The Murder of Edward Hatch, 1921
From the New Jersey Mirror May 11 1921
Surprising a river pirate in the act of robbing his boathouse at Delair on Saturday afternoon, Edward E. Hatch, a prominent resident of Riverton, received a gunshot wound from which he died in a few minutes. Hatch, who was a prosperous brick manufacturer, engaged in battle with the thief, worsted him at first, pursued him into the river, where waist deep they resumed their desperate struggle, and then was shot by the young river rat as he was overpowering the outlaw for a second time.
The police of both sides of the Delaware were promptly notified and a drag-net set for the capture of the murderer and his two comrades, who had sat out in the river in a canoe and waited for the boat house thief when he entered the Hatch property to steal whatever he could lay his hands on. For some time the detectives were rather puzzled by the presence of two green canoes in the trail which they were following, acting on the clue furnished by the mortally wounded victim of the thug's gun just before he died.
Hatch had told employees who came running to his assistance, that he had been shot by a man he caught robbing his boathouse and that he had got away in a green canoe in which were two companions waiting for him out in the shallow waters of the river near the bank. The second canoe was the property of boys who had no knowledge of the robbery, although they reported seeing the murder boat. On Monday the search was rewarded by the finding of two school boys who tearfully admitted that they were involuntary witnesses of the tragedy. The boys, Walter Blazejewski, aged 13 years and David Augustine, aged 15 years, were arrested in their class room in the Bridesburg, Pa., public school. The young suspects without hesitation told all they knew about a grim tragedy in which they said they had no voluntary part.
The police are inclined to believe the boys and after checking up on their stories they were detained as witnesses only.The boys said that the murder had been committed by George Conn, a nineteen-year-old ne'er-do-well, who had invited them to accompany him on a round of his muskrat traps on the meadows which line the Jersey side of the river. They told in detail how Conn, surprised while exploring that Hatch boathouse into which he had gained entrance through an open window, had first shot the owner twice in the face at short range with a revolver loaded wiht blanks and then when this weapon was wrested from him by Hatch, determined to overpower and arrest him, how he had run until again overtaken by the irate owner of the property, and how waist-deep in the river and after vainly attempting to reach the waiting canoe, Conn had drawn another revolver loaded with ball cartridges and fired point blank at Hatch, inflicting a ghastly wound from which he died soon after staggering back to shore. Conn has not yet been apprehended. He is said to have fled from his accustomed haunts immediately after the crime and has not been seen since.
After being shot, Hatch was seen to fall by William Cartwright, a negro employed at the Hatch brick works, who ran to his aid. "I caught them robbing the boathouse." Hatch said, "and they got me. Three young fellows in a canoe. Tell my brothers." He sank rapidly and in a few minutes was dead.
Hatch was 42 years old and had a beautiful home at Riverton, facing the Country Club there. He is survived by a widow, two children and this brothers, Isaiah, and Morgan. He was a nephew of Cooper B. Hatch, former mayor of Camden and former Sheriff of the county. The murder was the outcome of numerous robberies at the Hatch boathouse, a structure of considerable size near the river-front of the brick works in which the brothers have been partners. In a statement given to the police by the Blazejewski boy, he said that he and Augustine had no idea that a crime was to be committed when they stared out with Conn. "We got into the Canoe and went across to Delair. Then we went up the Pensauken Creek about 500 yards. Conn had a revolver in his pocket and it was loaded with blank cartridges. On the bank of the creek we saw a man asleep and Conn went ashore and went through his pockets and stole his revlover, which was filled with bullets. I got frightened and wanted to go home, but Conn told me not to be afraid. "We passed Mr. Hatch's boathouse and Conn saw a window open, and he said he was going to see what he could swipe. He went ashore and David and I pushed the boat out into the stream again. We saw a man go into the boathouse and then we heard sounds of loud hollering and fighting. Conn ran out of the boathouse and Mr. Hatch followed him. Conn turned around and pulled the revolver from his pocket and fired two shots into Mr. Hatch's face. Mr. Hatch then grabbed Conn and took the revolver from him but Conn broke away and waded out to where we were sitting in the boat. He was trying to get aboard."Mr. Hatch caught Conn just as he neared out boat and the water was up to his waist.'I am going to arrest you' Mr. Hatch said. They started fighting again and Conn was getting beat. He said , 'Hit him with an oar, hit him with an oar' but we didn't do it because we were terribly frightened. Conn broke away and said, 'I am going to see how you like cold steel.' He pulled the stolen revolver from his pocket and fired at Mr. Hatch, who fell into the water. Conn climbed into the canoe and he paddled us back to the Philadelphia side of the river. He told us he would kill us if we opened up our mouths. I was afraid to say anything to anyone about it," the boy concluded.
