Jelena was nervous. Something was wrong. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she knew there was.
She looked around the small house. She kept it up as best as she could, but they were poor and there were a few things that needed fixing. But everything was clean and in it’s place. It may not be much, but it was her home and she was going to take care of it as best as she could.
Not that long before – she couldn’t remember exactly when – Jelena had started hearing noises in the house.
They bothered her. She knew it wasn’t the children, and she knew that it wasn’t the wind. Jelena had looked for a cause, but couldn’t find one. Whatever it might have been, it persisted.
Now, standing in her living room, a sudden thought came to her.
“What if….”
She had heard stories of such things in her native Hungary, stories of places that made strange sounds with no visible explanation. But some of the people that she had known in the old country had an explanation.
Now, in the relative silence of her house, Jelena let her mind wander, exploring the possibilities.
“What if….”
Her heart filled with hope at such a possibility, but it was tempered with a cold dread. If it was what she was beginning to think it was, then it was something she didn’t understand. It was almost completely beyond her – beyond anyone – to fully comprehend.
Still….
Jelena felt herself gathering her courage, eyes wandering around the room. She started to speak, but then stopped. She bit her lip, thinking things over for a moment. Was this something that she really wanted to do?
Silently she made a decision and, taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and called out.
“Sam?”
—
Sam Smith needed to feed his family. Day after day, he watched his three children starving.
When he had originally come to America from his native Serbia, he had only stayed for three years. For reasons of his own, Sam had decided to return home. Looking back, he was glad that he had.
He had met his wife on that return stay, and they had started their family. But eventually, he started to remember why he had left Europe in the first place.
He began to dream of finding his own fortunes in America. He didn’t have gilded fantasies of living in mansions, but rather simpler dreams of being in a modest home in a safe neighborhood, making enough by the labor of his hands and will to feed his growing family.
He thought of his Jelena, a young, diminutive Hungarian woman who loved him as much as he loved her. Looking at the three children that they now had together, his dream of going back to America burned even brighter than it had before. It wasn’t just his opportunity now; it was theirs, too.
Finally the Smith’s got their chance. Boarding a steamer ship, they made their way to the United States.
The family eventually arrived in East Moline, Illinois. Sam immediately went to a local factory for a job but was turned away. They said that he was too small. Granted, he was physically small, short and slight, but he knew he could work as hard as any man. He had to. He had a family to feed.
But factory after factory turned him away. Soon, there was nowhere else to find work. No one would hire him. They all said that he wasn’t big enough, that the physical demands of the job would kill him.
Sam didn’t know what to do. He didn’t have a trade that he could fall back on, nothing that would offset his size with skill.
Worse yet, Jelena had just told him that she was pregnant with their fourth child. He was excited, but also terrified. He couldn’t feed the children that he had now; how was he going to feed another one?
Day after day he tried desperately to find a job, but he kept being turned away. Each night he would return home to a hungry family. Jelena and the children were starving, and there was nothing that he seemed to be able to do about it.
Their neighbors, who hardly had any more than they did, would give the Smith family what little they could spare. It was barely enough to sustain them, let alone keep their bellies full for a day.
Finally, out of desperation, Sam stole some cabbages. He wasn’t a thief, and the police caught him almost right away. No charges were brought, and he was released.
Despite the risks and the fact that he’d already been caught once, Sam decided that he was going to need to steal in order to make a living. If no one was going to give him a job, then he would have to do whatever was necessary.
Along with a fellow Serbian immigrant named Mike Smith, who was no relation to him, Sam began to steal chickens from local chicken coops and sell them.
Around October 31, 1915, police raided the home of Adam Kopage in Rock Island, Illinois, a city very near East Moline. They had received a tip that it was being used as a speakeasy. Inside they found five cases of beer in the basement, along with one individual who was drinking. Along with the beer, officers also found thirteen chickens.
When asked about the chickens, Kopage’s wife told police that she had bought them from two men from East Moline named Mike and Sam Smith. She had heard that they had stolen them from the coops owned by a woman named Anna Gillespie.
A short time later, police arrested Sam and Mike, who immediately confessed to their crime. They were charged with two counts of burglary and larceny. With no money to pay their $1000 bail, the two Smiths were to be taken to the Rock Island County Jail a short distance away.
They were turned over to Sheriff George H. Richmond and Deputy John Miller. The two policemen didn’t believe that either Sam or Mike posed any kind of violent threat and decided not to handcuff them.
