Louis
Shaw


LOUIS SHAW was born in Camden, New Jersey on November 13, 1885. He was the son of Albert S. Shaw, who served 28 years as a Camden policeman, and the grandson of Edmund H. Shaw, one of Camden's first city marshals. His Uncle, also named Edmund Shaw, was a member of the Camden Fire Department in the 1870s. Another uncle, William H. Shaw, worked in th City Highway Department, cousin John P. Shaw worked a few years as a firefighter, and cousin Charles H. Elfreth had a 43 year long career with the city, mostly in the tax office.  

Louis Shaw appears in the 1910 Census, then working as a teamster for an oil company. In that year teamsters were not necessarily driving trucks, wagons were still very prevalent. Louis Shaw was then renting a room from a co-worker, George Stillwell, at 342 Sycamore Street, in South Camden.

At the age of 27 he married. He was working for the Camden Fire Department when the 1914 Camden City Directory was compiled. In 1917, with his father Albert Shaw retiring on pension, Louis Shaw joined the Camden Police Department. At that time he, wife Theresa, and daughter Theresa, then 12, were living at 239 Mt. Vernon Street, a block away from his previous lodgings. 

Louis Shaw would make a career of law enforcement with Camden's 

police force. The 1924 City Directory shows 1924 Louis and Theresa Shaw  at 1437 Kaighn Avenue in Camden's Parkside neighborhood. The April 1930 Census reveals that at that time he owned the home, then valued at $6,000. By April of 1930 he also had been promoted to Detective. 

Detective Louis Shaw on September 9, 1932 arrested Louis Gueness of 209 Royden Street at his home for running an illegal lottery. He was then Lieutenant of Detectives, and held that post into May of 1934. He was shifted to other duties at some point thereafter, but returned to the Detective squad as a sergeant in  August of 1935 when City Commissioner Mary W. Kobus appointed him assistant to Lieutenant Samuel Johnson, who was simultaneously appointed to serves the head of the detective squad, replacing Lieutenant George Ward. By January of 1938 Louis Shaw was serving as Acting Lieutenant of Detectives.

Louis and Theresa Shaw were still living at 1437 Kaighn Avenue in the fall of 1936. He appears to have separated from his wife by the spring of 1942. At that time he was living at 1421 Bradley Avenue, and still working for the police department. 1421 Bradley Avenue had been the home of veteran Camden detective Charles H. Fitzsimmons III, who had died in 1938. Louis Shaw's landlady was Anna Fitzsimmons, the late detective's daughter.

After 33 years combined service with the Camden Fire and Police Departments, Louis Shaw retired in the spring of 1944. He passed away on April 15, 1945. Louis Shaw was survived by his wife, who was still living at 1437 Kaighn Avenue when the 1947 Camden City Directory was compiled.


Philadelphia Inquirer - July 27, 1914 Joseph A. Ware
Rev. Martin Stockett
Charles Cook
Richard Marter
James Navin
Louis Shaw
Spencer Smith
Alfred Hayden
Engine Company 1
Church of Our Saviour

 


Camden Post-Telegram July 5, 1917

Louis Shaw - George Cattell
Engine Company 8
Engine Company 1


Camden Post-Telegram
August 10, 1917

Louis Shaw
Mt. Vernon Street
Albert Shaw


Philadelphia Inquirer - December 1, 1917  

 

 

 

 

 

John B. Kates
Henry C. Moffett
Louis Shaw
Walnut Street
South 2nd Street

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for
PDF File

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John B. Kates
Henry C. Moffett
Louis Shaw
Walnut Street
South 2nd Street

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for
PDF File


Philadelphia Inquirer - December 4, 1917

John B. Kates - F.G. Percival - John Grainer
South 2nd Street - Mt. Vernon Street - Louis Shaw


World War I Draft Card


 

 

 

 

Philadelphia Inquirer
January 14, 1921

Louis Shaw
Kaighn Avenue
South 2nd Street

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for
PDF File

 

 

 

Camden Courier-Post - January 6, 1922

...continued...
Louis Shaw - Theodore Guthrie -  - John P. Brazier - John B. Kates - George Barag
Stacy Threadgill - Charles S. Straw
Frank Harris - Frank Williams - Arthur Rae - Gilbert Stanley
Kaighn Avenue - Ferry Avenue - Beckett Street - South 4th Street - South 10th Street

Camden Evening Courier
October 6, 1925

Peter Maller
Senate Street
Thomas Fargnoli
Louis Shaw

Camden Courier-Post - January 2, 1928

BABE PARADISE ADMITS HE IS NARCOTIC KING
3 Others Held by Camden Police as Leaders in Dope Peddling Gang
OPERATIONS COVERED ALL OF SOUTH JERSEY
Tell of Making Buys With Auto Used as ‘Silent Salesman’

Captured after a lengthy investigation, Anthony ‘Babe’ Paradise, of Camden has confessed to being the head of a narcotic ring operating throughout South Jersey, it was declared yesterday by Captain John Golden, head of the city detective bureau.

