I am an avid genealogist. The past is very important to me. I spend a lot of time in cemeteries photographing tombstones to upload on the website FindAGrave.
I enjoy recognizing long dead people by putting memorials to them online. However, every once and a while something grabs me about a specific grave. It could be the name, or the dates or a ceramic photo. In those cases, I feel compelled to dig a little deeper. That's what this series of blogs is about: The tales behind those graves. Some of my subjects will be heroes. Some will be villains. Some will be victims. And some will linger in between, like most of us. However, don't be surprised if the tales are inherently tragic. These are grave tales. They all end in death.
Today I want to tell the story of Leapold W. "Simon" Gilden, whose grave I found in the Knesseth Israel Anshe Kolk Wolyn Cemetery. I love this cemetery. It is filled with wonderful monuments adorned with lots of ceramic grave photographs. Leapold's photograph drew me in. With his top hat and tuxedo, he appeared to be a jaunty Jazz Age figure. The photo was intriguing, but the dates hooked me. He died on December 22, 1925 at the age of 21. I had to know why. I looked him up on newspapers.com and was surprised by what I learned. He was married with two children, but he was also a reputed to be a gangster. And he was murdered execution style in New York City.
The Baltimore Sun, 23 December 1925:
Pierced by five bullets, the body of a man was found lying in Washington street in New York yesterday. Some distance away was a bullet-ridden automobile, under the seat of which were two Maryland license tags issued to Mrs. Ida Gilden, wife of Simon Gilden, 4883 Reisterstown road.
The New York license tags attached to the motor car were issued in the name of Mrs. Ida Gilden, 69 Mott street, the New York authorities notified the Baltimore police. Tenants of the Mott street address said they had never heard of Mrs. Gilden.
Said to Have Gone To N.Y.
Simon Gilden, arrested with four others a few months ago, charged with holding up and robbing an employee of a South Broadway bank, but subsequently tried and acquitted, went to New York several days ago, intending to stay until January, his friends in Baltimore told the police last night.
Detective-Lieutenant James A. Manning, who is in New York in connection with another investigation, was ordered last night to drop on which he had been seen to New York and to devote himself to identifying the dead man and assisting the New York police in trying to solve the slaying.
Search Is Made In The City.
At the same time Detective-Lieutenant Cornelius I. Roche and Detective-Sergeant Feehley were ordered to make a search for Gilden in Baltimore. It was in the course of this search that they learned that Gilden had gone to New York with the intention of remaining until next month.
Only a few weeks ago Gilden was arrested as a result of a brawl at Front and Baltimore streets in which a man was shot in the arm. When he and the others arrested were arraigned in Eastern Police Court so many underworld characters flocked to the courtroom that it was ordered cleared.
After several witnesses had testified, including the man who was wounded, that they did not know who had done the shooting, Magistrate Joseph J. Retaliata asserted that "the witnesses apparently settled the matter outside the court" and postponed the hearing. When the case again was heard Gilden and the others were dismissed for lack of evidence.
Auto and Tags Only Clues.
The bullet-riddled automobile and the license tags are the only clues the police have in the search for the slayer or slayers in their efforts to identify the dead man.
A description of the dead man, together with his finger prints, are expected at Police Headquarters today.
Another story from The Baltimore Sun, 24 December 1925:
The investigation of the killing Tuesday in New York city of Simon L. Gilden disclosed information yesterday which caused the police again to broadcast circulars with photographs and a description of Richard Reese Whittemore. The information, however, had no direction bearing of Gilden's slaying, the police declared.
Whittemore escaped from the Maryland Penitentiary February 20. He felled a guard in the hospital with an iron pipe and, holding a Negro orderly at bay with the guard's pistol, opened a door of the institution and fled.
The guard, Robert H. Holtman, died the next day. The fugitive is 24 years old and was serving a 15-year term for burglary. Since the day of his escape the police never have had definite information concerning his whereabouts.
Body Is Identified.
Gilden was found dead early Tuesday on a sidewalk in Lower New York. In the same neighborhood an automobile identified as the property of his wife, Mrs. Ida Gilden, was found.
The body was identified yesterday by finger prints sent to New York Tuesday night by Charles H. Burns, captain of detectives. The body will be sent here for burial, the police said last night.
Gilden, Charles Gross, Edward (Spick) Kenny and Milton Goldberg, alias "Shuffles," were accused last spring of the hold-up and robbery March 16 of Jacob Wahl Holtzman, a collector for the American Bank. They were indicted soon after the robbery.
Gilden Acquitted.
Gilden was acquitted. Since that time he is said to have been implicated in two pistol fights over alleged liquor transactions.
Gross and Kenny were arrested and later released. The charge of robbery in connection with the affair still is pending against them in the Criminal Court. Goldberg has not been arrested.
Both Kenny and Gross, a former policeman, have been shot and wounded seriously since the Holtzman robbery.
Goldberg, who is sought in connection with the robbery, is declared by police to have been on friendly terms with Whittemore. It has been the belief of police at various times that the two might be together.
Information Obtained.
In conducting an investigation here of the New York murder yesterday the police were given information concerning Whittlemore's recent whereabouts.
Detective-Lieutenants Cornelius Roche and Anthony Pass are aiding Captain Burns in the investigation. Detective-Lieutenant James A. Manning and Detective-Sergeant William Feehley are in New York assisting the New York authorities.
Gilden, who was 21 years old, is survived by his widow and two children. He lived in the 4800 block Reisterstown road.
Another story from The Baltimore Sun, 26 December 1925:
Simon L. Gilden was murdered deliberately in New York city Tuesday and not, as at first believed, in a pistol battle, according to the police. The four bullets shot into his body were fired from behind him and entered his neck and head, it became known here yesterday.
The body was brought to the city Christmas Eve and buried at noon in Kohler Congregational Cemetery, near Graceland Park. Services were held at the home of Max Gilden, 835 Whitelock street, the slain man's father.
It is the hope and and belief of the police that the investigation of the murder will lead to the apprehension of Richard Reese Whittemore, a fugitive from the Maryland Penitentiary, who is wanted for murder, and of Milton (Shuffles) Goldberg, wanted on an indictment charging him with assault and robbery.
After making an investigation of the murder in New York, Detective-Lieutenant James A. Manning and Detective-Sergeant William Feehley returned to the city late Thursday. New York detectives are expected to visit the city within a few days.
 |
| Richard Resse Whittemore |
Richard Reese Whittemore was captured in New York state where he operated a robbery ring with Goldberg and others that netted the criminals over a reputed $1,000,000. He was extradited to Maryland to stand trial for murder of the prison guard Robert H. Holtman. He was found guilty and sentenced to death.
Although evidence linked Whittemore to Gilden hours prior to his death, the murder of Leapold Gilden remained officially unsolved. In 1927, his widow Ida Gilden made headlines trying to collect on his life insurance policy. The insurance company tried to deny the claim.
Remember, there is a story behind every grave. You never know what you're missing when you walk past one....
My novel Chapel Street is now available! You can buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble. Chapel Street is the tale of a young man battling a demonic entity that has driven members of his family to suicide for generations. It was inspired by an actual haunting.
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 2, The House
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 3, This Is Us
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 4, Arrival
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 5, Methodology
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 6, Clara's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 7, Clara's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 8, My Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 9, My Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 10, My Tale, Pt. 3
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 11, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 12, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 13, John's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 14, John's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 15, Come Inside!
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 16, Marion's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 17, Marion's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 18, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 19, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 20, Lisa's Tale
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 21, Recap, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 22, Recap, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 23, Recap, Pt. 3
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