tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951483292186512206.post7580473992445069384..comments2024-03-22T09:40:51.869-04:00Comments on BASS RIVER TOWNSHIP, N.J. HISTORY . . . etc.: Dingenis DeLeeuw ReprisedPete Stemmer, moderatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12922972073356224964noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951483292186512206.post-26293288048335213232010-07-25T09:08:25.648-04:002010-07-25T09:08:25.648-04:00Bill Hughes lived near Shermans corner on the old ...Bill Hughes lived near Shermans corner on the old Hammonton Rd. He had a son Billy and a Daughter Eileen. We used to play together as kids. <br /><br />Dave KalmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951483292186512206.post-6522383642542435362010-07-24T19:18:42.795-04:002010-07-24T19:18:42.795-04:00The Voorhes farm on Rt 542 was located across the ...The Voorhes farm on Rt 542 was located across the highway from the home of my parents, Ted & Naomi Sharp. Later the Huxley family lived in the old house. A few years passed,the house sat empty & suddenly burned to the ground. Sam & I discovered the still remains when we walked back into the woods behind the house. We saw the axe marks in the metal of the still destroying it.<br />Phyllis BriggsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951483292186512206.post-35604124041714156702010-07-23T12:02:54.959-04:002010-07-23T12:02:54.959-04:00Sam Briggs added an sinister element to the "...Sam Briggs added an sinister element to the "Murder in Leektown" blog with blood on the stairway and bats in the attic. Would be great TV. <br /><br />Disappointed that you did not follow up with newspaper stories about the incident. [Editor's Note - Sorry, but I don't have any newspaper articles on the Kline murder.] <br /><br />A question I have why was this group of men gathered together in the Kline home? The others were, by fact or rumor, Ralph Loveland, Ed Brown (no relation), Everit Allen, and Bonsdale plus Hughes and Robbins. Which one could be Don's respected Citizen?<br /> <br />Bass River area was known to have many stills during prohibition and after its repeal. Could they been dividing up the assets both liquid and solid, a argument developed which caused the death of Kline? Perhaps the answer is in the newspapers.<br /> <br />The last still in New Gretna took place on Voorhes Farm on the right side of Hamonton Rd approx a quarter mile from Merrygold. The road to the still went right by their back door and when questioned he stated "I was told the boys from Hamonton was only spot lighting deer." This happened in 1940.<br /> <br />Clif BrownAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951483292186512206.post-38006751564450213862010-07-22T13:23:55.061-04:002010-07-22T13:23:55.061-04:00Pete,
Reading Phyllis Brigg's article about ...Pete, <br /><br />Reading Phyllis Brigg's article about the Kline house jarred my memory a little. The house that she is talking about, the kline house scene of the murder, was I should judge about the third house in on the left after turning off on the Chatsworth Road heading toward Wading River. it was the next house and just before James Howard Bozarth.<br /><br /> I remember James Howard Bozarth well. His father was a Civil War veteran. He was a kindly old gentleman and had two daughters and a son. The oldest daughter married James Maxwell of Wading River. Earl Cramer, normancramer's father, told me (He was a resident of Leektown then, and J. Howard Bozarth was his uncle.) that when Jim Maxwell came a courting Mary, J. Howards oldest daughter, you could hear the horse that Jim Maxwell was riding, hoofs pounding on the wooden planks of Wading River bridge. <br /><br />Anyway, getting back to my story. Sam Briggs senior told me that when the depression hit he was wiped out, so he and his wife, Frances, and young son Sam, Phillyis' husband, went looking for a place to live and wound up in Leektown. They stopped in front of the old vacant Kline house. Pop Sam, as he was called, said he had only one dollar in his pocket so he went next door to James Howard Bozarth's house and explained his situation and wondered if it would be alright if he and his wife and son stayed there, if the present owners wouldn't mind. Old Mr Bozarth told him about the recent murder committed there and that the family had vacated the house. He said he didn't think the absent owners would mind, so Pop Sam and his family settled in and, I believe, stayed for a few years. I remember young Sam coming to Bass River School on the school bus from Leektown. The bus was driven then by Milton Cramer who lived where Eddie Bourguion's store is today [Editor's note - Actually, today it is the Speedy Deli. on Route 9.].