Paradise Also admitted that he is a drug addict, Golden said, making the fact known when he became ill in his cell at the city jail and calling for Dr. W.G. Bailey, who has been treating him for the drug habit.

With three other men, who are accused as accomplices, Paradise is being held for a preliminary hearing in Police Court tomorrow morning. The four men, Golden said, will probably be held without bail pending grand jury action and be committed to the Camden County Jail. At the jail, detainers will be lodged against the quartette by Federal narcotics agents, who co-operated with city and county authorities in the investigation, which resulted in the arrests.

Golden declared that city detectives had purchased more than $500 worth of drugs from Paradise and his agents, in obtaining evidence against the ring, which authorities said reaches into Atlantic City and other South Jersey communities as well as Camden.

The three men arrested with Paradise are James Mucci, 18 years old, of 324 Stevens Street, Rocco DeCord, 21 years old, of 221 Spruce Street, and Andrew Hill, of Locust Street, near Kaighn Avenue. According to the detectives, the base of operations of the “ring” was in the Third Ward. Mucci and DeCord were arrested in a barbershop at Third and Locust streets, three blocks from the Wiley M. E. Church where the pastor, Rev. John S. Hackett, recently exposed vice conditions existing in the Third ward and assailed the Department Public Safety for laxity. The arrest of Paradise and the others is believed to be a result of the result of the clergyman’s scathing sermons.

Paradise and Hill were arrested several hours before the other two men. Fearing that they get word to other members of the “ring” police took the two men to Merchantville police headquarters, where Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Varbalow and Chief County Detective Lawrence T. Doran were waiting. Statements were obtained from the two, and meanwhile Mucci and DeCord were taken into custody. Paradise, who is 34 years old, served a year In State Prison five years ago for selling narcotics.

Detectives George Ward, Louis Shaw, and Thomas Cheeseman, of the city, and M.H.  Shapiro and J.H. McFadden, of the federal office in Philadelphia, arranged the purchase of a ‘deck” of heroin from Paradise, and ‘caught him with the goods’  when he met them at Nineteenth Street and River Road, near his, home at 927 North Nineteenth Street.

Paradise was in his expensive automobile when arrested. It was the machine he had used to distribute narcotics to his agents and addicts during the past few years, the detectives said.

Decks  of dope which sold for $1.50 each, police said, were placed in the automobile which was driven to a certain point as prearranged, and then Paradise would leave it parked, the detcrt1ves said.

Peddling Scheme Bared

At a  stated hour an agent or addict would approach the machine, take the “dope” inside, and leave money as payment. Paradise would return and collect the money received, it was said.

That the ring extended to Philadelphia, New York, and other large Eastern cities was indicated by the many times the automobile was parked at Camden bridge plaza for hours, when exchanges would be made, the detectives said.  


CAMDEN COURIER-POST - January 12, 1928

FLIM FLAM ARTISTS GET 2 MONTHS FOR ENVELOPE GAME TRY
Man From Glassboro and Washington Fail to Fool Contractor
NABBED AFTER CHASE

Two “flim-flam artists” who tried to work the “envelope game” on a South Camden contractor late yesterday on Broadway and were caught a few minutes later after a long chase in which police and pedestrians took part, were sentenced to two months in county jail by Judge Bernard Bertman in police court yesterday.

The pair gave their names as William Gans, 32 years old, Glassboro Lawns, Glassboro, and Clarence Johnson, 52 years old, Washington. Their intended victim was George Bowyer, 129 Bowyer’s Court, who testified against them in court.

City Detective George Ward told the court that Gans had a police record in Philadelphia. Johnson, before he was sentenced, said he had tried to work the confidence game on a number of people, but that it had seldom worked. He gave up attempts to fleece gullible people of their money, he added, but had been driven back to that occupation because he was out of work.

Here is the story of their activity yesterday, as told in court today:

Johnson walked up to Bowyer, at Broadway and Kaighn Avenue, one of the busiest intersections of the city, yesterday afternoon and engaged him in conversation.

Picks Up Envelope

As Johnson talked with the contractor, his alleged accomplice walked by. Stooping nearby, he picked up a small brown paper envelope of the portfolio type. As he looked into it, Johnson and the contractor walked over. From within the envelope, which po­lice said Gans bad dropped and merely picked up to attract attention of the two men, Gans took a “decoy” hundred do1lar bill, according to the story the contractor later told detectives.

Only the figures on the “bill” were visible. The Johnson on acting as though he had not known Gans, decided he wanted a share in the “find”; the contractor’s story went. Gans acceded and both men then tried to learn “how much money” the contractor had in his possession, the latter told police.

The contractor’s money, together with the “find”, was to be divided evenly between the three, the men aid. The contractor, becoming suspicious, called to Alfred Trusty and James Gaskins, policemen, who were passing by.

