 calibre revolver suspended on shoestrings and hanging down under the clothing of each of the boys. They said they noticed the boys loitering near the store of Sears-Roebuck Company.
PA. Girl Is Nabbed Here on Way to Get Married
Camden Courier-Post —
Because she wanted to get married and have a home of her own, 16 year-old Ida Underwood, of Johnstown PA, ran away from home.
Today she is waiting in the detention home at police headquarters for her father, who has told police he would come to Camden to take the girl home.
Ida and her “boy friend,” Charles Morris, 23 years old and also from Johnstown, were arrested Saturday night by District Detectives Walter Smith and Joseph Carpani. The couple had stopped officers to ask directions to Atlantic City. The sleuths recognized Ida as a girl for whom they had been told to search.
After being questioned Morris was released. Ida, however, was held at police headquarters while her parents were notified.
She told Captain John Golden she had left home because she wanted to get married. She had been on her way to the shore with Morris, she said, to carry out her plans.
Girl Long Missing Located by Police
Camden Courier-Post —
Held With Man in Whose Company She Was Found
Missing from her home at 425 Stevens Street for two weeks, Anna May Frye, 15 years old, was arrested by city detectives last night.
She was arraigned in police court before Judge Bernard Bertman this morning, but the case against her was continued until tomorrow. She is being held at the Detention Home.
With her, when arrested, City Detectives John Kowal, Walter Smith, and Joseph Carponi [sic] testified was Louis Vennell, 34 years old, of 129 South King street, Gloucester City. Vennell was held “on suspicion” last night but this morning was booked on a statutory charge.
Vennell told Bertman that he wanted to marry the girl, but the judge said that on account of her age he refused to take the responsibility in the case, and declared he would ask local charitable organizations to investigate.
Detectives said that the girl was arrested a few weeks ago in a Camden hotel with a local bus driver. They testified that an uncle of the girl had complained of his niece’s actions and had said that he had received a letter from her, in which she threatened to “jump off the bridge and end it all.”
Camden Evening Courier — September 18, 1928
Seals Lips as Police Seek to Learn Identity of Assailant
EIGHT UNDER ARREST IN SUSPECT ROUNDUP
Surgeons at Hospital Find Four Jagged Bullet Holes in Body
Victim of the gang feud—he denounced on his death bed, Joseph “Mose” Flannery, 26, picturesque Eighth ward political worker, was dying today in West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital.
Mortally wounded, his body riddled with bullets, Flannery was shot some time shortly before 4 a. m. today as he stood on the sidewalk outside a saloon at Front and Kaighn avenue.
Four or five men, grouped closely about the prone body of the political worker, hailed a truck which took Flannery to the hospital at 4.15.
Eight men had been arrested by police, seven charged with being a material witness, and the other being held at police headquarters “on suspicion.”
They were James L. Hawkins, 37, declared by police to be proprietor of the saloon at 101 Kaighn avenue; Walter Novak, 22, 442 Jackson street; Russell Sage, 25, of 407 Mechanic street; Joseph Novak, 34, of 508 Jackson street; Eugene Murphy, 51, of 101 Kaighn avenue; “Cuzzy” Scarduzio, 27, who gave police no home address, and Joseph Moll, 25, of 101 Kaighn avenue, all held as material witnesses; and Patrick Driscoll, 25, of 1225 South Third street, held “on suspicion.”
Cause of Shooting Unknown
Despite a far-reaching investigation, Flannery’s assailant or assailants, the details of the shooting, and its cause remained undetermined this noon. Every available county and city detective was engaged in the probe as Camden gangland’s victim hovered between life and death in the hospital.
Realising doctors had given him but a few hours to live, Flannery continued to maintain his silence concerning how he was shot, and which he had adopted when he was carried into the hospital on a stretcher.
“My lips are sealed and if I don’t live to get the fellows who did this my gang will get them,” he told physicians when placed on the operating table at 4:30 a. m.
At 9 o’clock this morning, the doctors had given up hope for his recovery, but Flannery still was alive at 2.30 this afternoon.
South Camden virtually buzzed with rumors to the effect that Flannery’s fate was the result of a war in the bootleg ring; that it was the aftermath of a feud over slot machines; that it was a case of “women,” and that it could be linked up with the shooting in January of Joseph Cimini, by Joseph Devon, known as “Polack Joe.”
At Loss for Motive
Police were at a loss to name the motive. Acting Assistant Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando, in charge of the investigation, said the probe had not reached the point where anyone person could be accused of shooting Flannery, or where the gun fire could be traced to anything but a “gang feud.”
“Mose” Flannery had been shot. He probably would die. That much was known. The rumors naturally followed for Flannery was well-known, not only in the close-mouthed circle in which he moved, but throughout the city as well.
“Mose” Flannery is one of the most picturesque figures in Camden’s political “gangland.” For several years he has been a slot machine distributor in Camden and Philadelphia.
When “Polack Joe” Devon shot and killed Joseph Cimini, Philadelphia gambler in the Sixth Ward Republican Club early in the morning of January 14, last, Flannery was arrested as a material witness. It was disclosed by police that Flannery and Cimini had gone into the club together a few minutes before Devon’s gun pumped death into Cimini’s body after the Philadelphian had quarrelled with Devon.
Flannery was considered the most important of the material witnesses connected with the Cimini murder. Sage, arrested on suspicion this morning in connection with the felling of Flannery, was another “important” witness in the Sixth Ward Club shooting affair.
James Bonner, who was mysteriously shot several months ago, was questioned today by detectives but was not held. Walter Selby, a taxicab driver, also was taken before Chief of Detectives Golden and County Detective Chief Doran, but he too was released after being closeted with the officials for more than an hour.
Sage Ordered Held
After questioning Sage, Acting Assistant Prosecutor Orlando ordered that the man be held.
