The Lake Bluff Furnace Girl

The Burning Love Of Elfrieda Knaak

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Episode 364 tells an unusual story of a broken-hearted young woman found naked and fatally burnt in the basement of a police station. Her family, the police, and the general public find it hard to believe that she could have torched herself in such a horrific manner, so the hunt is on for proof of a murder.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Allpuler calm. Chris Lewis, fifty years old, janitor of the
Lake Bluff Village Hall, thought he saw a specter when
he went to the basement at seven point thirty o'clock
yesterday morning to replenish the fire. Miss Elfrida Kannak was

(00:24):
standing naked, leaning against a pipe in front of the furnace.
Her forearms were burned black, the hair was burned from
her head, and her face and forehead were black with
charred flesh, the skull being laid bare at the forehead.
Her toes had burned des cinders. Yet she was standing.

(00:49):
Her clothing had been destroyed in the furnace fire. Across
the room from the furnace were her shoes, purse, and wristwatch.
Between them and the furnace us were many bloodstains. Lewis
ran out shouting for help. Others came, and Miss Kannock
was taken to the hospital. All day, the detectives held

(01:13):
to the theory that the young woman had been attacked
by a moron, who then sought to hide his crime
by putting her into the fernace. True crime historian presents

(01:51):
yesterday's news tales of classic scandals Scoundrels and scourges told
from historic newspapers. The Golden Age of Yellow Journalism, Episode
three hundred and sixty four tells an unusual story of
a broken hearted young woman found naked and fatally burnt

(02:12):
in the basement of a police station. Her family, the police,
and the general public find it hard to believe that
she could have torched herself in such a horrific manner.
So the hunt is on for proof of a murder.
I'm true crime historian Richard O. Jones, And for your

(02:32):
horror and indignation, I give you the Lake Bluff Furnace Girl.
The Burning Love of Elfrida Canock, Lake Bluff, Illinois, October
thirty first, nineteen twenty eight. Miss Elfrida Canock, thirty years old,

(02:58):
a pretty Sunday school teacher of Dearfield, Illinois, attempted self
immolation yesterday because of her faith in God and as
a test of her love for a handsome married man,
she told physicians last night. Miss Cannock was found in
the basement of the village hall of Lake Bluff, beneath
the police station. Soon after she had put first her

(03:21):
feet and then her head and arms in a furnace
early this morning, after hours of suspense. Physicians said she
had a chance to recover, but they added that if
she does live, she will be without arms or feet,
as they were so badly burned as to necessitate amputation.

(03:42):
The object of her love, she said, was Charles W. Hitchcock,
forty five years old, the Knight Policeman of Lake Bluff,
who was formerly a moving picture actor employed in Chicago
at the Old Sena Studios, and later a vaudeville trooper.
She had gone to Lake Bluff near Lake Forest, fashionable

(04:04):
North Shore suburb to meet Policeman Hitchcock, not knowing he
was home with a broken leg. Miss Cannock was said
to be an educated young woman, having completed the normal
college course in Ipsilanti, Michigan, and later studied at the
University of Illinois for one year and at the University
of Chicago for two years. After that, she taught school

(04:28):
in Deerfield and Waukegan. Recently, she had been employed by
the F. E. Compton Company selling encyclopedias. Last night, she
was at the Alice Home Hospital in Lake Forest, moaning
I love him, I love him, I love him, and
then I am feeling no pain. My faith in God

(04:49):
is strong and Christ will take care of me. Meanwhile,
policeman Hitchcock was at his home with his wife and
four children, stating that he had never had anything but
a fatherly interest in the girl, and he had never
dreamed she was in love with him. Hitchcock is not
only the village Adonnas, but the town beau Brummel as well.

(05:12):
His police duties are incidental to his other occupations, which
include instruction and elocution, expression, salesmanship, and public speaking. His superior,
the village President, Edward M. Mauman, is reputed to be
one of his students in public speaking, and the Justice
of the Peace is another. Last night, one of his

(05:35):
legs was in a plaster cast and he was garbed
in a neat and graceful dressing gown. Lake Bluff residents
say that in the summertime he is a model of
masculine attractiveness, what with a certain nobility of manner and
his natty khaki uniform with shining putties. In the winter months,

(05:55):
his blue uniform is said to become him with a
distinction suitable to a field marshal. He said, quote, poor girl,
if she had a crush on me. I certainly didn't
know it. What does the doctor say? Does he think
the little lady will live? And when he was told
that the doctors had but slight hope, he was sorry.

(06:16):
Likewise his wife, who said she was sure her husband
had no affair with Miss Kannock. Policeman Hitchcock told of
his acquaintance with the girl who Brave fire, as she said,
to test her love. I teach elocution, public speaking, in salesmanship,
both at home and at the YMCA in Waukegan. About

(06:37):
four years ago, Miss Kannock came to me and told
me she was tired teaching school and she wanted to
learn salesmanship. She was then teaching at the Glen Flora
School in Waukegan. About two years ago she finished her
course and obtained a position. She would call on me
every two or three months to report the progress she

(06:57):
was making. She would visit me at the police I
didn't know she was coming last night, but when she
was found there in the station this morning, I knew
she must have come to talk to me. Lake Bluff
residents say that Hitchcock is a good policeman. He goes
on duty at one o'clock in the afternoon and at night.
He is usually at the station until one o'clock. He

(07:21):
answers all calls on a bicycle, and his courtly manners
have won him the friendship of all women who found
occasion to consult him about their troubles. Hitchcock came to
Lake Bluff, his former home, four years ago, when his
health required an outdoor life. He said he has enjoyed
his work as a policeman, but recently his health had

(07:43):
improved and he had thoughts of going back into the
movies as a character man. He explained that he has
an excellent voice and good articulation pronunciation, and that he
sees an opportunity for his talents in the movie tone.
Few of the character actors of the movies have the
voices or the expression to do well in the talking pictures,

