Introduction
William Boettcher Sr. was born on August 3, 1887 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Otto and Dorothea Boettcher. He married at the age of 18. By 1910 he was living at 833 Fern Street in North Camden with his wife Anna and three children, Henry, Dorothy, and William Jr. He then worked as a trolley car conductor for the Public Service line in Camden.
When William Boettcher registered for the draft in June of 1917 he was living with his wife Anna and two children at a house they owned at 72 South 24th Street in East Camden. He was still working as a streetcar conductor.
By January of 1920 William Boettcher had joined the Camden Police Department. When the City Directory was compiled for 1924 there were six children, William Jr., Helen, Anna, George, Raymond, and Margaret. By 1933 he had been promoted to detective, and worked in the identification bureau. He was the department’s expert in the use of the Bertillon measurement system of identification. This system was eventually supplanted by the use of fingerprints. He was still on the force as late as February, 1938.
William Boettcher had left the department by the spring of 1942. His draft card reveals that he was still living at 72 South 24th Street. He was then working for the B.F. Sturtevant Company on Crestmont Avenue in Camden. He is not listed in the 1947 Camden City Directory. His son William Jr. was living on Sherman Avenue in Cramer Hill.
William Boettcher was last a resident of Los Angeles, California, where he died in August of 1967.
Take Sergeant Examination
Camden Post-Telegram —
TAKE SERGEANT EXAMINATION.
District Detective Raymond H. Stark, Acting Sergeant John Potter and Mounted Officer Clarence Thorne, of the Third District, were among those who took the examination for appointment as sergeant for the district to fill a vacancy which exists there.
Lewis Brill, of the Eleventh ward, had also been summoned, but he with two others were not given the examination, but told to report on Tuesday of next week.
Acting Sergeant Boettcher was also slated to take the examination, but for some reason his name was dropped from the list and was not called.
Mounted Officer Joseph Shreve, whose name has been mentioned for the appointment, also was not summoned to take the examination.
The candidates who did appear are all now on the anxious bench awaiting the decision.
East Camden Notes
Camden Post-Telegram —
EAST CAMDEN NOTES
The Cramer Hill Building and Loan Association meets this evening in St. Josephs Hall, 25th and Howell streets.
Matthew H. Vance and family, of 2839 Hayes avenue, were week-end visitors at Wildwood.
Mrs. John Frea and daughter, Doris, of 413 North 27th street, are visiting friends at Bridgeton.
There will be a meeting of the carnival committee of St. Joseph’s Church this evening in St. Joseph’s Hall, 25th and Howell streets. Further arrangements will be made for the carnival next week.
Joseph Shreeves, of the auto crew, Third district police station, is on his vacation, and expects to spend a few days at the shore.
Mr. and Mrs. William J. Kelley, of 2827 Pleasant street, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kelley, are on a motor tour which will take in Niagara Falls and Canada.
Roland Kelley, of the Third district auto crew, is back on the job after a two weeks’ vacation.
Policeman Harry Newton, of the Third district, has started on his vacation and will spend the time at Seaside Heights.
Motorcycle Policeman William Boettcher is acting driver of the police auto while Joseph Shreeves is on his vacation.
Found Wounded on Sidewalk at Kaighn Point
Camden Evening Courier —
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
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 today. 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.
Player-Piano Looting Lands Youths in Jail
Camden Courier-Post —
PLAYER-PIANO LOOTING LANDS YOUTHS IN JAIL
Two Camden youths yesterday began serving jail terms of four months each after pleading guilty in police court to looting a player-piano in a pool room at Louis and Mt. Vernon streets.
Stanley Powell, 20, of 1256 Whitman avenue, and Anthony Saratick, 20, of 1159 Whitman avenue, the youths sentenced, were arrested earlier in the day by Detective William Boettcher, assigned to investigate the theft which occurred Wednesday night.
Steve Blake, proprietor of the pool room, testified the place had been burglarized five times in recent months, with the principal loot each time coins from the player-piano.
Doris Kin Held in Attempt to Rob Store Here
Camden Courier-Post —
Doris Kin Held in Attempt to Rob Store Here
Alertness of Citizen Halts Thief in Getting $2500 Loot
Defendant’s Arrest Recalls Dual Tragedy
One Brother Slain in Prison, Other Killed by Gangster
Surprised while looting a Broadway women’s wearing apparel shop, George Doris, 23, of 738 Race street, Philadelphia, was held without bail to await the action of the grand jury today when arraigned before Judge Garfield S. Pancoast of Camden Police Court on charges of breaking, entering and larceny. Related: John Doris — Frank Doris — Joseph Carpani.
