Elsie Paroubek (1906–1911) was a Czech-American girl who was the victim of kidnapping and murder in the spring of 1911. Her disappearance and the subsequent search for her preoccupied Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota law enforcement for six weeks, and her funeral was attended by between 2,000 and 3,000 people.[1] Miss Paroubek's story, and especially her photograph in the Chicago Daily News, were two of the main inspirations for Henry Darger's immense fantasy novel The Story of the Vivian Girls.
Elsie's mother was born Karolina Vojacek on November 26, 1869, in Mícov (Meconi), East Bohemia, in what is now the Czech Republic. Elsie's father Frantisek (Frank) Paroubek was born in Bohemia November 15, 1867. His father's name was John. Frank came to the U.S. at the age of fifteen, and returned to Bohemia between 1882 and 1892. He and Karolina were married in Bohemia in 1892. In the United States, Frank worked as a painter while Karolina maintained the home. Eliska (Elsie) was their seventh child.[2][3]
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On the morning of April 8, 1911, Elsie Paroubek left her home at 2320 S. Albany Avenue in Chicago[4], telling her mother she was going to visit "Auntie", Mrs. Frank Trampota, around the corner at 2325 S. Troy Street. On the way she encountered her nine-year-old cousin Josie Trampota and a number of other children who were listening to an organ grinder. When he moved to the 23rd Street corner, the children followed him, but subsequently left, while Elsie remained behind. Several hours later, Elsie's mother went to her sister's house to find Elsie had never arrived. At nine p.m. that evening, Elsie's family went to police at the Hinman Street station and reported her missing.[5]
Gypsies (most likely Irish Travellers) were suspected after a neighborhood child, John Jirowski, told detectives led by inspector Stephen K. Healey that he had seen a gypsy wagon a block west of Troy Street with two women holding a little girl. There were several camps close by and these were sought. Residents told investigators that one wagon had decamped and left on the morning of April 9. The "stolen by gypsies" theory gained credence because Elsie's disappearance was almost identical to that of Lillian Wulff, who had been found with gypsies four years earlier.[6] Elsie's father, Frank Paroubek, offered his life savings, $50 (about $1,165 today) as a reward.[5] Inspector Healey also ordered that drainage canals be dragged for the child's body on April 15, and Governor Charles S. Deneen asked the public to aid in the search.[7]
Policeman Joseph Komorous accompanied Frank Paroubek in his search for the departed wagon, which was believed to be headed for Volo, Illinois, a village near Round Lake, Illinois, 43 miles from Chicago where seven wagons were camped. Residents had reported a child matching Elsie's description and said she appeared to be "stupefied". They attempted to search the wagons, but the gypsies immediately broke camp and departed. The reason for her capture was attributed by police to "the natural love of the wandering people for blue-eyed, yellow-haired children".[8] Elsie was consistently described as small, with light golden hair and blue eyes, wearing a red one-piece dress, lace shoes and black stockings.[9]
In the second week after Elsie's disappearance, Lillian Wulff, age 11, came forward to offer assistance. Miss Wulff herself had been the subject of a similar manhunt four years earlier. She actually had been stolen by gypsies and held for six days, working as a beggar, until discovered walking behind a gypsy wagon by a farmer outside Momence, IL.[6] She provided details of her experience of the culture's typical behavior and volunteered to lead a "rescue party".[10] One of the men who had kidnapped Lillian suggested asking Elijah George, whom he recognized as King of the Gypsies. George was found in Argyle, Wisconsin and brought to Joliet, but "failed to give the desired information" and was released. At this point Inspector Healey again ordered the drainage canal dragged, along with a search of all wells and other places Miss Paroubek could have fallen.[7]
