A Packard to kill for
Editor’s note: The following story by Old Cars reader Matt McLaughlin contains crime details not usually found in Old Cars. As such, reader discretion is advised.
In 1921, the Adams, Wis., area had only five dealerships for the automobile-buying public. There was a Ford dealer in the City of Adams, operated by The Adams Auto Co. One mile north, in the Village of Friendship, there was a Buick dealership operated by Earl Anderson and a combined dealership of Maxwell, Chalmers and Essex, with Charles Fichter as the proprietor. None of them met the luxurious requirements that local man Harvey Church desired for his motoring enjoyment.
Harvey W. Church was born Nov. 11, 1898, and was one of nine children born to Edwin and Eva Church. Seven of Harvey’s siblings had died in their youth from either illness or accident. As a young boy, Harvey himself had suffered a serious fall from a sleigh. Those close to the family said that fall changed Harvey in an odd way.
By 1921, when Harvey was 23 years old, he had grown to 5-foot-6 tall and he weighed 135 lbs. Described as clean cut and from a well-off family, Harvey worked as a brakeman for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad. The railroad line running through Adams, Wis., was a direct line from Chicago to Minneapolis and Harvey worked on that line, often finding himself in Chicago. Eventually, his parents bought a home there to go along with their home in Adams.
A desire for a Packard
At the time, Harvey Church was driving a circa-1917 Harroun that was reportedly unreliable and difficult to repair. According to his lone surviving sister, Harvey dreamt of the day he could own a luxurious new car.
