December 15, 2024 • 64 mins
We are very excited to share this audio from the Mokena Village proclamation remembering Deputy Walter Fisher, who was Mokena's only law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty. After the proclamation is the episode we did in March of 2023 about Deputy Fisher as well!
After 98 years we are proud to have been a part of making this recognition happen. There are also additional things in the works for a permanent recognition, telling some of his story, in downtown Mokena! You can see the proclamation on display at the Mokena Village Hall.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Israel (00:00):
Welcome to Mokena's Front Porch, a Mokena history
podcast with Matt Galick and me,israel Smith.
Matt, tonight we were down atVillage Hall and we just got out
(00:21):
of the board meeting where theydid the proclamation for Deputy
Walter Fisher.
Yes, they did, and we're goingto share that just after this,
but this is kind of somethingwe've been talking about and
working towards for a while.
Yeah, it has you, especiallywith the book since 2018, when
you wrote the book about.
Matt (00:37):
Deputy Fisher.
Israel (00:38):
Yeah, yeah, you know what does this mean to you, matt
.
Matt (00:47):
Matt.
It's very it's kind of likeemotional for me because when I
wrote the book, I wanted it tospread the awareness of Deputy
Fisher's sacrifice to ourcommunity so that it wouldn't be
totally forgotten, because Ireally think that without the
book and the interest it kind ofstirred up, that that
unfortunately probably wouldhave have happened, because at
the time I wrote it there reallywere only a handful, tiny
(01:08):
handful of people in town whowere aware of that story.
So, um, it's very meaningfulfor me that the uh powers that
be, as it were, uh took aninterest in him and in the story
and uh issued this proclamation, which I think was beautifully
written very beautifully.
Israel (01:24):
well done, very beautifully.
Well done, very beautifullywritten yeah yeah, yeah.
Matt (01:27):
So I'm very happy about it and I'm happy that it's.
Mayor Fleischer told me thatit's as we'll see, that it's
going to be sort of on displayin the village hall for
everybody to see and that it'llalso be sort of enshrined in the
village records so that ifhopefully not, but maybe 100
years from now, if ourequivalents then are unfamiliar
(01:48):
with Deputy Fisher, maybethey'll be looking at some board
minutes, you know, trying tofind some interesting
information, and they'll seethat in there.
Israel (01:54):
So, yeah, no, it's great and you know we appreciate
Trustee Dauphiné.
Oh, absolutely.
Who you know, really helped usalong to get this to where we're
at today.
He's a big help and the wholeboard and the mayor and the
office just inviting us andletting us have input as well as
getting the input from ChiefBenton and everybody.
(02:16):
So it's, as Matt said, abeautifully written memorial
proclamation about him andhopefully again just a first
step in the village and kind ofrecognizing and displaying more
of our yeah, our history and thestories that kind of made
molkina uh, you know, the greatvillage that it is and that it
was and what it's going to be.
Matt (02:36):
So well done, matt, this is a good uh stepping uh, stone
starting accomplishment and yeah, I think so great to recognize
deputy walter fisher.
Mayor Frank Fleische (02:44):
Absolutely not Okay appointments and
proclamations.
Proclamation for Deputy WalterFisher.
Clerk Melissa Martini (02:57):
Village of Molkina.
Proclamation for Deputy WalterFisher.
Whereas Deputy Sheriff WalterFisher.
Whereas Deputy Sheriff WalterFisher honorably served the Will
County Sheriff's Office forfive years, demonstrating
unwavering dedication to thesafety and well-being of our
community.
And whereas Deputy Fisher was aproud resident of Mokena,
illinois, where he also operateda general store that served as
(03:21):
a central hub for the localcommunity, fostering a strong
connection with his neighbors.
And whereas at the time ofDeputy Fisher's service, the
village of Mokena did not havean established police force and
he effectively fulfilled therole of a police officer within
the village, ensuring the safetyand order of its residents.
(03:42):
And whereas on April 14th 1926,deputy Fisher courageously
pursued an automobile thiefinvolved in a series of crimes,
including the robbery of a mailtruck in Indiana Harbor, indiana
, earlier that day.
And whereas during the pursuit,deputy Fisher engaged the
(04:03):
suspect who opened firetragically, resulting in Deputy
Fisher being struck five timesand succumbing to his injuries.
And whereas Deputy Fisher'sbravery and ultimate sacrifice
(04:25):
exemplify the highest standardsof law enforcement and reflect
his deep commitment toprotecting the citizens of
Mokena and Will County.
And whereas it is fitting andproper to honor the memory of
Deputy Fisher, who left behind aloving wife and two children
and to recognize the enduringimpact of his service on our
community.
Now, therefore, I, frankFlesher, mayor of the Village of
Mokena, illinois, do herebyproclaim and recognize the
service and sacrifice of Mokena,illinois.
(04:45):
To hereby proclaim andrecognize the service and
sacrifice of Mokena residentsand Will County Deputy Walter
Fisher, and encourage allresidents to reflect upon and
honor the valor and dedicationof Deputy Fisher, whose selfish
actions continue to inspire andremind us of the profound
sacrifices made by lawenforcement officers in the line
of duty.
Proclaim this ninthth day ofDecember 2024.
Mayor Frank Fleischer (05:10):
Matthew, would you like to say a couple
words?
Absolutely, Mr Mayor.
Matt (05:15):
So I just wanted to say thank you to Mayor Fleischer and
the Board of Trustees for thisproclamation and making it
happen this proclamation andmaking it happen.
Special thanks to TrusteeDauphiné, who is not here
tonight, but he took a specialinterest in this story and kind
of got the ball rolling hereBack when I wrote the book about
.
Deputy Fisher back in 2018,getting something like this was
(05:37):
kind of like the goal I had.
So I'm glad that it was able tohappen, looking forward to some
kind of permanent remembranceto the deputy here in our
community, and I just only wishthat Deputy Fisher's wife and
children could have been here.
Unfortunately they are longsince deceased, but I think
they're with us tonight on adifferent plane.
(05:58):
So once again, thank you to themayor and the board of trustees
for everything and making thishappen.
That is all, thank you.
Mayor Frank Fleischer (06:05):
Thank you for the research on this and
bringing us our attention.
Oh, absolutely, what we'regoing to do with the
proclamation is we're going toput it in the wooden cabinet out
there.
Oh fantastic, so it will be ondisplay out there.
Matt (06:15):
Oh great, I'm thrilled to hear that.
Okay, thanks, thank both of you.
Israel (06:25):
Israel.
Thank also, thank you, thankyou.
This episode is all aboutMatt's second book, the 1926
Orland Park Murder Mysteries.
Matt published this book in2018 and it really was kind of a
passion project for him,something that, as he learned
and was studying more about thehistory of our town, the story
of Deputy Walter Fisher reallystuck out to him, and then it
kind of stuck out even more whenhe realized that there is no
(06:50):
memorial in our town to DeputyWalter Fisher.
So on Monday, february 13th,matt and I decided to go down to
the village board meeting andjust share a little bit of the
brief history of Deputy WalterFisher and his importance on our
town, as well as kind of makean action item.
Make some requests or an idea ofwhat we could do from us as
(07:14):
ideas to fix this problem as wesee it.
So we've included that audio.
Matt and I are going to speakto the village board, but we
also go through the book and wedon't do a reading of the book.
That will be a lot longer, butit is a long episode.
But if you have to listen to itin parts or come back to it,
please do, because it's animportant message and, I think,
(07:36):
a very important piece ofhistory for our town.
We hope you enjoy this episode.
I'll be sure to leave a link towhere you can buy Matt's book
in our show notes, so check thatout and enjoy this next episode
of Mokina's Front Porch.
Hi, good evening Mr Mayor andVillage Trustees.
My name is Israel Smith.
(07:56):
I'm here with historian MattGaelic tonight and we have a
history podcast called Mokina'sFront Porch and, as many of you
know, matt wrote a book, twobooks Images of America, as well
as the 1926 Orland Park murdermystery.
Matt and I are here to talkabout something that came up as
we were recording an episodeabout Matt's second book and the
story of the murder of one ofMolkina's law enforcement
(08:17):
officers and business owners.
This is the only time in ourtown's history where one of our
law enforcement officers waskilled on the line of duty.
This was a time when Molkina'spopulation hovered around 475 at
the first half of the 1920s andJoliet's Rialto Theater was
called new, and Chicago and thesurrounding areas were thrown
(08:40):
into a crime wave due to thepassage of the 1919 Volstead Act
bringing about the Prohibitionera.
Crime was a growing problem inWill County and Frankfort
Township.
So Will County Sheriff Newkirkdeputized several men for the
arrest of moonshiners,bootleggers and auto thieves.
At the time Mokena had noestablished police department
(09:02):
but only a single appointedpolice officer.
Deputy Walter Fisher receivedhis appointment by Will County
Sheriff John Walker on December11, 1922.
He had been a resident ofMokena for less than one year.
Deputy Fisher quickly became aprominent figure in our village,
(09:27):
being a Front Street businessowner and the village's
assistant postmaster.
His business was growing somuch that he resigned his deputy
to focus on his business inDecember of 1923.
But as a sign of his duty andcommitment to our community, he
is again deputized in August of1924, just in time to assist
when the Mokena State Bank isrobbed at gunpoint in October of
1924.
Matt (09:48):
Good evening Mayor and Board of Trustees.
I think we all know each other,but I'm Matt Gaelic, a village
historian.
This is my book about DeputyFisher.
So the morning of April 14th1926, deputy Fisher responded to
a phone call that the FordCoupe of Mokena Dr Ernest
McMahon had been stolen atgunpoint near the corner of Wolf
Road and Lincoln Highway.
(10:09):
The pursuit of justice that dayended with Deputy Fisher having
been shot multiple times at thecorner of today's 143rd Street
and LaGrange Road in Orland Parkand his passing at the home of
a doctor nearby.
Deputy Fisher's death left hisyoung wife without her husband,
their two children without theirfather and left Mokina in a
(10:32):
deep sense of mourning.
Bill Semler of Our Townnewspaper, the News Bulletin,
said, wrote Walter Fisher died.
A game fighter in his duty as adeputy sheriff of Will County,
he laid his life down to protectthe property and lives of the
neighbors and friends of hiscommunity.
He was a real hero in everysense of the word and this
(10:54):
community should always reverehis memory.
He was such a staunch supporterof law enforcement that did not
hesitate to die to uphold thelaw.
Walter Fisher was a goodcitizen, businessman, kind
neighbor, faithful friend andloving husband and father.
He was big-hearted, ever readyto do a good deed.
(11:15):
I end my book saying well, hesways over the village like a
silent ghost.
Walter Fisher's name isconspicuously absent in the
Mokina of today.
His dedication to his home waspaid for in his blood and the
ultimate sacrifice has beencompletely forgotten.
No memorial stands in hishometown, no park or street or
(11:37):
even a bench bears his name.
Israel (11:40):
And that's why Matt and I decided to come tonight is
we're just asking that after 97years, after Deputy Fisher was
killed in the line of duty, thatthe village could do something
to recognize his sacrifice toour village and our county.
So a couple ideas that we hadand of course we leave it to you
(12:01):
, but with the new policestation going in, maybe a
memorial to uh deputy fisherthere, or maybe even a naming of
the police station, uh, apossible renaming of 104th
avenue, which runs directly westof the new police station, to a
deputy fisher avenue, deputywalter fisher avenue, something
along those lines um, a monumentat the new police station to
(12:23):
memorialize him, or maybe anannual day.
Walter Fisher's birthday was onOctober 25th 1897.
So any way that we can presentto this board the idea of
recognizing his sacrifice andMatt and I would love to be a
part of that and we can helpwith that as well.
So thank you for your time.
(12:44):
Thank you.
Thank you very much for thisdiscussion.
Matt, this time we're going totalk about the book that you
wrote in 2018.
Yes, absolutely, titled the1926 Orland Park Murder Mystery.
Yes, yes.
So before we get into the book,why did you decide to write
this book?
Why did you decide to writethis book?
Matt (13:04):
It's a very good question actually.
Well, years ago I sort of tookit upon myself this project of
mine where I decided, hey, Iwant to sit down and go through
every page of every issue of theNews Bulletin, which was our
town paper from 1919 until 1969.
Israel (13:29):
Wow, that's a huge amount of newspapers to go
through.
Matt (13:32):
It took me a very, very, very long time.