(08:04):
he said, and he believes that therein is his chance. Hitchcock,
who has been at home nursing a broken leg received
in an automobile accident a week ago, was questioned by
State's Attorney, A. V. Smith, of Lake County, and by
Edward Hargraves, head of the Hargraves Detective Agency, who was

(08:26):
instructed by Prosecutor Smith to take over the investigation. They
asked if he had ever given a key of the
police station to Miss Knock, and he said he had not.
They investigated the life of Miss Cannock and were informed
on every hand that there were no men in her life,
that she had no love affairs, but was a quiet,

(08:46):
timid homegirl. Her secret passion was her own secret. She
had not been reported to the police I was missing
when she had failed to go home Monday night. This
was later explained by the statement that her mother, missus
Elsie Cannock, eighty five years old, widow of a wealthy physician,

(09:07):
and one of her brothers, with whom she resides, were
visiting relatives in Munsey, Indiana. A message came from there
saying that they had left for Chicago yesterday morning. Miss
Cannock's three brothers and two sisters live at Deerfield Alvin. Cannock,
a brother is the city clerk there. Rudolph owns a garage,

(09:30):
and Theodore is the proprietor of a drug store at
which a sister, Emily works. The other sister, Ida, is
a music teacher. The brothers refused to consider the possibility
of miss Cannock's having tried to commit suicide, They clung
to the theory that someone had tortured her and that
they would demand a thorough investigation. The Reverend Mark J. Andrews,

(09:55):
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Deerfield, said Miss
Cannack was a devout member of his church and taught
a class in Sunday school every week. The girl was
said to have been exceptionally bright and was thought to
have been happy and contented. She attended a weekly conference
of the sales force of the Compton Company on Monday

(10:18):
evening and left Chicago at six fifteen o'clock, presumably for home. G. D. Carter,
the sales manager, said she was doing well, earning about
one hundred and fifty dollars a month, and that recently
she had been making a house to house canvas for
Encyclopedia sales in Highland Park. She was certainly saying normal.

(10:40):
Carter said Lake Bluff was not on her way home,
and therefore the police were puzzled that she should be
found in that town, which is further away from Chicago
than Deerfield. They couldn't account for her presence there until
policeman Charles W. Hitchcock was interviewed. Then it was learned

(11:00):
that she had taken the electric line from Chicago to
Highland Park, from which there is a bus line to Deerfield,
but instead of taking the bus and going home, she
checked her briefcase with the ticket agent and bought a
round trip ticket from Highland Park to Lake Bluff, indicating
she had intended returning there and going home. But even

(11:20):
when Hitchcock had admitted his acquaintance with her, the police
were unable to account for the events of the entire evening.
Until late last night and early this morning, the young
woman herself began to unfold her story bit by bit
as her mind showed flashes of consciousness, Doctors Rysinger and

(11:40):
Proxmire obtained the details. At first, she told how she
had burned herself. Then she solved the mystery of her
entry into the village hall. She said she had gained
entrance through a rear door, which she found open. Later,
she said she attempted to leave through this store and
discovered that a mystery hand had locked her in. The

(12:04):
investigators found bloody footprints on the basement floor leading to
the door and reasoned that miss Kinnock had tried to
flee the place after her self imposed torture. As for
the mystery hand, Chief of Police Barney Rosenhagen of Lake
Bluff told the investigators he had visited the station at

(12:25):
nine o'clock on Monday night and put coal on the
fire in the basement, after which he locked the door
and saw to it that all five doors of the
building were secured, and the janitor Lewis, reported that all
were locked in the morning. According to miss Kinnock's story,
the investigators believed she must have been in the building

(12:46):
at that time. Where she was when Rosenhagen descended to
the basement and cold the fire was not explained if
the bloodstains on the floor and the young woman's words
are to be believed. The detectives reasoned she must have
burned herself between the time she entered the building supposedly
early in the evening and the time the mystery hand

(13:09):
fastened the rear door against her escape. The love stricken
girl had taken off her clothing and burned it, the
physicians said, she told them. Then she put her left
foot into the red hot coals, standing with her back
to the door of the furnace, when the toes were
burned off and her insteps scorched. The other foot went

(13:30):
into the flames. After that, she walked around the room,
leaving the blood stains from her injured feet. Whether that
was the time she had tried to leave by the
door was not known at any rate. Coming again to
the firebox, she thrust her head through the door and
down into the live coals. Then her hands and forearms followed.

(13:56):
How she stood the pain, the physicians could not understand,
and for reasons they got, the mumbled I love him,
and then at odd moment's thoughts put into words like
I had to show my faith in God and prove
my love, or I am not feeling any pain. I've
put my trust in God. And the physicians were convinced

(14:18):
that she was suffering no pain and could not realize
she must die or if she lives, must be armless
and footless. They said they believed she was suffering from
dementia praecox when she braved the fire, perhaps brought to
an acute point because of a realization her secret love
for a married man was hopeless. This was never intended

(14:45):
for me, on that cryptic sentence, whispered as she lifted
her swathed and bandaged arms and motioned toward them with
her eyes. The relatives of Elfrida Kannak were compelled yesterday
to place their only hope that the tortures the girl
had suffered were not self inflicted. In that faith and conviction,

(15:09):
they remain adamant. Quietly and firmly. They repudiate the frankly
expressed opinion of some investigators that the burning of the
young woman in the furnace of the village hall at
Lake Bluff must have come about through some peculiar mental
quirk of her own. Elfrida, her family insists, has always

(15:31):
been an individual with a rational mind and a normal life.
Such a sudden, inexplicable, and complete subversion of her normal
self is unbelievable, they say. Yet against this statement, police
cite the repeated assertions of Elfrida from her hospital bed
in the Alice Home Hospital in Lake Forest. I did

(15:52):
it myself. No one was with me. I did it
for purity, for love. In support of the family's contention
that the girl's injuries were not self inflicted, Miss Emily Cannock,
an older sister, revealed yesterday that Alfrida had telephoned home
during the afternoon to report gaily that she had purchased

(16:13):
some sheet music, that she decided not to go to
the theater that night, and that she would be home
about seven point thirty to try out the new pieces
and quote have some fun unquote, Emily declared positively. It
is simply impossible that she could have done such a thing,
physically impossible. What happened or how we have no idea.

