Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Feb. 28, according to the Tribune’s archives.
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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 62 degrees (2016)
- Low temperature: Minus 10 degrees (2015)
- Precipitation: 1.35 inches (1882)
- Snowfall: 3.4 inches (1918)
1963: Benjamin F. Lewis, the 24th Ward’s first Black alderman who liked being known as the “Big Cat” and the “Duke of Dixieland,” won a second term on Feb. 26, 1963. But just two days later, police found him handcuffed to a chair at ward headquarters, with three bullet holes in his head.
One by one, lie detector tests were administered to potential suspects: the janitor who found Lewis’ body; the janitor’s helper; customers with a beef about his business practices; rebel precinct captains; political rivals; fired patronage workers; disappointed job seekers; mobsters; the gangster’s wife he’d supposedly made a pass at; his girlfriends; his ex-wife; and his wife.
The case took a bizarre twist in 1985 with a tip to police that an ex-convict boasted that he killed Lewis. But the suspect, who had been arrested 26 times, died mysteriously before police could question him.
Lewis’ murder is still unsolved.
1989: Richard M. Daley won the primary election for mayor and against then-Ald. Tim Evans in the general election. After that, Daley never got less than 60% of the vote or faced a strenuous challenge.
He stepped down after 22 years in office.
2005: U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow found her husband and mother shot dead in the basement of her home, less than a year after white supremacist Matthew Hale was convicted of trying to have her murdered for holding him in contempt of court.
Michael F. Lefkow, 64, an attorney, and Donna Grace Humphrey, 90, were lying in blood with gunshot wounds to the head when the judge arrived to a darkened house at 6 p.m., a source close to the investigation said.
Police said they were conducting “death investigations,” and cautioned about drawing any connections to Hale, who was awaiting sentencing for trying to solicit the judge’s murder. Sources said Michael Lefkow and Humphrey were found together, each was shot once in the head. No weapon was recovered, but police found two .22 caliber casings.
Security at the Lefkow home — including a camera mounted outside the home and guards posted on the block in unmarked cars — had been beefed up after the allegations against Hale emerged in January 2003. But neighbors said the extra measures tailed off about the time Hale was convicted in April 2004.
On March 7, 2005, investigators told Tribune reporters that DNA was pulled from a cigarette butt found in the kitchen sink of the Lefkow home. Out-of-work electrician Bart Ross, who had a long history of ranting against judges and lawyers, shot himself two days later during a traffic stop outside Milwaukee. The DNA from the cigarette butt matched samples taken from Ross’ body.
Judge Lefkow, now a widow with four daughters, was determined to return to the bench. She is now a U.S. District judge for the Northern District of Illinois.
2017: Swedish Bakery, an Andersonville mainstay since the 1920s, closed its doors after 88 years in business.
2022: Mask mandates ended in most of Chicago and Illinois. Days later, masks became optional in Chicago Public Schools.
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