As the four of them walked quietly toward the jail, Sam suddenly began sprinting diagonally across the street. The two policemen immediately drew their revolvers and began firing at him. He didn’t even slow down.
A deputy who was standing nearby, Deputy Jake Wigers, flagged down a passing car. When they stopped for him, Wigers jumped in and told them to follow Smith.
Sam kept running as fast as he could, turning down a side street. He ran about halfway down the next street, then sprinted into an alley.
He must have heard the car screech to a stop behind him, but he kept going. Sam didn’t even slow down when he heard Deputy Wigers screaming at him to stop or he would be shot. Sam ignored him.
Sam’s lungs burned and his legs ached as his shoes slapped against the pavement. He couldn’t keep up this pace for much longer, and he had already felt himself slow down.
The last of his panting breath came out of him as he felt something heavy slam into him from behind. He fell hard onto the pavement and felt himself being turned over onto his stomach, his arms wrenched behind his back.
Officer Wigers had decided not to shoot Sam Smith and began running after him. He was easily able to run him down. A short time later, Wigers, Miller, and Sheriff Richmond returned him to the county jail.
As they began to process him into a cell, someone noticed that there was something wrong with Smith. After asking him and checking him over, they realized that Sam had been shot. A doctor, A.M. Miller, was summoned and examined him.
Dr. Miller found that Sam had been shot in the back, just above one of his hips. He immediately ordered that Smith be taken to a hospital. Sam was taken to St. Anthony’s Hospital nearby for a more thorough examination.
It was found that the bullet had penetrated his abdominal cavity and had torn through his intestines, causing severe internal hemorrhages. A short time later, Sam Smith passed away in his hospital room.
An inquest was held but amounted to little. No one was exactly sure who had fired the fatal bullet, and by this time it wasn’t important anymore. The official ruling was that Sam Smith had been shot while trying to escape police custody. There were no charges levied and the whole matter was dropped.
After a simple service, Sam was buried in Rock Island’s Chippiannock Cemetery.
Jelena applied for a mother’s pension in Rock Island County Court to get money for her and her children but was denied because she hadn’t lived in the county for long enough.
She gave birth to her fourth child at the end of November, just a few weeks after Sam Smith was gunned down. She believed that he had tried so hard to escape because he knew that she needed him so much. But he had failed, and now he was gone.
At some point, Jelena started to hear what she called “noises.” What exactly they were, she never said. But there was something about them that disturbed her.
Finally, it got to be too much for her to handle.
Packing up their meager belongings, Jelena and the children left the house that they had shared with Sam Smith. When asked why, she simply said, “Ghosts; spooks; a haunted house.”
Jelena had always said that Sam was trying to get home to her. Perhaps, he finally made it back after all. Could it be that the noises she heard were the familiar sounds of her husband going about his day? Did she hear his footsteps on the stairs, or hear his voice calling to her?
Unfortunately, we’ll never know. Jelena and her family drop out of the historical record soon after they moved.
One day, someone might come forward with more information about what happened to them, and maybe it will be discovered that she elaborated on the noises that bothered her so much in that house.
Until then, we can only hope that all of them – including Sam Smith – found peace at last.
Sources
Prisoner Struck by Bullet When He Breaks Away. The Rock Island Argus, 11/3/1915
Escaping Prisoner Wounded by Bullet. The Dispatch, 11/3/1915
Prisoner Likely to Die of Wound. The Rock Island Argus, 11/4/1915
Smith May Not Live. The Dispatch, 11/4/1915
Wound Inflicted Trying to Escape Fatal to Smith. The Rock Island Argus, 11/5/1915
Life is Price of Attempt of Smith to Retain Liberty. The Dispatch, 11/5/1915
Which Shot Hit Still A Mystery. The Rock Island Argus, 11/6/1915
Jury Verdict Does Not Name Officers. The Dispatch, 11/6/1915
Takes Preliminary Steps For Pension. The Dispatch, 11/8/1915
Mother’s Aid to be Applied For. The Rock Island Argus, 11/8/1915
Not to Receive Pension. The Dispatch, 11/19/1915
Partner of Slain Man Enters Plea. The Dispatch, 2/15/1916
Strange Turn of Fate Helps Men in Circuit Court. The Rock Island Argus, 2/15/1916
Says House is Haunted. The Dispatch, 3/6/1916