Camden People - Joseph Bennie

JOSEPH BENNIE was born in Italy on August 7, 1897. He came to America as a small child, in 1901. By 1930 he had married, and owned a home with his wife Adalena in a predominantly Italian-American section of Camden's Third Ward. The Bennie family resided at 511 South 4th, the corner of South 4th and Senate Streets. He was then working as a tailor at a coat factory, very probably the DiPaola Coat Factory, which employed many in the immediate neighborhood. The Bennie family remained on South 4th Street through at least 1947.

Active in local politics, Joseph Bennie served on the Camden County Board of Freeholders from Camden's 3rd Ward in 1930 and 1931. By 1953 he had taken a job as a detective with the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. At that time he was working under future federal judge Mitchell H. Cohen and with future Chief of County Detectives Wilfred Dube.

Joseph Bennie had moved to East Camden by 1956, where he lived at 515 Royal Avenue. Joseph Bennie died in June of 1967, still a resident of Camden. His family has remained in the area.

Camden Courier-Post - October 26, 1931

Three-cornered Fights In Freeholder Contest
Clementon and Delaware Township to Have Bitter Battles
38 TO BE ELECTED IN COUNTY, NOV. 3
6 Additional Offices Created by Law; Candidates Listed

Three-cornered battles in Clementon and Delaware Township will mark freeholder contests at the November 3 election. Ballots will be casts for an entire new board of freeholders, with 38 to be elected.

Boroughs to have freeholders representation for the first time as a result of recent legislation are Clementon, Lindenwold, Oaklyn, Woodlynne, Mt. Ephraim and Runnemede.

Rivals in the three-cornered fight in Clementon are Theodore W. Gibbs, Republican Organization nominee; Frank C. Somers, running as a Republican Independent, and Herbert P. McAdams, the Democratic nominee.

The triangular race in Delaware township finds Frank N. Walton, Republican Organization; J. Watson Matlack, Republican Independent, and Augustus A. Cornet, Democrat, as the contestants.

Nine members of the present board of freeholders will not be on the ballot for re-election. All are Republicans. They are Benjamin W. Sykes, Eighth Ward; Joseph Tarpine, First Ward, Gloucester; Philip Stohlbergel, Audubon; Joseph H. Van Meter, Collingswood; William J. Dallas, Haddon Heights; James W. Davis, Clementon; Charles C. Durges, Haddon township; Theodore Schleinkofer, Waterford township, and William A. Robinson, Winslow ..

Joseph Bennie, Third Ward, Camden, is the only Democratic member on the present board. He is seeking a re-election and is opposed by Daniel Auletto, Republican nominee.

Candidates listed on the ballots in the various wards and municipalities follow:

Camden Wards

First Ward-Samuel D. Payne, R.; Thomas J. Kittel, D.

Second-William H. Heiser, R.; William Kunitz, D.

Third-Daniel Auletto, R.; Joseph Bennie, D.

Fourth-William L. Roberts, R.; Nicholas A. La Marra, D.

Fifth-C. Leonard Brehm, R.; Leon Perozzi. D.

Sixth-Harry J. Burrichter, R.; A. W. Lazro, D.

Seventh-Mrs. Mary D. Guthridge, R.; Theodore Buczkowski, D.

Eighth-Walter Sekula, R.; George S. W. Spaide.

Ninth-Francis B. Bodine, R.; S. V. Waddy, D.

Tenth-Samuel J. Edwards, R.; Edward J. Fox, Sr., D.

Eleventh - Howard Firth, R.; Charles T. Johnston, D.

Twelfth-John T. Rodan, R.; Wilbert H. Joslin, D.

Thirteenth-William P. Cotter, R.; Frank E. Zimmerman, D.

Fourteenth-Charles H. Genther, R.; George E. Brunner, D.

Camden Courier-Post - June 15, 1933

COLORED DEMOCRATS OF THIRD ORGANIZE

The Third Ward Colored Democratic Club was organized last night at 650 Locust Street with the election of Charles Johnson as president.

Joseph Bennie, jury commissioner, was the principal speaker. Other officers elected were James Riley, vice president; Minnie Gray, chaplain; Edna Taylor, secretary; Jack Mason, recording secretary; George Bryant, treasurer, and James H. James, sergeant-at-arms.

The club will meet again tomorrow night with Charles Salvaggia, county committeeman, as speaker.

A case that Joseph Bennie was only indirectly involved in was the tragic suicide of James S. Wilkie, son of a veteran Camden police officer, John V. Wilkie in December 1953. For several days after the shooting, Sgt. Wilkie claimed that he had shot his son, in order that he receive a Catholic funeral. He retracted his confession after it became apparent that he could not deceive the city and county investigators, and was released after the grand jury refused to return an indictment.

This tragic case saw the involvement of many of Camden's law enforcement and legal community, including Mitchell H. Cohen, Benjamin Asbell, Wilfred Dube, Thomas Murphy, James J. Mulligan, J. James Hainsworth, John A. Healey, and Samuel P. Orlando, among others.

Camden Courier-Post - December 21, 1953

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Gettysburg PA Times - December 23, 1953

Detective Is Held For Shooting Son

Camden NJ (AP)- A Camden city detective, Sgt. John V. Wilkie, is being held on a manslaughter charge in the shooting of his 17 year-old son.
       Police said last night Wilkie told them his son was killed accidentally as he and the youth struggled for his service revolver Sunday morning.
       The boy's death had been called a suicide by Camden County Coroner John A. Healy. A pathology report indicated that the head wound sustained by the younger Wilkie was self-inflicted.
       Camden County Prosecutor Mitchell H. Cohen said the detective told him he tried to take his own life after his son was shot but the pistol misfired.
       Wilkie was charged with manslaughter and held in custody pending a hearing to set bail.

Camden Courier-Post - December 24, 1953

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Camden Courier-Post - December 26, 1953


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Camden Courier-Post - December 28, 1953

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Camden Courier-Post - December 31, 1953
*Wilkie Freed By Vote of Grand Jury*

Camden Courier-Post - June 8, 1967

Joseph Bennie, 69, Former Freeholder

Joseph Bennie, 69, of 515 Royal Avenue, retired county detective and former county freeholder; died yesterday in Cooper Hospital.

Mr. Bennie, the father of Camden County Counsel John R. Bennie, retired August 30, 1957, after serving 24 years in the prosecutor's office. He also served as a county jury commissioner and was the operator of the Bennie Detective Agency in Camden.

Mr. Bennie has been active in various civic social and charitable organizations. He was a past president of the Independent Order, Sons of Italy, and a member of the County Detective's Benevolent Association.

Also surviving are his Adeline; a daughter, Mrs. Marie DiMattia of Runnemede and five grandchildren.

Requiem high Mass will be celebrated Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Joseph's Procathedral, Pennsauken, 29th and Federal Streets.

Friends will meet at 8:30 a.m. tonight at the Joseph A. and Frank V. Falco Funeral Home, 6600 N, Browning Road, where they may call tomorrow night.

Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, Cherry Hill.