Sandburg's Hometown

May 4, 2015

Nick Carter Detective Library, no. 1, (1891) Half-Dime Novel cover

Detective Stories and the Real Thing

by Barbara Schock

Nick Carter was a fictional detective in a series of dime novels that began publication in 1886. Carl Sandburg and his friends were avid readers of the stories. They learned all about clues, discovering and preserving evidence and finding out who didn't have an alibi when a crime had been committed.

One morning, when he didn't have anything else to do, Sandburg stopped at the Schulz cigar store at 411 East Berrien Street. There had been a robbery the night before. Someone had broken a window on the back side of the building and taken the cash from the money drawer. Between $8 and $10 had been stolen (about $280 in today's money). The thief had left muddy footprints on the storeroom floor.

Chief of Police Fred R. Hinman was there with one of the city's uniformed policemen. He was a short man with a black mustache. He wore a blue suit with a star pinned to its coat. He carefully studied what clues were available inside the store. Then, he went out to the back of the building. There were footprints in the mud as there had been heavy rain during the night. Marshall Hinman called for a piece of cardboard. He was given a shoe box. He took the lid and placed it over the footprint . He used his pocketknife to cut the cardboard in the same pattern. He used the rest of the shoe box to cut a pattern of the other footprint.

The children watched all of this and were impressed that Marshall Hinman had used the cardboard to make copies of both left and right foot prints. Later, they wondered what would be done with the cardboard cutouts. It seemed unlikely Marshall Hinman would stop men and try to fit their shoes to the cutouts.

The children had already decided there were no clues inside the store. They began to wonder how long it would take to find whose shoes matched the footprints. It could take a long time to find the man who had robbed the store. They were also sure that the store had been robbed because the rain had poured down for most of the night. That would have meant few people were out in such weather who might have witnessed activity in the store.

Carl and his friends waited to hear if Marshall Hinman had found the culprit. As time passed, there was no more mention of the incident. But when Sandburg wrote his autobiography, Always the Young Strangers, he repeated the story. It added to the number of people who wondered why someone would rob a cigar store on a stormy night.

Hinman served as city marshall from 1895 to 1902. Previously he had been a machinist for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. His family had come to Galesburg after the Civil War from Adrian, Michigan. His father, Fred H. Hinman, was an engineer for the railroad company. He died in 1888 and is buried in Hope Cemetery with his wife Annie.

Fred R. Hinman died August 8, 1922, and is buried in Linwood Cemetery. His wife Mabel Goodard Hinman died November 4, 1936.

 

 
Sandburg's Hometown
Date Title
May 4, 2015 Detective Stories and the Real Thing
April 27, 2015 Professor Isaac A. Parker
April 20, 2015 Celluloid Collars
April 13, 2015 Asparagus
April 6, 2015  Mayor John C. Stewart 
March 30, 2015 Basket Ball
March 23, 2015 The Courthouse of Knox County, IL
March 16, 2015

“Trifles make perfection...”

