Deputy Walter Fisher Remembered - Mokena Honors Their Fallen Officer

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. 

This is a production of Mokena's Front Porch. Check out our website at www.mokenasfrontporch.com

For the past year we have been doing more video episodes of our podcast through our YouTube page and our new website! The videos can be found through our website, www.mokenasfrontporch.com and our YouTube Page https://www.youtube.com/@MokenasFrontPorch . Thanks for listening!

Chapters

• 0:00 Recognizing Deputy Walter Fisher's Sacrifice
• 17:10 Walter Fisher's Law Enforcement Origins
• 29:54 Fatal Shootout of Deputy Walter Fisher
• 36:37 Dan Hesley's Criminal Activities and Capture
• 46:57 Unraveling the Santo Calabrese Case

Transcript

Israel: 0:41

Welcome to Mokena's Front Porch, a Mokena history podcast with Matt Galick and me, israel Smith. Matt, tonight we were down at Village Hall and we just got out of the board meeting where they did the proclamation for Deputy Walter Fisher. Yes, they did, and we're going to share that just after this, but this is kind of something we've been talking about and working towards for a while. Yeah, it has you, especially with the book since 2018, when you wrote the book about.

Matt: 1:18

Deputy Fisher.

Israel: 1:19

Yeah, yeah, you know what does this mean to you, matt.

Matt: 1:28

Matt. It's very it's kind of like emotional for me because when I wrote the book, I wanted it to spread the awareness of Deputy Fisher's sacrifice to our community so that it wouldn't be totally forgotten, because I really think that without the book and the interest it kind of stirred up, that that unfortunately probably would have have happened, because at the time I wrote it there really were only a handful, tiny handful of people in town who were aware of that story. So, um, it's very meaningful for me that the uh powers that be, as it were, uh took an interest in him and in the story and uh issued this proclamation, which I think was beautifully written very beautifully.

Israel: 2:05

well done, very beautifully. Well done, very beautifully written yeah yeah, yeah.

Matt: 2:08

So I'm very happy about it and I'm happy that it's. Mayor Fleischer told me that it's as we'll see, that it's going to be sort of on display in the village hall for everybody to see and that it'll also be sort of enshrined in the village records so that if hopefully not, but maybe 100 years from now, if our equivalents then are unfamiliar with Deputy Fisher, maybe they'll be looking at some board minutes, you know, trying to find some interesting information, and they'll see that in there.

Israel: 2:35

So, yeah, no, it's great and you know we appreciate Trustee Dauphiné. Oh, absolutely. Who you know, really helped us along to get this to where we're at today. He's a big help and the whole board and the mayor and the office just inviting us and letting us have input as well as getting the input from Chief Benton and everybody.

Israel: 2:57

So it's, as Matt said, a beautifully written memorial proclamation about him and hopefully again just a first step in the village and kind of recognizing and displaying more of our yeah, our history and the stories that kind of made molkina uh, you know, the great village that it is and that it was and what it's going to be.

Matt: 3:17

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 Fleischer: 3:25

Absolutely not Okay appointments and proclamations. Proclamation for Deputy Walter Fisher.

Clerk Melissa Martini: 3:38

Village of Molkina. Proclamation for Deputy Walter Fisher. Whereas Deputy Sheriff Walter Fisher. Whereas Deputy Sheriff Walter Fisher honorably served the Will County Sheriff's Office for five years, demonstrating unwavering dedication to the safety and well-being of our community. And whereas Deputy Fisher was a proud resident of Mokena, illinois, where he also operated a general store that served as a central hub for the local community, fostering a strong connection with his neighbors. And whereas at the time of Deputy Fisher's service, the village of Mokena did not have an established police force and he effectively fulfilled the role of a police officer within the village, ensuring the safety and order of its residents.

Clerk Melissa Martini: 4:23

And whereas on April 14th 1926, deputy Fisher courageously pursued an automobile thief involved in a series of crimes, including the robbery of a mail truck in Indiana Harbor, indiana, earlier that day.

Clerk Melissa Martini: 4:40

And whereas during the pursuit, deputy Fisher engaged the suspect who opened fire tragically, resulting in Deputy Fisher being struck five times and succumbing to his injuries. And whereas Deputy Fisher's bravery and ultimate sacrifice exemplify the highest standards of law enforcement and reflect his deep commitment to protecting the citizens of Mokena and Will County. And whereas it is fitting and proper to honor the memory of Deputy Fisher, who left behind a loving wife and two children and to recognize the enduring impact of his service on our community. Now, therefore, I, frank Flesher, mayor of the Village of Mokena, illinois, do hereby proclaim and recognize the service and sacrifice of Mokena, illinois. To hereby proclaim and recognize the service and sacrifice of Mokena residents and Will County Deputy Walter Fisher, and encourage all residents to reflect upon and honor the valor and dedication of Deputy Fisher, whose selfish actions continue to inspire and remind us of the profound sacrifices made by law enforcement officers in the line of duty. Proclaim this ninthth day of December 2024.

Mayor Frank Fleischer: 5:51

Matthew, would you like to say a couple words? Absolutely, Mr Mayor.

Matt: 5:56

So I just wanted to say thank you to Mayor Fleischer and the Board of Trustees for this proclamation and making it happen this proclamation and making it happen. Special thanks to Trustee Dauphiné, who is not here tonight, but he took a special interest in this story and kind of got the ball rolling here Back when I wrote the book about.

