William Boettcher
William Boettcher Sr. was born on August 3, 1887 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Otto and Dorothea Boettcher. He married at the age of 18. By 1910 he 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, a system that 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 a resident of Los Angeles, California, where he died in August of 1967.
Tag: william-boettcher
20th Street
Twentieth Street runs through Cramer Hill and East Camden, from Harrison Avenue to Bank Street, established by the 1887–1888 Camden City Directory. In 1954, fourteen homes with South 20th Street addresses were added when McGuire Gardens public housing was built; they were demolished and redeveloped in the 1990s.
Mother Ill in Indiana, Man Sought in Camden
In February 1938 a sister in Madison, Indiana, asked Camden's Missing Persons Bureau to find her brother Earl Van Horn, last known to be working in a Camden shipyard, because their mother was ill.
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 .
City Bertillon Expert Stricken Taking Photo
Camden City Detective William Boettcher, head of the Bertillon record bureau, collapsed while photographing a prisoner in June 1933, the second such episode brought on by a stomach ailment.
Mystery Prisoner Tries to End Life
An amnesia-claiming prisoner known only as "Mr. X" tried to leap from a window in February 1933 while being taken to the Bertillon room; Detectives William Boettcher, Clifford Del Rossi and Clarence Arthur subdued him.
Cops Are Shifted by Mayor Stewart
As pension retirements opened vacancies in December 1932, Mayor Roy R. Stewart reassigned Camden police, naming Sergeant Nathan Petit head of the traffic bureau to succeed Lieut. Charles L. Laib.
Horner, Middleton, Bunker In Headquarters Shift
A December 1931 reshuffle at Camden police headquarters moved Sergeant William Horner to desk sergeant and turned the missing persons bureau into the identification bureau under Detective William Boettcher.
Burglar Robs Woman of $3 in Hour of Terror
A masked burglar menaced Mrs. Ernest McLaughlin of 1226 North Twentieth Street for an hour, then fled; neighbor William Murphy of 1221 North Twentieth Street was identified, arrested, and held without bail.
Wife Stabs Husband as He Strikes Her
In June 1930 Mrs. Helen Edwards, 36, confessed to police that she stabbed her husband John W. Edwards, a gasoline station manager, during a quarrel over a meal; he died at Cooper Hospital.
Doris Kin Held in Attempt to Rob Store Here
George Doris, 23, of Philadelphia, was held without bail in June 1930 for breaking into a Broadway women's apparel shop; he was the younger brother of the gangster John Doris.
Player-Piano Looting Lands Youths in Jail
Stanley Powell and Anthony Sarstick, both 20, were jailed for four months in December 1928 after pleading guilty to looting a player-piano in a pool room at Louis and Mt. Vernon streets.
Found Wounded on Sidewalk at Kaighn Point
Joseph "Mose" Flannery, 26, Eighth ward political worker and slot machine distributor, lay dying in West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital after being shot before dawn outside a saloon at Front street and Kaighn avenue. He refused to name his assailants — "My lips are sealed" — as Camden police and county detectives rounded up eight men and hunted for a motive.
East Camden Notes
East Camden neighborhood notes from the Camden Post-Telegram of July 13, 1925: a building and loan meeting at St. Joseph's Hall, shore vacations and a motor tour to Niagara Falls and Canada.
Take Sergeant Examination
District Detective Raymond H. Stark, Acting Sergeant John Potter and Mounted Officer Clarence Thorne of the Third District took the civil service examination for promotion to sergeant. Acting Sergeant Boettcher was slated to sit it but his name was dropped from the list.