By April 30, the superintendent of schools, Mrs. Ella Flagg Young, had requested that all schoolchildren in the Chicago area organize neighborhood searches during spring break. Meanwhile Frank Paroubek, in desperation, consulted a psychic, who said Elsie was in "Argo", Wisconsin. Chicago politician Charles J. Vopicka sent officers to the area she indicated, to no avail.[11][12] The search "jumped from Illinois to Wisconsin, and from Wisconsin to Minnesota and then back again to Illinois" with no luck.[7] Mr. Paroubek began to receive anonymous, "insulting" letters, and an attempt at following these up was made by Detectives Zahour and Zalasky.[13]
The Czech community rallied to support the Paroubeks. All Czech-speaking policemen were put into plain clothes and assigned to the investigation. The women's auxiliary of the Club Bohemia assisted in the search. Various Czech-American politicians became involved and the Bohemian Charitable Association offered a reward of $500 (about $11,500 in today's money) plus however much more could be raised in addition. Governor Deneen planned to ask the legislature to revise the statutes so that a reward could be offered by the State of Illinois in addition to the personal reward fund.[14] Mayor Carter Harrison, Jr. contributed $25 (a little under $600 today). Judge Adolph J. Sabath held several interviews with Elsie's family and also contributed $25 to the reward fund.[7] Anton Cermak, then a Chicago alderman, said that if Miss Paroubek were not found by the time of the next city council meeting May 1, he would call upon the city council to offer an even larger reward.[15]
Every sighting of a girl in a red dress living in a gypsy camp was phoned in to police and followed up. By May 1, police had all but abandoned the idea that she had been stolen by gypsies and were returning their efforts to searching wells and dragging canals.[16] Judge Sabath objected, saying that the police hunt was becoming "listless" because Elsie's parents were poor. He had been receiving contributions to the reward fund from all over the country and increased his own contribution to $100.[17]
By May 7, twenty-five gypsy bands had been searched and several false leads followed. Police Captain Mahoney announced his belief that Elsie was dead and that police would continue to search for her body.[18]
Two days later, electrical engineer George Scully and other employees of the Lockport power plant, thirty-five miles outside of Chicago, saw a body floating in the drainage canal and sent out a boat to bring it to shore. An undertaker examining the body said that it appeared to fit Miss Paroubek's description and notified Chicago authorities, who sent Police Lt. Costello to the Paroubek home. Karolina Paroubek cried Me drahe ditte! (My dear child) and begged to be told Elsie was alive. She and her husband were brought to the Lockport funeral home. Frank said, "The clothes look like Elsie's. But the face -- I can't recognize it. Her mother alone can tell." Karolina positively identified Elsie the following morning.[7]
Before the post-mortem examination began, Frank Paroubek declared "I am sure the gypsies stole my girl and then when they knew we were after them they killed her and threw her body into the canal." At this, Karolina ran from the funeral parlor screaming My Elsie is dead. She was murdered, murdered. Two physicians, E.A. Kingston and W.R. Paddock, confirmed that there was no water in her lungs, so she had not drowned. Kingston said she had been "attacked" (often a euphemism for rape) and murdered before her body was thrown into the water. Another examination by Drs. E.R. LeCount and Warren H. Hunter of the Coroner's Office revealed that Elsie had been suffocated, not strangled as popularly reported. Coroner Peter Hoffman concurred with Mr. Paroubek as to the probable circumstances of Elsie's death.[19]"It is our belief that the abductor of the child suffocated her to death -- possibly by putting a hand over her mouth."[20] Inspector Healey immediately detailed detectives to find out exactly what had happened.[7] He said "We have one or two theories, but nothing specific enough to even talk about. I intend to place more men on the case tomorrow."[20] Meanwhile, the New York Times reported Hoffman's and Paroubek's theory as fact.[21]
Karolina told Judge Sabath that the search had exhausted the family's savings and they had no money to bury her. Judge Sabath gave her a check for $25, promising to raise more funds.[20] Friends and family members continued to collect money for the Paroubek fund. Mrs. Sophie Johanes raised over fifty dollars by giving a benefit party and soliciting donations from Bohemians on the West Coast.[22]
