How is it that the war once known as "The Great War" has become the forgotten war?
Many disparate interests have gradually gotten me to think about World War I over the past few years. For example:
Everything I've ever read indicates just how horrible a conflict it was. Tolkien fought in the Battle of the Somme and later caught trench fever. He admitted that some scenes in the "Lord of the Rings," like the Dead Marshes, were drawn from his experince in northern France. The imagery of these scenes is vivid and repugnant. I can't imagine how awful the real war must have been.
There is just one living American WWI verteran left: 107-year-old Frank Buckles. I learned this from a recent article in Newsweek, The War We Forgot.
When Buckles dies, another pivotal moment in American history will slip into the ether. Most folks probably wouldn't realize it. We have no national monument to the veterans of WWI.
I don't know what, if anything, can be done about it. But it's something that weighs on my mind.
If you want to learn about how I found the John Becker story, or if you're interested in what methods I have used to trace the Becker family tree, please keep reading.
When I began to research my Becker tree I knew my great-grandpa's name, Frank Becker, and his wife, Cecelia. I learned the name of Frank's siblings (Dorothy, Margaret) from my dad.
Having the names of my great-grandpa and his siblings was all I needed to find them in the census. I paid for a couple months of access to Ancestry.com, which has indexed tons of documents like American censuses or military draft documents for World Wars I and II. Using the powerful search feature on Ancestry makes it very easy to find the census records I am looking for (most of the time).
I found a census record with my the three names I was seeking. My great-grandpa's age was about right. It looked like I had found the family. The census showed me that my great-grandpa's father was William Becker and his mother was Anna. I also got approximate ages for both of them.
My grandma Renaud (Frank Becker's daughter Jan) and my great-uncle Jack (Frank Becker's son) were able to confirm these names. They also told me a story about how William Becker died suddenly in the street when Uncle Jack was about 3 or 4. Jack apparently was walking with his grandfather William when he died.
There are a lot of potential sources of information created when a person dies:
Many of these potential sources can be searched online (if the person lived in St. Louis).
For example, the state of Missouri has a database of death certificates from 1910-1951. You can search by the deceased's name or year of death. The site provides copies of the original certificates as PDF files you can download.
As a side note, here are two other death-related online resources. First, the St. Louis Archdiocese has provided a searchable database of area Catholic cemeteries, which provides the name of the deceased, age at death, and date of burial. It also lets you see who is buried nearby, which can be helpful if you find other family members. Second, the St. Louis Public Library has compiled an index of Post-Dispatch obituaries, covering the years 1880-1927, 1942-45, and 1992-2006.
Anyway, to find William Becker, I guesstimated the year he died based on Uncle Jack's age. Then I searched the death certificates for William Becker, looking at those that were issued around the 1930s. Since I knew William's wife was Anna, I could discard all the certificates that listed a different name for the wife.
So, with a list of potential death dates for my William Becker, I went to the St. Louis County Library Headquarters. They have a special collections department with tons of microfilms of various sorts, including copies of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. I looked up the obituaries for the William Beckers on my list. As it turned out, the very first one I looked up was the right one. The obituary named his children: Dorothy, Margaret, and Frank.
But, I thought to myself, it was unusual to die out in public in the street. Perhaps there was a news story. I looked through the Post-Dispatch, but no luck. But in the Globe, there it was! A one-paragraph story at the bottom of a page with a tiny headline.
Finding William Becker was my first success, and a keystone in tracing the rest of the family, back to our original Becker immigrant ancestor, also named William.
I was able to go further back because William's death certificate included the names of his parents. With their names, I could search the censuses and find the family when William was a child.
I used similar methods to locate all the Beckers I currently have on my tree: using the census to find families and approximate birthdates; then searching the death certificates or the Catholic cemeteries online to find death dates; and then looking up obituaries in the newspapers.
For much of the family my research has gone well. But some people have given me trouble, like John A. Becker. The problem was that I was unsure what became of him after he grew up and left the nest.