(16:36):
We only know that she must have been slugged or
more likely drugged, and that her mind is not clear
on when or why she went to Lake Bluff. Standing
in the cozy living room of the old frame house
occupied for years by the Cannock family, Alfrida's white haired
sister told the story with a voice that trembled once

(16:57):
in a while with a hint of tears, but steady
as she went on. Her blue eyes drifted now and
again to the stairway up which her eighty two year
old mother had been carried on returning from Munsey, Indiana,
where she was visiting. In answer to a question, Miss
Kennock replied, yes, she knows about it. We told her

(17:19):
before she left Munseie. She has been ill, but the
news did not have the effect on her that we
feared it might. She was shocked, but aside from being
unable to sleep, she is better than we expected in
spite of the long trip. Efforts were also being made
today to trace telephone calls the girl made Monday night

(17:40):
from Highland Park before going to Lake Bluff. One of
these was found to be to the Lake Bluff Village Hall,
but it was not completed. Reports that one of the
girl's arms was found to have been broken, leading to
the strengthening of the story of the authorities that she
may have been assaulted by a madman who had tried
to burn her alive, were denied at the hospital today,

(18:01):
where doctors said they held little or no hope for
her recovery. They gave miss Knock her last chance again
today to change her story, but she refused. It was
the pretty booking agent psychology student's last chance because doctors
said her death was a matter of hours only, and
Sheriff Lawrence Doolittle and George Hargrave, private detective, said it

(18:25):
was vital to their investigation that they have from the
dying woman's own lips a more believable story of what happened.
Monday night in the furnace room of the Lake Bluff
Police Station. By words and signs, these two men questioned her.
She was near death. They told her a new final
statement was asked unless she added some new word, the

(18:48):
investigation must end no nearer solution of the peculiar affair
than when it started. Miss Knock, facing death, told them
that her previously repeated story was a true account of
what had happened. That she had gone alone to the
police station Monday night, had stayed there until early Tuesday morning,

(19:08):
and then had gone to the furnace room and tortured
herself by fire to prove her spiritual faith. One arm,
then another she laid on the live coals of the furnace,
then her right foot, then her left, completing the right
by poking her head through the narrow furnace door and
holding her head over the fire until she was burned

(19:29):
to the skull. The path of blood leading from the
furnace door to the basement that she said was made
after the fire rights. She was going home, she explained,
But the door was locked. Who locked it? The mysterious hand,
was all she would say. But why persisted Hargrave, unwilling

(19:53):
to accept the mystic explanation of spirit love and self torture.
Why did you do it? And the answer still I
don't know. The young woman's will was all that had
kept her alive until morning. Doctor said, if she survived today,
plans were completed for amputation of one foot toes of

(20:16):
the other and both hands. The investigation moved in several paths,
but had gotten no definite place. Today. Several phone calls
made by Miss Cannock Monday afternoon were being traced. Her
girlfriends were being sought out in question. This was because
of the girl's thrice spoken ask so and so she

(20:38):
knows about it, but each time the name was indistinguishable
to those who bent low over the cot to hear.
Marie Mueller, who was one of Miss Kinnock's closest friends,
was sought. She had disappeared at her home. Detectives were
told she was absent and that she might be found
tomorrow at a dentist's office where she was employed. Early,

(21:02):
Miss Mueller was found and accompanied officers to the hospital.
Miss Kinnock appeared glad to see her chum, but when
Miss Muller pleaded with her to tell everything, the young
woman on the hospital cot would only say I have
told everything. Miss Muller studied psychology with miss Kannock under

(21:22):
Charles Hitchcock, policeman, teacher and former actor. Officers convinced despite
miss Kinnock's story that attempted murder took place in the
police station basement said that all those whose names have
come into the investigation have been absolved of any part
of the affair. Clues were few. There were several handfuls

(21:44):
of the young woman's brown hair found on the furnace
room floor, but they only added to the mystery. They
appeared to have been singed at the roots, the top
of the hair retaining a slight curl, untouched by the heat.
Physicians at the hospital doubted that the girl could have

(22:06):
remained conscious long enough to inflict the burns on herself.
Doctor Rissinger of the hospital staff said that if one
believed that, he would have to believe miss Kinnock placed
her right foot in the furnace, keeping it there for
several minutes, then that she stood on that burn foot
and placed the other end, after which she burned her
arms in hand. He said, she certainly would have fainted

(22:28):
from the pain. Doctor Clarence Nyman, specialist in psychiatry, however,
said that such an occurrence would not be dissimilar from
many other queer methods of suicide which psychiatrists have encountered. Quote.
There need not necessarily have been any pain. Persons may
get into a mental condition, like a hypnotic state, where

(22:51):
they disassociate themselves from the world and enter a dream world.
The mind ceases to function as under ordinary circumstances, and
the person is in an imaginary world. The thought of
purification need not imply the commission of an improper act.
It might mean merely the desire to rid oneself of
thoughts that prey on the mind. A somewhat similar instance

(23:15):
was had in the case of a man who cut
off one of those arteries and then walked around in
the snow until he had traced in blood. God Bless
you all. Doctor Nayman's viewpoint was supported by doctor Sidney Coo,
chief of staff of the Psychopathic Hospital, and doctor Douglas Singer.
Alienists all agree that self hypnosis is quite different from insanity.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
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(24:18):
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Speaker 1 (24:28):
Charles W. Hitchcock, beau Brummel, policeman of Lake Bluff, Vaudeville trooper,
and once costar with Francis X. Bushman and Motion Pictures,
who was questioned in the Furnace mystery, said tonight that
he considered his fractured ankle a lucky break. Quote. My
fractured leg explains where I was that night in the