Wife Stabs Husband as He Strikes Her
Camden Courier-Post —
Man Dies and Woman Confesses to Police She Killed Him During Quarrel
INSISTS SHE LOVED HIM, AFTER NEWS OF DEATH
Says Spouse Had Been in Habit of Punching Her Over 11-Year Period
Stabbed through the heart with a knife wielded by his wife last night after a quarrel over the way she was preparing a meal, John W. Edwards, manager of a gasoline station of 904 Newton avenue, died 20 minutes later in Cooper Hospital.
A formal charge of murder will be lodged against the woman, Mrs. Helen Edwards, 36, today.
Arrested within 20 minutes after the death of her husband she confessed at police headquarters.
Two men who witnessed the stabbing are being held as material witnesses. They are Fred Crozier, of 19 Union avenue, Mt. Holly, and Eugene Moreslander, 25, of 905 Newton avenue. The fatal feud came as the result of objections raised over the manner in which Mrs. Edwards was preparing a meal.
Says He Struck Her
Mrs. Edwards told police her husband struck with his fist. Enraged, she picked up a carving knife in an effort to protect herself, and as Edwards rushed to hit her again, she stabbed him through the heart.
Crozier ran to the street and hailed an automobile, which took the victim to the hospital.
First information of the stabbing reached police headquarters after Detective Anson Kelly entered the hospital to investigate an automobile accident case. Officials notified him a man had been stabbed and was in a critical condition. As Kelly entered the operating room, Edwards had died. Crozier who was still at the hospital was arrested. Mrs. Edwards and Moreslander also were arrested shortly after by Detectives William Boettcher and Kelly.
Confession by Mrs. Edwards was made before William McDonald, court stenographer; Lawrence Doran, chief of county detectives and Captain John Golden of the detective bureau.
She Loved Him
Through it all Mrs. Edwards, who weighs 110 pounds, was calm. She told a story of how her husband, who weighed 225 pounds, had made a habit of striking her at frequent intervals over a period of 11 years.
She could not stand it any longer, she said, so she reached for a knife to spare him off. Then notified that her husband was dead, she was led away to her cell crying.
“Don’t tell me that he is dead. I loved that man.”
Burglar Robs Woman of $3 in Hour of Terror
Camden Courier-Post —
Burglar Robs Woman of $3 in Hour of Terror
Smokes Cigarettes While Demanding More Money; Suspect Is Held
A masked burglar, who menaced her with a rifle and a coil of rope, as, terrified, she was aroused from sleep beside her 5-year-old son, sat at the bedside of Mrs. Ernest McLaughlin, 30, of 1226 North Twentieth street, for an hour after 2 o’clock yesterday morning and smoked cigarettes, tossing match sticks on the bedroom floor.
Disappointed, angered, when the woman told him that there was only $3 in the house, the intruder, alleged to be William Murphy, 46, a neighbor, of 1221 North Twentieth street, vowed to wait and kill her husband. McLaughlin is an employe of the composing room of the Morning Post.
Within an hour after the accused neighbor is said to have left the McLaughlin home, Mrs. McLaughlin was telling her story to police. Murphy, held without bail for the grand jury, is charged with breaking, entering and threats to kill.
Murphy, short, thin, a carpenter, denies knowledge of the incident. He is identified positively by Mrs. McLaughlin.
Mrs. McLaughlin was disturbed by noise of someone trying to force open a door or window. Soon after the sounds became distinct. She saw her bedroom door thrust open. A man entered. He switched on the lights, when it was noted he was wearing a white handkerchief over the lower part of his face. He carried a long rifle and coiled about his arm was a quantity of cord.
Intruder Gets $3
According to Mrs. McLaughlin, the man walked about the room demanding money. He was directed to a bureau drawer, where he found the $3. The burglar again threatened her.
Taking a seat the man reached for a cigarette, Mrs. McLaughlin said. He tossed the burned matches to the floor and continued to question Mrs. McLaughlin as to the whereabouts of money. Then Mrs. McLaughlin noticed that the handkerchief-mask was on fire. She warned the intruder, fearing that a disastrous blaze might result. Her son awoke to hear the burglar’s further demands and then pluckily informed him that:
“Daddy never leaves any money at home. He always takes it to work with him.”
This heartened the intruder, who apparently had knowledge of the usual time McLaughlin returned home. He ended the 50-minute ordeal, Mrs. McLaughlin said, by declaring:
“I’m going down to waylay your husband, and if I hear you scream or holler I’ll come back and kill you both.”
According to the details gained by police the man left the house. That was at 3 o’clock.
Meanwhile McLaughlin, en route home, drove north on Twentieth street about 3:15 a. m. and noticed a man dashing across the street. He stopped his car near the corner and gazed toward his home to see the front door opened. He picked up an empty milk bottle, as the only weapon available, and approached his home. He paused at the door, suspecting that someone might be concealed inside, but upon failing to hear a noise he rushed in and switched on several lights.
