Today in New Jersey history:
March 30, 1780: Loyalist raiders into Monmouth County looted the home of John Russell, a man they reviled for his own attacks on Staten Island, killing him and wounding his son. Considering the civil war nature of much of the Revolution in Monmouth, the raiders may have been his former neighbors.
March 30, 1852: German immigrant John Erpenstein of Newark was hanged for the murder of his wife, who had followed him to America with their children from Germany unexpectedly and discovered that he was having an affair with "one Dora Miller" (and possibly her mother as well). Erpenstein chose to resolve the problem by feeding his wife a sandwich laced with arsenic. He claimed that he was planning a murder-suicide, but that his half of the sandwich accidentally fell into the Passaic River. Erpenstein was buried in the Essex County Potter's Field, ironically next to the late Mrs. Erpenstein.
March 30, 1896: German-born New Jersey master counterfeiter Emanuel Ninger of Flagtown, formerly of Hoboken, who specialized in hand painting, rather than printing his products, was arrested after fleeing a Cortlandt Street, New York City tavern when the ink smeared on one of his $50 bills as it lay on a wet bar. Known to the Secret Service as “the Penman,” Ninger, who also used the alias “Joseph Gilbert” confessed and was sentenced to six years in prison. His artistry made him a folk hero of sorts; he was released on parole after serving four years and moved to Pennsylvania. His work is highly collectible today – and also illegal to own.