(24:50):
language of the footlight folks. It was a lucky break
unquote Ford Hitchcock, for whom the girl confessed her infatuation
the day. It was a succession of interviews and quizzings.
Like the Cannock family, he was positive that some outside
agency was responsible for the tragedy. Seated last night in

(25:11):
the waiting room of the physician who is caring for
his broken ankle, he declared absolutely uncanny. The investigation on
this thing ought to be pushed to the limit. It's
preposterous to think that she could have done it to herself.
Hitchcock is no Apollo in real life. Much of the
good looks that once were his have disappeared. His face

(25:34):
as thin as though from ill health, and his stature
is not heroic, but that of a man of average height.
His hair is sprinkled with gray. Tapping a folded newspaper
with the horn drummed spectacles he held in one hand
as he discussed the case. His manner was that of
a churchman rather than a beau Brummel. November two, nineteen

(26:00):
twenty eight, Charles W. Hitchcock, Late Bluff, policeman and teacher
of sales psychology, for love of whom Miss Elfrida Knock
declares she suffered self torture by fire in the furnace
of the suburb's police station, was brought face to face

(26:21):
with the young woman in her room at the Alice
Home Hospital in Lake Forest early this morning. Miss Kinnock
is slowly sinking from her injuries, physicians said, and the
authorities wished her to confront the man she said was
her spiritual sweetheart before she dies. If the investigators of

(26:41):
this strange case hoped to draw from the meeting a
clue to the circumstances under which the young woman, as
she says, thrust her feet, arms and head into the furnace.
They were apparently disappointed, for Miss Cannock turned her head
from the man who had been her teacher and the
confidante of her experiences in bookselling, and said to him

(27:03):
only two words, One of these was goodbye. Hitchcock was
taken to the hospital from his home by Sheriff Lawrence
Doolittle of Lake County, Chief of Police Lester Tiffany of
Lake Forrest, George Hargraves of the Hargraves Detective Agency, and
Theodore Knock, brother of the dying woman. Hobbling along on crutches,

(27:29):
his ankle was broken in an automobile accident. Before Miss
Kannock plunged herself into the furnace, he mounted the steps
to her room on the second floor. Hello, Fritzy, he said,
as he entered the door. This is hitch Miss Kannock
opened her eyes and looked him full in the face.

(27:50):
She had been talking with physicians just before he came,
but now she turned away her head. Aren't you glad
to see me, Hitchcock asked ad Yes, she said in
a faint voice, and that was all. He asked her.
A list of questions the investigators had prepared. Did you

(28:11):
know my ankle was broken? Why did you do this
terrible thing? Who let you into the station? Why didn't
you telephone me? To all of them? She was silent.
The investigators had hoped to learn from Hitchcock's questioning more
of the details of Monday night's happenings, but it was
in vain. As he turned to go, she said over

(28:35):
his shoulder, goodbye, and she replied goodbye, And that was all.
The young woman, who had been an attractive book agent
and Sunday school teacher after university training and experience in
teaching public school at one time yesterday spoke of a pact.

(28:56):
We did it were her words, but doctor Risinger said
the we meant herself and a spirit. State's Attorney A. V.
Smith said that in his first talk with her, he
told her merely as a test, that he intended to
order the arrest of Hitchcock. He wanted her reaction, and

(29:17):
he got it. You would be doing a rank in justice,
miss Cannock said, and she became so wrought up that
Smith had to stop talking to her. He said, But
despite her denials and protestations, the prosecutor and The operatives
of the Hargraves Detective Agency, called from Chicago to investigate

(29:39):
the strange case, thought the whole story had not been
told because of the absence of Miss Cannock's heavy coat
when she was found. They even considered the possibility of
her having been burned elsewhere and then brought to the
basement of the Lake Bluff Village Hall. When she was
discovered on Tuesday morning, she was nude. Some of her

(30:00):
garments had been burned in the station furnace. Her shoes, wristwatch,
and purse were a dozen feet away from the furnace,
but a sifting of the ashes gave no traces of
the coat, and the opinion was given that its balk
would have been noticeable if it had been burned there.
A search was to be made for it, with the
thought in mind that if it still exists, a key

(30:24):
might be found in a pocket. The detectives had not
yet reached a satisfactory conclusion regarding the way in which
miss Kinnock gained entrance to the building, if, as she stated,
she went there a loane. All the doors were locked
at night before her entrance, and they were reported still
to have been locked when Chief of Police, Barney Rosenhagen,

(30:45):
reached the station on Tuesday morning. Hargraves said that he
had heard of differences between Chief Rosenhagen and Patrolman Hitchcock,
who was reported that Hitchcock was trying to supplant the
chief mony night, as Hitchcock was unable to be on
duty as the night protector of the village. Chief Rosenhagen

(31:06):
looked into the station at nine o'clock and then went home.
He stated information was given by a telephone operator. At
about nine thirty o'clock that night, a woman called the station,
but there was no answer. The time corresponded with the
time of the arrival of Miss Kinnock in Lake Bluff.
She had gone there from Chicago instead of going directly

(31:28):
to her home in Deerfield, but if Chief Rosenhagen inadvertently
locked her in the building, she would not admit it,
saying only that a mysterious hand locked the door after
she had entered. Detective Hargraves was considering the possibility of
her having gone to Hitchcock's home after making the call
to the state. Missus Hitchcock was not at home that evening.

