12 Questioned, 2 Men Held in Murder Probe
Camden Evening Courier —
COLSEY LEADS CITY-WIDE HUNT FOR BANDIT KILLERS OF COP
Comrades Eager to Avenge Feitz, Shot 4 Times in Back at Holdup
ORLANDO CONDUCTS OWN INVESTIGATION
Mad Scramble of 20 to Escape Tragedy Scene Described by Sleuth
The greatest man-hunt in the history of the Camden police department was under way today to apprehend the murderers of Detective William T. Feitz, slain early yesterday when he surprised bandits holding up 20 persons in a South Camden disorderly house.
Feitz, recently promoted from a patrolman, was shot four times in the back as he attempted to reach the front door of the establishment at 243 Sycamore street to summon aid.
Police today said they “had a pretty good idea” as to the identity of his slayers, although none has been charged with the crime.
A “mystery blonde” was arrested in the case early today in Atlantic City by Detective Stanley Wertz [sic]. Police refused to reveal her name and will not allow anyone to talk to her.
A man, first believed to have been the trigger-man, arrested in Philadelphia early today, was released by police after a few minutes’ questioning.
Two men are being held “incommunicado” in connection with the case, while a dozen material witnesses were being questioned at detective headquarters.
Probe Rushed
The investigation into the shooting, begun within a few minutes of the slaying continued throughout the day and night without a break.
Police Chief Arthur Colsey took personal command of the probe with Detective Lieut. George Ward and Detective Sergeant Gus Koerner.
Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando, who “sat in” yesterday as police questioned a score of witnesses, stated this morning he will open his own investigation today. He intimated “new developments” may throw a startling light on the case.
Feitz’ slayers escaped as 20 inmates and frequenters of the alleged disorderly house scrambled mainly for freedom beneath the eyes of Detective Joseph H. Leonhardt, who sat outside the place in a police radio car.
Leonhardt told his superiors he was so startled by the shooting he failed to act until after the slayers had escaped.
Feitz and Leonhardt had driven to the scene in the radio car, after trailing a suspicious sedan for 15 minutes through a maze of South Camden streets.
Followed 3 Men
The sedan had stopped near the Sycamore street place and three of the men had entered the dwelling. Feitz followed and Leonhardt remained in the car.
Mrs. Emma Heisler, 38, alleged proprietress of the house, and Cornelius Murphy, 50, doorkeeper, headed a list of 14 witnesses held by police for questioning or as material witnesses.
Murphy was booked early today as a material witness, with Thomas Bonelli, 27, of 207 Walnut street; Edward Grapatin, 32, of 246 Kaighn avenue; Joseph McKenna, 30, and Catherine Lougheed, 32, an inmate, and Edith Miller and Edna Butler, colored domestics employed by Mrs. Heisler.
Joseph Powell, 25, former Camden boxer, and Stanley, his brother, were the two men held incommunicado. Police refused to reveal what connection either had with the murder, although stating they were merely being held pending investigation.
Feitz died five minutes after being admitted to West Jersey Homeopathic hospital, where he was taken by Leonardt [sic] and McKenna, who stopped in his flight from the house to assist the wounded policeman. Three .32-calibre slugs were buried in his back and a fourth had pierced his wrist.
Lieutenant Ward today clamped down on news of the investigation, ordering all detectives and police to refuse information to news reporters.
Orlando said he would make known facts in the case known to him later today.
The Heisler woman, said by police to be the sister-in-law of Patrolman Thomas Cheeseman, recently demoted city detective, was not booked on the police docket this morning, but Ward declared he was not through questioning her and that she would be “booked” later in the day.
Several of the witnesses made their escape from the vicinity of the shooting in Powell’s car, police stated, one of whom was the mysterious woman arrested early today in Atlantic City.
Supreme Court Justice Frank T. Lloyd last night declared the case would be investigated by the September Grand Jury. It will not, he said, assume more importance in that body’s deliberations than the numbers racket.
Note Lack of Noise
Investigators were at a loss to understand why Feitz and Leonhardt, seated in an automobile on a quiet side street within 20 feet of where a holdup was taking place, did not hear any accompanying sounds. The belief was expressed that 20 men and women, being robbed, would become hysterical and noisy. The Sycamore street house is a ramshackle, two-story structure, with no vestibule leading into the parlor. There is no porch.
Powell drove first to the Lougheed woman’s home, where Mrs. Heisler, the Lougheed woman and Grapatin alighted. He then drove to Atlantic City with the unidentified girl, he said.
Police, advised of Powell’s presence in the house, dispatched the license number of his green sedan over the police teletype system.
Powell was apprehended at Folsom, 40 miles from Camden, as he was returning to Camden from Atlantic City. Sergeant Albert T. Varreiman of the Mt. Ephraim state police barracks stopped Powell’s machine and took him into custody. Powell was alone.
Feitz’s murder was a climax to half an hour’s scrutiny by him and Leonhardt into the suspicious actions of the four bandits. A car in which they were riding was sighted in the neighborhood by the two detectives at 2 a. m.
Trailed Car Fifteen Minutes
They trailed it in their police car for 15 minutes, as it wound through the narrow streets, repeatedly passing the Sycamore street house. Finally, the detectives saw the bandits park their machine on Locust street. Three of them emerged, walked down Sycamore street, and entered the house.
According to Leonhardt, neither he nor Feitz obtained the license number of the bandit car.
Upon seeing them enter the place, Leonhardt drove the police car around the block and stopped in front of the house.
Feitz and Leonhardt sat outside in their machine for 15 minutes. Finally, Leonhardt said, Feitz opened the door and stepped to the sidewalk.
“I’m going in there and see what’s going on,” he said.
Turning, he walked up the steps and rang the doorbell. Leonhardt said the door was opened after a short pause, and Feitz entered. The door was closed.
Hears Bandits’ Guns
Almost immediately, Leonhardt heard the muffled roar of the bandits’ revolvers. Feitz’s body came flying through the door. Pandemonium followed. As the persons in the house fled, neighbors came to doors and windows. Almost immediately, the street was filled.
Leonhardt was so shocked he was unable to drive. An unnamed witness drove the police car with Feitz’s body in it to the hospital.
Prosecutor Orlando indicated his office will step into the probe today.
Shooting Reconstructed
With the aid of witnesses, police yesterday were able to reconstruct the shooting.
“Feitz walked into the house just as the three bandits were holding up the inmates,” Detective Gus Koerner said.
“Witnesses say that when the doorbell rang, the three bandits conferred briefly and decided to admit whoever was at the door. They thought it was another frequenter.
“’Let him in; we’ll take his money too,’ one of the witnesses said a bandit ordered.
One of the bandits went to the door, opened it and admitted Feitz. The detective took five steps into the living room, pausing at the door of the dining room, where he was recognized by a bandit who was frisking the inmates.
“This bandit shouted: ‘It’s a dick; let ‘im have it!’”
Shot in Back
As Feitz reached for his revolver, the man who had admitted him shot him in the back. Feitz attempted to reach the front door, apparently to call Leonhardt, and three more slugs tore into his body.
“It is not known whether the shooting was done by only one of the bandits, or whether all three fired. We do not know whether Feitz opened the front door himself and fell to the street; whether he fell through the glass, or whether the bandits opened the door and pushed him to the street.
“The glass in the front door was broken later by police, who struck it with their blackjacks in order to gain admittance. Leonhardt told me he is unable to clear up this point as everything happened too quickly.
“He said he suddenly heard shots, and a moment later, saw Feitz’ body on the pavement.”
One of the bandit’s bullets went wild, imbedding itself in the wall near the front door. It was fired from the dining room. Ballistics tests will be made of the bullet.
City-wide Raids Follow
Under the direction of Detective Lieut. George Ward, Camden was subjected yesterday and last night to a fine tooth-combing for suspects. All police leaves were cancelled, and all patrolmen volunteered to do active duty until some results of the probe are forthcoming.
A series of raids on known disorderly houses resulted last night in the arrests of more than 20 persons all of whom were taken to police headquarters and lined up for the perusal of witnesses. It was not known whether this scrutiny brought results.
Chief Colsey declared last night the murder will be the signal for an intensive “cleanup” of the city. Policemen in patrol cars were dispatched on prowl duty, ordered to pick up everyone of a suspicious nature.
City officials and citizens voiced their regrets at the killing. Feitz was the father of two children, a boy and a girl. Their names could not be obtained last night. He was estranged from his wife, who resides in Cape May with the children.
Woman Questioned
Mrs. Heisler, regarded by police as a key witness, was questioned several hours in detective headquarters by Chief Colsey, Ward, Orlando and Koerner. The officers refused to disclose the results of the quiz.
No adequate description of the bandits could be furnished by any of the witnesses, Koerner said. Two were described as being of average height, one taller. Two were dark, the third blond.
None of the three was masked. Each was armed.
Mrs. Heisler and Murphy were held without bail as material witnesses. Powell, accompanied by Camden detectives, left for Atlantic City to show them where he dropped off the unidentified girl inmate of the house. They had not returned at a late hour last night.
According to Murphy, two of the bandits previously had visited the house as patrons, and at one time attempted to “shake down” Mrs. Heisler. She resisted their demands, Murphy declared.
Other persons arrested as material witnesses who, after hours of questioning were released in their own recognizance, include:
Frank Adams, 21, of 938 Atlantic avenue; Joseph MacDonald, 20, of 1605 South Sixth street; Henry Gorba, 19, of 17 North Twenty-first street and Edward McKenna, 31, of 1304 Broadway.
Edith Miller, 28, colored, of 205 Sycamore street, and Edna Butler, 32, also colored, 1122 South Second street, also were arrested and held as witnesses. They are inmates of the house, Koerner said.
Police said the bandits, in their search for booty, forced their victims to remove their shoes during the holdup to ascertain whether they were concealing any money. Only $8 was taken.
An autopsy performed on Feitz’ body yesterday by Coroner Arthur H. Holl and County Physician Edward B. Rogers showed that two of the bullets had penetrated the detective’s body. Coroner Holl, in whose undertaking establishment the detective’s body lay last night, declared death was virtually instant.
Chief Colsey last night denied Feitz and Leonhardt were acting under orders to watch the Sycamore street house.
“There have been general orders out to clean up all disorderly houses for a long time,” Colsey said. “I imagine the detectives were more interested in what the four men were doing than they were in the house. I talked at great length with Leonhardt and he told me neither he nor Feitz knew the place was a disorderly house.”
Leonhardt could not be reached last night to give his version of the affair. Colsey said Leonhardt was taking an active part in police efforts to solve the crime.
“If I had known the house in Sycamore street was a disorderly house,” Colsey said, “I would of course have ordered it raided long ago.”
Feitz and Leonhardt were assigned to detective duty from the uniformed ranks last week, replacing former Detectives Thomas Cheeseman and Vernon Jones, who are now reduced to rank of patrolmen.
Chief Colsey said the reason Cheeseman and Jones were reduced was “merely for the good of the department.” He would not amplify that statement.
According to Detective Rox Saponare, Cheeseman is the brother-in-law of Mrs. Heisler, charged with operating the house. Cheeseman, also active in the investigation of the killing, could not be reached last night to comment.
Commended for Bravery
Feitz was appointed to the police force March 1, 1928. He was appointed to the detective bureau last week by Mayor Roy R. Stewart. In 1931, Feitz was commended for bravery in arresting three men in a holdup at a chain grocery store at Locust street and Kaighn avenue.
Last week, the same store was robbed, and Feitz arrested three other men for the theft.
Leonhardt, 39, resides at 512 Division street. The last arrest he made in company with Feitz was at 12.45 a. m. the morning of Feitz’ death. The officers nabbed Cecilia Spencer, 28, colored, at 806 Locust street, a block from the Sycamore street house, on charges of soliciting.
Chief Colsey and other city officials reached Feitz’ bedside in the hospital too late to see him alive. The officer died without regaining consciousness. Funeral arrangements were not completed last night.
Before the estrangement from his wife two years ago, Feitz lived with her and their children at 1062 Langham avenue. He resided recently at the Liberty street address with his widowed mother, Mrs. Pauline Feitz, who last night was prostrated at the news of her son’s death.
Chief Colsey last night absolved Leonhardt of any negligence in not chasing the killers. The police chief declared Leonhardt’s first duty was to look to the condition of Feitz.
Chief Colsey said Mayor Stewart, vacationing in Ocean City, will not return until tomorrow morning. Any investigation into possible negligence on the part of police in permitting the Sycamore street house to operate will be conducted after the mayor returns, Colsey said.
“I consider it more important at this time to lend all our efforts toward solving the crime rather than in conducting any side-bar probe into the question of negligence by any policemen,” Colsey said.