Elsie Paroubek's funeral was held at 10:00 a.m. on May 12, 1911 on the lawn of the Paroubeks' home and attended by between 2,000 and 3,000 people.[20] Hours before the ceremony, Albany Avenue and the Paroubek back yard were filled with mourners. There was no hall in the neighborhood large enough to hold them all. Someone brought two chairs out of the Paroubek home, set them near the casket and laid a board across them to hold the hundreds of floral offerings. Most of the attendees followed Elsie's casket to Bohemian National Cemetery.[23]
Police Chief John McWeeny vowed to devote the entire Chicago police force to finding the killer. Alderman Cermak asked Governor Deneen to increase the reward by $200, "as is possible under the statutes". Cermak said, "I will also ask the governor to issue a proclamation calling upon all the people of the state to interest themselves in this case, in order that her murderer be apprehended." Coroner Peter Hoffman started a public reward fund, contributing $25.[7]
Considering where Elsie was found, detectives suspected the actual killer might be Joseph Konesti. Described as a "hermit peddler", he was said to have "frequently enticed little girls to his hut by the drainage canal". Konesti threw himself in front of a train on May 10, 1911.[23] Five days later he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
On May 15, Frank Paroubek told police he had spoken to a man he did not know, who told him he had seen Elsie late in the afternoon of April 8 on Kedzie Avenue, south of 28th St., long after she was supposed to have been taken by the gypsies. Police Lt. Costello assigned detectives to find the man. The last previous sighting of Elsie had her walking toward the canal on South Troy St., a half block south of her aunt's house. If the unknown man told the truth, Elsie was only three blocks away from a bridge. Despite the coroner's findings, Lt. Costello had become convinced that Elsie's death was an accident and that she had simply fallen into the canal, although Inspector Healey had had the canals and drainage ditches dragged repeatedly during the search.[13] Coroner Hoffman continued to insist Elsie was murdered. Apparently some confusion had occurred during the initial examinations. The first physician (probably Dr. Kingston) to examine Elsie on the night of May 9 told Lt. Costello that she was drowned, with no marks of abuse, and Costello had repeated this when he spoke to the family. However, the following day, the same physician's autopsy findings concluded it was murder.[24]
Detectives surrounded a house near Madison and Robey Streets, and threw a dragnet over the southwestern side of town for a former boarder in the Paroubek home. They continued to search for the anonymous writer of the nasty letters received by Frank Paroubek.[24] Apparently neither the boarder, the writer, or the unknown man who had spoken to Frank were ever found. No one knows what really happened to Elsie Paroubek.
Two years later, on the anniversary of Elsie's funeral, Frank Paroubek died. He was forty-five years old. Karolina lived until December 9, 1927. Both are buried with Elsie in Bohemian National Cemetery. [25]
Though Elsie's mysterious disappearance and death were once the subject of intense police investigation and journalistic focus, her story faded into obscurity until the death of Henry Darger in 1973. Michael Bonesteel, an art historian examining Darger's work, found repeated reference in Darger's Story of the Vivian Girls novel to Annie Aronburg, leader of a child slave rebellion, and to an inspirational picture of her that had been lost. Miss Aronburg had met a shocking yet heroic death at the hands of her captors. According to his diary, Darger really had lost a picture of a little girl and was desperate to get it back or replace it. He did not give the name but said it had appeared in the "Chicago Daily Noise (sic), May, June, or July, 1911." Bonesteel's search in the newspaper archives revealed Elsie Paroubek and her story. A portrait of Annie Aronburg by Darger shows a somewhat older blonde-haired girl. Her hair ribbon and the distinctive collar of her dress are similar to Elsie's in the photograph. In the novel, Darger describes children who are kidnapped and mistreated by adults, while the heroic little Vivians, Annie Aronburg and others form "rescue squads" to save them.[26][27]