Matt: 6:14

Deputy Fisher back in 2018, getting something like this was kind of like the goal I had. So I'm glad that it was able to happen, looking forward to some kind of permanent remembrance to the deputy here in our community, and I just only wish that Deputy Fisher's wife and children could have been here. Unfortunately they are long since deceased, but I think they're with us tonight on a different plane. So once again, thank you to the mayor and the board of trustees for everything and making this happen. That is all, thank you.

Mayor Frank Fleischer: 6:46

Thank you for the research on this and bringing us our attention. Oh, absolutely, what we're going to do with the proclamation is we're going to put it in the wooden cabinet out there. Oh fantastic, so it will be on display out there.

Matt: 6:56

Oh great, I'm thrilled to hear that. Okay, thanks, thank both of you.

Israel: 7:06

Israel. Thank also, thank you, thank you. This episode is all about Matt's second book, the 1926 Orland Park Murder Mysteries. Matt published this book in 2018 and it really was kind of a passion project for him, something that, as he learned and was studying more about the history of our town, the story of Deputy Walter Fisher really stuck out to him, and then it kind of stuck out even more when he realized that there is no memorial in our town to Deputy Walter Fisher. So on Monday, february 13th, matt and I decided to go down to the village board meeting and just share a little bit of the brief history of Deputy Walter Fisher and his importance on our town, as well as kind of make an action item.

Israel: 7:49

Make some requests or an idea of what we could do from us as ideas to fix this problem as we see it. So we've included that audio. Matt and I are going to speak to the village board, but we also go through the book and we don't do a reading of the book. That will be a lot longer, but it is a long episode. But if you have to listen to it in parts or come back to it, please do, because it's an important message and, I think, a very important piece of history for our town. We hope you enjoy this episode. I'll be sure to leave a link to where you can buy Matt's book in our show notes, so check that out and enjoy this next episode of Mokina's Front Porch.

Israel: 8:36

Hi, good evening Mr Mayor and Village Trustees. My name is Israel Smith. I'm here with historian Matt Gaelic tonight and we have a history podcast called Mokina's Front Porch and, as many of you know, matt wrote a book, two books Images of America, as well as the 1926 Orland Park murder mystery. Matt and I are here to talk about something that came up as we were recording an episode about Matt's second book and the story of the murder of one of Molkina's law enforcement officers and business owners. This is the only time in our town's history where one of our law enforcement officers was killed on the line of duty.

Israel: 9:08

This was a time when Molkina's population hovered around 475 at the first half of the 1920s and Joliet's Rialto Theater was called new, and Chicago and the surrounding areas were thrown into a crime wave due to the passage of the 1919 Volstead Act bringing about the Prohibition era.

Israel: 9:28

Crime was a growing problem in Will County and Frankfort Township. So Will County Sheriff Newkirk deputized several men for the arrest of moonshiners, bootleggers and auto thieves. At the time Mokena had no established police department but only a single appointed police officer. Deputy Walter Fisher received his appointment by Will County Sheriff John Walker on December 11, 1922. He had been a resident of Mokena for less than one year. Deputy Fisher quickly became a prominent figure in our village, being a Front Street business owner and the village's assistant postmaster. His business was growing so much that he resigned his deputy to focus on his business in December of 1923. But as a sign of his duty and commitment to our community, he is again deputized in August of 1924, just in time to assist when the Mokena State Bank is robbed at gunpoint in October of 1924.

Matt: 10:29

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 Deputy Fisher. So the morning of April 14th 1926, deputy Fisher responded to a phone call that the Ford Coupe of Mokena Dr Ernest McMahon had been stolen at gunpoint near the corner of Wolf Road and Lincoln Highway. The pursuit of justice that day ended with Deputy Fisher having been shot multiple times at the corner of today's 143rd Street and LaGrange Road in Orland Park and his passing at the home of a doctor nearby.

Matt: 11:06

Deputy Fisher's death left his young wife without her husband, their two children without their father and left Mokina in a deep sense of mourning. Bill Semler of Our Town newspaper, the News Bulletin, said, wrote Walter Fisher died. A game fighter in his duty as a deputy sheriff of Will County, he laid his life down to protect the property and lives of the neighbors and friends of his community. He was a real hero in every sense of the word and this community should always revere his memory. He was such a staunch supporter of law enforcement that did not hesitate to die to uphold the law. Walter Fisher was a good citizen, businessman, kind neighbor, faithful friend and loving husband and father. He was big-hearted, ever ready to do a good deed. I end my book saying well, he sways over the village like a silent ghost. Walter Fisher's name is conspicuously absent in the Mokina of today. His dedication to his home was paid for in his blood and the ultimate sacrifice has been completely forgotten. No memorial stands in his hometown, no park or street or even a bench bears his name.

Israel: 12:21

And that's why Matt and I decided to come tonight is we're just asking that after 97 years, after Deputy Fisher was killed in the line of duty, that the village could do something to recognize his sacrifice to our village and our county. So a couple ideas that we had and of course we leave it to you, but with the new police station going in, maybe a memorial to uh deputy fisher there, or maybe even a naming of the police station, uh, a possible renaming of 104th avenue, which runs directly west of the new police station, to a deputy fisher avenue, deputy walter fisher avenue, something along those lines um, a monument at the new police station to memorialize him, or maybe an annual day. Walter Fisher's birthday was on October 25th 1897. So any way that we can present to this board the idea of recognizing his sacrifice and Matt and I would love to be a part of that and we can help with that as well. So thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you very much for this discussion.

