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Post by stella7 on Mar 19, 2020 12:36:51 GMT -5
Sorry I’m a little late to the party, I just started reading volume III last night and was pleasantly surprised to see Joseph B Hill mentioned (pages 68-69). He was my husband’s great grandfather’s (William D. Hill) brother. The Hill Homestead was on Marshall’s Corner Rd and was the largest peach farm in the area, distilling peaches was big business in the 1800’s. Another old peach farm, Wycoff’s, abutted the Lindbergh estate.
I’ve always been a little curious as the kidnap ladder resembled those typically used for picking fruit in orchards and Patsy Orlando’s farm was nearby in Woodsville. You mention LE was suspicious of someone working at that farm in Volume II. I’ve wondered if rum runners may have been using peaches from those farms to make liquor as it was the Prohibition and the peach industry was essentially over by 1900.
Michael, I’ll show this to my father-in-law who turned 97 this week! He’ll be thrilled.
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Post by Michael on Mar 20, 2020 9:59:10 GMT -5
Sorry I’m a little late to the party, I just started reading volume III last night and was pleasantly surprised to see Joseph B Hill mentioned (pages 68-69). He was my husband’s great grandfather’s (William D. Hill) brother. The Hill Homestead was on Marshall’s Corner Rd and was the largest peach farm in the area, distilling peaches was big business in the 1800’s. Another old peach farm, Wycoff’s, abutted the Lindbergh estate. I’ve always been a little curious as the kidnap ladder resembled those typically used for picking fruit in orchards and Patsy Orlando’s farm was nearby in Woodsville. You mention LE was suspicious of someone working at that farm in Volume II. I’ve wondered if rum runners may have been using peaches from those farms to make liquor as it was the Prohibition and the peach industry was essentially over by 1900. Michael, I’ll show this to my father-in-law who turned 97 this week! He’ll be thrilled. Very cool! I'm really anxious to hear his thoughts and recollections.
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Post by stella7 on Mar 22, 2020 17:28:23 GMT -5
I’ve always wondered why Hervey Hill waited so long to be interviewed for what to my mind was valuable information. The locals must have been so tired of the onslaught that their town endured that they would actually think twice about talking to law enforcement.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2020 6:38:06 GMT -5
Sorry I’m a little late to the party, I just started reading volume III last night and was pleasantly surprised to see Joseph B Hill mentioned (pages 68-69). He was my husband’s great grandfather’s (William D. Hill) brother. The Hill Homestead was on Marshall’s Corner Rd and was the largest peach farm in the area, distilling peaches was big business in the 1800’s. I was looking over some of the canvassing section reports done by the NJSP in early March to check residences and see what information might be obtained concerning the kidnapping. In a report dated March 11, 1932, Trooper DeGaetano and Trooper S.H. Austin were canvassing Section 6 which included houses on Wertsville- Hopewell Road. I found the following persons listed in this report: #3 - A.R. Hill, Wertsville-Hopewell Road, Hopewell Township. 5 rooms upstairs, 5 downstairs, attic, cellar, 10 outbuildings.
#4 - Leon Hill, Wertsville-Hopewell Road, Hopewell Township. Living with brother at the above home.Would those above happen to be relatives of your husband?
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Post by Michael on Mar 24, 2020 8:29:18 GMT -5
I’ve always wondered why Hervey Hill waited so long to be interviewed for what to my mind was valuable information. The locals must have been so tired of the onslaught that their town endured that they would actually think twice about talking to law enforcement. Maybe its wrong for me to presume this but every time I read that source its almost as if I can hear the frustration. He's blaming police leaks for why they didn't want to get involved. As I've exemplified elsewhere in V3, police were getting paid by reporters to give them leads, scoops, and even evidence (like copies of the nursery crime scene photos). People themselves could be paid for interviews leading many to simply make things up. So here we have something legit and these men were saying, in essence, " the hell with it" because they didn't want reporters pestering them. Makes one legitimately wonder how many other eyewitness accounts may have been kept quiet for the exact same reason.
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hiram
Detective
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Post by hiram on Apr 25, 2023 5:29:06 GMT -5
I just took another look at the statement made to the police by John Gronoski regarding the activities of Patsy Orlando before the kidnapping. Gronoski worked as a farm hand at Ordando's farm in Woodsville, which is about three miles from Hopewell. Orlando was said to be connected with a gang in Brooklyn but that the farm in Woodville was a "hangout for members of the gang." He said that they changed license plates on cars. It's possible that this activity was connected to rum-running to disguise the real origin of the booze carriers. I am not suggesting the Orlando was connected to the kidnapping here but recalled that Ben Lupica noted the license number of the Dodge sedan carrying the ladders on the late afternoon of March 1. What he recalled signified that the auto's license plate was from Mercer County. It's possible that the auto was from another part of New Jersey or even from New York, but arrangements were made with Orlando to change the plates for a few days. In addtion Gronoski said that a member of the gang said that he was was "going to a farm nearby" --this about four days before the kidnapping. Gronoski did not know the name of the farm but said that he could point it out. Unfortunately, this identification was not carried out. It might have been the farm of Charles Schippell (actually his mother-in-law's farm).
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Post by stella7 on May 16, 2023 7:18:29 GMT -5
Michael, do you have an address where Patsy Orlando lived? I know in later years he had the stand on the corner of 518 and 31, where Karen's at Brookside was.
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Post by Michael on May 16, 2023 15:23:32 GMT -5
Michael, do you have an address where Patsy Orlando lived? I know in later years he had the stand on the corner of 518 and 31, where Karen's at Brookside was. All the NJSP reports say is Orlando's " Woodsville Farm." Woodsville, as you know, is right near and probably includes that intersection. They were investigating Orlando all the way into the Summer of 1934. They used Wendell (Bunny) Flynn as an informant and spy because his Woodsville farm adjoined Orlando's. The person who turned the police on to Orlando was an employee who lived on the farm. He was a Polish immigrant named John Gronski. Orlando also owned property in NY as well. I think you already know all of this but I wanted to include it in case you didn't.
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Post by stella7 on May 16, 2023 19:21:38 GMT -5
Thanks Michael, I do remember from what you wrote in your books. So many leads that just seemed to go nowhere.
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