An investigation has revealed that Christian Schaffer, who lives in a cabin along the Pensauken Creek, saw the three boys in the canoe on the day of the murder and saw them rob the drunken man, who was too intoxicated to resist.
I have located Edward E. Hatch in Riverton on the 1910 census, but for some reason not in 1920.
Here is the information from the census:
Edward E. Hatch, age 32. Born in New Jersey. He was employed as a brick manufacturer.
Rebecca Hatch, his wife, age 32. She was born in Pennsylvania.
Gerald A. Hatch, age 5.
Eleanor hatch, age 2 mos.
Maggie Cartwright, age 14? (the age is hard to make out). Maggie was black, and worked as a 'shipping clerk'; her relationship to Edward is given as 'servant.' Maggie was born in New Jersey, but her parents were both from North Carolina.
I found an Edward E. Hatch in Camden in 1880, age 2, though it's not possible to be certain this is the same man. He is absent from the 1900 census anywhere in New Jersey.
Regarding the Blazejewski family, in 1920 they were living in Philadelphia (Bridesburg is apparently a neighborhood in that city.) They lived on Richmond street. The family in 1920 consisted of :
Stanislaw Blazejewski, age 41. He had moved to the United States in 1901 from Poland, and was still an alien in 1920. Stanislaw was employed as a glazer at a leather factory.
Josephine Blazejewski, age 35, his wife. She had come to the United States, also from Poland, in 1892.
Stella Blazejewski, age 15, born in Pennsylvania.
Helen, age 13;
Walter, age 11;
Lillian, age 9;
Margaret, age 7;
Bertha, age 6;
Edward, age 4;
Melfred, age 2;
Clara, age 1;
Ernest, just a few months old.
This family was not found on any other censuses so far.
I have found no other information regarding David Augustine or George Conn.
There was a man living in Philadelphia named Christian Schaffer, employed as an auto mechanic. He was 23 years old and lived with his wife, Anna, though if this is the same man mentioned above is not certain.
Surprising a river pirate in the act of robbing his boathouse at Delair on Saturday afternoon, Edward E. Hatch, a prominent resident of Riverton, received a gunshot wound from which he died in a few minutes. Hatch, who was a prosperous brick manufacturer, engaged in battle with the thief, worsted him at first, pursued him into the river, where waist deep they resumed their desperate struggle, and then was shot by the young river rat as he was overpowering the outlaw for a second time.
The police of both sides of the Delaware were promptly notified and a drag-net set for the capture of the murderer and his two comrades, who had sat out in the river in a canoe and waited for the boat house thief when he entered the Hatch property to steal whatever he could lay his hands on. For some time the detectives were rather puzzled by the presence of two green canoes in the trail which they were following, acting on the clue furnished by the mortally wounded victim of the thug's gun just before he died.
Hatch had told employees who came running to his assistance, that he had been shot by a man he caught robbing his boathouse and that he had got away in a green canoe in which were two companions waiting for him out in the shallow waters of the river near the bank. The second canoe was the property of boys who had no knowledge of the robbery, although they reported seeing the murder boat. On Monday the search was rewarded by the finding of two school boys who tearfully admitted that they were involuntary witnesses of the tragedy. The boys, Walter Blazejewski, aged 13 years and David Augustine, aged 15 years, were arrested in their class room in the Bridesburg, Pa., public school. The young suspects without hesitation told all they knew about a grim tragedy in which they said they had no voluntary part.
The police are inclined to believe the boys and after checking up on their stories they were detained as witnesses only.The boys said that the murder had been committed by George Conn, a nineteen-year-old ne'er-do-well, who had invited them to accompany him on a round of his muskrat traps on the meadows which line the Jersey side of the river. They told in detail how Conn, surprised while exploring that Hatch boathouse into which he had gained entrance through an open window, had first shot the owner twice in the face at short range with a revolver loaded wiht blanks and then when this weapon was wrested from him by Hatch, determined to overpower and arrest him, how he had run until again overtaken by the irate owner of the property, and how waist-deep in the river and after vainly attempting to reach the waiting canoe, Conn had drawn another revolver loaded with ball cartridges and fired point blank at Hatch, inflicting a ghastly wound from which he died soon after staggering back to shore. Conn has not yet been apprehended. He is said to have fled from his accustomed haunts immediately after the crime and has not been seen since.
