crime

Crime and Punishment

The 19th Century

Early Statehood

Jail Diagram, Fayette County, 1821 / Typed Transcription

  • This document is a plan for a jail to be built in Vandalia, Ill. The city was the state capitol at the time. Some of its security features include tower rooms and brick walls thirteen inches thick.
  • Citation: Turnbaugh, Dr. Roy C. Jr. and Robert E. Bailey. Windows to the Past: A Selection of Illinois County Records from 1818 to 1880. Springfield: Illinois State Archives, 1985. Used by permission of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

Report Relating to a Night Watch and Watch House, 11 April 1845 / Typed Transcription

  • Citation: Bailey, Robert E. and Elaine Shemoney Evans. Early Chicago, 1833-1871 A Selection of City Council Proceedings Files. Springfield: Illinois State Archives, 1999. Used by permission of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

Ordinance to Prevent Filth from Entering the Water Supply, 9 June 1848 / Typed Transcription

  • Citation: Bailey, Robert E. and Elaine Shemoney Evans. Early Chicago, 1833-1871 A Selection of City Council Proceedings Files. Springfield: Illinois State Archives, 1999. Used by permission of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

Petition Relating to the Arrest of a Fugitive Slave, 1 March 1852 / Typed Transcription

  • Citation: Bailey, Robert E. and Elaine Shemoney Evans. Early Chicago, 1833-1871 A Selection of City Council Proceedings Files. Springfield: Illinois State Archives, 1999. Used by permission of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

Notice of Writ of Attachment, May 1857

  • This notice was published in the Shelby Banner newspaper to notify Willis Phelps, William Mattoon, and James Barnes, of the Terre Haute and Alton Railroad, that they were being sued for failing to pay William Headen and Hiram H. Trimble. The men had purchased supplies for railroad workers. This document is cross-listed on the Transportation page.
  • Citation: I/B/Box 5 Headen and Trimble v. Phelps, Mattoon, and Barnes 1857 (28) Number 105. IRAD in Booth Library at Eastern Illinois University.

Petition of Moriss Bauland for Remission of Fine, 6 July 1857 / Typed Transcription

  • Citation: Bailey, Robert E. and Elaine Shemoney Evans. Early Chicago, 1833-1871 A Selection of City Council Proceedings Files. Springfield: Illinois State Archives, 1999. Used by permission of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

Writ for the Apprehension of Rodney Messer & James P. Judkins, 7 January 1858 / Typed Transcription

  • This document asks the sheriff of Shelby County to arrest Rodney Messer and James V. Judkins on charges of keeping their "tippling house," or saloon, open on a Sunday. The reverse of this document shows how the sheriff took notes on these men's captures and bail postings.
  • Citation: I/B/Box 5 Shelby County Circuit Court People v. Messer and Judkins. IRAD in Booth Library at Eastern Illinois University.

Albert H. Tracy v. The Board of Supervisors of Shelby County, January 1861 / Typed Transcription

  • This document serves as evidence of how rural areas pursued economic development through internal improvements in the 19th century. Counties (and other units of local government) sold bonds, thus raising funds to purchase railroad stock. This stock served as an investment opportunity for the county and lured the railroad to build tracks in the county. Individuals who purchased the bonds were guaranteed a certain rate of return from the county bond. Albert Tracy sued the Shelby County Board of Supervisors when they did not pay him the interest due on the bonds he purchased, which had allowed Shelby County to invest in the stock of the Terre Haute and Alton Railroad Company. This document is cross-listed on the Banking and the Economy and Transportation pages.
  • Citation: I/B/Box 5 Shelby County Board of Supervisors 1861 (43) Number 123. IRAD in Booth Library at Eastern Illinois University.

