IL IL - Elfrieda 'Fritzie' Knaak, 29, Lake Bluff, 30 Oct 1928

[Ausgirl]

KAE, it really is a fascinating case. Every fact that turns up only adds to the mystery, it seems.

The building in the street view there was always the Village Hall - and still is, I think. The police station was at the back of the building (which you can't see clearly as a street view, sadly) before the new police building was built. The Hall also housed other official services, such as the Village Administration and the Fire Dept. The Hall was designed by the partner of Frank Lloyd Wright, Webster T. Tomlinson, and the tower at the top was used for drying the fire hoses.

In my research, I've become a little envious of Lake Bluff residents. It's a beautiful place, and seems a very nice community to boot.

Another thing I discovered is that the Village was not only the place of origin for the Prohibition party, but ironically also a huge part of Al Capone's booze smuggling operation during Prohibition. He'd bring the alcohol in from Canada, across Lake Michigan and drop it off in Lake Bluff for distribution through Chicago.

Gotta wonder how much Barney knew about that...

Oh, and I found mention of State's attorney A. V. Smith in a blog article about the St. Valentine's Day massacre:

Local authorities did not seem very interested in solving the shooting at Manning's. Within several days of the murder, State's Attorney, A.V. Smith, announced that he believed the killers were professionals from New York and were long gone.

There's a picture of Smith near the end of the article.

 

[Robin Hood]

''In my research, I've become a little envious of Lake Bluff residents. It's a beautiful place, and seems a very nice community to boot''

I'm glad it's not just me, I could move there tomorrow.

 

[Robin Hood]

That makes sense.

 

[MarieMueller]

Hello Ladies,
It seems that you are interested in my friend, Frieda Knaak. I thought I would help you along.
Follow this link to my blog. You might find it useful- I know what it is like to be in your shoes.
http://knaakarticles.blogspot.com/
Help my friend get justice.

Yours,
Marie
PS Have you found the photo of me with Frieda? And that is what I call her- it was only Hitchcock that called her Fritzie.

 

[KariKae]

Welcome Marie

Based on your personal knowledge of the case, what do you think happened?

 

[Robin Hood]

Welcome Marie, I hope we are giving the respect we should, our thoughts and actions are to help Elfrieda and what happened to her.

 

[momtolil]

Hello Ladies,
It seems that you are interested in my friend, Frieda Knaak. I thought I would help you along.
Follow this link to my blog. You might find it useful- I know what it is like to be in your shoes.
http://knaakarticles.blogspot.com/
Help my friend get justice.

Yours,
Marie
PS Have you found the photo of me with Frieda? And that is what I call her- it was only Hitchcock that called her Fritzie.

Thank You and welcome. I can't wait to hear your opinions on this case, it will be great to hear from someone with first hand knowledge. I'm with my daughter and dont have time to read the blog right now. But I can't wait to read it this evening!

Do you know what ever became of Hitchcock?

From the beginning I thought this story would make a good movie. I love that you wrote a screenplay.

 

[KariKae]

Marie - I spent some time reading your blog last night. The contradictions are incredible. It is fascinating to read how the story evolved and morphed over the weeks and months following E's death. From what I gather, it seems we can trust very little of E "said" from her hospital bed. All that seems to be consistent is "Why did they do it?"

What kind of relationship did Barney and Hitch have? I can come up with scenarios where each of them harmed Frieda (I like that better than Fritzie) separately, but I cannot figure out why one would cover for the other. Was their relationship closer than a boss/employee relationship?

 

[Robin Hood]

Marie - I spent some time reading your blog last night. The contradictions are incredible. It is fascinating to read how the story evolved and morphed over the weeks and months following E's death. From what I gather, it seems we can trust very little of E "said" from her hospital bed. All that seems to be consistent is "Why did they do it?"

What kind of relationship did Barney and Hitch have? I can come up with scenarios where each of them harmed Frieda (I like that better than Fritzie) separately, but I cannot figure out why one would cover for the other. Was their relationship closer than a boss/employee relationship?

Well there's another angle.

 

[momtolil]

Hello Ladies,

PS Have you found the photo of me with Frieda? And that is what I call her- it was only Hitchcock that called her Fritzie.

Are you able to post the picture of yourself and Frieda? I would really enjoy seeing it. :loser:

 

[MarieMueller]

Hello and thanks to everyone who posted a thoughtful reply in response to my first post. I will be away from my blog and gmail for the next week or so. Please do not be offended if I do not respond during that time.

I will get the photo up when I have a chance- but then again, you might have found it by then.