One Starts To Run

As the prisoners realized their ‘game” was known, Johnson broke from the grasp of the policemen. He dodged through a gathering crowd and ran east on Kaighn Avenue, Gaskins, in pursuit. He was caught near Seventh Street.

Detectives George Ward and Louis Shaw, who grilled the prisoners, said they had defrauded numerous gullible persons in the same manner as that attempted upon the contractor. 

When the victim turned over his money and the “split” was made, a white envelope, supposed to contain money, would be handed to the “lucky participant” in the find. The “finder” and his aide would disappear. Then the envelope would be found to contain nothing but a few worthless papers, the detectives said.

Gans was arrested in Philadelphia about five months ago for “working” the “flim-flam game,” Ward said. He also served time in Goldsboro, N. C., for carrying concealed deadly weapons, the detectives said.

Both prisoners are colored and are said to have mulcted only colored persons. Several complaints had been received about their activities, Ward said. Last week a man reported losing more than $80 in a similar “exchange.” Names of complainant, were withheld to prevent embarrassment, detectives said.


Camden Evening Courier- January 20, 1928

DEALER DENIES THIEVES TOOK SLOT MACHINE
Bertman Doubts His Story After He ‘Shifts’ Loot to Cigars
IS LIABLE TO A FINE ON GAMBLING MACHINE

Grand Jury Probe is Hinted by Judge- Reporter Takes Stand

Lewis Shectman changed his story in police court today and declared that it was only a box of cigars, not a gambling machine that was stolen from his store, 708 Broadway, yesterday by two bandits. Police Court judge Bernard Bertman characterized Schectman as a prevaricator.

Shectman denied statements published ion the Evening Courier yesterday, in which he and his wife and daughter related in detail how two men had carried away a gambling machine in an automobile after losing $2 playing the machine.

William Gaffney, Evening Courier reporter, was called to the stand and repeated the facts published in yesterday’s paper.

“I cannot help but believe you are lying”, Bertman said to Schectman. At the same time Bertman intimated that he would recommend a further investigation of the matter by County Prosecutor Wescott before putting the evidence before a grand jury.

Denies Stealing ‘Cigars’

Schectman appeared in Court today against two men the police arrested in the case The defendants are Walter S. Nowak, 22 years old, 442 Jackson Street and Martin Bertherlet, 25 years old, 1218 Pavonia Street. Each was held in $500 bail for the Grand Jury after Samuel P. Orlando, counsel for the two men, had waived a hearing.

Orlando, after the hearing today, stated that both men deny the charge of stealing the cigars. He would not comment on the case further, however.

Nowak was caught after a two-mile chase through the streets. of Camden yesterday  by Schectman and Frank Helm, 2909 Stevens Street, who offered his car as Shectman cried “Help! Robbers!” in front of his store.

Nowak was turned over to Patrolmen Nathan Petit and Edward Carroll of the Second District patrol crew.

Both Are Identified

Berherlat was arrested. Police said he called at headquarters yesterday afternoon and reported that his automobile had been stolen from Hyde Park, Second and Kaighn Avenue. Police said they doubted his story, investigated, and placed him under arrest today.

Both Novak and Bertherlat were identified as the two men who rushed from his store yesterday noon, by Shectman.

A stir was created in court when the Broadway store proprietor said he did not own a gambling machine, and said that the thieves had stolen a box of cigars.

When Shectman, answering a question put to him by Bertman, denied that he had been asked to “change the story” Gaffney was called to the witness stand.

Gaffney recited in detail an inter­view with Schectman yesterday shortly following the robbery. How Schectman had said that be had been robbed at a slot machine by two well-dressed bandits and how he had pursued them through the principal streets of South Camden—account of which was printed in detail in Fridays Courier—was told by the witness.

Shectman Questioned

Questioning of Schectman by Bertman followed statements by Detective Louis Shaw and attorney Orlando.

Shaw, asked the nature of the case against Nowak and Bertherlat said that it was over the “larceny of cigars.”

Orlando said that he understood that the matter invoilved his clients with the theft of a slot machine from Shectman’s store. Orlando said that his clients denied stealing cigars.

Neither of the defendants were called to testify.

Following Gaffney’s testimony, Judge Bertman said that he was tempted to hold the complainant under bail.

Shectman then again tried to “explain” the alleged discrepancies in the interview Friday and the statements made in court this morning.

“I don’t want to talk with you” was Bertman’s answer to Shectman’s request for a “few minutes” with the judge.

Police today said that they had arrested Harry Simons, 44, of 1447 South 4th street “on suspicion” last night. After Shectman positively identified Nowak and Bertherlat, Simons was released.

An erroneous report of the license number found on the Flint touring car used by the men on their flight from Shectman’s store was made yesterday. The license number, police said, was C16209 and not C16207 as reported yesterday.

It was through the tracing of the license number and the report that Bertherlat’s car had been stolen, that the second arrest in the case was made this morning.

Police said they figured the car had been used in several South Camden robberies during the past month.

