Louis C. Schlam

Louis Charles Schlam was born in Pennsylvania on January 31, 1887, to Henry Schlam and his wife, Catherine Spicer Schlam. He was the second of at least twelve children. His father worked as a shoemaker. By 1900, according to census records, the family was living at 1840 North 11th Street in Philadelphia. Around 1910, Louis married his wife, Mary.

On June 5, 1917, Louis registered for the draft. At that time, he was living with Mary and their two children at 859 Bergen Avenue in the Cramer Hill section of Camden, New Jersey. He was employed as a sheet metal worker at the Budd Manufacturing Company, located at 25th Street and Hunting Park Avenue in Philadelphia. Louis was not called to active military service.

By January 30, 1920, Louis had joined the Camden Police Department.

The 1930 Census shows Louis, Mary, and their children—Harry, Josephine, and Evelyn—living at 1029 North 34th Street, still in Camden's Cramer Hill neighborhood. Louis remained on active duty with the police department and had been promoted to detective by 1928. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, he frequently worked with fellow detective Richard Donnelly, who also lived in Cramer Hill.

On September 15, 1931, Detectives Donnelly and Schlam escorted James H. Kessler to the Skillman Village for Epileptics in Skillman, New Jersey, following a court order by Judge Samuel M. Shay.

On August 15, 1942, while fishing at Green Creek with Richard Donnelly and former Mayor Frederick von Nieda, Louis Schlam suffered a fatal heart attack. He was buried at Locustwood Cemetery in Delaware Township (now Cherry Hill), New Jersey.