Feitz First Cop Slain Here; 6 Others Survived Wounds
Camden Evening Courier —
Three Shot, 2 Stabbed and Another Beaten with Pipe But All Recovered, Police Records Show—First Case 30 Years Old
The murder of Detective William Feitz by bandits early Sunday marked the first slaying of a policeman in the history of the Camden department.
Three other members of the department have been shot in battles with bandits, two stabbed and a sixth beaten with an iron pipe, but all survived.
More than 30 years ago Patrolman George Miller was stabbed in the abdomen during a Third Ward election fight in which a Philadelphia man was slain.
The late Capt. William F. Schregler, head of the detective bureau for years, was wounded in a duel with safe crackers at Broadway and Carman street about 28 years ago. He was a patrolman at the time and was rewarded with promotion to head of the detective bureau when he recovered.
Another casualty was Patrolman Thomas Brothers. He went into a house to capture a burglar. The man was standing in a dark spot behind a door and as the patrolman passed he struck him down with an iron pipe. Brothers suffered a fractured skull and was in the hospital for several weeks. The suspect was never captured. Years later Brothers was a special officer at the Lyric Theatre.
Patrolman Robert Ward was shot June 16, 1925, at Sixth and Jackson streets as he stepped up to an automobile to question its occupants. One of these suspects was captured. Ward recovered after being in the hospital for weeks.
Policeman Maurice Minch was shot and severely wounded in an attempt to arrest a man responsible for a race riot. Minch was wounded in a bicycle store and the proprietor was killed about seven years ago.
Detective Robert Ashenfelter was wounded on August 24, 1931, and a burglar suspect slain in a gun fight at Thirty-second street and Pierce avenue. Police surprised three suspects robbing a chain grocery store. Going inside of the store Ashenfelter was felled with a bullet in the dark. Police opened fire with a machine gun and one man was slain.
Patrolman John Taylor was stabbed by a man he attempted to arrest on Taylor avenue on May 18, 1930. He wounded the man after the stabbing. Two months later he and his brother, Robert, were beaten up by a gang at Eleventh and Cooper streets when he tried to break up rowdyism with fireworks.
Colsey and Detectives at Murder Scene and 2 Held for Quiz
Camden Evening Courier —
[Six photographs; the headline above them is the only printed text.]
Introduction
Detective William T. Feitz
Detective William T. Feitz was born in 1903 to William and Pauline Anne Feitz in New Jersey. The Feitz family lived at the time of the 1920 Census at 1125 Liberty Street. The elder Feitz worked as a machinist in one of Camden’s shipyards, and in 1919 and 1920 William T. Feitz was working as an apprentice machinist.
William T. Feitz married during the 1920s, but by April of 1930 the marriage had ended, and he had returned to his parents’ house. He joined the Camden Police Department on March 1, 1928. Cited for bravery for breaking up a grocery store robbery at Locust Street and Kaighn Avenue and arresting three suspects, he was promoted to Detective along with Joseph H. Leonhart.
On Sunday, September 2, 1934 Detective Feitz was gunned down from behind while investigating suspicious behavior on the part of three men who had entered a home at 243 Sycamore Street. He was pronounced dead on arrival at West Jersey Hospital. He was survived by his widowed mother, ex-wife, and children.
After an intense investigation, in which many underworld characters including Mickey Blair and Felix Bocchicchio were questioned, an arrest was finally made. Charles Zied, an associate of the notorious Mais-Leganza gang was arrested in Philadelphia, tried and convicted of the murder of Detective Feitz. Zied was executed in New Jersey’s electric chair on June 2, 1936.
National Law Enforcement Memorial
In great part due to the efforts of this website, Lieutenant Scott Thompson of the Camden Police Department, and other members of Camden’s Finest, Detective William T. Feitz, the first Camden police officer to lose his life during the performance of his duties, was inscribed along with 414 other law enforcement officers on the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington DC. These men were honored in a candlelight vigil on May 13.
Discussions also took place to see that Detective Feitz’s name be added to the Camden NJ Police Memorial at Federal Street and Haddon Avenue.
1109 to 1125 Liberty Street
1109 to 1125 Liberty Street — Detective William T. Feitz, first Camden police officer to fall in the line of duty, lived at 1125 Liberty Street. Photograph May 6, 2004.
Store Robber Given 10 Years in Prison
Camden Morning Post —
Case of Companion Will Be Put Before Grand Jury This Wek [sic]
Floyd Alter Bell, 36, alias “Twenty,” of 1719 Van Buren street, Philadelphia, was sentenced to 10 years in state’s prison yesterday by Judge Shay in Criminal Court on charges of robbery and carrying a gun.
Bell pleaded guilty to robbing the Star Beef Company, Sixth street and Kaighn avenue, on September 12, the charge on which he was sentenced to seven years. According to Prosecutor Clifford A. Baldwin, Bell and Frank M. Bank, 19, of 717 Baxter street, Camden, robbed the store of sausages, ham and other food stuffs, loaded them on a truck and escaped.
Both were arrested December 1 by Policemen Rheim and Feitz after the car they are alleged to have stolen from Railroad avenue and Van Hook street struck a pole at Sixth street and Kaighn avenue.
The case of Bank will be presented to the grand jury this week, Baldwin said. Bell, according to the prosecutor, confessed to committing several holdups in Camden and vicinity since July 1. Hams stolen from the beef concern were sold at $1 each in the Eighth Ward, $23 being collected.
Two Camden Schools Ransacked by Thieves
Camden Courier-Post —
Vandals who entered and ransacked two South Camden schools are being sought by the police.
Lawrence Miller, janitor of the H. B. Wilson School, at Eighth and Florence streets, reported that several rooms had been rifled early yesterday. Detectives William Zeits [sic] and Clifford Del Rossi are conducting an investigation.
Fred Fianigan, janitor of the Fairview School, at Collings and Cumberland roads, reported that prowlers, who forced a front door ransacked two rooms. Detective Joseph Carpani was assigned to investigate.
Del Duca Is Freed in Mystery Shots
Camden Courier-Post Evening Courier —
Former Cafe Owner Denies Revolver Was Fired 5 Times From Car
Garfield Del Duca, former owner of the Ringside Inn and the Embassy Cafe on Federal Street near Second was released early today after being questioned regarding shots reported to have been fired from his automobile.
Policemen William Feitz and Clarence Phifer said they heard what they believed to be five gunshots as Del Duca’s car passed Broadway and Walnut Street shortly before 1:00 AM. There were two men in the rear seat, they said.
By the time Feitz and Phifer caught up to Del Duca’s machine in their own car, it was parked at Second and Line Street. Del Duca was sitting in the front seat. No one was in the rear but the officers said the rear doors were open.
Del Duca was taken to headquarters where he denied any knowledge of firing or even hearing shots. There was no gun in his machine and after questioning Del Duca was freed at 2:15 AM by Detective Sergeant Rox Saponare.
Two women, Katherine Blake, 30, and Margaret Huston, 30, both of 524 Spruce Street, who were walking on Broadway at the time of the alleged shots, also said they heard nothing when questioned at headquarters. They were allowed to go after questioning.
Two men reported seen in front of the Lyric Theatre just before Del Duca’s car passed, disappeared before they could be interrogated by the police, Feitz said.
5 Men and Woman Held in P.S. Bus Barn Holdup, Marlton Bank Robbery
Camden Courier-Post —
Four of Notorious ‘Forty’
COPS ARREST 4 IN PHILA. HOTEL COUNTING CASH
Camden Police to Seek Extradition of Gang at Hearing Thursday
LICENSE NUMBER OF CAR LEADS TO RAID ON ROOM
Scores of Crimes Charged to Members of ‘Band of 40 Thieves’
Five men and a woman, reputedly members of Camden’s notorious “band of 40 thieves,” were arrested yesterday and formally charged with the holdup of the Public Service bus garage at Fifteenth and Mickle streets.
Efforts are also being made by local and state police to link the sextet with the $4000 Marlton National Bank holdup last Friday, and more than a score of other recent crimes throughout South Jersey.
All six will be given hearings Thursday. The five men are held without bail; the woman is in jail in default of $5000 bail.
Stanley Powell, 28, of 1256 Whitman avenue, and Stephie Ciesla, 22, of 1224 Chase street, were taken into custody in Camden.
John Lenkowski, 28, of Chestnut and Louis streets; Stanley Geda, 22, of the 1200 block Everett street; Stanley Krause, 19, of 1252 Sycamore street, and Mitchell Sadowski, 18, of 1200 Sycamore street, were arrested in Philadelphia. Lieut. George Ward, of the Camden detective bureau, is preparing extradition papers to have them returned to this city.
Suspected in Holdups
The six are also suspected of complicity by local and state police in the holdup ten days ago of the Genova Cafe, Third and Arch streets; the $900 payroll robbery last month of the Young and Metzner Company at Sixth street and Atlantic avenue; the attempted robbery of a Westville chain store last Friday when shots were exchanged with police; the holdup of an ice cream stand at Central Airport; the larceny of an automobile from the Cadillac-LaSalle agency in Westville, Friday, and the theft of more than a score of other automobiles.
A total of $187.50 was found in the possession of the quartet nabbed in Philadelphia yesterday. This was described as part of the loot from the Public Service garage job by Lieutenant Ward.
The spectacular capture of the four was hailed by local authorities as the first step in the breaking up of the notorious gang that has been operating in South Jersey for so long. The arrest of Powell and the Ciesla girl came a few hours later.
Lieutenant Ward and Detective Sergeant Gus Koerner, aided by (Continued on Page Two)
STANLEY POWELL (Above) STANLEY GEDA (Above) JOHN LENKOWSKI MITCHELL SADOWSKI
Lenkowski, Geda and Sadowski are three of the four suspects in the Public Service garage holdup early yesterday nabbed in Philadelphia and held without bail to await extradition at a hearing Thursday. The other is Stanley Krause. All are Camdenites. Powell was arrested with Stephie Ciesla in Camden, and also held without bail for a hearing Thursday. Bail of $5000 was placed on the girl. The six are suspected of complicity in the Marlton bank holdup last Friday, also.
5 Men, Woman Held in Bus, Bank Holdups
(Continued from Page One)
Philadelphia detectives, swooped down upon Irving Hotel, 917 Walnut street, Philadelphia, and smashed in a door to a second-floor room. There they found the four men, according to Ward.
Were Dividing Money
“They were dividing up some money,” explained the detective head. “It was stolen in the Public Service holdup yesterday. We are lodging a detainer against them with a warrant accusing them of that job. The Marlton bank holdup is a Burlington county matter. Once we get them over here we will question them about other local jobs.
“We have been looking for them for some time. We understood they had been living in Philadelphia for the past six weeks, and yesterday we learned they had moved to the Irving Hotel. So we planned the raid. The biggest factor in finding them was the cars they have been using. Police in both states were on the lookout for the car used in the Marlton holdup.”
The arrest of Powell and the girl came as a result of the Philadelphia raid. The license number of the car in which the four had driven to the hotel was checked, and traced to the girl’s mother.
Patrolmen William Feitz and Joseph Schultz went to her home and waited for the car to appear.
Powell was driving the car as it approached the Chase street address. When it stopped, the two policemen placed both Powell and Miss Ceisla [sic] under arrest. The man jumped from the car and ran, with Schultz in pursuit. After a chase of half a block, the cop fired a shot over Powell’s head. Powell stopped and surrendered.
Powell Denies Holdup
Powell denied any part in the garage holdup, saying he had slept at the Ciesla home Sunday night. He was held without bail as an accessory after the fact, however, and the girl was placed under $5000 bail as a material witness. They will be given hearings Thursday.
The four arrested in Philadelphia were given preliminary hearings today before Magistrate Charles Medway at Twelfth and Pine streets police station. They were held without bail for another hearing Thursday, when Lieut. Ward will ask that they be extradited to Camden.
At today’s hearing, all four denied any connection with the garage holdup. They testified that two men had come to their room in the hotel and left a bag in their care. They were in the act of counting the contents of the bag—$187.50 in nickels, dimes and quarters—when the police entered, they said.
Lankowski and Sadowski told the Court they did not know the identity of the two men, saying they were friends of Krause. But Krause said he didn’t know them either, whereupon Magistrat [sic] Medway held all four without bail for a further hearing Thursday.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia police are checking on recent holdups there in an effort to link the quartet with them.
Identified by Victims
Witnesses to the Public Service holdup yesterday were taken to Philadelphia and identified the suspects, according to Lieut. Ward. They also identified a photograph of Powell, he added.
Corporal George G. Small, of Berlin barracks, New Jersey State Police, and Detective Sergeant William P. Kelly, of Hammonton headquarters, went to Philadelphia last night in an effort to link the quartet with numerous robberies throughout South Jersey, including two chain stores in Pine Hill last week. Sergeant Kelly was the only one to question the men. Lieut. Ward did not, but explained that he will Thursday.
