Richard
R. C.
Donnelly

RICHARD ROSCOE COMPTON DONNELLY SR. was born September 14, 1890 to Roscoe C. Donnelly and his wife Ella. The Donnelly family was living in Cumberland County as far back as the 1870s. 

Roscoe Donnelly was a glassblower by trade. Sometime in the 1890s Roscoe Donnelly moved his family, which consisted of his wife, and sons Richard and Adolph, to the town of Cicero, in Jackson Township, Hamilton County, Indiana where he followed that trade. The family was living there at the time of the 1900 Census. 

By 1910 Roscoe Donnelly, now a widower, had returned to New Jersey, settling in Bridgeton NJ. He was still working as a glass blower, and sons Richard and Adolph were also working at a glass factory as helpers.

On June 5, 1917 Richard Donnolly registered for the draft. By this time he had wed, and his wife Rose Ella had bore on son Richard R.C. Donnelly Jr. The Donnelly's were still living in Bridgeton, where Richard Donnelly worked as a laborer at a canning factory. Shortly thereafter Richard Donnelly moved his family to Camden. He found work as a "special officer", another term for security guard, at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard at Broadway and Morgan Boulevard. When the Census was taken in January of 1920 the Donnellys were boarding at 747 Woodland Avenue with the family of William Marcus, who also was a "special officer" at the shipyard.

Richard Donnelly and his family do not appear in the 1925 Camden City Directory. His brother Adolph does, however, residing at 2205 South 7th Street, in the same neighborhood where his older brother had been living in 1920. 

Richard Donnelly joined the Camden Police Department in the early 1920s. By 1928 he had been promoted to detective in the Third Police District, which consisted of Cramer Hill and East Camden. He was often partnered with Detective Louis Schlam. By 1929 the two were neighbors, the Donnelly family living at 1017 Bergen Avenue, the Schlams at 1039 North 34th Street. Father Roscoe was living at the Bergen Avenue address in 1929, employed as a watchman at the Progressive Weaving Company at 3252 River Road. 

The 1930 census shows the Donnelly family still renting at the same address on Bergen Avenue. There were three children by April of 1930, Richard Jr., 14; James M, 9; and Rose M., two months old. Father Roscoe still lived with them. In 1932 the family moved to 1243 North 26th Street. 

On September 15, 1931 Detectives Donnelly and Schlam escorted James H. Kessler to the Skillman Village for Epilectics in Skillman, New Jersey. Kessler had been committed to Skillman by Judge Samuel M. Shay.

Richard Donnelly Jr. married Grace Berry in 1936. In May of 1940 Richard and Rose Ella Donnelly were at Moore's Beach in Cape May County when a small house fire broke out and cause their house at 1243 North 26th Street to collapse.

In August of 1942 Richard Donnelly was fishing at Green Creek with ex-Mayor Frederick von Nieda and his partner, Louis Schlam when Schlam suffered a fatal heart attack.

Richard Donnolly retired on pension on April 30, 1944. He and his wife had moved out of Camden by the time the 1947 City Directory was compiled, and he was not on the force in January of 1949. Richard Donnolly passed away on June 24, 1951.

World War I Draft Registration Card

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Camden Post-Telegram * August 19, 1925

Everett Joslin - Joseph McDonald - Vernon Jones
Frank Nelson - William Rogers - Harold Dunnit
John Bright - Edwin Callahan - Walter Larson
August Pflederer - Clarence Phifer - Thomas Welch
Stanley Wirtz - Charles Naylor - George Rothwell
Richard Donnelly - Lester Gleason - Joseph Keefe

Fred Schucker - Harry Wagner - Chris Moll
Harry Layton - Edgar Ellender - August Haverkamp
Frank Kuda - Harry Kleinfelder - William Foehle
Thomas Shanahan - Harrison Pike - 
Lester Anderson - William Wood
George Townsend - Allen Palmer - William Swartz Nelson Till - William Mountney -  John A.Strauss
Frank Obermann - Edward Menzies
John Mulligan - Frank Kates - Clifford Lane
Nelson Andrews - Harry Leigh

John Lennox - William Merrigan
Howard Walker - Harry Greenan - Peter Laird

Smith- could be David, George, Roy, or Spencer William Rudd?

Camden Courier-Post
January 31, 1928

Richard C. Donnolly
Louis Schlam
Elwood Antrim
Walter Gibbs
Worthing Truland

Federal Street
Friends Avenue
17th Street

Camden Courier-Post - August 24, 1931

Camden
Courier-Post
August 24, 1931

Two of the three purported accomplices of the burglar slain by police yesrerday, and the young woman whose statements helped to implicate them, are shown in the above  photographs. Above are James Melbourne, center, and Theodore Rettberg, left. The latter is a brother of Charles Rettberg, 1189 North 36th Street, shot in a gun battle yesterday with Detective Robert Ashenfelter, who was seriously wounded, and Policeman Frank Evans. Miss Emmalinda Canilus, a material witness, is shown at right. Melbournea and Rettberg confessed to planning the robber with the youth who was slain, the police say., 

Camden Courier-Post August 26, 1931

Gordon McCrae
Theodore Rettberg
James Melbourne

Camden Courier-Post * August 26, 1931

3 E. CAMDEN YOUTHS NABBED AS SUSPECTS

Three East Camden youths were a nested and held "on suspicion" early yesterday when policemen said they failed to explain satisfactorily why they were at Twenty-fourth and Howell Streets at 1:30 a. m.

Sergeant Edward Hahn and District Detective Richard Donnelly made the arrest. The youths gave their names as Charles Bowers, 17, of 1024 North Twenty-sixth street, Henry Allhiser, 17, of 2415 Howell Street, and James Devenney, 17, of 1161 North Thirty-third street. They will be questioned today. 

Camden Courier-Post
June 2, 1932

Garfield S. Pancoast
Carman Street
Benjamin Rosner
Louis Schlam
Richard Donnelly
Mount Ephraim Avenue
Haddon Avenue
Newton Avenue

MAN SAVED FROM GAS

A man who, according to the police, attempted suicide by inhaling illuminating gas, was saved yester day afternoon by his sister who found him unconscious.

Louis Fox, 23, of 2406 Federal Street, was found in his room by his sister, Mrs. Sarah Finkelstein, of the same address. Mrs. Finkelstein and her husband conduct a store at 2501 Federal Street. When Mrs. Finkelstein returned to her home shortly before 3 p.m., she found her brother.

Detectives Richard Donnelly and Louis Schlamm took Fox to Cooper Hospital, where physicians said he would recover.

Camden Courier-Post

June 28, 1933

 Louis Fox, 23, of 2406 Federal Street, whose unsuccessful attempt at suicide landed him in Cooper Hospital suffering from inhaling gas fumes, is out of danger.

The young man was found unconscious at his apartment Tuesday with a gas jet open in the room. Detectives Louis Schlamm and Richard Donnelly took him to the hospital where he was questioned by Detective George Zeitz.

Fox will be arraigned before Police Judge Pancoast upon his release from the hospital, according to Zeitz. 

Camden
Courier-Post

October 13, 1936