I eventually found his obituary by making some guesses and lookups. I was surprised to find that he had died quite young. Not only that, but he died in another city — Chicago. He was the only family member I had seen (to that point) who had left St. Louis. Why was he in Chicago when he died? When I found his death certificate, it indicated John had died by trauma to the head.
It seemed probable that something very wrong had happened; perhaps it had been newsworthy. But I was in St. Louis, and our library doesn't have Chicago newspaper microfilms.
On a whim, I searched Google for online Chicago databases and I discovered that Northwestern University had a database of Chicago's homicides from 1890-1930.
I searched this database for John Becker, and found a case file which seemed to contain some answers. The date of death was Nov. 11, 1917, the same date on John Becker's death certificate and the obituary. The case file indicated he had been found dead with his skull fractured in the 3rd floor of the Sharples building. It named a defendant in the case, John Dell Claude, and gave dates of arrest and sentencing, among other details. I felt sure there must have been something in the newspapers, though I had no idea how much of a story it might have been.
As I said above, I didn't have immediate access to Chicago newspapers on microfilm. But as it turned out, that wasn't a big obstacle. I learned that there was a searchable archive of Chicago Tribune pages from 1852-1984. You can print PDFs of the original pages for a fee.
I found a truckload of stories related to John A. Becker's murder. His story made the front page twice: first when his body was discovered, and again when the killer gave his full confession to police. I also learned why John had been in Chicago in the first place: he had joined the Navy and was training there.
After this, I read my local St. Louis papers (Post-Dispatch, Globe-Democrat, Star). I was disappointed that while all three papers covered the story, none of them offered many additional details. I wanted to learn more.
A colleague at the Post-Dispatch pointed out that the Great Lakes Naval Training Center had its own newspaper as well as a library which kept archived copies of the paper. I called the library, eager to see how the base's own paper might have covered the story. The librarian there was very helpful, but he found that the newspaper hadn't covered the death at all. It was mostly a "good-news" P.R. sort of newspaper.
So I turned my attention to the killers. I knew E. L. Dierdorff had committed suicide before he was caught and John Dell Claude had been sentenced to life in the prison.
I looked them up on the Illinois state death index. This gave me their exact death dates, as well as death certificate numbers.
I enlisted the help of Molly Kennedy, a genealogical researcher in Illinois.
She was able to print copies of the killers' death certificates from microfilm. She also found John Becker articles from five other Chicago daily newspapers.
The final bit of research I tried was to look at John Becker's official military personnel file. I am lucky to live in St. Louis, which is home to the National Personnel Records Center - Military Personnel Records. I sent a request for John Becker's file via postal mail. The government found his file and gave me two options: I could order a complete copy of his record for $50, or I could visit the center and go through his file with my own hands. I chose the latter.
I took with me my laptop and a scanner. I wasn't expecting to find much in the file … after all, John Becker died after just a few months in the Navy.
Boy was I surprised! The file was pretty big. It contained a 60-page transcript of the Cook County Coroner's inquest. This was a gold mine of information. In the newspapers, I had read bits about some key witnesses. Now I had in my hands a sworn transcription of the entire proceeding, the exact words of every witness in the case.
Not only that, but the file had a lot of correspondence among the Navy, a Congressman, and John Becker's father, Frank. It had John Becker's service record, which was obviously brief, but was signed in his own hand and contained his fingerprints.
I was very pleased to be able to scan all these documents. Now I can have my own digital copies of them, and make them available here on my website for anybody who'd like to check them out.
Interested? Here they are:
Anyway, that's the story behind the story.
Ninety years ago, a sailor was found dead in Chicago, bloodied but still warm. His name was John Andrew Becker and he was my great-great-great-uncle.
As I mentioned in a previous entry, I have uncovered many names as I have fleshed out parts of the family tree, but it has at times been hard to learn about them as individuals. In the case of John Becker, the murder generated newspaper stories, military reports, police files, coroner's inquests, and much more. This tragedy has offered a chance to learn more about a person in the family, and the people connected to him (for good or ill) at the time of his death.