In the meantime, Flannery lay on a hospital cot, propped up on his side, his pain deadened by opiates. He mumbled incoherently to members of his family grouped about him. At times he lapsed into a state of unconsciousness.
The doomed political worker early today had asked for a priest. Rev. Father John J. Henry went to the hospital. “Joe,” he said, “you’re dying. You’d better give police a statement.”
Flannery was said by doctors to have replied he would tell nothing, that if he lived, “he’d settle,” and that if he died, “my gang will take care of that.”
After a session in which more than a dozen men were questioned, Captain Golden and Detective Chief Doran shortly before noon went to the scene of the shooting. They found evidence that a scuffle in the saloon at Front and Kaighn avenue had preceded the shooting.
Tables had been overturned. Glasses had been broken. Forty cents in change was found on a table beside a picture of a small baby. There was an empty glass on one table, another glass half-filled with beer on the bar.
Bullets Meant for Novak?
It was reported that police had been informed by one of those they questioned that the bullets which ripped their way through Flannery’s body had been meant for Walter Novak who they said had been standing at “Mose’s” side at the time of the shooting. The police officials refused to confirm that rumor. Novak had told them, Capt. Golden said, he was not with Flannery at the time. Later Novak admitted to being on the corner near the saloon, police said.
Police recalled that Novak was arrested several months ago in the alleged theft of a slot machine from the store of Louis Schectman, in Broadway near Line street. Novak was apprehended after a wild chase through South Camden streets.
Schectman at first told police Novak was one of two men who entered his store, and at the point of a gun, robbed him of a nickel slot machine. Testifying in a hearing in police court several days later, Schectman said he hadn’t kept a slot machine in his store, and that two men unknown to him stole a box of cigars and escaped in an automobile.
As far as could be learned by an Evening Courier representative, the case against Novak never was settled.
The bullets were fired from a “pump” gun and were of .32 calibre. According to Detective Thomas Cheeseman, they could have been fired only from a gun of the type common to gangsters who “shoot to kill.” Cheeseman said a “pump” gun was designed to hold nine shells or “wads,” as they are commonly known. The leaden bullet is surrounded by a coating of asbestos, which breaks from the lead upon the firing of the gun and allows the lead to enter its target.
Police were following every clue which developed, no matter how scanty. Detectives combed the Front street and Kaighn avenue neighborhood, it was learned, in an effort to discover the haunts of the gang known by police to center in that part of the city.
Chief of Police Lewis W. Stehr was asked if police would act against the owners of the habitats of the “Front and Kaighn avenue” gang or if a routine investigation into the shooting of Flannery would be conducted. Chief Stehr said the usual investigation was being made and would continue.
While members of the political worker’s family talked with Flannery, and while investigation of the shooting by county detectives and police was under way, doctors said the man who lives at 346 Jackson street, couldn’t “live out the day.”
Flannery had a bullet wound two inches in diameter in his back. Another bullet had pierced his abdomen, and he had been shot in both elbows, physicians said. Doctors said the bullets were two inches long and three-quarters of an inch in diameter.
It was shortly after 4 a. m. when Charles Foulk, of 219 Point street, driver of The Courier-Post delivery truck, was hailed by a group of men standing on a corner at Front street and Kaighn avenue.
“Have you got time to take a man to the hospital?” one of the group asked Foulk, according to the story he told Captain John Golden, chief of city detectives.
Flannery was lifted into the rear of the truck, two men jumped on the running board and the run for West Jersey Hospital began.
Walter Wartman, of 315 North Second street, another Courier-Post employe, who had assisted in the delivery of Morning Posts at the Reading Ferries, was with Foulk.
Foulk said one of the men jumped from the truck when it reached Mt. Ephraim and Atlantic avenues. The other went into the hospital, whispered a few words to Flannery, and then raced out the main entrance.
Mose’s Companion Escapes
Mrs. Edward McGrath, supervisor of nurses, called Policeman Frank Malec who for several days has been guarding a man known as “Two-Gun” Kelly, and Malec gave chase to the unknown companion of Flannery. Malec saw the man disappear on Mt. Ephraim avenue, but couldn’t find him in a search of the neighborhood.
In the meantime, City Detective William Boettcher, who had been working the morning shift, had notified Assistant Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando; Lawrence T. Doran, chief of Camden county detectives; Capt. Golden, and had called City Detectives George Ward, Louis Shaw, Thomas Cheeseman and Howard Pike to investigate the shooting.
Boettcher said Flannery refused to “talk.” “You are a policeman and I’m no friend of the police. I’ll never tell,” Flannery told the officer, Boettcher declared.
Later Flannery told physicians, “I have learned my lesson and hope this will be an example to other young men.”
Witness in Cimini Shooting
Flannery was held as a material witness in the fatal shooting of Joseph Cimini, 31, in the Sixth Ward Republican Club, early in the morning of January 14. Joseph Devon, known as “Polack Joe” fired the shot that killed Cimini. Devon was arrested but the case never came to trial.
Devon now is at liberty on bail and is under indictment for manslaughter in connection with Cimini’s death. Flannery also was released under bail.
While police continued their investigation, Flannery, still determined to refuse information to detectives and doctors, was surrounded by his wife, his 4-year-old son, his mother and father, and his 19-year-old brother James. Calling “Jim” to his side, Flannery, according to physicians, said, “I want you to promise me you’ll never get mixed up in these gang wars.” “Jim” promised, Detective Boettcher said.
Novak Under Suspicion
In their search for the “mysterious” companion of Flannery on the ride to the hospital, police pointed a suspicioning finger at Walter Novak who they had held “on suspicion.”
According to information given them by Foulk, the truck driver, Flannery, during the ride from Front and Kaighn avenue to the hospital, whispered, “Where are you taking me, Walt?” He was told the hospital was the truck’s destination, Foulk told police.
Detectives said Novak might have been the “Walt” to whom Flannery spoke. Novak said he was 22, was a “salesman” and lived at 442 Jackson street.
