IL - 50 Years Since Speck: The Nation Reeled in Horror

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wfgodot

wfgodot

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Yes, he forced his way into the townhouse 50 years ago last evening and the carnage was realized 50 years ago today. I remember it well on the news that day. Many at the time wondered why the women didn't gang up on him. Speck's trial was here in Peoria and I also recall driving by the courthouse (in my new 1966 Corvette) and seeing all the crowds around someone being interviewed by the press-not sure if it was Speck or not. During the trial, Speck had some sort of medical issue and spent some brief time in one of our hospitals. I can't imagine what his nurses were thinking when they entered his hospital room.
 
I was a 12 yo enjoying summer vacation. The news media coverage was very heavy and there were a lot of grisly photos and stories about the crime. There was so much fear in Chicago until he was caught, with everyone wondering what kind of insane person could kill so many innocent women in such brutal fashion. There was also a lot of outrage at the killing of innocent, compassionate young women who were studying for careers in nursing. Kind women who wanted to spend their lives helping others.

It's good to read that the lone survivor is doing well, living a happy life. Amazing that police were able to track down and apprehend Speck. They caught a lucky break and almost didn't realize who he was when they had him in custody.

Thanks for these links.
 
I was 12 also, and must have seen this reported on Huntley and Brinkley; scary stuff, but I didn't know what it meant -- its context in a violent and changing society -- till I bought Simon and Garfunkel's "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" LP, and found it mentioned in the sound collage 'Seven O'Clock News/Silent Night.'
 
I was only 8 years old when I read the headlines about this in our morning paper. I was horrified and terrified, but strangely fascinated, that something so awful could happen. I remember reading some of the story to my dad and he grabbed the paper away from me. It was so hard to understand at that age.

This case was featured on A Crime To Remember and it brought back a lot of of scary memories for me. So glad to hear the lone survivor is doing well. I can't imagine what she went through. God bless her.
 
I wasn't even born yet when this horrible crime occurred and only learned about it when I worked with a woman who lived around the corner from the townhouse at the time. I read the book 'The Crime of the Century'. The only photo I had ever seen of the girls was the one of them in their nursing uniforms so I really appreciated the Tribune article for its photos and interviews with family members. I was able to get more of a sense of who they were, besides just victims of that awful .
 
It's just wonderful what Dr. John Schmale has done to tell the stories of all the nurses who were victims that night.

I'm reposting this link to the Chicago Tribune story from last April as it is one of the best examples of good journalism I've seen. Videos and photos of all the women and interviews with family and friends shows what brilliant, funny, unforgettable young ladies they were. I was also touched by the photos from their funerals show their fellow nurses in uniform standing as honor guards. That must have been very difficult for all those young women to do that at every one of the funerals.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-richard-speck-chicago-mass-murder-victims-20160421-story.html


Also of note, the fear experienced afterwards by the group of nurses who lived in a nearby townhouse. One of them went to the back door of the victims house that night to borrow bread for a peanut butter sandwich. Speck was still inside and had one of the nurses go down to answer the door with him. The nurses guided him to the front door instead of the back, saving their friend's life. The remaining nurses were moved back to a room at the hospital, where they slept with their beds jammed together and guards in the hallway outside. Poor girls.

Here's the link to the Facebook page Dr. Schmale and others have set up in memory of the nurses

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-richard-speck-chicago-mass-murder-victims-20160421-story.html

ETA: Dr. Schmale is the brother of nurse Nina Schmale. I think he had finished med school at the time and was working in a hospital.
 
I don't remember the murders playing a particularly big role in my life at the time. But, I do remember it and imagine I got most of my information about it from the newspaper and from Life Magazine which I frequently looked through, even if I didn't buy it, because of the fabulous photos.

http://www.lifemagazineconnection.c...ly-29-LIFE-Magazine-Richard-Speck-Ray-Charles

image.jpeg

1966 July 29 LIFE Magazine - Richard Speck - Ray Charles

TABLE OF CONTENTS (partial)
Pg... 4 Opinion and Comment: Editorials: Watch Out for "Title 19"

Pg... 4 Opinion and Comment: Editorials: Speck: Handled with Care

*

Pg... 18 The Week's News and Features: Gentle Victims of the Murders: The Eight Nurses Killed in Chicago? and the One with the Quality of Survival. By Loudon Wainwright. (NOTE: Loudon Wainwright, Jr., a columnist and editor for Life magazine. > Loudon Wainwright III > Rufus Wainwright)