Under the law, had Shectman admttted to possession of the slot machine, he would have been subject to a fine.


Camden Courier-Post - January 25, 1928

GHOST SNIPER SHOOTS AT BUS, FELLS COP AT BRIDGE PLAZA
Blue Marble Found After ‘Shot’ Knocks Officer Down at 4 A.M.
WINDSHIELD OF BUS STRANGELY SHATTERED
Four Private Cars Also Have Been Targets; Probers Are Baffled
 

Probing a mystery that sounds more like fantastic fiction than serious fact, police of Camden and officials of the Camden Bridge today were conducting a vigorous hunt for a “phantom sniper.”

After four vehicles had been fired upon during the last month on or near the Federal Street Bridge across Crescent Boulevard, a mysterious bullet or other missile penetrated the windshield of a Pennsylvania bus on the Camden Bridge and spurred authorities into action.

Then at 4:30 o’clock this morning, Bridge Policeman John J. Rodgers was twice fired upon on the span. The second time, he was struck between the shoulders, spun around and knocked down.

Blue Marble Found

The missile that struck him, found a few moments later, was a blue marble. It furnished the first clue to the “phantom sniper” that police have obtained. Apparently it was fired from a powerful slingshot or an air gun, so powerful in fact that it struck Rogers with almost bullet-like force although it must have been fired from a distance of nearly a hundred yards.

Police were unanimous in the opinion that the missile which penetrated the window of the bus on the span yesterday was no such marble, but a bullet. They added, however, that there was a possibility that it might have been a steel ball bearing discharged from an air gun or slingshot such as that which was used in sniping upon Rogers.

It was learned from an official source this afternoon that bridge police will question a15-year-old boy. It was said that he lives 150 feet of the spot where the gun was fired upon yesterday.

The boy and his father are said to occupy the third floor of a rooming house on North Fourth Street. Police have no evidence that this boy fired the shot or marble that struck Rogers, but they decided to question him on ownership of a rifle or slingshot.

Meanwhile it was revealed that still another incident in which the “phantom sniper” had appeared had taken place last night when a Philadelphia-Pennsauken bus was fired upon near the Federal Street Bridge.

At the same time bridge officials disclosed that police on the span have been bothered for the past three months by the fact that the sniper has been shooting out electric lights

Speculation and theorizing over the peculiar incidents ran riot among the police who are investigating them today. Although the slingshot or air gun theory was given considerable credence by Rogers’ extraordinary experience, other officers insisted that no instrument of this nature would discharge a bullet, ball bearing or other metal missile with sufficient force to bore through the windshields of buses and automobiles which have been fired on by the “phantom sniper.”

It was November 21 that the sniper- if he is the same who has now taken the Camden bridge as his basis of operations- first came into public notice. Former State Senator Albert S. Woodruff was fired upon from an automobile which his car was following across the Federal Street Bridge at the time.

Hear Report of Gun

On that occasion, however, the report of a gun was heard by Woodruff, whereas, in subsequent incidents, none of the near victims of the shots have heard any sound. This also strengthens the theory of the existence of air gun or other instrument more powerful than any known to police. If the missiles which have struck other automobiles were bullets, however, it is pointed out that they may have been fired from a rifle or revolver equipped with a silencer.

Since the Woodruff incident, a Riverton family has been fired upon, another automobile windshield has been penetrated, apparently by a bullet while crossing Federal Street bridge and on Sunday night, Mrs. A. D. Kohn, 319 Evans Street, Haddonfield, was cut by flying glass when her car was made the target of the sniper.

Rogers, the member of the Camden bridge police force who was struck by the blue marble early this morning; was standing on the bridge about 10 feet from the point at which the Pennjersey bus was hit by the sniper yesterday. As he leaned over to in­spect a portion of the roadway, some­thing whistled over his head and hit the railing. Hi straightened up and found on the steel railing, the spot at which the missile had struck. The paint had been chipped off and the metal dented as though by a bullet.

Felled By Marble

A moment, later, he had turned toward the south when he was struck between the shoulders by the marble. With such force did the little round object hit him that it wheeled him around as would a bullet and felled him. Although he wore a heavy overcoat, a leather jerkin and thick under­wear, the missile left a severe bruise at the spot where it struck him.

Back on his feet, Rogers saw the object which had hit him rolling away. He picked it up. It was the blue marble.

A house-to-house canvas of all dwellings in the neighborhood from the roofs or windows of which the missile might conceivably have been discharged was being conducted today by four bridge policemen. The search was begun after Joseph Costello, superintendent of the bridge, and Captain Alfred Souders, head of the bridge police, had conducted a conference attended by all the span officers.

Yesterday’s mysterious incident on the Camden bridge occurred as the Pennjersey bus bound for Pennsauken from Philadelphia with seven passen­gers aboard was rolling down the incline of the bridge towards the toll booths at 3:38 o’clock.

Five of the passengers were women and two were middle-aged men. The driver was Franklin Copeland, 29 years old, of 244 South Fifty-fourth Street, Philadelphia.