(31:52):
She had been working in the music shop of Selvy
Carson and Highland Park and returned home after midnight. The
investigator said that if he could learn what miss Kannock
had been doing in Lake Bluff between nine thirty o'clock
and the time of the burning, which was fixed at
around seven o'clock the next morning, he would need to
seek no further Chief of Police Barney Rosenhagen said today

(32:18):
that he had been accused of complicity in the case
by some unknown person who called his home in the night.
He said his wife received a warning from the person,
who threatened injury to Rosenhagen if he did not leave town.
His wife is in a state of collapse. The chief
said authorities were almost convinced that they were dealing with

(32:46):
a case of murder. For the last words of the girl,
uttered a few hours before she succumbed, where I wonder
if they did it and why I didn't do it
they did it. A moment before, she had sighed, I
have made my peace with God. And she died with
a smile on her parched, burned lips, maintaining the air

(33:09):
of peace she had maintained during the hours she was
in the hospital. Until today, Miss Kannak had clung to
her original story that she was burned in the furnace
of the Lake Bluff police station, and a right of
self torture inflicted to purify herself and to satisfy the
spiritual love she had said she cherished for the village's

(33:33):
handsome knight policeman, Charles W. Hitchcock, but at one time
their escaped from her lips what relatives believed to be
a reference to a suicide pact. Alvin Kannak, one of
Alfrida's five brothers, said today that he could not believe
she had burned herself. He held that it would have

(33:54):
been impossible for her to go through with the ordeal.
Alvin yesterday expressed a half belief that his sister had
sought to keep a pact with someone. He said she
murmured one of us did not go through with it.
Alvin said he was the only member of the family
who could get Elfrida to talk. He said she told

(34:18):
him that Monday night she went to the police station
to see Hitchcock. There she learned he was home in
bed suffering from a broken leg. Hurrying to the electric line,
she found she had missed a car, so returned to
the police station and entered the basement through an outside door.
From that time, her memory was a blank until her

(34:41):
discovery the next morning. During the time Miss Kinnock was
in the hospital, she had maintained her story staunchly, with
but few exceptions. Twice she let drop phrases which led
to the belief she was not telling the truth, perhaps
in an effort to protect someone else. Once before, she gasped,

(35:03):
they did it, but then hastened to say that she
alone was responsible. Again, she cried, Frank threw me over.
Police could not learn who Frank was. They questioned Frank p. Mandy,
who shares a studio with Hitchcock, but Mandy said he
had never seen Miss Kinnock. At times, she seemed almost

(35:25):
happy as she lay swathed in bandages on her bed.
She told Alvin at one time that as soon as
she was out of the hospital, I'll tell you all
about it. Throughout the three days and nights during which
she lay in the hospital, she refused repeatedly to change
her story that she voluntarily placed herself in the furnace,

(35:47):
burning first her legs, then her arms, and finally her head.
I have told you all. You wouldn't understand, the dying
girl moaned to her brothers, and friends who sought to
aid authority in investigating the weird mystery. Police reported last
night that in spite of her determination to live, Miss

(36:09):
Cannock was sinking rapidly and would not live through the night.
Her temperature had risen to one hundred and four degrees
as infection from her burns spread through her body. The
dying words of pretty Elfrida Cannock brought to a climax

(36:32):
today one of the most absorbing mysteries the quiet village
of Lake Bluff ever has known. From the village hall
came the word that the twenty nine year old book
agent had died of burns she received in the furnace
in the basement of the same building. The milkman, the butcher,
the early rising laborers carried the news of her death,

(36:54):
together with the last words of the dying girl, which
contradicted her original story of self torture to purify herself
and satisfy love she held for the village's handsomest man. Generally,
Lake Bluff had not believed the girl's story of his
spiritual love for the night policemen. Her delirious mumblings of

(37:16):
the love for hitch had found little credence from the villagers.
The village's main street, Scranton heard nothing from the furnace mystery.
This morning. From the main intersection of Scranton Avenue and
Center to the village hall, two blocks away, to the
post office, and down center to mister E. B. Clark's

(37:39):
little tea room. The villagers passed the weird rites described
by the young woman, found little credence among the housewives,
their minds finding too many contradicting circumstances. How could she
have gotten into the police station? Why was her basement
door latched when her body was found? Surely, they agreed

(38:04):
the murderer will be found. November fourth, nineteen twenty eight.
Relatives of miss Elfrida Knock yesterday refused to accept the
opinion of Lake County officials that the young woman's death
was the result of self immolation. They declared they had

(38:26):
hired detectives to make an independent investigation of the strange
circumstances under which Miss Cannock was burned on head, arms,
and feet in the Lake Bluff Police station furnace. Alvin Cannock,
City Clerk of Deerfield, Illinois, and brother of the dead girl,
said the investigation would center around her interest in policeman

(38:47):
Charles W. Hitchcock, the former movie actor who augmented his
police pay teaching elocution public speaking in sales psychology at
three dollars an hour, whispered to him alone by the
dying girl, convinced him the admission she made to officials
that she put her limbs and head in the furnace

(39:08):
as a purification in love writ was not altogether true,
he said. Quote. Someone else had at least a moral responsibility,
if not a physical responsibility, for Elfrida's burning, he declared.
He said the family, preparatory to the funeral tomorrow, had
been scanning her letters and her diary. Alvin Kannoch made

(39:31):
public one entry in his sister's diary as follows. Quote,
October tenth went this PM without any sale. Called H
at six pm. He said it seemed like three weeks
and hoped I would be home soon. Unquote. It was
his belief that the H referred to Hitchcock, whom the

(39:51):
girl admitted going to Lake Bluff to meet, only to
be disappointed because he was at home with a broken
leg that was in a cast. The brother's opinion was
that if anything had happened to suggest purification or atonement
through fire. To the girl, it happened between the time
of her arrival in Lake Bluff at nine forty five

(40:12):
o'clock last evening and seven o'clock the next morning, when
a janitor found her nude and burned standing in the
basement of the Lake Bluff Village hall. Doctor C. A. Barnes,
Lake County Coroner's physician, who performed an autopsy on the body,
said the girl had not been attacked nor beaten, and

