Join us as Steve Gibson, past president of the St. Charles History Museum, relates the infamous and macabre story of the 1849 “Richards’ Riot” in St. Charles
On the night of April 19, 1849, a crowd attempted to storm the home of Dr. George W. Richards in St. Charles, Illinois. Dr. Richards was the President of the Franklin Medical Institute in St. Charles, and the crowd was made up of citizens from Sycamore, as well as some locals. After years of horrifying rumors and wicked gossip, the people had reached their end. The graveyard theft of the body of Sycamore newlywed Marilla Kenyon by medical students was the last straw. Her husband and her father stood before the crowd and demanded her body be returned intact. Dr. Richards denied any knowledge of the activity of his students. Shots ripped into his home.
How did this event occur? What are the true details? What happened after the riot ended? This presentation will present all the facts, including some only recently rediscovered.