What follows is my re-telling of John Becker's murder based on reading newspaper reports, a transcript of the Cook County coroner's inquest board, John Becker's military personnel file, and various death certificates.
In coming days I will also write about the process of discovering this story for anyone who's interested.
In May 1917, the powers of Europe were still ensnared in the Great War (World War I) and the U.S. was preparing to join the fray. Eleven days before Congress passed the Selective Service Act to authorize a draft, John Becker enlisted in the Navy in St. Louis, Missouri. It was May 7, 1917, and he was 21 years old.
Becker was promptly sent north to the Great Lakes Training Station near Chicago. He trained for a few short months, but never left the middle of the country for the sea. He was killed Nov. 10, a Saturday night, in Chicago.
Becker's body was discovered around 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 11, in a women's restroom on the third floor of the Sharples building at Washington and Jefferson streets. The Chicago American newspaper described the Sharples building as "a large loft structure occupied by many manufacturing firms."
C.P. Riopelle, the building's engineer, discovered Becker's body after hearing about blood spots another man had seen on the third floor landing earlier Sunday morning.
It appeared likely that Becker had been killed inside the building. Riopelle thought there might have been a struggle in the restroom. Becker was partially undressed, with some of his outer garments draped over a table.
The murder made the front page of the Chicago Tribune and other daily newspapers in the city. The early newspaper stories advanced several theories of police detectives. First, that John Becker may have been killed because he knew something about a $3,000 payroll embezzlement at the naval training station. Second, that he may have been lured into the building by a romantic rival who was jealous over a woman; the third, that this was a simple robbery.
Becker had been with his family in St. Louis on furlough three weeks before the murder. His father, Frank Becker, thought his son had been murdered for money, since his son had had several hundred dollars when he last saw him.
Over the next few days, detectives followed new leads. Police found a tobacconist who said that Becker had been in his shop near the Sharples building and made phone calls on Saturday to a woman called "Bess" to arrange a meeting for 6:30 p.m. that night. This statement bolstered some detectives' belief that Becker's murder had a romantic angle, and so police and reporters hunted for "Bess." But police Capt. Thomas Meagher was convinced this theory was "poppycock from beginning to end" and that the murder had been committed during a simple mugging.
A young woman named Mary Williams appeared at the coroner's inquest hearing and testified that she had received a call from Becker on the Saturday he died, Nov. 10. Williams, a telephone operator, had known him for a month, after making his acquaintance through James Bennett, Becker's tentmate. Williams and Becker met in person only once, but corresponded by mail several times. On that Saturday, Becker called her from a jewelry shop to say that he couldn't meet her before 8:30 p.m. because he had to meet a friend at Halsted and 25th streets. Williams waited for Becker until 10 p.m. but he never showed up.
The friend was, in fact, James Bennett. Becker had planned to meet both Bennett and another sailor at Halsted and 25th at 8 p.m. Saturday, Bennett told detectives. But Becker had to "skip ship" to do it. He had obtained a leave from the training station, but it didn't start until Sunday. Naval authorities told police that Becker had answered roll call at the training station on 4 p.m. that Saturday, but didn't answer the 8 p.m. roll call. Police guessed he left the station around 5 p.m. in order to meet his friends Saturday evening in Chicago. Bennett said Becker never arrived for their meet-up.
Police found a man who said he had seen a bloody sailor stumbling around outside the Sharples building around 8:10 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10. He at first thought the sailor drunk so he walked past; then he thought better of it and turned around to help, but the sailor had disappeared.
This witness strengthened police Capt. Meagher's belief that the attack took place outside and that Becker had survived and wandered into the Sharples building. The police abandoned the earlier, more elaborate theories about Becker's death. Instead, they believed it had been a simple "slugging, with robbery as a motive."
A pawnbroker, Hyman Ginsburg, had told police that Becker had been in his shop around 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening to redeem a gold watch. Becker left with about $20. But when his body was discovered on Sunday, he had no money or watch on him.
Investigators turned their attention to alleys and areas near the Sharples building, seeking any evidence of the attack. And they found exactly what they were looking for — blood stains on the ground and an iron pipe clotted with blood behind the Williamson building on Washington Street.