Yeah, oh yeah, but I startedthis when I was in high school,
so years ago, and the entire ormost, maybe like 99% of the run
of the paper is available onmicrofilm at the mokino library
and at the frankfurt library.
Israel (13:51):
So between those, is that how you were seeing it was
through the, you were doingmicrofilm.
Matt (13:57):
Yeah, for all of it oh, definitely, yeah, yeah, oh yeah.
So as I was paging through, myfavorite decade of the whole
span was the 1920s, becausethere was just a lot of crazy
stuff happening at that time,not just in Mokena but kind of
you know the whole region herebecause the paper reported on
the neighboring towns and stufftoo, in 1926, april of 1926, of
(14:23):
the murder, we can call it, of aWill County Sheriff's Deputy
from Mokena named Walter Fisher,and it was just such a crazy
story to me that it reallypiqued my interest and over the
course of years I had beenresearching it and trying to dig
(14:44):
out every single last detailabout it and as everything came
into focus to me I really kindof felt, how would I say?
I had this big question of why?
Why is this man who literallysacrificed his life for our
(15:06):
village, protecting hisneighbor's property in the line
of his duty, why is he notremembered by anything?
In this town?
There were a few of the oldestresidents who could remember
having heard about this case,who could remember having heard
about this case, but it hadalways in the collective memory.
(15:27):
It always got lumped in withthe 1924 bank robbery and the
story that was repeated was thathe was killed chasing the bank
robbers from that event inOctober 1924.
That's not what happened.
Walter Fisher didn't die untilApril of 1926.
But I think what happened is,since there were two big crime
(15:49):
events that happened relativelyclose to each other, they just
sort of merged together over theyears in the fog of time and
became one thing.
But I'm getting away from yourquestion.
There's nothing named afterWalter Fisher here, no street,
no park, no bench or tree orwhat have you.
(16:13):
And I wanted him to beimmortalized and remembered for
his sacrifice, because he's theonly law enforcement figure in
the entire history of Mokina whodied in the line of his duty.
Israel (16:29):
And explain that, because there was not a Mokina
police department at the time.
That's correct.
So how did he become Mokina'slaw enforcement?
Matt (16:39):
That's a good question actually.
So yeah, the Mokina policedepartment as we know it now did
not exist until much, muchlater.
How law enforcement kind ofworked back in his day was that
the village board would appointa constable, someone who kind of
took care of law enforcementtype things on a part time basis
(17:02):
, sort of on the side inconjunction with whatever his
other job was.
But Walter Fisher was not aMokena constable, he was a Will
County sheriff deputy.
And how that worked is in theearly 1920s, after Prohibition
came into effect, there werelots of problems in Will County
(17:23):
with bootlegging and stuff ofthe sort.
So the sheriff went from townto town in what were then the
rural communities of Will Countyand would deputize a couple men
from each town as kind of likea supplement to help them combat
bootlegging andprohibition-related offenses.
(17:47):
And that's where Walter Fishercame onto the scene, because he
was a general storekeeper inMokina.
Israel (17:55):
And we've talked about his store before, but maybe just
tell us where he was at,absolutely.
Matt (18:01):
So Walter Fisher, when he first came to Mokena 101 years
ago in 1922, he opened up hisstore in an old building that
was on the northwest corner ofFront Street and Division Street
.
It was not there too terriblylong, though, because he moved a
few doors down further to thewest into yet another old
(18:22):
building that stood uh, wheredina's barber shop would later
stand.
A lot of people will willremember where that was, also,
unfortunately, a building that'sno longer there.
But uh the.
The building that uh fisherworked out of was destroyed in a
fire only a few years after hedied, so it's been gone for a
(18:42):
really long time.
Israel (18:44):
And the first, is it right?
The first building he had hisbusiness in he bought from Mr
David Kropp's dad and uncle.
That is correct.
Matt (18:55):
Yeah, they sort of switched properties because they
were Roy and Milton Kropp werethe owners of a hardware store
and when they first got startedout, they opened up in what then
was called the Zahn Building,the north side of Front Street.
There and this businesstransaction happened, where
(19:15):
basically they flip-flopped.
So Walter Fisher moved intowhat had been the Kropp Hardware
Store in the old Zahn Buildingand the Kropps went into the
building on the corner of Frontand Division Street where they
had their hardware storethroughout the 20s.
(19:35):
Yeah, so yeah, that's, that's aconnection to a living
connection actually to WalterFisher.
Yeah, definitely, actually toWalter Fisher.
Yeah, definitely.
Israel (19:43):
So, and again before we get really get into the book, so
you decided that you wanted todo something kind of as a
memorial or as a memory toWalter Fisher.
What did you do?
How'd you get from the point ofhaving the idea to putting it
in place, getting the book inplace?
Matt (20:04):
Actually, the whole thing started out in an article that I
wrote for the Mokina Messengerback in 2009.
I wrote this article and it waspretty long, so they split it
up into two parts.
But even after I wrote it thewhole story of Walter Fisher and
his untimely demise I kind ofthought there's still so much to
(20:29):
this story that didn't make itinto the article in the
messenger and I thought, well,what's a good venue for this?
And I decided after I wrote myfirst book, the Mokina book that
came out in 2011,.
I sort of had the experience inwriting books and I thought,
(20:50):
you know, this is worthy of abook.
There's enough here for a book,absolutely.
Israel (20:54):
So, yeah, it kind of took off from there and did you
go to the same publisher thatyou used for the Mokina book?
Matt (21:01):
Yeah, actually it's interesting.
So the Mokina book waspublished by Arcadia Publishing,
who specializes in these sortof local, village community
histories.
They have a I don't know if youcould call it like a subsidiary
or a, like a separate arm orwhatever, but they, excuse me,
(21:21):
have a publisher called HistoryPress that is under the Arcadia
umbrella, and History Press sortof like the same thing
specializes in like the talesfrom American history that you
might not have heard, localhistory, things like that.
The thing I think thatseparates History Press and
(21:43):
arcadia is that arcadia isprimarily pictorial histories
whereas, uh, with the, the 1926orland park murder mystery, the
second book, uh, and a lot ofthe other stuff history press
has done, they're they're a lotmore, uh, text oriented tell us
about the title, okay yeah,that's also why I keep saying it
(22:05):
, but that's another goodquestion.
So, as I wrote this book, when Iwrote the book, my old articles
in the Mokina Messenger, thepieces for my blog that I still
have today I am not good atcoming up with titles, it's
always the last thing I do.
(22:25):
So I wrote the whole book stilldidn't have a title, but I came
up with maybe something likethree possibilities that I
thought were kind of good, likedthe most was Deadly Pursuit.
(22:46):
I forget what the rest of itwas, but it was sort of like
Deadly Pursuit, colon WalterFisher of Mokina, something,
something.
But unfortunately, every idea Ihad my publisher shot down.
They didn't like any of themand they ultimately sort of
arbitrarily decided that theywere just going to call it the
1926 Orland Park murder mystery.
(23:07):
It's like, okay, fine, they'rein the business of selling books
.
So that's what they gave itbecause they thought it would do
the best with that title out inOrland.
But I was kind of frustrated bythat because, as anybody that
reads the book will see, but Iwas kind of frustrated by that
because, as anybody that readsthe book will see, it's about
90% a Mokina story, though.
Israel (23:28):
Sure, yeah, it's about Mokina people no-transcript, one
(23:50):
of the first lines in the bookthat really stuck out to me and
it says a lot about the timethat this was going on and it's
in relation to talking aboutMokina, and the line is not 35
miles to the north.
The Thompson submachine gun wasearning in blood its moniker
the Chicago Typewriter, yeah,yeah was earning in blood its
moniker, the Chicago typewriter,yeah, yeah so with that start.
Matt (24:14):
Tell us kind of a little bit about how the book starts,
where we're at, what's going on.
Yeah, so the book opens up withthe discovery of a body that
this took place out in one ofthe near suburbs to Chicago, one
of the near Western suburbs Ibelieve this happened in
Broadview, I want to say but itwas the discovery of a body, a
(24:35):
very um, brutalized and bloodyone.
Uh, this was not Deputy Fisher,but as a, without giving away
too much from the book, it wouldturn out that this dead man
that was found in the middle ofa road late at night would by
and by come to be called themurderer of Deputy Fisher
(25:11):
no-transcript ultimately killedhimself the same day under
circumstances that were nevertotally cleared up, and, through
a strange kind of twist,another man was ultimately found
guilty and sent to prison anddid time for it.
Israel (25:32):
So before we get to that , let's talk about we've talked
a little bit about Walter Fisher, yeah, but tell us about the
crime.
Matt (25:41):
So the crime, how it all went down is, let's see, oh,
there's a lot of little facetsto this.
Where do I start?
So the day was April 14th 1926.
Mokina is still a very smallrural farm town at the time.
Israel (25:59):
Around 475 people.
I think is what you said in thebook.
Matt (26:02):
Yeah, that sounds about right.
Yeah, 475 thereabouts, so verysmall.
Everybody knew each other.
This afternoon a local man, drErnest McMahon, who was our
village doctor, was in practicefor many, many years A lot of
people actually still rememberhim had his car stolen out from
(26:23):
under him at what then was acountry intersection of Lincoln
Highway and what today we wouldcall Wolf Road, and the crime is
nowadays we would call thiscarjacking.
He was traveling, let's seethis would be.
He was headed east down theLincoln Highway and as he
(26:43):
approached the intersection withwhat then they just called the
Mokina Road but later on came tobe called Wolf Road, a man
(27:03):
stepped out from some brush whowas carrying some big bags or
sacks hoisted over his shoulder,kind of flagged him down and
got him to stop.
And as Dr McMahon stopped,slowed down, thinking you know,
this is some guy whose baby hadcar trouble or is in some other
emergency and needed help, wasgreeted with a pistol to his
face and the man, uh, explainedsomething along the lines of I
(27:24):
need your car right now.
So, uh, dr mcmahon was not oneto argue with the gun he got out
the uh unknown auto thief gavehim his doctor bag from inside
the car.
He got in the car, sped off tothe east and disappeared into
the horizon.
(27:45):
Dr McMahon, in his I guess youwould call it panic I know I
would have been panicked went tothe farmhouse of a man by the
name Clarence Cleveland who hadhis farm on the most of it was
on the southern side of thatintersection, lincoln Highway
and today's Wolf Road went up tohis farmhouse, which stood
(28:08):
right about where McAllister'sDeli is nowadays Crumble Cookie,
that little shopping centerright there.
That's where ClarenceCleveland's farmhouse was.
So he frantically knocked onthe door.
Mr Cleveland came and DrMcMahon explained what had
happened and together, from theCleveland house they made a
(28:28):
phone call into Mokinaexplaining what had happened.
And message got to right aboutthe same time, landed at the
Cooper and Hestert Ford agencygarage auto dealership on Front
Street and also to Deputy Fisher, grabbed his gun and he and a
(28:58):
man by the name of BarneyHostert, who was one of the
owners of the Cooper and HostertFord agency, took off in their
car, took off in Mr Hostert'scar with Barney himself at the
wheel, with Deputy Fisher aspassenger.
They went out of town, went downtoday's 191st Street and, based
(29:18):
on the description that hadbeen given to them by Dr McMahon
and Clarence Cleveland.
They knew, or figured, I shouldsay.
I don't think they knew, butthey were kind of expecting the
stolen car to appear on today'sLaGrange Road, or what then
would have been called KeeneAvenue, the small town being
(29:42):
what it was.
They knew Dr McMahon's car bysight and they waited somewhere
in the vicinity of theintersection of today's 191st
Street and LaGrange Road, afterhaving made haste to get there.
Sure enough, didn't have towait too terribly long, saw the
car coming towards them and theygave pursuit.
(30:07):
Deputy Fisher and Barney Hostardchased the car thief in Dr
McMahon's car all the way upuntil just outside of Orland
Park.
Something happened right at theintersection of LaGrange Road
and 143rd Street, wheredescriptions kind of vary a
(30:29):
little bit as to what happened,but it sounds like they were
able to get close enough to thefleeing car thief, get close
enough to the fleeing car thiefto where they were able to kind
of overtake him in a way andforced him to stop, at which
point Deputy Fisher jumped outof the car with his gun drawn
(30:50):
and the car thief drew his owngun and shot and fatally wounded
Deputy Fisher, who died a shorttime later after he was carried
into Orland proper.
Israel (31:05):
And you give a good description of this shootout.
Yeah, yeah.