Taken by Strategy
Scarduzio’s arrest resulted from a piece of strategy on the part of Chief of County Detectives Doran. Doran with several members of his staff and city detectives were in the bar-room of the saloon at 101 Kaighn avenue when the telephone rang before noon.
Doran picked up the receiver and the party on the other end asked if Joseph Moll, son of former Policeman Frank Moll, was there.
Figuring that the persons might be some one who could help the authorities unravel the mystery, Doran answered:
“Yes, this is Joe Moll.”
“Well, I want to see you right away,” continued the other party.
“Will you come right down to 674 Fairview street. I want to see you,” finished the unidentified speaker who then hung up.
Doran with Captain of Detectives Golden hurried down to the address given and there found Scarduzio in the home of Garfield Del Duca.
Scarduzio, it is said, was more surprised to see the authorities than they were to find him as Chief Doran had been searching for “Cuzzie” for several hours.
He said he had nothing to do with the shooting of Flannery. Limping when the detectives escorted him from the house, Scarduzio was first taken to West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital to discover whether or not he was suffering from any bullet wounds in the legs.
Scarduzio Not Shot
Doctors later said Scarduzio had not been shot and the man who had been surprised at the Del Duca home was taken to police headquarters.
He “knew nothing about the shooting,” Scarduzio told Captain Golden and County Detective Chief Doran. There were stains, possibly bloodstains, on Scarduzio’s trousers, the police said. “Cuzzy,” as he is known in police circles, wore a clean white shirt, and that fact sent detectives from headquarters on another tangent in their investigation.
Scarduzio was asked where he had left a “bloody shirt” he was reported to have been wearing early today. According to police, he denied his shirt was bloody, and refused to give them any information.
City Detectives David Hunt, Samuel Johnson, and Walter Smith were dispatched on the “side” investigation.
Detective Thomas Cheesman, of the city hall staff, also holds two warrants for the arrest of Scarduzio in connection with the holdup of a saloon in Gloucester several weeks ago and the theft of an automobile.
Moll was arrested while sleeping in a room over the saloon near Front and Kaighn avenue. He was arrested by Chief Doran, Captain Golden and Detective Ray Sapanore. Moll has been in police tolls several times recently, the last time in connection with the mysterious shooting of Bonner near the spot where Flannery fell.
Woman Describes Auto
The movements of an automobile bearing Pennsylvania license and containing several men whom she said ran out of the saloon near Front and Kaighn avenue an hour after Flannery was shot, were described to police officials late this morning by Mrs. Mary Brown, who lives near the saloon.
She was questioned at detective headquarters after she had reported seeing the car drive onto the Spruce street pier, four men alight and board a motorboat which set off across the Delaware river in the direction of Philadelphia.
According to Mrs. Brown, the driver of the “mysterious” automobile turned the car about and raced north on Front street.
A city-wide man-hunt had been made for Joseph “Cuzzie” Scarduzio, detectives said after the “surprise arrest” on Fairview street. Police had heard rumors Scarduzio, known by them to be a “pal” of Flannery, had been standing by “Mose” when he was “given the works” by the yet unknown gunman or gunmen. They had heard, detectives announced, that Scarduzio, coatless and hatless, had been seen leaving the scene of the shooting, his clothes spattered with blood from the wounds of his friend.
Camden detectives said they doubted if Philadelphia gangsters were responsible, believing, they announced, that the shooting was local to the Camden gang center they knew existed.
City Detective Walter Smith shortly after noon brought a South Camden bartender into police headquarters for questioning.
The man said he was Frank Smith, and tended bar in a saloon in the 1800 block on Broadway, near Ferry avenue, and said he had overheard three men telephone for a taxicab to take them to Front street and Kaighn avenue. Smith placed the time after midnight, according to police, and detectives doubted if the three men were connected with the Flannery “case.” Smith was not held by police.
Camden Evening Courier — September 18, 1928 (continued)
Joseph “Mose” Flannery was shot while standing in front of a saloon at 101 Kaighn Avenue, and after there had been a scuffle inside the barroom, police had determined. The above photo shows the property on the northeast corner of Front Street and Kaighn Avenue, the arrow showing the window where the fight occurred inside the saloon.
The cross marks the spot where the picturesque Eighth ward political worker was felled by bullets.
Camden Courier-Post — September 30, 1929
Liquor Raid Fines Enrich City $1020
Small Cigar Stores Draw Big Penalties; Late Closing Costs Saloon $100
Patrons of speakeasies, their proprietors and 13 youthful craps players paid a total of $1020 into Camden city’s treasury yesterday in fines and forfeitures.
The fines and forfeitures were those of small operators caught in raids by police in virtually every section of the city Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Fines of $100 each were paid by four proprietors charged with violation of a city ordinance forbidding the congregation of disorderly persons on their premises. Another alleged proprietor was fined $100 on the same charge and an additional $300 for operating without a license.
Hearings for proprietors of three other places were postponed until Wednesday at the request of police.
The fines came on the eve of the new Grand Jury’s vice probe. Walter J. Staats, Grand Jury foreman, former treasurer of the Victor Talking Machine Company and now treasurer of the Smith-Austermuhl Company, yesterday turned over to Prosecutor Baldwin, a number of anonymous letters he received informing him of alleged violators. Staats, who conferred with the prosecutor on today’s session of the Grand Jury, declined to give out any statement on what he hopes the jury will accomplish, but declared that it is not interested in anonymous letters. He said that if letters are signed, the senders will be questioned, but unsigned letters were generally valueless bits of spite work.
Cigar Dealer Fined $300
George Palmer, proprietor of a cigar store at 2315 Federal Street, raided by District Detectives Louis Schlam and Walter Smith early Sunday morning, was fined $300. Detective Walter Smith testified six patrons were arrested and a small quantity of beer was found. The sleuth asserted that John DiLorenzo, 36, of 22 Marlton pike, whose home also was raided Sunday, “dumped” some liquor.
