Patricia Shubnell (Schubnell)

So the newspaper articles were a wealth of information and also educational. Patricia was residing in Ottawa in the home of John McCormick. Patricia actually resided there first with the Glenn Webb's and when they moved and John started renting, Patricia asked to stay for a couple of weeks as she was moving back to Chicago and only wanted to move once. John agreed, but i think he probably wondered about his decision later. 

On February 22, 1933 Patricia, Arthur Rigney, John McCormick, Felix Wajculas, Louis and Earl Jeffries, Betty Jean Wagner and a few others were at the McCormick residence dancing and partying. Around midnight Patricia decided to go to bed.  She had her own room and John and Felix were sharing the other room until she moved out.  When she got to her room, it was already occupied.  Fully clothed she went into John and Felix's room took of her shoes and lay down on the bed next to John.

Arthur Rigney was in love with Patricia, but it appears she was not in love with him.  He came to John's room and found Patricia in bed next to John and went crazy yelling.  John woke and told Patricia to go to the other room until Arthur calmed down.  Arthur ran downstairs to his bag and grabbed his gun. When he came back upstairs he yelled at Patricia how she had cheated on him and was going to shoot her.  She tautened back that he did have the guts to do it and he shot her three times.  Death was instant at 2:20am on February 23, 1933.

Arthur ran down the stairs, dropped the gun on the hallway table and ran out the door and down the street.  John ran after him, but was not able to catch him.  When John returned to the house the gun was gone. (It never was recovered through the entire investigation.) Felix Wajculas had called the sheriff.  Since it was February and they were in Chicago it was cold out. Arthur realized he left his coat and hat at the McCormick house and went back to get them. When he returned the sheriff was there and arrested him. 

The Jeffries had been in Patricia's room and they left the residence and headed for their home in Streator, on foot.  The Jeffires, John McCormick and Felix Wajculas were all detained for the length of the trial. (Additional reading I have done indicates the reason for this was the transient nature of the group and the court did not want them to disappear.  This was a common practice in those times.)

More on the trial next time.....

Patricia Shubnell

Logic: With Patricia being murdered via a gun there had to be police involvement, media involvement and medical records. What was going to be the easiest and quickest to get? Media - newspaper stories.

Research:  So contact the local Ottawa paper? No they couldn't help. Contact the Chicago Tribune? No nothing there I could find. Hm.

Resources: Ottawa Illinois is in LaSalle county.  There is a local genealogical society website. They can more then likely help and/or direct me where to start my search. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~illasall/

I made contact with them and explained I would not be able to travel to the area for awhile.  I was more then willing to reimburse expenses and time if someone could help me find the articles. What a wonderful group of people. They not only found the articles and sent them to me, they helped fill in several holes in the family tree.

Tip #4: Use all your available resources.  Genealogy Societies, Historical Societies and Special Library Sections have very knowledgeable people about the area and history and are great help. Always offer to pay for the services.

Oh, i bet your looking for the results from the newspaper articles.  Okay, but your gonna have to come back for more information...