He gets out of his car.
Walter Fisher gets out of hiscar and is stepping out of the
car, I believe.
Yeah, yeah, car and or is isstepping out of the car.
I believe.
Yeah, and and uh, the, thegunman, opens fire and walter,
uh fisher, also opens fire atthe same time.
Is that correct?
Matt (31:24):
that is absolutely correct .
Yeah, uh, basically happened.
It happened very quickly butsimultaneously.
Uh, barney hostert, who wasthere, would later testify that
they were close enough to eachother to have shaken hands.
He also testified that DeputyFisher's shots did wound the
(31:44):
gunman slash auto thief.
In fact, investigators laterfound a trail of blood at the
scene, because he did take offon foot but a few minutes later
came back to the car and resumeddriving off.
Israel (32:00):
Now, one thing that I think is really interesting is
you know we think about thestories and you hear them in
modern time.
When I looked up, you know, thedoctor's car was, I think, a
1924 Ford Coupe, that's right.
These are not like sports cars.
These are not.
This is an old, you know earlycar, that's right.
These are not like sports cars,these are not.
This is an old, you know earlycar, you know.
(32:21):
So it gives a little more tothe picture of the story when
you think about these.
They're not big cars like we'reused to today.
No, definitely not, you wereright, they could be right up
next to them, absolutely, youknow.
So that to bring a littleclarity to that picture there,
oh, definitely.
Matt (32:38):
Yeah, these were not huge cars.
These were not cars built forspeed either.
I don't know what their maxspeeds they reached during this
car chase.
Israel (32:46):
And was Barney Hostert.
Was he wounded at all?
Matt (32:49):
Yeah, as a matter of fact he was.
He was so close to this entirething, as it happened, that
either a piece of broken glassor they posited it could have
been a one of the gunman's strayrounds sort of clipped the tip
(33:10):
of his nose, which left him witha visible scar, actually for
the rest of his life, and I'veI've talked to people who
remembered it.
He passed away at the end ofthe 1950s.
Israel (33:26):
But yeah, he carried a visible scar on his nose from
that.
So Deputy Fisher was shot.
He was Barney Hostert is he'sokay.
He's slightly wounded and thegunman is now this point taken
off and gone.
That is correct.
So what happens to WalterFisher and Barney Hoster?
Matt (33:44):
Yeah, so what happened was so the shootout happens, excuse
me Barney Hoster sort ofinstinctively ducked inside the
car.
Sort of instinctively duckedinside the car.
Deputy Fisher fell out of thecar as he was sort of in the
process of jumping out of itwhen the shooting happened.
He's laying on the ground.
(34:04):
Gunman took off on foot.
As the shots are exchanged,there was a candy salesman who
was in Orland at a general storeon 143rd street, who had heard
the shots happening and I guessyou could call it bravely came
(34:26):
out to the intersection to seewhat was going on.
And this is immediately afterthe shooting happens.
He finds barney hostert andDeputy Fisher, barney having run
off to a immediately afterwardto a nearby farmhouse to try to
get some help, but there wasnobody home.
(34:46):
The salesman, whose name Iforget, loaded the two guys,
including severely woundedDeputy Fisher, into his own car,
drove them back into Orland andtook him to the village
doctor's house that was DrSchussler, I believe, was his
name to a house that's actuallystill standing but doctor's not
(35:11):
home.
So they managed to carry WalterFisher, who was barely alive at
this point, into the doctor'soffice in his house and it was
(35:39):
there that he bled.
Toman came back, jumped onceagain into Dr McMahon's car and
drove off and disappeared forthe time being.
Israel (35:46):
So Walter Fisher dies in the doctor's home with no
doctor there to help him out.
That is correct, Absolutely.
So now tell us um, tell us whoDan Hesley was.
Matt (36:01):
So Dan Hesley is a very interesting character.
He is a man, a Chicago man, whowas a young man at this point
about 25 years old, who, as he'sgrowing up, as he's in high
school, very athletic, uhathletic kind of guy, played
some sports, was kind of atinkerer, like he was interested
(36:28):
in radios In any case thedetails are in the book but also
was kind of a troublemaker,going way back, always getting
himself into trouble, had donesome time previously he robbed a
(36:55):
mail truck in Indiana Harbor,indiana, which nowadays is
considered part of the city ofEast Chicago, completed this
mail heist of $37,000.
That was payroll that was onits way to one of the big steel
mills out there I believe it wasInland Steel.
(37:18):
In any case, not only did herob this mail truck of that
thousands and thousands ofdollars, he also sort of
kidnapped the driver of the saidmail truck, threw him into his
car and forced him at gunpointto drive him back over the
(37:38):
border into illinois and thenthey come, uh, through illinois
it's.
Israel (37:43):
He said, you go, he goes through lansing, yeah, chicago
heights.
So they're doing the route 30kind of route was route 30, uh a
route at that, uh official road.
Yet at that point it was.
Matt (37:53):
Yeah, I believe it was, because lincoln highway was sort
of took off in, uh yeah, in the1920s.
Uh, so if, if you're a listenerand you're maybe a newcomer to
the area, route 30 and lincolnhighway is the same thing, um,
yeah, so that that's it.
We don't know the exact routethey took, but based on the
places that would later bereferenced to them having passed
(38:16):
through, it kind of sounds likethat's where they were headed,
maybe around that LincolnHighway, route 30 corridor.
Israel (38:24):
So he stole $37,000?
Yes, so in today's money that'sequal to about $640,000.
Yeah, it's nothing to sneeze atyeah, this is a huge chunk of
money that was stolen Absolutely.
Matt (38:37):
Absolutely yeah, and everything was going pretty well
for him.
He got his loot, didn't gethurt doing it, was making his
escape.
When they got into Joliet andstarted to have some car trouble
, dan Hesley's car basicallydied on him as they were going
(39:00):
through Joliet.
So he and his kidnapee, if youwant to call it, a guy by the
name of Frank Watson, sort ofpushed the car into a garage or
auto workshop on Route 30 inJoliet.
(39:22):
And as all this is happening,dan Hesley's trying to play it
cool and not look suspicious,explaining to the mechanic he
encounters what's going on,explaining to the mechanic he
encounters what's going on.
This man that he had kidnappedFrank Watson sort of used that
as his opportunity to escape andhe ran off, got to a phone and
(39:51):
was able to call authorities andexplain what had happened.
And that's kind of like acrucial point in this story,
because it is then that DanHesley, who of course figured
out what had happened, kind ofwent off the radar for a little
bit and in the aftermath ofeverything that had happened,
investigators this is where itgets kind of tricky, but
(40:11):
investigators sort of put ittogether that Dan Hesley was the
man who then robbed Dr McMahonof his Ford coupe outside Mokina
, therefore sparking the carchase in which Deputy Fisher was
killed, and that Dan Hesley wasthe man who shot him.
(40:35):
So he's the how can I say?
He's the male robber of the$37,000, the kidnapper of Frank
Watson, and also gets shoulderedwith the theft of Dr McMahon's
car outside Mokena and,ultimately, the murder of Deputy
(40:55):
Fisher.
Israel (40:56):
Let's talk a little bit about Deputy Fisher.
Sure, so at the time he passedhe had a wife, Ethel yes, he did
and two young children.
Matt (41:06):
Is that right?
That is correct.
He had two little girls,Lucille and Rosalyn.
Both are unfortunately deceasednow.
Israel (41:14):
And you know there's more in there.
But it ends up they have a kindof a tragic family story.
They do, yeah, ethel passedaway very young.
Yeah, absolutely.
And the kids, I believe right,both the daughters.
Matt (41:28):
That is correct.
Yeah, the story of this, whathappened to the Fisher family,
is incredibly sad.
Yeah, ethel passed away Ibelieve that was in 1930 of
tuberculosis.
Uh, very young, very youngwoman, early 30s uh, at which
point her two daughtersbasically grew up in orphanages.
(41:49):
Uh, I don't know why no one inthe family, either in her family
or her husband's family, tookthem in, as they both had
decent-sized families.
But the two girls grew up inorphanages and I believe that
was Lucille passed away in the1950s, at which point she
(42:10):
herself would have been in her30s.
I can't remember offhand what ofsome ailment that was common
back then.
In fact, when Lucille Fisherdied, actually she wasn't a
Fisher anymore.
I believe she was married.
If I'm not mistaken, I believeshe was Lucille Kaufman.
(42:32):
In any case, when she died, herobituary was carried on the
front page of the news bulletinhere in Mokina, our paper we had
back then, even though shehadn't lived in Mokina in close
to 30 years at that point.
It sort of listed her detailsand all this and sort of added
you might, or village residentsmight, remember her father,
(42:55):
walter Fisher, who was killed in1926, 1926, et cetera, et
cetera.
And then, to round out,rosalind Fisher, walter and
Ethel's other daughter didactually have Live a fairly long
life.
She passed away in.
That must have been withoutlooking at my files on her
(43:17):
family.
I believe that was, I believe,around the end of the 1990s or
so.
This was, if anyone's familiarwith Joliet at all, they'll know
the law enforcement memorialthat's on the lawn of well, what
used to be until recently theWill County Courthouse.
That lists the name of everyman, every policeman from Will
(43:40):
County that has died in the lineof duty and of course Deputy
Fisher's name going up on thatmemorial, which made her
immensely happy and proud.
(44:01):
So I'm glad that she got to seethat before she passed away.
Israel (44:04):
And the Fishers were one of very few Jewish families in
the community.
Matt (44:11):
Yeah, that is correct.
That's another thing that makesthem interesting.
Yeah, there, there were otherJewish families in town.
Uh, the Culbers, uh, forexample, uh were one of the
Wishnicks who they were movedout of town by the time the
Fishers came along, but therewere another one from a little
before that.
Uh, yeah, they were.
Uh, yeah, there there weren'ttoo terribly many Jewish folk
(44:33):
around in those days, but yeah,it's another thing that made
them unique.
Yeah, absolutely.
Israel (44:42):
To get back into the story a little bit how does Dan
Hesley end up being arrested?
So?
Matt (44:50):
what happened to Dan Hesley is after he made his
escape from Juliet after hishostage, I guess you can call
him, ran off and called thepolice.
He took his big canvas sacksstuffed with cash from his
robbery, threw him over hisshoulder, took off and later
(45:15):
that day, after Deputy Fisherwas killed, he was getting back
home, he was getting intoChicago and at one point he
found himself in a taxi with hiscargo, I guess you can call it.
As he was paying his fee to thecab driver, he gave the man an
(45:43):
abnormally high tip from one ofthe literal sacks full of cash
he was carrying.
The cab driver found that to bevery, very suspicious and
notified the police about itbasically right away, and they
jumped on it because the heistthat had been completed by
Hesley in Indiana Harbor was big, big news the day it happened
(46:07):
and it was on all lawenforcement's radar sort of
immediately.
So that alone is what made hima suspect.
Somehow or other they were ableto put it together that the
passenger had been Dan Hesleyand he was on the run for a few
days with his wife.
He was a young married man.
(46:29):
Was a young married man.
Uh, he was holed up in themorrison hotel in chicago, right
in the loop.
Uh, in fact, if anyone, if wehave any listeners that are, you
know, maybe work in the city,are familiar with chicago.
That hotel stood where a chasetower is nowadays.
(46:50):
Well, let's see what is itfront on.
Israel (46:54):
It's Clark and Madison, I believe.
Matt (46:56):
So, yeah, I believe so.
It's the.
Yeah, it's one of the tallestbuildings in Chicago.
But yeah, chase Tower, that'swhere the Morrison Hotel used to
be and that's where theauthorities, postal inspectors,
policemen what have you caughtup with him and arrested him
right there at the MorrisonHotel a few days after the heist
and murder?
Israel (47:17):
And he had been spending some of the money with his wife
.
Was it His pregnant wife at thetime?
Matt (47:24):
That's right.
Yeah, she was expecting at thetime.
That is right.
Yeah, he had gone through alittle bit of the money but he
had sort of stashed away a lotof it.
I think he had some of ithidden in a garbage can at his
mother's house, if I'm notmistaken, and then also he put
the lion's share of it in somesafes in banks on LaSalle Street
(47:50):
in Chicago.
Israel (47:51):
But he did end up at some point returning.
I think it was about $31,000 ofit, you said.
Matt (47:57):
Yeah, he did Not all of the loot, but a fair amount of
it was able to be found andreturned.
