WB_120618

28 | December 6, 2018 | The wilmette beacon sound off
wilmettebeacon.com
A Word From The (Former) President
There’s something about Mary
John Jacoby
Contributing Columnist
Mary Caspar of
Wilmette, a
“pretty girl of
18,” was pursued by two
suitors at the turn of the
20th Century. One was
Joe Brucks, an 18-yearold
Chicagoan who
worked as a bicycle parts
salesman. The other was
Fred Willers, an 18-yearold
Evanstonian who
worked at an Evanston
butcher shop. Mary’s parents
(Francis and Mary
Caspar) lived at 157
Kline Ave. (now Prairie
Avenue) in Wilmette, but
Mary lived and worked as
a domestic servant in the
Wilmette home of Edwin
and Hannah Drury.
Joe was Mary’s first
serious suitor, but when
their relationship cooled,
Fred stepped in and
won her affection. He
soon proposed marriage;
she accepted; and they
planned to be wed in the
fall of 1901. Joe learned
about this plan and became
distraught. He sent
Mary letters, one declaring
that he would have
her, “dead or alive.”
Matters came to a head
on April 9, 1901. Joe
came to the Drury house
and talked to Mary for
an hour. She afterwards
told Hannah Drury that
she was going to her
parents’ home and might
not return that night. The
couple then disappeared,
leaving behind only a
note from Joe to Mary’s
parents: “I am going
away with Mary for a
while. Will be back soon.
Don’t worry.”
Mary’s parents were
convinced that she never
would have gone with Joe
voluntarily. “She disliked
him too much,” they
explained. They obtained
a warrant charging Joe
with abducting her. But
then they received a letter
from Mary: “Joe and I are
married. The ceremony
was performed at St. Joe
[Michigan]. I am happy.
After we visit Waukegan
we are coming home.
Hoping you will forgive
us.” Both sets of parents
— the Caspars and
the Brucks (Louis and
Catherine) — were upset
about this too-youthful
elopement.
Two days after the
wedding, Mary and
Joe returned — she to
her parents’ home in
Wilmette, and he to his
parents’ home in Chicago.
Meanwhile, Fred’s ardor
was undiminished. He
threatened to kill Joe if
he ever came to Wilmette
to see Mary. Discretion
being the better part of
valor, Joe stayed away.
After a few months,
Mary was no longer “happy.”
Her story changed.
She claimed that Joe
forced her to accompany
him to St. Joseph at
gunpoint; that he cowed
her into compliance by
constantly threatening
her with death; that he
drugged her with a drink
that made her “senses
become dull”; and that
she has only “a faint
recollection of standing
up and answering questions.”
She petitioned the
circuit court to annul the
marriage. Joe fought the
annulment, claiming that
Mary turned against him
only because her family
and Fred unduly influenced
her. In the end, Joe
lost — both the lawsuit
and his wife.
Epilogue: Mary and
Fred were married in
Evanston on Jan. 25,
1902. They had one child,
Raymond Frederick, and
they enjoyed 52 years of
marital bliss. Fred died in
1954 and Mary in 1969.
Joe wasn’t so fortunate.
Following the annulment,
he was employed as a
clerk by Hartford Fire Insurance
Co. As the son of
Before her marriage, Mary Caspar worked as a
domestic servant at Edwin Drury’s home, 1112
Greenwood Ave., Wilmette, shown here in 1880. Drury
was a Civil War veteran, Wilmette pioneer, Village
Trustee, real estate dealer, and Postmaster. Photo
courtesy of Wilmette Historical Museum
a wealthy and generous
real estate and insurance
dealer, Joe lived lavishly.
In 1910, at the age
of 29, he eloped again.
The bride this time was a
widow, Mary Freemantle,
who was reported by the
Chicago Tribune to be
“nearly twenty years the
senior of her husband.”
(Actually, the age difference
was probably less
than ten years.) She had a
19-year-old daughter and
a one-year-old grandson.
The Brucks family opposed
the marriage. One
week after the wedding,
Joe died. The Brucks
family was suspicious.
Did Mary somehow cause
her new husband’s death
for financial gain? No,
Mary was innocent. The
autopsy disclosed that the
cause of Joe’s death was
pneumonia.
Letters to the Editor
Library Board ignores
environmental issues
The Village of Wilmette
E-News announced a ceremony
honoring “our veterans”
on Veterans Day,
Nov. 11, at Veterans Park
in Wilmette, which was
led by the Wilmette Police,
Fire Departments,
and American Legion
Wilmette Post 46.
In contrast, the Wilmette
Public Library
Board’s “Landscaping
Plan,” approved in March
2018, chops down the
apple tree planted by Wilmette
veterans “In Honor”
of the memory of William
E. Rooney, the founder of
the Wilmette Public Library’s
veterans group.
A closely guarded secret,
not reported by the
Library’s “Off the Shelf,”
the “Landscaping Plan”
also destroys the Library’s
much loved, existing, native
prairie-dominated,
Wildflower Garden, its
existing crab apple trees,
and other existing, but unspecified
plantings. However,
the “Landscaping
Plan” specifically retains
the nonnative, invasive
Bradford Pear Trees in its
parkway.
The Library Board
made a contract with a
landscaper, but still has
not developed the written
Landscaping Principles,
Policies, or Goals
that customarily precede
approval of big expenditures,
like its 2018-19
Budget and Appropriation
Ordinance of One Million
Dollars for “Update Hardscape
and/or Landscape.”
Despite my written request
for documentation,
the Library Board will
not identify the “engaging
outreach activity that may
be used to solicit input
from the community” and
the “technical information
to the Library for their use
in building public interest
via the Library website,
bimonthly newsletter and
other forms of communication,”
that seemingly
went unused, even though
the library paid for its provision.
Nor has the Board
explained its rejection of
input proactively offered
in writing by myself and
other members of the
community.
Also unexplained is
the Library’s choice of
the eco-unfriendly option
of viewing its healthy,
beautiful existing trees
and flowers as disposables
to be replaced new
“landscape plantings” and
a “Garden Path” to nowhere.
And, its expenditure
of taxpayers’ money
to relocate the flagpole
and the boy with book
sculpture without consulting
Wilmette and Kenilworth’s
increasingly
environmentally minded
patrons.
Inexplicable is why a
Library Board fond of
buzz words like “green”
and “sustainability,” ignores
today’s key issue,
namely global climate
change. Even as the UN
issues urgent reports, the
Library Board plans to
destroy its existing carbon
sinks (including its
sustainable, deep rooted,
native prairie flower-dominated
Wild Flower Garden
that supports monarch
butterflies, goldfinches,
and at-risk native bees).
The Wilmette Library
Board’s contribution to
the environment will be to
Please see Letter, 29