A Question of Morality

True Detective Magazine -
January 2015 

There was never any doubt about who killed 39-year-old George Hochfeld; it was his 32-year-old wife Martha Hochfeld.

True Detective Magazine -
January 2015 

The NYPD knew this because in the early hours of April 23, 1950, shortly after bashing in George's head with a heavy mahogany end table, Martha walked down to an all-night garage to use the pay phone and turn herself in.

Martha then walked back home to 839 Midwood Street in Brooklyn to wait for the police and to bring the two oldest of their five children, Loretta (aged 13) and Morton (aged 12), up to speed. Their father was dying, she was responsible and she had phoned the police. The three youngest children, Robert (aged 11), Phyllis (aged 7), and Jean (aged 5), were still asleep. George was transported to Kings County Hospital and died an hour later. Official cause of death was fractured skull and lacerated brain.

Again, there was no doubt as to who. The question before the court and the public was why had Mrs. Hochfeld killed her husband of 16 years?

Newspapers were quick to print what Martha had told police regarding her motivation and in no time headlines proclaiming George to be an abusive, "stingy husband" provided fodder for water cooler and dinner table debates about household finances and division of family funds.

At a time when the victim's family should have been mourning their loss, George's older brother Louis was writing a letter to the Daily News to defend his brother's character.

Louis wanted to respond to a letter published in the April 27, 1950 edition.

A "Mrs. M.D. of Manhattan" was writing to salute Martha Hochfeld - "God bless her! I wish more women had the courage to kill their lousy husbands that only give them a miserable allowance for themselves and the children, though they always have plenty of money for themselves. They should realize their duty to their families but they are mean, low and without principal, and all of them should have their skulls broken."

Louis Hochfeld's letter, appearing on May 4, 1950, implored Mrs. M.D. and others to wait for the evidence. Louis wrote "I would like to acquaint you with the true facts surrounding this brutal slaying. George Hochfeld was a fine and energetic man, always trying to keep his family well fed, well housed and well clothed. In due time the character of the dead man will be brought out. Until then, Mrs. M.D., please use your common sense, think of both sides, and suspend judgment."

What were the true facts?

Martha told police that she and George, an often-abusive prosperous junk dealer, were constantly quarreling about money and specifically the mere $20 a week George gave her. "The kids are filthy and he did not give me any money for food and clothing. I couldn't stand it anymore." The Hochfelds had 5 children, ranging in age from 5 years to 13 years, and another on the way. Their son, Joseph, had died in infancy on December 30, 1946.

Daily News,
April 24, 1950

George and Martha's last argument on the subject of money was the evening of Saturday April 22nd and it was all one-sided. George had been out of town for several days on a business trip and didn't want to discuss the matter with her when he got home. According to Martha, George was surly. He ate his dinner and went to bed. Martha lay beside George for a bit, brooding. Around 2:30 AM she rose, went into the living room and grabbed an end table. Martha came back into the bedroom and brought the table down on her sleeping husband's head three times. He never stirred. She dressed and walked to a pay phone.

When the police arrived she told them "I intended to kill him. It was him or me." George was 5 foot 8 inches and weighed roughly 200 pounds. Martha was 5 foot 4 inches and weighed 120 pounds.

True Detective Magazine - January 2015

Martha was interviewed at length by the police before being brought before Magistrate Albert Schanzer at the Brooklyn Felony Court. She told the court she had no money for a lawyer. Charles Schinitsky from the Legal Aid Society represented Martha at her April 26, 1950 arraignment. No plea was entered but Mr. Schinitsky told the court and the press that there were unexplained circumstances surrounding the slaying and that Martha would be "vindicated by a jury." He was half right. Martha was held without bail and her children sent to various shelters. 

On April 24, 1950, George Hochfeld was buried at new Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon NY.