I think some of you are on what is in my mind "the right path", but I don't want to bias anyone too much with what I think really happened. After all, so much of the confusion which exists over what happened came precisely from the fact that people rushed to judgement as to what would be the "best" version of events to release to the public.

I suppose that, if you read my blog carefully, you will know what I suspect. So I am going to let it do the talking for me.

I am happy that you like the screenplay idea. I once said about Frieda that she loved the movies, so it seemed fitting.

Happy New Year,
Marie

 

[Ausgirl]

Marie, welcome! Thanks for the link to your blog, the summary of the reports is awesome.

Might you be kind enough to clarify something for me, though? You say you're THE Marie Mueller, who was Elfrieda's friend at the time?

That'll help me ask the right questions. I appreciate it.

What's also interesting is this, from the article quote in your blog:

He (AUS: Chris Louis) says he found the electric lights in the basement to be out of order

Those who've been following my posts will know why that detail perked my ears.

 

[MarieMueller]

Nope. Not THE Marie Mueller. Just an alias.

Cheers,
Marie

 

[Ausgirl]

Ah - I was confused by you calling her your 'friend' and stating you were in the picture together. No worries.

I am pretty sure at this point that there was a great deal of collusion among a number of the officials of Lake Bluff at the time to repress what actually happened.

Not all of them. But enough to ensure a 'suicide' call by the coroner's jury - which would have been blatantly ridiculous if the jurors had been permitted to examine all the facts. Makes the statement of the juror I quoted earlier carry a whole new weight. They didn't think it was suicide but could give no other conclusion with the facts they were given.

So now I'm pondering why it is that a group of men would seek to harm Elfrieda, and/or cover up the circumstances of the crime.

Half of 'em being Hitch's little cult might be a factor?

Perhaps it's useful to look at who had influence over the information the coroner's jury were given. Who makes the call as to what's included and what isn't? Who vetoed Hargrave's testimony, and the fact of her other injuries?

That Lake Bluff was, apparently, Capone's favoured drop-off point for illegal booze is an interesting addition that might explain why so many officials were grabbing their arses with both hands -- lotta money in kickbacks.

But where would Elfrieda come into it? Was she incidental? An unfortunate bit of publicity, as Hitch called her?

 

[Vhead]

Oklrn


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[Vhead]

Sorry. Accidental posting. Very fascinating case!


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[KariKae]

Sorry. Accidental posting. Very fascinating case!


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I was trying to figure out what oklrn meant

 

[Robin Hood]

I was trying to figure out what oklrn meant

OK laters mate ?

Much laters methinks as she's on the wrong thread.

 

[Ausgirl]

Just some interesting material I dug up on the New Thought movement, which is a quasi-religious forefather of the whole New Age industry, and quite popular in Elfrieda's time.

As I discussed in a previous post, the book "Christ In You", found in Elfrieda's effects as recommended reading for Hitch's classes, is one of New Thought's highly recommended texts. Too, the whole doctrine sounds a lot like the stuff Hitch was teaching:

http://www.skepdic.com/newthought.html

http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,77450,78309

http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?...&id=2406&Itemid=99999999&limit=1&limitstart=2

When you consider that New Thought is still going strong as a movement, and attracting followers with massive popular influence (like Oprah), and is affiliated with well-known and 'respectable' organisations (The Freemasons) it isn't hard to see the appeal it might have to the middle class residents of Lake Bluff.

New Thought is all about 'manifesting' what you want in life by the power of positive thought, but also tends toward promoting the idea of 'ascended masters' and 'personal ascension' - for example, "Christ In You" is a 'channelled' text, written by ascended spiritual beings, apparently. It's full of the usual New Age gobbledegook.

"We are all God, and you can get rich and stay healthy via the power of your own wishful thinking" -- to sum it up. Add Handsome Hitch, smooth talking character actor, an atmosphere of frenzied social, scientific and industrial progress, and right there it's easy to see a cult taking root on the Gold Coast of Illinois. Lots of wealthy folk to fleece, being the major upside for Hitch and associates.

I don't think Elfrieda burned herself, and that's not just opinion - there's a lot of evidence to support that she was attacked prior to her burns.

But I do think she might have been easily convinced she did it to herself, during those hours she spent in the Hall basement. Especially if she had no memory of the attack, as seems to be the case.

 

[momtolil]

Nope. Not THE Marie Mueller. Just an alias.

Cheers,
Marie

Oh OK. I was wondering how that was possible, as you would have been over 100 years old if you were THE Marie Mueller. I was trying to picture someone that old hunched over a computer and typing away, let alone even knowing what a Blog was.

You still seem to know a lot about the case.... Are you of any relation to anyone who was involved or possibly from the area?