Elsie Paroubek

Elsie's father, František (Frank) Paroubek was a laborer, born on December 15, 1867, in Podhořany u Ronova, Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic).

Her mother, Karolína Vojáčková, was born on November 26, 1869, in Míčov in eastern Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic).

Frank supposedly first came to the U.S. in 1882 at the age of fourteen or fifteen.

He returned to the Podhořany area and married Karolína in her village in 1892, bringing her to America around 1895.

Several close relatives also moved to Chicago.

In the United States, Frank worked as a painter while Karolina maintained the home.

The couple left Catholicism to become freethinkers; therefore their children were not baptized (nor were their births apparently registered with the city) so Eliška's exact birthdate is unknown.

She was their eighth or ninth child according to the 1900 and 1910 census records, having at least 3 older siblings who died prematurely.

Eliška (Elsie) was born in Chicago in 1906.

At the time of her death, she was estimated to be 4 years old according to her gravestone, together suggesting a possible birthdate between April 22, 1906, and April 8, 1907.

In census and newspaper accounts, particularly in the Chicago Daily News, Paroubek is frequently spelled "Parobek".

Frank is sometimes referred to as "Peter" or "John," and Karolina is sometimes called "Mary."

Elsie is also called "Mary" or "Emily" in the Rockford, Illinois newspapers.

At the time of the 1910 census on April 21, 1910, Eliška was said to be 3 years old.

Eliška "Elsie" Paroubek (1906 – c. April 8, 1911) was an American girl who was a victim of kidnapping and murder in the spring of 1911.

Her disappearance and the subsequent search for her preoccupied Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota law enforcement for six weeks.

Her funeral was attended by between 2,000 and 3,000 people.

The story of the girl's death, and especially her photograph in the Chicago Daily News, were inspirations for Henry Darger's immense fantasy novel The Story of the Vivian Girls.

On the morning of April 8, 1911, Elsie Paroubek left her home at 2320 S. Albany Avenue in Chicago, telling her mother she was going to visit "Auntie", Karolina's sister Julia Trampota, around the corner at 2325 S. Troy Street.

Turning left on 23rd St. and left again on Troy, she encountered her nine-year-old cousin, Josie Trampota, and a number of other children who were listening to an organ grinder a short distance from Mrs. Trampota's gate.

When the organ grinder moved to the 23rd St. corner, the children followed him, but subsequently left while Elsie remained behind.

Several hours later, Elsie's mother went to her sister's house to find Elsie had never arrived.

As Elsie had many friends in the area, the women assumed she was visiting at another home, perhaps to spend the night and return the next morning.

At 9 pm that evening, Frank Paroubek returned from work and went to police at the Hinman Street station to report her missing.

Police initially agreed that she was likely spending the night with friends, but when she had not returned by the following morning, Captain John Mahoney took personal charge of the search.

Romani people, as identified by the Rockford, Illinois press, were suspected after a neighborhood child, John Jirowski, told detectives from the Maxwell Street station led by inspector Stephen K. Healey that he had seen a gypsy wagon on Kedzie Avenue, a block west of Troy Street, with two women holding a little girl.

The Chicago American repeated this story with the added detail that the girl seemed to be trying to get away and was being restrained; also, that police had reason to believe this was a "Black Hand" kidnapping.

There were several camps along the Des Plaines River near Kedzie and these were searched.

Residents told investigators that one wagon had decamped and left on the morning of April 9.

The "stolen by gypsies" theory gained credence because Elsie's disappearance was almost identical to that of Lillian Wulff, who had been found among Romani people four years earlier.

Elsie's father, Frank Paroubek, offered his life savings, $50 (about $1,547 today), as a reward.

Inspector Healey also ordered that drainage canals be dragged for the child's body on April 15, and Governor Charles S. Deneen asked the public to aid in the search.

It was at about this time that Elsie's friend Emma Kubat, 14, told police she had last seen Elsie with the organ grinder.

Detectives from the Maxwell Street station searched the Italian quarter at West 14th and S. Halsted Streets, where it had been reported a child answering Elsie's description had been seen with an organ grinder.

A full-length photo of Elsie appeared on the front page of the April 12 Chicago American.

This photo, enhanced by artists, reappeared many times in the paper.

On April 17, it was accompanied by photos of Frank, Karolina and Elsie's sister Julia.

Detectives Joseph, Komorous, and Sheehan accompanied Frank Paroubek in his search for the departed wagon which was initially believed to be headed for Round Lake, Illinois, a village about 50 miles northwest of Chicago, where seven wagons were camped.

Farmers in the area were alerted to be on watch.

When local residents started asking "gypsies" about Elsie and attempting to search the wagons, they broke camp again and moved on to Volo, Illinois, 43 miles from Chicago.