September 2, 1945
The detectives had been sent to investigate a report of a "Peeping Tom" at 7022 N. Paulina. Since the police station was then located at southeast corner of Clark and Estes (a topic of a previous blog post), the detectives walked south along Clark Street. It was the end of their shift, and they probably intended to head home after taking a statement.
Paul McMahon, a friend of Detective Brady, heard the gunfire and ran to
the intersection. Brady handed him his
gun and told him to shoot at the suspect.
McMahon ran half a block east on Lunt and fired once into a dark alley. He never saw the face of the
assailant.
Witnesses remained to give their statements to the police, but the
shooter was long gone.
At 11 p.m. Detectives George Hellstern and his partner Charles Brady
were walking down Clark Street in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Earlier that day, Japan had formally surrendered to the Allies, ending WWII, and, while the celebrations were more subdued than they had been a few weeks earlier, the atmosphere in Rogers Park was cheerful on that cool autumn night. A waning crescent moon could be seen in the cloudy skies.
A- Police Station, B- Peeping Tom, C- Shooting |
The detectives had been sent to investigate a report of a "Peeping Tom" at 7022 N. Paulina. Since the police station was then located at southeast corner of Clark and Estes (a topic of a previous blog post), the detectives walked south along Clark Street. It was the end of their shift, and they probably intended to head home after taking a statement.
At Lunt and Clark, they saw a man in front of
the corner drug store with a dirty face and a glove on his left hand. Detectives Hellstern and Brady crossed to the southeast corner and identified themselves
as police officers. In response, the man pulled out a revolver and began to fire. Detective Hellstern was hit. He managed to fire three bullets at the man before
dying on the sidewalk. Detective
Brady was also hit. He fired two
shots at the man as he fled down Lunt Avenue. In less than a minute the violent exchange was
over.
Unobserved at the time, a black car across the street started up and drove away.
Charles Brady, 36 |
A district patrol wagon crew returning from another assignment was stopped
by cries from a gathering crowd. Brady had time to give his account of the
incident before he was rushed to St. Francis hospital in
Evanston, where he received numerous blood transfusions. He died 3 ½ hours later.
George Hellstern, 52 |
Detective Hellstern left behind a wife and two daughters. Detective Brady a wife and 9 children, with
another on the way.
Soon, the full force of the Chicago Police Department would be directed to this case, resulting in a massive manhunt for the murderer.
Eventually, their police work would reveal one of Chicago’s many networks of organized crime in the 1940s.
Part 2 forthcoming.
Part 2 forthcoming.
The above information is taken from Chicago Tribune articles accessed online through the Chicago Public Library. Portraits are adapted from published Tribune images.
Wow! You've got me hooked! My dad was living on Lunt at Hamilton about this time.
ReplyDeleteGreat! The story gets much weirder. And sadder.
ReplyDeleteIn my husband's former back yard! Can't wait to read Part 2.
ReplyDeletethere used to be a plaque on the building that commemorated the two fallen officers.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a serial that definitely is worth following
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately plaques have a tendency to disappear in the neighborhood...
ReplyDeleteThe plaque was still there at least until sometime into the 1990s.
Delete