Category Archives: Crime and vice

Cantrall riot, 1926

Posted on August 16, 2018 by editor

Two hundred railroad construction workers rioted in Cantrall on Aug. 20, 1926, following a brawl at an illegal beer parlor. When village marshal William O’Neal intervened, the rioters beat him up and took away his revolver and badge. A half-dozen … Continue reading →

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A.C. Littlejohn fraud and suicide

Posted on June 13, 2018 by editor

Angus Littlejohn, once a pillar of Springfield’s business community, spent three years in the 1930s trying to recoup his reputation and keep himself out of prison. He failed. On the morning of July 2, 1938, five minutes before he was … Continue reading →

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John Schnepp, mayor & embezzler

Posted on June 5, 2018 by editor

John S. Schnepp (1866-1954) was a lawyer, real estate developer and two-time mayor of Springfield. He also was an embezzler and philanderer. With his thefts on the verge of exposure in January 1932, Schnepp disappeared. Discovered three years later selling … Continue reading →

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Washington Hall, 1922-26

Posted on May 8, 2018 by editor

In the 1920s, the Washington Street Mission operated a rehabilitation center for young prostitutes in what now (2018) is the Chesapeake Seafood House. The facility closed in 1926, with no publicity and no explanation. Fifty years later, however, the mission’s … Continue reading →

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Bryan Bolton, gangster

Posted on April 28, 2018 by editor

Note: This story has been updated with information questioning Bryan Bolton’s role in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Bryan Bolton, a Thayer farmboy turned Springfield businessman turned gangster, claimed to have taken part in the St. Valentine’s Day massacre and … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice, Law enforcement | 2 Comments

Kidnapped banker, 1932

Posted on March 2, 2018 by editor

Springfield coal miner James Gammaitoni lost his life savings when Taylorville’s John B. Colegrove State Bank failed in 1929. So Gammaitoni took direct action: He kidnapped Colegrove. John Benjamin Colegrove had been a lawyer and real estate investor before he … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Crime and vice, Depression, Law enforcement | Leave a comment

Lake Springfield holdout, 1933

Posted on February 21, 2018 by editor

Leander Shoup vowed to go down in a blaze of gunfire rather than relinquish his 123 acres of farmland to inundation by Lake Springfield. The city of Springfield won a lawsuit to take over the land, a little over a … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice, Farming, Law enforcement, Local government, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Harry Taylor, first black firefighter, police detective

Posted on August 20, 2017 by editor

Harry Taylor (1861-1928) was Springfield’s first African-American firefighter, but became better known as a Springfield police officer and detective. Positions on both the police and fire departments were patronage appointments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Taylor was … Continue reading →

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Hangings in Sangamon County, 1826-1927

Posted on July 31, 2017 by editor

  Sangamon County put to death seven men, all convicted of murder, between 1826, five years after the county was established, and 1927, when a new state law required executions to be carried out in state prisons. Those hanged were: … Continue reading →

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‘Murder by abortion,’ 1946

Posted on July 17, 2017 by editor

A Springfield osteopath was convicted of murder after allegedly conducting an abortion that led to the death of a 19-year-old woman in 1946. Ronald U. Tilley (1897-1966) was sentenced to 18 years in prison, but the Illinois Supreme Court overturned … Continue reading →

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