Ellis Howard Parker was born on September 12, 1871 near Wrightstown, New Jersey. His father, Anthony J. Parker, was of English heritage. His mother, Anna E. Girton, was of French extraction. He grew up on a farm near there and always had a great love of animals. As a young man of talent, he learned to play the fiddle and by the age of 18, in 1889, was playing for local dances with a trio. The other members of the trio were Joe Raymond on the harp and Jake Walker playing the banjo. It was while playing the fiddle at one of the dances that his horse was stolen and he quite by accident got started on his career of detecting. He tracked and caught the thief and regained his horse.

      By the time he was 20 years old he was hired on a per case basis by the Burlington and Ocean County Pursuing Society to help catch thieves and other criminals. Soon after, about 1894 he came to the attention of The Burlington County Prosecutor and was hired again on a per case basis. He continued this per case work, while still playing the fiddle, for several years until in 1898 he was hired full time as the first Chief Detective of Burlington County.

      His unparalleled record during the next 40 years gave him the recognition of Scotland Yard in England, The Surete of France, and almost every state and country from California to Calcutta, India. He solved crimes by deduction after examining data and evidence without leaving his desk. Every year thousands of crimes crossed his desk. He investigated an average of over 1000 each year. He was able to solve 288 of 300 major crimes in 40 years. He sent more than 100 slayers to the gallows or the electric chair. He was able to aid many police departments from other states as well as foreign countries. He was compared to famous fictional detectives such as Philo Vance and was even called the "Sherlock Holmes of America." The closest thing in modern times would probably be Lt. Columbo, the rumpled detective played on TV by Peter Falk.

Picture from an article in
the Daily News, May 5, 1985.

There is a museum in the old county jail on High Street in Mount Holly, NJ that has a room dedicated to the achievements of Ellis Parker, Chief Detective. I visited it a long time ago and found it very informative. I believe it is now open only one day each week. More information can be obtained from the new Burlington County Courthouse in Mount Holly. Ellis' home was across the street from the old jail and is now a refurbished office building that has been named The Parker Building in his honor.

       Many of Ellis's cases are described in some detail in the articles contained in these web pages and in the Newspaper Biography on the menu at the right. The book about his cases, THE CUNNING MULATTO is listed in the bibliography.

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