Our guest contributor this week is Pat Barch, the Hoffman Estates Historian. This column originally appeared in the March/April 2023 issue of the Hoffman Estates Citizen, the village’s newsletter. The column appears here, courtesy of the Village of Hoffman Estates.
From left to right: Gary, Elizabeth and Earl Teets. Photo credit to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office
In a dark corner of a storage warehouse sits a box of dusty files. One of the files is the cold case file of the Teets family murders over 43 years ago. Husband, Earl, wife Elizabeth, son Gary and their dog were all killed in their farmhouse on Shoe Factory Road in Hoffman Estates on January 11, 1979. To this day the murders remain unsolved.
1961 Barrington topographic map quadrangle. Credit to the U.S. Geologic Survey
The Cook County Sheriff’s Police were called to the scene after another son, Earl Jr., discovered their bodies. A neighbor had gone to visit them and called Earl Jr. when they got no response to their repeated knocking and horn blowing.
The Teets family lived a quiet farming life. Earl Sr. was a heavy equipment operator, and his son Earl Jr. was the farmer in the family, raising Black Angus cattle and growing corn and pumpkins. A portion of the farm was pound for abandoned or damaged cars.
They kept guard dogs on the property with warning signs posted on the farm. There was also a service station-style warning bell that rang when a car crossed over the hose stretched across the road at the front gate of the farm. Security was important, yet somehow, the intruders murdered the family.
There isn’t a time that I don’t think of them as I travel near the farm. Nothing is left of the homestead now. A fire in early September 1979 took the main farmhouse. Firefighters determined that it was arson–vandals they said. Since it was abandoned property, the fire was left to burn safely to the ground.
The Hoffman Estates Fire Department was called to the property once again on October 12, 1979 with the remainder of the buildings–a small barn and two small sheds–ablaze under suspicious circumstances. As with the earlier fire, these were allowed to safely burn out.
I’ve never taken a walk to the property, now part of the forest preserve, but would like to see where this family lived and what is still there. Their memory haunts me–all that I know is that it will remain a cold case file stored away in some warehouse, only to be taken out if or when some new evidence is brought forward and presented to the Cook County Sheriff’s Police.
Pat Barch, Hoffman Estates Village Historian eagle2064@comcast.net
Illinois Watch Case Company. Photo credit to thevintagecompactshop.com.
On April 9, 1927, fifteen masked men, armed with rifles, machine guns and revolvers, arrived outside the Illinois Watch Case Company plant in Elgin, Illinois at midnight.
In a plant with a daytime work force of nearly 500, it was not difficult to bound and gag three of the employees–an engineer, fireman and watchman–who were working that night. Another watchman was forced at gunpoint to make his usual rounds and punch the factory’s call boxes to prevent the police from becoming suspicious.
Several of the smaller safes in the building were raided while another team of men, using acetylene torches, labored at working through the inner doors of the main vault for two hours. Once they were in, they took a large amount of gold bullion that was valued at $100,000.
With four getaway cars at the ready, the group of men roared off in the direction of Chicago as dawn approached. One of the watchmen was then able to free himself and alert the Elgin police.
The watch case factory was at 825 Dundee Avenue in Elgin, just a few blocks away from Illinois Route 58 and it is quite probable the robbers took that road to head east. Not all of the gold made it from Elgin to Chicago however. How do we know this? Because of the little boy in this picture who is second from the right in the first row.
Students in Schaumburg Center School.
His name is Ray Nebel and he was born in 1907, the second youngest son of Fred and Mary Nebel. He was 19 years old when the robbery happened. Though his mother had died in 1923, his father was still operating Nebel’s Corners, the creamery and general store Fred had begun on the northwest corner of Roselle and Higgins Road (Illinois Route 72) in the 1890s.
Photo credit to the Chicago Evening American newspaper
Ray is featured in this series of photos taken a few weeks after the robbery by a photographer of the Chicago Evening American, a newspaper owned by William Randolph Hearst. While Ray is, unfortunately, misidentified as “Roy,” we see that he was the lucky guy who found some of the gold in a creek near his home.
