I had an ancestor who was murdered in 1925, and all I know about it is what was in a single newspaper article right after it happened. Is there a way to find out more about the incident from the police (it happened in Manhattan). Do the police even keep records from that long ago?
I’m sure a police report was written at the time, but whether they keep track of documents that old is another question. If you can figure out which Manhattan precinct would have been responsible you could start there and see what they say. My guess is that those records are lost to time.
Try searching the NYC Dept of Records site first (upper right hand corner). Use the address, intersection, persons name, anything you have.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/gallery/home.shtml
The police file is long gone, but you would be able to get the prisoner photo if there was a conviction (on Ancestry), quite possibly a crime scene photo and the folder and box # where the Grand Jury Indictment is located. If you can get to the Municipal Archives, you can access the box and read the contents.
Edited to add: They have Grand Jury Indictments going all the way back to the 1800’s in the Municipal Archives.
thanks. There won’t be an indictment though, since the man who killed her then turned the gun on himself.
I would bet that when you find the records, they won’t tell you much more than the newspaper item did. It was an era when reports were brief log entries, and shared with police reporters.
I wouldn’t even be surprised if the news item has more info than the police report. It was the era of highly competitive journalism, not that you kids would know anything about that… :rolleyes:
Do you thin there would me more information, given that the murderer was himself a police officer?
In that case, there would probably be even less.
You’re probably right. Or, at the least, if the information exists, it would be harder to get my hands on it.
I suspect you’d have better luck looking for other newspaper accounts.
I have. It was in the New York Times, and I’ve found it in some small town newspapers as far away as Alabama, but they’re all pretty much parroting the same story.
What about the other big dailies in NYC? They’re harder to find on microfilm, but might have a different take on the story.
or were either of the parties of an ethnic group that would have had its own newspaper? In the 1920s in New York, e.g., there were papers in Norwegian, Swedish, Italian, Hungarian, German, etc., etc.
So far I’ve found the same story in two Brooklyn newspapers, but it looks like they’re all working from the same information the Times had as the stories are remarkably similar in their wording, and no new details are in any of them. And there doesn’t appear to have been any other follow up stories after the incident, in the Times or elsewhere that I’ve been able to locate.
Then look for sensational interviews with the widows and such.
well, the wife is the victim, so I’d be looking for the husband. There is a quote from him in the original story, but I’ve not been able to find any other mention of the incident after the initial story.
I put the question up on a FB page that is frequented by lots of NYPD officers. So far they are saying if there is anything at all to find you would have to go to the precinct. I’ll let you know if I hear anything else.
Ok here is what I got. It’s a mix of good and bad news.
Some of the old records were put on microfiche and you may be able to obtain it through the website.
Some precinct buildings have old records like command logs stacked in the basement. One cop said in his precinct he looked up logs from the 40s and they were basically illegible due to how they were stored. Another said he looked up logs from the 20s and had no problem. The way get those would be to go to the precinct and ask.
If the records were collected when centralized they may be at 1 Police Plaza. Most say you will have a better chance of getting the records by going in person to 1PP rather than to try to do it by mail or Internet.
If you are far from NYC this might not be good news for you.
Keep us updated, please!
Yes and if there is any way to link to those newspaper reports I would love to see it.
Yes, please! I have a lawyer friend in Brooklyn who may be able to help.
Hebrew and Yiddish, too: List of Jewish newspapers - Wikipedia
thanks everyone…I’m about 2 hours outside of Manhattan, but I’ve got a cousin in Queens who is working on this as well. Hopefully he’ll have time soon to try going to the precinct himself, otherwise it’s going to be until sometime over the winter before I’m able to get off a day to make the trip myself.