JOSEPH KIJAK
My memories of my maternal grandfather, Joseph Kijak, are limited. I was born in St. Joseph, Michigan, where my grandparents lived, but when I was 18 months old my parents and I moved to the Detroit suburbs where I grew up. We only came to St. Joseph once or twice a year to visit. The memories I do have of my grandfather are of a very small man, quiet and easygoing who was always happy to have us visit. One year he promised my younger brother that on the next visit he would take him fishing off the pier on Lake Michigan. My brother was very excited about that but unfortunately my grandfather passed away soon after when I was just 12.
So what makes me consider my grandfather a legend in our family? An experience he had in 1929 which could have altered his life and the lives of his family forever.
One year when I was in high school an article appeared in the Sunday "Parade" magazine that came out with the Detroit Free Press. The cover of the magazine and accompanying story told of the anniversary of an incident involving a henchman of Al Capone, named Fred Burke. When my mother saw the article she told me that her father, my grandfather Joseph Kijak, had had a part in the story of Fred Burke in St. Joseph, Michigan.
Al Capone??? What could my quiet, gentle grandfather have to do with Al Capone and his organization? Much, as it turns out.
Al Capone is a well-known figure in history. Most people of a certain generation have heard of Al Capone and perhaps studied his organization and the crimes committed by his group. Perhaps, not so well known, was one of his henchmen, Fred "Killer" Burke.
Fred "Killer" Burke was a participant in the infamous St. Valentine's day massacre. He then hid out in Stevensville, Michigan, the neighboring village to St. Joseph. On December 14, 1929, in downtown St. Joseph, Fred Burke happened to be driving. He struck a car driven by a resident, George Kool, and Mr. Kool approached the car of Mr. Burke. Mr. Kool demanded payment for the damages to his car and an argument took place. A police officer, Charles Skelly, approached the car and in the ensuing argument, Fred Burke picked up his revolver, fired three times at Officer Skelly and killed him.
Fred Burke then fled the downtown area of St. Joseph in an attempt to escape and soon abandoned his car after he struck a telephone pole. When the police later found his car and registration the paperwork showed the car was registered to a "Fred Dane" who was later identified to be Fred "Killer" Burke of the Al Capone "family".
Enter my grandfather who was driving along Cleveland Avenue in St. Joseph on his way home. While driving, my grandfather noticed a man hitchhiking. In those days in 1929 it was not uncommon for people to frequently pick up hitchhikers (these were all country roads at the time and farmland) and my grandfather picked up this man. He later recounted to my grandmother that they spoke briefly, the rider telling him he needed to be driven several miles down the road which my grandfather did. At one point, near Glenlord Road and Cleveland Avenue, the rider suddenly announced "let me out here" and that was the last my grandfather saw of his hitchhiker as the man went through the farmland and disappeared from view heading toward Lakeshore Drive and Lake Michigan. Thinking nothing of it my grandfather returned home.
When the next local newspaper came out there was the report of the shooting of Officer Skelly including a photo of the man accused of the murder - Fred "Killer" Burke. My grandfather immediately recognized the photo as belonging to the hitchhiker he had transported days before.
Sometime later Fred Burke was arrested, convicted of multitudes of crimes and imprisoned where he later died.
Whether this incident propelled my grandfather into discontinuing driving OR whether the effects of the Great Depression had a part (they lost their farm and property in the depression), my grandfather later sold his car and never drove again.
Joseph and Ella Kijak:
Over the years books have been written about Fred "Killer" Burke and his part in the history of St. Joseph. Life as my mother knew it (she was only 4 at the time) could have been tragically different if the automobile ride my grandfather gave Fred Burke had not ended safely.
In 2014 I read in the St. Joseph newspaper that a book was being written about this incident in local history. The book "A Killing in Capone's Playground" by local author, Chriss Lyon, was advertised to be in the process of completion. Chriss and I connected and I shared with her my grandfather's part in these events which she included in her book after verifying that my facts matched up with the research she had undertaken.
Fred Burke's Stevensville home today? It is still on Lakeshore Drive and Glenlord Road but is now an office of Coldwell Banker, a local realtor. In 2019 an historical land marker was unveiled and dedicated at the location to bring history alive and pay tribute to Officer Skelly and his family.
Copyright 2021, Cheryl J. Schulte
