Look Back: 1943 slaying of Acme manager unsolved
Apr. 16—Acme store manager Elmer Henry Bitzer locked the doors at the grocery store at South Main and Wood streets, Wilkes-Barre, just after 11 p.m. and drove to Hanover National Bank to make the day's deposits on Feb. 20, 1943.
When Bitzer pulled into the bank's parking lot two blocks from the Acme store, he was approached by an armed robber.
"The gunman failed to get the money and disappeared," the Times Leader Evening News reported Feb. 22, 1943.
Policemen believed Bitzer was reluctant to hand over the deposit bag and a scuffle may had taken place. Bitzer's black hat and another hat was found at the scene.
The brown worn and dirty hat was believed to be the gunman's and was the best evidence in the hands of policemen.
"While the entire city detective force, assisted by Luzerne County detectives and State Motor Police were making every effort today to apprehend the slayer, they admitted they do not have him in custody," the Evening News reported.
A reward of $1,000 was offered by the American Stores Company through O.R. Mullison, division superintendent of Acme stores.
Policemen were given a description of a man between 20 and 30 years of age who was seen running from the bank's parking lot.
"Police reported that the killer evidentiary was aware of Bitzer's practice of going from the store to the bank each Saturday night after closing hours to deposit the day's receipts, and was waiting for him in front of the bank to rob him of $400 in money and a check," the Evening News reported.
A deposit bag containing $401 in currency and a $33 check was found in Bitzer's coat pocket.
Bitzer closed and locked the doors at 9:30 p.m. but he remained inside his office until after 11 p.m. to finish the next week's schedule for cashiers and stockers before leaving at 11:20 p.m.
It took Bitzer five minutes to get into his automobile. He then waited a few seconds and drove the two blocks reaching the bank at 11:25 p.m. when he was robbed and fatally shot. His body was found slumped and partially out the open driver's side door.
An autopsy showed Bitzer died of a gunshot wound to his heart.
"Police investigating the hold-up murder of Elmer Bitzer, 51, Acme Store manager, in front of the Hanover National Bank Saturday at 11:25 p.m. questioned several suspects yesterday, but released all when satisfactory alibis were given," reported the Evening News Feb. 23, 1943.
Wilkes-Barre Police Chief J. Russell Taylor told the Evening News and the Wilkes-Barre Record detectives were working around the clock to arrest the gunman.
Taylor told reporters eight years earlier, Bitzer was the victim of a robbery outside the store when he was struck by a stock of a rifle and robbed of $800 of the store's receipts.
Bitzer's murder was never solved.
Bitzer was born in in Easton on Nov. 17, 1892, and graduated from Bliss College, Washington D.C., with an accounting degree. He became affiliated with the Childs Store, which founded the Acme chain stores and has been with the organization until his murder.