The bus passed George Clarke a bridge patrolman, at a point about 173 yards from the end of the incline, and perhaps 225 from the tollbooths. ­The policemen and the bus driver are well acquainted.

The driver waved, and the policeman, making a megaphone of his hands yelled “Howdy, Fats.”

Passengers In Uproar

The next instant Copeland heard a sudden buzz and then as if by magic a small hole appeared in the glass before his face. Tiny bits of glass fell upon him.

He yanked on the brakes. Passengers were half thrown from their seats and cried out to know what was wrong.

Clarke came running over. He saw the small hole at once, and instantly scanned the bridge walk to find the source. There was no one in sight but a little girl who strolled on.

The bus went on to Pennsauken and bridge patrolmen took up the mystery. Four patrolled the walks, scanning the skyline on either side to see from which houses a shot might have been fired. Others searched the roadbed, seeking the bullet.

City police were called. Detectives George Ward and Louis Shaw came and examined the skyline and searched one house. They found nothing.

Detectives at Odds

The bus came back and a minute examination of it and the hole in the windshield began. When it was over investigators were divided between two theories and completely mystified.

The hole, the detectives said, seemed to have been made by a steel jacketed .22 caliber bullet. Some bridge policemen said it might have been from a .25 caliber automatic and some said it could have been a .22.

Copeland declared he was positive that there was no automobile directly ahead of him on the bridge- that the nearest was past the curve. No pedestrian except the little girl was in sight.

According to the detectives, it is out of reason that the missile was fired from a house on the south side of the bridge. The glass would have splintered because of the angle from which the bullet would have entered, they declared.

Crank Suspected

That brought up the theory that the missile was fired from within the bus. Lieutenant Gregory Love, of the Bridge Police, suggested that a “crank” using a pistol equipped with a silencer might have fired the shot. A further search was made of the interior of the bus, and on the glass alongside the driver, near the partition at the back, was found a half-inch long scratch. No bullet or other missile was found.

The inside of the glass was chipped and the outside smooth. Generally, detectives said, a bullet will chip at the point of exit, not entrance.

Bridge Policemen John Batting, John Cox, John Curry, and Sergeant Michael Bachmeyer, aiding in the investigation, admitted themselves completely bewildered.

One Card Shy

Then the driver began looking among the cards signed by his passengers as witnesses. He was one card shy.

“Do you know?” he said slowly, “I don’t think that man gave me the card after all.”

When he found the card signed Mrs. Harriet Billingsley, 30 East Cedar Avenue, Merchantville he recalled that she had told him that a moment be­fore the bus stopped she thought she saw a flash on her right- the south side.   

Other women who gave their names were Eleanor Montgomery, 217 North Forty-seventh Street; Mrs. C. Schmidt and Mrs. T. Van Newkirk, both of 1110 North Twenty-sixth Street.

City Police Drop Probe

City Detectives George Ward and Louis Shaw said this afternoon that they would make no further investigation into the incident of the motor­bus on the Camden span yesterday. Both declared they were convinced that a shot was fired from inside the bus.

“We are convinced that no sniper fired the shot that went through the windshield”, Ward said. “We believe the shot was fired inside the bus”.

“There were two men in the bus at the time the bullet went through the glass. These men refused to give their names to the driver of the bus. Bridge police were on the job but I believe that it they had searched these two men they would have found a .25 revolver on one of them”.

“One of these men sat directly behind the driver. There are marks on the woodwork there to show where the man rubbed the revolver when he put it beside the driver’s face and fired the bullet through he glass.”

“ The glass was shattered on the inside which shows that the bullet was fired from the inside. If the bullet had entered from the outside the glass on the outside would have been shattered”, Ward said.

Members of the bridge police- former service men and experts on firearms- discredited the theory of the two city detectives. They declared that the city detectives were wrong in the matter of the shattered glass and that the conditions would be just the reverse.

Bridge Patrolman Crane, who was standing near the bus when the shot was fired, declared today that the driver of the bus asserted he heard no report of a pistol. If the pistol had been fired near his head, he naturally would have heard it, Crane said..



 

 

Camden
Courier-Post

January 30, 1928

 

 


Camden Courier-Post - February 21, 1928

Earl Bryant - Thomas Cheeseman - Louis Shaw
Ninth Street -
Vine Street

Camden Courier-Post - February 25, 1928

Gabriel De Paola - William J. Gallagher - Anna McDaniel
Emerson Ogborn -
Louis Shaw
 
Federal Street - Sylvan Street - Tuckahoe Road - Tulip Street

Camden Evening Courier - September 18, 1928
...continued...

...continued...
...continued...

...continued...

