Thank you to Steve Shukis for his recent lecture, “Poisoned! … Murder in Downers Grove.” The lecture was followed by a book signing of “Poisoned!” with his family helping out with book sales. And thank you for all those Downers Grove history enthusiasts that came out for this lecture. We plan to offer more presentations like this in the future. Stay tuned for more.
Steve told a gripping tale of murder, sorcery, and criminal justice in the turn-of-the-century Chicago and Downers Grove. The lecture featured a true-life tale of a mysterious Bohemian fortune teller charged with murdering a half-dozen people by slowly poisoning them with arsenic. These events started with a family-run dairy in a Bohemian neighborhood in Chicago and eventually continued to the death of father and son dairy farmers on the Neimann farm on the northeast side of Downers Grove.
In case you were unable to attend, Steve still has a few copies of this out-of-print book available for sale on eBay. Click here for details.
You can also find the book locally. The Downers Grove Historical Society also has purchased two copies of the book and donated a copy to the Downers Grove Public Library and Downers Grove Museum.
