Joe Greco was happy that May Day in 1959. Joe and his partner, Donald Burton had been on the road for a while and were just getting back to Rockford early in the evening. Joe was feeling pretty good. Their “sales trip” as they referred to it, had been lucrative and they were hoping to score some more sales that evening.
Joe was looking forward to arriving home. He missed his girl, Donna. They had only been living together for a couple of months but things were good between them. I n fact, Joe thought everything was looking up for him. He knew his parents were still upset that he had decided not to return to the Barnes Drilling Company to work with his father. They didn’t understand that Joe wanted something different than his parent’s lives. They also didn’t understand his friendship with Burt.
Donald Burton had come from a different background than Joe. His parents had split up when he was younger and Burt grew up tough. He learned how to take care of himself and was always ready for a fight. Burt also knew some magic tricks. Those magic tricks came in handy on their “sales trips”.
Joe knew his parents would definitely not understand that side of his life. His girl, Donna called it his dark side. Whatever you wanted to call it, Joe liked living dangerously.
Since they were in a hurry, the two men decided to stop at Joe’s parent’s house at 615 Montague Street. Joe knew his parents would be gone until late. The two men grabbed something to eat and Joe changed into some fresh clothes. They left his parent’s house around 10:45 p.m..
Early the next morning, between 12:50 and 1:00 a.m. on May 2, folks who lived on Montague Road heard a couple of cars drive down the road. They didn’t hear much else other than the sound of car doors closing. One of the neighbors was curious enough to look out the window. He saw a car parked outside but didn’t see anyone around it. He figured a couple of kids had pulled over for a little alone time.
The car was still there around 4:15 a.m. when Deputy Sheriffs Lester Krug and Robert Allen spotted it. They had just turned around to investigate when a call came over the radio. They sped off to answer the call and didn’t get back to the car until around 5:00 a.m..
At first, they thought the same thing as the neighbor and believed they would catch a couple of kids in an embarrassing position. The men were confused when they shone their lights in the car and found it empty. They made their way to the back of the car and decided to open the trunk.
The bodies of Joseph Greco and Donald Burton were found stuffed into that trunk. They both were only 21 years old. Coroner Collins Y. Sundberg examined the men and determined that they had been dead around four to five hours. Both men had some small bruises and Burton had been hit on the head. Authorities would theorize that he had fought his attackers. It was stated that both men had been strangled with a piece of rope. Joseph was carried to the trunk while Burton, who had a heavier build, was dragged to the car. The dragging had caused scrapes to his back.
The car trunk contained a couple of suitcases, 500 pairs of shaved dice, and walkie talkies that would be traced to a robbery in Peoria. When they searched the suitcases, Sheriff Deputies came across Joseph and Burton’s address books. They were filled with names of contacts listed in different states including Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri and Florida. Most of the names were listed for Peoria and the authorities recognized some of those names as part of a gambling syndicate.
The pieces to the puzzle of the men’s deaths started to fall into place for the authorities. While searching the car they found a piece of evidence that chilled even the most experienced officers. Inside one of the suitcases they recovered a $5.00 bill that had been torn into quarters. There were only two pieces of the bill found. One portion had the words, “Good Luck, Joe.” on it and the other piece had, “Good Luck, Burt.” The pieces fit together to make up half of the bill.
One man involved in the search said it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up when those pieces were found. All involved in the search took the pieces as a warning to the dead men. Unfortunately, it was a warning the two men had not heeded.
Though police had the motive for the murders of these two young men from the beginning and were hopeful they would uncover who had committed the crime, the investigation stalled. They came up against a wall of silence. The other men that traveled in the gambling circuit in Illinois made themselves scarce. They might have taken these deaths as warnings of what was in store for them if they talked.
These two murders were never solved and are listed under Rockford’s “Cold Case Files” along with twenty four others.
Damaged Winnebago County Courthouse, 1878. Rockford Morning Star
Winnebago County decided it needed a brand-new courthouse to meet the needs of the growing area in 1875. The population of Rockford at this time was around twelve thousand people, and the town had twelve churches, five banks and several newspapers. The courthouse project was advertised, and many plans were submitted until, finally, Henry L. Gay’s design was accepted. W.D. Richardson was the contractor hired to build the newest Winnebago County Courthouse, and F.E. Latham was the supervisor of the project.
W.D. Richardson was a contractor from Springfield who had experience building the French Venetian style of building that was selected. Work began in the spring of 1876, and the cornerstone was set on June 22, 1876, with great fanfare and led by the state’s Masonic lodges.
The domed roof was to be the “jewel in the crown” of the building and originally was scheduled to be set in 1876. The weather didn’t cooperate, and the whole project was behind schedule for several months. It was not ready for the dome to be added until the spring of 1877.
On Friday, May 11, 1877, at around 11:30 a.m., W.D. Richardson and F.E. Latham were inspecting the domed roof and walls. They were discussing their concerns about the strength of the walls supporting the dome. Richardson heard the horrific sound of something cracking, and both men ran to the northwest corner of the building. They just had time to reach the west wall when the front of the building fell.
“Just as the keystone was being placed in the dome of the main pavilion the brickwork between the iron and the stone gave way, and the entire dome and interior walls of the structure came crumbling down with a terrible crash, which was heard nearly a mile away.”
The crash was tremendous, and a wall of dust sprang up where the wall once stood. Spectators hesitated just for a moment before they rushed forward to see what could be done for the twenty or so men working inside the structure.
Timothy Flanagan was one of the men working that day. His task on that Friday morning was to set the keystone in the pediment of the dome. Flanagan was working up at the top when the wall started to crumble. The crowd below looked on in horror as Flanagan leaped across in an attempt to grasp the main guy rope. Flanagan missed the rope and fell one hundred feet to the ground below, his body hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
Several men ran forward, picked up Flanagan’s body and put it on the lawn of the courthouse. The masonry fell from all sides, and men’s screams could be heard above the roar of the falling stone. Men were seen hanging from ropes on different parts of the building, while others were jumping from windows.
Men from the crowd rushed forward to assist with the rescue efforts as others ran for doctors. The rescuers uncovered several men quickly. One of the first men uncovered was Andrew Bildahl, who had a terrible gash on his head that was filled with ash and mortar. He was loaded into a cart and taken to his home to have the wound dressed.
William Mclnnes of Rockford was almost completely buried under rubble, but the men quickly got him out and loaded into a cart to be delivered to his home. He suffered a broken leg and numerous injuries. George Gloss was so badly mangled that the sight of his body visibly shook the crowd. He was smashed and was missing a leg. He was carried over to the old courthouse, which was set up as a temporary morgue.
Two more men were saved from the fire escape, led to safety by Chief Engineer John Lakin. The word had started to spread throughout the city, and others came to assist. Family members rushed to the building to hear the condition of their menfolk. Many of the men working on the building were from the area, and friends would peer into the faces of the men as they were brought out of the debris. They were either loaded onto a wagon to be transported to their homes or laid in the old courthouse to wait to be identified.
Some of the men were from Springfield and had no family members living nearby, but they had acquaintances who ran to help. The injured men from Springfield were taken to the City Hotel to have their wounds tended.
There was a wretched moment when a poor German woman came forward screaming her husband’s name, Albert Haug. When his body was finally brought out, it presented a ghastly spectacle for all to see. His poor body had been pulverized and torn by the large stones that fell on him. The men rushed him through the crowd to the courthouse as quickly as possible.
Scene after heart-wrenching scene played out as the rescuers continued to dig for the men. A little girl wandered through the crowd crying for her papa. No one had the heart to tell her that he was still missing. His body would not be found for another day.