I don't really know if thatworked out in his favor at all
when it came time to sentencing.
Well, we'll get to that, butyeah, they were able.
He was able to sort of leadinvestigators to where he had
(48:17):
hidden most of it.
Israel (48:19):
And the whole, all the details that you highlight about
the little things they foundand how to track them down, how
they tracked them down in a timeof no technology yeah, yeah, is
really incredible.
It is, it says a lot for thepolice of that time it is, it's
really interesting stuff.
Matt (48:38):
Yeah, crazy to think about that.
They did this.
Israel (48:41):
So how about tell us who Santo Calabrese was?
Matt (48:45):
So Santo Calabrese, kind of a mystery man.
We don't know too terribly muchabout him.
We kind of have a rough birthdate.
I believe he was born towardsthe end of the 1880s in Italy,
(49:06):
and at the time of the heist andDeputy Fisher's murder he was a
relatively recent immigrant tothe united states.
Uh, he immigrated over fromitaly around 1922, 1923,
thereabouts.
Uh was living in chicago, uh,near what is today we would know
(49:31):
as chinatown, which then,though, was a very heavily
Italian-American communityworking as a laborer and let's
see how can I explain this?
I don't want to make this tooconfusing for people.
So, santo Calabrese sometimesyou see his name rendered as
(49:51):
Colabrasey too.
We'll just call him SantoCalabrese.
He himself was murdered on theevening of April 14th 1926.
So that's the same day DeputyFisher was killed, and his body
was found laying in the middleof the road in, like we were
(50:13):
saying towards the beginning ofthe podcast.
I think that was Broadview upthere in that neighborhood.
It was Broadview.
Israel (50:19):
Yeah.
Matt (50:19):
Broadview.
Yeah, he met a pretty nasty end.
He was found to have apoint-blank gunshot wound in his
head, and it also appeared thathis head had maybe been run
over by a car.
He also was found with somesuperficial, really not fatal,
(50:44):
wounds in his body.
I think he had one in his hand,one in his back thereabouts,
one in his back thereabouts.
And once Santo Calabrese's bodywas found that night, april
14th, the investigators are kindof putting things together and
they sort of summarily declaredhim to be the male robber of
(51:11):
Indiana Harbor and the murdererof Deputy Fisher.
And in fact Barney Hostert andDr McMahon, both of Mokina, were
sort of summoned up that way toview his body and they both
positively identified him asbeing the man.
(51:31):
They saw both, respectively,steal their car and shoot Deputy
Fisher.
Israel (51:39):
And they've also found Santo with two different
calibers of bullet.
Isn't that right?
Matt (51:44):
Oh yeah, thank you for bringing that up.
That is correct head wound.
And the wounds I mentioned, thesort of superficial, not huge
deal ones, were discovered tohave been of a different caliber
than the fatal wound.
So this was one of those thingsthat sort of helped tip the
(52:07):
investigators into the directionof okay, this was the man that
killed Deputy Fisher, because,as we remember, barney Hastert,
who was there at the shooting,testified that Deputy Fisher had
wounded the man who ultimatelykilled him, and I think there's
some report somewhere that saysthat the actual rounds were
(52:29):
removed out of Santo Calabrese'sbody and successfully matched
to Deputy Fisher's gun, hisrevolver- so it kind of throws a
.
Israel (52:41):
that's where the question and the mystery comes
in Exactly.
Matt (52:46):
Exactly.
Yeah, this is why the book iscalled a murder mystery, because
we have Santo Calabrese diesunder circumstances that were
never cleared up, never anysuspects in his killing, never
any real any motive, although itwas posited that
co-conspirators must have killedhim.
Who stole the money from himthat he had robbed earlier that
(53:07):
day?
Stole the money from him thathe had robbed earlier that day.
In any case, in the immediateaftermath of the mail robbery
and Deputy Fisher's murder thesame day, santo Calabrese is
(53:28):
named the suspect-slash-guiltyparty in both cases.
But then a few days later DanHesley comes along.
He is arrested and charged withboth crimes.
Was kind of put out there asred herring to let or sort of to
(53:52):
lull Dan Hesley into a feelingof safety and to get him to let
his guard down.
Doesn't really explain the factthat, uh, according to this one
mention that made it into themedia that bullets were removed
from Santo Calabrese that weresaid to be conclusively matched
(54:16):
to Deputy Fisher's revolver, inthe aftermath we have Barney
Hostert and Dr McMahon changingtheir testimony and saying
actually no, this was, it wasDan Hesley that we saw that day.
Israel (54:34):
So but that comes after a face-to-face with.
Matt (54:37):
Hesley, that is true.
After yeah, after aface-to-face lineup, they both
changed their testimony andpositively identified him Hesley
.
So there are a lot of weirdlittle things about this case
that don't really add up.
And for what it's worth, danHesley was tried and sentenced,
(55:02):
found guilty for both crimes themail heist in 1926 and then a
year later, in 27, he was takenout of prison and tried for the
murder of Deputy Fisher.
He always maintained until hisdying day he admitted guilt in
the mail heist but alwaysmaintained his innocence in the
(55:28):
murder of Deputy Fisher.
Israel (55:30):
And Dan Hesley first murder of Deputy Fisher and Dan
Hesley first.
So he's convicted of therobbery and is sent to
Leavenworth Prison in Kansas.
That is correct.
And then shortly after sometimeafter that, he's moved to
Alcatraz that is correct.
Which his mugshot from Alcatraz, is featured on the front cover
of the book here.
Matt (55:50):
That it is, yeah, yeah.
Israel (55:53):
And so what happened there?
He's in Alcatraz.
How does he?
What happens after that?
Matt (55:59):
So yeah, he's up there in Leavenworth and there was some
disciplinary infraction orsomething.
Something was going wrong atLeavenworth so they packed him
up and sent him to Alcatraz,finishes his sentence, which I
(56:21):
believe was 25 years 25 yearsfor the mail heist he got.
Then he began serving thesentence for the murder of
Deputy Fisher at the statepenitentiary in Joliet.
So he gets out of Leavenwortharound let's see 36, 46, maybe
around 1951, I think sent toJoliet where he begins doing his
time there.
And this is another one ofthese things where we don't
(56:41):
really know too much about thedetails of what happened here
Because unfortunately most ifnot all of the records on
prisoners from the penitentiaryin juliet were destroyed so we
can't really totally say but hedidn't do really that much at
(57:03):
all of his sentence in julietfor walter fisher before they
sent him home and interestingly,interestingly enough, he was at
the prison, the old Jolietprison.
Israel (57:16):
Yes, yes, and the place that his car broke down on the
escape was not that far away.
It was just kind of around thecorner, right Down 30 from the
old prison there.
Matt (57:28):
Yeah, not far at all, really yeah, so that's kind of a
weird twist of fate there forhim.
Israel (57:43):
Yeah, absolutely from the old prison there.
Yeah, not far at all, really.
Matt (57:44):
Yeah, so that's kind of a weird twist of fate there for
him.
Yeah, so, um santo, he's buriedin a unmarked grave.
That is correct.
Do you remember where?
Where that is?
And yeah, yeah, yeah, santocalabrese.
They buried him in Mount CarmelCemetery, which is in, that's,
the town of Hillside, as we geta little closer to the city, and
, interestingly, also the finalresting place of Al Capone he is
.
Santo Calabrese is literallystone's throw away, a few yards
(58:09):
away from another infamousgangster, jack McGurn, who was
killed in the 1930s.
Very close.
The Mount Carmel Cemetery is avery interesting place.
Lots of infamous organizedcrime figures buried up there.
Israel (58:26):
And with as little as we know about Santo Calabrese, how
was it that you found out wherehe was buried?
Matt (58:34):
Yeah, very good question.
A lot of the details on him andthe Walter Fisher case came out
of the records from their inqu?
Uh which I was able to get umthat must've been about 10 years
(58:56):
ago at huge expense to myself.
Um, it's absolutelyembarrassing how much money I
spent on this, so I won't saybut?
Um, I had to order them fromthe Cook County Department of
Health, as?
Uh, from the Cook CountyDepartment of Health, as the
newspaper accounts from bothcases, both Deputy Fisher and
(59:16):
Santo Calabrese both referenceinquests having been performed
on them.
So I thought, oh, if thoserecords are still around, there
might be something interestingin those.
And sure enough, I was able toget them, and each one contained
dozens of pages of detailsabout the crimes themselves.
And I think it was somewhere inthere that it was referenced
(59:39):
that Santo Calabrese was buriedat Mount Carmel.
If it wasn't for that, I neverwould have found him.
Israel (59:45):
Wow, that must have been some interesting reading
through that too.
Oh, definitely Did you pull alot of the book from those.
Matt (59:54):
You know a fair amount, yeah, especially in terms of the
actual crimes themselves.
Yeah, a lot of it came fromthat.
Israel (01:00:03):
And we talk a lot about the newspaper coverage and that
was a huge part.
And that's a huge part of howwe know today what happened?
Yeah, definitely, and BillSemler at the paper there, wrote
a beautiful eulogy and had somereally good words.
So it's part of the book hereand I was hoping you'd just read
(01:00:23):
it for us, matt.
Matt (01:00:24):
Yeah, definitely, I'd be glad to.
Yeah Well, he sways over thevillage like a silent ghost.
Walter Fisher's name isconspicuously absent in the
Mokina of today.
His dedication to his home waspaid for in his blood, and this
ultimate sacrifice has beencompletely forgotten.
While his name is inscribed,with others, on the courthouse
lawn monument in Joliet, nomemorial stands in his hometown.
(01:00:47):
No park or street or even abench bears his name.
On April 14, 1926, an epicrobbery befell the faceless
Inland Steel Company, one thatinconvenienced the concern but
from which it ultimately bouncedback richer than ever.
That day, a life was alsobrutally robbed, and Walter
(01:01:09):
Fisher's family was forced to godown a long and painful road
without him.
He gave his life protecting hiscommunity, his neighbors and
their property.
In the words of editor WilliamSemler of the Mokina News
Bulletin, he was a real hero inevery sense of the word, and
this community should alwaysrevere his memory.
Israel (01:01:30):
You know, you can't think of a much better way to
honor or memorialize somebodythan that, those words.
You can tell they had arelationship, he knew this
person and his heart, along withthe heart of the community, was
broken and hurt by this loss.
Absolutely, yeah, definitely,and again today it still carries
(01:01:52):
on.
So I think that the fact thatyou know we're bringing it up
today again, yeah, yeah, but heshould be recognized in this
town.
Matt (01:02:04):
I think so too Definitely.
Israel (01:02:06):
You know that was a time that was not the Mokina of
today no, definitely not thecrime.
And you highlight some of thatearlier in the book too and talk
about the things that weregoing on at that time, right,
right, but I'd highly encourageeverybody to read the book.
Oh, thanks, it's a quick read.
(01:02:40):
You know we've all been toMolkina or been to Lincoln
Highway and Route 30 where DrMcMahon was held up.
You know we've probably all beento 143rd and you know that area
of Oregon where Walter Fisher,you know, was killed.
So, this is our neighborhood,this is our community.
Right, yeah, definitely.
And this history is ourneighborhood.
This is our community, right,yeah, definitely, and this
history is really interestingand thank you for putting all
the time and effort and moneyand all that it took to do this
(01:03:01):
Absolutely.
At least I could do yeah.
As kind of a living memorial toWalter Fisher.
Oh, definitely yeah.
So thank you for talking aboutthis.
Please, everybody buy the book.
It's a great book, thank you.
Definitely, yeah.
So thank you for talking aboutthis.
Please, everybody buy the book.
It's a great book.
You can get it on Amazon bysearching for the 1926 Orland
Park Murder Mystery, as well asMatt's other book, the Mokina
(01:03:21):
Images of America, which isanother amazing book that's so
much fun to look at and pull outand page through.
So thank you for doing this,matt.
Thank you for writing the bookAbsolutely.
You're very welcome.
Thanks for having me.
I'm looking forward to the nexttime, definitely.
Thanks so much for listening.
We hope you enjoyed the story ofDeputy Walter Fisher and hope
(01:03:42):
you enjoyed hearing some aboutMatt's book.
Please be sure to go out andbuy that Again.
I left the link to where youcan buy his book in the show
notes, and also be sure to checkout Matt's blog, which I also
have a link for in the shownotes, or you can Google search
Matt's Old Mokina and you'll beable to find it there as well.
(01:04:06):
So thanks for joining us Again.