William Stettler, 47, of 1137 South Fourth Street, pleaded guilty of violating the city ordinance as proprietor of the Harry Bach Cafe, where he and ten men were arrested at 12:03 a. m. Sunday. Lieutenant Ralph Bakley testified that six weeks ago he had warned Stettler to close at midnight and the proprietor grew abusive. He was raided Sunday morning when the establishment was found open three minutes after midnight. A $100 fine was imposed on Stettler in court yesterday.
Oyster Shop Raided
Schlam and Smith raided the oyster saloon of Joseph Dugan, 2222 Federal Street, at 2:45 a. m. Sunday. Dugan was held in $500 bail when alleged liquor was found. He was fined $100.
Max Levin, 48, grocery proprietor of 530 Kaighn Avenue, was arrested on charges of violating the state prohibition act after a raid on the store. He furnished bail of $500 to insure his appearance before Judge Pancoast tomorrow.
Five men were arrested at a cigar store at 2314 Federal Street. Two empty bottles which police said smelled of whiskey were seized and the alleged proprietor, William Hopkins, 38, was fined $100.
Camden Courier-Post — June 3, 1930
Catherine Christman — Joseph Conti — Nicholas Bartluci — John Fisher — Mary Reginelli — Marco Reginelli
Garfield S. Pancoast — Clifford A. Baldwin — William “Big Bill” Wierman — Ralph Bakley — C. Leonard Brehm — Louis Schlam — Clarence Bunker — Clarence Arthur — Wilfred L. Dube — Andrew Zopesky
From Left: Howard Smith — James Paradise — Theodore Guthrie — Joseph Mardino — Walter Welch — Vernon Jones — Walter Smith
Camden Courier-Post — November 29, 1930
Dorothy Austin — John Cullen — John Drexel — Gordon Feltz — Samuel Johnson* — Russell Kaighn — Dr. Charles Ley — Irma Marconi — Sylvester McGrath — Alfred Shires — Walter Smith — Nathan Wine — Earl Wright — John Yovankin
North 3rd Street — North 8th Street — Broadway — Friends Avenue — Lansdowne Avenue — Louis Street — Penn Street — South Common Road
* Samuel Johnson was erroneously named “Thompson” in the above article.
Camden Courier-Post — December 1, 1930
“Punched in Jaw by Request, Girl Loses in Court Appeal”
If someone threatens to sock you on the jaw, don’t invite him to do it. First, he might accept the invitation–undoubtedly he will after reading this–and second, you can’t have him punished in court.
That was the unusual ruling today when Police Judge Pancoast freed Charles Jones, 35, of 324 East Pine street, Audubon. The latter was arraigned on a charge of assault and battery on complaint of Mary Lastini, of 1513 Wayne avenue, Camden.
It seems that Jones is, or maybe was, the boy friend of Mary’s sister. Sunday night, Mary took her sister out on another date. Last night, Jones arrived at the Lastini home “loaded for bear,” according to Mary. The boy friend started to rebuke Mary’s sister, and Mary intervened.
“I’ll punch you in the jaw,” warned Jones.
“I’d like to see you do it,” challenged Mary.
Jones obliged.
“That is not an assault,” stated Judge Pancoast, after hearing Miss Lastini’s testimony and not waiting to hear Jones’ side. “You invited this man to hit you. The case is dismissed.”
After court, Judge Pancoast explained that this interesting point had been in controversy in the U.S. Supreme Court. He averred that in Chicago, a man had handed his servant a revolver with the request, “Shoot me.” Being trained to obey any request, the servant pulled the trigger with deadly effect. He was tried for murder, and the case was carried into the Supreme Court, where it was finally held that the case was not one of murder, but of suicide!
Moral–If you dare someone to hit you–duck!
Camden Courier-Post — December 5, 1930
Doris Brothers’ Pal Is Given Six Months
James Trainer Jailed on Charge of Loitering With Intent to Steal
Found guilty of “loitering with intent to steal,” James Trainer, 31, was sentenced to six months in the county jail by Police Judge Garfield Pancoast today. Trainer pleaded not guilty and gave as his address the home of the Doris brothers’ mother, Mrs. Emma McGovern, 132 York Street.
Trainer had just left an automobile and started to enter the McGovern home at 3 a. m. yesterday when District Detectives Walter Smith and Alfred Shire arrested him on suspicion.
Mrs. McGovern said Trainer was a friend of her late sons, John and Frank Doris, both underworld figures, and that he occasionally had spent the night at her home. Trainer declared he had been living in the McGovern home for a year.
Frank Doris was one of the four Olney bandits executed several years ago. John Doris was mysteriously stabbed to death in state prison while serving a sentence for wounding Joey O’Connor, man-about-town.
Trainer’s record, produced in police court today, showed 17 arrests and three convictions from 1917 to 1930. It showed that he had served sentences of three years, one year and 30 days. He was shown to have been arrested for larceny, robbery, breaking and entering, and as a suspicious character.
Camden Courier-Post — December 5, 1930 (second article)
Named: Vine Street, Admiral Wilson Boulevard, Walter Smith, Rohrer Chevrolet, Albert Shires, and Jack Parkinson.
Camden Evening Courier — December 13, 1930
Lawrence T. Doran — Charles V. Dickinson — Clifford A. Baldwin — Walter Mattison — Howard Smith — George A. Ward — Jeff Kay — Alfred Shires — Harry Kyler
Archie Riess — Walter Smith — Harry Cattell — Earl Rider — Charles F. Smith — Charles H. Smith — John Toal — John Taylor — Frank Carle — Oscar Thompson
Highland Worsted Mills — North Camden — State Street — Moore Street — Chestnut Street
Camden Courier-Post — August 22, 1931
Named: Stephen Kirby, Roy R. Stewart, Eugene Lorenzo, Garfield S. Pancoast, North 5th Street, Walter Smith, Alfred Shires, Edwin Mills, Gus Koerner, Bernard Dempsey, Sydney Wilkins, Robert Sweeney, Betty Doyle, Helen Wright, Albert Malmsbury, Frank Smith, Joseph A. Kirby, John C. Gibson, Main Street, Pearl Street, Bailey Street, Borton Street, York Street, Dayton Street, Marlton Avenue, Haddon Avenue, Newton Avenue, South 7th Street, and Cedar Street.