The inquest was started as soon as the bodies were laid out in the courthouse and covered with cloths. The purpose of this inquest was not to determine the cause for the accident but to identify the dead men. Other men were still missing, and the rescue efforts continued for days. Around 12:00 a.m. on Saturday, one of the workers came across a clump of human hair. It was shortly found to be A.E. Hollenbeck’s scalp. His body was pinned under a massive stone weighing several tons. Drills were brought in, and parts of the rock were drilled off until the only part still trapped was his arm. The decision was made to cut the arm off to free the rest of the body. The top of Hollenbeck’s head was completely gone. As they removed the rest of Hollenbeck’s body, they uncovered another man. “Big Fred” Haug was from Springfield, and his body was so ghastly that no description of the remains was given. These last two bodies took over four hours to uncover. In all, it took over forty long hours for all the bodies to be discovered.
Trains arrived from all over northern Illinois as people flocked to Rockford to see the remains of the building. The police roped off the dangerous area and stood guard to keep the crowds at a safe distance.
When the totals came in, seven men were killed immediately and two others died later; another twelve were wounded in the tragedy. Funerals were held, and more was learned of the men who died. Hollenbeck was forty-five years old and had been born in New York, like many of Rockford’s early settlers. He was a Mason and was buried with full Masonic honors. Over one thousand people attended his funeral.
Fred Haug left a wife and four children in Springfield and was a brother of Chris Haug, who formerly owned a marble yard here. Albert Haug was a son of the above-mentioned Chris Haug and left a wife and children in Rockford.
John Pipe moved to Rockford in 1875, and his father was the foreman on the courthouse project. George Gloss, who lived in Rockford, was an African American who left a wife and three children. John Warren, another African American, worked as a rigger and lived in Rockford with his wife and three children.
Frank Harris, the blacksmith, was on the roof when the courthouse fell. He advised a co-worker to run, but then he turned the other way. The co-worker lived, and Harris fell with the building. He was pulled from the ruins with a badly crushed leg. Fred was taken to the City Hotel for treatment, which included amputation of his leg; unfortunately, gangrene set in. Harris was the ninth man to die. He was only twenty-four years old and lived in Dixon. His family members came to retrieve his body and took him home for burial.
Inquests attempted to answer the questions left by the horrible accident. The articles in the paper seemed to point the finger at the architect, Mr. Gay. The same articles praised the builder, Richardson, stating that at personal cost, the builder added improvements to increase the safety of the building. Richardson had also impressed everyone with the care he gave the wounded men and their families.
The coroner’s jury investigated the accident for over twelve days, interviewing workmen, the architect and other architects who studied the design. In the end, they found the architect guilty for the flawed design, and the contractor and the county board were found guilty of negligence for not noticing the flaws. A new architect and designers were hired to assess the damage caused by the falling dome and to complete the project. The courthouse was finally completed with the dome, and the building was dedicated in October 1878. The final cost was $211,000.
In an excerpt from a story published in the May 18, 1877 Rockford Weekly Gazette the reporter wrote: “Never before has any public affliction found its way so near to the doors of our own homes or been made so sacredly our own.”
Sources:
New York Tribune. “A Courthouse Falls in Ruins.” May 12, 1877.
Rockford (IL) Morning Star. “First Courthouse Built without Public Funds.” November 15, 1969.
Rockford (IL) Weekly Gazette. “Courthouse Disaster.” May 24, 1877.
Mornings started early on the Mack farm, even Sunday mornings. On Sunday, July 14, 1878, Joseph Watsic who was employed by George Mack as a farm hand struggled to get out of bed. He probably thought this morning would be like so many Sundays before. Joseph had no idea how different this day would be.
One of the other hands on the Wisconsin farm, Frank Dickerson, woke Joseph up that day to go to the barn and feed the livestock. Joseph entered the barn still groggy from sleep. But as Joseph’s eyes adjusted to the gloom of the barn, he saw a sight which caused him to shriek and run for the house.
There in one of the stalls lay his employer, George Mack. His body was horribly mutilated in what looked like a horse trampling. But things were not as they seemed that July morning.
Joseph’s shouts alerted Dickerson and both men went back to the barn. They carried George toward the house. George’s wife, Belinda, saw them coming and opened the door. One look at George’s mangled body made it clear that he was already beyond help.
Soon the news of George’s death spread and at first, folks accepted the story that “Old Jen” , one of the family’s work horses, had caused George’s death. But in the hours and days that followed, their opinions would change.
George Mack lived on his family farm near the town of Turtle Township. He lived with his wife, Belinda and three children and the two men who worked the farm, Frank and Joseph. They had a comfortable two-story house and were doing well. George was respected by his community, and it was said he was a good neighbor.
Authorities were called and they soon showed up at the Mack farm. They immediately began the process of determining how George died. Right away there were things that pointed to a story different than was first presented. Just opposite the stable was a muddy patch (called a hog wallow in the papers of the day) that looked like a struggle had taken place there.
George’s body also carried evidence that more than a horse trampling had taken place. His chest was caved in, his face was scratched and “pounded to jelly” according to the newspaper accounts. There was also a gash on the top of his head that seemed to be made with a sharp instrument. He had sustained a shattered shoulder and broken ribs. George’s hands and clothing were also smeared with mud that wouldn’t have come from the dry barn where Old Jen was kept.
This evidence aroused the suspicions of the coroner as he completed his examination. At the same time the coroner was coming to his conclusion that this was no accident, the other authorities were finding evidence of their own. The terrible news of George’s death had spread, and the townsfolk had begun to gather at the farm. They had also begun to talk.
They told stories of the fights that the couple had over Belinda’s friendliness toward the hired men, especially Frank Dickerson. George had grown so jealous of the time his wife spent with Dickerson that he finally fired the handyman in May. But then George had taken ill, and Belinda had hired Dickerson again to help with the planting. George tried to protest but Belinda ignored him.
It was customary during this time period to hold an inquest right at the scene of any death. It allowed authorities and the coroner to question people while the story was still fresh in their minds.
During the inquest into the farmer’s death, stories of the fights and jealousy between Dickerson and George were revealed. The inquest ended with a determination that George’s death was caused by blows by someone unknown. Authorities quickly took it a step further and decided that they had enough evidence to arrest Frank Dickerson for the murder of George Mack.
Frank Dickerson made a full confession to what had really happened to George on the night of July 13. The authorities had lots of evidence to prove their theory that Dickerson had done the killing. But Dickerson had his own story. According to Frank, he only helped move the body under the hooves of Old Jen. In Frank’s version, it was Belinda who had done the actual killing. He also shared that it was Belinda who had backed up Old Jen and walked the horse over George’s body several times to make it look like the horse had caused the farmer’s death.
After the funeral, Belinda went to stay with friends that lived in Beloit. And it was there that the police arrested her. Once the story broke and the townsfolk of Turtle Township and Beloit had their suspicions confirmed to the actual relationship between Belinda and Dickerson, they were outraged. The police ordered extra guards to protect the two people whose actions had caused George’s death.
As one can imagine, the interest in this story was immense. So many people showed up to the trial that the maximum limit was quickly reached. Many attendees were left standing in the halls and on the lawn of the courthouse. The papers described the courtroom as “crowded to the point of suffocation.”
Frank Dickerson’s testimony was one of the high points of the trial. He shared all the horrid details of the last hours of George’s life. Dickerson was in his room when he heard Belinda call his name. When Dickerson came down the stairs he saw Belinda strike George over the head with a club from the firewood box. Dickerson stated he headed for the door. According to Dickerson he was going to get help for George. That was Belinda when said that she would tell everyone that it was Dickerson who had struck the farmer with the club.
Belinda then told Dickerson that they needed to make it look like an accident. They carried George’s body to the barn. They laid him in the hog wallow while they chased the pigs out of the yard. Then they opened the barn and placed George’s body in Old Jen’s stall and Belinda backed the horse over the body several times. After the deed was finished, Belinda demanded that Frank get rid of their bloody clothes. He put them down in the privy. The police later recovered the bloody items.