(40:32):
the physical examination revealed nothing to either contradict or support
the admitted story of self burning. He said he thought
an analysis of the brain might be informative, but not conclusive.
George Hargrave, private detective employed by State's Attorney A. V. Smith,
said he was still considering the possibility of the girls

(40:55):
having been put into the furnace by some man. While
all indications I went into the belief the girl was
the victim of her own mental stress and distorted religious convictions,
He said the story did not seem logical and plausible,
and he would continue seeking information. To the contrary, did

(41:33):
miss Elfrida Cannock powerless to resist the impelling force of
a strange psychic love thrust her own body into the
blazing furnace in the basement of the Lake Bluff City Hall,
and thereby received the frightful burns that finally brought her death.
To the very last, the girl insisted she did it

(41:55):
may be so, But I went to the basement with
police officers and detectives and made some experiments. And as
a result of these experiments, the officers in charge of
the case admit it would seem impossible for the girl
to have inflicted her injuries upon herself. Only the tops
of Miss Kannok's feet were burned across the toes. Now

(42:19):
that means that had Miss Kannok put her own feet
in the fire, she would have had to stand with
her back to the furnace, stretched out her left hand
out to a bare wall for support, and grasping a
not so strong hot air heating pipe with the right.
In this position, she would have had to insert first

(42:39):
one foot and then the other. Had she stood facing
the furnace the easiest way, if she burned herself, her
heels and soles would surely have been burned. I demonstrated
that position myself. I might add there was no fire
in the furnace at the time. Then came more demonstrations

(43:00):
which showed rather conclusively that the only possible way for
the girl to have been burned as she was would
have been for her to have been held to the
furnace face downward. While I acted the part of miss Kinnock,
the detectives took the role of the unknown assailant. A
number of pictures were taken. These are now being studied

(43:21):
to see just what that dreadful scene in the basement
must have been like. As a further result of the
demonstration in which a detective held me head downwards and
thrust my feet into the firebox, I will say that
this seems impossible to me that one person could have
forced the girl into the flames, unless she was drugged

(43:42):
or unconscious. From the beginning, the officials were somewhat dubious
about Miss Kinnock's story that she had inflicted the injuries
on herself in order to test her love. Now they
are ready to abandon the theory entirely. The answer to
the puzzle seems to depend primarily on the answer to

(44:03):
one question, who let Elfrida Knnock into the police station
on the fatal night. Lake Bluff is not a large town,
and the station is vacant at night. It was left
tightly locked doors and windows on that night. It is
not believed she had a key. How did the girl
get in? If the answers to that question were known,

(44:26):
the task of solving the mystery would be a long
way toward completion. Through all of the investigation and newspaper
talk of the case, one man is probably more eager
than anyone else to get to the bottom of things.
He is patrolman Charles W. Hitchcock, the beau Brummel of
the Little Force, the man for whom miss Cannock says

(44:46):
she entertained his psychic love that led her to immolate herself.
Hitchcock has been confined to his bed with a broken
leg since several days before the tragedy. He is impatient
to get up and go to work on the case,
and genuine tears came from his eyes as he had
to admit his helplessness. Hitchcock is a strange personality. He

(45:10):
has been a star on the vaudeville stage, and he's
been in the movies. He is a handsome man with
the mannerisms of an actor and a forceful personality. By day,
he conducts a class in public speaking. At night, he
is a police officer. He has known miss Cannock for
two years, giving her a course of lessons on personality

(45:31):
development so that she could win success as a sales lady.
He told me, quote, Fritzy wasn't what you'd call a
real pretty girl. The poor way she wore her clothes
had a lot to do with it. But she was
as sophisticated as the average university student. And I don't
know why everybody says she was so silent and reticent.

(45:52):
I did advise her against going into the selling game,
though she was all mined a great thinker. Unquote. He
said that he saw her about once every two weeks,
advising her how to crack a particularly hard nut who
was hard to sell. She always called and made an appointment.
Elfrida's Babblings, in which on her death bed she told

(46:14):
of her love for him. He attributes to the wanderings
of a temporary unbalanced mind. He is very sorry that
his strong personality dominating her weaker one should have caused
her to think of him in this way. In deep distress,
he waved his hands and pleaded with me to look
at his three lovely daughters, stalwart son and loyal wife

(46:36):
and think what the world's listening to the ravings of
a demented girl means to them. Raymond, his son is
seventeen and a soloist in the town band. His daughters,
Helen sixteen, Charlene twenty, and Eloa twelve, are in high school.
Missus Hitchcock is quiet and a bit resentful, refusing to

(46:59):
talk about the case at all. November eleventh, nineteen twenty
eight Miss Elfrida Cannock, thirty year old Sunday school teacher
of Deerfield, Illinois, who came to her death by burns
which appear from the evidence to be self inflicted unquote.

(47:22):
A coroner's jury wrote as its verdict yesterday. The testimony
dealt with the finding of the young woman, nude and
with forearms and toes burned nearly off, and her forehead
and face badly seared, in the basement of the Lake
Bluff police station, and with her subsequent statements. Her statements

(47:43):
to physicians and nurses were construed as conclusive proof that
she had thrust her limbs and her head into the
furnace after being disappointed in an expected tryst with the
night policeman Charles W. Hitchcock, former movie and vaudeville actor
who had also a teacher of dramatic expression, public speaking,

(48:04):
and sales psychology. State's attorney A. V. Smith and George Hargrave,
operator of a Chicago detective agency, employed to investigate the affair,
questioned Hitchcock as to his ability to hypnotize. He said
he had none, but that while on the stage, he

(48:24):
had encountered men who could put persons into a trance.
He named Houdini as a friend and others whom he
characterized as mental sensitus. He denied having any romance with
miss Cannock, saying he had taught her sales psychology and
dramatic expression after she had finished a college course and