David Hunt - Thomas Cheeseman - Walter Smith - Rox Saponare
John W. Golden - Howard Pike Samuel Johnson - Lewis Stehr
William Beottcher George Ward - Louis Shaw - Frank Malec - Lawrence T. Doran Samuel P. Orlando - Louis Shectman - Mrs. Mary Brown - Polack Joe Deven Frank Smith - Walter Selby - Walter Wartmann - Charles Foulk
Mrs. Edward McGrath - Father John J. Henry -
Joseph "Mose" Flannery"
Joseph Moll - James Bonner 
William Bonner  - James L. Hawkins
Walter Novak - Joseph Novak -
Garfield Del Duca - Eugene Murphy
Russell Sage - Patrick Driscoll - Joseph "Cuzzy" Scarduzio


Camden
Evening Courier

September 18, 1928


Trenton Times - November 8, 1929

Mrs. Gladys Parkes Baker - Allen N. Rogers - Louis Shaw

Omaha World-Herald * November 11, 1929

Mrs. Gladys May Park - Anthony Baker - Louis Shaw

Bridgewater Courier-News * September 11, 1931

Edward Kenney - Louis Shaw - William Pernier - William J. "Shooey" Bonner - George Leventhal
William Hall - Lawrence T. Doran

Camden Courier-Post * December 21, 1932

George Clayton
Robert I. Mears
Herbert Anderson
Blaine Street
Louis Shaw

 

...continued...
 

Camden Courier-Post * December 31, 1932

...continued...

  Nathan Petit - Roy R. Stewart - A. Lincoln James - Samuel Johnson - Charles Laib
Frederick Watson -
William Boettcher - Thomas Stanger -
George Ward - George Frost - Louis Shaw Thomas J. Murphy - William Robertson

Camden Courier-Post * February 1, 1933

NUMBERS MAN HELD

A South Camden man was given a week to name the higher-ups in the numbers game when he appeared before Judge Samuel M. Shay in Criminal Court yesterday and pleaded non-vult to charges of operating a lottery. 

Louis Gueness, 209 Royden street, was arrested by Lieutenant of Detectives Louis Shaw on September 9, when the police raided his home and confiscated a large quantity of number slips and other gambling paraphernalia.

Gueness told Judge Shay that he rented a room in his house to two men, but did not know they were numbers men. When he was asked who the men were he said he did not know. Shaw told the court that Gueness refused to tell him the names of the men.

Gueness was ordered held in the county jail for a week at the end of which, Judge Shay announced, he again will be asked to name the men.

He will be sentenced then.


Camden Courier-Post - February 4, 1933

'NUMBERS' SUSPECT FREED IN $100 BAIL

Suspected by the police of being a "numbers' writer, Clinton Gilchrist, 25, colored, of 1153 Cooper street, was held in $100 bail by Acting Police Judge James Smith yesterday for a further hearing next Tuesday.

Gilchrist who is charged with operating a "numbers" lottery was arrested Thursday in an automobile at Eleventh and Cooper street by Detective Lieutenant Louis Shaw and Detective Clarence Arthur.

In Gilchrist's possession, the detectives say they found some "numbers" slips and "loose coins."


Camden Courier-Post
February 27, 1933

Edmund H. Shaw
Louis Shaw
Albert Shaw

 


Camden Courier-Post
February 27, 1933

Edmund H. Shaw
Louis Shaw
Albert Shaw


Camden Courier-Post
Evening Courier - June 14, 1933
FLORIST SHOP RAID TRAPS NUMBERS MEN
Police Believe Hunt for Racket Headquarters Ended; 4 Are Arrested

A three-month search for "number's" headquarters in Camden was believed ended today when 
detectives raided a florist shop at 1409 Mt. Ephraim avenue, seized seven adding machines, thousands of dollars worth of sales slips and arrested four men. 

Joseph Klosterman, 34, of 1413 Mt. Ephraim Avenue, whom the police believe operated the "bank," was included in a quartet arrested by a squad under command of Sergeant of Detectives Louis Shaw

Responding to an anonymous tip that the numbers men were gathered in a rear room of the store, Shaw, together with Detectives Clarence Arthur, George Zeitz and John Kaighn, surrounded the place.

The others arrested in the raid gave their names as Charles Selanski, 23, of 1286 Sheridan Street; Leon Babrowski, 22, of 1209 Lansdowne Avenue, and Frank Gromacki, 27, of 1411 Mt. Ephraim Avenue. Several "pickup men," who have been arrested while carrying money and numbers slips, according to Shaw, were linked with the ring. The principals, however, had managed to escape detection. 

The flower shop, Shaw said, is operated by Joseph Haleski, and was used as a "blind" for the lottery racket.

Klosterman was released last night in $1000 bail for a hearing today on a charge of operating a numbers lottery. The others were all released in $100 cash security as material witnesses..


Camden Courier-Post - June 21, 1933

Mysterious Piece of Paper' Enlivens Numbers Trial Here 
Judge Shay Enjoys Verbal Tilt Between Gotshalk and Walter Keown,
But It Fails to Enter Into Evidence

A mysterious piece of paper yesterday precipitated a verbal battle between Assistant Prosecutor William C. Gotshalk and Defense Attorney Walter S. Keown upon opening of the trial of Joseph and Fred Klosterman on charges of number writing. They were placed on trial before Judge Samuel M. Shay and a crlminal court jury. 