Belinda’s defense had a lot of evidence to overcome. But of course, the main thing was Dickerson’s testimony. They painted him as a jilted lover who had tried to get Belinda to have an affair but that she had rejected his affections. He promised he would get even. Dickerson’s attempt to frame Belinda by murdering her husband and placing the blame on her was merely an act of revenge.
But it seems the jury didn’t believe the defense and on January 10, 1879, they returned with a verdict of guilty. Belinda was sentenced to “hard labor in the State Prison of Wisconsin, for the term of her natural life, and that on the 13th day of each July during such term her imprisonment should be solitary.”
Dickerson went on trial next. It lasted ten days and the outcome was exactly the same. But another twist in this story was about to occur.
Belinda appealed her conviction. The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed with her claims that she should be granted a new trial because she was not allowed to share her side of the story. She was granted a new trial.
Belinda’s second trial ended with the jury being unable to agree on a verdict. Six jury members had voted for acquittal, two members had voted for murder and the rest, voted for manslaughter. The judge ordered a new trial. But it seemed that Wisconsin was done with this case. Belinda Mack never had a third trial.
When looking back at the two trials, there was one difference that stood out clearly. In Belinda’s first trial both men that were working for the family testified against her. The younger boy, Joseph, was only seventeen at the time of the murder. He testified about the Mack couple’s fights and that Dickerson and Belinda seemed to have a “close” relationship.
But Joseph never testified during the second trial. In the time between the first and second trial Belinda had married Joseph, even though he was almost half her age. Neighbors spoke of how smart Belinda was to marry young Joseph, the only other person that was at the farm when George was murdered. According to Wisconsin state law, spouses cannot be compelled to testify against their partners.
Belinda and Frank, who had such a passionate love affair, never saw each other again. Frank was released from prison in 1890 but didn’t bother to search for Belinda. It was just as well. If he had, he would have found the former widow Mack now living in Minnesota. She was still married to the young man who had discovered George’s body.
Another incident only deepened the mystery of George’s death. George was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Beloit. A short time after his funeral, one of the caretakers noticed that George’s stone had been vandalized. The caretaker questioned neighbors about visitors to George’s grave. The neighbors mentioned that a young lady visited the grave, but no one knew her identity. The motive for the vandalism was never determined. But when folks found out that the word “Murdered” had been removed from George’s stone it definitely added another layer of mystery to this already twisted story.
William Sussmilch first became concerned when he stopped by his parents’ house around noon on July 20, 1889. His parents were both over 70 years old and had been suffering with health issues. Williams stopped by daily to check on the elderly couple. His concern grew as he stepped inside the deserted home.
He found two letters waiting for him on the table. William sunk into a chair as he read the words his parents had written to him and his siblings. He knew these words would change all their lives forever.
His parents, Johann G. and Christina Sussmilch had only lived in Rockford for a few years by 1889. They had been married for forty-two or so years and had three children. Their older son, Eugene lived in Kansas while their daughter lived in Iowa. William was a well-know artist in Rockford who was so successful he would one day live on National Avenue.
Christina had been an invalid for a while, but Johann was able to care for her with help from his son William. But Johann’s health started to decline and soon he was under the care of one of the more prominent doctors in town, Dr. Kimball.
Johann didn’t seem to be getting any better and struggled with depression about his failing health. The family decided to gather to lift their father’s spirits. By all accounts, the visit was a joyous one. But the time came for the families to travel back to their homes. The parting was heart wrenching for everyone. The parents stated that it would be the last time the siblings would ever see them in this life. The family assured their parents that there would be many more visits between them.
But Johann and Christina knew better. They had been discussing their fears for months and Johann’s recent illness only made it clear that they needed to act soon. So, they put their affairs in order and wrote their letters to their children. Then they left those letters for their son William to find.
The letters were later printed in full in the Rockford Daily Gazette.
“My Dear Children-
We are going to leave home this evening. If we are not here when you come tomorrow, we shall not be among the living. It has required a strong determination on our part to leave the world in this manner, and to seek the rest we so much long for. But our poor bodies are too nearly worn out to endure this suffering longer. Therefore, do not mourn for us, for we will be better off. As we have lived so long together, we wish to die together, and rest in one grave. So, then, farewell, and believe we shall have the rest we long have wished. Even in death, your loving parents.”
Christina too, wrote her goodbye for her children:
“My Dear Children-
Your father has expressed my feelings. God will forgive us for ending the life which has been so full of suffering. Also forgive us the pain we will causes the dear ones we leave.
Yours to the last breath, your loving Mother.”
William also found two checks next to the letters. He grew instantly concerned and notified the police. The police began searching for the elderly couple. They made inquiries of the neighbors and others in the city.
Through these inquires authorities eventually found a streetcar driver, William Spencer who had seen Johann and Christina. He told police that he had seen an elderly couple on the streetcar the night before. Spencer said the elderly couple rode to the end of the South Main line. The gentleman was calm and didn’t seem troubled at all. But the woman’s actions caught his attention. She seemed “restless and nervous” according to Spencer. He mentioned that the woman had trouble walking and was very pale.
The police decided to drag the river since that is the direction that the couple was last seen walking. The papers all reported this mysterious disappearance and people began to join in on the search. The word spread quickly about the missing couple.
A few hours later, police received word that two men fishing about four miles down from town along the Rock River had seen something in the water. The men, John Milner and George Ennett testified at the inquest later that day to what they have found.
One can only imagine what was going through the minds of the policemen as they traveled through a scenic wooded area to the farm outside of town. As they neared the bank on the east side, they saw an eerie sight. Sticking out of the murky was of the Rock River was a woman’s pale hand.
They borrowed a boat and made their way to the place in the river where the body was submerged. As they neared the location, they could see that there were two bodies in the river: one male and one female. When they retrieved the bodies, they found a rope tied from the woman’s right hand to the man’s left hand.
The men worked in silence as they cut the bindings and removed the bodies. The couple was laid side by side in the grass. There were no signs of a struggle, in fact, Christina had a hat tied onto her head and here shoes were sill on her feet. The men who recovered the bodies later described the contentment on Johann and Christina’s faces stating they appeared to be sleeping like children weary from play. The scene was described as extremely sad.
The bodies were put in a single pine coffin and taken to the undertaker’s office. Coroner Aagensen held a Coroner’s Inquest. He called many witnesses to establish what had happened to the elderly couple. The jury declared the deaths to be suicides. They stated that the couple suffering from their infirmities had decided to die rather than live one without the other.
Johann’s and Christina’s devastated family followed their parents’ wishes and buried them together in Greenwood Cemetery.
The newspaper eloquently stated:
“And so calmly and deliberately they resolved upon self-destruction. Soon they stand on the river’s brink. With premeditation their arms are tied together and as they lived, so they resolved to die, clinging together in mute despair. Trusting their souls to God they wade into the stream and are soon engulfed in the merciless current. So far as they are concerned the past is washed out and to the future alone, they look for hope. Hand in hand they stood together in the battle of life, hand in hand they died. The marriage vow taken in early life was sacredly kept, and who knows but that their last words were: “Till death do us part.”
The Wisconsin State Prison, located in Waupun, Wisconsin has many stories of hauntings, but it is the State Prison Cemetery that is the focus of this story. The graveyard for the prison is located almost two miles away from the prison and reported to be almost as old. It was used for the inmates whose family members didn’t want to bury them in their hometowns or in a regular cemetery.
Waupun State Prison, 1895
The cemetery is filled with the bodies of unclaimed prisoners that died while serving their sentences at the prison but contains no stones or identifying markers. The names have been forgotten and the cemetery has been abandoned. Most of the time, the feeling here is peaceful and calm. But sometimes, there is a definite feeling in this lonely place. Some of the folks who have visited here feel that they are being watched. Others speak of the feelings of sadness and loss that permeate the very air here. Others claim that they feel an angry presence at this location. But though the stories differ, most folks agree that something else is here.
