"Two Gun" Emma Grebner
Press photo 1954
Emma overseeing the removal of gambling machines during a raid on a tavern.
Emma Grebner (1908-1990) was the first woman in Jo Daviess County and the State of Illinois to be duly elected sheriff. She is still the only woman to serve as sheriff in the county. During her campaign to succeed her husband, she vowed to, “run all the hoodlums out of the county at the point of a .38," thus she was given the nickname "Two Gun Emma."
In April 1933, several slot machine owners in East Dubuque were fined by Sheriff John Ehrler. This marked the first concerted effort by the sheriff and the state attorney’s offices to curb illegal slot machine operations. Despite these actions, gambling continued, and additional fines were issued.
In the 1940s, gambling and vice were largely uncontrolled in the county, but law enforcement generally avoided interfering with taverns. Public opinion began to shift gradually as years went by with little enforcement of the law. A position opened up in Elizabeth after the passing of the mayor. Local longtime resident and owner-operator of several creameries, Lawrence “Rip” Grebner, was appointed to fill the vacancy. He served for two years before deciding to run for sheriff.
Elizabeth had a reputation as being “cleaner” as there was little to no illegal gambling taking place, and although Rip had no real desire to become sheriff, business at the creameries was slow, and some residents were calling for reforms he, himself, believed in. Many were shocked when he shared the ballot with his wife, Emma, as his deputy.
Nevertheless, he won the election and served his term from 1950-1954. Both Rip and Emma were well liked by most, despite their hardline stance on “vice.” Illinois law at the time prevented sheriffs from succeeding themselves in office so Emma ran in the 1954 election with Rip as her deputy. When she lost in the Republican Primary to Percy Hutchison by forty-four votes, she decided to run as an independent and beat him by thirty-nine. The democratic candidate, Mike Ricke, came in a distant third.
By this point she had become known as Two-Gun Emma though she claimed to have only ever carried one .38 revolver discreetly in her stylish handbags. She was also known for refusing to wear a uniform or badge, preferring tailored dresses. She was noted as saying, “People will know I’m sheriff by what I do, not by what I wear,” and “Most everybody knows me anyway. Sometimes I can hear them yelling inside, ‘Here comes the Mrs. and Rip!’”
It must have been quite the sight. A perfectly dressed and coiffed red headed woman clicking down the sidewalk in her heels tailed by several mail deputies ready to bust a string of taverns and other places of “ill repute.” She was known to raid businesses where sex work supposedly took place as well as gambling.
She led groups of her deputies on raids of the Elks, Eagles, Moose, and the American Legion looking for gambling machines. Her primary focus was on the “racy” Mississippi River town of East Dubuque, which had earned the nickname “Sin City.” Rumors circulated that Al Capone and his gangsters frequented the bars and clubs.
On May 24, 1955, nine slot machines were seized in just one of Emma’s raids. State Attorney Harold Nagel initially planned to question local officials, but after confiscating the machines and money, charges were filed against the operators.
One would think they made plenty of arrests, but they commented decades later that they didn’t keep a necessarily tight jail. Often they would let the prisoners out of the cells and all eat together or get in the car and go to church. Rip commented that often he and Emma would get to talking after a service and, “the prisoners would go out and warm up the car and have it waiting.”
Emma could only recall pulling out her gun once when a suspect got a little overzealous and kicked Rip down a set of stairs. “I grabbed my gun from my purse, stuck it in the man’s ribs, and told the others ‘one more step and you all go to jail.’” They didn’t have to be told twice.
She gained some national acclaim when she attended the fifteenth annual conference of the National Sheriff’s Association in Miami Beach, Florida. The Miami News printed a photo of Emma wearing a cowboy hat and pointing a gun at the camera with the headline Real Woman Sheriff: Gun-totin’ Gal Here for Lawmen’s Session. The article marveled at her fearlessness, but conceded that maybe she wasn’t afraid because of the “sufficient number of deputies performing her more hazardous duties.” It also pointed out that Emma’s salary was one thousand dollars higher than her husband’s. Rip didn’t mind. “The only drawback, “ he told the journalist, “is that the sheriff signs the paychecks and she can fire me anytime she likes.”
Emma’s work as sheriff involved more than raiding taverns for gambling machines. She was called in on a kidnapping and murder case in 1958 when the body of seven year old Maria Ridulph had been found in Stockton. She had gone missing in Sycamore four months previously. Emma was called to the scene. Days later she received the grieving parents and showed them the clothing, which had been on the body, for identification. The case had gotten national attention including from President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the FBI, even so Emma didn’t have the resources to pursue the case.
A man who had been on the original list of suspects, Jack McCullough, was found guilty of the kidnapping and murder of Maria Ridulph in 2011 after his girlfriend turned in evidence that de-legitimized his alibi.
There are a myriad of articles in newspapers across the state involving domestic disputes, shots fired, boat motor theft, vehicle accidents, drownings, and other such police business on which Emma was called upon to handle.
Raids continued throughout her term, including one at the 1955 Galena Corn Boil event, which drew approximately twelve thousand attendees. Many questioned why gambling games were shut down at the corn boil, but allowed to continue at other summer events. They also wondered why Sheriff Grebner permitted a bingo table to reopen for merchandise prizes, when such play was just as illegal as when cash was awarded. No explanation was given and this controversy is believed to have contributed to the loss of Rip’s attempt at reelection in 1958. He lost to the democratic candidate, Richard Bingham by 1,171 votes.
After the loss the Grebner’s went back to their lives. Eventually they moved to Freeport where Emma worked for Newell Brands while Rip was a custodian for St. John’s United Church of Christ and also ran a snack stand at the Masonic Lodge. “It was just a job,” Rip told a Rockford Morning Star reporter in 1973 of his time in the sheriff’s office.
“I was never scared at all,” Emma added.
Two view more articles, photos, and information, click here.
Researched and Written by: Larissa Distler, Adult Services Librarian, and Ruth Foley, Researcher, History of Jo Daviess County Special thanks to: Tim Doser, Historical Room Volunteer, Galena Public Library, Dale Glick, Historical Librarian, Galena Public Library, Steve Repp, Historical Librarian, Galena Public Library