Intruder Makes Escape
Proceeding to the rear of the house he saw the figure of a man at a door leading from the back porch. He still carried the bottle and when the man made a feeble excuse and raced off the porch McLaughlin followed. The intruder raced around the side of the house before McLaughlin could capture him. As the burglar fled McLaughlin hurled the bottle, narrowly missing the man’s head.
McLaughlin, enraged, was determined to continue pursuit but a neighbor, George Watson, who had been aroused, advised him to summon the police.
Sergeant Edward Hahn with Policemen Wilbur Prentiss and Oscar Botta, of the Third District, responded. McLaughlin insisted the police search the house at 1221 North Twentieth street. Twentieth street and knocked loudly upon the door, after he had been told by Mrs. McLaughlin that a light had switched on and off in the house across the street.
An elderly man answered the repeated pounding on the door. After entering the house, McLaughlin said he noticed a large strip of rope and a heavy hammer on a table. He urged police to determine whether the man carried matches similar to those he found in Mrs. McLaughlin’s bedroom and also to note whether his handkerchief had been burned. The man produced a blue handkerchief, and when taken before the frantic woman he was cleared of suspicion.
Identifies Suspect
Returning to the house Sergeant Hahn located Murphy, who then was taken to Mrs. McLaughlin. She immediately identified him by his peculiar manner of speech and before the police began to search him she told them to look for a burned white handkerchief.
A piece of cloth taken from the man’s pockets was exact, in every description, to that which Mrs. McLaughlin said the intruder wore over his face when the robbery was committed. Matches found in the man’s clothes also compared with those gathered about the floor of the woman’s bedroom.
Murphy declared he had been asleep until aroused by police. He was booked at city hall shortly after 4 a. m. and arraigned before Judge Garfield Pancoast yesterday morning.
City Detective William Boettcher was the only witness to appear against Murphy.
Horner, Middleton, Bunker In Headquarters Shift
Camden Courier-Post —
Horner, Middleton, Bunker In Headquarters Shift
Sergeant William Horner, head of the missing persons bureau, was transferred yesterday to desk sergeant at police headquarters. He will replace Acting Sergeant Edward Middleton, who will be shifted to operator of the police “call board.”
Middleton replaces Joseph Bunker and the latter is shifted to the Fourth District as a patrolman. Bunker is a Summer policeman.
The missing persons bureau will be changed to the identification bureau and will be under the supervision of Detective William Boettcher.
Cops Are Shifted by Mayor Stewart
Camden Courier-Post —
Cops Are Shifted by Mayor Stewart
Retirements on Pension Cause Changes; Sergeant Petit, Traffic Head
Police Sergeant Nathan Petit yesterday was named head of the city traffic bureau to succeed Lieut. Charles L. Laib, who will retire on pension tonight.
A number of other transfers to fill vacancies left by other members of the police department who are to accept pensions were made yesterday by Mayor Roy R. Stewart.
Lieut. Samuel Johnson will be assigned in charge of police headquarters in place of Capt. A. Lincoln James and will serve also as a desk-sergeant on the 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift daily. Policeman William Robertson will be made an acting desk-sergeant to fill the vacancy left by Johnson.
Policeman Frederick Watson, who has been doing special work in the detective bureau, will be returned to police headquarters to work at his old position of jailor in place of Samuel Hibbert, another pensioner.
Detective William Boettcher will be assigned to take over the duties of Detective Thomas Stanger, who also will retire tonight. Stanger has been in charge of Bertillon records and police photographic work for many years.
Mystery Prisoner Tries to End Life
Camden Courier-Post —
‘Mr. X’ Tries to Die
MYSTERY PRISONER TRIES TO END LIFE
‘Amnesia Victim’ Jailed Pending Examination by Physicians
Police still were attempting last night to identify the man picked up by police Monday night and who attempted to commit suicide on the way to the Bertillon room at police headquarters to be fingerprinted. Although he maintained he does not know his name or where he comes from, police believe him to be holding something back.
Placed In Jail
He was placed in the county jail on order of Judge Pancoast pending examination by county physicians. As he was being led into the Bertillon records room, the prisoner made a sudden dash for the window and tried to throw it open. Detectives William Boettcher, Clifford Del Rossi and Clarence Arthur dragged him away and subdued him after a violent struggle. While his incoherent responses to questions indicated he might be a victim of amnesia, Del Rossi expressed the belief the prisoner was “concealing something.” Copies of his fingerprints will be sent to Eastern police departments in an effort to identify him.
Brother a Policeman
The man was wandering in the vicinity of Twenty-seventh and Federal streets last night. Detective Sergeant Gus Koerner questioned him but the only information he could elicit was that the man had a brother on the New York police force. Koerner took him to Cooper Hospital and then to the city jail.