March 9, 2015 Uncle Tom's Cabin
March 2, 2015 Martha Sandburg Goldstone
February 23, 2015 Devotion
February 16, 2015  Gumbiner's Pawn Shop 
February 9, 2015 White Bread
February 2, 2015 The Monarch Club
January 26, 2015 The Silver Dollar
January 19, 2015 The Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway
January 12, 2015 The Four Corners
December 22, 2014 Swedish Christmas
December 8, 2014 Christmas 1878
December 1, 2014 Bunker Boots & Shoes
November 24, 2014 Galesburg, Illinois
November 17, 2014 It was Buffalo Bill's Day
November 10, 2014 The Election of 1896 (A follow-up story)
November 3, 2014 The Election of 1896 (continued)
October 27, 2014 The Election of 1896
October  24, 2014 The Rissywarn
October 20, 2014 The Parlor Stove
October 13, 2014 Ashes to Ashes
October 6, 2014 Jesse James
Sept. 29, 2014 Lester T. Stone, Public Servant
Sept. 22, 2014 It's Who You Know
Sept 15, 2014 Mother of the Illinois Flag
Sept 8, 2014 The Scissors Grinder
Sept 1, 2014 Baseball
August 25, 2014 Howard K. Knowles, Capitalist
August 18, 2014  Alcoholic Beverages
August 11, 2014 Soda Water
August 4, 2014 Sweet Corn
July 28, 2014 Marching Through Georgia
July 21, 2014 The Knox County Fair
July 14, 2014 The Panic of 1893
July 7, 2014 The Rev. T. N. Hasselquist
June 30, 2014 The Knox County Courthouse
June 23, 2014 The Family Photograph Album
June 16, 2014 Parades
June 9, 2014 Lingonberries
June 2, 2014 Where We Live
May 26, 2014 Old Main
May 19, 2014 Rhythms of the Railroad
May 12, 2014 Spring Tonic
May 5, 2014 The Milkmen
April 28, 2014 Gray's "Elegy..."
April 21, 2014 Off to War
April 14, 2014 Swedish Easter
April 7, 2014 A Father's Face
March 31, 2014 Secret Societies
March 24, 2014 George A. Murdock, Merchant
March 10, 2014 Trade Cards
March 3, 2014 The Demorest Medal
February 24, 2014 Rip Van Winkle
February 17, 2014 Cabbage Soup
February 10, 2014 Lincoln's Birthday
February 3, 2014 4  The Colonel
January 27, 2014 The Lincoln Penny - A Little History
January 20, 2014 Walking to Work
January 13, 2014  A Small Abode
January 6, 2014 Birth of a Poet
December 30, 2013 Christmas 1880
December 23, 2013 Swedish Christmas
December 16, 2013 The Reporter Sees Santa
December 9, 2013 The Coming of Christmas
December 2, 2013 The Fire Boys Talk
November 25, 2013 Galesburg Will Feast on Turkeys and Cranberries - Thanksgiving 1893
November 18, 2013 Mary Sandburg Johnson
November 11, 2013 Carl Sandburg's Bicycle
November 4, 2013 Lace Curtains
October 28, 2013 The Front Room
October 21, 2013 A Warm Breakfast
October 14, 2013 Marion D. Shutter
October 7, 2013 Cigars and Consumption
September 30, 2013 Forrest F. Cooke & August Sandburg
September 16, 2013 Forrest F. Cooke, Mayor
September 9, 2013 Dusty Streets
September 2, 2013 Typhoid Fever
August 26, 2013 Coffee and Water
August 19, 2013 A Horse! A Horse!
August 12, 2013 Gaddial Scott
August 5, 2013 The Racetrack
July 29, 2013 John Peter Algeld - Part II
July 22, 2013 John Peter Altgeld - Part I
July 15, 2013 Tramps, Tramps, Tramps
July 8, 2013 Lady Liberty
July 1, 2013 Galesburg's Fourth
June 24, 2013 John H. Finley
June 17, 2013 The World's Columbian Exhibition
June 10, 2013 Fruit Short-Cake
June 3, 2013 Horatio Alger, Author
May 27, 2013 Memorial Day, 1887
May 20, 2013 Professor Jon W. Grubb
May 13, 2013 Beginnings of Lombard University
May 6, 2013 Young Sandburg’s View of Lombard College
April 29, 2013 Thinking
April 22, 2013 Robert Colville, Master Mechanic
April 15, 2013 The Galesburg Opera House
April 8, 2013 Grocery Stores and Sample Rooms
April 1, 2013  A Hearty  Breakfast 
March 25, 2013  The Lost Wallpaper Legend 
March 18, 2013 Martin G. Sandburg
March 4, 2013 The Edison Talking Machine
February 25, 2013 Joe Elser, Civil War Veteran
February 18, 2013 Remember the Maine...
February 11, 2013 Lincoln's Birthday
February 4, 2013 Curiosity
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