Waupun State Prison, 1893; H.H. Bennett (1843-1908), 1 January 1893.
One of the men who was brought here to be buried was Peter Frahm (also spelled Fromm). Peter died inside the prison walls in 1871 but the story began much earlier and many miles away in Burlington, Wisconsin. It would be called one of the most horrible crimes of the day.
Besides Frahm there was another man at the center of this story, Anton Koch. Anton Koch had come a long way in his life by 1865. He owned 130 acres just outside of Burlington. He was married to a young woman, twenty five years his junior. Both Anton and his wife, Amelia were born in Bavaria and had come to Wisconsin with their families. They married in 1859 in Burlington. They had 3 small children, Joseph who was 4 years old, Anna Barbara who was 2 and a newborn boy named Ernest. A 12 year old niece, named Amelia after her aunt, was also living with the family during that winter.
December 3, 1865 was a Sunday and that meant church for the Koch family. For some reason, Anton and Amelia decided to leave the children at home that day. They weren’t worried because the younger Amelia was wonderful with the children. They also knew that their hired man, Peter Frahm would be around that morning. Anton had sold a lot of wheat and had $1,300 on him when he left for church. He had some bills to pay after the church service and decided the money would be safer with him.
Frahm had only been with the Koch’s for seven weeks by December 3. Frahm didn’t talk much about his past but he did tell Anton that he had traveled from Moline, Illinois. Frahm was working with Anton to earn some money and wait out the winter before heading toward Iowa.
Anton and Amelia felt they would be late for church so they hurriedly told their family goodbye and rushed out at 10:00a.m. The church service ended right around noon that day. Anton wanted to run a couple of errands so Amelia went home alone. She would later claim that she had a strange feeling when she approached the house.
The feeling grew as Amelia approached the house and saw that the door was open. The entrance was in the rear of the house right next to the woodshed. As she approached the open door, she noticed a small bundle on the floor of the woodshed. It took her a moment to realize that it was her little two-year old daughter, Barbara. The toddler lay in a pool of blood and was gasping for air.
Newspapers from the day described the horrific scene stating the toddler had a “deep gash on the side of her head, penetrating the skull, her flaxen hair clotted with blood and her fair cheeks covered in the crimson gore!”
Amelia quickly gathered her child into her arms and rushed into the house screaming for her niece. The house was eerily silent as she went room to room. In the parlor, she noticed that her baby was happily lying in the cradle.
As Amelia turned from the tranquil scene of her baby, she noticed her four-year old son, Joseph, near the kitchen stove. The little boy was obviously dead and next to him lay Amelia’s namesake, her twelve-year old niece. She was alive but was in a hideous state.
Amelia would later state that even at that moment, her mind refused to process the obvious truth. It took another minute or two for her to realize that someone had come into her home and murdered her children. When the truth finally registered, Amelia stumbled out of the house and began to scream.
Several families were making their way home from the church services and heard Amelia’s cry for help. Someone ran to notify Anton that his family was in trouble. The men were shocked by the scene that awaited them inside the modest farmhouse. They were helpless to help the distraught mother.
Little Barbara lived only a short time. It gave everyone comfort that she died in her mother’s arms. Amelia then picked up her niece and held her close while she took her final breath. Amelia was still rocking her when Anton returned to find his whole family changed. Their lives would never be the same again.
The murder weapon was left on the floor next to the children’s bodies. This added another shock in a day filled with them. It was an ax. The doctor that came to examine the bodies determined that it was probably the back of the ax that was used on the victims. The doctor couldn’t look the parents in the eye as he told them that the children had all died of skull fractures.
The authorities questioned Anton about why someone would hurt his children and ransack the home. Anton told them he had been paid a large sum of money a few days before. Maybe whoever committed the crime had been looking for the money. But Anton had carried the money with him inside of his clothes. When the police asked Anton who knew about the money, he told them that only a few people knew. One of them happened to be the hired man, Peter Frahm.
Part of the ransacking in the home included the destruction of a wooden bureau. It had been destroyed with the ax. When asked what was in the bureau, Anton told the man questioning him that he kept a pouch with a few dollars in silver coins. The pouch was gone.
The authorities hated to ask the questions of the grieving father, but they knew they had to catch the monster who had committed this heinous crime as fast as they could. As Anton was recounting the morning, the man in charge seemed to focus on the hired man, Peter Frahm almost immediately. Frahm was found by the authorities and brought in for questioning.
The evidence against Frahm added up quickly. The pouch with the silver pieces was found buried not far from the house. He also had blood on his boots. There was no DNA at that time or blood typing. That meant the main evidence gathered by authorities were the boot prints left in blood. Authorities matched Frahm’s boots with the tracks that they discovered inside and outside the home on the morning of the crime.
The Sheriff’s men gathered up the evidence. They also questioned Frahm about his whereabouts during the time of the crime. They reminded Frahm that he was supposed to be watching the children. Frahm had no answer to their questions about the evidence against him. He also had no straight answer for his location during the murders.
Even though Frahm claimed he did not kill the children, not many believed him. Anton and Amelia were highly thought of in Burlington. Anton was well respected for his assistance to other Germans that came to the area. He helped them with a job and a place to stay. That respect and the fact that the victims were innocent children kept this story in the headlines for a considerably long time.
Frahm was eventually found guilty of this horrible crime and sentenced to serve his time in the Wisconsin State Penitentiary at Waupun. There was no death penalty in Wisconsin at the time though many men in the town thought if any crime deserved the death penalty it was the murder of these helpless children. Most felt that Frahm deserved to be hanged for his crimes.
Anton and Amelia buried their children in God’s Acre Cemetery, now the St. Mary Cemetery in Burlington. All the family would be buried there eventually but not close to each other.
Frahm never wavered from maintaining his innocence. He was 57-years-old when he entered prison and grew into an old man during the first years at the prison. Frahm seemed a broken man and he struggled with mental health issues. He would pace the cell laughing and crying, calling to God to help him.
This lasted until March of 1871. On the morning of March 21, a prison guard found Frahm dead in his cell. He had ripped his shirt into strips to create a rope which he tied to his cell door. Then Frahm hung himself. The guards cut him down and tried to revive him, but it was too late. Frahm was dead.
Those who thought he was guilty claimed that the guilt had finally become too much to bear. Those very few who thought he was innocent, claimed the thought of spending years incarcerated for murders he did not commit pushed him into suicide.
There was no service for Frahm and since no loved one came forward to claim the body of the 62-year-old man, he was buried in the State Prison Cemetery. But there are some that believe that Frahm still continues to claim his innocence, even this long after his death. Visitors state that they feel an intense anger and sadness at the site. Whether it is the spirit of Frahm or one of the other murders who are buried here, only more investigation will tell.
One of the final articles written about the murder was in 1929 when Amelia passed away at the age of ninety-three years old. Amelia lived through so much heartache in her long life. The baby named Ernest, who survived the killing of the other children, died in childhood. Anton and Amelia had two more daughters after the murders, and they did survive to adulthood. But Anton didn’t live to see it. He died just ten years after the murders. People who knew Anton before that December day said he never recovered from the horrible way his children died. He would always bear the burden of knowing that he had brought the murderer into his home. Amelia outlived her husband by fifty-six years.
There is another ghost story attached to this tale, though it is far away from Waupun. The location where these children were murdered seems to be haunted. According to a woman whose family lived in the area, the children that were so horribly murdered on that day in 1865 still linger at the site. She has seen them playing in the house and around the barn which has now been remodeled into a business.