Acting Lieutenant Louis Shaw, of the city detective bureau, testified of a raid on the Klosterman saloon at Mechanic and Green streets and an adjacent house at 1312 Green street. The witness identified a brief-case containing numbers slips and also a postal card addressed to "F. Klosterman." 

When Shaw was turned over to Keown for cross-examination, the defense counsel reached into the case, pulled out a piece of paper and asked how it had gotten into the bar. When Shaw said he had put it there, Keown declared: 

"Well, put it into your pocket. It has nothing to do with this case." 

Shaw refused, whereupon Keown rolled it up into a ball and put it in his own pocket. At this, Gotshalk angrily demanded to see the paper, but Keown declared that "you can't see this until after the jury has gone out." When Gotshalk insisted, Keown said he would give it to Judge Shay. He threw it on the judge's desk, but Judge Shay, who was smiling broadly, made no move to take it. Gotshalk then reached out to get the paper, but Keown was quicker retrieving it and placing it in his pocket again.

"What right have you to take a state exhibit and place it in your pocket?" Gotshalk queried heatedly. "I want that paper." 

"I'll show it to Judge Shay," parried Keown. 

"I don't want to see it," laughed Judge Shay, as Keown paced around the courtroom, followed by Gotshalk. 

"It has nothing to do with this case," repeated Keown. 

And there the matter stood. 

Shaw testified that he, Detective Clarence Arthur and Patrolman John Kaighn entered the saloon December 10, and went out the back door. They followed a path to the Green street house, broke down the door and found Henry Bagroewski, 17, and his mother burning numbers slips in a stove. Shaw said he recovered a half basket of slips. 

Shaw and Arthur also declared that they found a bell in the house and that it was connected to a push button in the saloon, allegedly for an alarm. 

Mary King, deputy city clerk, testified that at the time of the raid the license for the saloon was in Joseph Klosterman's name. 

Shaw's testimony was corroborated by Arthur and Kaighn. Shaw was then recalled to the stand and related that as the three detectives went from the saloon to the other house, the Klosterman brothers followed them and demanded to know "why the dicks are always picking on us." 

The case will be resumed this morning. . 


Camden Courier-Post * June 22, 1933

KLOSTERMAN BOYS FOUND GUILTY IN NUMBERS CASE 
Camden Brothers Released in Bail Awaiting Sentence 
'THEY ARE BIG SHOTS,' PROSECUTOR DECLARES 
Both Defendants Deny Connection With Raided Saloon

Joseph and Fred Klosterman were convicted in Camden Criminal Court yesterday of operating a numbers racket. 

A jury returned a guilty verdict against the two South Camden sportsmen-brothers at 6:25 p. m., after deliberating only a short while. 

Both were in the courtroom when the verdict was announced, but were allowed to depart under bail pending sentence later by Judge Samuel M. Shay

Judge Shay delivered his charge to the jury after denying motions by Walter S. Keown, defense counsel, first to quash the indictment on grounds that 
its language was faulty, and second, to direct a verdict of not guilty for lack of evidence.

Called 'Big Shots' 

The two brothers were character ized as "big shot numbers barons" by Assistant Prosecutor William C. Gotshalk in his closing argument to the jury. 

Referring to a woman and her son, who were burning numbers slips when raiders entered the establishment, Gotshalk said: . 

"They might ask us why we don't have that woman and her 17-year­old son on trial here. When the police make an arrest the public wants to know why we don't get the big shots. Well, here they are," pointing at the Klostermans. "Here are the big shots," 

The Klosterman saloon, Mechanic and Green Streets, was raided December 10 by city detectives who testified Tuesday they followed a footpath to an adjacent house at 1312 Green Street. They broke down the door and found a woman and her son burning numbers slips. Acting Lieutenant Louis Shaw, of the city detective bureau, testified he recovered some of the slips and also found a brief case containing numbers slips and a post card addressed to "F. Klosterman." Detective Clarence Arthur and Patrolman John Kaighn corroborated Shaw's testimony. 

Says He Was Visitor 

The defense opened with Joseph Klosterman on the stand. He testified he had nothing to do with the saloon when it was raided, but merely happened to be in there for a drink when the raiders entered. He said he had owned the saloon for three and a half years but sold it last July for $100. He never had any connection with the Green Street house, he declared. He is now a plumber, Klosterman averred. 

When Assistant Prosecutor Gotshalk asked him if he had ever been convicted of crime, Keown asked that the jury be withdrawn as he wanted to make another motion. Court then recessed. 

When court resumed Mrs. Anna Pogroszewski, of the Green street address, took the stand. She testified the Klostermans were not connected with her home in any manner. She testified she had rented a room to a man named "Tommy" and all the numbers apparatus was his. When he moved out, he left the slips and adding machines there, she said, and she had cleaned out his room and was burning the papers when the raiders arrived. 

