Chapter 26 Section 1

In Chicago in the 1920s, people heard reports of murders, robberies, kidnappings, and the Capri Mafia family almost every day. In 1924, before May 21, the number of homicides in the city had exceeded 150, an average of one a day.However, the kidnapping of Bobby Fanks that happened today caused a rare sensation among the citizens. Bobby is the youngest of Jacob and Flora Fanks' three children, aged 14.Most of the families of the hostages in the kidnapping case are very wealthy, and the Fanks family is no exception.Jacob Fanks was a Chicago real estate tycoon who also co-founded a watch company.The Fanks family lived in a neighborhood called Kenwood between downtown Chicago and the famous University of Chicago, where they owned a yellow brick building at 5052 Alice Road.Kenwood can be regarded as a residential area for millionaires among the local Jewish people. For example, the Louie’s house diagonally across from the Fanks’ house. A little distant relative.The Leop family, not far to the north, runs their own family business, the Morris Paper Mill.The Fanks family lived a quiet, even somewhat closed life in this wealthy area, rarely interacting with neighbors, and almost never showing up on any social occasions.There are two reasons for this. One is that their family converted to Christianity after abandoning Judaism; the other is that Jacob opened a pawn shop near several casinos before making his fortune, relying on the bad luck of gamblers to make money.Although it has been many years, this kind of unscrupulous business is still despised by colleagues in the business world and bankers, lawyers, doctors, etc. among neighbors.

May 21 was a Wednesday, until 6:30 in the afternoon, Bobby hadn't come home, nor had he called to explain the reason, Jacob and Flora were a little anxious.As usual, the father was angry and the mother was worried.Flora started calling Bobby's friends and classmates. Some of the kids told her that Bobby was refereeing a baseball game after school. had already left.Jacob asked the family one by one, and Bobby's brother Jack said he might play tennis at the Lowies'.Although the tennis court at the Lowy house is fenced, it is never locked, and neighbors can come and go as they please.Mr. Luo Yi is very modest and gentlemanly. When there are many people on weekends, he insists that his children must also wait in line.Bobby was a decent tennis player, and occasionally played a game or two with the Lowies' 18-year-old son Richard.So Jacob went out and walked across the street to Lowy's house, but the tennis court was empty.On the way back, Jacob subconsciously looked north.Three blocks away was Bobbie's school at Harvard, an expensive all-boys school for rich men and boys.It was late spring and early summer, and Ellis Road was covered with greenery and luxuriant, so Harvard Middle School was practically invisible from Jacob's position at the time.

The wall clock on the wall struck seven, Jacob's anger was gradually replaced by worry.The maid came in and asked if I could serve dinner, and Mrs. Fankers said to wait.Jacob walked around the neighborhood again, but there was still no sign of his youngest son, so he came back and said there was no need to wait, let's eat first.At this time, his anger was all gone, only worry remained, but he still comforted his wife and said, don't worry, nothing will happen. After dinner, Jacob called his friend and lawyer Samuel Etoson, and Samuel arrived at the Fanks house around 9 o'clock.The Fanks and their lawyers discussed and analyzed for a while, and Samuel said, shouldn't they be locked in the school's teaching building?They made a few more phone calls.After a while, Thomas Shigerman, a physical education teacher from Harvard School, arrived after hearing the news, and the three men went to school together.

The front door of the school building was locked, and they turned sideways, found a window in the basement open, and went in, saying that if we could get in so easily, they should be able to get out.That being said, the three of them still called Bobby's name and searched upstairs and downstairs, but found nothing. At the same time, the phone at the Fanks' house rang.At that time, the telephone was a two-piece set, with a receiver and a microphone.Flora put the receiver close to her ear, and heard a man's voice at the other end of the line asking for Mr. Fanks. Flora said into the microphone that Mr. Fanks had gone out and was not there.

"Your son has been kidnapped," said the voice. "He is doing well. You will have more news tomorrow morning." "Who are you?" asked Mrs. Fankers, trembling unconsciously. "Johnson." "What do you want?" cried Mrs. Fankers. "What do you want?" No answer, the other party has hung up.Flora was dizzy for a while, and passed out on the ground. When Jacob and Samuel heard about the call when they returned, the lawyer contacted the phone company and asked to monitor all incoming calls.The two of them debated for a long time in the study on the first floor whether to call the police. It was not until two o'clock in the morning that Samuel said that he had trusted acquaintances in the police station who could tell them to keep the secret. Jacob agreed to go together. Police station in the city center.

Two of Samuel's acquaintances were absent, but Jacob and Samuel later informally briefed a duty sergeant about the situation.In other words, it was only verbal, and no formal registration was made.The duty sergeant agreed to keep it secret, promising not to tell anyone. The next day, May 22, at around 9:00 am, a Polish immigrant named Tony Mankowski was walking along a path winding among the thatched grasslands by Lake Wolf towards the small town of Heti in the south. Qi went.Tony had just come off the night shift at the corn mill and had gone to Kitci to pick up a repaired watch before heading home.

Wolf Lake is located in the southeast of Chicago, about 15 miles from downtown.The lake is very large, a mile or two in circumference, but it is nothing compared with Lake Michigan, which is a mile away.Wolf Lake is also the dividing line between the two states. The west of the lake is the state of Illinois, which belongs to Chicago, and the east of the lake is the state of Indiana.