Thomas Thorpe, chief of Pennsauken township police, today asked Lieut. Ward for permission to question the suspects when they are returned to Camden, in an effort to link them with holdups in that community. Chief of Burlington County Detectives Ellis Parker is also interested in the case. The Marlton holdup comes under his jurisdiction.
Stewart Says Laxity on Vice Will Be Probed
Camden Evening Courier —
Pushes Inquiry in Killing With Chief Colsey Lending Co-operation
WHOLESALE CHANGES LIKELY IN DEPARTMENT
Chief Executive Refers to Official Who Scored Lashing of Cops
A wholesale shakeup of police officials, patrolmen and detectives in the Camden police department is expected to follow the slaying of District Detective William T. Feitz, in a South Camden disorderly house.
That was indicated strongly today by Mayor Roy R. Stewart, director of the department of public safety, after his return from a weekend vacation at Ocean City.
“I intend to get at the bottom of this matter and punish the guilty person or persons,” Mayor Stewart declared upon his arrival at city hall.
“There is something wrong in the police department when no action is taken against a disorderly house which I ordered closed on numerous occasions.
Blames Police
“If the police in the department had followed my instructions we wouldn’t have a dead detective as a consequence of their laxity.
“Chief Colsey and myself are going into the investigation very thooughly [sic] to find out who was responsible for failing to close this place.”
Questioned as to whether the killing of Detective Feitz would bring shifts in district commanders, sergeants, patrolmen and detectives, Mayor Stewart said:
“Yes—anything can happen—for I’m not satisfied with the actions of the department.”
Mayor Stewart also disclosed that since his charge of laxity against the police department, he has been criticized by at least one city official—whose name he would not make public.
“I’ve been told that as head of the department of public safety I shouldn’t make such a statement as I did yesterday because of the effect it would have on the morale of the police department.
Will Shield None
“Well, I want it to be known that I am not guilty of shielding anyone in the operation of this disorderly house. I have a right to protect anyone in the department who is not involved in this violation of my orders and that is what I intend to do in my investigation.”
Mayor Stewart’s first move when he reached his offices was to call Chief Colsey into conference to discuss the events leading up to the death of Detective Feitz early Sunday in the disorderly house allegedly operated by Mrs. Emma Heisler, 38, at 243 Sycamore street.
Later, he announced, he would confer with the district and detective lieutenants and sergeants to find out why his orders issued a number of times to close up Mrs. Heisler’s establishment, were not carried out. The conference, Mayor Stewart indicated, would take place this afternoon.
To Quiz Demoted Pair
Two district detectives who were demoted and returned to beats a few days before Detective Feitz was killed, who covered the neighborhood of Second and Sycamore streets, are also to be grilled by Mayor Stewart. One of the detectives, according to police, is a relative of Mrs. Heisler.
While Mayor Stewart and Chief Colsey were conferring, police and detectives still were engaged in running down clues to the identity of the slayers of the detective who was shot when he walked in on a holdup of 20 persons in the disorderly house.
Three bandits who shot Feitz then rushed out the door and directly past District Detective Joseph H. Leonhardt who was bending over Feitz’s body which had hurtled through the front door and dropped down the steps to the street.
The two detectives in a police radio car had been trailing a suspicious car containing the bandits for some time prior to the shooting [text between crops not shown]
Colsey Speaks Freely
Chief Colsey unlike Detective Lieutenant Ward who has persistently refused to talk to newspapermen or give them any information, spoke freely about the police investigation of Feitz’s death.
“I feel confident that within a few days we will have the killer or killers of Feitz under arrest,” Chief Colsey said.
He admitted that all of the suspects arrested here, in Philadelphia and Atlantic City to date had not been identified as members of the bandit mob.
A suspect who was arrested last night by Chief Colsey and a detective in cruising about the city was released after being questioned.
Another suspect arrested early today was still being held by the police, who refused to reveal his identity. Chief Colsey stated that he did not think the man was involved in the killing of Feitz.
8 Still Held
However, four men and four women are being held in cells at police headquarters as material witnesses.
Only seven are listed on the police blotter, the name of Mrs. Heisler being omitted. The others are Thomas Bonelli, 27, of 207 Walnut street; Cornelius Murphy, 50, of 239 Sycamore street, said by police to have been the doorman of Mrs. Heisler’s establishment; Edward Grapatin, 32, of 246 Kaighn avenue; Joseph McKenna, 31, of 1404 Broadway; Edith Miller, 28, colored, of 205 Sycamore street, and Edna Butler, 33, colored, of 1122 South Second street, domestics in Mrs. Heisler’s place; Catherine Lougheed, 32, of 626 Pine street, an alleged inmate.
Released after being held as material witnesses were Edward Gorba, 20, and his brother, Henry, 19, of 17 North Twenty-first street; Frank Adams, 21, of 938 Atlantic avenue, and Joseph McDonald, 20, of 1605 South Ninth street. All were released in their own recognizance to appear tomorrow.
All of the persons taken into custody after the shooting, were in the disorderly house at the time, police said.
Police disclosed that Ed Gorba was the only eye-witness to the killing who was proving of any value in remembering the description of the killers or in attempting to identify suspects arrested.
Ward Has Nothing to Say Regarding Feitz Probe
Camden Evening Courier —
Detective Lieutenant Ward in charge of the Camden detective bureau, had “nothing to say” today for the second straight day in connection with the investigation of the murder of District Detective Feitz.
Yesterday in starting his campaign of keeping the activities of the police probe from newspapers, he ordered newspapermen out of the detective bureau.
At the time he declared he was “going to do police duty.” Today he declared he had “nothing to say.”
As Police Vizualize Slaying of Detective
Camden Evening Courier —
Artist’s X-ray view of alleged disorderly house at 243 Sycamore street shows three rooms on ground floor. In the front room, without vestibule, at left, Detective William T. Feitz was shot in back by bandit when he turned to door to call for help after surprising hold-up of patrons and inmates in middle room. According to the police, two of the three bandits frisked the victims of the hold-up in the middle room while a third guarded those who were passed into the rear room after they were robbed. On the street, at extreme left, is shown the police car in which Feitz’ partner, Detective Joseph H. Leonhardt, remained outside while Feitz entered the house.
Feitz Witness Dies in 5-Floor City Hall Jump
Camden Evening Courier —
Should Have Been Kept in Cell, Stewart and Orlando Say
WOMAN TRIED IN VAIN TO TALK WITH WARD
Colsey Will Conduct Investigation in Attempt to Fix Blame
A complete investigation was ordered today by Mayor Roy R. Stewart into the suicide yesterday of Mrs. Emma Heisler, 38, who plunged five floors from a detective bureau window in city hall.
Mrs. Heisler was the key witness to the murder early Sunday of Detective William T. Feitz. It was in Mrs. Heisler’s alleged disorderly house at 243 Sycamore street that Feitz was killed.
Mayor Stewart, ordering the investigation, freely admitted today that Mrs. Heisler should have been locked in a city hall jail cell instead of being permitted to roam about detective headquarters.
Colsey to Conduct Probe
Mayor Stewart delegated Police Chief Arthur Colsey to conduct the probe and determine whether there is evidence of police laxity in the suicide of Mrs. Heisler.
From two sources since the woman was taken into custody were the police warned against permitting her to walk unguarded in city hall. The warnings were ignored.
Only yesterday, a short time before the woman leaped to her death, a Courier-Post reporter made the comment in detective headquarters:
“You’d better watch that woman, or she’s liable to jump from a window and sprain her ankle.”
A similar warning that Mrs. Heisler should be locked in a cell was delivered by Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando.
Less than an hour before she took her death leap, Mrs. Heisler had pleaded with Lieutenant Ward to let her talk to him.
“I’ve got something in my heart I must let out,” she told Ward, interrupting him as he gave a last-minute telephone report of the murder probe to Mayor Stewart. The mayor was about to catch a 4.20 p. m. train to his Ocean City summer home.
Three times, Ward said, she tried to drag him from the telephone as he talked to Stewart, each time insisting she had something to tell him.
Ward Refused to Listen
Ward concluded the conversation with Stewart and then left the bureau instead of talking to her.
At 5.12 p. m. Mrs. Heisler rushed from the detectives’ room into Ward’s private office, raised the only window not guarded by a glass ventilator and leaped to her death.
Whatever she had in her heart was still there.
She never regained consciousness fully and died at 6.12 p. m. in Cooper Hospital.
With her, police believe, went their best chance of learning the identity of Feitz’s slayers.
After Ward brusquely rebuffed the woman as she attempted to tell him something that he, by his own admission, believes might have been the identity of the killers, she went back into the desk room where all detectives sit when idle.
A Courier-Post reporter was outside the counter separating the detectives’ office space from that area reserved for the public—barred from the inner sanctum by Ward’s orders.
The reporter said the woman was disheveled in appearance, her blonde hair straggling about her face, her eyes showing that she was under a severe emotional strain.
Detectives Laugh
“You’d better watch that woman,” he told Detective Robert Ashenfelder. “She’s liable to jump from a window and sprain her ankle.”
The detectives laughed.
A few minutes later she sat at a desk near the entrance to Ward’s
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private office, in the corner of the bureau.
“She was about to break. I think she was ready to tell us who killed Feitz,” Detective Sergeant Gus Koerner said afterward.
After Ward refused to let her unburden herself—possibly of information the entire department has been seeking night and day since Feitz’s death—she appeared highly agitated.
The woman leaped from her desk and rushed into Ward’s private office.
Body Broken Badly
She raised the only window not guarded by a ventilator and leaped. She landed on the iron windshield bar of a roadster, and the force of her fall almost cut her body in half. She bounced into the seat of the car owned by Andrew Stewart, 143 West Cottage avenue, Haddonfield.
Detectives Clifford Carr and Robert Ashenfelter were the only members of the force in the bureau. Carr was answering a telephone. Ashenfelter was questioning Camillo Cinelli, 848 South Third street, a former pugilist known as Billy Hart, about some matter not connected with the murder.
“We were standing almost at the door of Ward’s office,” Ashenfelter said. “Cinelli wanted a drink of water and I followed him to the water bottle, away from the door. We drank and started back.
“Cinelli was in front of me and I could not see the woman. All of a sudden we heard the sound of tinkling glass. Cinelli ran into Ward’s office. I followed him. The woman was gone. We looked out the window and saw her in a roadster with the top down.
Takes Her to Hospital
“I went downstairs in the private elevator, loaded the woman into a car and went with her to Cooper Hospital. Carr went downstairs with me, but he had to return to the office.”
Carr said he was answering a telephone when he heard the sound of glass, looked about for the woman and saw she was gone. Then he too rushed to Ward’s window and looked out to see her in the car below.
The woman’s skull was crushed. Her fall bent the metal bar of the windshield almost to the dash and shattered the glass—to give notice of her death to her previous captors upstairs.
At the hospital, Dr. Roscoe Kandle examined the woman and shook his head, then ordered her removed to a ward cot. She was in a semi-comatose state.
Carpani and Lieutenant Ward, who had rushed to the hospital for his delayed reception of her story, found her unable to tell what was in her heart.
Her brothers, Albert and William Slonski of 1300 South Broad street, Philadelphia, arrived before she died.
Father James Foley, pastor of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, administered extreme unction to the woman. He happened to be in the hospital, asked if she were a Catholic, and gave her the last rites of her faith for the living.
Neither Mayor Stewart nor Chief of Police Colsey would criticize any member of the detective force for the woman’s leap, but Prosecutor Orlando was outspoken in his belief that police laxity, in spite of a warning from him, had caused her death and had removed the state’s chief witness against Feitz’s slayers, “if they are caught.”
Orlando Warned Mayor
“At 2 p. m. today,” Orlando said. “I told Mayor Stewart that woman ought to be locked in a cell and held on the charge of maintaining a disorderly house.
“It is a regrettable thing that she was permitted to commit suicide. It may prove costly in the prosecution of Feitz’s slayers, if they are caught.
“I am not having much to do with the investigation. I am hoping the police will bring it to the point where I can prepare to prosecute.”
“I will not criticize any member of the force for Mrs. Heisler’s leap,” Chief Colsey said. “We had agreed to allow Ward to have his way. He felt, and convinced us, that we could get more from her by treating her kindly.
‘She Appeared Contented’
“As a matter of fact, she appeared contented. When Mayor Stewart and I questioned her earlier in the afternoon, she appeared in better condition than at any time since she was brought here.
“If she had wanted to leap from a window, she had had ample opportunities. She could have leaped while the mayor and I were questioning her, for that matter. We did not suspect she would attempt her life.
“She anwered [sic] questions better—more straightforwardly—for Mayor Stewart and me than at any time before.
