Killed For Fifteen Cents

William White Stabbed By Joseph King

The Men had Been Shooting Craps and Had Got in a Quarrel Over Fifteen Cents Which One of Them Had Won From the Other

Another murder occurred at Long Branch on Monday night. William White, a mulatto, was the victim, and Joseph King, a colored man, was the murderer.

The murder took place a little past midnight in a disreputable part of Long Branch known as Limerick. The two men had been shooting craps in a house of shady character. After the game was over a quarrel arose over fifteen cents that one of the men had won from the other. The two men left the house together and renewed the quarrel on the street. They had left the house but a few minutes when Arthur Douglass and James Collins, other inmates of the house, heard moans outside. Going outside they found White lying on the sidewalk with blood flowing from a cut in the neck. The cut had apparently been made with a knife, and the jugular vein was severed. Douglass and Collins went for an officer, but before they returned White had bled to death.

Captain of Police Layton of Long Branch took charge of the case. Douglass and Collins were arrested as witnesses. All the haunts in Limerick were searched, but no trace of the murderer was found. Telegraphic descriptions of King, with instructions to apprehend him, were sent in all directions . Chief of Police Stryker of Red Bank was called up at once by telephone and watched all the morning trains up from Long Branch. Later he went to Long Branch and was put in possession of all the facts known to the authorities there. No one could be found who had seen King since the murder.

King had been employed by W. H. Morris, an undertaker of Long Branch, for two years. He is very dark and his face is pockmarked. The night of the murder he wore a dark blue chinchilla overcoat and a black derby hat. White, the murdered man, was engaged in the fishing business at North Long Branch.

Source: Red Bank Register, Wednesday, Mar 7, 1900

Some additional excellent resources for your research are:

• New Jersey Census, 1772-1890 - Ancestry.com

• Calendar of New Jersey Wills, 1670-1760 - Ancestry.com

• Interment.net - NJ ~ New Jersey Cemetery Transcriptions on the net.

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