<br /><br />Also I may have some more Sach Robbins stories soon. <br /> <br />Don MaxwellAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951483292186512206.post-80520913679163310992010-07-19T07:38:44.610-04:002010-07-19T07:38:44.610-04:00Pete, I remember my father,(Charles W. Weber,Jr.),...Pete, I remember my father,(Charles W. Weber,Jr.), talking about the murder of Kline. The son of Kline was my father's brother-in-law. The son witnessed the murder of his father. To keep from being another victim of Hillary, he moved away and changed his last name. We used to visit him and his family in his new location. I also remember Hillary and his wife, Reba, very well. Hillary and my father fished together. Hillary was at our house in Leeds Point often. I remember that he was a "Bad Dude" when he was drinking. One time I remember he cut his wife's face up really badly. She used to be an attractive woman until he did that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951483292186512206.post-9498417464339293572010-07-18T16:58:00.441-04:002010-07-18T16:58:00.441-04:00Pete,
The murder in Leektown in the latter 30...Pete, <br /><br />The murder in Leektown in the latter 30's occurred in a house on the Leektown-Wading River road. The house was inhabited by a family named Kline. It seems that Sach Robbins and a fellow named Bill Hughes and another New Gretna citizen and a Mr. Kline, the occupant of the house, were all doing some heavy drinking when it started to get out of hand. The New Gretna citizen seeing trouble ahead got out ahead of the fracus and walked or probably ran part way back to New Gretna to avoid any trouble. <br /><br />Anyway, things must have gotten much worse as Mr. Kline was stabbed to death. Both men, Sach Robbins and Bill Kline, were rounded up, indicted, and went to trial resulting in their incarceration in State Prison for a few years. There was some talk that they might get the chair; however, in about 5 yrs they were out and back home in New Gretna.<br /><br />I do remember Bill Gray, the local political leader at the time, circulating a petition to get Bill Hughes out. Bill had a wife and son. They lived in Frog Town in the house I think was near the litle restaurant on Rt 9 just before getting on the Parkway. Mrs. Hughes was a quiet woman, and I remember her, the son, and Bill Hughes picking blueberries at Cutt's blueberry farm. I don't know whatever happened to them, as they moved away soon after his release from prison. <br /><br />The other fellow, the New Gretna citizen who I won't name here, was never charged with anything, as he wasn't there at the scene of the crime. He lived his life out as a respected citizen. <br /><br />That's all I can remember about New Gretna's most famous homicide.<br /><br />Don MaxwellAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951483292186512206.post-13805868673700235182010-07-18T15:08:13.639-04:002010-07-18T15:08:13.639-04:00I wonder if anyone has a photo of the old Kline mu...I wonder if anyone has a photo of the old Kline murder house that burned?<br /><br />Pete SPete Stemmer, moderatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12922972073356224964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951483292186512206.post-57890085987410605532010-07-18T13:34:18.499-04:002010-07-18T13:34:18.499-04:00When Sam was a young boy during the late 1930'...When Sam was a young boy during the late 1930's he lived in an old two-story house in Leektown. He was told there were blood stains from the Kline murder at the top of the stairs. There were two sets of stairs in the house, one going up from the kitchen and the other from the living room. He doesn't know which stairs held the blood stains. The attic contained swarms of bats hanging & living next to the brick chimney. Later Sam & his family moved to a different house in Leektown. The empty house soon attracted another family but they never moved in. The locals heard about these different people wanting to rent the house and soon the house burned to the ground, possibly arson. <br /> The burned house was located directly across the street from Gladys Wilson's house which I believe is now the home of Gladys Wilson's granddaughter, Bass River Township Mayor Deborah Buzby-Cope.<br /> Phyllis & Sam BriggsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com