Del Duca Guilty as Operator of Disorderly House
Camden Courier-Post —
DEL DUCA GUILTY AS OPERATOR OF DISORDERLY HOUSE
All Male Jury Convicts ‘Gyp’ After Deliberating 45 Minutes
GIRL TELLS EXPERIENCES
An all-male criminal court jury yesterday found Arthur “Gyp” Del Duca guilty of operating a disorderly house.
The jury deliberated only 45 minutes before reaching the verdict, his counsel, Judge Austin H. Swackhammer set bail at $5000 pending sentence, and when Del Duca was unable to post the amount, remanded him to jail.
The state rested at 12:30 p.m. Del Duca then went on the stand in his own defense and made a sweeping denial of the charges. He admitted owning the house, but said he rented it to two men known only as O’Neill and O’Brien.
The state produced a surprise witness who testified she was an inmate of the establishment and that Del Duca was her boss.
The girl, Josephine Comatis, 25, of Philadelphia, described in lurid detail her life in the house at 674 Fairview Street, which was raided by the police June 29 after two sailors reported they had been robbed in the place by bandits.
Cross examination by James Russell Carrow, attorney for Del Duca, served to show the young woman’s story.
Walter Smith and Harry Kyler, city detectives who assisted in the raid, told the court how they found a man and a woman as Dorothy Davis in a second-story bedroom. Del Duca was not in the house when it was raided, but a warrant was issued for his arrest and he surrendered the next day.
Camden Courier-Post — June 6, 1932
3 Held in Robbery of 2 Beer Hunters
Phila. Victim Returns to Camden, ‘Spots’ Men and Causes Arrests
Three men, suspected of robbing of two Philadelphia men under pretense of showing them where to get beer, were arrested yesterday.
They are George Rumble, 19, of 1832 Fillmore Street; Al Dubowski, 22, of 1819 Fillmore Street, and Frank Marcone, 28, of Woodlawn avenue, Woodbury Heights.
They are accused by Bernard Franz, 26, of 131 North Sixteenth street.
Franz told police that he and Robert Tully, of 4937 Girard avenue, accosted Rumble, Marcone and Dubowski early yesterday at Second and Kaighn Avenue and asked them to hop into his car and show him where they could “drink some beer.”
Franz, who has identified the three, according to Detective Joseph Carpani, declared Rumble directed him through a maze of streets and suddenly all three turned upon him and Tully. He said they took $5 from Tully. Franz was locked up as a material witness.
Yesterday afternoon Franz returned to Camden in the neighborhood in which he first saw the men. He sighted them at Broadway and Kaighn Avenue and summoned police. The three were arrested by Lieutenant George Ward, and Detectives Howard Smith, George Zeitz and John Trout.
Camden Courier-Post — June 15, 1932
Robbery Suspect Wins Cut in Bail
An effort to have bail lowered for three men held on charges of robbery although the complainant repudiated his identification of them, was only partly successful yesterday when Judge Samuel M. Shay reduced the bond of one prisoner.
Bail was reduced from $5000 to $500 for George Rumble, 19, of 1832 Fillmore Street. However, Judge Shay allowed the $5000 bail set for Albert Dubowski, 22, of 1819 Fillmore Street, and Frank Marcone, of Woodbury Heights, to remain.
The three were arrested June 5 on complaint of Benjamin Franz, 26, of 131 North Sixteenth street, Philadelphia, who alleged they stole $5 from him and a friend on the pretense of showing them where to obtain beer. On the following day in police court, Franz said he did not believe they were the men who held him up. Detectives Joseph Carpani and Walter Smith told Judge Pancoast that Franz said he would not appear against the men if he were held as a witness. Judge Pancoast fixed bail
Camden Courier-Post — November 3, 1932
Thieves Foiled in Attempt to Rob Sears, Roebuck Store
Two Youths Believed to Have Plunged in River to Escape Police; Shots Fired as They Elude Pursuers
Surprised in the act of forcing their way into the Sears-Roebuck store at Bridge Boulevard and Federal Street, two youths escaped last night amid a burst of bullets.
Chased by an attendant of a nearby service station, the pair fled across the boulevard and were lost in the swamp along the Cooper river. Police believe they swam the river to escape.
Humphrey Toomey, 60, of 1640 South Sixth Street, outside watchman of the Sears store, discovered the youths attempting to pry open a window on the north side of the building–the same window through which entrance was gained several months ago when several hundred dollars worth of merchandise was stolen.
The window is ten feet above ground. One youth was standing on the shoulders of the other, and had succeeded in removing the wire screen.
Toomey blew his police whistle, attracting the attention of Frank McClernan, of Clementon, a gas station attendant, who ran to the scene as Toomey fired one shot after the disappearing marauders.
Handing his revolver to McClernan, Toomey asked him to chase the youths. McClernan fired all four remaining bullets in the weapon after the rapidly disappearing pair, and chased them to the bank of the river where he lost them.
Meanwhile, an alarm had been sounded by Toomey, and a detail of police, headed by Lieutenant Herbert Anderson, arrived and joined McClernan in the search.
McClernan said he did not think he had wounded either of the youths, who were described by Toomey as being between 16 and 20 years old. Darkness, Toomey added, made it impossible for him to describe them any further.
Although there is no electrically operated burglar alarm system in the Sear’s store, there are two watchmen–one inside and the other outside.
The detectives who aided in the vain search are Robert Ashenfelter, Walter Smith, John Trout and Harry Kyler.