“I believe she knew who killed Feitz. She said she didn’t. I think she would have told us tonight who killed him. She was beginning to open up.”
Ward, silent since Monday morning, said virtually the same thing, although he insisted he was “not talking anyway.”
Ward Calls It Fear
“She was about ready to tell what she knew,” the chief of detectives said. “It probably was fear that had kept her from it before. She feared she would be killed if she did tell. I think she knew who killed Feitz.
“She came to me three times while I was talking to Mayor Stewart on the phone and I had to put my hand over the phone to send her out,” Ward confessed. “She kept saying she had something to tell me. I think she was ready to tell it all.
“I had to leave the office after talking to the mayor,” Ward continued. “I didn’t get to question her further. I wasn’t here when she jumped. I’m not talking, anyway,” Ward said.
It was Mayor Stewart who revealed that the woman told Ward “I’ve got something in my heart and I must let it out.”
This, the mayor said, Ward told him on the telephone, interrupting the conversation to hear that much and then leaving the bureau before hearing what it was.
Disagrees With Colsey
Mayor Stewart’s opinion of the woman’s nervous condition was the reverse of Chief Colsey’s, however. He said:
“The death of the Heisler woman is very unfortunate. But we believe it will not retard our investigation into Feitz’s murder. We are hopeful that there are others who know just as much as Mrs. Heisler knew.
“I noticed this afternoon as Chief Colsey and I questioned her that she was in a very nervous condition. Several times she became flustered and appeared bewildered when attempting to answer questions.
“Her mind at times seemed to become a total blank.”
‘Ward’s Idea’
Asked why the woman had not been booked and locked in a cell, Mayor Stewart said:
“This angle had been gone over very carefully several times and it was Ward’s idea that Mrs. Heisler be given freedom of the bureau and treated with kindness, with the hope that she would reveal valuable information.
“I am sorry now I did not insist that she be placed in a cell.
“In the future, definite steps will be taken to prevent like happening.”
Asked whether any disciplinary action would be taken against members of the detective bureau as punishment for laxity in watching the woman, the mayor said:
“No. There will be no such action. I acquiesced in Ward’s desire to allow the woman freedom, trusting his judgment that this course might reduce the best results.”
Voluntary Prisoner
Mrs. Heisler was allowed many privileges during her detention. She was held as a voluntary prisoner, Chief Colsey said, adding:
“But if she had wanted to leave, we would have booked her and put her in a cell.”
He admitted the woman was held—though technically not held—in excess of the 48 hours police are permitted to hold a prisoner without filing charges.
“You can hold them as long as necessary in a murder case,” Colsey said.
Rests in Comfort
For two days the Courier-Post Newspapers had been printing pointed stories to the effect that Mrs. Heisler was allowed free run of detective headquarters, being treated as a guest while all others linked in any way with the murder were locked up in cells.
She was not even sent to a cell to sleep. Detectives converted a bench in the line-up room, which opens onto their quarters, into a bed, using blankets, overcoats and other pieces of clothing and bedding, impounded as stolen, to make her comfortable.
Detectives Served Her
An unidentified friend was permitted to bring her $10 in cash. She was allowed to smoke at will, to eat when and what she desired, and to have coffee brought to her by detectives at any and all hours.
That the Heisler woman had operated disorderly houses for six or seven years in Camden was generally known, although police would not admit the knowledge.
She ran a place at Sixth and Spruce streets for a time; then operated another house at Third and Mechanic street, a third at Ninth and Pine streets, and still another at Second and Chestnut streets. Then she ran a house at 242 Sycamore street, moved away, and then opened a new place at 243 Sycamore street, where Feitz was killed. This place had been in operation about seven months.
Sergeant Koerner said the woman had shown every indication that she was on the point of “breaking.”
‘Bad Break’ for Police
“She would walk up to me and other men as though she wanted to tell us something. Then she would turn and walk away. She was getting ready to tell everything, I believe. It is a bad break that she is dead.
“I think she knew who killed Feitz. The men had been there before. They had asked for her by name at the door, and she had admitted them. She is bound to have known them.
“She was ready to tell who they were, I believe, but every time she got to the point of telling, something would come up in her throat. I think it was fear.”
Chief Colsey continued to drive all members of the force night and day on the investigation, determined, he said, to clean it up as soon as possible.
Woman Planned Suicide Monday, City Hall Rumor
Camden Evening Courier —
Rumors persisted today around the city hall that Mrs. Emma Heisler, 38, who committed suicide yesterday by leaping five floors from detective headquarters, planned Monday to end her life.
Reporters at the “hall” recalled today that they were present when Detective Clifford Carr took Mrs. Heisler into detective headquarters Monday. The woman looked distraught and glanced around her nervously.
She mumbled something to Carr, whereupon the detective was heard to answer.
“Well, this is the fifth floor, the top of the city hall and as high as it goes.”
“Please take me back now,” the woman was heard to say.
Although Lieut. George Ward and Police Chief Arthur Colsey denied Mrs. Heisler previously spoke of suicide, it is believed her mumbled conversation with Carr was to that effect.
Woman ‘Docketed’ After Suicide Leap
Camden Evening Courier —
Mrs. Heisler’s Name Put on Police Book Today; Ward Silent
The ghost of Mrs. Emma Heisler, 38, who leaped to her death yesterday from a fifth floor detective bureau window in city hall, stalked today in police headquarters.
For the first time since she was taken into custody Sunday after the murder of Detective William T. Feitz, Jr., her name made an uncanny appearance this morning on headquarters police docket.
No one, not even Lieut. George A. Ward, chief of detectives, could explain its presence there or why the woman’s name had not been entered on the “blotter” the day of her arrest.
Since Sunday, newsmen have held the docket under closest scrutiny, looking for the name of Mrs. Heisler, but it did not appear until today, and then it was pasted in.
When questioned as to why the name of Mrs. Heisler had not been entered before, Lieutenant Ward became evasive, bristled with resentment and answered:
“I don’t know anything about that.”
The “pasted in” name of Mrs. Heisler was written to make it
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Woman ‘Docketed’ After Suicide Leap
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appear as though it had been entered at 4.50 a. m. Sunday, after the killing of Detective Feitz.
With ghastly irony, the woman, a day after her death, is now formally held as a material witness in the “murder,” according to the notation in the police book.
Although Mrs. Heisler had been given a free run of the jail and had not been placed in a cell, she was locked up in cell “1-S,” according to the police docket record.
Under the heading of occupation appeared the word “none,” and the dead woman was listed as “married,” and “W. F. S.,” which indicated that she was “white, female and sober.”
“No Bail,” Opposite Name
On the page is written in pen, “no bail,” which conveys instructions to police headquarters officials that Mrs. Heisler was not to be released in bail.
The name of Mrs. Heisler was “pasted in” to lead the array of witnesses in the Feitz killing. Preceding hers, is the name of a man held on a charge of drunkenness.
Further mystery surrounding the entrance on the police docket of Mrs. Heisler’s name arose when Police Lieut. Samuel Johnson, in charge of headquarters, was unable to explain its presence.
Johnson’s name appeared on the docket as having received the woman early Sunday morning despite the fact that he did not report for duty until 8 a. m. that day.
“I don’t know anything about it,” said Johnson. “The name must have been put there when I was off.”
A reporter questioned Lieutenant Ward as follows:
“I see the name of Mrs. Heisler is now on the docket?”
“What do you mean, now,” snapped Ward.
“I mean that it hasn’t been there before today, and I should like to learn why.”
Says Space Left Blank
“Well,” began Ward haltingly, “a blank space had always been left for this woman’s name. She was entered when she was first brought in on a duplicate card, but her name was not placed in the book. She was the most important witness we had. Why wouldn’t we put her under arrest?”
“Wasn’t the name pasted in the book?” Ward was asked.
“I don’t know anything about that,” was the reply.
Ward refused to comment further.
It is customary at police headquarters to enter the name of prisoners in the docket and then make out duplicate cards, which are sent to police court. That is done, it was explained, so that police court authorities will be familiar with all details of charges against prisoners when they are arraigned for police court hearings.
Lieutenant Ward declared a duplicate card bearing Mrs. Heisler’s name was made out and “placed in the sergeant’s desk.”
Man Seated in an Open Car
A man seated in an open car with his hand on the windshield cross-bar. The crop prints no caption and does not name him; it is filed with the September 5, 1934 coverage of the fall of Mrs. Emma Heisler.
Mrs. Heisler, Colsey, Stewart at Quiz; Death Leap Scene
Camden Evening Courier —
Mrs. Emma Heisler, reputed operator of an alleged South Camden disorderly house, committed suicide late yesterday by jumping from a window in the detective bureau on the fifth floor of City Hall. Earlier she had been questioned by Mayor Stewart (left) and Police Chief Colsey but refused to disclose any information relative to who killed District Detective Feitz in her establishment. The artist’s illustration depicts how Mrs. Heisler walked away from two detectives assigned to guard her, entered the office of Detective Lieutenant Ward and jumped from the window. One of the guards, Detective Carr was telephoning while Detective Carpani was at the water fountain with Camillo Cinelli, of 818 South Third street. Cinelli had come into the detective bureau to interview a plain clothes man a short time before Mrs. Heisler committed suicide.
Diagram showing the fatal plunge of Mrs. Emma Heisler, key witness in the murder of Detective William T. Feitz, from the window of the office of Lieut. George Ward on the fifth floor of city hall. She had been questioned by Mayor Roy R. Stewart and Chief Arthur Colsey shortly before she leaped from the window.
Woman Witness Dives to Death
Trenton Times —
Grilling in Slaying of Policeman Inspires Fatal Plunge
CAMDEN, N. J., Sept. 4.—A woman police described as the “key witness” in their investigation of a detective’s death and resulting investigation of Camden vice, plunged to her death tonight from detective headquarters on the fifth floor of City Hall.
She was Mrs. Emma Heisler, 32, alleged proprietress of the house in which Detective William T. Feitz was slain by robbers Sunday.
Almost without let-up, since her arrest, the woman had been questioned about the slaying. Two detectives were grilling her when she dashed to an open window facing on Market Street and leaped out.
Her body landed across the windshield cross-bar of an open car and was almost cut in two. Her skull was fractured and virtually every bone broken.
She died at 6:12 o’clock in Cooper Hospital. Two brothers were at her bedside.
No formal charge had been made against her. Police said they were questioning her in the belief she was withholding the identities of two of the three robbers who shot Feitz.
Persons in the house at the time told police they were being held up by robbers as Feitz entered. He tried to pull his pistol from its holster, but it stuck, and the instant’s delay cost the detective his life. The robbers fired and fled in a waiting car.
The detective’s death prompted a promise of a city-wide vice investigation by the mayor and a further promise of a grand jury investigation by a Supreme Court justice.
Gang Haunts Combed for ‘Trigger Men’
Camden Evening Courier —
Progress Made in Search for Solution to Killing, Colsey Declares
BOXER IS RELEASED ON OWN RECOGNIZANCE
Police Also Free 2 Others Held as Witnesses in Detective’s Death
Three notorious South Jersey underworld characters were being sought today as the slayers of Detective William T. Feitz, Jr., in a disorderly house at 243 Sycamore street at 2 a. m. last Sunday.
Names and descriptions of the men are said to be in the hands of detectives, although Police Chief Arthur Colsey would not admit he knows who the actual slayers are. He did admit his detectives are looking for three men they believe were “concerned” in the shooting.
Two of the men are said to be former pugilists widely known throughout South Jersey and the third is said to be a notorious Eastern Pennsylvania robber, “trigger-man” and ex-convict.
Because of the vicious and desperate character of the Pennsylvania suspect, detectives and policemen pushing the investigation were armed last night and today with sub-machine guns in their visits to places where they sought information about the fugitives.
While refusing to admit he wants the men as the actual slayers, Chief Colsey declared that progress has been made in the probe and he is confident a solution eventually will be found.
Colsey announced that two men arrested yesterday as witnesses in the slaying were released during the night. “They don’t have any important information,” Colsey said, explaining their release.
The men are Samuel Silverman, 34, of 325½ Kaighn avenue, and George Martorano, 25, a laborer, of 532 West street. Martorano at first was described by Colsey as “an important witness.”
Another so-called important witness had previously been released in his own recognizance. He is Camillo Cinelli, Camden bantamweight boxer known as Billy Hart. Colsey said Cinelli was released without having to post bail because he was available for further questioning at any time.
Cinelli declares he witnessed Mrs. Emma Heisler, proprietress of the disorderly house where Feitz was slain, jump out of the fifth floor window of the Detective Bureau in City Hall at 5 p. m. Tuesday, plunging to her death. He said he was there to talk with Detective Joseph Carpani on a personal matter, and had no knowledge of the Feitz murder. He asserted he was in an inn in Lawnside with his wife and brother when Feitz was slain.