The same woman states that the stories of strange happenings in the house continue even today. The home has been converted into a business now. Stories are told of cleaning crews that have heard unexplainable sounds and doors slamming when there was no one else in the building.
Besides the children’s ghosts, others claim to have seen a woman in the yard and in the house. Perhaps the ghost of Amelia wanders reliving those moments when she returned from church to find her world destroyed. It makes one’s heart ache to think of the young mother searching for the children she couldn’t save.
There is a darker presence here as well. One that “feels” different from the other spirits that roam the house and barn area. Folks that experienced this entity claim to feel fear and anger when this spirit is near. They fear that Frahm or whoever killed the Koch family children is keeping the children trapped in the house. This may be another reason why Amelia’s spirit remains.
There is a theory about spirits who were wronged (whether by murder or wrongly accused of a crime). The feelings of anger, frustration, and lack of justice carry on after the person’s death. These feelings can grow and cause a different type of haunting.
Spirits involved with this type of haunting become vengeful, dark, and dangerous. They no longer care if they revenge on the actual person that caused their situation. They only care that they get revenge on society for the wrong that was perpetrated against them. This could be the dark energy felt at the State Prison Cemetery and at the home in Burlington.
There is no way that we will ever know if Frahm was innocent or guilty of the horrific crimes he was found guilty of committing. But one thing is very clear, the ghosts created by the long-ago murder of these small children reach far beyond the abandoned cemetery in Waupun.
Rockford HS 1924 Yearbook Photo. Rockford Public Library, Local History.
No one can remember how far back the following ghost story goes. Research shows that the story goes back at least until 1926.
The ghost story was about the Administration Offices of Rockford School District 205 located on South Madison Street. It was originally the Rockford High School (also known as the Rockford Central High School). It was definitely not where one would imagine ghosts would linger.
It was built and opened in 1885 as the first school built by the newly founded Rockford School District #205. It served as the Rockford High School from 1885 until 1940 when it was developed into the administrative offices.
The number of students grew beyond its capacity in 1935 so it was once again decided to build two new high schools. There would once again be an East High School and a West High School. East still continues as a high school while West is now a middle school.
The Rockford Central High consisted of two buildings which were connected by a tunnel. There were lockers located in these tunnels and a maintenance office (according to witness stories).
And a shop area where “the male students would use the machines to make certain projects.” The students would use the tunnels to pass between the buildings and attend shop class.
Through the years the tunnels got a reputation for being dark and rat infested. It soon earned the nickname “Rat Alley.” The maintenance men started to talk about the strange happenings along this tunnel and in the lower area.
Lights would flicker and then go off completely, plunging the whole area into darkness. There were also unexplainable sounds. There would be the sounds of doors slamming when no doors were being opened or shut. There was also moaning and the sounds of someone choking.
And perhaps the scariest of all, shadows would be seen here. One story claimed that a maintenance worker was in the tunnel late. Everyone else had left the school, or so the man thought. But he heard sounds coming from the end of the tunnel. He shone his light into the darkness and saw a shadow form of a man. He called out to ask who was there but got no answer.
He thought that the shadow might be something playing tricks with his eyes so he walked closer. He could see the shadow quite clearly then and realized there was nothing in that location that would make the human-like shadow on the wall.
He was walking closer when suddenly the shadow suddenly moved and darted around the corner into the darkness. This time the man didn’t follow it. It really startled him and he decided to go back towards the lighted area. As he turned his back to that part of the tunnel, he heard a young man’s voice call out something to him from the darkness. He couldn’t make out the words. “ I just felt the need to get out of there.”
The legend part of the story stated that someone had drowned in the pool area in the past and people felt that either the boy didn’t know he was dead or he was angry that no one helped him.
There are many times when the specifics to a legend can’t stand up under the research. This story was different.
Anderson Twins
Gosta and his twin brother Folke Anderson, immigrated to America from Sweden in 1924. It seemed like an omen to the two boys that they arrived on July 4. They traveled to Rockford from New York. The two boys were sent to live with their uncle, Carl Anderson and their aunt Anna.
Gosta was enrolled at the Rockford High School in February transferring from Brown School. On March 3, 1925 during his gym class, Gosta would be killed in a tragic accident. Though there were at least 10 other boys in the pool, no one saw Gosta jump into the pool and strike his head. No one saw as his body sank to the bottom of the pool. It would be 43 minutes before a student that was on the swim team, T. Horral noticed Gosta’s body on the bottom of the pool. Horral shouted to his Coach Tom Poole and then dove in and brought Gosta’s body to the surface.
Police were immediately called and they worked on the boy for almost two hours as the boys from the gym class helplessly watched. At first, they didn’t know the identity of the boy who they tried to revive. They found his identification in the locker room and his twin brother, Folke was the first to identify the Gosta’s body. Two coaches Beyer and Poole joined Officers Addington and Conklin as they worked on the boy.
But their efforts were in vain. Gosta was pronounced dead by Coroner Fred C. Olson. The police and School Administrators questioned the boys that had come into the pool area during the time that Gosta’s body must have been in the pool. Some of the boys remembered seeing Gosta on the diving board and watched as he went off the diving board backward.
There were no signs that Gosta was in any trouble after his dive. The students and coaches all stated that they didn’t see any thrashing or signs that anyone was in trouble. In the end, there were no clear answers to Gosta’s death.
This case caused a huge controversary about whether there was any negligence by the coaches or the other students. Mayor J. Henry Hallstrom called for an inquest and swore that if there was any sign of negligence that coach would be fired. The autopsy showed that Gosta had a bruise on his forehead and no water in his lungs. At the end of the inquest, there was no proof that the coaches showed any negligence in Gosta’s death.
Gosta’s body was released to his aunt and uncle. They took him to the Scandinavian Cemetery for burial and that should have been the end of the story.
But shortly after Gosta’s death the stories begin to circulate that students and maintenance workers were seeing and hearing things in the tunnels below the Rockford High School. Some theories about paranormal activity include the belief that if a person dies suddenly and unexpectedly, that they might not realize that they are dead. There is also the belief that maybe if some part of Gosta was aware of what was happening, that he might have thought someone would help him. And then as no one came to help, Gosta might have grown confused and then angry that no one came to save him.
The Rockford High School was torn down and a parking lot now exists where the building once stood. Only more investigation will tell if Gosta still continues to haunt the area where he died.
A lot of people have collections. Some folks might collect salt and pepper shakers, others might like butterflies or tea cups or many other items.. But few have a collection like Wayne Lensing. Wayne collects automobiles. He has a lot of automobiles.
Wayne’s love of cars started when he was a young man. He worked at the Chrysler Plant in Belvidere for 16 years making cars and in his spare time, he raced them. As a racer at the Rockford Speedway, he collected winning titles.
Wayne would eventually expand his car obsession when he opened his own business, Lefthander Chassis. This dream grew into a very successful business. His success allowed him to expand his obsession with automobiles to include his obsession with aviation. This obsession would lead him to obtain his pilot license. Wayne grew so successful, people started to believe that everything he touched turned to gold.
So when Howard Hughes’ 1960 Cadillac Limousine went on the market, Wayne had to buy it. It was the start of what would, years later, become his own museum, the Historic Auto Attractions. Wayne would explain later that he noticed that people were interested in viewing the car and also in the history of the vehicle. Wayne decided that maybe other people might like to see his collection so he began to work on designing a museum.
The museum open its doors in 2001 with a 36,000 square foot facility and 60 cars and trucks. It would be just like Wayne’s other business ventures, a great success. The business was so good that in 2022 Wayne expanded his facility. He added another 50,000 square feet to showcase all of the vehicles and other artifacts he has collected throughout the years.
There are exhibits featuring cars from different eras. There are Presidential cars, gangster cars, and cars from TV shows and Movies. There is a huge exhibit all about the assassination of President Kennedy. It includes a car that carried the Secret Service men on that day in Dallas.