We really hope you enjoyed thisepisode.
Please share this with yourfriends and family.
Leave us a review on ApplePodcasts, spotify or wherever
you find your podcasts.
So thanks again and we'll seeyou next time on Waukeena's
Front Porch.
Welcome to Mokena's Front Porch, a Mokena history
podcast with Matt Galick and me,israel Smith.
Matt, tonight we were down atVillage Hall and we just got out
(00:21):
of the board meeting where theydid the proclamation for Deputy
Walter Fisher.
Yes, they did, and we're goingto share that just after this,
but this is kind of somethingwe've been talking about and
working towards for a while.
Yeah, it has you, especiallywith the book since 2018, when
you wrote the book about.
Matt (00:37):
Deputy Fisher.
Israel (00:38):
Yeah, yeah, you know what does this mean to you, matt
.
Matt (00:47):
Matt.
It's very it's kind of likeemotional for me because when I
wrote the book, I wanted it tospread the awareness of Deputy
Fisher's sacrifice to ourcommunity so that it wouldn't be
totally forgotten, because Ireally think that without the
book and the interest it kind ofstirred up, that that
unfortunately probably wouldhave have happened, because at
the time I wrote it there reallywere only a handful, tiny
(01:08):
handful of people in town whowere aware of that story.
So, um, it's very meaningfulfor me that the uh powers that
be, as it were, uh took aninterest in him and in the story
and uh issued this proclamation, which I think was beautifully
written very beautifully.
Israel (01:24):
well done, very beautifully.
Well done, very beautifullywritten yeah yeah, yeah.
Matt (01:27):
So I'm very happy about it and I'm happy that it's.
Mayor Fleischer told me thatit's as we'll see, that it's
going to be sort of on displayin the village hall for
everybody to see and that it'llalso be sort of enshrined in the
village records so that ifhopefully not, but maybe 100
years from now, if ourequivalents then are unfamiliar
(01:48):
with Deputy Fisher, maybethey'll be looking at some board
minutes, you know, trying tofind some interesting
information, and they'll seethat in there.
Israel (01:54):
So, yeah, no, it's great and you know we appreciate
Trustee Dauphiné.
Oh, absolutely.
Who you know, really helped usalong to get this to where we're
at today.
He's a big help and the wholeboard and the mayor and the
office just inviting us andletting us have input as well as
getting the input from ChiefBenton and everybody.
(02:16):
So it's, as Matt said, abeautifully written memorial
proclamation about him andhopefully again just a first
step in the village and kind ofrecognizing and displaying more
of our yeah, our history and thestories that kind of made
molkina uh, you know, the greatvillage that it is and that it
was and what it's going to be.
Matt (02:36):
So well done, matt, this is a good uh stepping uh, stone
starting accomplishment and yeah, I think so great to recognize
deputy walter fisher.
Mayor Frank Fleische (02:44):
Absolutely not Okay appointments and
proclamations.
Proclamation for Deputy WalterFisher.
Clerk Melissa Martini (02:57):
Village of Molkina.
Proclamation for Deputy WalterFisher.
Whereas Deputy Sheriff WalterFisher.
Whereas Deputy Sheriff WalterFisher honorably served the Will
County Sheriff's Office forfive years, demonstrating
unwavering dedication to thesafety and well-being of our
community.
And whereas Deputy Fisher was aproud resident of Mokena,
illinois, where he also operateda general store that served as
(03:21):
a central hub for the localcommunity, fostering a strong
connection with his neighbors.
And whereas at the time ofDeputy Fisher's service, the
village of Mokena did not havean established police force and
he effectively fulfilled therole of a police officer within
the village, ensuring the safetyand order of its residents.
(03:42):
And whereas on April 14th 1926,deputy Fisher courageously
pursued an automobile thiefinvolved in a series of crimes,
including the robbery of a mailtruck in Indiana Harbor, indiana
, earlier that day.
And whereas during the pursuit,deputy Fisher engaged the
(04:03):
suspect who opened firetragically, resulting in Deputy
Fisher being struck five timesand succumbing to his injuries.
And whereas Deputy Fisher'sbravery and ultimate sacrifice
(04:25):
exemplify the highest standardsof law enforcement and reflect
his deep commitment toprotecting the citizens of
Mokena and Will County.
And whereas it is fitting andproper to honor the memory of
Deputy Fisher, who left behind aloving wife and two children
and to recognize the enduringimpact of his service on our
community.
Now, therefore, I, frankFlesher, mayor of the Village of
Mokena, illinois, do herebyproclaim and recognize the
service and sacrifice of Mokena,illinois.
(04:45):
To hereby proclaim andrecognize the service and
sacrifice of Mokena residentsand Will County Deputy Walter
Fisher, and encourage allresidents to reflect upon and
honor the valor and dedicationof Deputy Fisher, whose selfish
actions continue to inspire andremind us of the profound
sacrifices made by lawenforcement officers in the line
of duty.
Proclaim this ninthth day ofDecember 2024.
Mayor Frank Fleischer (05:10):
Matthew, would you like to say a couple
words?
Absolutely, Mr Mayor.
Matt (05:15):
So I just wanted to say thank you to Mayor Fleischer and
the Board of Trustees for thisproclamation and making it
happen this proclamation andmaking it happen.
Special thanks to TrusteeDauphiné, who is not here
tonight, but he took a specialinterest in this story and kind
of got the ball rolling hereBack when I wrote the book about
.
Deputy Fisher back in 2018,getting something like this was
(05:37):
kind of like the goal I had.
So I'm glad that it was able tohappen, looking forward to some
kind of permanent remembranceto the deputy here in our
community, and I just only wishthat Deputy Fisher's wife and
children could have been here.
Unfortunately they are longsince deceased, but I think
they're with us tonight on adifferent plane.
(05:58):
So once again, thank you to themayor and the board of trustees
for everything and making thishappen.
That is all, thank you.
Mayor Frank Fleischer (06:05):
Thank you for the research on this and
bringing us our attention.
Oh, absolutely, what we'regoing to do with the
proclamation is we're going toput it in the wooden cabinet out
there.
Oh fantastic, so it will be ondisplay out there.
Matt (06:15):
Oh great, I'm thrilled to hear that.
Okay, thanks, thank both of you.
Israel (06:25):
Israel.
Thank also, thank you, thankyou.
This episode is all aboutMatt's second book, the 1926
Orland Park Murder Mysteries.
Matt published this book in2018 and it really was kind of a
passion project for him,something that, as he learned
and was studying more about thehistory of our town, the story
of Deputy Walter Fisher reallystuck out to him, and then it
kind of stuck out even more whenhe realized that there is no
(06:50):
memorial in our town to DeputyWalter Fisher.
So on Monday, february 13th,matt and I decided to go down to
the village board meeting andjust share a little bit of the
brief history of Deputy WalterFisher and his importance on our
town, as well as kind of makean action item.
Make some requests or an idea ofwhat we could do from us as
(07:14):
ideas to fix this problem as wesee it.
So we've included that audio.
Matt and I are going to speakto the village board, but we
also go through the book and wedon't do a reading of the book.
That will be a lot longer, butit is a long episode.
But if you have to listen to itin parts or come back to it,
please do, because it's animportant message and, I think,
(07:36):
a very important piece ofhistory for our town.
We hope you enjoy this episode.
I'll be sure to leave a link towhere you can buy Matt's book
in our show notes, so check thatout and enjoy this next episode
of Mokina's Front Porch.
Hi, good evening Mr Mayor andVillage Trustees.
My name is Israel Smith.
(07:56):
I'm here with historian MattGaelic tonight and we have a
history podcast called Mokina'sFront Porch and, as many of you
know, matt wrote a book, twobooks Images of America, as well
as the 1926 Orland Park murdermystery.
Matt and I are here to talkabout something that came up as
we were recording an episodeabout Matt's second book and the
story of the murder of one ofMolkina's law enforcement
(08:17):
officers and business owners.
This is the only time in ourtown's history where one of our
law enforcement officers waskilled on the line of duty.
This was a time when Molkina'spopulation hovered around 475 at
the first half of the 1920s andJoliet's Rialto Theater was
called new, and Chicago and thesurrounding areas were thrown
(08:40):
into a crime wave due to thepassage of the 1919 Volstead Act
bringing about the Prohibitionera.
Crime was a growing problem inWill County and Frankfort
Township.
So Will County Sheriff Newkirkdeputized several men for the
arrest of moonshiners,bootleggers and auto thieves.
At the time Mokena had noestablished police department
(09:02):
but only a single appointedpolice officer.
Deputy Walter Fisher receivedhis appointment by Will County
Sheriff John Walker on December11, 1922.
He had been a resident ofMokena for less than one year.
Deputy Fisher quickly became aprominent figure in our village,
(09:27):
being a Front Street businessowner and the village's
assistant postmaster.
His business was growing somuch that he resigned his deputy
to focus on his business inDecember of 1923.
But as a sign of his duty andcommitment to our community, he
is again deputized in August of1924, just in time to assist
when the Mokena State Bank isrobbed at gunpoint in October of
1924.
Matt (09:48):
Good evening Mayor and Board of Trustees.
I think we all know each other,but I'm Matt Gaelic, a village
historian.
This is my book about DeputyFisher.
So the morning of April 14th1926, deputy Fisher responded to
a phone call that the FordCoupe of Mokena Dr Ernest
McMahon had been stolen atgunpoint near the corner of Wolf
Road and Lincoln Highway.
(10:09):
The pursuit of justice that dayended with Deputy Fisher having
been shot multiple times at thecorner of today's 143rd Street
and LaGrange Road in Orland Parkand his passing at the home of
a doctor nearby.
Deputy Fisher's death left hisyoung wife without her husband,
their two children without theirfather and left Mokina in a
(10:32):
deep sense of mourning.
Bill Semler of Our Townnewspaper, the News Bulletin,
said, wrote Walter Fisher died.
A game fighter in his duty as adeputy sheriff of Will County,
he laid his life down to protectthe property and lives of the
neighbors and friends of hiscommunity.
He was a real hero in everysense of the word and this
(10:54):
community should always reverehis memory.
He was such a staunch supporterof law enforcement that did not
hesitate to die to uphold thelaw.
Walter Fisher was a goodcitizen, businessman, kind
neighbor, faithful friend andloving husband and father.
He was big-hearted, ever readyto do a good deed.
(11:15):
I end my book saying well, hesways over the village like a
silent ghost.
Walter Fisher's name isconspicuously absent in the
Mokina of today.
His dedication to his home waspaid for in his blood and the
ultimate sacrifice has beencompletely forgotten.
No memorial stands in hishometown, no park or street or
(11:37):
even a bench bears his name.
Israel (11:40):
And that's why Matt and I decided to come tonight is
we're just asking that after 97years, after Deputy Fisher was
killed in the line of duty, thatthe village could do something
to recognize his sacrifice toour village and our county.
So a couple ideas that we hadand of course we leave it to you
(12:01):
, but with the new policestation going in, maybe a
memorial to uh deputy fisherthere, or maybe even a naming of
the police station, uh, apossible renaming of 104th
avenue, which runs directly westof the new police station, to a
deputy fisher avenue, deputywalter fisher avenue, something
along those lines um, a monumentat the new police station to
(12:23):
memorialize him, or maybe anannual day.
Walter Fisher's birthday was onOctober 25th 1897.
So any way that we can presentto this board the idea of
recognizing his sacrifice andMatt and I would love to be a
part of that and we can helpwith that as well.
So thank you for your time.
(12:44):
Thank you.
Thank you very much for thisdiscussion.
Matt, this time we're going totalk about the book that you
wrote in 2018.
Yes, absolutely, titled the1926 Orland Park Murder Mystery.
Yes, yes.
So before we get into the book,why did you decide to write
this book?
Why did you decide to writethis book?
Matt (13:04):
It's a very good question actually.
Well, years ago I sort of tookit upon myself this project of
mine where I decided, hey, Iwant to sit down and go through
every page of every issue of theNews Bulletin, which was our
town paper from 1919 until 1969.
Israel (13:29):
Wow, that's a huge amount of newspapers to go
through.
Matt (13:32):
It took me a very, very, very long time.
Yeah, oh yeah, but I startedthis when I was in high school,
so years ago, and the entire ormost, maybe like 99% of the run
of the paper is available onmicrofilm at the mokino library
and at the frankfurt library.
Israel (13:51):
So between those, is that how you were seeing it was
through the, you were doingmicrofilm.
