Galesburg has its share of strange, but true tales

Tracking History

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Occasionally a local news item fits the category of "strange, but true." Past columns have revealed a Galesburg man mistakenly listed as deceased by a local hospital and a Knox County judge allowing two men to divorce the same women.

In 1899 Galesburg police were on the lookout for "Jack The Hugger." The mysterious character had been frightening local women for several months by merely throwing his arms around them and administering a "big hug." Many women reported that their attempts to out-run him proved useless. It was reported that the more his victims screamed the tighter the hug.

It is not uncommon to hear reports of someone attempting to break out of jail. In 1913 a Galesburg resident by the name of "Abe" actually begged the judge to place him in the clinker. On several occasions Abe was released from jail and within a few hours would drink himself into court. It was typical for Abe to begin his trial appearance by pleading "Shay Judge, I want to go back to jail. Cantcha give me forty days or as much as you can?" On one occasion the judge took pity and accommodated Abe by sending him to the local lockup to sleep off his jag. After recuperating, Abe was released. Can you believe, Abe almost instantly attempted to force himself back into the slammer.

In October 1916 a "live corpse" laid claim to his estate in the Knox County Court. Asa Gregory was adjudged legally dead during a July 1916 proceeding brought by Attorney John Maley. Maley had been appointed administrator of Gregory's estate in behalf of the living relatives. In October it came to light that Asa Gregory was indeed alive, all right and living in Rock Island. Needless to say, Asa Gregory was mad as a hornet after reading his obituary in the court records.

In the summer of 1906 Fred Maley of this city lost his gold watch when attending a carnival at the corner of Main and Farnham streets. Seventeen years later a member of the Graham-King Construction crew was replacing the street pavement in front of the old carnival grounds and dug up the valuable watch when scooping up a pile of sand. Remarkably the watch was in working order and Fred Maley expected it to be as good as ever. This was another case of "time taking care of everything."

More than 50 years ago, in May 1953 to be exact, a new twist occurred around the annual Knox College "Flunk Day." At that time, the final decision for declaring Flunk Day at Old Siwash was left entirely to the student council president. Don Hines, the Billings, Mont., senior who headed the college student body was forced to hold off the gala tradition five times because of inclement weather.

In the meantime, anxious and misunderstanding Knox students hanged Hines in effigy on the campus, cheerfully hissed his appearance at chapel and generally made his life miserable. Finally in desperation for his well-being Hines declared the fun to begin. Activities included a free movie at the Orpheum Theatre, a box lunch at Lake Storey, a faculty-student softball game, a water carnival and a Flunk Day dance.

How about an annual Galesburg area Flunk Day?

Tom Wilson is a local historian. Write to him at wilsont29@insightbb.com or at The Register-Mail, 140 S. Prairie St., Galesburg, IL 61401.