Camden Courier-Post — January 12, 1933
4 Youths Arrested in Bicycle Thefts
Thieves’ Gang Believed Broken by Captures; Stolen Machines Found
A ring of bicycle thieves is believed by police to have been broken last night with the arrest of four youths and recovery of five bicycles and parts of several others.
Those held on charges of larceny are Joseph Helfer, 17, of 340 North Tenth street; William Albertson, 16, of 113 North Eighth street; Walter Urban, 17, of 109 Allen’s Court, and Frank Paterino, 16, of 634 Linwood Street.
They were arrested in Urban’s home by Lieutenant Herbert Anderson and Detectives Walter Smith and John Trout, who have been investigating a series of recent bicycle thefts. The bicycles and parts were found in the homes of all the youths.
Two of the bicycles were identified by Roland Taylor, of 108 South Fourth Street, and Frank Passwater, of 441 Judson Place.
According to Lieutenant Anderson, all but Helfer have been arrested several times before for the same offense.
Light in Basement Starts Burglar Scare
Camden Courier-Post —
Abe Block had a burglar scare at 1:30 a.m. Saturday in his tailor shop at 527 North Eighth Street. Block was passing the shop on his way home when he saw a light in the basement. He thought thieves were ransacking the place. He telephoned police and Detectives Walter Smith, Edwin Mills and John Trout sped to the shop.
Letting themselves in cautiously, they made their way to the cellar, and found that occupants of the second floor of the house were fixing the heater fire for the night.
2 Brothers Arrested on Suit Theft Charge
Camden Courier-Post —
Two brothers were arrested yesterday on charges of larceny of a suit of Charles Parker, colored, of 225 Stevens Street. The men held are Alfred Scott, 18, of 839 Bridge Avenue, and his brother, Norman, 20, of the Stevens Street address. Both are colored. The former admitted they had sold the suit. They were arrested after an investigation by Detectives Walter Smith and John Trout.
It’s ‘Agin the Law’ To Sell Rum Here Without a License
Camden Courier-Post —
Somebody opened a “store” at 15 South Fourth Street yesterday, without the formality of first obtaining a “soft drink license.”
Lieutenant Herbert Anderson and District Detectives Walter Smith and John Trout were the first customers. They entered the place after reading that chicken dinners could be purchased for 20 cents. But, according to police, “they didn’t find an egg” in the place.
But what they did find was an improvised bar, a quantity of whisky and several cases of home brew. They dumped the liquor, they said, and told the proprietor to “close up until he got a license.” They didn’t bother with the name.
Man Nabbed Twice in Day Is Jailed
Camden Courier-Post —
A man who was arrested twice in one day on charges of being intoxicated, and another who had to be taken home three times before getting a ride in the patrol wagon when he insisted upon disturbing neighbors, will spend the next 30 days in jail.
James Callahan, 53, who said he had no home, was arrested Tuesday by Patrolman Ray Carson. He was released several hours later and before the day was over Callahan was back in the “cooler,” taken there the second time by Patrolman Walter Patton.
“Twice in one day is too many times to be arrested,” Judge Pancoast said. “I’ll bet you won’t be arrested twice in the next 30 days, for you are going to be in the jailhouse.”
Leo O’Brien, 30, of 213 Burns Street, according to Detectives Walter Smith and John Trout, refused to stay put when taken home three times so they put him behind the bars Tuesday night to await a hearing. The detectives said they found him creating a disturbance near his home and each time they took him home he would reappear to make more noise.
“Where was this party where they served such awful liquor?” Judge Pancoast wanted to know. O’Brien couldn’t remember. So Judge Pancoast said: “Well, perhaps you will be able to remember during the next 30 days while you are staying put in the county jail.”
2 Arrested as Police Seize Still in Home
Camden Courier-Post —
Samuel Thompson, 70, and his brother, Henry, 57, of 433 Riley Street, were arrested late last night when police raided their home and seized a 150-gallon still and a quantity of mash.
They were held for violation of the city disorderly house ordinance and will be arraigned in police court today. The raid was made by Lieutenant Herbert Anderson and Detectives Walter Smith, John Trout and Harry Kyler.
Husband, Woman Held on Charge Wife Makes
Camden Courier-Post —
Mrs. Bessie A. Gaunt, of 4115 Westfield Avenue, yesterday appeared in police court and charged her husband, Emerson Gaunt, 32, of 840 Pearl Street, and Mrs. Nellie Olsen, 33, of 408 North Seventh Street, with misconduct.
The Gaunts have been estranged for some four years. Mrs. Gaunt told Police Judge Pancoast she had been keeping her husband under surveillance of late and on May 15, followed him to the Olsen home. Mrs. Gaunt said she parked her car near the house and saw her husband enter.
Detective John Trout and Walter Smith arrested both Gaunt and Mrs. Olsen in the latter’s house at 8 p.m. on May 30.
Judge Pancoast held Gaunt and Mrs. Olsen in $500 bail each for the grand jury.
Pancoast Refuses to Let Cops Bare Holdup Evidence
Camden Courier-Post —
Police Judge Then Holds Two Camden Suspects Without Bail
CASH NOT RECOVERED
After refusing defense counsel’s request that the city police bare their evidence, Police Judge Pancoast yesterday held two suspects without bail in the recent $11,790 Radio Condenser Company holdup and two other youths as material witnesses.
Frank M. Lario, attorney for the quartet, appeared in police court yesterday with William McDonald, court stenographer, and declared he wanted the police through witnesses on the stand, to reveal what evidence they have in the robbery.
But when Judge Pancoast asked Lario if he was willing to have the prisoners submit to cross examination by the court the attorney refused. Judge Pancoast thereupon declared that the formal complaints against the defendants were sufficient to establish a prima facie case, that no hearing was necessary and that the police therefore were not obliged to disclose any testimony.