(48:46):
had been a school teacher for two years, and said
she consulted him occasionally when she had a knotty problem.
He said he hadn't known she was in love with him.
Hitchcock's wife also testified that she knew nothing about the
girl's attachment for the policeman, and she explained that she
had been working during the evening. Miss Kinnock was burned

(49:10):
two witnesses testified that Hitchcock was at home that evening,
and a nurse, Miss Edith Johnson, testified Miss Kinnock had
admitted burning herself and declared Hitchcock had nothing to do
with it. Alvin Cannock, city clerk of Deerfield and brother
of the deceased woman, said she had told him she

(49:30):
burned herself to prove the power of mind over matter,
and had gone to her death protesting she had done
nothing wrong and was a good girl. Doctor Arthur J.
Rissinger and doctor Theodore S. Proxmire of Lake Forest told
of the girl's other explanations. Doctor Risinger, having been called

(49:51):
to the station upon the discovery of the young woman
in the basement, quote, she was nude, and she told
me she had burned all of her clothing. Asked her
if she didn't consider it immodest to undress in that basement,
and she said it wasn't immodest in the sight of God.
She said she had probably been burning herself all night,

(50:11):
as she fainted and fell several times. She told me
she loved Policeman Hitchcock, but when I asked her if
she had talked to him that night, she said she
talked with him spiritually. She said Hitchcock got her out
of hell three months ago, but she wouldn't explain what
she meant by that. Occasionally she said something about Hitchcock

(50:33):
going back to his wife or his wife going back
to him. November thirteenth, nineteen twenty eight, two new elements
religion and a lost friendship entered the Late Bluff furnace
Mystery Today detectives seeking an answer to the riddle of

(50:56):
why miss Elfrida Kannak subjected herself to the flames of
the village police station furnace two weeks ago, found at
the girl's home in Deerfield a book entitled christ In
You and a letter from a woman friend, which they
believe establishes the missing spiritual link in the strange case.

(51:18):
Miss Kannoch, before she died in Lake Forest on November two,
said she charred her arms, legs and a head in
the furnace to purify her spiritual love for Charles W. Hitchcock,
a good looking knight policeman. In christ In You, detectives
found a marked page mentioning purification by fire quote, I

(51:42):
tell you it is impossible to know true joy. The
heights of joy until you have known correspondent depths of pain.
This is the process called the refiner's fire. Unquote. The
last three words had been underscored, apparently Miss Kannock. The

(52:02):
letter was from a woman with whom Elfrida was said
to have had a rather sudden and unusual friendship. It
was signed b Locke and said that Alfrida was forgiven
but would be sorry. B Locke appears to have discussed
religion with miss Knock. The letter was mailed October ninth

(52:23):
at Libertyville, near the girl's home in Deerfield, and spoke
of miss Kinnock's mastery over the writer, imploring the young
woman to allow the writer to see her again quote,
if only for a moment unquote. Fate apparently has robbed

(52:47):
Hitchcock of the deserts of publicity. Peaches Browning, Ruth Elder,
and Redgrange to mention, a few were made by publicity,
both favorable and unfavorable, and are reaping their harvest on stage,
screen and Gridiron. But Hitchcock, former motion picture actor of
the days, when an announcer explained the film is flat

(53:10):
on his back with a broken leg, reading offers from
Broadway and Hollywood, with a sigh, quote, I believe I
have a good voice for the talkies, but I don't
suppose I'll be able to take advantage of all this
priceless publicity. If I got this puff when I was
in the movies, I'd have my name in lights all
over the country. He sighed as he gazed at the

(53:31):
plaster cast on his leg. He was hurt in a
fall a week before Miss Cannock was found burned in
the basement of the police station. Hitchcock criticized the handling
of the investigation, adding, but I'm not finished with the case.
As soon as I'm able, I'll be out on it,
and believe me, I'll do everything I can to find

(53:51):
out who burned Fritzy. Hitchcock still holds his job as
a night policeman, but appeared he would lose it shortlyquote,
I expect they'll fire me when I go back in
two weeks. And Hitchcock isn't the only person in this
village who will be affected by the mysterious fire ordeal.
To Barney Rosenhagen, sixty year old chief of police, the

(54:15):
case probably means retirement on a pension. To Eugene Spade
to day policeman, it probably means promotion to Rosenhagen's job.
To Lake Bluff, it means increased business and seeing its
name appear in the nation's headlights for a few more days.

(54:37):
December one, nineteen twenty eight, the mysterious B. E. Locke,
close friend of Miss Elfrida Knock Lake Bluff Furnace death victim,
was found yesterday by State's Attorney Smith and questioned concerning
her relations with miss Kannock. She was identified as missus

(54:59):
Lewell Roach, wife of H. P. Roach four thirteen Park Avenue, Libertyville,
a contractor. After two hours questioning, Prosecutor Smith announced that
he believes Missus Roach's statement confirmed the opinion of the
coroner's jury, which found Elfrida came to her death by

(55:19):
Burne's self inflicted. After the Canock Girl's death, the authorities
made a search for the writer of a letter found
among the burn girl's possessions. It was signed B. E.
Locke and was postmarked at Libertyville October ninth. The letter said,
in part quote, after studying you a while, something seemed

(55:41):
to tell me that you were craving for friendship that
was full of love and kindness, one that understood you,
and before I knew it, I was trying to be
that friend. Not once did I think of anything beyond
being a friend until the third time you came in
the way you looked at me, and the next time

(56:01):
you mastered me more than ever Unquote. Yesterday, in the
State's Attorney's office, missus Roach admitted that she wrote the letter.
She may have written others. She said, plump and comely.
The Libertyville housewife sat quietly in her chair and told
a straightforward story she wanted, she said, to help solve

(56:25):
the mystery surrounding the burning of Miss Kinnock in the
Lake buff Police furnace. Quote. Fritzie came to my house
to sell books September twentieth. She seemed to like me.
After her second visit, I became aware of a certain
power that she had over me. I liked her too,
but I felt that I was being hypnotized in a way.