Patrick Redmond, a watchman for the Williamson building, testified at the coroner's inquest that he had heard the noise of a scuffle taking place in the alley around 8:10 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10. He was in the basement of the Williamson building at the time, clearing ashes from the boilers. He said it sounded like three voices hollering, but he didn't pay any attention as there were fights in that alley regularly. The next morning, Sunday, he found blood in the alley.
At this point the investigation slowed. Detectives had interviewed numerous sailors at the Great Lakes Training Station, people on the street, nearby shopowners, and Becker's friends and acquaintances. But they had no serious suspects.
There was an "if only…" moment during the interview of a witness on Dec. 13 by the coroner's inquest board. The witness was Dominick Wafer, who described himself as an apprentice in a machine shop of the Republic Fillmeter Company at the Sharples building. He testified that he went up to the third floor around 7:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 11 and saw some blood. Wafer looked around for five minutes, but seeing nobody, he continued going upstairs and thought nothing more of it. He later mentioned the blood to the building's engineer, C.P. Riopelle, who then discovered Becker's body. The deputy coroner remarked to Wafer, "Undoubtedly this man was alive … If you had only spoken about that time we would have got there …"
The Chicago Evening Post's initial report about the murder on Nov. 12 tied the murder news to the angle that police and federal officials would start a crusade to protect trainees from the Great Lakes station when they came to the city on furlough.
Federal law prohibited the sale of liquor to military personnel in uniform. Despite this, "the boys are overwhelmed with temptation the minute they arrive in Chicago," the Evening Post reported. "They are even met at the station by men who provide them with bottles of liquor — at a price — and, when they have imbibed sufficiently, they often become easy prey for those of the street who find the young men, at liberty for the first time in weeks, and with money in their pockets …"
The next break in the case came Dec. 23, 1917, when another young "jackie" (slang for "sailor") was beaten in a manner similar to John Becker.
Richard Bundick, a 21-year-old trainee from the Great Lakes Station, was attacked by two other sailors. He put up a fight and survived to stumble into a boarding house where had been earlier in the night. Just like Becker, he was missing some clothing as well as his money belt. Bundick identified his assailants as "Harding" and "King."
Because of the similarities in the cases, police believed that these same two attackers must have killed Becker.
Just a day before this attack, John Becker's father, Frank Becker, wrote a letter to his congressman, William L. Igoe, to ask about the status of the inquiry into his son's death.
On Jan. 26, 1918, the Becker case was back on the front page of the Chicago Tribune, seemingly solved. A 19-year-old Navy deserter named John Dell Claude (alias "John King") had been arrested in St. Louis with another teenage deserter, Raymond Dunn. Claude had confessed to a role in the attacks on John Becker and Richard Bundick. Claude implicated Dunn in the Bundick attack, and a third deserter who used the alias "B. W. Weir" as his accomplice in the Becker murder.
Claude explained everything in a surprisingly detailed, candid confession. He said that he had met Weir on a train to Chicago. They were both short of money and decided to rob someone. Weir got some whisky from a tramp near the train station and the pair decided to use the whisky to lure someone into an alley where they could rob him.
Their victim would be John Becker. Claude apparently had met Becker before at the Great Lakes Training Station, so he was a convenient mark when they came across him at the train station. Becker and Claude went out to eat, and afterward they were joined by Weir.
Weir suggested they all have something to drink, and the trio made their way to an alley behind the Williamson building. As Becker raised the whisky bottle to his lips, Claude struck him with a lead gas pipe. Becker fell to his knees. When Becker started to get up again, Weir snatched the pipe and hit Becker several times on the top of his head. Becker fell over on his back. Claude and Weir took $9.85 from Becker, plus his pea coat, a watch, and a neckerchief.
They fled the scene and checked into the Cumberland Hotel, where they divided the money and discussed what had happened. They returned to the scene of the crime twice, but never found a trace of Becker. They first learned of his death when a man asked them if they had heard about the "death of the jackie."