But this museum also includes so much more than automobiles, there are horse drawn carriages, and a wonderful collection of dresses worn by the First Ladies and movie stars. Each artifact has been carefully researched and placed in artistically designed exhibits. Extremely life-like mannequins are used to create authentic tableaus that capture moments in time.
It is easy to see that Wayne has a great fondness for each artifact. He knows the stories of each piece and can recite them by heart. His enthusiasm is as strong today as it was on the day the museum opened.
But Wayne got a little more than he bargained for with some of the items he has collected. And like some of the other museums in the area including Tinker Swiss Cottage, the Veteran Memorial Hall and the buildings of the Heritage Museum Park, these artifacts hold certain energies. And sometimes, this energy allows certain spirits to cross the veil between the living and the dead.
One of the items featured at this museum that has a darker history is a piece of the 1955 Porsche 550 that James Dean crashed on September 30, 1955. This little piece of history was featured on the TV show “Mysteries at the Museum” for Season 2. The story of the car supposedly features a curse. This curse was allegedly so strong that Dean’s friend Sir Alec Guinness was startled when he first saw the car. He told Dean that there was something wrong with the car. Guinness warned Dean that if he drove that car, that he would be dead in a week, Guinness’ premonition came true when exactly one week later Dean crashed the car on the way to a race in California.
The Haunted Rockford Crew has been investigating this museum with team members from the Midwest Ghost Investigators and Ghost Head Soup Paranormal Investigators for a while now. The teams work on a tri-fold approach when investigating locations. They have the historical research on the location and artifacts, they are accompanied by teams that use the latest equipment for gathering evidence of a possible haunting and they also use psychics that might be able to connect with the spirits.
These investigations have led to some exciting evidence at this particular museum. The investigators have witnessed footsteps, disembodied voices, and EVPs in the museum. They have also picked up words on equipment that answer specific questions asked by the different team members. These results are very exciting and have led the members to believe that the museum is definitely haunted.
When they reported their findings to Wayne, the down to earth, no nonsense man didn’t seem surprised. In fact, it seemed to make him even more determined to share his obsession with a greater variety of people. He has agreed to host some Haunted Rockford events at this very active location.
The Historic Auto Attractions is definitely a special place that offers something for everyone. Whether you are interested in automobile history, Hollywood history, or fashion history this place is worth visiting. And if you happen to love history AND paranormal locations, the sheer number of artifacts located here makes the possibility of having a ghostly encounter even more likely.
Dixon, Illinois has always been an important city because it has been a crossing point for the Rock River for centuries. The first white settler in the area was a man of French descent named Ogee that built a cabin along the riverbank in 1828. One of Ogee’s major contributions was continuing a ferry that had been operated by the Native Americans that lived in the area for years. Ogee sold his land to John Dixon, who became the town’s namesake.
The first bridge to cross the Rock River at this point was built around 1846. Between 1846 and 1868, there were eight bridges built to cross the river at Dixon. These only lasted a few years each because of the periods of high water and flooding which brought large amounts of debris down the river. This debris smashed into the bridges causing them to break apart quickly.
Eventually, city officials decided to look for bridges designed with better materials that would outlast the wooden bridges. The proposal required a bridge that was six hundred sixty feet long. It would be quite an engineering marvel for that period.
City authorities looked at many different plans before finally deciding on a bridge made from iron that was designed by L.E. Truesdell from Massachusetts. Truesdell designed other bridges in Illinois but none of his previous projects were as long as the Dixon bridge required. Not all the people involved were convinced that Truesdell’s design was the best, but their doubts were silenced by the majority.
The bridge was built for a cost of $83,000. It opened to great fanfare January 21, 1869, with music and a parade to highlight the accomplishment. Large loads were carried across the bridge to show the sturdiness of the design.
Four years later on May 4, 1873, all seemed well with the bridge. Reverend J. H. Pratt from the Baptist Church had scheduled a special event for the Baptist Church for that day. Pratt had been Reverend of the church for about nine years by 1873. This year his flock had brought in six new candidates to the church and the reverend wanted to highlight this success with a special occasion. He scheduled a mass baptism that would involve full-immersion in the river. People gathered all along the banks and onto the bridge for a chance to watch the ceremony. There were even families in carriages that stopped on the bridge.
One of the excited onlookers was 18-year old Clara Stackpole. Clara had a busy schedule that day but she brought her little sister Rosa to see the baptism. This was to be Clara’s last day in Dixon. She was moving to Chicago where she was scheduled to begin work as a teacher. It would be an understatement to say that Clara was excited. Her little sister, Rosa was only 10 years old in 1873. Both girls were well known with their community.
Another family that joined the crowd was part of the Dana family. Minnie Dana was 7 years old and attended with her mother’s sister, Agnes Nixon. Agnes was 17 years old and staying with the Dana family.
Most of the candidates that were being baptized that day were young women who had moved to the area to work in the factories. Their families came to take part in the event and were proudly watching the festivities. Later, it was estimated that at least 200 people lined the bridge for the event.
The first two baptisms went as expected. When the third woman stepped into the water and the choir began to sing once again, another sound rose. As the voices of the choir swelled a horrible shrieking noise rose above the music. At first the crowd stood stunned, confused by the sound that rose above all others. Then as the realization of what was actually happening rushed over them, the folks on the bridge began to move. The mass of people turned almost as one and made toward the closest bank. But they moved too late and only a handful on each end of the bridge escaped.
The iron tresses which had seemed so decorative only minutes before became like giant metal jaws as they closed down over the helpless people standing on the bridge. The jaws ripped flesh before it fell, dragging the victims into the water below. Over 175 people were dumped into the river.
Almost as soon as the shrieking of the bridge stopped, it was replaced by a sound even more terrible than the one before. Screams from family members filled the air as people began to realize what had just taken place. The screams were soon joined by the wails of the wounded.
Grown men were screaming for their children and wives, women that were there to witness their co-workers or friends welcomed into the house of God, fainted at the sight of the mangled bodies piled under the wreckage. Some witnesses were struck by the fact that one moment the day was bright and shining as if the heavenly gates were thrown open to celebrate this joyous occasion and the next moment it was as if the Angel of Death himself had spread his dark wings over everyone and everything.
Help began to arrive almost immediately. Men jumped in to save the survivors. Many victims were pulled up on the bank to safety. The injured were grabbed by others who carried them to the nearest houses to set up makeshift hospitals. Wooden planks from the bridge were used to pull both living and dead victims from the water. One man mentioned in the newspapers of the day was William Dailey who saved at least 16 people single handedly with a plank from the broken bridge.
The houses closest to the river were quickly filled with the injured, the dying and the dead. Family members staggered from house to house looking for their loved ones. Heartbreaking scenes took place of family members reunited after hours of searching after thinking all hope was lost, only to find their loved ones alive. And the other scenes, even more heart wrenching, of people searching through the crowds of survivors, only to find their family members laid out on the bank in the makeshift morgues.
Special machines arrived to help lift the wreckage so that they could search for the missing bodies with long lines containing grappling hooks at the end. After 11 days the last of the missing was found. One body, that of 17-year-old Lizzie Mackey was found by the dam in Sterling over 14 miles downstream of the accident.
Minnie Dana and her Aunt Agnes and the Stackpole sisters were in the mass of dead and dying caught in the river. Little Minnie was pulled out alive but died shortly afterwards. Her Aunt Agnes was found trapped in the metal work of the bridge. The men who were recovering the bodies were heartbroken at the sight of the victims, especially the young children like Rosa and Minnie. These men would talk of seeing the faces of the victims in their nightmares even years later.