Israel: 13:28

Matt, this time we're going to talk about the book that you wrote in 2018. Yes, absolutely, titled the 1926 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 write this book?

Matt: 13:45

It's a very good question actually. Well, years ago I sort of took it upon myself this project of mine where I decided, hey, I want to sit down and go through every page of every issue of the News Bulletin, which was our town paper from 1919 until 1969.

Israel: 14:10

Wow, that's a huge amount of newspapers to go through.

Matt: 14:13

It took me a very, very, very long time. Yeah, oh yeah, but I started this when I was in high school, so years ago, and the entire or most, maybe like 99% of the run of the paper is available on microfilm at the mokino library and at the frankfurt library.

Israel: 14:32

So between those, is that how you were seeing it was through the, you were doing microfilm.

Matt: 14:38

Yeah, for all of it oh, definitely, yeah, yeah, oh yeah. So as I was paging through, my favorite decade of the whole span was the 1920s, because there was just a lot of crazy stuff happening at that time, not just in Mokena but kind of you know the whole region here because the paper reported on the neighboring towns and stuff too, in 1926, april of 1926, of the murder, we can call it, of a Will County Sheriff's Deputy from Mokena named Walter Fisher, and it was just such a crazy story to me that it really piqued my interest and over the course of years I had been researching it and trying to dig out every single last detail about it and as everything came into focus to me I really kind of felt, how would I say? I had this big question of why? Why is this man who literally sacrificed his life for our village, protecting his neighbor's property in the line of his duty, why is he not remembered by anything? In this town?

Matt: 15:56

There were a few of the oldest residents who could remember having heard about this case, who could remember having heard about this case, but it had always in the collective memory. It always got lumped in with the 1924 bank robbery and the story that was repeated was that he was killed chasing the bank robbers from that event in October 1924. That's not what happened. Walter Fisher didn't die until April of 1926. But I think what happened is, since there were two big crime events that happened relatively close to each other, they just sort of merged together over the years in the fog of time and became one thing. But I'm getting away from your question. There's nothing named after Walter Fisher here, no street, no park, no bench or tree or what have you. And I wanted him to be immortalized and remembered for his sacrifice, because he's the only law enforcement figure in the entire history of Mokina who died in the line of his duty.

Israel: 17:10

And explain that, because there was not a Mokina police department at the time. That's correct. So how did he become Mokina's law enforcement?

Matt: 17:20

That's a good question actually. So yeah, the Mokina police department as we know it now did not exist until much, much later. How law enforcement kind of worked back in his day was that the village board would appoint a constable, someone who kind of took care of law enforcement type things on a part time basis, sort of on the side in conjunction with whatever his other job was. But Walter Fisher was not a Mokena constable, he was a Will County sheriff deputy. And how that worked is in the early 1920s, after Prohibition came into effect, there were lots of problems in Will County with bootlegging and stuff of the sort. So the sheriff went from town to town in what were then the rural communities of Will County and would deputize a couple men from each town as kind of like a supplement to help them combat bootlegging and prohibition-related offenses. And that's where Walter Fisher came onto the scene, because he was a general storekeeper in Mokina.

Israel: 18:36

And we've talked about his store before, but maybe just tell us where he was at, absolutely.

Matt: 18:42

So Walter Fisher, when he first came to Mokena 101 years ago in 1922, he opened up his store in an old building that was on the northwest corner of Front Street and Division Street. It was not there too terribly long, though, because he moved a few doors down further to the west into yet another old building that stood uh, where dina's barber shop would later stand. A lot of people will will remember where that was, also, unfortunately, a building that's no longer there. But uh the. The building that uh fisher worked out of was destroyed in a fire only a few years after he died, so it's been gone for a really long time.

Israel: 19:25

And the first, is it right? The first building he had his business in he bought from Mr David Kropp's dad and uncle. That is correct.

Matt: 19:36

Yeah, they sort of switched properties because they were Roy and Milton Kropp were the owners of a hardware store and when they first got started out, they opened up in what then was called the Zahn Building, the north side of Front Street. There and this business transaction happened, where basically they flip-flopped. So Walter Fisher moved into what had been the Kropp Hardware Store in the old Zahn Building and the Kropps went into the building on the corner of Front and Division Street where they had their hardware store throughout the 20s. Yeah, so yeah, that's, that's a connection to a living connection actually to Walter Fisher. Yeah, definitely, actually to Walter Fisher. Yeah, definitely.

Israel: 20:24

So, and again before we get really get into the book, so you decided that you wanted to do something kind of as a memorial or as a memory to Walter Fisher. What did you do? How'd you get from the point of having the idea to putting it in place, getting the book in place?

Matt: 20:45

Actually, the whole thing started out in an article that I wrote for the Mokina Messenger back in 2009. I wrote this article and it was pretty long, so they split it up into two parts. But even after I wrote it the whole story of Walter Fisher and his untimely demise I kind of thought there's still so much to this story that didn't make it into the article in the messenger and I thought, well, what's a good venue for this? And I decided after I wrote my first book, the Mokina book that came out in 2011,. I sort of had the experience in writing books and I thought, you know, this is worthy of a book. There's enough here for a book, absolutely.

Israel: 21:35

So, yeah, it kind of took off from there and did you go to the same publisher that you used for the Mokina book?