Leroy Jenkins, 23, and Joseph Putek, 23, who gave addresses at 1113 Mechanic Street and 1212 Lansdowne Avenue, respectively, were committed to the county jail without bail on charges of holdup and robbery. They pleaded not guilty.
Those held as material witnesses were Leon Grenkwicz, 18, of 1469 Louis Street, and Stanley Gieda, 19, of 1273 Whitman Avenue. Lario pointed out they were in jail when the holdup occurred but Judge Pancoast said he would hold them for the prosecutor’s office which would probably fix bail for them.
City Detective Benjamin Simon, who signed the complaints, stated prior to the hearing that he has obtained information from North Jersey which is vital to his investigation of the robbery. But he would not reveal its nature.
None of the money stolen by the bandits, who herded 11 persons in a vault after forcing one of them to open the safe containing the payroll, has been recovered by the police.
2 Men, Woman Seized in Raid on House
Camden Courier-Post —
Two men and a woman were arrested by police in a raid Saturday night on an alleged disorderly house at 610 South Second Street. Freddy M. West, 34, and Mattie Watson, both of that address, were held in $500 bail each. West was charged with being the proprietor, and the Watson woman held as a material witness, along with Thomas R. Bunting, 62, of 560 Highland Boulevard, Gloucester. The raid was made by Lieutenant Herbert Anderson and Detectives Walter Smith, John Trout and Harry Kyler. The defendants will be arraigned in police court this morning.
‘Iron Claw’ Fails to Subdue Bessie
Camden Courier-Post —
Cops Use New Device on Girl After Battle, But She Still Kicks
Bessie James, 16, colored, no home given, gave police plenty of trouble last night while they were arresting her for breaking parole.
Bessie, who has been sought by Mrs. Mary Barton, state parole officer, for several weeks, was seen shortly before dark yesterday at Second and Benson Streets by District Detectives Walter Smith and John Trout. The officers grasped the girl by the arms and told her she was under arrest.
Then she went into action. Before the surprised officers knew what it was all about they had been beaten, bitten and kicked by the irate girl who broke Trout’s straw hat and Smith’s glasses during the melee. The impromptu bout ended when one of the detectives put the “iron claw” on their scrappy customer.
But Bessie wasn’t through yet—not by nine or ten kicks, which she delivered to Patrolman Walter Patton enroute to the city jail in the patrol.
She will be given a hearing this morning before Judge Pancoast on charges of assault and resisting an officer.
Smith was treated at Cooper Hospital for bites on the hand, following the brawl.
13 Still Operators Jailed By Pancoast in Effort to Smash Huge Chain
Camden Courier-Post —
Camden ‘Plants’ Are Called Part of Phila. Outfit
Police Nab Men and Woman in Early Morning Raids
90-Day Terms Given
Camden police believed they had broken the first link in a chain system of stills yesterday when Police Judge Pancoast sentenced 13 persons, several of them from Philadelphia, to 90 days each in the county jail. None was able to pay a $200 fine.
The prisoners were arrested in three raids by District Detectives John Trout, Walter Smith and Vernon Jones early yesterday. All the defendants are colored.
“I believe you’re all implicated in this chain system,” said Judge Pancoast in sentencing the first group. “I believe it is directed in Philadelphia and that the police have broken the first link. I think your stills are scattered all through Camden.”
Smith and Trout arrested Martha Norman, 38, of 833 Jackson Street; Margaret Baner, 35, same address; Jessie Fife, 23, of 1120 Carpenter Street, and Jolie Brandy, 33, of 618 North Forty-sixth Street, Philadelphia, in a raid at 432 Senate Street.
The detectives testified they had been watching the place for some time. Trout, alone, saw Brandy drive up and take three bags of sugar inside. Trout left to get Smith and when they returned all four defendants were sitting in Brandy’s automobile. The Norman woman, they said, had a one-gallon can of moonshine on her lap.
Inside the detectives stated, they found a 50-gallon still in operation and four barrels of mash. Brandy denied he was the operator and said the owner was a man, known only as “John.”
Ray Shedrick, 22, of 433 Senate Street, pleaded guilty to operating a 50-gallon still in his home. He said he sold his whisky where he could but refused to name his buyers. He also was arrested by Trout and Smith.
James Green, 32, of 749 Division Street, admitted operating a 25-gallon still at that address but said it was for his own use only and that he sold none of it.
Arrested with him were Marion Smith, 26, of 615 North Forty-fifth Street; Charles Marton, 34, of 2131 North Twenty-first Street; Felix Carroll, 31, of 2006 North Gratz Street; Gladys Little, 28, of 612 North Forty-sixth Street, and Beatrice Hill, 32, of 5733 Commerce Street, all Philadelphia.
The alleged operators all were charged with violating the city speakeasy ordinance, which prohibits gathering of “disorderly persons.” The others were charged with being material witnesses or frequenters.
Rodgers, Ex-Boxer Nabbed Again in Raid
Camden Courier-Post —
Whisky and 65 Bottles Also Seized by Cops in Segal Street Speakeasy
Modest Moonshinery Found in ‘Empty’ House
James “Jimmy” Rodgers, 28, former boxer, fell into the hands of police again last night when they raided a speakeasy at 1000 Segal Street, allegedly operated by him.
One gallon of whisky and 65 pint bottles were confiscated by the raiders, who were led by District Detectives Walter Smith, Marshall Thompson and Harry Kyler.
Three others were arrested. One of them, James Greer, 35, of 332 North Second Street, placed a charge of possession of stolen goods against Rodgers when police unearthed some articles stolen from Greer two months ago.
Others arrested were Thomas Spencer, 33, of the Segal Street address, and John D. Wood, 35, of 928 Kimber Street.
Rodgers has fallen afoul of the law on numerous occasions. He has been arrested several times for operating speakeasies. He was also arrested as a material witness in the “Shooey” Bonner murder two years ago.
He will be given a police court hearing today.
