User:BethDZ/sandbox

Helena Dolder (1881-1974) was the first woman sheriff in the state of Illinois. Her husband, Fred Dolder, was duly elected sheriff of DeKalb County, Illinois, for the term 1926-1930. He died after only one year in office. On January 11, 1928, Helena Dolder was appointed sheriff of DeKalb county at a special meeting of the DeKalb county board of supervisors by a unanimous vote. She ran against, and handily defeated, a slate of men in the November, 1928 general election,

On January 12, 1928, her first day as appointed sheriff, t hirty-two prisoners who were being detained in the DeKalb county jail voiced their disapproval of "matriarchal rule" and their dinner of cornmeal mush by refusing to eat and beating their tin plates with their spoons and shouting "when do we eat?!" The prisoners ignored the command for silence and shouted louder that “...they were tired already of petticoat rule and wanted a male sheriff and some meat to eat." After ignoring a second command to return to their cells, the prisoners shouted “Who will put us in?”  At this point Dolder loosened the fire hoses and adjusted the nozzles.  In a few minutes the mush-hating prisoners were being flattened against the wall and soaked by the streams of water!  After pleading with Dolder to stop, the prisoners went back to their cells.  The next night cornmeal mush was again served and everyone ate without complaint.

This moment came to define her time as sheriff. The story of the prison riot was run in over 75 newspapers across the country, including in the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times, and in Canada as well. Pathe News, a producer of newsreels shown in movie theaters, created a story on her. “Mrs. Sheriff is shown with a revolver in hand ready for action. Another scene is with Mrs. Dolder at the door of her residence wing of the jail with her four children, and quoted as saying ‘I will not let being a sheriff interfere with my being a mother’ as she starts her little family off to school, waving each a gay farewell. These pictures are being shown all across the country.”

Dolder’s other successes in office include efforts to eradicate gambling and bootlegging. She retired from law enforcement in December of 1930. An article in Sycamore’s True Republican (1930) states that she would not seek reelection and that “...her execution of the sheriff’s duties was a credit to her and she is thought of very highly in this community.”