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Army Deserting Wannabe Stickup Man Lived In A Family’s Home For 7 Months Without Them Knowing
A wealthy Illinois family never knew they were harboring a fugitive in their home while they lived there
Bad decisions can multiply and rapidly make situations go from bad to worse. That’s exactly what happened in 1928 to a man named Lyle H. Green, who deserted from the Army because of his aspirations to become a criminal. Having nowhere to go, he convinced a friend to hide him at the house where she worked — and he stayed there for seven months undetected (without the occupants knowing) until he tried to hold up a store and was quickly captured by the police — signaling another change of careers was likely in the offing.
Green had been serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Sheridan when he decided to run away from his enlistment in July, 1927. A strong indication that constructive thinking and decision making were not among his strong suits, he desired to become a professional stickup man. On the lam from his military duty and having very little to his name, he reached out to his friend, Alma Kratzman, who was a live-in maid for the family of Lee Limbert, a wealthy broker in Winnetka, Illinois.
Sweet on the AWOL soldier, Kratzman hid him in her quarters and kept him fed by…