Fred Klosterman, who resides at 1255 Decatur Street, denied he was a "numbers baron" and said he merely "happened" to be there on the day of the raid. Under cross-examination he admitted having pleaded guilty to slot machine charges in June of last year.

 

CAMDEN COURIER-POST

May 12, 1934

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CAMDEN COURIER-POST - AUGUST 31, 1935
JOHNSON GETS WARD'S JOB AS KOBUS ORDERS COP SHAKEUP
SHAW MADE ASSISTANT IN PLACE OF KOERNER

 By Charles L. Humes 

In a shakeup of Camden police officials yesterday afternoon Lieutenant Samuel E. Johnson was named acting chief of detectives by Commissioner Mary W. Kobus, director of public safety. 

Lieutenant George A. Ward, who has been in charge of the detective bureau for a year, was transferred to take Johnson's place in charge of headquarters. 

Detective Louis Shaw was made assistant to Johnson, replacing Detective Sergeant Gus Koerner. Koerner was transferred to the Second District, for radio car and street duty. The new order became effective at 4:00 PM yesterday                       

Police Chief Arthur Colsey announced the changes in the bureau after a two-hour conference with Commissioner Kobus yesterday afternoon. 

Maurice Di Nicuolo, who has been an acting detective, was transferred to the First Police District, with former Acting Detective Clifford Del Rossi returning to his old post in the detective bureau. 

In the only other transfer announced, Sergeant Harry Newton was switched from the First Police District to the Third, with Sergeant Edward Carroll going from the Third to the First. 

Although no other changes were made public, it is believed yesterday’s are a forerunner of numerous shifts to be made today or early next week.’ 

“These changes are being made for the good of the service,” Commissioner Kobus declared. “There will be other transfers of officers and men so that all the police may familiarize themselves with all the branches of the department.”

 Lieutenant Johnson was a appointed a policeman on January 1, 1910. After 10 years as a patrolman, he was promoted to a detective, where he made a splendid record. On November 28, 1928 he was made a sergeant, and again promoted on April 8, 1930, when he became a lieutenant.

 Ward was appointed a policeman on August 2, 1917, promoted to detective January 1, 1927, sergeant November 14, 1928 and lieutenant on January 24, 1930.

  Johnson was a detective sergeant when former Police Chief John W. Golden was head of that bureau, but later was transferred to police headquarters.

Ward has been in and out of the detective bureau several times. He served for a time as the commander of the First District and later was ion charge of the police headquarters on the 12:00 midnight to 8:00 AM shift. He was a political lieutenant of former Public Safety Director David S. Rhone.


CAMDEN COURIER-POST - JANUARY 8, 1938
Mary Kobus - Arthur Colsey - Ralph Bakley - Herbert Bott - Louis Shaw
John Skolski - George Frost - Walter Welch - Nathan Pettit - Frank Evans
Gus Koerner - Edward Hahn - Harry Newton

CAMDEN COURIER-POST - JANUARY 12, 1938

KOBUS ORDERS CITY DRIVE ON NUMBERS RING
ISSUES DECREE FOR POLICE TO TIGHTEN UP ON GAMING RACKET
FBI Agents Join Probe Here of $50,000 Bank
PHILA. LEADERS HELD LOTTERY CZARS HERE

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World War II Draft Card

Camden Courier-Post
April 16, 1945

Louis Shaw
George Ward
Dr. David S. Rhone
Edmund H. Shaw
Albert Shaw
Charles H. Eliis
Mary Kobus
Bradley Avenue
Princess Avenue
Holl Funeral Home
Jimmy Rose

 

Camden Courier-Post * August 15, 1945

Haven Fund Rises As Solicitations For 45 End Today

Solicitation of funds for the 1945 season of the B. Smith Haven for crippled children at Erial will end today.

A total of $81.40 in donations was received yesterday, making the grand total $3786.41.

The camp recently received a visit from four members of Lindenwold Chapter No. 440, Women of the Moose, who expressed their pleasure with the enterprise and the fun it affords underprivileged youngsters.

Contributions to date are:

Amount previously acknowledged $3705.01

Amity Lodge No. 166, IOOF Merchantville $15.35

Morning Star Lodge No. 70, IOOF, Haddonfield $5.00

Mrs. R. A. Ports, 19 Hinchman Avenue, Merchantville $1.00

Camden Forge Press Shop (4 to 12 shift) $25.05

Mrs. John Entwistle, 1119 Avenue, Palmyra $10.00

In memory of my husband, Mrs. Josiah Pedigree, 49 South Twenty-seventh Street $5.00

American Gold Star Mothers, Camden chapter $5.00

A Reader, $2.00

Harry Hoesch, 115 East Haddon Avenue, Oaklyn $2.00

Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Levin, 246 Morse street, Camden $2.00

In memory of Lt. Louis Shaw, Camden Police Dept $1.00

Total today $81.40

Grand Total $3786.41

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