John Skidmore sentenced to six months in jail, 1907
Lakewood Citizen 22 Feb 1907
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Elizaeth Whalen committed to jail, 1886
New Jersey Courier 8 Dec 1886 I tried to find out more about this woman...I haven't been able to locate her on the 1880 or 1885 census, and unfortunately there is no 1890 census for Ocean County, so without knowing how long she lived in Manchester it's going to be hard to be certain if any given entry is hers. I did find a death record for an Elizabeth Whalen of Ocean County in March of 1929, but it's impossible to say if this is the same person. However, this was not Mrs. Whalen's first time in jail. On 10 Jun of 1885, the New Jersey Courier also reported: And the Lakewood Times and Journal reported on that same incident on 13 June 1885 with a little more detail A June 18th, 1884 story in the Courier makes mention of one Maggie Whalen being a pupil at the Manchester school. Could this be one of Elizabeth's children? There was also a man named Thomas Whalen in some news items prior to 1886--Thomas had a wife named Catherine and several children (including an Eliz...
Ciemiengo turns 17 in prison, 1936
From New Jersey Mirror 22 Jul 1936 Overgrown Jacob Ciemiengo celebrated his seventeenth birthday in the death house of State Prison, Trenton, on Thursday, happy because his life had been spared by the Court of Pardons. Scheduled to die the week of July 26 for the $4 holdup-murder of Herman Eilers, Florence township farmer, Ciemiengo and his companion, George Hildebrand, 27, had had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment on Tuesday two days before. The six-foot farmer boys awaited removal to another prison cell after official notice of the court's action was received by Principal Keeper Lagay. One of his attorneys, Stanley K. Heilbron, quoted the youth as saying, "I will show them I can make good." He reiterated this promise to his parish priest, Rev. M. A. Konopka of All Saints' Church, Burlington. He told the priest he intends to learn a trade in the prison shops and prepare himself for a useful life. Father Konopka, a prime mover in the drive to obtain a c...
Toms River jailbreak
New Jersey Courier 6 Sep 1929 Going into the jail on Sunday morning last, September 1 to unlock the cells and feed the prisoners, Wiliam Liming, jail warden, was set upon by James Harris, colored, who knocked Liming down, kicked and stamped on him, and escaped from the jail. Harris was caught by state troopers in less than an hour and was back in his cell, giving up when they chased him through the woods, firing at him. Warden Liming is in Kimball hospital, bruised and beaten from head to foot, almost. His condition is good, and he is expected to be out soon. His worst hurts are where the negro kicked and stamped upon him with his heavy shoes. Mr. Liming will be at the hospital for a week or two yet it is reported, though he is getting on nicely from his brutal treatment. The Warden had gone into the jail alone, as his custom was, to unlock the cells and let the prisoners out into the corridors for their breakfast. He had just risen, and was still in his pajamas. The first tier of...
Racism in 1879
This one-liner from the New Jersey Courier of 8 May 1879 made me do a double take: We are informed that only two colored men have been sent to our county jail as tramps during the past five years. A pretty good record for the 'nigger'.