According to an article from the May 25 issue of the Dixon Evening Telegraph that highlights more of the story–and, also, got Ray’s name wrong–“Roy Nebel, [a] 19 year old farm boy caught the gleam of the metal in the water a week ago. Believing it copper he made no effort to get it until later. Failing in an effort to sell it to a neighbor he took a bar to a jeweler who pronounced it gold.”
The same article states that, “bars and sheets of gold and gold alloy of an estimated value of $12,000, stolen from the Illinois Watch Case Company at Elgin several weeks ago, have been recovered from a creek near Schaumburg, northwest of Chicago.”
We see in the photo above that Ray is standing in the creek where the gold was discovered and, in the photo below, we see him standing on a bridge looking down at the same creek. This was one of two bridges that crossed Salt Creek near Nebel’s Corners at Higgins and Roselle Roads.
Photo credit to the Chicago Evening American newspaper
Looking at the U.S. topographic map from 1935, we can see that this branch of Salt Creek rose near today’s Evergreen Park in Hoffman Estates. It then flowed north and east under Bode Road towards the Nebel property that spanned both sides of Higgins Road at Roselle Road.
1935 Palatine Quadrangle topographic map
The creek cut through their property at Higgins Road just west of Roselle and, then again, at Roselle Road, just north of Higgins. We know that at the time, Higgins Road was already paved with concrete and we can see that this is not a paved road in the background of the bridge photo.
We also know that the bridge was mentioned in an article from the May 28, 1909 issue of the Cook County Herald that says, “Schaumburg highway commissioners have engaged Engineer E. A. Rossiter to make plans and superintend the work on five re-enforced concrete bridges in Schaumburg, to be located as follows: One 16 ft. clear span bridge across the creek at Wilkening’s creamery, a [1]7 ft. span bridge just north of Nebel’s creamery…”
What confirms for us that the bridge in the paragraph above is the same bridge Ray is standing on is two things. First, the bridge Ray is standing on very definitely appears to be a 7-foot span bridge. Also, an identical bridge can be found in this photo of the Wilkening Creamery bridge that was taken shortly after it was built.
Bridge at the Wilkening Creamery
Notice that the Wilkening Creamery bridge definitely has a longer span than the Nebel bridge but that the design is exactly the same. Right down to the rectangular cutout on the bridge.
It can’t be too difficult to imagine that the robbers saw this bridge on Roselle Road, just off of Golf Road, and figured it might be a good hiding spot for a portion of their loot. Why, though, would they not return for it?
The answer might be as simple as it was difficult to track the landmarks sufficiently on their race back to Chicago. And, if they did, they would have had to return for the gold at night when they wouldn’t be noticed. Keep in mind that there was no ambient light or street lights at the time so it would have been pitch black in rural Schaumburg Township. Which of the robbers would have wanted to risk being watched from the doors and windows of the nearby creamery, in the light of day, as they searched for the stolen gold?
It must have been an exciting moment when the jeweler told Ray what he had found. In fact, in a May 25, 1927 article in the Dixon Evening Telegraph, it states that after the jeweler confirmed it was gold, “the watch company officials were then notified. Detectives believe the remainder of the loot may have been hidden in the creek.”
The same thing obviously occurred to Ray and he must have hurried home. The Chicago Evening American stated, “…three boys, Al Bettermans [sic. Botterman] left, Roy Nebel, center, and Alvin Nebel, later looked for more of the gold before detectives arrived to guard the creek pending [a] search for [the] rest of the loot.”
Photo credit to Chicago Evening American newspaper
Ah, well, finding gold in a creek in rural 1927 Schaumburg Township had to have been enough excitement to last an entire year. Besides, don’t you suppose every other branch of Salt and Poplar Creek in the vicinity was searched too, looking for more of the stolen gold?
Jane Rozek Local History Librarian Schaumburg Township District Library jrozek@stdl.org
Articles from the April 12, 1927 issue of the Corsicana Semi-Weekly Light and the April 9, 1927 issue of the Dekalb Daily Chronicle were used to write this article.
