The Case of the Pickled Corpse

Detectives Don't Sleep

The episode details the 1920 investigation by Detective Ellis H. Parker into the murder of bank messenger David S. Paul. After a body is dis

Key takeaways

• Detective Ellis H. and Parker used the presence of tannic acid in Bread and Cheese Creek to prove the body had been submerged longer than initially thought.
• The discovery of horn-rimmed spectacles at the crime scene directly linked car salesman Frank James to the murder.

Main topics

• Pine Barrens murder investigation
• Forensic science in 1920s New Jersey

Notable quotes

That creek has pickled the corpse.

Conclusion

A compelling historical account of how forensic intuition and meticulo

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:04) It's early, on October 16th, 1920, in the Pine Barrens, the sprawling forested area that stretches across seven counties of New Jersey State. Surrounded by towering trees, four duck hunters stalk through a misty terrain of swampland just north of Camden County. It's the first day of hunting season, and these men have been blowing their wooden whistles down by a stream, trying to lure the birds out. So far, they've had no luck attracting prey. Feeling that this area is just too fallow, they head further northwards through the woodland, crossing into Burlington County. Speaker 3 (0:57) Close by is a stream there, known as Bread and Cheese Creek, which they hope will prove to be a better hunting ground. To cause less noise, the hunters separate from one another. Moving through to drier ground, one hunter watches his footing, trying hard not to trip. The mist is especially thick here, and the ground can be treacherous. Speaker 3 (1:27) The Pine Barrens. It's always held great mystery, even for a local man like him. For as long as anyone can remember, these woods have inspired frightening myths. Such as the Jersey Devil, a winged, cloven-hooved creature who's said to have terrorized these woods for almost two centuries. Speaker 3 (1:54) But the horror that this hunter is about to unearth is of a much more human kind. He stumbles across a disturbed patch of land covered with a layer of dry brown leaves. Right away, the hunter knows that something is very wrong. Inching closer, he sees a strange mass buried under the leaves. Speaker 3 (2:31) Shakily, he brushes them aside with the tip of his rifle. What he discovers is so shocking that instantly he reaches for his whistle to alert his friends. Hearing this alarm, his companions rush through the trees to his aid. Drawing up close, they find him pointing down into the earth in front of him. Lying in a shallow grave, surrounded by insects, is the body of a man. He's in a suit and tie, and his legs are tightly bound together with a heavy rope. Horrifyingly, his head appears to have suffered some kind of terrible, disfiguring blow. The hunters exchange astonished looks. Then one says, but they're all thinking, this must be him, the missing bank messenger. All these men are familiar with the local mystery that's been well reported in newspapers. You see, 11 days earlier, on October 5th, a bank employee named David S. Paul was sent from the Broadway Trust Bank in Camden to the Girard National Bank in Philadelphia. He carried a leather pouch containing $42,000 in checks and $40,000 in cash. However, he failed to arrive at his destination. Speaker 3 (4:17) According to the newspapers, the Camden police have been at a loss. Had he absconded with the money? They wondered. Or had he instead been attacked by thieves along the way and was possibly murdered in a struggle? Whatever the answer, a reward of $1,000 has been offered to anyone who can help find the missing bank employee. Speaker 3 (4:45) So, it seems the hunters have caught something much more valuable than ducks this morning. Not wasting any more time, two of the men race straight back to Camden to alert the authorities. The others remain with the corpse until they return. When Chief Detective Duran of the Camden police eventually arrives, he tries to establish for sure that this is the man that everyone has been searching for. The corpse does have the same sandy hair color as the missing man, he thinks, and he looks to be David Paul's height of 5'10". Also, the clothes match those that he was said to be wearing on the day of his disappearance. But for some strange reason, they're soaking wet, despite being some distance from any body of water. Duran then tells his officers that although this has been their case up until now, this is not their crime scene. Because the body has been discovered just north of the county line. They're now in the jurisdiction of the Burlington County Police. And Duran knows what that means. This investigation will undoubtedly be passed over to a man who is the most famous detective in the United States. Ellis H. Parker. Parker has been Burlington's chief detective for over two decades now. He and his officers handle hundreds of cases a year, and the overwhelming majority of them result in swift arrests and solid convictions. Due to his extraordinary success rate, he's become known in the national papers as the county detective with a worldwide reputation. Speaker 3 (6:55) And now, just as America is entering its first year of prohibition, Ellis Parker will investigate his most puzzling case yet. The murder of the Camden Bank messenger will test the already celebrated Parker's deductive reasoning. His forensic expertise and his understanding of human psychology more than any other before it. Despite being a true story, it's an investigation that'll play out like something from