Prohibition VOLUME 04 ISSUE 4 PAGE

							VOLUME 04       ISSUE 4                                                                                 PAGE 11

  A look into Our past                             by Sergeant Ken Neilson

January 16th 1920 prohibition          where the farmer was reportedly         for a total of 41
went into effect and brought           making moonshine. As the sheriff        years. Twelve of
along with it a major head ache        and his posse roamed the farm           those years were
for any honest law man. Such           attempting to locate the illegal        as the McHenry
was the case for McHenry County        booze, the farmer slipped from          County Sheriff.
Sheriff Lester “Doc” Edinger who       their sight. He then snuck into the     During one of
became Illinois’s youngest sheriff     pig pen where he kept the illicit       his tenures he One of Al Capone’s
in 1922 at the ripe old age of 28.     liquid hidden and tipped over the       had        e v e n gang leaders Hymie
                                       vats. By the time the good sheriff      successfully held Wiess arrested by
                     Sheriff Edinger                                                              Sheriff “Doc” Edinger
                                       and his men happened on the pig         two of Al Ca-
                     estimated that
                                       pen all that was left of the evidence   pone’s gang leaders, Dapper Dan
                     approximately
                     30 speakeasies    was a pen full of staggering pigs.      McCarthy & Hymie Wiess both
                     w     e   r   e   On another occasion the raid party      from the infamous Dino O’Banion
                     operating    in   started out during a very cold and      gang.
                     M c H e n r y     wintry day. Their target was a rural    Listed below are the offices that
                     County at any     Spring Grove farm. They however         “Doc” Edinger had held and the
                     given time. To    didn’t get too far due to the heavy     dates.
                     track    down     snow and drifting. Not wanting to
                     and raid these                                            1922 – 1926 McHenry Co. Sheriff
                                       admit defeat the sheriff borrowed a
                     i l l i c i t     horse team and bobsled from a           1927 – 1930 Woodstock Chief of
                     businesses        local farmer. The posse then            Police
became a daunting task for the
                                       ventured forth in the open sled for     1930 – 1934 McHenry Co. Sheriff
sheriff since he only had two
                                       the remaining 20 miles. The sheriff     1934 – 1938            McHenry Co.
extra officers. In order to conduct
a raid Sheriff Edinger was forced      vowed that he would never do            Treasurer
to deputize a posse of extra men.      such a thing again since the entire
                                       group nearly froze to death.            1938 – 1942 McHenry Co. Sheriff
In one such incident the duty                                                  1942 – 1963 Clerk of Circuit Court
bound sheriff arranged to raid a       Sheriff “Doc” Edinger went on to
                                                                               & Recorder of Deeds
local farm in Hartland Township        distinguish himself in public office

   We are looking for past photos, articles, stories etc. on the History of McHenry County Sheriff’s Office.
     Please contact Sergeant Ken Neilsen extension 4730 or Michelle Stechmuller extension 4700