Matt (13:57):
Yeah, for all of it oh, definitely, yeah, yeah, oh yeah.
So as I was paging through, myfavorite decade of the whole
span was the 1920s, becausethere was just a lot of crazy
stuff happening at that time,not just in Mokena but kind of
you know the whole region herebecause the paper reported on
the neighboring towns and stufftoo, in 1926, april of 1926, of
(14:23):
the murder, we can call it, of aWill County Sheriff's Deputy
from Mokena named Walter Fisher,and it was just such a crazy
story to me that it reallypiqued my interest and over the
course of years I had beenresearching it and trying to dig
(14:44):
out every single last detailabout it and as everything came
into focus to me I really kindof felt, how would I say?
I had this big question of why?
Why is this man who literallysacrificed his life for our
(15:06):
village, protecting hisneighbor's property in the line
of his duty, why is he notremembered by anything?
In this town?
There were a few of the oldestresidents who could remember
having heard about this case,who could remember having heard
about this case, but it hadalways in the collective memory.
(15:27):
It always got lumped in withthe 1924 bank robbery and the
story that was repeated was thathe was killed chasing the bank
robbers from that event inOctober 1924.
That's not what happened.
Walter Fisher didn't die untilApril of 1926.
But I think what happened is,since there were two big crime
(15:49):
events that happened relativelyclose to each other, they just
sort of merged together over theyears in the fog of time and
became one thing.
But I'm getting away from yourquestion.
There's nothing named afterWalter Fisher here, no street,
no park, no bench or tree orwhat have you.
(16:13):
And I wanted him to beimmortalized and remembered for
his sacrifice, because he's theonly law enforcement figure in
the entire history of Mokina whodied in the line of his duty.
Israel (16:29):
And explain that, because there was not a Mokina
police department at the time.
That's correct.
So how did he become Mokina'slaw enforcement?
Matt (16:39):
That's a good question actually.
So yeah, the Mokina policedepartment as we know it now did
not exist until much, muchlater.
How law enforcement kind ofworked back in his day was that
the village board would appointa constable, someone who kind of
took care of law enforcementtype things on a part time basis
(17:02):
, sort of on the side inconjunction with whatever his
other job was.
But Walter Fisher was not aMokena constable, he was a Will
County sheriff deputy.
And how that worked is in theearly 1920s, after Prohibition
came into effect, there werelots of problems in Will County
(17:23):
with bootlegging and stuff ofthe sort.
So the sheriff went from townto town in what were then the
rural communities of Will Countyand would deputize a couple men
from each town as kind of likea supplement to help them combat
bootlegging andprohibition-related offenses.
(17:47):
And that's where Walter Fishercame onto the scene, because he
was a general storekeeper inMokina.
Israel (17:55):
And we've talked about his store before, but maybe just
tell us where he was at,absolutely.
Matt (18:01):
So Walter Fisher, when he first came to Mokena 101 years
ago in 1922, he opened up hisstore in an old building that
was on the northwest corner ofFront Street and Division Street
.
It was not there too terriblylong, though, because he moved a
few doors down further to thewest into yet another old
(18:22):
building that stood uh, wheredina's barber shop would later
stand.
A lot of people will willremember where that was, also,
unfortunately, a building that'sno longer there.
But uh the.
The building that uh fisherworked out of was destroyed in a
fire only a few years after hedied, so it's been gone for a
(18:42):
really long time.
Israel (18:44):
And the first, is it right?
The first building he had hisbusiness in he bought from Mr
David Kropp's dad and uncle.
That is correct.
Matt (18:55):
Yeah, they sort of switched properties because they
were Roy and Milton Kropp werethe owners of a hardware store
and when they first got startedout, they opened up in what then
was called the Zahn Building,the north side of Front Street.
There and this businesstransaction happened, where
(19:15):
basically they flip-flopped.
So Walter Fisher moved intowhat had been the Kropp Hardware
Store in the old Zahn Buildingand the Kropps went into the
building on the corner of Frontand Division Street where they
had their hardware storethroughout the 20s.
(19:35):
Yeah, so yeah, that's, that's aconnection to a living
connection actually to WalterFisher.
Yeah, definitely, actually toWalter Fisher.
Yeah, definitely.
Israel (19:43):
So, and again before we get really get into the book, so
you decided that you wanted todo something kind of as a
memorial or as a memory toWalter Fisher.
What did you do?
How'd you get from the point ofhaving the idea to putting it
in place, getting the book inplace?
Matt (20:04):
Actually, the whole thing started out in an article that I
wrote for the Mokina Messengerback in 2009.
I wrote this article and it waspretty long, so they split it
up into two parts.
But even after I wrote it thewhole story of Walter Fisher and
his untimely demise I kind ofthought there's still so much to
(20:29):
this story that didn't make itinto the article in the
messenger and I thought, well,what's a good venue for this?
And I decided after I wrote myfirst book, the Mokina book that
came out in 2011,.
I sort of had the experience inwriting books and I thought,
(20:50):
you know, this is worthy of abook.
There's enough here for a book,absolutely.
Israel (20:54):
So, yeah, it kind of took off from there and did you
go to the same publisher thatyou used for the Mokina book?
Matt (21:01):
Yeah, actually it's interesting.
So the Mokina book waspublished by Arcadia Publishing,
who specializes in these sortof local, village community
histories.
They have a I don't know if youcould call it like a subsidiary
or a, like a separate arm orwhatever, but they, excuse me,
(21:21):
have a publisher called HistoryPress that is under the Arcadia
umbrella, and History Press sortof like the same thing
specializes in like the talesfrom American history that you
might not have heard, localhistory, things like that.
The thing I think thatseparates History Press and
(21:43):
arcadia is that arcadia isprimarily pictorial histories
whereas, uh, with the, the 1926orland park murder mystery, the
second book, uh, and a lot ofthe other stuff history press
has done, they're they're a lotmore, uh, text oriented tell us
about the title, okay yeah,that's also why I keep saying it
(22:05):
, but that's another goodquestion.
So, as I wrote this book, when Iwrote the book, my old articles
in the Mokina Messenger, thepieces for my blog that I still
have today I am not good atcoming up with titles, it's
always the last thing I do.
(22:25):
So I wrote the whole book stilldidn't have a title, but I came
up with maybe something likethree possibilities that I
thought were kind of good, likedthe most was Deadly Pursuit.
(22:46):
I forget what the rest of itwas, but it was sort of like
Deadly Pursuit, colon WalterFisher of Mokina, something,
something.
But unfortunately, every idea Ihad my publisher shot down.
They didn't like any of themand they ultimately sort of
arbitrarily decided that theywere just going to call it the
1926 Orland Park murder mystery.
(23:07):
It's like, okay, fine, they'rein the business of selling books
.
So that's what they gave itbecause they thought it would do
the best with that title out inOrland.
But I was kind of frustrated bythat because, as anybody that
reads the book will see, but Iwas kind of frustrated by that
because, as anybody that readsthe book will see, it's about
90% a Mokina story, though.
Israel (23:28):
Sure, yeah, it's about Mokina people no-transcript, one
(23:50):
of the first lines in the bookthat really stuck out to me and
it says a lot about the timethat this was going on and it's
in relation to talking aboutMokina, and the line is not 35
miles to the north.
The Thompson submachine gun wasearning in blood its moniker
the Chicago Typewriter, yeah,yeah was earning in blood its
moniker, the Chicago typewriter,yeah, yeah so with that start.
Matt (24:14):
Tell us kind of a little bit about how the book starts,
where we're at, what's going on.
Yeah, so the book opens up withthe discovery of a body that
this took place out in one ofthe near suburbs to Chicago, one
of the near Western suburbs Ibelieve this happened in
Broadview, I want to say but itwas the discovery of a body, a
(24:35):
very um, brutalized and bloodyone.
Uh, this was not Deputy Fisher,but as a, without giving away
too much from the book, it wouldturn out that this dead man
that was found in the middle ofa road late at night would by
and by come to be called themurderer of Deputy Fisher
(25:11):
no-transcript ultimately killedhimself the same day under
circumstances that were nevertotally cleared up, and, through
a strange kind of twist,another man was ultimately found
guilty and sent to prison anddid time for it.
Israel (25:32):
So before we get to that , let's talk about we've talked
a little bit about Walter Fisher, yeah, but tell us about the
crime.
Matt (25:41):
So the crime, how it all went down is, let's see, oh,
there's a lot of little facetsto this.
Where do I start?
So the day was April 14th 1926.
Mokina is still a very smallrural farm town at the time.
Israel (25:59):
Around 475 people.
I think is what you said in thebook.
Matt (26:02):
Yeah, that sounds about right.
Yeah, 475 thereabouts, so verysmall.
Everybody knew each other.
This afternoon a local man, drErnest McMahon, who was our
village doctor, was in practicefor many, many years A lot of
people actually still rememberhim had his car stolen out from
(26:23):
under him at what then was acountry intersection of Lincoln
Highway and what today we wouldcall Wolf Road, and the crime is
nowadays we would call thiscarjacking.
He was traveling, let's seethis would be.
He was headed east down theLincoln Highway and as he
(26:43):
approached the intersection withwhat then they just called the
Mokina Road but later on came tobe called Wolf Road, a man
(27:03):
stepped out from some brush whowas carrying some big bags or
sacks hoisted over his shoulder,kind of flagged him down and
got him to stop.
And as Dr McMahon stopped,slowed down, thinking you know,
this is some guy whose baby hadcar trouble or is in some other
emergency and needed help, wasgreeted with a pistol to his
face and the man, uh, explainedsomething along the lines of I
(27:24):
need your car right now.
So, uh, dr mcmahon was not oneto argue with the gun he got out
the uh unknown auto thief gavehim his doctor bag from inside
the car.
He got in the car, sped off tothe east and disappeared into
the horizon.
(27:45):
Dr McMahon, in his I guess youwould call it panic I know I
would have been panicked went tothe farmhouse of a man by the
name Clarence Cleveland who hadhis farm on the most of it was
on the southern side of thatintersection, lincoln Highway
and today's Wolf Road went up tohis farmhouse, which stood
(28:08):
right about where McAllister'sDeli is nowadays Crumble Cookie,
that little shopping centerright there.
That's where ClarenceCleveland's farmhouse was.
So he frantically knocked onthe door.
Mr Cleveland came and DrMcMahon explained what had
happened and together, from theCleveland house they made a
(28:28):
phone call into Mokinaexplaining what had happened.
And message got to right aboutthe same time, landed at the
Cooper and Hestert Ford agencygarage auto dealership on Front
Street and also to Deputy Fisher, grabbed his gun and he and a
(28:58):
man by the name of BarneyHostert, who was one of the
owners of the Cooper and HostertFord agency, took off in their
car, took off in Mr Hostert'scar with Barney himself at the
wheel, with Deputy Fisher aspassenger.
They went out of town, went downtoday's 191st Street and, based
(29:18):
on the description that hadbeen given to them by Dr McMahon
and Clarence Cleveland.
They knew, or figured, I shouldsay.
I don't think they knew, butthey were kind of expecting the
stolen car to appear on today'sLaGrange Road, or what then
would have been called KeeneAvenue, the small town being
(29:42):
what it was.
They knew Dr McMahon's car bysight and they waited somewhere
in the vicinity of theintersection of today's 191st
Street and LaGrange Road, afterhaving made haste to get there.
Sure enough, didn't have towait too terribly long, saw the
car coming towards them and theygave pursuit.
(30:07):
Deputy Fisher and Barney Hostardchased the car thief in Dr
McMahon's car all the way upuntil just outside of Orland
Park.
Something happened right at theintersection of LaGrange Road
and 143rd Street, wheredescriptions kind of vary a
(30:29):
little bit as to what happened,but it sounds like they were
able to get close enough to thefleeing car thief, get close
enough to the fleeing car thiefto where they were able to kind
of overtake him in a way andforced him to stop, at which
point Deputy Fisher jumped outof the car with his gun drawn
(30:50):
and the car thief drew his owngun and shot and fatally wounded
Deputy Fisher, who died a shorttime later after he was carried
into Orland proper.
Israel (31:05):
And you give a good description of this shootout.
Yeah, yeah.
He gets out of his car.
Walter Fisher gets out of hiscar and is stepping out of the
car, I believe.
Yeah, yeah, car and or is isstepping out of the car.
I believe.
Yeah, and and uh, the, thegunman, opens fire and walter,
uh fisher, also opens fire atthe same time.