City Bertillon Expert Stricken Taking Photo
Camden Courier-Post —
CITY BERTILLON EXPERT STRICKEN TAKING PHOTO
City Detective William Boettcher who is in charge of the Bertillon record bureau at police headquarters collapsed yesterday while taking a photograph of a prisoner.
He was standing behind the camera when he was taken ill with a stomach ailment. He was taken home and his physician called.
Boettcher was stricken in the same manner several weeks ago and was off duty several days.
Inquest Set Today in Gambling Death
Camden Courier-Post —
INQUEST SET TODAY IN GAMBLING DEATH
Jury List Prepared for Coroner’s Action in Holdup Fatality
The coroner’s inquest to decide the cause of death to Angelos Magalas, Greek chef, who was shot during a card game holdup at 725 Penn Street on January 11, will be held today at 10 a. m.
Coroner Franklin P. Jackson III, of Collingswood, will conduct the inquest and will select his jury of 12 from a list of 15 persons prepared by the office of County Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando.
Detectives already have subpoenaed 20 witnesses for questioning at the inquest, including players who were the victims in the holdup and three Camden physicians who attended Magalas prior to his death.
The witnesses will include Samuel and Mabel Ermilios, tenants of the Penn Street house where the holdup occurred; George and Annette Mastros, who room at the house; Samuel Bosco, Broadway barber; George Summers, Ross Pantel, Michael D’Andrea, and William Caras, who according to police were participants in the card game.
All of the men were held as material witnesses in the shooting when arraigned today before Police Judge Gene R. Mariano.
Doctors to Testify
Other witnesses will include Dr. Paul Mecray, Dr. A. S. Ross and Dr. Edwin R. Ristine and Miss Sophia MacAfee, a Cooper Hospital nurse. Police who will testify include Detectives Thomas Murphy, Harry Kyler and William Boettcher and Patrolmen Richard Powers, Frank Clements, George Nicktern and Sergeant Jack Deith.
The jury will be selected from Guy Clokey, Collingswood; Lawrence Ball, Haddonfield; Howard Friant, Collingswood; Harry Chew, Collingswood; Sig Schoenagle, Camden merchant; Raymond Hanly, real estate broker; Benjamin Brest, Raymond Worrel, John Eby, all of Camden; William H. Lorigan, Merchantville; David B. Robinson, Collingswood; Rev. James Pemberton and John McGowan, of Camden, Earl Jackson, of Collingswood and Morris B. Clark, of Haddonfield.
Coroner Jackson refused to give a certificate of death until the chemical test of Magalas’ brain was made by Philadelphia experts. The result will not be revealed until the inquest.
Assistant Prosecutor Isaac Eason and County Physician David S. Rhone gave it as their opinion that Malagas died of natural causes rather than the bullet wound. Coroner Jackson then ordered an inquest to be held.
Police are searching for Frank Luggi, 21, of 322 Penn Street, who they say was one of the holdup bandits and the one who fired the bullet that struck Magalas.
The last coroner’s inquest held in Camden county was in 1933, in the death of Thomas Timothy Sullivan, and previous to that none had been held here in 25 years.
Sullivan was 57 years old and lived at 401 State Street. He was employed as a detective by the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was found shot to death in a shack in the railroad yards on August 28, 1933.
At that time, County Physician Edward B. Rogers issued a certificate of death that Sullivan had committed suicide. The decision of the county physician enraged members of Sullivan’s family and they demanded an inquest.
The inquest was ordered by then Coroner Arthur H. Holl, who presided. All the evidence in the case was presented to the jury of 12 men, and after deliberating for less than an hour, they returned a verdict that Sullivan had been murdered by persons unknown.
Under state law, the county physician may order an inquest; with 12 persons on the jury of the coroner’s choosing. The jurymen may be taken from the present panel of the petit jury or be picked at random. The Grand Jury does not have to indict on the basis of the inquest. At the inquest Coroner Jackson will be assisted by attaches of the prosecutor’s office.
Malagas, the father of three children, lived at 1110 Langham Avenue. He was shot when several armed bandits held up a card game and he died several days later.
Mother Ill in Indiana, Man Sought in Camden
Camden Courier-Post —
MOTHER ILL IN INDIANA, MAN SOUGHT IN CAMDEN
Detective William Boettcher, in charge of the Missing Persons Bureau, received a letter Saturday from Madison, Ind., asking the help of Camden police in finding Earl Van Horn.
The letter, written by Van Horn’s sister, Mrs. Mary Ashley, South Walnut street, Madison, said that when last heard from her brother was working in a shipyard “at or near Camden.”
Mrs. Ashley said she was anxious to communicate with her brother because their mother is ill at her home.