Despite Cinelli’s statement of complete ignorance of the Feitz killing
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Machine Gun Cops Hunt Feitz Killers
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and his freedom without any charge being placed against him, Chief Colsey said “he is a material witness in the Feitz murder.”
This statement and the emphatic statement of police that Cinelli’s presence may have prompted Mrs. Heisler’s suicide leap could not be clarified and led to much speculation among city hall observers.
Riddle Unsolved
Just what impression Mrs. Heisler may have drawn from Cinelli’s appearance in the detective bureau was an unsolved riddle. Just why she jumped remained an unsolved riddle. She had pleaded a few minutes before her leap to be allowed to tell what she knew of the killing to Lieut. Ward.
Whether she figured Cinelli knew something and was telling it to the detectives, or whether she figured he was under arrest and his friends might blame her for his apprehension remained likewise unexplained.
As the question of the truth of her leap being an act of suicide arose, it was reported also that the woman had been allowed not one second of sleep during the 60 hours she had been held as a “guest” of the detective force.
Her relatives were asking the question:
“Was she driven crazy by lack of sleep and forced to jump to her death to escape the torment of nerves jangled by fatigue and long hours of bull-dozing?”
As the key witness—the one person police believed to know all about the Feitz killing—her death was counted a severe blow to the city in its search for Feitz’s killers.
Another material change in the police version of the killing was made yesterday, when it was hinted that Feitz did not walk into a hold-up staged by three men, as announced by police as coming from witnesses whom they had muzzled.
Police were investigating the theory that he walked into an attempt to “shake down” Mrs. Heisler for protection money as the price for permission to continue operation of her house without a report being made to police who might act to close it.
Mayor Suspects Graft
The sinister suggestion of police graft, which Mayor Roy R. Stewart hurled at his police force as a result of the slaying, continued to occupy the major portion of Stewart’s attention.
He went to Trenton yesterday in an attempt to learn the methods used in that city’s police graft investigation where the chief of police and other members of the force have been suspended and a searching probe of the department is under way.
As he sent his men on their search for the trio whom he believes to be killers last night, Chief Colsey appeared optimistic over the chance of an early solution of the killing.
“It looks as though the investigation into the murder of Detective Feitz is close to a solution,” Chief Colsey declared. “We believe that Cinelli was either in or near the Heisler home at the time Feitz was shot.”
While Mrs. Heisler was refusing to “come across” to the “shakedown,” Detective Feitz entered the premises, police surmised. Recognized as a detective, the investigators believe, he was shot down before he could defend himself or summon aid, they theorized.
Orlando Pores Over Data on Feitz Murder
Camden Evening Courier —
Prosecutor Ready to Take Charge of Probe Should Need Be Seen
3 SOUGHT AS KILLERS DESCRIBED IN REPORT
Cops Devote Spare Time to Hunt in Hope of Avenging Detective
Ward ‘Not Interested’ in Killer Reward Offer
Lieut. George Ward, in charge of the Detective Bureau, was asked today if he was in favor of the city offering a reward for information leading to apprehension and conviction of Feitz’s slayers.
“I don’t care,” he said.
“Don’t you think it might help find the killers?”
“I don’t know anything about it,” he replied. “Go ahead and offer a reward yourself.”
“Suppose you were very busy on the case last night? Any important developments?”
“I didn’t do a thing on it,” he answered. “We haven’t got anywhere at all.”
Then he hung up.
Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando today began a study of all police data on the murder of Detective William T. Feitz, Jr., with a view to taking a directing hand in the investigation.
The prosecutor received from Police Chief Arthur Colsey a report he called for yesterday, setting forth all the circumstances of the killing and, supposedly, all the information regarding the killers which police have obtained.
The report is understood to contain the names and descriptions of the three gunmen sought in the killing of Feitz at 2 a. m. last Sunday in an alleged disorderly house at 243 Sycamore street. The first police version was that the men were holding up and robbing 20 persons in the house when Feitz entered, after following the bandit car about the neighborhood because of its suspicious actions.
Shakedown Hinted
Later developments, however, indicate the men were trying to “shake down” Mrs. Emma Heisler, 38, proprietress of the place, for “hush money.” Mrs. Heisler committed suicide at 5 p. m. Tuesday by leaping from a fifth-floor window of the Detective Bureau in City Hall, where she had been permitted the freedom
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of the large office, according to police.
Orlando said he will study the report on the murder and suicide case between now and Monday, and he expects on Monday to go before Supreme Court Justice Frank T. Lloyd to discuss the feasibility of engaging private investigators to augment his staff of county detectives, for the purpose of pushing the probe at a faster pace than police detectives seem to have done.
After Orlando indicated he was not entirely satisfied with the progress, or lack of progress, police have made, Chief Colsey announced for the first time that his men have a “pretty good idea” who the killers are, and the investigation has now narrowed down to a search for them. Two are former pugilists of Camden, and the third is a notorious Eastern Pennsylvania ex-convict, robber and “trigger-man,” who is described as the man who poured four bullets into Feitz’s body near the door of the Sycamore street house.
Furniture Removed
Incidentally, the furniture was moved from the house yesterday, but police admitted they knew nothing about the moving, nor where the furniture was taken. It is presumed the moving was ordered by William Solinsky, 1052 Line street, only brother of Mrs. Heisler and spokesman for the family. Solinsky would not discuss it.
Feitz Slain Balking Grafters—Orlando
Camden Evening Courier —
Prosecutor Says Holdup Theory is Fake; Police Still in Dark
Reports that Detective William T. Feitz, Jr., was slain gy [sic] gunmen staging a “shake-down” and not a hold-up, as police have stated, were given credence today by Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando.
Taking a hand in the investigation because of apparent lack of progress by police, Orlando expressed the opinion that Feitz was trying to protect Mrs. Emma Heisler from a band of extortionists when he entered the disorderly house she operated at 243 Sycamore street about 2 a. m. last Sunday, only to have four bullets pumped into his body.
Meanwhile the same air of secrecy with which police and detectives have surrounded themselves in the investigation was assumed by denizens of Camden’s underworld, several of whom are reported to know more about the case than they care to disclose. However, Police Chief Arthur Colsey declared this morning there was nothing new in the investigation that the police can give out.
Gangsters Silent
Known gangsters who had been willing to talk freely about activities of opposing mobsters last night were close-mouthed, shifty-eyed and obviously afraid to say anything about the Feitz murder.
One underworld character said all gangsters are fearful that some “weak sister” in one of the many gangs may “spill something” that will lead to wholesale revelations of graft, vice and crime, with dozens of arrests following.
As a result, the underworld’s nerves are on edge. Numbers racketeers, “alky” dealers, vice lords and their henchmen—all conditions and varieties of underworld characters seemed to have caught the infection. Their usual affability was replaced with a curt denial of any knowledge.
Disorderly houses in Camden had closed voluntarily. Virtually every race horse bookmakers’ establishment was closed. The parade grounds of gangsters were deserted. They could be found only in “back rooms” and the less populous corners—and most of them were alone, in marked contrast to their penchant for hangers-on.
They were cleared for action, observers decided, and ready for a “big break” of some sort—fearful that an aroused police department might crack down with such ruthless abandon that “shooting it out” might become the necessary “play” for self-preservation.
Orlando expressed the opinion that Feitz was killed by “shake-down” men after he had quizzed a number of witnesses in the Feitz murder, including Cornelius Murphy, who, police say, was caretaker at the Heisler establishment.
This quiz was launched yesterday afternoon.
Orlando’s reconstruction of the crime was in harmony with persistent rumors that have been in circulation ever since Feitz was shot to death early last Sunday. His theory, however, is at variance with that of Camden city police department detectives, who have insisted that Feitz was killed when he went into the house and caught a trio of men “sticking up” the patrons in the place.
Orlando’s questioning of witnesses corroborated reports that the county intends to take charge of the investigation into the case.
“Matter of Time”
While admitting that neither he nor the police knows the identity of the slayers, Orlando expressed confidence that their apprehension was only a matter of time.
At the same time, both Orlando and police chieftains denied reports that a widely known South Camden boxer had been arrested in New York as a material witness, and is being held incommunicado in connection with the murder.
“My present plans are to take all the information available on the case before Justice Frank T. Lloyd Monday, so he can direct us in future developments,” explained the prosecutor.
Asked for his opinion of the conditions which led up to the shooting, Orlando replied: “I think these men went into the place to obtain money from the operator of the house. Feitz went in to frustrate the attempt and was murdered.”
“Have you any idea of the specific time we can expect the suspects to be taken into custody?” the prosecutor was asked.
“No. Any statement I might make along those lines would be merely guess-work.”
“Does your statement mean you have decided not to take what evidence is available before Justice Lloyd?” Orlando then was asked.
“No. This information is preliminary to a report I intend to give Justice Lloyd Monday so he can direct us.”
Welcomes Interviews
“Do you have any intention of clamping down on news to the press?”
“Absolutely not. On the contrary, I shall be glad to give a daily interview to the newspapers. I think the public should be kept cognizant of developments, and I want to cooperate with the press,” whereupon the prosecutor gave out the following formal statement:
“Pursuant to a request which I made to Chief Colsey yesterday, the Chief and Lieutenant George Ward came to my office this afternoon and submitted to me for inspection reports which they have made up setting forth a series of events in the Feitz murder investigation.
“This report was supplemented by a more detailed and minute verbal report by Lieutenant Ward and Chief Colsey, and following this conference I came to city hall, where I read over some statements which have been taken from some of the witnesses in the case.
Talks to Witnesses
“In order to satisfy myself more thoroughly, I have talked to some of the witnesses myself, but have not been able to talk to all of them because of the lack of time and because I wish to give the stenographers a chance to transcribe the notes they have made on the prior witnesses.
“I feel satisfied from the information obtained from the witnesses that while the names of the slayers have not been mentioned and we do not have them, a careful and minute description which has been given by two or three of the witnesses who were in the premises the night in question will lead us to the individuals responsible for this murder.
“We can’t give out that information because we believe it would frustrate the investigation and give the culprits a chance to secrete themselves, but we intend to use all of the police facilities available to locate these individuals who answer the descriptions given. And until we have in our custody these men who answer these descriptions, there will be nothing of major importance that we can give out excepting that we are looking for them.
“It is merely an opinion, but I believe we should be able to take into custody these individuals that have been described.”
Feitz to Be Given Funeral of Hero
Camden Evening Courier —
100 Policemen Expected to Attend Rites Today—Officials to Be Present
William T. Feitz, Jr., Camden’s first policeman to be murdered in line of duty, will be laid to rest this afternoon with the honors of a hero.
Probably half of the police force of more than 200 men will turn out in their nattiest uniforms to attend the funeral services for their slain comrade and accompany his body to the grave. Feitz was shot to death early Sunday when he walked into a disorderly house at 243 Sycamore street. Three gunmen suspected in the slaying escaped.
A crowd of close to 1000 persons is expected to gather about the undertaking establishment at 1401 Princess avenue, where the services will be held. Rev. Christian M. Hansen, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Kenwood and Kaighn avenue, will officiate.
Colsey to Attend
Police Chief Arthur Colsey and all high officials of the department will attend, and some of the five city commissioners are expected to be present. Mayor Roy R. Stewart, director of the department of public safety, was not certain this morning whether the pressure of business in his office would permit him to attend. If he cannot be there, his secretary, E. Howard Broome, will represent him.
More than 20 automobiles are expected to be in the funeral procession. The cortege will be led by a dozen motorcycle police, four more will drive slowly beside the hearse and another quartet will bring up the rear.
Chief Colsey, Lieutenant Ralph Bakley, Feitz’ superior as commander of the Second district; Lieutenant George Ward, in command of the detective bureau, and other police officials will ride in a car immediately behind that occupied by members of Feitz’ family.
Most of the policemen attending will meet at Central station, in the basement of city hall, at 1 o’clock. The services will begin at 2 p. m.
1500 Pass Bier
Nearly 1500 persons thronged the funeral parlors last night when the body of the slain detective, only recently promoted from patrolman, was placed on view. His mother, Mrs. Pauline Liebich Feitz, with whom he lived at 1125 Liberty street, fainted when she saw her son’s face for the first time since he died.
Later she recovered sufficiently to sit in a chair and watch the procession as it filed past her son’s body.
Taken to a davenport and revived, Mrs. Feitz lay there moaning in her grief as Mayor Stewart, Chief Colsey, Lieut. Ward, Lieut. Bakley, and 100 other policemen in uniform filed past the bier.
Again, when the Camden Elks Club held its memorial service for departed members, she fainted. Frank M. Travaline, exalted ruler, and Albert Austermuhl, secretary, with other officers and a quartet from the club were holding the service, eulogizing Feitz and lamenting his death when Mrs. Feitz swooned the second time.