Matt: 21:42

Yeah, actually it's interesting. So the Mokina book was published by Arcadia Publishing, who specializes in these sort of local, village community histories. They have a I don't know if you could call it like a subsidiary or a, like a separate arm or whatever, but they, excuse me, have a publisher called History Press that is under the Arcadia umbrella, and History Press sort of like the same thing specializes in like the tales from American history that you might not have heard, local history, things like that. The thing I think that separates History Press and arcadia is that arcadia is primarily pictorial histories whereas, uh, with the, the 1926 orland park murder mystery, the second book, uh, and a lot of the other stuff history press has done, they're they're a lot more, uh, text oriented tell us about the title, okay yeah, that's also why I keep saying it, but that's another good question.

Matt: 22:47

So, as I wrote this book, when I wrote the book, my old articles in the Mokina Messenger, the pieces for my blog that I still have today I am not good at coming up with titles, it's always the last thing I do.

Matt: 23:06

So I wrote the whole book still didn't have a title, but I came up with maybe something like three possibilities that I thought were kind of good, liked the most was Deadly Pursuit. I forget what the rest of it was, but it was sort of like Deadly Pursuit, colon Walter Fisher of Mokina, something, something. But unfortunately, every idea I had my publisher shot down. They didn't like any of them and they ultimately sort of arbitrarily decided that they were just going to call it the 1926 Orland Park murder mystery. It's like, okay, fine, they're in the business of selling books. So that's what they gave it because they thought it would do the best with that title out in Orland. But I was kind of frustrated by that because, as anybody that reads the book will see, but I was kind of frustrated by that because, as anybody that reads the book will see, it's about 90% a Mokina story, though.

Israel: 24:09

Sure, yeah, it's about Mokina people no-transcript, one of the first lines in the book that really stuck out to me and it says a lot about the time that this was going on and it's in relation to talking about Mokina, and the line is not 35 miles to the north. The Thompson submachine gun was earning 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: 24:55

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 with the discovery of a body that this took place out in one of the near suburbs to Chicago, one of the near Western suburbs I believe this happened in Broadview, I want to say but it was the discovery of a body, a very um, brutalized and bloody one. Uh, this was not Deputy Fisher, but as a, without giving away too much from the book, it would turn out that this dead man that was found in the middle of a road late at night would by and by come to be called the murderer of Deputy Fisher no-transcript ultimately killed himself the same day under circumstances that were never totally cleared up, and, through a strange kind of twist, another man was ultimately found guilty and sent to prison and did time for it.

Israel: 26:13

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: 26:22

So the crime, how it all went down is, let's see, oh, there's a lot of little facets to this. Where do I start? So the day was April 14th 1926. Mokina is still a very small rural farm town at the time.

Israel: 26:40

Around 475 people. I think is what you said in the book.

Matt: 26:43

Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, 475 thereabouts, so very small. Everybody knew each other. This afternoon a local man, dr Ernest McMahon, who was our village doctor, was in practice for many, many years A lot of people actually still remember him had his car stolen out from under him at what then was a country intersection of Lincoln Highway and what today we would call Wolf Road, and the crime is nowadays we would call this carjacking. He was traveling, let's see this would be. He was headed east down the Lincoln Highway and as he approached the intersection with what then they just called the Mokina Road but later on came to be called Wolf Road, a man stepped out from some brush who was 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 had car trouble or is in some other emergency and needed help, was greeted with a pistol to his face and the man, uh, explained something along the lines of I need your car right now. So, uh, dr mcmahon was not one to argue with the gun he got out the uh unknown auto thief gave him his doctor bag from inside the car. He got in the car, sped off to the east and disappeared into the horizon.

Matt: 28:26

Dr McMahon, in his I guess you would call it panic I know I would have been panicked went to the farmhouse of a man by the name Clarence Cleveland who had his farm on the most of it was on the southern side of that intersection, lincoln Highway and today's Wolf Road went up to his farmhouse, which stood right about where McAllister's Deli is nowadays Crumble Cookie, that little shopping center right there. That's where Clarence Cleveland's farmhouse was. So he frantically knocked on the door. Mr Cleveland came and Dr McMahon explained what had happened and together, from the Cleveland house they made a phone call into Mokina explaining what had happened. And message got to right about the same time, landed at the Cooper and Hestert Ford agency garage auto dealership on Front Street and also to Deputy Fisher, grabbed his gun and he and a man by the name of Barney Hostert, who was one of the owners of the Cooper and Hostert Ford agency, took off in their car, took off in Mr Hostert's car with Barney himself at the wheel, with Deputy Fisher as passenger.

Matt: 29:54

They went out of town, went down today's 191st Street and, based on the description that had been given to them by Dr McMahon and Clarence Cleveland. They knew, or figured, I should say. I don't think they knew, but they were kind of expecting the stolen car to appear on today's LaGrange Road, or what then would have been called Keene Avenue, the small town being what it was. They knew Dr McMahon's car by sight and they waited somewhere in the vicinity of the intersection of today's 191st Street and LaGrange Road, after having made haste to get there. Sure enough, didn't have to wait too terribly long, saw the car coming towards them and they gave pursuit.

Matt: 30:48

Deputy Fisher and Barney Hostard chased the car thief in Dr McMahon's car all the way up until just outside of Orland Park. Something happened right at the intersection of LaGrange Road and 143rd Street, where descriptions kind of vary a little bit as to what happened, but it sounds like they were able to get close enough to the fleeing car thief, get close enough to the fleeing car thief to where they were able to kind of overtake him in a way and forced him to stop, at which point Deputy Fisher jumped out of the car with his gun drawn and the car thief drew his own gun and shot and fatally wounded Deputy Fisher, who died a short time later after he was carried into Orland proper.