After being shot, Hatch was seen to fall by William Cartwright, a negro employed at the Hatch brick works, who ran to his aid. "I caught them robbing the boathouse." Hatch said, "and they got me. Three young fellows in a canoe. Tell my brothers." He sank rapidly and in a few minutes was dead.
Hatch was 42 years old and had a beautiful home at Riverton, facing the Country Club there. He is survived by a widow, two children and this brothers, Isaiah, and Morgan. He was a nephew of Cooper B. Hatch, former mayor of Camden and former Sheriff of the county. The murder was the outcome of numerous robberies at the Hatch boathouse, a structure of considerable size near the river-front of the brick works in which the brothers have been partners. In a statement given to the police by the Blazejewski boy, he said that he and Augustine had no idea that a crime was to be committed when they stared out with Conn. "We got into the Canoe and went across to Delair. Then we went up the Pensauken Creek about 500 yards. Conn had a revolver in his pocket and it was loaded with blank cartridges. On the bank of the creek we saw a man asleep and Conn went ashore and went through his pockets and stole his revlover, which was filled with bullets. I got frightened and wanted to go home, but Conn told me not to be afraid. "We passed Mr. Hatch's boathouse and Conn saw a window open, and he said he was going to see what he could swipe. He went ashore and David and I pushed the boat out into the stream again. We saw a man go into the boathouse and then we heard sounds of loud hollering and fighting. Conn ran out of the boathouse and Mr. Hatch followed him. Conn turned around and pulled the revolver from his pocket and fired two shots into Mr. Hatch's face. Mr. Hatch then grabbed Conn and took the revolver from him but Conn broke away and waded out to where we were sitting in the boat. He was trying to get aboard."Mr. Hatch caught Conn just as he neared out boat and the water was up to his waist.'I am going to arrest you' Mr. Hatch said. They started fighting again and Conn was getting beat. He said , 'Hit him with an oar, hit him with an oar' but we didn't do it because we were terribly frightened. Conn broke away and said, 'I am going to see how you like cold steel.' He pulled the stolen revolver from his pocket and fired at Mr. Hatch, who fell into the water. Conn climbed into the canoe and he paddled us back to the Philadelphia side of the river. He told us he would kill us if we opened up our mouths. I was afraid to say anything to anyone about it," the boy concluded.
An investigation has revealed that Christian Schaffer, who lives in a cabin along the Pensauken Creek, saw the three boys in the canoe on the day of the murder and saw them rob the drunken man, who was too intoxicated to resist.
I have located Edward E. Hatch in Riverton on the 1910 census, but for some reason not in 1920.
Here is the information from the census:
Edward E. Hatch, age 32. Born in New Jersey. He was employed as a brick manufacturer.
Rebecca Hatch, his wife, age 32. She was born in Pennsylvania.
Gerald A. Hatch, age 5.
Eleanor hatch, age 2 mos.
Maggie Cartwright, age 14? (the age is hard to make out). Maggie was black, and worked as a 'shipping clerk'; her relationship to Edward is given as 'servant.' Maggie was born in New Jersey, but her parents were both from North Carolina.
I found an Edward E. Hatch in Camden in 1880, age 2, though it's not possible to be certain this is the same man. He is absent from the 1900 census anywhere in New Jersey.
Regarding the Blazejewski family, in 1920 they were living in Philadelphia (Bridesburg is apparently a neighborhood in that city.) They lived on Richmond street. The family in 1920 consisted of :
Stanislaw Blazejewski, age 41. He had moved to the United States in 1901 from Poland, and was still an alien in 1920. Stanislaw was employed as a glazer at a leather factory.
Josephine Blazejewski, age 35, his wife. She had come to the United States, also from Poland, in 1892.
Stella Blazejewski, age 15, born in Pennsylvania.
Helen, age 13;
Walter, age 11;
Lillian, age 9;
Margaret, age 7;
Bertha, age 6;
Edward, age 4;
Melfred, age 2;
Clara, age 1;
Ernest, just a few months old.
This family was not found on any other censuses so far.
I have found no other information regarding David Augustine or George Conn.
There was a man living in Philadelphia named Christian Schaffer, employed as an auto mechanic. He was 23 years old and lived with his wife, Anna, though if this is the same man mentioned above is not certain.
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