Claude and Weir parted ways after a week or so. Weir left town in the company of a soldier whom Claude thought was a deserter from the Marine Corps.
On Dec. 14, Claude attacked and robbed another great Lakes sailor named Patrick Murphy. Murphy gave up his money after the first blow, and got away without further injury.
Claude returned to the naval training station and got leave again on Dec. 23. At that time, he met Raymond Dunn at the railroad station. As before, this new pair was short on cash, so Claude suggested pulling another "pipe and whisky" job.
The first man that came along was Richard Bundick. Claude said he hit Bundick five times with the pipe, but Bundick still put up a fight. Claude had to grab Bundick and hold him by his neck while Dunn continued beating him with the gas pipe. They made off with $13.80 and Bundick's pants and shoes.
Claude and Dunn stayed several days at a hotel and then they fled to Terre Haute, Ind. In Terre Haute, they beat up the mistress of the boarding house where they were staying. They robbed her, then stole a car, and drove to St. Louis.
In St. Louis, the pair planned to continue their "pipe and whisky" game. But they "got tired of waiting for some jackie to show up, and we got drunk, and then the police took us in," Claude said.
In police custody in St. Louis, Claude mentioned the Bundick attack. He and Dunn were transported back to Chicago where they were interrogated. During the interview, police Lt. Edward Grady realized Claude was wearing Becker's pea coat and Bundick's trousers. As the Tribune put it, "When confronted with this evidence, (Claude) wilted and confessed."
State and federal authorities discussed who would handle prosecution of the case. Newspaper reports pointed out the possibility of death by firing squad if Claude was tried by naval court martial. Ultimately, though, the case fell to Illinois. John Dell Claude was sentenced to life at Joliet state prison.
After Claude's confession, Chicago police took a 22-year-old woman named "Billie" La Verne into custody. Police had previously taken her into custody at the boarding house where Bundick went after being beaten on Dec. 23.
La Verne admitted she had talked to John Dell Claude and Raymond Dunn on the night they assaulted Richard Bundick. She said they told her they were going to "get" Bundick.
Through La Verne, police learned that "B. W. Weir" had another identity: Burrell W. Cornielson.
A nationwide manhunt for Cornielson commenced. But authorities wouldn't find "Cornielson" until 1920, not soon enough to try him for his crimes.
John Dell Claude didn't last long at Joliet State Prison. On Sept. 17, 1920, he poisoned himself with bichloride of mercury.
Claude's partner in the Becker murder poisoned himself, too, just a month later.
On Nov. 14, 1920, Eldon L. Dierdorff committed suicide by swallowing cyanide of potassium in his room at the YMCA hotel in Chicago. A note was found in Dierdorf's pocket which read "Tell the coroner to bury me here. Broke. My mother's address is 1919 Washington street, Denver."
Chicago police Lt. John Norton said he was certain Dierdorff was the "Cornielson" police had been looking for. The body was identified by C.M. Knight, who owned the Central Plating Company.
Dierdorff had worked for Knight for 1 and a half years as a polisher. Knight said that Dierdorff borrowed $3 from a workman at the company a few days earlier after having been absent for two months.
"He said he had just come from St. Louis where he had dropped a big pile in a poker game," Knight told the Chicago Daily Journal.
Knight gave to police a letter from Dierdorff's mother, which she had written to Knight one month prior. The long letter pleaded with Knight to help her son get his life on the right track. "He's all I have in the world. Please look after him," the Chicago American quoted the letter as saying.
The Daily Journal said the letter concluded "I think he has lost his mind or is in very bad company and drinking himself to death. He wrote me such awful letters, always threatening to kill himself."
Here are PDFs of two documents I found in John Becker's official military personnel file. These documents were among the sources I used to write this weblog entry.
The past couple days we have experienced some bits of South Texas culture. Yesterday we went with my Grandma Renaud to eat at a barbecue place called Rudy's. And today we visited the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.
We ate at the Selma location of Rudy's. In front, it's a big gas station. We could see lots of outdoor seating, although it had been somewhat enclosed temporarily by tarp walls with plastic windows.
