Cold Case: Macedonian Murders of 1906

This is a 1937 photograph of Andrew Crummy, investigator for the Hennepin County Attorney and former Minneapolis Police Detective.

In 1906, then Detective Crummy worked many long hours on the investigation of the mass murder case known as the ‘Macedonian Massacre.”

The number of Macedonians stabbed and beaten to death in a two-story house on Tenth Avenue South in Minneapolis varied between 6 and 15, according to different records and witnesses. Reports of the amount of money found on the bodies also varied.

The motive for the crime was never discovered but it was believed that it was neither love nor money. There were rumors – popular although unproven – that the murders were committed by Turkish agents seeking revenge for the war between Bulgarian and Greek bands within Ottoman Macedonia in 1904. 

In 1937, when this photograph was taken, the case had not yet been solved. Today, the case is barely known and seldom discussed.

Photograph courtesy of Hennepin County Library