From 6.30 until 10.30 p. m. a steady stream walked past the detective’s bier. Old women hobbled in, and many children were among those to look at Feitz. Police said hundreds of curious men and women came from Philadelphia to see the body.
Lieut. Bakley and 11 Police Suspended in Feitz Inquiry
Camden Evening Courier —
3 Sergeants Included in List Set Down by Chief Colsey
JUSTICE LLOYD JOINS PROBE INTO MURDER
Chief of Police Arthur Colsey at noon today announced the indefinite suspension of Lieut. Ralph Bakley, commander of the Second district of Camden police, and 11 other policemen in connection with the investigation into the killing of Detective William T. Feitz.
The full list of those suspended is as follows:
Lieut. Ralph Bakley, Sergt. John Garrity, Sergt. Walter Mattison, Acting Sergt. Edward Leonard, Sergt. Richard Cornog, Policemen George Weber, Joseph Leonhardt, Leon Branch, Thomas Cheeseman, Frank Wilmont [sic], John Houston and Vernon Jones.
Supreme Court Justice Frank T. Lloyd today entered the investigation into the murder of District Detective William T. Feitz in an alleged South Camden disorderly house Sept. 2.
The jurist, upon returning from his Summer vacation at Seaside Park, called an immediate conference with Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando of Camden county and Police Chief Arthur Colsey of this city.
Although no confirmation could be obtained officially, it was learned from authoritative sources that Justice Lloyd would take up the charges made earlier in the week by Prosecutor Orlando that graft and corruption exist in the Camden police.
May Probe Suicide
The jurist was also expected to delve into the unusual circumstances surrounding the death of Mrs. Emma Heisler, 38, alleged operator of the disorderly house where Feitz met his death at 243 Sycamore street.
Mrs. Heisler, who was detained in the Camden detective bureau at the order of Detective Lieutenant George Ward instead of being locked in a cell, jumped from the fifth floor window of Ward’s office September 4 while two detectives assigned to guard her were nearby.
The progress of the police investigation into the killing of Feitz, whom police declare was shot when he surprised three bandits in the act of holding up 20 inmates and patrons, will be presented by both Prosecutor Orlando and Chief Colsey.
Mickey Blair to Give Up
Mickey Blair, boxer whose real name is Michael Tenerelli, 25, who has been living in New York City, but whose Camden address is 833 South Fourth street, is to be surrendered to Camden police for questioning in connection with the murder of Feitz.
He has been sought by detectives for grilling since a few hours after the shooting of Feitz.
His attorney, Edward V. Martino, of 540 Cooper street, notified Chief Colsey today that he would surrender Tenerelli or Blair to the police in his office at 1 p.m.
“Mickey knows absolutely nothing about the killing of Feitz,” Martino told newspapermen. “Learning through a friend that police were seeking him for questioning, he called me Saturday night and asked me to ascertain the facts.”
“I learned that police wanted to talk to him and telephoned him to that effect in New York City where he has been staying for the past few weeks. He later called me back and told me that he would be in Camden at 1 p.m. today.”
‘Attended Funeral’
Martino revealed that Tenerelli or Blair said he had been in Camden prior to the killing of Feitz and also on Labor Day, the day following the shooting of the detective. He was here to attend the funeral of a brother-in-law, Martino said.
Neither Chief Colsey or other police or detective officials would comment upon what they hoped to learn from Tenerelli that might bring an early solution of the murder and lead to the arrest of the killers.
Prosecutor Orlando at the conference with Justice Lloyd in his City Hall-Court House offices, was to present a complete report on the murder of the detective together with statements obtained from all persons who figured in the crime.
Will Probe Numbers
Prosecutor Orlando stepped in and assumed nominal charge of the investigation last Thursday when he ordered police to submit to him all reports and statements of witnesses. However it was learned that the police are still directing the search for the killers.
The conference between Justice Lloyd, Prosecutor Orlando and Chief Colsey comes on the eve of swearing in the September Grand Jury tomorrow at which time the grand jurors wil [sic] be ordered among other issues, to probe into the “numbers” racket in Camden county.
Feitz Funeral Photographs
Camden Evening Courier —
Police officials and fellow officers of Detective William T. Feitz, Jr., slain last Sunday in a disorderly house in Sycamore street, attended the funeral services Saturday. Top photo shows pall-bearers removing Feitz’s body from the undertaking establishment of Coroner Arthur H. Holl at left. The pall-bearers, left to right, are Patrolmen Joseph Leonhardt, Feitz’ companion the night he was slain; Otto Taperscer, Delaware Palmer, William Weaver and Paul Jackson. Lower photo shows police officials at the services. Left to right, Lt. Herbert Anderson, Chief Colsey, Lt. Ralph Bakely, E. Howard Broome, secretary to Mayor Stewart, and Lt. George Ward.
Grand Jury Vice Probe to Be Ordered by Lloyd; Stewart Quizzes Cops
Camden Evening Courier —
FEITZ MURDER, CITY GRAFTING TO FACE INQUIRY
Action Follows Parley With Orlando and Mayor on Conditions
MORE SUSPENSIONS OF POLICE INTIMATED
Mickey Blair Quizzed on Detective’s Killing; Stewart Warns, ‘Clean Up’
Questioned in Feitz Murder
Michael Tenerelli, 25, known in pugilistic circles as Mickey Blair, is shown above during a lull in the questioning by detectives investigating the murder of District Detective William Feitz. Tenerelli surrendered to police yesterday and on order of Prosecutor Orlando was held without bail on charges of being a material witness and with conspiracy in a robbery in connection with the holdup in progress in the South Camden alleged disorderly house at the time Feitz was shot.
Ward Reported on Way Out as Detective Chief
Reports around Camden police and detective headquarters today were to the effect that Lieutenant George Ward was on “his way out” as head of the Detective Bureau.
Dissatisfaction with the manner in which both police and detectives have handled the investigation so far into the Feitz murder will result in Mayor Stewart, director of public safety, ordering a change in detective chiefs today, it was authoritatively learned.
Lieutenant Herbert Anderson, commander of the First Police District, will succeed Lieutenant Ward as it was reported, the latter being sent back to that police precinct which he formerly commanded.
“A sweeping investigation of all phases of “crime” in Camden County, will be the first order given the new September Grand Jury today after it is sworn in at Camden Courthouse by Supreme Court Justice Frank T. Lloyd.
That was the decision reached by Justice Lloyd after three hours of separate conferences with Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando, of Camden County, and Mayor Roy R. Stewart, director of public safety. During the conferences held in Justice Lloyd’s offices at City Hall-Courthouse, the murder of District Detective William T. Feitz, alleged graft and corruption in the Camden police department and protected vice were thoroughly discussed.
Today, Mayor Stewart, who has inaugurated his own personal investigation of existing conditions in the police department, continued to question and take statements from police officials, patrolmen and detectives. Twenty-three patrolmen and detectives were ordered before the mayor yesterday in addition to the 12 others who were indefinitely suspended by order of Police Chief Arthur Colsey.
Tenerelli Quizzed
Michael Tenerelli, 25, also known as Mickey Blair, former Camden lightweight boxer, was still being questioned at police headquarters in connection with the murder of Detective Feitz. Tenerelli who surrendered to police here yesterday after returning from New York, is booked as a material witness and on a charge of conspiracy in a robbery. Both charges were ordered placed against Tenerelli by Prosecutor Orlando who has assumed direct charge of the investigation. He is being held without bail.
Seven other men and women taken into custody by police after the shooting of Feitz in the alleged disorderly house operated by the late Mrs. Emma Heisler at 243 Sycamore street, were to have been arraigned in Camden Police Court today on orders of Prosecutor Orlando and then turned over to the county authorities. Bail, Prosecutor Orlando declared, would be “sufficiently high” to insure their later appearances when wanted.
However there were no appearances of material witnesses or others in the Feitz investigation before Judge J. Harry Switzer in Camden Police Court during its session today and it was unofficially reported that the prosecutor had changed his plans.
Police Chief Colsey warned all detectives and patrolmen in the department that further suspensions will follow justified complaints of vice anywhere in the city limits if it can be traced to police neglect.
Chief Colsey also admitted that the 12 patrolmen and detectives suspended yesterday on his orders, will receive no pay as long as their suspensions last.
In addition to Lieutenant Bakley, Sergeant Cornog and Acting Sergeant Leonard, the others suspended include Sergeant Walter Mattison of police headquarters; Sergeant John Garrity, District Detective Joseph H. Leonhardt who was with Feitz when he was shot; Patrolmen Leon Branch, George Weber, Thomas Cheeseman, Frank Wilmot, John Houston and Vernon Jones, all attached to the Second district station.
Interviews Police
Three of the suspended officers, Mayor Stewart revealed, were among those interrogated yesterday. They are Lieut. Ralph A. Bakley, commander of the Second Police District or Division “H” in which territory the alleged disorderly house existed where Feitz was fatally shot; Sergeant Richard Cornog and Acting [lines between the bottom of crop 15 and the top of crop 16 are not captured in the scanned crops]
Edwin Andrews, Winslow township; Joseph Dougherty, 140 Prospect avenue, Merchantville.
William Tomlinson, Glendale, Voorhees township; Edmund S. Stafford, 546 Stevens street; Harry Buffington, 123 East Clinton avenue, Oaklyn; Samuel A. Dobbins, 2599 Baird boulevard; Charles H. Thatcher, 129 Kendall boulevard, Oaklyn; Richard S. Thompson, East Zane avenue, Collingswood; Benjamin F. Stemmer, 420 Third Avenue, Haddon Heights; Horace J. Harvey, 721 Amherst avenue, Audubon; H. B. Cox, Evesham avenue, Voorhees township; Dr. Walter F. Wood, Collingswood; John W. Underwood, 801 Cumberland street, Gloucester; Clarence Alloway, Blackwood; Charles A. McWilliams, Blackwood; Louis G. Clark, Barrington; Albert J. Cline, 18 East Crystal Lake avenue, Westmont; Robert Bushbeck, First avenue, Pine Hill, Harry Burkhardt, Bell road, Mt. Ephraim; George T. Schuster, 223 Woodland terrace, Collingswood; Chesley L. Hutchins, 711 Market street, Gloucester and Otto Vierling, Evergreen avenue, Runnemede.
The order of Justice Lloyd for a wide grand jury probe of crime follows upon a decision he made 10 days ago to have the same body open an investigation into the “numbers” racket in Camden city and county. At that time he declared he did not believe any graft or corruption existed in the Camden police department in connection with the operation of the lottery game here.
Tenerelli was identified, Colsey said, as a frequenter of Mrs. Emma Heisler’s disorderly house at 243 Sycamore street, where Feitz was killed, and was booked as a material witness in the Feitz murder, and on a charge of “shaking down” Mrs. Heisler by force, prior to the murder.
Unlike Mrs. Heisler, who leaped to her death after 60 hours freedom in the detective bureau, Blair was slapped without bail into the “cold storage” or incommunicado cell in the bureau.
Blair, after surrendering to Colsey, was sent to the “downstairs” jail and kept there until about 4 p. m. yesterday. Then he was questioned for an hour and a half by Prosecutor Orlando and Colsey.
Blair denied all knowledge of the murder, Colsey said, after the grilling ceased, but added that two inmates of Mrs. Heisler’s house, whom he would not identify, named Blair as one of several men who had come several times to Mrs. Heisler’s place, attempted to extort money from her and, failing, had “held up the place” or a “shakedown.”
This coincided with the statement of Detective Sergeant Gus Koerner, on the day Feitz was killed, that the place had been held up several times, and Mrs. Heisler, because of the nature of her occupation, would not report the holdups.
Prosecutor Orlando, subsequently, had stated that Feitz met death in an attempt to block a “shake-down” holdup of the place.
Boxer Is Identified
Both the inmates of Mrs. Heisler’s place, held incommunicado, looked at Blair in the new detective bureau “lineup” room and identified him as a shakedown visitor, but said he was not in the house on the night of the murder, Colsey said.
The chief then was asked if he believes friends of Blair staged the fatal shake-down and killed Feitz, and replied:
“That’s what we want to know. We don’t know yet. But we are getting somewhere and will solve this case.”
The two inmates of the Heisler house were brought back to the lineup room a second time, took another look at Blair through the screen that made him a “high-lighted” figure and prevented him from seeing them and reaffirmed their previous statements, Colsey said.
Upon the suspension of the twelve members of the force and the installation of a new acting second district commander and new acting sergeants to relieve those suspended, Chief Colsey said he issued the following order to the entire department:
Calls for Cleanup
“All vice must be eliminated absolutely and entirely in Camden. This means all types of vice, including the numbers racket, gambling houses, disorderly houses, horse-race bookmaking speakeasies and everything else though it may not be specifically enumerated here.