(56:48):
Then she began to talk of helping me to become
better educated. She offered to tutor me in grammar and
public speaking, and also suggested that I go to mister Hitchcock,
the Lake Bluff policeman, and take lessons from him. He
has helped me, she said, and he can help you too.
As we became better acquainted, Elfrida began to talk about

(57:11):
religion and spiritualism. She would say, I am not here
with you. I am in another world, entirely a spirit world. Once,
as she was leaving my house, she told me not
to write her. How will I get in touch with you?
Then I asked her, I will communicate with you in spirit,
she replied. State's Attorney Smith interrupted her with a question,

(57:35):
do you believe Elfrida burned herself? I do, was the reply.
Her faith in the spiritual world seemed to be strong
enough for anything. Meanwhile, authorities yesterday were dealing with further
conflicting clues and theories on the death of Miss Cannock
from San Antonio, Texas. Came the report that James Kelly

(57:59):
Army deserted and erstwhile chauffeur for Major Frederick McLaughlin of
Lake Forrest still insisted on confessing that he burned Miss Knnock.
A Wakegan surgeon advanced the theory that the girl was electrocuted.
Sheriff Lawrence Doolittle hurried to Lake Bluff to examine high
voltage wires in the vicinity of the Lake Bluff police station.

(58:23):
Prosecutor Smith said, quote, there is not a shred of
evidence to indicate that Miss Cannock was not telling the
truth when she said she did it herself. We will
follow up on every possible lead, however. Evanston, Illinois, February sixteenth,

(58:44):
nineteen twenty nine. Miss Helen Friedrich, twenty two years old,
daughter of Adam G. Friedrick, an accountant, was under observation
in the psychopathic hospital last night while Levenston police sought
the motive which prompted her to thrust herself into the
furnace of her home yesterday morning. This is the second

(59:09):
case of self inflicted furnace burns on the North Shore
in the last few months. Miss Elfrida Kannak, Deerfield's Sunday
school teacher and Encyclopedia saleswoman, died of burns suffered last
October when she put her arms, head and shoulders into
the furnace in the police station at Lake Bluff. Miss

(59:31):
Friedrich's injuries were not so serious, it was indicated last night.
The police learned that she had remained up late Thursday
night reading the Bible. Early yesterday morning, she went to
the basement and thrust her head and shoulders into the fire,
but the pain was too much and she fell back screaming.
Her cries brought her father to her side. She told

(59:54):
him in a faint whisper, I was too much of
a coward to go through with it. The girls. His
hair was burned and her scalp, shoulders and sides were
seared by the flames. At Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, however,
physicians said she was not seriously injured, and she was
taken to the psychopathic hospital. Doctor G. W. Boot, who

(01:00:17):
had treated Miss Friedrick, said she was suffering from influenza,
and he expressed the opinion that she was delirious when
she attempted to force herself into the furnace. Doctor Boot
said he did not believe the young woman's act was
inspired by the Canock case, although the father told the
police that Miss Friedrich had read every line of news

(01:00:37):
pertaining to the case and had often expressed her admiration
for what she termed Miss Cannock's courage. Doctor Oscar Rutersdorf,
another physician who had attended Miss Friedrick, said that she
had been suffering from ear trouble for some time, and
he believed she may have had a tumor on the brain.

(01:01:00):
Mister Friedrich said his daughter had never had any love affairs.
When her sister entertained, he declared Helen always went upstairs
and took no part in the gaiety. The young woman
was graduated in nineteen twenty seven from the Saint Scholastica
High School for girls at Devon and Ridge Avenues. August fourteenth,

(01:01:25):
nineteen twenty nine, Charles W. Hitchcock, former actor and the
night Policeman, questioned last fall in connection with the death
of Miss Elfrida Cannock of Deerfield, confessed early this morning
to police Chief Eugene Spade of Lake Bluff that two

(01:01:45):
years ago he had robbed a hardware store in the
village and obtained several hundred dollars worth of loot. The
burglary occurred while Hitchcock was a member of the Lake
Bluff Police Force. He was dismissed last Jay. The former
policeman was arrested yesterday with his son, Raymond, eighteen years old,

(01:02:07):
in their home at three seventeen Center Avenue, Lake Bluff.
According to Chief Spade, the younger Hitchcock confessed burglaries of
three homes in Lake Bluff, in which clothing, silverware, and
in one case, six gallons of wine were taken. The
Chief said that paint and tools taken from the Winchester

(01:02:28):
Hardware store were found in Hitchcock's home. The father and
son were booked for burglary at the North Chicago Police Station,
where they were questioned by Spade, President Or J. McComb
of the Lake Bluff Village Board, and village Attorney Charles Hummer.
Chief Spade said the Hitchcocks were suspected in several other

(01:02:50):
theft cases. There have been twenty burglaries in Lake Bluff
in the last three months. Since his dismissal from the
village police force. The alder Hitchcock has been employed as
a bill collector. That was the Lake Bluff Furnace Girl.

(01:03:26):
The Burning Love of Alfrida Kannock, called from the historic
pages of the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers of the era.
True Crime Historian is a creation of popular media opening
theme by Niko Vitessi, incidental music by Niko Vitessi, Chuck

(01:03:48):
Wiggins and Dave SAMs, some music and sound effects license
from podcast music dot Com. Closing theme by Dave SAMs
and Rachel Shatt, engineered by David Hish at Third Street Music.
And as for me, you know what they say, He's
no Apollo in real life. Much of the good looks

(01:04:09):
that once were his have disappeared. I'm true crime historian
Richard O. Jones signing off for NAW