Detectives raided a vacant dwelling at 225 Chestnut Street last night and seized a “moonshine” plant consisting of two stills, 36 barrels of mash and oil and gas stove cookers.
The place had been under observation by Detective Vernon Jones for two weeks.
No one was inside when Jones and Patrolmen George Hemphill and John Houston entered. A 50 gallon still was on the second floor and a 35 gallon still on the first floor.
Jimmy Rodgers Is Given 180 Days
Camden Courier-Post —
Former Boxer Jailed on Speakeasy Charge, Held on Stolen Goods Count
James “Jimmy” Rodgers, 28-year-old former boxer who on numerous occasions has run afoul of the law, was sentenced yesterday to serve 180 days in the county jail for operating a speakeasy at 1000 Segal Street.
In addition, he was held without bail by Police Judge Pancoast on a charge of possession of stolen goods. The goods were identified by their owner, James Greer, 35, of 332 North Second Street, who was in the speakeasy when police raided it Monday night.
Greer turned state’s evidence against Rodgers in police court yesterday, and for a reward, received a suspended sentence.
District Detective Harry Kyler, Marshall Thompson and Walter Smith raided the speakeasy and confiscated 65 pints of whisky in bottles and a gallon of whisky in a jug. Kyler testified Rodgers was not there when the raiders entered the place but appeared later and was arrested.
3 Others Nabbed
Three others were arrested in the place. These were Greer, Thomas Spencer, 33, who gave the speakeasy as his home address, and John D. Wood, 35, of 928 Kimber Street. Spencer has been arrested approximately 75 times, the police said.
The detectives, when searching the premises, found a suitcase filled with shoestrings, collar buttons and other merchandise. Greer identified the case and its contents as having been stolen from his car when it was parked on Segal Street near Front some time ago. He lodged the complaint of possession of stolen goods against Rodgers.
Rodgers was arraigned on three charges, including the stolen goods count. The other complaints were that he sold beer without a license and violated Section 422 of the city ordinances which prohibits disorderly persons to congregate on the premises.
Rodgers pleaded not guilty on all three charges, and told the court he had “nothing to say.” He was fined $200 on each of the charges of violating Section 422, and selling without a license, and when he did not pay, he was sentenced to 90 days on each of the two counts. He was committed to the county jail without bail on Greer’s complaint of possession of stolen goods.
Greer testified that he had purchased liquor in Rodgers’ place several times, as late as last night. Greer’s sentence was suspended.
Spencer refused to testify against Rodgers. He said he did not know “what was going on there” and that he was there painting.
“You won’t be painting there for 90 days,” retorted the court in pronouncing sentence.
Wood, the other man arrested in the place, did not appear in court and forfeited $10 security he had posted after the raid.
Rodgers has been arrested several times for operating speakeasies. He was also arrested as a material witness two years ago in the murder of William “Shooey” Bonner.
Spencer was arrested so often when he resided in Gloucester that he became known as “Gloucester’s Peck’s Bad Boy,” the police said. Since moving to Camden he has been arrested nearly 50 times, police stated.
The majority of his arrests have been on charges of drunkenness and disorderly conduct, but in 1925 and in 1926, he was arrested on a charge of larceny of automobile. Again in 1929 he was charged with non support, when he was ordered to pay his wife $10 weekly. Back in 1916 he was arrested on a charge of stealing a gold watch.
Camden Courier-Post — October 11, 1933
Four Men Arrested in Shooting Threat
Four men were arrested last night as the result of an alleged threat to shoot one of them.
Michael Di Orio, 30, of 245 Pine Street, was held in $1000 bail on a charge of threatening to kill George Hettrick, 23, of 905 Moore Street, who was held in $500 bail as a material witness to the case. Others held as witnesses are Ralph Di Servio, 21, of 307 Pine Street, and James Liccketto, 24, of 640 South Third Street.
Hettrick, according to Sergeant Gustav Koerner, said Di Orio threatened to “give him the works” while he was attending a party Monday night. The others were with the accused, Hettrick said. Detectives Walter Smith, John Trout and Marshall Thompson nabbed the trio at a restaurant and said Hettrick identified them at police headquarters.
Camden Morning Post — October 13, 1933
Mayor Stewart Helps Capture Burglar, 17, in Cellar of Theatre
Mayor Roy R. Stewart early today aided in capturing a youthful burglar who broke into the Grand Theatre, next door to his home.
The mayor heard a noise in the theatre and notified detective bureau. Detectives Walter Smith and John Trout discovered a side door broken open and found Willard Bishop, 17, of 405 Liberty Street, hiding in the cellar of the theatre. He had a flashlight, table knife and bicycle wrench.
He told detectives a companion was with him. He had escaped before the officers arrived. They believe the youths were attempting to break open a candy vending machine in the lobby when the mayor heard them.
World War I Draft Card
Walter H. Smith, World War I Draft Card
Walter Smith Gets Pension From City
Camden Courier-Post —
Detective to Be Retired as of Feb. 15 After 18 Years’ Service
Walter Smith, for 18 years city and district detective, has been placed on the pension list.
Smith applied for a pension to take effect April 1 but the Police and Fire Pension Commission voted to place him on the retired list as of February 15. Attending the hearing on the application were Mayor Roy R. Stewart, Fireman Newton Ash and Policeman George Clayton. Commissioner Harold W. Bennett and John J. Robinson, other members of the commission, were absent.
The widow of former Police Chief Elisha A. Gravenor applied for a pension. He died recently in Maryland. She will receive $1000 yearly.
The chief had received $1700 on the retired list.
Smith was appointed to the force by Mayor Charles H. Ellis on April 30, 1914, and three years later was made a plainclothesman. He was paired with the late David Kates, Lieutenant Ralph Bakley, and Detectives John Trout, Louis Schlam and Joseph Carpani.
World War II Draft Card
Walter H. Smith, World War II Draft Card
Camden Courier-Post — May 1, 1940
Named: Walter Smith, Powell School, and William Casler.