Pg... 28 The Week's News and Features: On the Newsfronts of the World: Chicago Riots. People and Events Around the Globe

Pg... 30B The Week's News and Features: The Presidency: The Urge to Serve in Washington Can Go Too Far. By Hugh Sidey

Pg... 34 The Week's News and Features: Old Crafts Find New Hands: Weavers, Potters, Workers in Metal, Wood and Glass Reach a High in Popularity and Quality. Photographed by Nina Leen

Pg... 46A The Week's News and Features: Movies: Mia Becomes Mrs. Sinatra in Four Minutes Flat
 
I was 19-nearly 20-when it happened. Speck almost certainly killed another woman in Monmouth, IL during April of 1966 so that would officially make him a serial killer. He is also frequently mentioned as a suspect in the disappearance of three young women from Indiana Dunes State Park just over a week before the glut in Chicago.
 
The Wiki write-up's not a bad place to read about the eternally creepy Richard Speck -- the killer with the "Born to Raise Hell" tattoo.

Here's Murderpedia's effort, also.

Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, Richard Speck, Albert DeSalvo, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley -- pre-Manson horrors, monsters from a dark time.
 
SweetT said:
I didn't know about this case at all, I will read up on it. Thanks
Click to expand...

Be careful. You may want to sleep with the lights on. ;-)

Slightly OT, the first time I ever did that was when reading Helter Skelter. Next was when reading "The Stranger Beside Me". Literally slept with the lights on.
 
Betty P said:
Be careful. You may want to sleep with the lights on. ;-)

Slightly OT, the first time I ever did that was when reading Helter Skelter. Next was when reading "The Stranger Beside Me". Literally slept with the lights on.
Click to expand...

The first time I did that was after reading Revelations, but since joining Websleuths I sleep with the lights on more nights than off.
 
Thank you for starting this thread wfgodot.

I was 20 and planning my September 10th wedding when this horror happened. It was unbelievable and it rocked my sense of safety, halfway across the country in the SF Bay Area. The local hospital was in the same block where I grew up in Alameda in the '50's. Across the street from us was a big house where nurses lived. So it seemed close to home, even though it wasn't.

I really appreciate the Chicago Tribune memorial article and the families for introducing me to each of these young women. Except for Corazon, who survived, they were murdered nurses, not individuals. I identify most with Mary Ann Jordan...also 20, Irish Catholic upbringing, similar childhood.

It was the kind of childhood that half a century later people look back on and call simpler, innocent, a time when city kids were raised to be independent and unafraid.

We even had the same hair color and hairstyle and resembled each other a little. Must be the Irish! Today we would both be 70 looking back on lives well-lived. But Mary Ann and the other young women never got that chance thanks to the evil that overtook them that night. I count my blessings as I look forward to my 50th wedding anniversary and remember them. :heartbeat:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-richard-speck-chicago-mass-murder-victims-20160421-story.html
 
I'm in Australian but I still remember it vividly. I was 25 at the time. I later saw him on the t.v. where they were interviewing him in jail. He was prancing around in his underpants. No top on, showing off his *advertiser censored*. Not sure if the was on hormone therapy. Had a few other prisoners around him and he was mouthing off how good his sex life was in there. He apparently played the woman for his male friends. Absolutely made me sick. Wondered why He was still here and was allowed to carry on like that. Where is the punishment?
 
Marg from Oz said:
I'm in Australian but I still remember it vividly. I was 25 at the time. I later saw him on the t.v. where they were interviewing him in jail. He was prancing around in his underpants. No top on, showing off his *advertiser censored*. Not sure if the was on hormone therapy. Had a few other prisoners around him and he was mouthing off how good his sex life was in there. He apparently played the woman for his male friends. Absolutely made me sick. Wondered why He was still here and was allowed to carry on like that. Where is the punishment?
Click to expand...

In one of the articles linked above, a brother of one of the victims saw a promo for that tv show. He got a copy of the video of Speck and said he watched it for a little while, then "threw it in the corner". I feel so badly for the surviving family members who feel cheated because their loved one's names are forever linked to Speck.

These victims were brilliant women who had so much to contribute to the world of health care. Pretty sure they were enrolled in a program to become registered nurses. Not sure how it is today, but back then, that was a 3 yr course of study. The murders were a big shock to the community also because most of the nurses grew up and families still lived in the area. Many had been home visiting family, going on dates with boyfriends and friends right up until a couple of hours before the murders.

Here's a link to news video when Speck died in 1991. It has interviews with family members and the detective and prosecutor who handled the case.

 
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