Israel: 31:46

And you give a good description of this shootout. Yeah, yeah. He gets out of his car. Walter Fisher gets out of his car and is stepping out of the car, I believe. Yeah, yeah, car and or is is stepping out of the car. I believe. Yeah, and and uh, the, the gunman, opens fire and walter, uh fisher, also opens fire at the same time. Is that correct?

Matt: 32:05

that is absolutely correct. Yeah, uh, basically happened. It happened very quickly but simultaneously. Uh, barney hostert, who was there, would later testify that they were close enough to each other to have shaken hands. He also testified that Deputy Fisher's shots did wound the gunman slash auto thief. In fact, investigators later found a trail of blood at the scene, because he did take off on foot but a few minutes later came back to the car and resumed driving off.

Israel: 32:41

Now, one thing that I think is really interesting is you know we think about the stories and you hear them in modern time. When I looked up, you know, the doctor's car was, I think, a 1924 Ford Coupe, that's right.

Israel: 32:55

These are not like sports cars. These are not. This is an old, you know early car, that's right. These are not like sports cars, these are not. This is an old, you know early car, you know. So it gives a little more to the picture of the story when you think about these. They're not big cars like we're used to today. No, definitely not, you were right, they could be right up next to them, absolutely, you know. So that to bring a little clarity to that picture there, oh, definitely.

Matt: 33:19

Yeah, these were not huge cars. These were not cars built for speed either. I don't know what their max speeds they reached during this car chase.

Israel: 33:27

And was Barney Hostert. Was he wounded at all?

Matt: 33:30

Yeah, as a matter of fact he was. He was so close to this entire thing, as it happened, that either a piece of broken glass or they posited it could have been a one of the gunman's stray rounds sort of clipped the tip of his nose, which left him with a visible scar, actually for the rest of his life, and I've I've talked to people who remembered it. He passed away at the end of the 1950s.

Israel: 34:07

But yeah, he carried a visible scar on his nose from that. So Deputy Fisher was shot. He was Barney Hostert is he's okay. He's slightly wounded and the gunman is now this point taken off and gone. That is correct. So what happens to Walter Fisher and Barney Hoster?

Matt: 34:25

Yeah, so what happened was so the shootout happens, excuse me Barney Hoster sort of instinctively ducked inside the car. Sort of instinctively ducked inside the car. Deputy Fisher fell out of the car as he was sort of in the process of jumping out of it when the shooting happened. He's laying on the ground. Gunman took off on foot.

Matt: 34:49

As the shots are exchanged, there was a candy salesman who was in Orland at a general store on 143rd street, who had heard the shots happening and I guess you could call it bravely came out to the intersection to see what was going on. And this is immediately after the shooting happens. He finds barney hostert and Deputy Fisher, barney having run off to a immediately afterward to a nearby farmhouse to try to get some help, but there was nobody home. The salesman, whose name I forget, loaded the two guys, including severely wounded Deputy Fisher, into his own car, drove them back into Orland and took him to the village doctor's house that was Dr Schussler, I believe, was his name to a house that's actually still standing but doctor's not home. So they managed to carry Walter Fisher, who was barely alive at this point, into the doctor's office in his house and it was there that he bled. Toman came back, jumped once again into Dr McMahon's car and drove off and disappeared for the time being.

Israel: 36:27

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 who Dan Hesley was.

Matt: 36:42

So Dan Hesley is a very interesting character. He is a man, a Chicago man, who was a young man at this point about 25 years old, who, as he's growing up, as he's in high school, very athletic, uh athletic kind of guy, played some sports, was kind of a tinkerer, like he was interested in radios In any case the details are in the book but also was kind of a troublemaker, going way back, always getting himself into trouble, had done some time previously he robbed a mail truck in Indiana Harbor, indiana, which nowadays is considered part of the city of East Chicago, completed this mail heist of $37,000. That was payroll that was on its way to one of the big steel mills out there I believe it was Inland Steel. In any case, not only did he rob this mail truck of that thousands and thousands of dollars, he also sort of kidnapped the driver of the said mail truck, threw him into his car and forced him at gunpoint to drive him back over the border into illinois and then they come, uh, through illinois it's.

Israel: 38:24

He said, you go, he goes through lansing, yeah, chicago heights. So they're doing the route 30 kind of route was route 30, uh a route at that, uh official road. Yet at that point it was.

Matt: 38:34

Yeah, I believe it was, because lincoln highway was sort of took off in, uh yeah, in the 1920s. Uh, so if, if you're a listener and you're maybe a newcomer to the area, route 30 and lincoln highway is the same thing, um, yeah, so that that's it. We don't know the exact route they took, but based on the places that would later be referenced to them having passed through, it kind of sounds like that's where they were headed, maybe around that Lincoln Highway, route 30 corridor.

Israel: 39:05

So he stole $37,000? Yes, so in today's money that's equal to about $640,000. Yeah, it's nothing to sneeze at yeah, this is a huge chunk of money that was stolen Absolutely.

Matt: 39:18

Absolutely yeah, and everything was going pretty well for him. He got his loot, didn't get hurt doing it, was making his escape. When they got into Joliet and started to have some car trouble, dan Hesley's car basically died on him as they were going through Joliet. So he and his kidnapee, if you want to call it, a guy by the name of Frank Watson, sort of pushed the car into a garage or auto workshop on Route 30 in Joliet.

Matt: 40:03

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.

