1969

I also said "He went to jail and I went in shock."

The incident happened before I knew him. The charge? Something like selling narcotics to an undercover policeman. The first trial was a hung jury. The judge expressed disgust on that one, expecting, I imagine a quick: guilty as charged. Husband's mother testified that he had been in her kitchen messing with baking soda. That she questioned what he was doing. The implication was that being proof that his claim that there was baking soda in that little glassine bag, not heroin.

Gee, could not the cops test the substance and admit the results as evidence? Do not recall much about the trial. Except learning my new mother-in-law would lie under oath, and now ex, telling me an old guy in the juror box kept winking at him. Assumed: the old man was the cause of the hung jury.

Later, at the advice of his lawyer, my then husband pleaded guilty. With a pregnant wife, no judge will send you to jail. LOL That one did. I thought for many years the only reason he married me was to keep him out of jail. Ploy did not work. The first trial happened prior to our hasty wedding.


I faithfully visited him at Bordentown every Sunday with one exception. For many years I kept the telegram his father sent him to say "baby girl born". Think I gave it to that daughter with her other baby book items. He was later transferred to Skillman, a mental health facility. Still locked up, but more freedom than at prison. He was released early 1970.

I guess the jail in Bordentown, New Jersey had a name change. Google seach does not show a Bordentown State Penitentiary or jail or prison. There is a youth correctional facility listed for Bordentown. Nor is Rahway listed by name; Rahway of Scared Straight fame. My brother served time in Rahway. There is an East Jersey State Prison listed for Rahway.