Is that correct?
Matt (31:24):
that is absolutely correct .
Yeah, uh, basically happened.
It happened very quickly butsimultaneously.
Uh, barney hostert, who wasthere, would later testify that
they were close enough to eachother to have shaken hands.
He also testified that DeputyFisher's shots did wound the
(31:44):
gunman slash auto thief.
In fact, investigators laterfound a trail of blood at the
scene, because he did take offon foot but a few minutes later
came back to the car and resumeddriving off.
Israel (32:00):
Now, one thing that I think is really interesting is
you know we think about thestories and you hear them in
modern time.
When I looked up, you know, thedoctor's car was, I think, a
1924 Ford Coupe, that's right.
These are not like sports cars.
These are not.
This is an old, you know earlycar, that's right.
These are not like sports cars,these are not.
This is an old, you know earlycar, you know.
(32:21):
So it gives a little more tothe picture of the story when
you think about these.
They're not big cars like we'reused to today.
No, definitely not, you wereright, they could be right up
next to them, absolutely, youknow.
So that to bring a littleclarity to that picture there,
oh, definitely.
Matt (32:38):
Yeah, these were not huge cars.
These were not cars built forspeed either.
I don't know what their maxspeeds they reached during this
car chase.
Israel (32:46):
And was Barney Hostert.
Was he wounded at all?
Matt (32:49):
Yeah, as a matter of fact he was.
He was so close to this entirething, as it happened, that
either a piece of broken glassor they posited it could have
been a one of the gunman's strayrounds sort of clipped the tip
(33:10):
of his nose, which left him witha visible scar, actually for
the rest of his life, and I'veI've talked to people who
remembered it.
He passed away at the end ofthe 1950s.
Israel (33:26):
But yeah, he carried a visible scar on his nose from
that.
So Deputy Fisher was shot.
He was Barney Hostert is he'sokay.
He's slightly wounded and thegunman is now this point taken
off and gone.
That is correct.
So what happens to WalterFisher and Barney Hoster?
Matt (33:44):
Yeah, so what happened was so the shootout happens, excuse
me Barney Hoster sort ofinstinctively ducked inside the
car.
Sort of instinctively duckedinside the car.
Deputy Fisher fell out of thecar as he was sort of in the
process of jumping out of itwhen the shooting happened.
He's laying on the ground.
(34:04):
Gunman took off on foot.
As the shots are exchanged,there was a candy salesman who
was in Orland at a general storeon 143rd street, who had heard
the shots happening and I guessyou could call it bravely came
(34:26):
out to the intersection to seewhat was going on.
And this is immediately afterthe shooting happens.
He finds barney hostert andDeputy Fisher, barney having run
off to a immediately afterwardto a nearby farmhouse to try to
get some help, but there wasnobody home.
(34:46):
The salesman, whose name Iforget, loaded the two guys,
including severely woundedDeputy Fisher, into his own car,
drove them back into Orland andtook him to the village
doctor's house that was DrSchussler, I believe, was his
name to a house that's actuallystill standing but doctor's not
(35:11):
home.
So they managed to carry WalterFisher, who was barely alive at
this point, into the doctor'soffice in his house and it was
(35:39):
there that he bled.
Toman came back, jumped onceagain into Dr McMahon's car and
drove off and disappeared forthe time being.
Israel (35:46):
So Walter Fisher dies in the doctor's home with no
doctor there to help him out.
That is correct, Absolutely.
So now tell us um, tell us whoDan Hesley was.
Matt (36:01):
So Dan Hesley is a very interesting character.
He is a man, a Chicago man, whowas a young man at this point
about 25 years old, who, as he'sgrowing up, as he's in high
school, very athletic, uhathletic kind of guy, played
some sports, was kind of atinkerer, like he was interested
(36:28):
in radios In any case thedetails are in the book but also
was kind of a troublemaker,going way back, always getting
himself into trouble, had donesome time previously he robbed a
(36:55):
mail truck in Indiana Harbor,indiana, which nowadays is
considered part of the city ofEast Chicago, completed this
mail heist of $37,000.
That was payroll that was onits way to one of the big steel
mills out there I believe it wasInland Steel.
(37:18):
In any case, not only did herob this mail truck of that
thousands and thousands ofdollars, he also sort of
kidnapped the driver of the saidmail truck, threw him into his
car and forced him at gunpointto drive him back over the
(37:38):
border into illinois and thenthey come, uh, through illinois
it's.
Israel (37:43):
He said, you go, he goes through lansing, yeah, chicago
heights.
So they're doing the route 30kind of route was route 30, uh a
route at that, uh official road.
Yet at that point it was.
Matt (37:53):
Yeah, I believe it was, because lincoln highway was sort
of took off in, uh yeah, in the1920s.
Uh, so if, if you're a listenerand you're maybe a newcomer to
the area, route 30 and lincolnhighway is the same thing, um,
yeah, so that that's it.
We don't know the exact routethey took, but based on the
places that would later bereferenced to them having passed
(38:16):
through, it kind of sounds likethat's where they were headed,
maybe around that LincolnHighway, route 30 corridor.
Israel (38:24):
So he stole $37,000?
Yes, so in today's money that'sequal to about $640,000.
Yeah, it's nothing to sneeze atyeah, this is a huge chunk of
money that was stolen Absolutely.
Matt (38:37):
Absolutely yeah, and everything was going pretty well
for him.
He got his loot, didn't gethurt doing it, was making his
escape.
When they got into Joliet andstarted to have some car trouble
, dan Hesley's car basicallydied on him as they were going
(39:00):
through Joliet.
So he and his kidnapee, if youwant to call it, a guy by the
name of Frank Watson, sort ofpushed the car into a garage or
auto workshop on Route 30 inJoliet.
(39:22):
And as all this is happening,dan Hesley's trying to play it
cool and not look suspicious,explaining to the mechanic he
encounters what's going on,explaining to the mechanic he
encounters what's going on.
This man that he had kidnappedFrank Watson sort of used that
as his opportunity to escape andhe ran off, got to a phone and
(39:51):
was able to call authorities andexplain what had happened.
And that's kind of like acrucial point in this story,
because it is then that DanHesley, who of course figured
out what had happened, kind ofwent off the radar for a little
bit and in the aftermath ofeverything that had happened,
investigators this is where itgets kind of tricky, but
(40:11):
investigators sort of put ittogether that Dan Hesley was the
man who then robbed Dr McMahonof his Ford coupe outside Mokina
, therefore sparking the carchase in which Deputy Fisher was
killed, and that Dan Hesley wasthe man who shot him.
(40:35):
So he's the how can I say?
He's the male robber of the$37,000, the kidnapper of Frank
Watson, and also gets shoulderedwith the theft of Dr McMahon's
car outside Mokena and,ultimately, the murder of Deputy
(40:55):
Fisher.
Israel (40:56):
Let's talk a little bit about Deputy Fisher.
Sure, so at the time he passedhe had a wife, Ethel yes, he did
and two young children.
Matt (41:06):
Is that right?
That is correct.
He had two little girls,Lucille and Rosalyn.
Both are unfortunately deceasednow.
Israel (41:14):
And you know there's more in there.
But it ends up they have a kindof a tragic family story.
They do, yeah, ethel passedaway very young.
Yeah, absolutely.
And the kids, I believe right,both the daughters.
Matt (41:28):
That is correct.
Yeah, the story of this, whathappened to the Fisher family,
is incredibly sad.
Yeah, ethel passed away Ibelieve that was in 1930 of
tuberculosis.
Uh, very young, very youngwoman, early 30s uh, at which
point her two daughtersbasically grew up in orphanages.
(41:49):
Uh, I don't know why no one inthe family, either in her family
or her husband's family, tookthem in, as they both had
decent-sized families.
But the two girls grew up inorphanages and I believe that
was Lucille passed away in the1950s, at which point she
(42:10):
herself would have been in her30s.
I can't remember offhand what ofsome ailment that was common
back then.
In fact, when Lucille Fisherdied, actually she wasn't a
Fisher anymore.
I believe she was married.
If I'm not mistaken, I believeshe was Lucille Kaufman.
(42:32):
In any case, when she died, herobituary was carried on the
front page of the news bulletinhere in Mokina, our paper we had
back then, even though shehadn't lived in Mokina in close
to 30 years at that point.
It sort of listed her detailsand all this and sort of added
you might, or village residentsmight, remember her father,
(42:55):
walter Fisher, who was killed in1926, 1926, et cetera, et
cetera.
And then, to round out,rosalind Fisher, walter and
Ethel's other daughter didactually have Live a fairly long
life.
She passed away in.
That must have been withoutlooking at my files on her
(43:17):
family.
I believe that was, I believe,around the end of the 1990s or
so.
This was, if anyone's familiarwith Joliet at all, they'll know
the law enforcement memorialthat's on the lawn of well, what
used to be until recently theWill County Courthouse.
That lists the name of everyman, every policeman from Will
(43:40):
County that has died in the lineof duty and of course Deputy
Fisher's name going up on thatmemorial, which made her
immensely happy and proud.
(44:01):
So I'm glad that she got to seethat before she passed away.
Israel (44:04):
And the Fishers were one of very few Jewish families in
the community.
Matt (44:11):
Yeah, that is correct.
That's another thing that makesthem interesting.
Yeah, there, there were otherJewish families in town.
Uh, the Culbers, uh, forexample, uh were one of the
Wishnicks who they were movedout of town by the time the
Fishers came along, but therewere another one from a little
before that.
Uh, yeah, they were.
Uh, yeah, there there weren'ttoo terribly many Jewish folk
(44:33):
around in those days, but yeah,it's another thing that made
them unique.
Yeah, absolutely.
Israel (44:42):
To get back into the story a little bit how does Dan
Hesley end up being arrested?
So?
Matt (44:50):
what happened to Dan Hesley is after he made his
escape from Juliet after hishostage, I guess you can call
him, ran off and called thepolice.
He took his big canvas sacksstuffed with cash from his
robbery, threw him over hisshoulder, took off and later
(45:15):
that day, after Deputy Fisherwas killed, he was getting back
home, he was getting intoChicago and at one point he
found himself in a taxi with hiscargo, I guess you can call it.
As he was paying his fee to thecab driver, he gave the man an
(45:43):
abnormally high tip from one ofthe literal sacks full of cash
he was carrying.
The cab driver found that to bevery, very suspicious and
notified the police about itbasically right away, and they
jumped on it because the heistthat had been completed by
Hesley in Indiana Harbor was big, big news the day it happened
(46:07):
and it was on all lawenforcement's radar sort of
immediately.
So that alone is what made hima suspect.
Somehow or other they were ableto put it together that the
passenger had been Dan Hesleyand he was on the run for a few
days with his wife.
He was a young married man.
(46:29):
Was a young married man.
Uh, he was holed up in themorrison hotel in chicago, right
in the loop.
Uh, in fact, if anyone, if wehave any listeners that are, you
know, maybe work in the city,are familiar with chicago.
That hotel stood where a chasetower is nowadays.
(46:50):
Well, let's see what is itfront on.
Israel (46:54):
It's Clark and Madison, I believe.
Matt (46:56):
So, yeah, I believe so.
It's the.
Yeah, it's one of the tallestbuildings in Chicago.
But yeah, chase Tower, that'swhere the Morrison Hotel used to
be and that's where theauthorities, postal inspectors,
policemen what have you caughtup with him and arrested him
right there at the MorrisonHotel a few days after the heist
and murder?
Israel (47:17):
And he had been spending some of the money with his wife
.
Was it His pregnant wife at thetime?
Matt (47:24):
That's right.
Yeah, she was expecting at thetime.
That is right.
Yeah, he had gone through alittle bit of the money but he
had sort of stashed away a lotof it.
I think he had some of ithidden in a garbage can at his
mother's house, if I'm notmistaken, and then also he put
the lion's share of it in somesafes in banks on LaSalle Street
(47:50):
in Chicago.
Israel (47:51):
But he did end up at some point returning.
I think it was about $31,000 ofit, you said.
Matt (47:57):
Yeah, he did Not all of the loot, but a fair amount of
it was able to be found andreturned.
I don't really know if thatworked out in his favor at all
when it came time to sentencing.
Well, we'll get to that, butyeah, they were able.
He was able to sort of leadinvestigators to where he had
(48:17):
hidden most of it.