It is no surprise that there was a lot of finger pointing after this disaster. One surprise though was the people who blamed the Baptist Church for the accident. The emotions against the Baptists rose so high that the newspaper felt the need to comment. “There are some people in this town—those in the habit of censuring Christians whenever they have an opportunity—who consider the Baptists, especially the Rev. J. H. Pratt, the minister who was immersing the converts, responsible for the accident. This is unfair …”
Reverend Pratt must have been devastated by the tragedy. He left the church in Dixon by the end of the year and moved away. He was brought back to Dixon ten years later to be buried in Oakwood Cemetery. In fact, he is buried near Clara and Rosa Stackpole.
The news of this accident spread quickly. The Dixon Sun reported that it had spread around the world by the next day. Some of the headlines in the different papers told the tale, “Baptism of Death” , “Dixon Horror”, “The Great Bridge Murder.”
This accident shut the town down for days. Businesses and schools stayed closed as folks mourned their dead. In the end, 46 people lost their lives. 37 of those that died were females while 9 were male. The focus in town was the cleanup and the churches were the busiest places in town as funerals were held for the victims.
A Coroner’s Jury was gathered the next day, but the emotions were so high on both sides that it was hard to determine where the true issue of blame should rest. Some blamed the City Council while others felt that the City authorities had been tricked by Truesdell. The Dixon Sun reported on May 7, ““Give no ear to those men who accuse their neighbors of murder, as stated in the Chicago Times. Many good men believed the Truesdell bridge to be a perfect structure, and were as honest in their belief as those who were of a contrary opinion. Scientific men and bridge builders knew the faults of the miserable structure; and the rotten iron of which it was built was well known to the rotten contractors.”
Truesdell never built another bridge. He opened a silver mine back east. It eventually failed. Truesdell died in 1890 and was buried in Massachusetts.
This year will mark the 150th Anniversary of this dark day in Dixon’s history. There are two different plaques on the riverwalk to honor those killed. Many articles have been written about this terrible event and they all contained many tales of heroic deeds conducted by ordinary men that would later say that only did what anybody else would have done. Though this tragedy took place so long ago, the courage and compassion demonstrated by those heroes, the survivors, and the family members of those lost is awe inspiring.
Killed
Mrs. P.M. Alexander, Dixon
Mrs. Peter Corney, Dixon
Miss Kate Sterling, Dixon
Miss Maggie O’Brien, Dixon
Miss Ida Vann, Dixon
Miss Agnes Nixon, Dixon
Miss Irene Baker, Dixon
Mrs. Col. H.T. Noble, Dixon
Miss Rosa Stackpole, Dixon
Mrs. Carpenter, Dixon
Frank Hamilton, Dixon
Mrs. William Cook, Nelson
Mrs. Peterborger and daughter, Dixon
Mrs. Thomas Wade, Dixon
Miss Mary Sullivan, Dixon
Mrs. Elias Hope
Mrs. Henry Sallman, Dixon
Jay H. Mason, Dixon
Thomas Haley, Dixon
Mrs. James Goble, Bloomington
Miss Melissia Wilholm, Nachusa
Mrs. Dr. Hoffman, Dixon
Miss Nettie Hitt, Dixon
Miss Ida Drew, Dixon
Miss Bessie Rayne, Chicago
Mrs. J.W. Latta, Dixon
Miss Clara Stackpole, Dixon
Mrs. Benjamin Gillman, Dixon
Daughter of J.P. Danna, Dixon
Miss Emily Deming, Dixon
Mrs. Merriman, Dixon
Mrs. C.W. Kentner, Dixon
Abram Hope, Dixon
Miss Catherine Foley, Dixon
Mrs. E. Wallace, Dixon
George W. Kent, Dixon
Robert Dyke, Dixon
On July 24, 1915, Grace Stevens was more excited than she could remember. She was getting ready for her company picnic. Grace worked for the Chicago based Western Electric Company for the past three years and considered herself lucky to have secured such a position.
Grace was born in 1891 in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin. Her family moved to the Rockton, Illinois area where her parents, Winfield and Belle rented a farm. Winfield passed away in 1907 when he was 48 and the family moved to Rockford to look for work. Grace’s brother Alvey seemed to have trouble finding a job. It must have seemed like the family’s fortunes had finally turned when Grace got the job with the Western Electric Company in 1912. The family moved to Chicago when Grace was offered the job.
Western Electric had quite a reputation for splurging on their employees for their annual party. This was a highlight of the year for most of these workers. It meant a special treat for the whole family for the married folks. As far as the non-married employees were concerned, it was an opportunity to meet other eligible men and women. The single women got together to shop for new dresses and hats. They also would help style each other’s hair and to dress.
The company hired five boats to carry their workers across Lake Michigan to Michigan City for the day. They warned folks to arrive early, and Grace took the warning to heart. She waited for her turn to walk up the gangplank and board the U.S.S. Eastland, the first boat scheduled to leave the dock from downtown Chicago. Even though it was just a little after 7:00 in the morning, the celebration had already begun. There was a band playing as the passengers walked onboard. People boarding were shouting and waving to folks already on the ship.
Over 7,000 tickets were sold for this day-long excursion and the crew of the Eastland made sure that every available space was filled. They were even federal inspectors along to make sure of the count for each ship. The 275-foot boat normally carried 2,500 passengers plus the crew but on this day the number reached higher.
Some of the families with younger children headed below decks so the little ones couldn’t wander off in the party-like atmosphere on the deck. Up top, folks were scrambling for seats and leaning on the rails to wave to the people left on the dock.
By 7:15 a.m., the ship was filled to capacity and though the passengers didn’t notice, it had begun to list away from the wharf. The ship listed only for a short while this time but within a few more minutes, the first of a long list of small warning signs began.
By 7:23 a.m., the Eastland began to list once again. This time, water started to enter the engine room and some of the crew climbed up ladders to the main deck. Within a few more minutes, the list had shifted to 45 degrees. Furniture began to slide, causing injuries to some of the passengers. Water also poured into the portholes in the cabins below. Each of these incidents would lead to one of the worst shipwrecks in the history of the Great Lakes.
The next time the Eastland started to list, she didn’t stop. The boat rolled slowly onto its side, the people on deck were thrown into the water. Their clothes soon weighed them down making it impossible to tread water. Folks below deck were trapped in their rooms, as doors and passageways were blocked by shifting furniture. Whole families tried to make their way off the sinking ship as the water poured inside.
One eyewitness said that after the boat flipped there was a full minute of silence, like no one could believe what they had just seen. Then the screams began. By 7:30 that morning, the boat was completely on its side in 20 feet of water, still tied to the dock. It had rolled over so quickly, there was no time to use the life-saving equipment that was on the Eastland.
This was a busy Saturday morning and hundreds if not thousands of people were on the docks conducting business. They quickly began to pull folks from the water almost immediately. There was no lack of heroes on this day.
The water was a mass of people trying to stay afloat. There was a lot of chaos as the air filled with shouting and screaming. One eyewitness, Harlan Babcock, was a reporter for the Chicago Herald. He stated in his article about the tragedy, “In an instant, the surface of the river was black with struggling, crying, frightened, drowning humanity. Wee infants floated about like corks.”
One can only imagine the horror of the moment as parents tried to save their children and spouses, only to watch as they slipped under the water for the final time. Later, many of these family members would be found clasped in each other’s arms. The survivors would mention the sounds of people’s screams. Even years later, they would talk of hearing those screams in their nightmares.
Men with boats launched them to save as many survivors as they could reach. Others pulled the injured ones from the wreckage and commandeered cars and wagons to take them to local hospitals.