“In the future if any complaint of vice comes in, and is proved to be justified, and is attributable to negligence on the part of any patrolmen of police officer [sic], immediate suspension of the negligent members of the force will follow without exception.”
Chief Colsey also said he will recommend that bail of $2000 be set in all numbers racket cases in future, and that all arrested be held for grand jury action, except in cases where innocent players are brought in.
‘Prompted by Facts’
In making public the suspensions of the policemen, Chief Colsey said his action was “prompted by facts” uncovered during the course of his investigation.
In announcing the taking over of the murder investigation, Prosecutor Orlando said:
“As a result of my conference with Justice Lloyd it has been decided that the prosecutor’s office from this time on will take charge of the murder investigation.
“In doing so, however, it does not mean that the city police will cease acting in the matter and will act with just as much zeal as is within their command in bringing about the apprehension of those responsible.
“This investigation has been taken over by this office by reason of the policy assumed in other murder investigations. Hereafter all murder investigations in Camden county will be under the supervision of the prosecutor’s office and at the same time through co-ordinated efforts of this office and the police department of the particular community where the murder takes place.
“As far as developments are concerned, there is nothing new in the case except the arrest of Mickey Blair, who was surrendered by his counsel and who is in the custody of the police until he is committed.”
Lieutenant Walter Welch in command of the Third Police District was assigned by Chief Colsey to replace Lieutenant Bakley and make the suspensions of all sergeants and patrolmen in that precinct effective immediately. Sergeant John Potter of the Third District was named an acting lieutenant to replace Lieutenant Welch as commander of that precinct.
Welch said he will instruct every policeman under his new command that he must work in harmony with earnest efforts to stamp out vice.
“If they do not do this,” Welch said, “I do not want them. They will be of no use to me. They know what to expect if they fail to cooperate. My efforts will be directed to maintaining order without vice in the Second district, just as I have done in the Third.”
Mrs. Heisler Buried at Simple Rites
Camden Evening Courier —
The body of Emma Heisler was laid to rest yesterday afternoon.
Just two days after the body of Detective William Feitz was borne to its last resting place, that of Emma Heisler, whose suicide came as a tragic sequel to the death of Feitz, followed to its final destination in the New Camden cemetery.
At 2 p. m. the procession left the funeral establishment of Frank J. Leonard at Broadway and Lansdowne avenue and wended its mournful way to the cemetery. For hours before, friends, relatives and the morbidly curious had entered to take a last look at the dead woman.
Shortly before the hour set for the funeral all but immediate friends and relatives were requested to leave. Most who remained were women—in direct contrast to the uniformed legion which had paid its last respects to the murdered policeman on Saturday.
The funeral procession itself consisted of about a dozen automobiles containing the surviving members of the dead woman’s family and her immediate friends.
3 From Camden Go to Cop Convention
Camden Courier-Post —
Bott, Thorn, Mardino Are Benevolent Group Envoys to Shore
To Represent Camden Cops
Three delegates from Camden will leave tonight or early tomorrow for the thirty-fifth annual convention of the New Jersey State Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association in Atlantic City. They are Patrolmen Herbert Bott, William Thorn and Joseph Mardino.
Mardino is serving his seventh term as state delegate, and is unopposed for re-election. The Camden delegates will try to bring next year’s convention here. They represent 230 members of the association.
The convention will open tomorrow with memorial services for deceased members, and one of those to be honored is Detective William T. Feitz, Jr., who was slain by gunmen when he entered a disorderly house at 243 Sycamore street at 2 a.m. last Sunday. He was the first Camden policeman murdered in line of duty.
The association comprises 87 locals with a total membership of approximately 8000. Harry B. Gourley, of Paterson, president, will rule over the sessions in the Madison Hotel. He is unopposed for his fifth term.
Patrolman Harry Lincoln, of Gloucester, is unopposed for his fourth term as state trustee.
Feitz’s Killers Known to Blair, Colsey Says; 3 Held in Number Drive
Camden Evening Courier —
Mickey Blair was held without bail by Police Judge J. Warrant Switzer today on a warrant charging him with “unlawfully conspiring with John Doe and others to hold up and rob Mrs. Emma Heisler and others at her home, and during the commission of the crime one William Feitz, a police officer, was shot and killed.” Blair pleaded not guilty.
The secret to the identity of the killers of Detective William T. Feitz, Camden police said today, is held by Michael Tenerelli, 25, known in pugilistic ranks as Mickey Blair, one-time lightweight boxer.
As a result, both Camden county authorities and Camden police concentrated their efforts on grilling Tenerelli, who had been held incommunicado since he surrendered to the police here Monday.
“Mickey Blair knows more than he is telling us,” said Police Chief Arthur Colsey. “We intend to find out if we have to keep him confined to jail indefinitely.
“Our questioning of Blair leads us to believe that he knows who the killers of Feitz are. We have a very good idea as to their identity and are looking for them but Blair’s confirmation would help us considerably.
“Solution of the murder never looked more encouraging than it does today,” Chief Colsey added.
Plans New Parley
The Camden police head said that he would confer today with both Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando and Mayor Roy R. Stewart in connection with the investigation in the murder.
Several witnesses, now held in cells at police headquarters are to be examined, Chief Colsey revealed, to further break down the alibi of Blair which is to the effect that he was in New York City at the time that Feitz was shot to death in a South Camden alleged disorderly house.
It was also reported that Camden authorities have asked New York police to take into custody a reputed gunman and “trigger” man who killed Feitz. His identity was not revealed.
Prosecutor Orlando was expected to place a more serious charge against Blair sometime today. He is already being held without bail on a charge of being a material witness and with conspiracy in a robbery in connection with the shaking down of Mrs. Emma Heisler, alleged operator of the disorderly house where Feitz was shot at 243 Sycamore street.
Another new development yesterday came with the revelation by Supreme Court Justice Frank T. Lloyd that Feitz was in the disorderly house when one or more men bent on “shaking down” Mrs. Heisler entered and shot Feitz.
This was direct contradiction of the version first given out by police.
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They said Feitz followed a car containing suspicious looking characters and saw them enter the house, walked in after them and stumbled onto a hold-up.
Justice Lloyd would not amplify his statement, made to the new grand jury, except to say “that is my information.”
The “serious charge” which Colsey said will be placed against Blair will result in part from a breaking down of Blair’s alibi, Colsey said.
“We have checked up on statements made by Tenerelli as to his whereabouts and we found out he was not where he said he was. He said he was in New York at the time of the killing. He was not there.
“He is lying about his whereabouts.
“It will be a long time before we are through with Tenerelli. We think he will or can give us information which will prove valuable to our case.”
The New York mobster angle came from a police official under orders not to talk. He said:
“We have a complete description of this man and this marks him as so strikingly different from the average man that he would know immediately whom we were seeking if we gave out the description. Publication of his description might drive him to plastic surgery in an effort to obliterate telltale characteristics of appearance.”
Tenth Arrest Made Here in Numbers Quiz
Camden Courier-Post —
1 ADMITS GUILT AND POLICE SAY LINKS OTHERS
Klosterman Named by Man Found With Slips on Him After Arrest
3 BIG BANKS INVOLVED IN MOVE TO CLEAN UP
Others Must Face Trial; More Arraigned and Bonds Fixed By Court — Campaign Against Writers Pushed With Feitz Probe — ALLEGED ‘BARON’ IS HELD IN BAIL — Mayor Pledges Aid of Camden Cops to State on Illicit Liquor
Arrests in the numbers racket in Camden continued today simultaneously with the continuation of the inquiry into the murder of City Detective William T. Feitz Jr.
With the Feitz slaying probe in its eleventh day—the detective was slain September 2 at 243 Sycamore Street, an alleged disorderly house—city and county authorities were still questioning witnesses in an endeavor to obtain sufficient evidence to name the murderer or murderers.
The arrest this morning of Crawford Smith, 51, of 702 Carman Street, as a numbers writer, brought the total of those apprehended this week in the numbers racket to 10.
At the same time Police Judge J. Harry Switzer held Fred Klosterman, 33, of 1050 Mechanic Street, in $5000 bail for the grand jury on a charge of operating a numbers game.
Klosterman’s brother, Joseph Klosterman, 35, of 1400 Mechanic Street, was released in $3000 bail yesterday by Judge Switzer on a charge of operating a numbers lottery.
The Klostermans, according to police, are among the topnotch numbers barons of the city. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
No Testimony Taken
Fred Klosterman surrendered voluntarily yesterday afternoon when he learned that police were seeking him as an alleged numbers operator.
He was arraigned in police court today on complaint of George Zeitz, a city detective, who charged him with operating a numbers game. Police did not reveal where Fred Klosterman allegedly operated.
There was no testimony taken at the hearing of Fred Klosterman. His bail bond was signed by John Zubien. Police say they do not know Zubien’s address. Mrs. Anna Bubnoski, of 1426 Mount Ephraim Avenue, posted the $3000 bail for Joseph Klosterman. Zeitz also had made complaint against him.
Fred Klosterman surrendered yesterday, according to police, after a defendant in police court testified that he was employed at an alleged numbers bank operated by Fred Klosterman. Zeitz swore to a warrant for Fred Klosterman’s arrest based on the police information, he said.
Hearing Tomorrow
Smith, who was arrested by George Clayton, a policeman, will be given a hearing in police court tomorrow as an alleged numbers writer.
Meanwhile no disposition was made in the case of Mrs. Mollie Schwartz, 42, who was arrested yesterday on a charge of operating a still at a double dwelling at 3404 Rosedale Avenue. Police Lieutenant John Potter said the woman admitted operating the still.
A man said to be a brother of Mrs. Schwartz fled in his undershirt at the time of the raid, as Sergeant Edward Hahn and Policeman Joseph Keefe were making the arrest and seizure. The seizure included 13 barrels of alleged mash, a stove, one cooler, three gallons of liquor, and a 75 gallon still. Police reported that one of two cars without license tags which had been parked in front of the house disappeared later.
Cops to Aid State
Strict cooperation with the State Alcoholic Beverages Commission in the detection, closing up, and prosecution of speakeasies is being given by the Camden Police Department.
That statement was made today by Mayor Roy R. Stewart, who is the director of the department of public safety, and came as a result of an interview which Howard B. Dyer, an investigator with the state beverage commission had with the mayor. Dyer was formerly deputy city clerk.
“Dyer came in and asked for the cooperation of the police department,” said Mayor Stewart, “and I told him we would cooperate fully.”
The state alcoholic beverage commission, through its investigators, has been busy in running down speakeasies, stills and other illicit liquor practices.
Bribery Charged by Grand Jurors
Camden Courier-Post —
26 Other Persons Named in 111 True Bills on Numbers
KLOSTERMANS TO FACE TRIAL
A bumper crop of 111 indictments was returned yesterday by the September vice probing grand jury against alleged numbers operators alone.
In addition, Mickey Blair, free on bail as a material witness in the slaying of Detective William T. Feitz was indicted on a charge of conspiracy to rob Mrs. Emma Heisler, in whose house Feitz was slain.
The 111 numbers indictments were aimed at 26 individuals, including Fred and Joe Klosterman, long known as numbers barons. Each of the brothers was indicted on six counts of engaging in the lottery business and on 12 additional indictments charging sale of lottery tickets.
The complete list of true bills were handed up to Judge Frank F. Neutze of the Camden County Common Pleas Court.
The numbers indictments follows [sic]:
Engaged in lottery business—Antonio Macio, 2125 Haddonfield road, Pennsauken township, one count; Fred Klosterman and brother, Joseph, Mt. Ephraim avenue and Mechanic street, six counts each.
Selling lottery tickets—Geneva Harden, beauty parlor operator in Pennsauken township, ten counts; Marshall Howard, 1912 Derousse avenue, Delair, 10 counts; Frank Martz, 235 Erie street, Camden, two counts; Arthur Woodridge, 7910 Park avenue, Pennsauken township, two counts; Albert Young, 519 North Second street, Camden, one count; Andrew Pointkowski, 1475 South Ninth street, six counts; Crawford Smith, 702 Carman street, five counts; Charles Simonin, 709 Fairview street, Camden, five counts; John Studinger, 2504 Federal street, Camden, 10 counts; Lucille Barber, 8302 Park avenue, Pennsauken township, two counts; Samuel Ford, 1124 South Ninth street, two counts; John Geronio, 1042 Cooper street, one count; James Davis, 100 Mt. Vernon street, Camden, one count; Oscar Conway, 2803 Mitchell street, one count; John Barnes, 7805 Pleasant avenue, Pennsauken, two counts; Nathan Boston, Parry, Burlington county, one count.