My thanks to Lori Freise for bringing this fascinating story to my attention. Just like Ray, my day was made when I discovered this bit of Schaumburg Township excitement.
Last week the tale was told of Frank Henning, a bank teller at the Farmers Bank of Schaumburg, who confessed in a letter to bank stockholders, that he embezzled $40,000 to speculate in the stock market. Hoping to earn it back, he escaped to New York City on New Year’s day but, within a couple of weeks, was tracked down by the Burns Detective Agency. The year was 1914 and Mr. Henning would not stay in New York for long.
In fact, as reported in the Rock Island Argus on January 17, Governor Edward Dunne “issued a requisition for the return from New York city of Cashier Henning.” By the 22nd, Henning was on his way back to Chicago to await his trial. And the next time we hear of him? It is the end of May. And who has he hired as his attorney? None other than a defense attorney named Clarence Darrow.
In his review in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society of the book, In the Clutches of the Law: Clarence Darrow’s Letters, John Lupton, Executive Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission, states that “Clarence Darrow is arguably the most famous attorney in American history… Darrow classified himself as a general practice attorney who had a substantial criminal caseload.”
And for this particular criminal case, the 57-year-old Darrow ingeniously supported his client by basing his defense on the fact that the Farmers Bank was a private institution and not legally incorporated. This would prove to be the crucial point in the trial.
In a cross examination by Mr. Darrow, one of the stockholders admitted the statement about the legal status of the bank was correct. In a May 28, 1914 article from the Chicago Tribune, it is mentioned that the stockholder also “admitted Henning was a partner and had an interest at the time he left. Then Darrow made the startling announcement that Henning could not be touched under the law. A partner cannot be found guilty of embezzling funds from a partner. The state had ‘not a leg to stand on’ he asserted.”
Realizing Darrow was correct in this statement, W. W. Witty, the Assistant State’s Attorney, then proceeded to make an additional accusation, declaring Henning guilty of embezzlement of $835 in January 1911. At this point in time, Henning was a cashier but not yet a partner. Darrow admitted this was correct, that Henning was not a partner, but there was yet another caveat–by law, the statute of limitations had already expired on such a charge. The defense then moved that the “court direct a verdict of not guilty.”
In response, Judge McKinley, sustained this contention and took the case away from the jury and the court convened for the day. On the following day, Thursday, May 28, 1914, Frank Henning walked out of the courtroom a free man. Mr. Darrow had done his job.
Ten years later, in 1924, Mr. Darrow would rivet the world with his 12-hour long closing argument in the Leopold and Loeb trial. One year later in 1925, Mr. Darrow’s defense of John Thomas Scopes in the Scopes Monkey trial would truly establish his worldwide fame in a trial that focused on the right to teach evolution in public schools. Taking on cases such as Frank Henning vs. Farmers Bank of Schaumburg in 1914 was a step in his rise to legal greatness.
Farmers Bank of Schaumburg bounced back from the embezzlement and even survived an attempted robbery in 1921 when Herman Freise, president of the bank, personally thwarted the robbers. It would not outlast the Great Depression though, and eventually closed in 1933. Very few banks were immune during those harrowing years, and private banks and the banking system as a whole struggled. New regulations and protective practices such as the FDIC were put in place to protect both the institution and the investors. Unfortunately, it was a little too late for a small bank in Schaumburg Township.
Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
I discovered this incident serendipitously as I do with a number of pieces of our history. I was doing a brief search of the University of Illinois’ Digital Newspaper Collections and stumbled across mentions of the trial in a newspaper called The Day Book. This was a newspaper that was published between 1911 and 1917 in Chicago–fortuitously for us. It was designed as an experimental, ad-free daily and begun by E. W. Scripps, founder of both the media conglomerate by the same name and the United Press. Mentions of the trial were brief but enough to pique my interest. It wasn’t until I dug deeper into the Chicago Tribune’s database that I discovered the wonderful details about Clarence Darrow. All of the articles used to write this blog posting are listed below:
Chicago Daily Tribune. January 4, 1914
Chicago Daily Tribune. January 5, 1914
Cook County Herald. January 9, 1914
Cook County Herald. January 16, 1914
Rock Island Argus. January 17, 1914
Chicago Daily Tribune. January 22, 1914
Chicago Daily Tribune. May 28, 1914
Cook County Herald. May 29, 1914
Chicago Daily Tribune. May 29, 1914
Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society; Volume 107, Number 2, Summer 2014; p. 243.
Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org
On Friday morning, January 2, 1914 the head cashier of the Farmers Bank of Schaumburg, walked through the bank’s front door and was greeted by a letter addressed to the directors. Written by Frank Henning, the assistant cashier, the letter told the story of how he had embezzled $40,000 from the bank so that he might speculate in the stock market. He’d lost all of it–every single penny–and he begged to please, give him a chance, and he’d repay it. Then he left town leaving only the letter to answer for his crime.
The bank had opened in 1910 on the northeast corner of Schaumburg and Roselle Roads with a first day’s deposit of $21,000. The bank was a source of pride for the hard working German farmers of Schaumburg Township who were pleased to have their own local institution to hold their savings.
Fast forward three years later and the 22 stockholders were holding a hurried meeting on Saturday, January 3, 1914 to discuss the details of the crime and figure a way to keep the bank solvent. It seemed that Mr Henning, who had been with the bank since its beginning, left his home on New Year’s Day, telling his wife and 2 year-old daughter that he was going to attend a theatre party in Chicago that evening. Instead, he posted one letter to the bank and one to his wife confessing his crime.
The bank’s letter contained a $1000 bond and Mr. Henning’s $1000 certificate of stock in the bank. It was all that was left of his tenure and he probably would have raised a red flag had he earlier tried to cash in the bond. He also left promissory notes made out to the stockholders that were due over a period of six months to five years in the future, with his guarantee that he would return the money. In addition, he told them he was travelling to Omaha to begin working on that process.
In an immediate response, the stockholders raised the capital stock from $25,000 to $50,000 with each of them putting up close to $1500 to cover the loss. They also hired a clerk from the First National Bank of Elgin to do an audit of the books. Lastly, they hired the Burns Detective Agency, led by William J. Burns whose photo is shown below, to find Mr. Henning so that he might be brought to justice. Warrants for his arrest were placed on the following Monday.
His wife was just as upset and puzzled as the stockholders. The family lived on the second floor of the bank and after the embezzlement returned to a nearby town to live with their immediate relatives.
Mr. Henning, however, wasn’t on the lam for long before he made a crucial mistake. He sent a letter to a friend asking about his wife and daughter and must have included his whereabouts in the text. Either the friend turned it over to his wife or to the Burns Detective Agency, because it didn’t take them long to determine that Mr. Henning was not in Omaha but in New York City. By January 13 they had tracked him down in the Woolworth building [shown below] and taken him into custody.
Shortly after, he spilled the whole story. In an article from the Cook County Herald dated January 16, 1914, it states, “He talked freely with the detectives who took him—mainly talking about his wife. He told them how he worked his way through a business college, worked in a country store and saved his money, and during the panic of 1907 speculated with his employer and made $1800. He dabbled in stocks from then until he left Schaumburg and always lost. Henning said he had an opportunity in 1910 to purchase stock in the Farmers bank of Schaumburg… He had no money, but borrowed $1000 from his father, an ironworker, and after buying an interest in the bank, became bookkeeper. The money he had borrowed was all the savings of his father, and in the hope of paying it back he filled out signed drafts on the bank’s correspondents in Chicago. With the money thus obtained, he resumed speculating in the Chicago stock market. Henning said he always lost but by skillfully covering up his speculations he managed to avoid suspicion until late in last December. Then he realized the game was up.”
In the same article he mentions how he arrived in New York with $2500 that he had on account with a Chicago broker. Thinking he might get a law degree and make the money back more quickly, he talked to a number of law schools—including Fordham—and discovered that none of them “would graduate him in six months.” Shortly after, the detectives tracked him down.
And this is where the story gets more interesting. Next week we meet the gentleman who enters the scene and gives Schaumburg Township a small touch of early fame, albeit unasked for…
Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org
History of Schaumburg Township 