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Mar 09, 2024

Ellis Parker Digs Out the Truth

By Anita Josephson | on August 30, 2023 This is the third in a series. As the Jazz Age began, Ellis Parker was already a well-known figure. Sometimes called the Bald Eagle or the Sherlock Holmes of

By Anita Josephson | on August 30, 2023

This is the third in a series.

As the Jazz Age began, Ellis Parker was already a well-known figure. Sometimes called the Bald Eagle or the Sherlock Holmes of the Pines, the Burlington County detective had already solved dozens of murder cases.

Married to a Manahawkin girl, he had strong ties to the Jersey Shore. His biographer John Reisinger explained, “Financially, he was doing just fine. In 1922 his $2,500 annual salary was raised to $3,500, and he began buying properties at auction as an investment. He also bought a 2-story summer house at Brant Beach on the Jersey Shore, about 20 miles north of Atlantic City. Although it was not directly on the ocean, the house was a typical wood shingle New Jersey beach house with sand dunes drifting across the yard, and tufts of seagrass bending into the wind. Cora and the children spent much of their summers at the Brant Beach home, escaping the heat of Mount Holly. Ellis joined them on weekends when he could. When grandchildren started to come along, they came to the house as well.”

One thing newspapers love is a murder case that involves a celebrity; the bigger the celebrity, the more coverage. The March 11, 1922, Courier Post started the ball rolling.

“Honest John Brunen, 48 years old, owner of the Mighty Doris Animal Shows who was shot and killed at his home in Riverside last night, had been in fear of violent death at the hands of an enemy during the last seven weeks before his death.

“‘I’ll die with my boots on,’ the circus owner told members of his family four days ago.

“John Theodore Brunen was shot while he read a newspaper in the kitchen of his home last night. A charge from a shotgun was fired through a window, blowing off part of the man’s head.”

It was clear from the beginning that this would be a major case.

“The dead man was the owner of the Mighty Doris, Colonel Ferrari Animal Shows, which have a value of more than $100,000 and are in winter quarters at Williamstown.”

Almost at once it appeared there was a suspect.

“Detective Ellis Parker and prosecutor Kaysey of Burlington County are investigating reports of a differences between the dead man and his wife.”

According to Reisinger, Parker from the beginning was suspicious of the wife.

“His suspicions were reinforced when he noticed a pet parrot in a cage in the basement. Mrs. Brunen said the parrot was usually kept in a cage in the room where her husband was murdered but had been ailing. Parker believed the parrot may have been moved from the room on the off chance he might blurt out the murderer’s name, more evidence of an inside job. When he noticed mud on Mrs. Brunen’s shoes, she became defensive and said she had only gone out to check on the dog. Parker examined the footprints in the yard from which the shot had been fired and saw two sets of male prints, one considerable being larger than the other. These prints overlapped those of Mrs. Brunen, indicating they were made after she was outside. The footprints, apparently made by the killers, led to a nearby lane and to a set of tire tracks.”

From this the detective work began. Parker was interested in why the dog had been silent as the shooter approached.

“‘Find out if Brunen took his dog with him when he travelled with his circus. We know the dog didn’t bark because he knew the killers. If Brunen took the dog with him, everyone in the circus becomes a suspect, because the dog would have known them, too. If not, we only have relatives or people in the neighborhood.’

“A search of the neighborhood turned up parts of a shotgun which was a rare Belgium made model which Parker tracked by the serial number to a pawn broker in Philadelphia who recently sold it to a large red-faced man. At the same time Parker used the circus records to narrow down his list of suspects.”

Reisinger noted the net was closing in.

“Parker was able to eliminate most of the circus people, but was left with two men, Charles Powell and Harry Mohr. Mohr had a strong motive. He was part owner of the circus and stood to gain it all if anything happened to Brunen. In addition Mohr was Doris Brunen’s brother. As for Charles Powell, he was a longtime friend and hanger-on of Mohr. Their descriptions, Parker found, matched the men he was looking for. Mohr was stocky and Powell was small and nervous.”

The pawnbroker identified Mohr as the man who had purchased the shotgun.

Finally, on June 14 The Philadelphia Inquirer broke the story.

“The arrest of Mrs. Brunen did not become known until today, although it took place Monday night. This is in hue with the actions of the Burlington County authorities, who concealed the arrest of Charles M. Powell, who has confessed to the actual killing, for about one month. Harry Mohr, the brother of Mrs. Brunen, also is under arrest in connection with the crime.

“A story of amazing conspiracy to do away with Brunen so that others might have attained possession of the circus he owned has been built up by Detective Ellis Parker and other New Jersey officials during the last three months.”

Others were being sought for questioning.

“From the first investigation of the crime Detective Parker has not been satisfied with conflicting stories told by Mrs. Brunen and has been driving at one circumstance. He and other officials have been continually puzzled to know how Brunen happened to be sitting in an easy chair just within a window of a brightly lighted room at exactly the moment an assassin knew when a shotgun would be the most effective and deadly weapon.”

Parker explained why he had focused on the wife.

“One thing held our attention and that was the conflict between her signed statements and the facts as we found them. She asserted she was in an upstairs room at the time her husband was shot, and that hearing the shot she ran downstairs, found Brunen dead and immediately rushed out to houses of neighbors to give the alarm.

“Most careful investigation has shown fully 17 minutes elapsed before she gave any alarm. This with other discrepancies and discovery of other conditions put us on the alert.”

There was one thing that made Parker believe there was a conspiracy.

“There was another point in this most unusual murder case which many who have been interested may remember. Following the early questioning of Mrs. Brunen, her daughter, Hazel, and her brother Harry Mohr, all three tried to throw suspicion upon George Weruer, a cook with the circus generally known as Dutchy.”

It might not have a claim to the trial of the century, but for 1922 it was going to be a big deal. The Atlantic City Gazette of Dec. 10 prepared its readers.

“Nearly 100 witnesses representing approximately a dozen states in the East and middle West have been summoned to testify against Harry Mohr and his sister Mrs. Doris Brunen, who will be placed on trial Monday charged with the murder of honest John T. Brunen, Riverside N.J. carnival proprietor.

“The trial promises to develop many sensations as much evidence has been unearthed by Ellis Parker, Burlington County detective, during the summer while the prisoners were in the Mount Holly jail awaiting indictment. It is anticipated more arrests may follow the trials.”

It would seem Ellis Parker did not have much time to visit LBI during the summer of 1922.

Next Week: the Trial.

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