Category Archives: Crime and vice

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

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 →

Posted in African Americans, Crime and vice, Ethnic groups, Law enforcement, Local government, Politics, Prominent figures, Women | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Crime and vice, Law enforcement, Sangamon County | Leave a comment

‘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 →

Posted in African Americans, Crime and vice, Law enforcement, Prominent figures | Leave a comment

Fisher ‘murder’ hysteria, 1841

Posted on June 23, 2017 by editor

The case of a “murdered” man who later turned up alive is one of 19th-century Springfield’s best-known legal controversies. That’s mainly because Abraham Lincoln wrote about it, but also because of the roles played by circumstantial evidence, a false confession … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice, Early residents, Law enforcement, Lincoln, Abraham, Prominent figures | Leave a comment

The whipping post, 1828-37

Posted on June 21, 2017 by editor

A whipping post stood permanently on the northeast corner of Springfield’s public square from 1828 to 1837. It apparently was used infrequently, but often enough that whippings stuck in the minds of those who saw them. The post – which … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice, Early residents, Illinois capital, Law enforcement, Local government, Prominent figures, Sangamon County, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Mail robbery, 1923, ‘most daring ever’

Posted on May 22, 2017 by editor

Ten men eventually went to prison for a 1923 mail robbery the Illinois State Journal called “the most daring ever staged in this city.” The gang struck at 1:20 a.m. April 1, 1923, at the Chicago & Alton railway station … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice, Law enforcement, Railroads, Transportation | 9 Comments

Streetcar robberies, 1922

Posted on May 16, 2017 by editor

A rash of streetcar stickups culminated in 1922 with the shootings, one fatal, of two car operators. A.D. Mackie, general manager of the Springfield Consolidated Railway Co., responded to the first shooting by offering a reward for apprehension of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice, Transportation | Leave a comment

Poisoning and racial controversy, 1860

Posted on April 7, 2017 by editor

The sentencing of three African-American teenagers in 1860 on charges they tried to poison the employers of two of them highlighted differences in how courts and the newspapers treated blacks and whites at the time. Perhaps inevitably, the case also … Continue reading →

Posted in Abolitionism, African Americans, Crime and vice, Journalism, Law enforcement, Media, Politics, Prominent figures | Leave a comment