"Kills Insane Brother in Law"

George and Ruth Chester's land is outlined in red.
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George and Ruth Chester owned 80 acres of land fronting on State Road 51, just south of the old Lincoln Highway. The 1930 census recorded a small household: George, 36, working as a mechanic in a refinery; Ruth, 33, a housewife; her mother, Madeline Mack, 56; and George's brother, Frank Booty, 39 and also working in a refinery.

George and Frank had been born to Constance Booty during her first marriage. Upon her second marriage, to Charles Chester, George adopted his stepfather's surname, while Frank retained their father's.

The household was small, but it was not cozy. Frank had problems that must have made the others uneasy at times. According to Ruth, he had been "deranged" since World War I. At the war's outbreak, he had already served three years in the military and was a corporal in the artillery. Then he was sent to France where he saw heavy fighting, including poison-gas attacks. He returned from the war suffering from shell-shock — or, as we would call it, post-traumatic stress disorder.

On the morning of Monday, June 12, 1933, something went horribly wrong.

George was not home that morning — perhaps he had gone to his job at the refinery. Madeline was in the house. Ruth went out back to feed the chickens.

And Frank went "suddenly violently insane."

He first attacked Madeline with a lead pipe, breaking her arm. She escaped and fled down the road to get help. As Ruth came back into the house, Frank turned his frenzy on her, striking her in the head. She fought back and managed to push him out of the house and lock the door. Somewhere outside Frank found a heavy axe and came back swinging it. He chopped his way into a shed attached to the house, then starting battering down the house door. By now Ruth was armed, too: she had grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun kept inside the house. She brandished the gun at Frank, but he hardly seemed to notice it. He came in waving the axe, threatening to kill her. Ruth leveled the shotgun and pulled the trigger.

Later, she testified that she had meant to shoot him in the legs. In the terror of the moment, her aim was bad. The full force of the blast struck Frank in the abdomen.

He collapsed, and then seemed to come back to his senses. He was even able to speak. "I'm sorry for what I did," he said. "Get a doctor."

Ruth called neighbors, who called the Miller Clinic, but it was no use. Frank died within a matter of minutes.

Ruth was taken to Crown Point for questioning, but the Lake County Prosecutor concluded that she had clearly acted in self-defense. No charges were brought against her.

Frank was buried in the Chester Cemetery, on George and Ruth's land. The Hobart post of the American Legion held military services in his honor.


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