The Civil War

Coroner’s Inquest, McDonough County, 1864 / Typed Transcription

  • When a death was violent or due to unexplained causes, the law required the county coroner to summon 12 jurors to view the body and give a verdict on the causes of the death. This document is the result of an inquest into the death of William H. Randolph.
  • Citation: Turnbaugh, Dr. Roy C. Jr. and Robert E. Bailey. Windows to the Past: A Selection of Illinois County Records from 1818 to 1880. Springfield: Illinois State Archives, 1985. Used by permission of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

The Late 19th Century

Law Concerning Criminal Jurisprudence, 1874

  • This very extensive act covered everything from crimes and penalties to the calling of a grand jury; it was approved on 27 March 1874. Some of the crimes discussed within it are abduction, burglary, dueling, extortion, murder, circulating obscene literature, and rape.
  • Citation: Gross, William L., ed. The Statutes of Illinois: An Analytical Compilation of All the General Laws of the State in Force at the Present Time, Volume III: Acts of 1873-4. Riverside: H. O. Houghton ; Company, 1874.

Law Concerning Fraud and Perjury, 1874

  • This act covered everything from identity theft to fraudulent documentation. It was passed on 16 February 1874.
  • Citation: Gross, William L., ed. The Statutes of Illinois: An Analytical Compilation of All the General Laws of the State in Force at the Present Time, Volume III: Acts of 1873-4. Riverside: H. O. Houghton & Company, 1874.

Law Concerning Habeas Corpus, 1874 

  • This act guaranteed the right of Habeas Corpus for anyone imprisoned in the state of Illinois. It was passed on 2 March 1874. During the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, the right of habeas corpus was in question. On 27 April 1861, President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus in Maryland and several Midwestern states during the civil war. In the early 1870s, President Grant also suspended it as part of the federal government’s legal action against the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina.
  • Citation: Gross, William L., ed. The Statutes of Illinois: An Analytical Compilation of All the General Laws of the State in Force at the Present Time, Volume III: Acts of 1873-4. Riverside: H. O. Houghton & Company, 1874.

The 20th Century

The Early 20th Century

Excerpt, The Challenge of the City by Josiah Strong, 1907

  • Josiah Strong (1847-1916) was one of America's leading religious and social voices during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Strong was born into an Illinois family with deep colonial roots, although he left the state at an early age. Strong was a clergyman who proposed revolutionary religion-oriented solutions to perceived inequities in America's social and economic network, and adhered to a brand of Christianity that came to be known as Christian Socialism. In this excerpt, Strong condemns the moral failure of cities and warns against the dangers of lawlessness in a democracy.
  • Citation: Strong, Josiah. The Challenge of the City. New York: Eaton & Mains, 1907.

World War I

"Investigation Waits on Inquest Monday," 6 April 1918

  • On 4 April 1918, German immigrant Robert Prager was hanged by a mob in Collinsville, Ill. The mob believed him disloyal to the American government. This article, published in the New York Times on 6 April 1918, describes Prager's actual political beliefs. This document is cross-listed on the War and the Military and Immigration and Naturalization pages.
  • Citation: New York Times. April 6, 1918.

The Great Depression

Letter Concerning Prosecution of an Illinois Prohibition Law Violation, 21 June 1933

  • Citation: Bailey, Robert and Elaine Shemoney Evans. Hard Times In Illinois: 1930-1940. Springfield: Illinois State Archives, 2002. Used by permission of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

World War II

Communication from the Clark County Director of Civilian Defense Concerning Blackout Violations, 7 August 1943

  • Citation: Bailey, Robert E. and Elaine Shemoney Evans. Illinois at War, 1941-1945. Springfield: Illinois State Archives, 1994. Used by permission of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

Post World War II/Cold War Era

"Humphrey Nominated on the First Ballot After His Plank on Vietnam is Approved; Police Battle Demonstrators in Streets," 30 August 1968

  • The 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago spurred anti-war protests which Mayor Richard Daley attempted to control with Chicago police and the National Guard. The situation degenerated into violence. This article, published in the New York Times on 30 August 1968, describes the action inside and outside the convention hall. Click on the link and choose the first related article for the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The slide show "Scenes of the Protest" also illuminates the experience of this event. This document is cross-listed on the War and the Military page.