Tuesday, December 27, 2005

More Madrzjewski Info

When I was a teenager, Nana Condon told my mom and I about her brother JOHN MADRZJEWSKI who had been born in Poland and came to America with their parents. John had two daughters and had caught his wife with another man and shot her to death. When we asked Aunt Carrie about it, she told us that the family "does not talk about that." But in the following years she did confirm the story.

Click here to read the details from Chicago's Historical Homicide Database.

We had been told that he shot both her and the man she was with, but I cannot find any record of a man being killed, just John's wife Mary. Aunt Carrie said John lived the rest of his life on a work farm at Stateville Prison in Joliet.

John Madrzjewski was born about 1880 in Poland and died on Jan. 21, 1924. He and Mary were married in about 1904 and had two daughters, Mammie (b1906) and Irene (b1908).

In the 1910 census he is listed as living at 1050 W. 32st Place, which is right around the corner from St. Mary of Perpetual Help Church. He shot Mary to death at 3117 S. Normal in Bridgeport.

His death certificate lists him as living with his brother Joseph at the time of his death, which is odd because that would mean he was already out of prison. Perhaps they simply listed that as his address? Joseph was also listed as the 'informant' on the death certificate, I am working to track more info down on that. Four years seems too short of a sentence for murder, and Aunt Carrie said he lived 'at the work farm' the rest of his life. She was 24 years old when he died, and she was living nearby in Bridgeport so she would certainly have known.

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