It wasn't quite clear for us non-regulars where exactly to go to get started (or how to get started), but we figured it out eventually. There were several large rooms with wall-to-wall picnic-style tables. We picked one and saved our seats, then Grandma and I set out in search of the place where we could order our food. This proved to be around a few corners and in the back.
Basically, you order in a cafeteria-style line: drinks from a cooler, then sides, then your meat, and finally dessert. We got some beans and cole slaw (creamy style) as sides and then chose two pounds of "mixed" meats (shredded pork, beef, and turkey in Rudy's barbecue "sause"). We were given six slices of white bread to go with it, some pickles, and five large sheets of butcher paper.
We had to hunt around for the silverware and napkins. Then it was time to lay out our spread on the table. Everyone got their own butcher paper (instead of a plate). The adults made open-face sandwiches with the meat and bread. Very, very tasty. Jadzia ate three sandwiches herself, which was quite impressive. The beans and slaw were nothing special, but the pickles were quite spicy (I prefer vinegar slaw, anyway).
On the way home, Jadzia kept asking for "mas carne" (more meat). Then after a bit, she changed her request to "mas carne y libro" (more meat and a book).
I learned about the rodeo when I wanted to find out about attending a Spurs game. Turns out the Spurs are on a two-week road trip so that the rodeo can use the grounds around the AT&T Center, as well as the center itself.
I wasn't especially interested in seeing the rodeo, as I figured it would be expensive. But it turns out that Fridays are family days, and it costs just $1 for adults to get in (plus $8 for parking). This was a good deal. So we went with Jadzia and Ludi to see animals and cowboy/agro/Texas culture on display.
First we made our way through the livestock areas. We saw turkeys in cages and turkeys in some sort of mini-arena. It looked like they were being judged, and there were lots of folks watching from bleachers. We also passed cattle areas and horse areas.
Eventually we made our way to some kid-specific places. In one, Jadzia could see goats, sheep, chicks, pigs, etc. In this area there were also lots of photo thingies, where a kid can stick their head through a hole and it looks like their head is part of an animal's body. There were also some display houses, which Jadzia wanted to go through. One of them had examples of animal feed inside, which I explained to her ("This is what a cow eats. This is the food for a pig." etc). After one educational trip through it, she wanted to continue playing inside as if it were her very own playhouse. She began calling it her "sotano" (basement).
Later we visited a petting zoo, which Jadzia enjoyed even more. She got to pet ducks, goats, an alpaca, and others. We also got some poop on our shoes. After we left the petting zoo, Yoli insisted we wash our hands, so I took Jadzia to do so. As we were there singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" and washing our hands, we were suddenly surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of small Hispanic children. And then a goat ran through the crowd of children and they were all yelling. Some began to chase it through the open area. Then a teenage guy across the way swooped in toward the goat with his arms wide open. He was able to corral it and carry it back to the petting zoo.
(re: "Twinkle, twinkle": According to Jadzia's favorite video, "Potty Power," you should wash your hands for as long as it takes you to sing the "Twinkle" song once.)
We visited the various areas with exhibits about agriculture and got several free samples of things like biscuits and peanuts. We also wandered through the Freeman Coliseum where there were numerous vendors selling all sorts of southwestern/cowboys sorts of things: anything you could imagine in leather, chandeliers made of wooden wagon wheels, framed photos of horses, Himalayan salt crystal lamps, and so on.
We ended up eating some nice carnival fare: smoked bratwurst with sauerkraut, and two foot-long corndogs. Jadzia ate about half a corn-dog and enjoyed it.
By 1:00 p.m. it was time to get home for naps and such. As we made our way along, I spotted two girls in Spam-branded clothing. My attention piqued, I looked farther ahead and saw a Spammobile. Yoli has never tried Spam before, so I went up to the window of the Spammobile and asked if they were giving food away. Of course they were. So we each had a small Spam sandwich, and were given "Spam singles" which are individually-wrapped slices of Spam.
It doesn't get much better than that.