Daily News - April 25, 1950



On April 25, 1950, newspapers were revealing what they'd learned from Lt. Arthur Giddings of the Brooklyn Homicide Squad. The headlines read "Reveal Mrs. Hochfeld Was a Mental Patient." The reality was Martha had spent a week at Bellevue's Psychiatric Ward in February of 1943 before being released into her husband's custody. I believe this might have coincided with the birth of her daughter Phyllis. Perhaps Martha was suffering from some postpartum depression?

A Grand Jury handed down an indictment on May 18, 1950. Martha's trial before Judge Samuel Leibowitz was scheduled to begin Monday, June 26, 1950. Martha now had two court-appointed attorneys fighting for her. The charge was second-degree murder.



Daily News -
Nov. 27, 1950

Samuel Leibowitz was a tough but respected judge and a bit of a celebrity stemming from his days as a criminal defense attorney and most notably the years he spent (1931-1937) working to overturn the Scottsboro Boys convictions.



Daily News,
Sept. 26, 1933



Chief counsel for the defense of Martha Hochfeld was Leo Healy. Healy was a former magistrate who had resigned from the bench on March 21, 1933 following some minor personal and professional scandals including accusations of habitual drunkenness, questionable rulings and battery of his sister-in-law Estelle Cummings (which she denied).



Charlotte Rachlin,
Brooklyn Eagle
Feb 20, 1939

Charlotte Rachlin, a strong believer in the Public Defender System and a sympathetic soul, was also on board. For years, before becoming a lawyer, Charlotte had supported herself by playing in an all-girl band. Charlotte knew the importance of earning her own money and she knew what it was like to argue with a husband over the household expenses, as she and her husband Dr. Bernard Pines often found themselves doing just that. 



Daily News -
Nov. 27, 1950

Before the trail began, Leo Healy announced his intention to proceed with a defense of temporary insanity. Healy and Rachlin even pooled their own money to have Martha examined by a psychiatrist. Martha was claiming she blacked out before striking the first blow.

From the witness stand Martha told the all-male jury of the abuse she'd suffered at George's hands and of his miserly ways.
District Attorney John E. Cone readied his rebuttal and character witnesses. Martha recognized four of these witnesses on her way out of court on Tuesday the 27th and immediately told her attorneys that she needed to speak with them.

It would seem that investigators for the District Attorney office had discovered those unexplained circumstances Charles Schinitsky referenced but rather then vindicate Martha, these revelations would be her undoing.



The four men Martha had spotted in the courthouse were prepared to testify that they knew her as Martha Kulick and that they had all made her acquaintance at the Arcadia Ballroom on 53rd and Broadway in Manhattan were she worked as a taxi-dancer. Kulick was Martha's maiden name.



Arcadia Ballroom in 1933 -

NY Public Library Digital Collection

1930s postcard showing the interior of

the Arcadia Ballroom, 53rd & Broadway, NYC

The most damaging statement would come from Santo Ciapponi, a 26-year-old restaurant worker living in the Bronx, who claimed he had met Martha in November of 1949 at the Arcadia Ballroom and that she had introduced herself as a childless widow..

According to Santo, he and Martha had, on 4 separate occasions, spent the evening together at a Manhattan hotel. Additionally, one week before George's murder, Martha told Santo she was pregnant with his child at which point he proposed marriage.

Martha denied having relations with Santo Ciapponi. "I've never been in a hotel in my life," she asserted but Martha did admit to her attorneys that she was working as a dancer and that she had been intimate with men other than her husband.

Sensing these admission would irreparably damage his client's defense, Leo Healy felt it was in Martha's best interest to plead guilty to manslaughter.

The following day, June 28, 1950, Judge Leibowitz accepted Martha's plea of guilty of first-degree manslaughter.

Daily News - April 24, 1950

Determined to put a sympathetic spin on the situation, Leo Healy told the court that Martha revealed to him that "she so loved her children that she was willing to sell her body and her soul to provide for them."

"To some, this argument would appear specious and such persons would argue that this woman has no moral sense. Now, your honor, a woman's mind is beyond the ken of men. I do not know whether it is true, but she has said that what she did she did for her children."

Judge Leibowitz did indeed find that argument specious and branded Martha Hochfeld a "prostitute at heart" who should never be allowed the custody of her five children.

