Hugh Rutkowski

Hugh F. “Idzy” Rutkowski, also known as The Mad Bomber of Milwaukee, was a serial bomber in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, active between October 2nd, 1935 to November 3rd, 1935.



Background
Rutkowski attended St. Vincent's Academy and Boy's Technical High School where he learned the auto mechanic's trade. Unfortunately, he had not been able to find consistent employment. In the Fall of 1935, he was 20, unemployed, living with his parents, and frustrated. He was also a bully with an inflated sense of his abilities and a total lack of respect for the law and the rights of others.

History
On October 2, 1935 he took the first step in this plan when he stole 150 sticks of dynamite, blasting caps and fuses from the Estabrook Park CCC camp. He had tried to get a job there earlier in the year, but had been rejected because of his bad teeth.

On October 22, 1935, Idzi stole a West Milwaukee police squad car from two unsuspecting officers who were in the police station at 4755 W. Beloit Road. He stripped it of its siren, radio, red spotlight and license plates. He placed these items on a Ford V-8 coupe (which he had probably also stolen) to make it look like a police car and then hid the coupe in a garage at 2960 S. Thirteenth Street. This garage had been rented for him by Paul Chovanec, a small, 16-year-old neighborhood boy whom Idzi dominated. It is not known to what extent Paul Chovanec would assist in the ensuing crimes, but he undoubtedly was involved.

On Saturday, October 26th, the main event began when at 7:32 p.m. an explosion erupted under a 5-inch sewer outside the Shorewood City Hall at 3930 N. Murray Ave. It tore a hole through the cellar, splintered one of the large columns supporting the roof and shattered every window in the structure. Because of the smell of dynamite in the air, and the effects of the explosion, the police suspected that the explosion was the work of human hands, but no one had any idea who might want to attack Shorewood.

The next bombings occurred less than twenty-four hours later when two banks were targeted. At 6:10 p.m. on October 27th, another bomb went off against the rear wall of the Citizens branch of the First Wisconsin National Bank located at 3602 W. Villard Ave. It weakened the building's foundation and sprayed glass over the surrounding homes. Using his stolen car that was made up to look like a police vehicle, Idzi then sped away to the site of his next target. Less than 30 minutes later, another bomb exploded, this time at the East Side branch of the First Wisconsin National Bank at the corner of N. Farwell and E. North Avenue. The dynamite had been placed on the ground at the rear of the building, so much of the force of the explosion went outward, wrecking near-by parked cars.

Now the city knew that the explosions were the work of one or more individuals bent on terror. The mood of the city darkened even more. Everyone was cautious and worried, not knowing when the next bomb might explode. For four days, the police searched frantically for clues, rounding up large numbers of random "suspects" in the desperate attempt to find the bomber through shear luck. The rest of the city waited, suspended in fear. Then on Thursday, the next two bombs exploded in quick succession. This time, the police stations were targeted. At 6:47 p.m. a bomb that had been left on a window ledge of the Fifth Precinct Police Station at Third and Hadley went off. Although the damage to the building and surrounding houses was severe, the occupants of the police building luckily escaped injury. The same was true less than 11 minutes later when the second bomb went off, this time at the Third Precinct Police Station at Twelfth and West Vine Streets.

At this point, the police began to suspect how the bombers were eluding capture. About the time of the first bomb exploded, three false alarms had been called in. The confusion caused by the response to these false alarms and to the real bombing had let the bombers make their escape. The police also suspected that the bombers were using the equipment stolen from the police car to disguise their own auto as a police vehicle.

Thursday was also the day that a "ransom" note of sorts and a blasting cap were discovered on a desk in the Palmer Street School. The note apparently had been typed on a typewriter stolen from the school the Monday before. The letter was so long, rambling, and filled with misspelled words and ungrammatical sentences that it was difficult to read. It demanded $125,000 in set specified denominations and then went on:

"plan mus be got or up go sity                                                                           i gif far wrnig i do it to 125,000 is leetl                                                                if no tak ofer wtmj by fri, it wel betoob bad dis is de las chance...."