One of the many selfless helpers on this July day was Helen Repa. Helen was on the way to the docks to catch one of the boats for the outing. She was a nurse who worked for Western Electric. She jumped aboard a passing ambulance and made her way quickly to the docks. She, too, mentioned the sounds of screaming. Helen rushed onto the hull of the overturned ship to help pull the survivors from the water and through the portholes of the ship. Some were badly injured. Helen arranged for blankets to be sent from the nearby Marshall Fields Store. She also called local restaurants and had them bring soup and hot coffee to the scene and to the hospitals for the staff.
In the end 844 people died in the disaster, including 22 whole families. The dead were carried to the Second Regiment Armory which had been turned into a makeshift morgue. The dead were lined up rows so their family members could walk down the aisle to find their loved ones. Unfortunately, some folks who came through were more interested in grabbing jewelry from the corpses than helping identify them.
One of the dead was Grace Stevens. Her mother and brother had to walk up and down the aisles of the dead until they could find her.
The investigation of the sinking of the Eastland started even before all the dead were removed from the area. There were many aspects to the investigation of this ship. This was only a few years after the sinking of the Titanic. One of the changes that had resulted from that tragedy was that every boat needed enough lifeboats to carry 75% of the people onboard. The Eastland carried 11 lifeboats, 37 life rafts and 2.570 life preservers to accommodate for their passengers. Since the boat had been made in 1902, before this new rule, all these items needed to fit somewhere. The crew eventually stored all these items on the deck causing it to become top heavy.
This would surely have contributed to the sinking that day, but the Eastland had its share of issues even before the new rules. In fact, some sailors claimed the ship was cursed from the start and called her a “hoo doo vessel”. Several good books have been written about the sinking and mention close calls through the years. One such near disaster took place in 1904, when she had 3,000 people onboard and another in 1906 with 2,530 passengers. One crew member described the Eastland like riding a bicycle, “wobbly at first, then steady as she got underway.”
Donations for the families poured into the American Red Cross and they disbursed the money to the family members after an interview with each family. Belle and Alvey Stevens were given $102.00 from Grace’s life insurance, $126.00 from Emergency Relief, and $630 from donations. (In today’s money it would be about 20,000.)
The Western Electric Company also changed its hiring practice after the tragedy and gave first priority to anyone who had a family member killed in the accident. Alvey was given his sister’s spot in the company.
The headlines of the local newspapers mentioned this hometown girl who had been killed in the horrible tragedy. They also mentioned that her mother and brother traveled with Grace’s body so they could lay her to rest beside her father in the Rockton Cemetery.
Despite research, there are no records to tell of what happened to Alvey and Belle after Grace’s death. Neither is mentioned in the records for the Rockton cemetery.
Mary Jonas lived in the Kickapoo, Wisconsin area for years with her family. They owned 160 acres that ran along the Kickapoo River. Her father, John and mother, Elizabeth brought their family to Wisconsin around the late 1850’s.
The family was typical for the settlements in the area of the time. They moved their way across the Midwest, farming and looking for a place to set down their roots. The Jonas’ had three children, two boys and a girl, who helped their parents break the land and build the farm.
William was the oldest boy and by the 1860’s he was married and started his own family. He died of disease while serving in the Wisconsin Volunteers during the Civil War.
The patriarch of the family, John passed away in February of 1890. The remaining son, Daniel decided to move to Missouri leaving Mary and her mother to run the farm all by themselves. When Elizabeth became too crippled for Mary to help, she followed Daniel to Missouri. Mary made the decision to stay in Wisconsin to work the family farm.
Mary struggled with what she felt was her duty to her father’s wishes for the family farm and her loneliness for her family. She rented out the land to neighboring farmers and filled her time with gardening and visiting with the neighboring wives. But her loneliness for her family grew.
All this put Mary in a vulnerable position. That is exactly what one of her neighbors, Samuel Buxton was counting on. Samuel worked for Mary on and off for years and knew that her father left her in a good financial condition.
Samuel also knew that Mary was superstitious and that the whole family had believed in curses and hexes. Mary’s father, John was born in Pennsylvania and would share stories of the power of the witches in the east. He told Mary that whole families had come to ruin when cursed by those who followed the devil. These stories had a great impact on Mary, and she grew fearful that she would come under a witch’s spell.
Samuel Buxton knew all of this and decided that he would use it to his advantage. In 1891, Samuel brough a series of letters to Mary, claiming that he had found on the edges of her property. The letters were filled with horrible graphic descriptions of all kinds of depravity. He told Mary that they had been left by a witch and that he could help protect her from the evil curse that the witch would place upon her.
Mary was so grateful to Samuel that eventually, she fell in love with him. They began an affair that would last for three years. Even though they were lovers, Mary paid Samuel handsomely for his help to keep the evil at bay.
For his part, Samuel made sure that Mary believed that the witch was still around. He did this with more letters, strange relics made from twigs, and by strange knockings and thumping on the side of Mary’s house. After these “attacks”, Mary would summon Samuel who would prefer a ritual that would chase the witch away for a while at least.
Mary would often talk of her love for Samuel and of wishes that they could marry. Samuel grew tired of his mistress and her increasing demands that he leave his wife. So, he decided that he would use the witch one last time to help himself of Mary.
Samuel came to Mary and told her that the witch had offered to help Mary get her heart’s desire. In order to win the heart of her beloved, she needed only to fake a hanging. By hanging herself “just a bit”, she would cause the death of Samuel’s wife and then he would be hers forever.
Mary was overjoyed and agreed to Samuel’s evil plan. They practiced the hanging for several weeks until Mary grew more comfortable with the rope around her neck. Finally in November of 1894, Samuel decided that the day had arrived and went through the now familiar ritual. This time he moved the chair a little further away from Mary so she could barely reach it. As she began to struggle for air, he broke down and put the stool back under her feet, sparing her.
When he returned a few days later he told Mary that when he reached his house, his wife was unconscious on the floor. He emphasized his belief their plan would work. They need only go a little farther into the hanging.
One can only speculate what was going through both of their minds in the time it took to prepare the ritual. Mary must have been so torn between happiness that she would finally have Samuel for herself and having to kill for that to happen. Or maybe she told herself that it was the witch that was committing the killing. While Samuel was obviously looking forward to being done with Mary.
Mary stepped up on the stool and put the noose around her neck. The last thing she saw was Samuel reach over and move the chair completely away from her reach. He stood in the room and watched her struggle. When it seemed to be taking too long, he wrapped his arms around her legs and pulled until she stopped moving.
Neighbors noticed that Mary wasn’t out doing chores for a couple of days. When they went to check on her they found Mary hanging from the rope. Though Samuel spent time setting up the room to look like a suicide, they were a few things that troubled the authorities.
The chair was the main clue that troubled Sheriff Silbaugh, the man in charge of solving the crime. Usually in suicides the chair would be knocked over. This chair was set back a few feet but still upright. There were several items missing from the house including $300.00 and a special watch given to Mary by her father. The way the rope was tied also bothered the man put in charge of solving the mystery. When he testified to the Coroner’s Jury, they came back with a “death at the hands of persons unknown” ruling.
That person wouldn’t stay unknown for long. Mary’s brother, Daniel traveled up from Missouri to make sure the authorities got justice for his sister. He told them every detail that his sister had shared in her letters. When the authorities questioned the surrounding neighbors, they too stated that Buxton had been visiting Mary at all hours of the day and night.
Mary had saved all of the letters from Buxton and the witch, so the authorities had all the proof they needed to arrest him. Mary’s neighbors and friends were outraged and formed a vigilante posse and marched upon the jail at Viroqua where Samuel was being held. The Sheriff had to smuggle Buxton out the back to save him from a lynching. He was kept in Sparta to await his trial.
The trial lasted long enough for the judge to sentence Buxton to life in prison. He was sent to the Wisconsin State Prison in Waupun, Wisconsin. He died there on June 27, 1900 and was buried in an unmarked grave.
This story was reported in papers all over the United States from New York to San Antonio, Texas.