District Attorney John E. Cone was equally determined to set the record straight regarding the victim. "We don't want the memory of a decent man besmirched," Cone asserted. His investigation had shown that George Hochfeld was "a good and decent man." The house at 839 Midwood Avenue was in both of their names and well-furnished. And while the neighbors thought well of George, they had a much harsher opinion of Mrs. Hochfeld. The District Attorney maintained his belief that "the child she carries belongs to one of her lovers." This was the moment Louis Hochfeld had advised "Mrs. M.D." to wait for.

Martha Hochfeld was in court again on September 5, 1950 to learn what her punishment would be. Judge Leibowitz expressed true disdain for the woman before him. "Look at her .... not even a tear," he observed. 

"She is a neglectful mother who gallivanted with the scum of the earth.



True Detective Magazine -
January 2015 

"I am thinking of those children who are now in an orphan asylum, their father murdered, their mother branded a felon. I have tried to find one shred to which I could cling that would warrant giving this woman consideration..."

Judge Leibowitz imposed the maximum sentence of 10 to 20 years. Her unborn baby was due in October.

"God help that poor little child about to be born in a cell behind prison walls."

Martha Hochfeld was pale and impassive as she heard the ruling. Martha was transferred to Westfield State Farm, or as we now know it, Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.

I see from the copy of Martha's prison intake form, which I obtained from the NYS Archives, that she was employed by the Arcadia Ballroom from September 1949 to March 1950 and her weekly salary was $65.00 a week.

On June 15, 1951, Louis Hochfeld became the administer of his brother George's estate. According to papers on file, the value of the estate was the $2,000.00 equity in the Midwood Street house.

The Hochfeld children were sent to the Pride of Judea Home.

Hopefully all of the Hochfeld children did as well as Phyllis. In 1956 she was elected Purim Queen and met Mayor Wagner.

Daily News - Feb 25, 1956

The orphanage was  good one although there was a tragic blemish on it's record stemming from an incident that occurred years before the Hochfled children came to live there.

On August 8, 1933, while on a group outing to Edgemere Beach in the Rockaways, seven children were swept away by a powerful undertow and drowned.

The Pride of Judea Home stopped accepting new admissions in 1954 and in June 1958 arrangements were made to relocate for the remaining 30 adolescents. Only Jean and possibly Phyllis would have been young enough in 1958 to have been impacted by this - if they were even still living there.

According to a memoir written by Charlotte Rachlin's son Paul Pines, entitled "My Brother's Madness," the Hochfeld case impacted his mother immensely. Charlotte was disappointed with the sentence handed down and the judgment of the public. Ten days after Martha was led away to begin her prison sentence, Charlotte left the family home and never returned. Charlotte would later divorce Dr. Pines. Charlotte married again when Paul was 12-year-old and she would become an even more outspoken advocate for her female clients. She made frequent appearances on talk radio and a December 3, 1966 listing for the Barry Gray show identifies Charlotte as "a legal expert on paternity suits usually defending the woman in the case." She died on December 28, 1975 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

I bought "My Brother's Madness" hoping to learn more about Charlotte Rachlin and I did. However, it's a good read even without tying it to this true crime.

True Detective Magazine -
January 2015 

Martha Hochfeld was eligible for parole in February 11, 1957, paroled on September 3, 1957 and after April 26, 1970 she was no longer required to report her whereabouts to the state parole board. I've lost track of her after her parole. If she's still alive, and it seems inconceivable, she'd be celebrating her 101st birthday next month.

If you want to see Timothy Hutton as Samuel Leibowitz, watch the 2006 movie "Heaven's Fall."

 I don't know about you but I can't see a story about taxi-dancers and not think of the Vicki Lawrence song "Dime a Dance." With that in mind, this seemed like a good opportunity for me to make a very brief (45 seconds)slideshow set to the chorus of that song. You can find it on the As Close To Crime YouTube Channel. Here's the link - https://youtu.be/R8W1d309A0Y