the mind of novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And it'll cement Parker's growing reputation in the press as America's real-life Sherlock Holmes. Speaker 3 (7:45) My name is Mark Dotson, and welcome to Detectives Don't Sleep. Each week, we'll shadow the world's most remarkable sleuths, real detectives who worked extraordinary cases. In this episode, we're tailing fabled investigator Ellis H. Parker. This murder mystery will require everything he's got. But that's the thing about great detectives. They're all in. Theirs is an obsessive desire to uncover the truth. That's what keeps them up at night and never lets them rest until they've closed the case. From Noiser, this is the story of the pickled corpse. And this is Detectives Don't Sleep. It's mid-afternoon on the same day in the town of Mont Holly in Burlington. Speaker 3 (8:50) On the second floor of a red-brick building next to the courthouse is the Elks Club Bar. It's a respectable, exclusive establishment, frequented by important men of the town, such as judges, lawyers, businessmen, and doctors. Today, though, the bar is sparsely populated, with just a few retired gentlemen taking a late lunch. Speaker 3 (9:19) Sitting in his favorite corner, smoking a pipe, is Detective Ellis H. Parker. He's in no rush to return to his office next door. He has a large team of officers who can handle his current caseload, so he's at liberty to enjoy a peaceful smoke and leaf through the newspaper. Parker is curious to see if there's any news about the missing bank employee from Camden. Speaker 3 (9:49) He's taken a particular interest in that case, as he knows David Paul's family very well. Paul's adult son lives nearby, and Detective Parker would be able to identify the missing man on site. But today, there are no updates in the Trenton Times. Over the two decades that he's been Burlington's chief detective, Parker's been portrayed in highly flattering terms within the pages of the popular press. As a result, the public have an image of Parker as a dashing Holmesian figure, a heroic image which contrasts sharply with his real appearance. A short, balding man of 49, Parker doesn't look much like the intimidating lawman he's regularly portrayed as. His well-worn suit is often rumpled, and he's the only member of the Elks Club who never wears a tie. Speaker 3 (10:53) If someone didn't know who he was, they could easily mistake him for a local salesman and not pay him any attention. Which, if they had something illegal to hide, would be a mistake. Just as Parker is folding up his paper, the door to the Elks Club bar opens. A pretty young woman walks into the club, causing some of the older members to murmur in disapproval. See, women are not typically permitted to enter the Elks Club bar, but an exception is sometimes made for Miss Anna Hughes. An extremely organized and bright young woman, Anna is more than just Detective Parker's secretary. In the short time she's been working for him, she's become his right-hand woman, as indispensable as the fictional Dr. Watson is to Sherlock Holmes. Speaker 3 (11:56) Knowing that she wouldn't disturb him and his club unless it was important, Parker folds away his newspaper as she approaches and invites her to sit. After waving away the tobacco smoke that surrounds her boss, Anna explains that there has been a breakthrough in the bank messenger case from Camden. A body believed to be Mr. Paul has been discovered in the Pine Barrens near Irix Crossing, our jurisdiction. Without extinguishing his pipe, Parker stands and retrieves his coat from the nearby rack. Although he has plenty of capable officers who could handle this investigation, he knows it'll be too high profile for him to not lead himself. And so, he strides out of the smoky gentleman's club and heads straight for the crime scene. Parker arrives at Irick's Crossing, close to where the body's been found. Through the thick woodland, he can just about see the figures of Chief Detective Duran and his officers surrounding the shallow grave. It's an especially eerie part of the Pinelands. As he approaches, unseen crows call loudly in the trees above, as if warning other birds of his approach. Speaker 3 (13:31) Parker and Duran shake hands, equals in rank. The two men have met many times and have great respect for one another. But because this is Parker's jurisdiction, Duran defers to him while offering every assistance. Parker kneels down to better inspect the corpse. The gash in the forehead has disfigured his face to a shocking degree. But despite this, Parker recognizes him. He can immediately tell from the pockmarks on the victim's cheek that this is the body of David Paul. Parker looks at the thick rope that's tying Paul's legs together. It looks like the type which you would maybe use to tow an automobile. Speaker 3 (14:23) He then searches through Paul's pockets and finds the leather pouch he'd read about in the newspapers. He finds that the $40,000 cash are missing. However, to his surprise, the checks are still there, but they're completely sodden and the ink is smeared. The body is also soaked through. This is very strange, as there isn't any water in the immediate vicinity. Furthermore, the ground surrounding Paul's corpse is dry, including the leaves used to cover him. It seems to Parker that the killers must have transported the body here from a nearby stream and then made a clumsy attempt to bury him. Inspecting the surrounding ground, he and the other officers find tire tracks in the sandy soil. The tracks appear to come from the direction of a stream locally known as Bread and Cheese Creek.