John Wormwood Murder, 1920
From the New Jersey Mirror Jan 14 1920
Found lying unconscious along the road-side near Georgetown,on Saturday night, John Wormwood, a jitney driver, of Trenton, 54 years old, was taken in an army car to the hospital at Camp Dix where he revived sufficiently to tell how he had been attacked by three men dressed in soldiers' uniforms, whom he had taken in as passengers.
He described the men and said that when a lonely spot had been reached one of them, a short stocky soldier, wearing an overseas cap, had beaten him over the head with a heavy army revolver. When attacked Wormwood said that he had $300 in money in his clothes. A search by the hospital authorities failed to find the money, which the highwaymen are supposed to have taken after beating the jitney driver into insensibility. He was able to give a partial description of his assailants and tell how they had beaten and shot him and thrown him out along the roadside while they drove off in the jitney man's car.
The car, which was recovered along the road near where Wormwood was found, is also in the possession of the authorities, and its battered interior bears further evidence of the fight the jitneyman made for his life. Police have established that the exact spot at which the attack was made on Wormwood was between Georgetown and Bordentown, and not on the Wrightstown- Georgetown road as at first reported. Wormwood was found in a pool of blood; his skull was fractured and he had two gun shot wounds in the jaw.
He died soon after making his statement to the hospital officials. Three soldiers, two of whom had escaped from the camp hospital,where they had been under arrest and awaiting court-martial in the prisoners' ward, are being sought by military and civilian police in connection with the murder. The two escaped prisoners and a third soldier, the police have learned, were seen talking together in a Wrightstown restaurant shortly before three passengers engaged Wormwood to to drive them to Trenton. Police believe they can actually trace the missing trio to the jitney in which Wormwood was robbed and murdered.
The finding of a bloody uniform blouse by a farmer on a road leading back toward the camp is said to have proved an important link of evidence against one of the suspects. A black grip containing a soldier's shirt, on which there were a number of blood spots was picked up on Monday by J.G. Fenimore at Mansfield Square, and handed over to the authorities. It has been established beyond reasonable doubt that the grip and the bloody garment were the property of one of the three men who committed the brutal murder. A soldier, arrested at Hammonton on suspicion of being implicated in the murder, was brought to the Mount Holly jail last night.
County Detective Ellis H. Parker when seen last evening, admitted that there were some important developments in the case which would be made public shortly.
Found lying unconscious along the road-side near Georgetown,on Saturday night, John Wormwood, a jitney driver, of Trenton, 54 years old, was taken in an army car to the hospital at Camp Dix where he revived sufficiently to tell how he had been attacked by three men dressed in soldiers' uniforms, whom he had taken in as passengers.
He described the men and said that when a lonely spot had been reached one of them, a short stocky soldier, wearing an overseas cap, had beaten him over the head with a heavy army revolver. When attacked Wormwood said that he had $300 in money in his clothes. A search by the hospital authorities failed to find the money, which the highwaymen are supposed to have taken after beating the jitney driver into insensibility. He was able to give a partial description of his assailants and tell how they had beaten and shot him and thrown him out along the roadside while they drove off in the jitney man's car.
The car, which was recovered along the road near where Wormwood was found, is also in the possession of the authorities, and its battered interior bears further evidence of the fight the jitneyman made for his life. Police have established that the exact spot at which the attack was made on Wormwood was between Georgetown and Bordentown, and not on the Wrightstown- Georgetown road as at first reported. Wormwood was found in a pool of blood; his skull was fractured and he had two gun shot wounds in the jaw.
He died soon after making his statement to the hospital officials. Three soldiers, two of whom had escaped from the camp hospital,where they had been under arrest and awaiting court-martial in the prisoners' ward, are being sought by military and civilian police in connection with the murder. The two escaped prisoners and a third soldier, the police have learned, were seen talking together in a Wrightstown restaurant shortly before three passengers engaged Wormwood to to drive them to Trenton. Police believe they can actually trace the missing trio to the jitney in which Wormwood was robbed and murdered.
The finding of a bloody uniform blouse by a farmer on a road leading back toward the camp is said to have proved an important link of evidence against one of the suspects. A black grip containing a soldier's shirt, on which there were a number of blood spots was picked up on Monday by J.G. Fenimore at Mansfield Square, and handed over to the authorities. It has been established beyond reasonable doubt that the grip and the bloody garment were the property of one of the three men who committed the brutal murder. A soldier, arrested at Hammonton on suspicion of being implicated in the murder, was brought to the Mount Holly jail last night.
County Detective Ellis H. Parker when seen last evening, admitted that there were some important developments in the case which would be made public shortly.
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