Matt: 40:17

This man that he had kidnapped Frank Watson sort of used that as his opportunity to escape and he ran off, got to a phone and was able to call authorities and explain what had happened. And that's kind of like a crucial point in this story, because it is then that Dan Hesley, who of course figured out what had happened, kind of went off the radar for a little bit and in the aftermath of everything that had happened, investigators this is where it gets kind of tricky, but investigators sort of put it together that Dan Hesley was the man who then robbed Dr McMahon of his Ford coupe outside Mokina, therefore sparking the car chase in which Deputy Fisher was killed, and that Dan Hesley was the man who shot him. 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 shouldered with the theft of Dr McMahon's car outside Mokena and, ultimately, the murder of Deputy Fisher.

Israel: 41:37

Let's talk a little bit about Deputy Fisher. Sure, so at the time he passed he had a wife, Ethel yes, he did and two young children.

Matt: 41:47

Is that right? That is correct. He had two little girls, Lucille and Rosalyn. Both are unfortunately deceased now.

Israel: 41:55

And you know there's more in there. But it ends up they have a kind of a tragic family story. They do, yeah, ethel passed away very young. Yeah, absolutely. And the kids, I believe right, both the daughters.

Matt: 42:09

That is correct. Yeah, the story of this, what happened to the Fisher family, is incredibly sad. Yeah, ethel passed away I believe that was in 1930 of tuberculosis. Uh, very young, very young woman, early 30s uh, at which point her two daughters basically grew up in orphanages. Uh, I don't know why no one in the family, either in her family or her husband's family, took them in, as they both had decent-sized families. But the two girls grew up in orphanages and I believe that was Lucille passed away in the 1950s, at which point she herself would have been in her 30s.

Matt: 42:54

I can't remember offhand what of some ailment that was common back then. In fact, when Lucille Fisher died, actually she wasn't a Fisher anymore. I believe she was married. If I'm not mistaken, I believe she was Lucille Kaufman.

Matt: 43:13

In any case, when she died, her obituary was carried on the front page of the news bulletin here in Mokina, our paper we had back then, even though she hadn't lived in Mokina in close to 30 years at that point.

Matt: 43:28

It sort of listed her details and all this and sort of added you might, or village residents might, remember her father, walter Fisher, who was killed in 1926, 1926, et cetera, et cetera. And then, to round out, rosalind Fisher, walter and Ethel's other daughter did actually have Live a fairly long life. She passed away in. That must have been without looking at my files on her family. I believe that was, I believe, around the end of the 1990s or so. This was, if anyone's familiar with Joliet at all, they'll know the law enforcement memorial that's on the lawn of well, what used to be until recently the Will County Courthouse. That lists the name of every man, every policeman from Will County that has died in the line of duty and of course Deputy Fisher's name going up on that memorial, which made her immensely happy and proud. So I'm glad that she got to see that before she passed away.

Israel: 44:45

And the Fishers were one of very few Jewish families in the community.

Matt: 44:52

Yeah, that is correct. That's another thing that makes them interesting. Yeah, there, there were other Jewish families in town. Uh, the Culbers, uh, for example, uh were one of the Wishnicks who they were moved out of town by the time the Fishers came along, but there were another one from a little before that. Uh, yeah, they were. Uh, yeah, there there weren't too terribly many Jewish folk around in those days, but yeah, it's another thing that made them unique. Yeah, absolutely.

Israel: 45:23

To get back into the story a little bit how does Dan Hesley end up being arrested? So?

Matt: 45:31

what happened to Dan Hesley is after he made his escape from Juliet after his hostage, I guess you can call him, ran off and called the police. He took his big canvas sacks stuffed with cash from his robbery, threw him over his shoulder, took off and later that day, after Deputy Fisher was killed, he was getting back home, he was getting into Chicago and at one point he found himself in a taxi with his cargo, I guess you can call it. As he was paying his fee to the cab driver, he gave the man an abnormally high tip from one of the literal sacks full of cash he was carrying. The cab driver found that to be very, very suspicious and notified the police about it basically right away, and they jumped on it because the heist that had been completed by Hesley in Indiana Harbor was big, big news the day it happened and it was on all law enforcement's radar sort of immediately. So that alone is what made him a suspect.

Matt: 46:57

Somehow or other they were able to put it together that the passenger had been Dan Hesley and he was on the run for a few days with his wife. He was a young married man. Was a young married man. Uh, he was holed up in the morrison hotel in chicago, right in the loop. Uh, in fact, if anyone, if we have any listeners that are, you know, maybe work in the city, are familiar with chicago. That hotel stood where a chase tower is nowadays. Well, let's see what is it front on.

Israel: 47:35

It's Clark and Madison, I believe.

Matt: 47:37

So, yeah, I believe so. It's the. Yeah, it's one of the tallest buildings in Chicago. But yeah, chase Tower, that's where the Morrison Hotel used to be and that's where the authorities, postal inspectors, policemen what have you caught up with him and arrested him right there at the Morrison Hotel a few days after the heist and murder?

Israel: 47:58

And he had been spending some of the money with his wife. Was it His pregnant wife at the time?

Matt: 48:05

That's right. Yeah, she was expecting at the time. That is right. Yeah, he had gone through a little bit of the money but he had sort of stashed away a lot of it. I think he had some of it hidden in a garbage can at his mother's house, if I'm not mistaken, and then also he put the lion's share of it in some safes in banks on LaSalle Street in Chicago.

Israel: 48:32

But he did end up at some point returning. I think it was about $31,000 of it, you said.