Israel (48:19):
And the whole, all the details that you highlight about
the little things they foundand how to track them down, how
they tracked them down in a timeof no technology yeah, yeah, is
really incredible.
It is, it says a lot for thepolice of that time it is, it's
really interesting stuff.
Matt (48:38):
Yeah, crazy to think about that.
They did this.
Israel (48:41):
So how about tell us who Santo Calabrese was?
Matt (48:45):
So Santo Calabrese, kind of a mystery man.
We don't know too terribly muchabout him.
We kind of have a rough birthdate.
I believe he was born towardsthe end of the 1880s in Italy,
(49:06):
and at the time of the heist andDeputy Fisher's murder he was a
relatively recent immigrant tothe united states.
Uh, he immigrated over fromitaly around 1922, 1923,
thereabouts.
Uh was living in chicago, uh,near what is today we would know
(49:31):
as chinatown, which then,though, was a very heavily
Italian-American communityworking as a laborer and let's
see how can I explain this?
I don't want to make this tooconfusing for people.
So, santo Calabrese sometimesyou see his name rendered as
(49:51):
Colabrasey too.
We'll just call him SantoCalabrese.
He himself was murdered on theevening of April 14th 1926.
So that's the same day DeputyFisher was killed, and his body
was found laying in the middleof the road in, like we were
(50:13):
saying towards the beginning ofthe podcast.
I think that was Broadview upthere in that neighborhood.
It was Broadview.
Israel (50:19):
Yeah.
Matt (50:19):
Broadview.
Yeah, he met a pretty nasty end.
He was found to have apoint-blank gunshot wound in his
head, and it also appeared thathis head had maybe been run
over by a car.
He also was found with somesuperficial, really not fatal,
(50:44):
wounds in his body.
I think he had one in his hand,one in his back thereabouts,
one in his back thereabouts.
And once Santo Calabrese's bodywas found that night, april
14th, the investigators are kindof putting things together and
they sort of summarily declaredhim to be the male robber of
(51:11):
Indiana Harbor and the murdererof Deputy Fisher.
And in fact Barney Hostert andDr McMahon, both of Mokina, were
sort of summoned up that way toview his body and they both
positively identified him asbeing the man.
(51:31):
They saw both, respectively,steal their car and shoot Deputy
Fisher.
Israel (51:39):
And they've also found Santo with two different
calibers of bullet.
Isn't that right?
Matt (51:44):
Oh yeah, thank you for bringing that up.
That is correct head wound.
And the wounds I mentioned, thesort of superficial, not huge
deal ones, were discovered tohave been of a different caliber
than the fatal wound.
So this was one of those thingsthat sort of helped tip the
(52:07):
investigators into the directionof okay, this was the man that
killed Deputy Fisher, because,as we remember, barney Hastert,
who was there at the shooting,testified that Deputy Fisher had
wounded the man who ultimatelykilled him, and I think there's
some report somewhere that saysthat the actual rounds were
(52:29):
removed out of Santo Calabrese'sbody and successfully matched
to Deputy Fisher's gun, hisrevolver- so it kind of throws a
.
Israel (52:41):
that's where the question and the mystery comes
in Exactly.
Matt (52:46):
Exactly.
Yeah, this is why the book iscalled a murder mystery, because
we have Santo Calabrese diesunder circumstances that were
never cleared up, never anysuspects in his killing, never
any real any motive, although itwas posited that
co-conspirators must have killedhim.
Who stole the money from himthat he had robbed earlier that
(53:07):
day?
Stole the money from him thathe had robbed earlier that day.
In any case, in the immediateaftermath of the mail robbery
and Deputy Fisher's murder thesame day, santo Calabrese is
(53:28):
named the suspect-slash-guiltyparty in both cases.
But then a few days later DanHesley comes along.
He is arrested and charged withboth crimes.
Was kind of put out there asred herring to let or sort of to
(53:52):
lull Dan Hesley into a feelingof safety and to get him to let
his guard down.
Doesn't really explain the factthat, uh, according to this one
mention that made it into themedia that bullets were removed
from Santo Calabrese that weresaid to be conclusively matched
(54:16):
to Deputy Fisher's revolver, inthe aftermath we have Barney
Hostert and Dr McMahon changingtheir testimony and saying
actually no, this was, it wasDan Hesley that we saw that day.
Israel (54:34):
So but that comes after a face-to-face with.
Matt (54:37):
Hesley, that is true.
After yeah, after aface-to-face lineup, they both
changed their testimony andpositively identified him Hesley
.
So there are a lot of weirdlittle things about this case
that don't really add up.
And for what it's worth, danHesley was tried and sentenced,
(55:02):
found guilty for both crimes themail heist in 1926 and then a
year later, in 27, he was takenout of prison and tried for the
murder of Deputy Fisher.
He always maintained until hisdying day he admitted guilt in
the mail heist but alwaysmaintained his innocence in the
(55:28):
murder of Deputy Fisher.
Israel (55:30):
And Dan Hesley first murder of Deputy Fisher and Dan
Hesley first.
So he's convicted of therobbery and is sent to
Leavenworth Prison in Kansas.
That is correct.
And then shortly after sometimeafter that, he's moved to
Alcatraz that is correct.
Which his mugshot from Alcatraz, is featured on the front cover
of the book here.
Matt (55:50):
That it is, yeah, yeah.
Israel (55:53):
And so what happened there?
He's in Alcatraz.
How does he?
What happens after that?
Matt (55:59):
So yeah, he's up there in Leavenworth and there was some
disciplinary infraction orsomething.
Something was going wrong atLeavenworth so they packed him
up and sent him to Alcatraz,finishes his sentence, which I
(56:21):
believe was 25 years 25 yearsfor the mail heist he got.
Then he began serving thesentence for the murder of
Deputy Fisher at the statepenitentiary in Joliet.
So he gets out of Leavenwortharound let's see 36, 46, maybe
around 1951, I think sent toJoliet where he begins doing his
time there.
And this is another one ofthese things where we don't
(56:41):
really know too much about thedetails of what happened here
Because unfortunately most ifnot all of the records on
prisoners from the penitentiaryin juliet were destroyed so we
can't really totally say but hedidn't do really that much at
(57:03):
all of his sentence in julietfor walter fisher before they
sent him home and interestingly,interestingly enough, he was at
the prison, the old Jolietprison.
Israel (57:16):
Yes, yes, and the place that his car broke down on the
escape was not that far away.
It was just kind of around thecorner, right Down 30 from the
old prison there.
Matt (57:28):
Yeah, not far at all, really yeah, so that's kind of a
weird twist of fate there forhim.
Israel (57:43):
Yeah, absolutely from the old prison there.
Yeah, not far at all, really.
Matt (57:44):
Yeah, so that's kind of a weird twist of fate there for
him.
Yeah, so, um santo, he's buriedin a unmarked grave.
That is correct.
Do you remember where?
Where that is?
And yeah, yeah, yeah, santocalabrese.
They buried him in Mount CarmelCemetery, which is in, that's,
the town of Hillside, as we geta little closer to the city, and
, interestingly, also the finalresting place of Al Capone he is
.
Santo Calabrese is literallystone's throw away, a few yards
(58:09):
away from another infamousgangster, jack McGurn, who was
killed in the 1930s.
Very close.
The Mount Carmel Cemetery is avery interesting place.
Lots of infamous organizedcrime figures buried up there.
Israel (58:26):
And with as little as we know about Santo Calabrese, how
was it that you found out wherehe was buried?
Matt (58:34):
Yeah, very good question.
A lot of the details on him andthe Walter Fisher case came out
of the records from their inqu?
Uh which I was able to get umthat must've been about 10 years
(58:56):
ago at huge expense to myself.
Um, it's absolutelyembarrassing how much money I
spent on this, so I won't saybut?
Um, I had to order them fromthe Cook County Department of
Health, as?
Uh, from the Cook CountyDepartment of Health, as the
newspaper accounts from bothcases, both Deputy Fisher and
(59:16):
Santo Calabrese both referenceinquests having been performed
on them.
So I thought, oh, if thoserecords are still around, there
might be something interestingin those.
And sure enough, I was able toget them, and each one contained
dozens of pages of detailsabout the crimes themselves.
And I think it was somewhere inthere that it was referenced
(59:39):
that Santo Calabrese was buriedat Mount Carmel.
If it wasn't for that, I neverwould have found him.
Israel (59:45):
Wow, that must have been some interesting reading
through that too.
Oh, definitely Did you pull alot of the book from those.
Matt (59:54):
You know a fair amount, yeah, especially in terms of the
actual crimes themselves.
Yeah, a lot of it came fromthat.
Israel (01:00:03):
And we talk a lot about the newspaper coverage and that
was a huge part.
And that's a huge part of howwe know today what happened?
Yeah, definitely, and BillSemler at the paper there, wrote
a beautiful eulogy and had somereally good words.
So it's part of the book hereand I was hoping you'd just read
(01:00:23):
it for us, matt.
Matt (01:00:24):
Yeah, definitely, I'd be glad to.
Yeah Well, he sways over thevillage like a silent ghost.
Walter Fisher's name isconspicuously absent in the
Mokina of today.
His dedication to his home waspaid for in his blood, and this
ultimate sacrifice has beencompletely forgotten.
While his name is inscribed,with others, on the courthouse
lawn monument in Joliet, nomemorial stands in his hometown.
(01:00:47):
No park or street or even abench bears his name.
On April 14, 1926, an epicrobbery befell the faceless
Inland Steel Company, one thatinconvenienced the concern but
from which it ultimately bouncedback richer than ever.
That day, a life was alsobrutally robbed, and Walter
(01:01:09):
Fisher's family was forced to godown a long and painful road
without him.
He gave his life protecting hiscommunity, his neighbors and
their property.
In the words of editor WilliamSemler of the Mokina News
Bulletin, he was a real hero inevery sense of the word, and
this community should alwaysrevere his memory.
Israel (01:01:30):
You know, you can't think of a much better way to
honor or memorialize somebodythan that, those words.
You can tell they had arelationship, he knew this
person and his heart, along withthe heart of the community, was
broken and hurt by this loss.
Absolutely, yeah, definitely,and again today it still carries
(01:01:52):
on.
So I think that the fact thatyou know we're bringing it up
today again, yeah, yeah, but heshould be recognized in this
town.
Matt (01:02:04):
I think so too Definitely.
Israel (01:02:06):
You know that was a time that was not the Mokina of
today no, definitely not thecrime.
And you highlight some of thatearlier in the book too and talk
about the things that weregoing on at that time, right,
right, but I'd highly encourageeverybody to read the book.
Oh, thanks, it's a quick read.
(01:02:40):
You know we've all been toMolkina or been to Lincoln
Highway and Route 30 where DrMcMahon was held up.
You know we've probably all beento 143rd and you know that area
of Oregon where Walter Fisher,you know, was killed.
So, this is our neighborhood,this is our community.
Right, yeah, definitely.
And this history is ourneighborhood.
This is our community, right,yeah, definitely, and this
history is really interestingand thank you for putting all
the time and effort and moneyand all that it took to do this
(01:03:01):
Absolutely.
At least I could do yeah.
As kind of a living memorial toWalter Fisher.
Oh, definitely yeah.
So thank you for talking aboutthis.
Please, everybody buy the book.
It's a great book, thank you.
Definitely, yeah.
So thank you for talking aboutthis.
Please, everybody buy the book.
It's a great book.
You can get it on Amazon bysearching for the 1926 Orland
Park Murder Mystery, as well asMatt's other book, the Mokina
(01:03:21):
Images of America, which isanother amazing book that's so
much fun to look at and pull outand page through.
So thank you for doing this,matt.
Thank you for writing the bookAbsolutely.
You're very welcome.
Thanks for having me.
I'm looking forward to the nexttime, definitely.
Thanks so much for listening.
We hope you enjoyed the story ofDeputy Walter Fisher and hope
(01:03:42):
you enjoyed hearing some aboutMatt's book.
Please be sure to go out andbuy that Again.
I left the link to where youcan buy his book in the show
notes, and also be sure to checkout Matt's blog, which I also
have a link for in the shownotes, or you can Google search
Matt's Old Mokina and you'll beable to find it there as well.
(01:04:06):
So thanks for joining us Again.
We really hope you enjoyed thisepisode.
Please share this with yourfriends and family.
Leave us a review on ApplePodcasts, spotify or wherever
you find your podcasts.
So thanks again and we'll seeyou next time on Waukeena's
Front Porch.
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