Camden People - William Boettcher

WILLIAM BOETTCHER SR. was born on August 3, 1887 in Philadelphia PA to Otto and Dorothea Boettcher. He married at the age of 18. By 1910 was living at 833 Fern Street in North Camden with his wife Anna and three children, Henry, Dorothy, and William Jr. He then worked as a trolley car conductor for the Public Service line in Camden.

When William Boettcher registered for the draft in June of 1917 he was living with his wife Anna and two children at a house they owned at 72 South 24th Street in East Camden. He was still working as a streetcar conductor.

By January of 1920 William Boettcher had joined the Camden Police Department. When the City Directory was compiled for 1924 there were six children, William Jr., Helen, Anna, George, Raymond, and Margaret. By 1933 he had been promoted to detective, and worked in the identification bureau. He was the department's expert in the use of the Bertillon measurement system of identification. This system was eventually supplanted by the use of fingerprints. He was still on the force as late as February, 1938.

William Boettcher had left the department by the spring of 1942. His draft card reveals that he was still living at 72 South 24th Street. He was then working for the B.F. Sturtevant Company on Crestmont Avenue in Camden. He is not listed in the 1947 Camden City Directory. His son William Jr. was living on Sherman Avenue in Cramer Hill.

William Boettcher was last resident of Los Angeles, California, where he died in August of 1967.

Camden Courier-Post * September 18, 1928

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David Hunt - Thomas Cheeseman - Walter Smith - Rox Saponare
John W. Golden - Howard Pike Samuel Johnson - Lewis Stehr
William Boettcher - 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 Courier-Post * February 8, 1933

'Mr. X' Tries to Die

MYSTERY PRISONER TRIES TO END LIFE
'Amnesia Victim' Jailed Pending Examination by Physicians

Police still were attempting last night to identify the man picked up by police Monday night and who attempted to commit suicide on the way to the Bertillon room at police headquarters to be fingerprinted. Although he maintained he does not know his name or where he comes from, police believe him to be holding something back.

Placed In Jail

He was placed in the county jail on order of Judge Pancoast pending examination by county physicians. As he was being led into the Bertillon records room, the prisoner made a sudden dash for the window and tried to throw it open. Detectives William Boettcher, Clifford Del Rossi and Clarence Arthur dragged him away and subdued him after a violent struggle. While his incoherent responses to questions Indicated he might be a victim of amnesia, Del Rossi expressed the belief the prisoner was

"concealing something." Copies of his fingerprints will be sent to Eastern police departments In an effort to identify him.

Brother a Policeman

The man was wandering in the vicinity of Twenty-seventh and Federal streets last night. Detective Sergeant Gus Koerner questioned him but the only Information he could elicit was that the man had a brother on the New York police force. Koerner took him to Cooper Hospital and then to the city jail.

Camden Courier-Post * February 2, 1938

INQUEST SET TODAY IN GAMBLING DEATH
Jury List Prepared for Coroner's Action in Holdup Fatality

The coroner's inquest to decide the cause of death to Angelos Magalas, Greek chef, who was shot during a card game holdup at 725 Penn Street on January 11, will be held today at 10 a. m.

Coroner Franklin P. Jackson III, of Collingswood, will conduct the inquest and will select his jury of 12 from a list of 15 persons prepared by the office of County Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando.

Detectives already have subpoenaed 20 witnesses for questioning at the inquest, including players who were the victims in the holdup and three Camden physicians who attended Magalas prior to his death.

The witnesses will include Samuel and Mabel Ermilios, tenants of the Penn Street house where the holdup occurred; George and Annette Mastros, who room at the house; Samuel Bosco, Broadway barber; George Summers, Ross Pantel, Michael D' Andrea. and William Caras, who according to police were participants in the card game.

All of the men were held as material witnesses in the shooting when arraigned today before Police Judge Gene R. Mariano.

Doctors to Testify

Other witnesses will include Dr. Paul Mecray, Dr. A. S. Ross and Dr. Edwin R. Ristine and Miss Sophia MacAfee, a Cooper Hospital nurse. Police who will testify in elude Detectives Thomas Murphy, Harry Kyler and William Boettcher and Patrolmen Richard Powers, Frank Clements, George Nicktern and Sergeant Jack Deith.

The jury will be selected from Guy Clokey, Collingswood; Lawrence Ball, Haddonfield; Howard Friant, Collingswood; Harry Chew, Collingswood; Sig Schoenagle, Camden merchant; Raymond Hanly, real estate broker; Benjamin Brest, Raymond Worrel, John Eby, all of Camden; William H. Lorigan, Merchantville; David B. Robinson, Collingswood; Rev. James Pemberton and John McGowan, of Camden, Earl Jackson, of Collingswood and Morris B. Clark, of Haddonfield.

Coroner Jackson refused to give a certificate of death until the chemical test of Magalas' brain was made by Philadelphia experts. The re suit will not be revealed until the inquest.

Assistant Prosecutor Isaac Eason and County Physician David S. Rhone gave it as their opinion that Malagas died of natural causes rather than, the bullet wound. Coroner Jackson then ordered an inquest to be held.

Police are searching for Frank Luggi, 21, of 322 Penn Street, who they say was one of the holdup bandits and the one who fired the bullet that struck Magalas.

The last coroner's inquest held in Camden county was in 1933, in the death of Thomas Timothy Sullivan, and previous to that none had been held here in 25 years.

Sullivan was 57 years old and lived at 401 State Street. He was employed as a detective by the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was found shot to death in a shack in the rail road yards on August 28, 1933.

At that time, County Physician Edward B. Rogers issued a certificate of death that Sullivan had committed suicide. The decision of the county physician enraged members of Sullivan's family and they demanded an inquest.

The inquest was ordered by then Coroner Arthur H. Holl, who presided. All the evidence in the case was presented to the jury of 12 men, and after deliberating for less than an hour, they returned a verdict that Sullivan had been murdered by persons unknown.

Under state law, the county physician may order an inquest; with 12 persons on the jury of the coroner's choosing. The jurymen may be taken from the present panel of the petit jury or be picked at ran dom. The Grand Jury does not have to indict on the basis of the inquest. At the inquest Coroner Jackson will be assisted by attaches of the prosecutor's office.

Malagas, the father of three children, lived at 1110 Langham Avenue. He was shot when several armed bandits held up a card game and he died several days later.

	Camden Courier-Post June 2, 1930 Left: George Doris

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George Doris - John Doris - Frank Doris - Joseph Carpani - William Henlon George Schuyler - Milton Cahill - William Boettcher - Pomerantz Dress Company Keystone Stationary Store - Garfield S. Pancoast - Royden Street - Broadway Market Street

*Camden Courier-Post June 30, 1930**
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	John Edwards - Helen Edwards Anson Kelley - Newton Avenue Fred Crozier - Eugene Moreslander William Boettcher - William McDonald Lawrence Doran - John Golden William D. Crozier

*Camden Courier-Post December 31, 1932**

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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 Evening Courier September 18, 1928