Matt: 48:38

Yeah, he did Not all of the loot, but a fair amount of it was able to be found and returned. I don't really know if that worked out in his favor at all when it came time to sentencing. Well, we'll get to that, but yeah, they were able. He was able to sort of lead investigators to where he had hidden most of it.

Israel: 49:00

And the whole, all the details that you highlight about the little things they found and how to track them down, how they tracked them down in a time of no technology yeah, yeah, is really incredible. It is, it says a lot for the police of that time it is, it's really interesting stuff.

Matt: 49:19

Yeah, crazy to think about that. They did this.

Israel: 49:22

So how about tell us who Santo Calabrese was?

Matt: 49:26

So Santo Calabrese, kind of a mystery man. We don't know too terribly much about him. We kind of have a rough birth date. I believe he was born towards the end of the 1880s in Italy, and at the time of the heist and Deputy Fisher's murder he was a relatively recent immigrant to the united states. Uh, he immigrated over from italy around 1922, 1923, thereabouts. Uh was living in chicago, uh, near what is today we would know as chinatown, which then, though, was a very heavily Italian-American community working as a laborer and let's see how can I explain this? I don't want to make this too confusing for people. So, santo Calabrese sometimes you see his name rendered as Colabrasey too. We'll just call him Santo Calabrese. He himself was murdered on the evening of April 14th 1926. So that's the same day Deputy Fisher was killed, and his body was found laying in the middle of the road in, like we were saying towards the beginning of the podcast. I think that was Broadview up there in that neighborhood. It was Broadview.

Israel: 51:00

Yeah.

Matt: 51:00

Broadview. Yeah, he met a pretty nasty end. He was found to have a point-blank gunshot wound in his head, and it also appeared that his head had maybe been run over by a car. He also was found with some superficial, really not fatal, 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 body was found that night, april 14th, the investigators are kind of putting things together and they sort of summarily declared him to be the male robber of Indiana Harbor and the murderer of Deputy Fisher. And in fact Barney Hostert and Dr McMahon, both of Mokina, were sort of summoned up that way to view his body and they both positively identified him as being the man. They saw both, respectively, steal their car and shoot Deputy Fisher.

Israel: 52:20

And they've also found Santo with two different calibers of bullet. Isn't that right?

Matt: 52:25

Oh yeah, thank you for bringing that up. That is correct head wound. And the wounds I mentioned, the sort of superficial, not huge deal ones, were discovered to have been of a different caliber than the fatal wound. So this was one of those things that sort of helped tip the investigators into the direction of 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 ultimately killed him, and I think there's some report somewhere that says that the actual rounds were removed out of Santo Calabrese's body and successfully matched to Deputy Fisher's gun, his revolver- so it kind of throws a.

Israel: 53:22

that's where the question and the mystery comes in Exactly.

Matt: 53:27

Exactly. Yeah, this is why the book is called a murder mystery, because we have Santo Calabrese dies under circumstances that were never cleared up, never any suspects in his killing, never any real any motive, although it was posited that co-conspirators must have killed him. Who stole the money from him that he had robbed earlier that day? Stole the money from him that he had robbed earlier that day. In any case, in the immediate aftermath of the mail robbery and Deputy Fisher's murder the same day, santo Calabrese is named the suspect-slash-guilty party in both cases.

Matt: 54:12

But then a few days later Dan Hesley comes along. He is arrested and charged with both crimes. Was kind of put out there as red herring to let or sort of to lull Dan Hesley into a feeling of safety and to get him to let his guard down. Doesn't really explain the fact that, uh, according to this one mention that made it into the media that bullets were removed from Santo Calabrese that were said to be conclusively matched to Deputy Fisher's revolver, in the aftermath we have Barney Hostert and Dr McMahon changing their testimony and saying actually no, this was, it was Dan Hesley that we saw that day.

Israel: 55:15

So but that comes after a face-to-face with.

Matt: 55:18

Hesley, that is true. After yeah, after a face-to-face lineup, they both changed their testimony and positively identified him Hesley. So there are a lot of weird little things about this case that don't really add up. And for what it's worth, dan Hesley was tried and sentenced, found guilty for both crimes the mail heist in 1926 and then a year later, in 27, he was taken out of prison and tried for the murder of Deputy Fisher. He always maintained until his dying day he admitted guilt in the mail heist but always maintained his innocence in the murder of Deputy Fisher.

Israel: 56:11

And Dan Hesley first murder of Deputy Fisher and Dan Hesley first. So he's convicted of the robbery and is sent to Leavenworth Prison in Kansas. That is correct. And then shortly after sometime after 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: 56:31

That it is, yeah, yeah.

Israel: 56:34

And so what happened there? He's in Alcatraz. How does he? What happens after that?

Matt: 56:40

So yeah, he's up there in Leavenworth and there was some disciplinary infraction or something. Something was going wrong at Leavenworth so they packed him up and sent him to Alcatraz, finishes his sentence, which I believe was 25 years 25 years for the mail heist he got. Then he began serving the sentence for the murder of Deputy Fisher at the state penitentiary in Joliet. So he gets out of Leavenworth around let's see 36, 46, maybe around 1951, I think sent to Joliet where he begins doing his time there. And this is another one of these things where we don't really know too much about the details of what happened here Because unfortunately most if not all of the records on prisoners from the penitentiary in juliet were destroyed so we can't really totally say but he didn't do really that much at all of his sentence in juliet for walter fisher before they sent him home and interestingly, interestingly enough, he was at the prison, the old Joliet prison.

