The Murder of Andrew Sigler by Glen Hawley Carlson

by Sherry Chapman

First published in May/June, 2007, Volume 4, Issue 2, The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies.

The Murder of Andrew Sigler by Glen Hawley Carlson, paperback, Dog Ear Publishing, 2005.
344 pages. ISBN-10: 1598580183.

The Murder of Andrew Sigler hits close to home for author Glen Hawley Carlson. Though the true crime case took place in 1924, Carlson not only lives in the vicinity but one of the main characters was related to him. Yet Mr. Carlson is capable of writing on the subject without bias.  

We are taken to the ore mining town of Hurley, Wisconsin, which is just over the Michigan border in the eastern Upper Peninsula.  Hurley was a wild town, known as the roughest in the area. One of the underground iron mine towns dotting the Gogebic Range, Hurley’s famed Silver Street, five blocks long, was lined with 75 saloons. Prostitution was estimated to be the profession of  200 women. Prohibition laws were ignored, and gangsters considered it a ‘safe city’ for themselves.

Emma and Andy Sigler owned the Gogebic Hotel on Silver Street. They rented rooms and served meals. They served liquor, and men with whores. It seems that Andy participated in the latter as well, since he seemed to have a special woman he turned his attentions to and somewhere picked up an STD. 

Problems in the Sigler marriage started when Emma found she was expecting their first child. He was enraged and abusive, as he would be with the next three children that would come along. Andy told her to let one of the little ones crawl around the alley so maybe he would die of exposure. The children were beaten and talked to as if they were less than animals.  

The abuse of Emma Sigler was no less horrendous. Going to the authorities for help, she was told that it was out of their hands and the only thing she could do was get a divorce. She knew that if Andy ever heard of her trying to divorce him, he would kill her.  

Things came to a boil one morning, when Emma hit back and Andy became enraged. He picked up a meat cleaver and chased her, shouting his intent to kill her. There was a gun in the place, and Emma used it, killing her husband in one of the hotel’s rooms. Andy Anderson, a friend, was called by Emma. She asked him to get rid of the body for her. Anderson did, and soon became the prime suspect of the murder.

Caught and jailed, a lawman then planted himself in the next cell to Andy and in time earned Andy’s friendship. Andy wanted to sound like he was a tough guy, so he trumped up the story of Sigler’s shooting death and said that he killed him.

Coverage at the time of the Sigler case included many errors. Carlson’s well-researched manuscript finally solves this 80-year-old infamous case. Most of the dialogue is taken directly from court records, and reading is suspenseful and rapid. The photos interspersed throughout add a further method of drawing readers into the story.

After Emma’s trial, newspapers at the time thought that she had been given a fair sentence.  After all, she did allow the drinking and prostitution to go on under the Gogebic’s roof. Perhaps, they said, if she had lived somewhere else things may have turned out different for her. They chalked her up to a victim of her environment.  

The abuse she suffered was largely ignored in court.  

As Emma was traveling by train to serve her sentence, she was asked how she felt about it all. “I’ve been in jail all my life,” she said, “and won’t mind it in prison at all.”