James Gantt, 8302 Park avenue, Pennsauken, two counts; Mary Angelo, 600 Pine street, two counts; Thomas Kirk, 935 Carpenter street, two counts; Samuel Kane, 211 Walnut street, Philadelphia, one count; Samuel Karon, 1528 Mt. Ephraim avenue, one count; Walter Hart, 1245 Thurman street, Camden, five counts; Frank Kulzcnski, 1100 Orchard street, two counts.
The presentment required only three minutes and the grand jury immediately withdrew to its chambers to consider new evidence in its probe of vice and gambling here.
It was indicated that the first batch of indictments found by the grand jury was just that, and that further true bills would be forthcoming as the work of sifting the mass of evidence continues.
A quartet of former city detectives who were transferred to regular police duty June 14, and seven attaches of the county jail were among the list of witnesses subpoenaed.
The erstwhile plainclothesmen are Clarence Arthur, Benjamin Simon, Clifford Del Rossi and Leon Branch. All were put into uniform without explanation, and with the understanding, they declare, that they would not be displaced. All expressed surprise at their removal, inasmuch as others were later appointed to their posts, because they had good records while members of the detective bureau.
Arthur and Branch appeared briefly before the probing body.
Crawford Smith is the brother of Detective Walter Smith and former Detective Howard Smith, it was reported by Mayor Roy R. Stewart.
Michael Tenerelli, known in fistic cicles [sic] as Mickey Blair, was among those waiting in the grand jury anteroom when the jury adjourned to be called before the probers. All those called were subpoenaed on “John Doe” warrants.
Mickey told reporters he has no idea what form of questioning will be followed when he is called into the grand jury room. He was recently released under bail of $5000 as a material witness in the Feitz killing investigation.
Those who could not be heard by the grand jurors before adjournment yesterday were told to come back next Thursday.
Among the witnesses in the vice probe called into the jury room were two Camden county jail attaches, Mrs. Lillian Vincent, matron, and Frank Tyson, jail clerk.
Both were asked questions regarding the proceedure [sic] followed in releasing prisoners from the pail [sic], it was learned. Tyson was not asked by the grand jurors if the prisoners were ever allowed to leave jail before their terms were up, he said.
“We never discharged a prisoner during my long experience in the county jail,” he told reporters, “without the proper release slip. I do not know of any prisoner ever being released before his time was up.”
Other members of the county jail staff waiting to appear were Edmund Powell, former warden; William Kinsler, Walter Taylor, Joseph Rea and John Feitz.
Another witness to testify was Mrs. Anna Smallwood, of Fifth and Chestnut, who posted $5000 bail for Mickey Blair to effect the former boxer’s release in the Feitz murder case.
It is thought that the county jail attaches will be questioned in an endeavour to learn how prisoners are released before time, although confirmation of this report was lacking.
The grand jury also returned indictments against Robert R. Young and Fred H. Schmitz, both of Philadelphia, former employes of the RCA Victor Company, charging them with the theft of four automobile radio sets from the plant on September 19.
Harry Smith, John Lockwood, Edward Troutman and Thomas Moreland, of Camden, were charged with larceny of merchandise from the American Stores Company on August 30.
Stanley Gaisor and Henry Parewicz, both of Camden, were indicted on charges of the theft of an automobile owned by County Physician Edward B. Rogers. The automobile was stolen in Camden, August 31.
Paul Pralas was indicted on charges of atrocious assault and battery on Rocco Piliro on September 19 in Camden.
The following were indicted on charges of desertion and non-support: Cornelius Chambers, charged by his wife, Ethel, with deserting her and three small children.
Thomas Porter, of Clementon, with non-support of his three small children. Frank Drew, Camden, desertion and non-support of his wife, Martha, and three minor children. Walter Butterfield, Brooklawn, with desertion of his wife, Verna, and one minor child. Eugene Morselander, of Camden, with desertion of his wife, Gladys.
2 Speakeasy Owners Paid Hush Money, Graft Probers Hear
COLSEY DROPS ACCUSED MEN
Sixty-two indictments charging six Camden policemen with graft and bribe-taking were returned by the new grand jury yesterday.
The wholesale indictments constituted the first visible results of the probe into Camden’s vice affairs and connection of the police with vice, ordered by Supreme Court Justice Frank T. Lloyd.
They are charged with taking hush money.
Those indicted:
Patrolman Thomas T. Cheeseman, 20 indictments.
Patrolman Vernon Jones, 20 indictments.
Patrolman Howard Fisher, 10 indictments.
Patrolman George Weber, also known as Buck Weaver, 10 indictments.
Detective Joseph Leonhardt, one indictment.
Patrolman Frank Wilmot, one indictment.
All are attached to the Second district except Leonhardt, who was dismissed from the force two weeks ago by Mayor Roy R. Stewardt [sic], and has appealed his case to the Civil Service Commission.
Leonhardt was with Detective William T. Feitz on the night of September 2, when Feitz was slain in Mrs. Emma Heisler’s alleged disorderly house at 243 Sycamore street. He and Feitz had been made district detectives less than a week before the shooting. They had been assigned to the “beat” in which Mrs. Heisler’s house was located, relieving Cheeseman and Jones, who were demoted to patrolmen.
Cheeseman was a brother-in-law of Mrs. Heisler, who leaped to her death from a city hall window while being held as a witness in Feitz’s death.
12 Drew Suspensions
Those indicted, with the exception of Fisher, were among the 12 members of the force suspended by Mayor Stewart in connection with his personal investigation of police connections with vice.
Wilmot, Weber and Jones were returned to duty Wednesday after serving 30-day suspensions.
Cheeseman and Jones are named jointly in nine indictments; jointly with Fisher and Weber in nine other indictments; the four are lister [sic] separately in one set of indictments. Jones and Cheeseman are listed separately in another pair of indictments, while Leonhardt and Wilmot are named in one joint indictment.
Two men, Glenn Brown and Michael Tocco, are named in each indictment as having paid the policemen sums verying [sic] from $5 to $80 since last March. They are reported to be operators of illegal liquor establishments.
Jury Indicts 6 Cops On Vice Graft Charge
Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando announced evidence had been given the grand jury to support charges that each of the men indicted had been accepting graft from racketeers and underworld characters.
The nine indictments against Cheeseman, Jones, Fisher and Weber charge them with having received the sum of $5 from Brown on nine different dates in March and April of this year, for a total of $45.
Cheeseman and Jones are jointly indicted on nine counts for having received from Tocco the sum of $160, in various amounts ranging from $10 to $80 on various dates in May, June and July.
Cheeseman and Jones are each indicted on two separate counts. Jones is charged with having accepted a $40 bribe from Tocco on May 24 and with having received another $5 from Brown on March 3. Cheeseman is indicted for receiving the same sums from the same persons on the same dates.
Fisher is indicted alone on one count of having received a $5 bribe from Brown in March. Weber was also indicted alone for the same offense.
Leonhardt and Wilmot, mentioned in only one indictment, are charged with having accepted $20 from Tocco in March.
Cheeseman has been a member of the police department for 16 years, most of which he served in the capacity of a detective. He was demoted on Sept. 3, 1930, to the rank of a patrolman, but later was again promoted to district detective. Two months ago he was demoted back to patrolman again and has been patrolling a ‘beat’ in South Camden since that time.
Cheeseman Appointed in 1918
Cheeseman is 48. He was appointed to the police force on January 11, 1918, and lives at 249 Rand street. He has served in various capacities since appointment, having been a member of the city vice squad, detective bureau, district detective and patrolman. His rank in the department was listed as a detective, although recently he has been assigned to uniform in South Camden.
Fisher, 42, of 1139 Baring street, was appointed to the force September 29, 1919. He has spent comparatively all of his time in the department as a patrolman in the Second Police district.
Jones is 37 and lives at 1011 South Sixth street. He received his appointment April 27, 1924. He has served on the vice squad, as a detective and plainclothesman. He was recently demoted to a patrolman’s rank.
Leonhardt lives at 553 Division street and is 39. He was appointed a member of the police department on April 25, 1924, two days before Jones. He served until recently as a patrolman, but was promoted to district detective when Jones suffered demotion. He was discharged from the police payroll on September 26 by Mayor Stewart, who said he had gathered evidence against him in his probe of the department which followed the murder of Feitz.
Wilmot is 32 and lives at 201 Kaighn avenue. He was appointed a policeman on July 1, 1928, and has served as a member of the Second district since his appointment.
Weber, 47, of 1369 Princess avenue, was made a member of the force on May 17, 1922. He also has served his entire time as a patrolman in the Second district.
The indictments were presented to Judge Frank F. Neutze in Justice Lloyd’s absence.
Five Are Suspended
Mayor Stewart and Police Chief Arthur Colsey conferred shortly after the indictments were returned.
[Text between this point and the next crop is not on the scan; crop 09a is not in the archive.]
and Judge Neutze to grant these men a speedy trial,” the mayor declared, “so that the cases against them will be disposed of and their guilt or innocence established. In this way the community will have the benefit of their services, if they be found not guilty, as soon as possible.”
None of the policemen indicted had been arrested last night.
Chief of County Detectives Lawrence T. Doran said he expects them to surrender today and post such bail as may be set.
Named by Jury
THOMAS CHEESEMAN
VERNON JONES
Twenty indictments against each of these policemen, formerly assigned as detectives to the beat where Detective William T. Feitz was shot to death in a disorderly house, were returned yesterday by the grand jury. Cheeseman and Jones preceded Feitz and Leonhardt, dismissed and also indicted, on the death beat.
Quartet Indicted on Graft Charges
Four of the six policemen indicted yesterday on charges of bribery. They are George Weber, (upper left) also known as “Bucky Weaver”; Frank Witmot [sic] (upper right), Howard Fisher, (lower left), and Joseph Leonhardt, (lower right), who had been dismissed from the police department.
Governor Reprieves Another Prisoner
Stevens Point Daily Journal —
Trenton, N. J., April 1—(UP)—Not only Bruno Richard Hauptmann, but the man who was to have preceded him to the electric chair, Charles Zeid, was given a new lease on life today by last-minute action.
Zeid, tri-state gangster condemned for murding [sic] Detective William T. Feitz, Jr., of Camden, won his stay from Gov. Harold G. Hoffman after he had abandoned all hope.
“I know I’m going to burn,” the gangster told his guards yesterday. “Hauptmann’s the guy that has to worry. He thinks he has a chance of getting off. I don’t have to worry.”
Head Already Shaved
Like Hauptmann, his head was shaved to receive the electrodes of death. Unlike Hauptmann, he ate a hearty “last meal” late in the day and leisurely smoked a cigar. Then at 5:40 p. m., barely more than two hours before the execution hour, Hoffman announced the reprieve.
It resulted from intervention by Rabbi Abraham Holtzberg, Zeid’s spiritual adviser. He placed before the governor a statement by Zeid charging that certain Camden police officers gave protection to Francis Riley and Martin Farrell, Philadelphia gangster who recently were executed in Pennsylvania. The rabbi also submitted a report by William Portner, chairman of the social service committee of B’nai Brith of Pennsylvania, attacking certain witnesses who testified against Zeid.
Accused Boxer Comes To Defense of Zied
Trenton Times —
CAMDEN, April 3.—Joseph Powell, a boxer, declares that Charles Zied, convicted slayer, was “outside the house when the shots were fired” that killed a Camden detective during a holdup in September, 1934.
Zied was saved from the electric chair at Trenton last Tuesday night by a 30-day reprieve from Governor Harold G. Hoffman, so that further evidence in the case could be investigated.
Powell, awaiting Grand Jury action on a charge of attempted holdup, said yesterday he did not know Zied, “but from the picture I saw in the paper, I am certain he was one of the men who came out of the house at about the time I did.”
Zied was condemned to die for killing Detective William T. Feitz at a Camden dwelling.
Zied Still Guilty, Says Prosecutor
Trenton Times —
CAMDEN, April 18 (P).—Samuel P. Orlando, Camden County prosecutor, has informed Governor Hoffman he does not feel that “new evidence” in the case of Charles Zied, sentenced to die for slaying a detective, warranted any further inquiry.
Orlando announced last night he had written his opinion to the Governor, asserting he has not changed his belief in the prisoner’s guilt.
Zied, 37, formerly identified with the “Tri-State Gang,” out of existence since the execution of its leaders a year ago, was convicted of killing Detective William Feitz in the holdup of a Camden disorderly house last April. He was granted a 30-day reprieve by Governor Hoffman on March 31
Zied will be re-sentenced after his reprieve expires April 30.
Zied Put to Death for Feitz Slaying
Helena Daily Independent —
Trenton, N. J., June 2.—(AP)—Charles Zied, Philadelphia gangster and last member of the “Tristate gang,” was put to death in the electric chair at the state prison tonight for the slaying of William T. Feitz, Jr., a Camden detective, a year ago.