Israel: 57:57

Yes, yes, and the place that his car broke down on the escape was not that far away. It was just kind of around the corner, right Down 30 from the old prison there.

Matt: 58:09

Yeah, not far at all, really yeah, so that's kind of a weird twist of fate there for him.

Israel: 58:24

Yeah, absolutely from the old prison there. Yeah, not far at all, really.

Matt: 58:25

Yeah, so that's kind of a weird twist of fate there for him. Yeah, so, um santo, he's buried in a unmarked grave. That is correct. Do you remember where? Where that is? And yeah, yeah, yeah, santo calabrese. They buried him in Mount Carmel Cemetery, which is in, that's, the town of Hillside, as we get a little closer to the city, and, interestingly, also the final resting place of Al Capone he is. Santo Calabrese is literally stone's throw away, a few yards away from another infamous gangster, jack McGurn, who was killed in the 1930s. Very close. The Mount Carmel Cemetery is a very interesting place. Lots of infamous organized crime figures buried up there.

Israel: 59:07

And with as little as we know about Santo Calabrese, how was it that you found out where he was buried?

Matt: 59:15

Yeah, very good question. A lot of the details on him and the Walter Fisher case came out of the records from their inqu? Uh which I was able to get um that must've been about 10 years ago at huge expense to myself. Um, it's absolutely embarrassing how much money I spent on this, so I won't say but? Um, I had to order them from the Cook County Department of Health, as? Uh, from the Cook County Department of Health, as the newspaper accounts from both cases, both Deputy Fisher and Santo Calabrese both reference inquests having been performed on them. So I thought, oh, if those records are still around, there might be something interesting in those. And sure enough, I was able to get them, and each one contained dozens of pages of details about the crimes themselves. And I think it was somewhere in there that it was referenced that Santo Calabrese was buried at Mount Carmel. If it wasn't for that, I never would have found him.

Israel: 1:00:26

Wow, that must have been some interesting reading through that too. Oh, definitely Did you pull a lot of the book from those.

Matt: 1:00:35

You know a fair amount, yeah, especially in terms of the actual crimes themselves. Yeah, a lot of it came from that.

Israel: 1:00:44

And we talk a lot about the newspaper coverage and that was a huge part. And that's a huge part of how we know today what happened? Yeah, definitely, and Bill Semler at the paper there, wrote a beautiful eulogy and had some really good words. So it's part of the book here and I was hoping you'd just read it for us, matt.

Matt: 1:01:05

Yeah, definitely, I'd be glad to. Yeah Well, he sways over the village like a silent ghost. Walter Fisher's name is conspicuously absent in the Mokina of today. His dedication to his home was paid for in his blood, and this ultimate sacrifice has been completely forgotten. While his name is inscribed, with others, on the courthouse lawn monument in Joliet, no memorial stands in his hometown. No park or street or even a bench bears his name. On April 14, 1926, an epic robbery befell the faceless Inland Steel Company, one that inconvenienced the concern but from which it ultimately bounced back richer than ever. That day, a life was also brutally robbed, and Walter Fisher's family was forced to go down a long and painful road without him. He gave his life protecting his community, his neighbors and their property. In the words of editor William Semler of the Mokina News Bulletin, he was a real hero in every sense of the word, and this community should always revere his memory.

Israel: 1:02:11

You know, you can't think of a much better way to honor or memorialize somebody than that, those words. You can tell they had a relationship, he knew this person and his heart, along with the heart of the community, was broken and hurt by this loss. Absolutely, yeah, definitely, and again today it still carries on. So I think that the fact that you know we're bringing it up today again, yeah, yeah, but he should be recognized in this town.

Matt: 1:02:45

I think so too Definitely.

Israel: 1:02:47

You know that was a time that was not the Mokina of today no, definitely not the crime. And you highlight some of that earlier in the book too and talk about the things that were going on at that time, right, right, but I'd highly encourage everybody to read the book. Oh, thanks, it's a quick read. You know we've all been to Molkina or been to Lincoln Highway and Route 30 where Dr McMahon was held up.

Israel: 1:03:23

You know we've probably all been to 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 our neighborhood. This is our community, right, yeah, definitely, and this history is really interesting and thank you for putting all the time and effort and money and all that it took to do this Absolutely. At least I could do yeah.

Israel: 1:03:44

As kind of a living memorial to Walter Fisher. Oh, definitely yeah. So thank you for talking about this. Please, everybody buy the book. It's a great book, thank you.

Israel: 1:03:53

Definitely, yeah. So thank you for talking about this. Please, everybody buy the book. It's a great book. You can get it on Amazon by searching for the 1926 Orland Park Murder Mystery, as well as Matt's other book, the Mokina Images of America, which is another amazing book that's so much fun to look at and pull out and page through. So thank you for doing this, matt. Thank you for writing the book Absolutely. You're very welcome. Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to the next time, definitely. Thanks so much for listening.

Israel: 1:04:19

We hope you enjoyed the story of Deputy Walter Fisher and hope you enjoyed hearing some about Matt's book. Please be sure to go out and buy that Again. I left the link to where you can buy his book in the show notes, and also be sure to check out Matt's blog, which I also have a link for in the show notes, or you can Google search Matt's Old Mokina and you'll be able to find it there as well. So thanks for joining us Again. We really hope you enjoyed this episode. Please share this with your friends and family. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you find your podcasts. So thanks again and we'll see you next time on Waukeena's Front Porch.