Roughly translates to: "My plan must be accepted or up goes the city I give fair warning. I do it, too.  $125,000 Is little If you don't take the offer on WTMJ by Friday, it will become bad. This is the last chance." The note rambled on, taunting the police with their incompetence, bragging about how clever the bomber had been so that the police could not identify him, warning that if the offer to trade peace for money was not accepted three bombs would go off, at least one at a theater, and many people would be killed.

It ended, somewhat ironically and prophetically:

i no afrad to di so i no kar i e x con                [I'm not afraid to die, so I don't care. I'm an vet i handle dy. over there                              an ex-con and vet. I handled dynamite over there. i expert boms kin be timed elek caps i            I'm an expert. Bombs can be timed with electric caps. I mean not d e fuzes they b in to fast                  mean, not the fuses. They burn too fast.]

The last reference about using electric caps and not fuses was probably a response to an article that had appeared in the newspapers. All the bombs that had gone off so far had been set with simple burning fuses. This, the article had explained, indicated that the bombings were the work of an amateur. Professionals did not use simple fuses because they were too risky. Real professionals used electric detonators. Being called an amateur must have rankled Idzi. He decided he would show them. His next bomb would use a timed electric detonator, and it would be a super bomb. The previous explosions had been caused by about five sticks of dynamite each. His next bomb would use 35.

Again the city waited anxiously. Friday and Saturday passed with no explosions, but several false alarms. Sunday, November 3, started the same, but at 2:40 p.m. the tension in the atmosphere was released with a terrific explosion that was heard up to eight miles away. The source was a sheet metal garage in the rear of 2121 W. Mitchell Street where Idzi and Paul had been trying to set an elector detonator to their super bomb. Whether the early detonation was caused by an electrical short in the wiring, a slip of the hand or some other error, we'll never know.

The force of the explosion was so great that a large section of the garage roof was blown over the alley and two whole houses before landing in Mitchell Street. Windows in St. Vincent de Paul were shattered. Nearby homes also sustained heavy damage. Unfortunately, one of those was the upstairs bedroom across the alley at 2117-B Mitchell Street where nine-year-old Patricia Mylnarek was killed by the impact of the explosion. Her mother Clara and brother Conrad were also injured. Fortunately, there was a driving rain at the time which probably kept damage down by preventing fires and the sympathetic explosion of other dynamite stored nearby. Still, the damage to person and property was significant. Also sent to the hospital:

Lydia Tarnowski, 29, 1727 S. 21st Street Albert Raddatz, 57, 2127 W. Mitchell Street, his wife, Mary, and their daughter, Edna Grebe, 34, 2618 W. Lincoln Ave. Joseph Kowalski, 36, 1803 S. 39th Street Gladys Pietrzak, 18, 2143 W. Maple Street Lucille Gustafson, 34, 1721 S. 21st Street Hilda Budnik, 37, 2121 W. Mitchell Street Rose (Antoniak) Kleczka, 49, 2117 W. Mitchell Street

Others escaped with their lives only through pure chance. Joseph Doligalski, uncle of Idzi, had taken his car out of another section of the garage where the bomb exploded just before. Earl Tarnowski, son of the injured Lydia, was in the basement of their house on an errand. The explosion blew two basement doors off their hinges. Earl just missed being seriously injured when one of the doors flew by, just grazing his head.

Idzi and Paul were obliterated instantly. Tiny bits of their bodies were spread out over the Mitchell Street neighborhood. [On a personal note, on this fateful afternoon, my mother was playing in her yard a few blocks away with her cousins, Dan and Leo Kitzke. When they heard the terrific explosion, they ran toward its source out of curiosity. They had not gone very far when they ran into their uncle Roman Kitzke who turned them back. However, even by that time, they had seen human limbs and flesh hanging from the trees.] The bits and pieces of Idzi and Paul that could be collected had to be buried in the same coffin because there was no way to tell them apart.

Victims

 * 1935
 * October 26th; Shorewood, Wisconsin
 * November 3; Milwaukee, Wisconsin