Reader Ad Slot
Reader Ad Slot placeholder
If you would like to support SpookStack without paying out of pocket, please consider allowing advertising cookies. It helps cover hosting costs and keeps the archive free to browse. You can change this choice at any time.
Al Capone — Part 36
Page 12
12 / 62
WILLIAM ALOISIO.
Ducked under pool table ef shooting.
Yalentine Massacre
hted MecGurn'
—_—.. . Spotlig
il the @t. Valentine's mamactre
= ab dimgraged Chicago and msde
~. ~ ‘achine Gun” Jack McGhirm «
=
\ cred February 14, 102%, Ib a
rage at 2171 N. Clark st.
. Seven. members of the
~ in mob, mpposedly awaiting
i es
own, but apparentiy the fake
licemen Hned the mets up as
a raid, whereupen other mach-
- Funners who came in the back
ow shot them down as mood
ry
f > seveh men bring in the
itlered room, is the high spot
we the histary of prohibition law-
. ness in Chicago.
GUEN SHOT BEFORE
3ix of thé victims were dead
#n police arrived. The seventh,
~~ ——— nk Gusenberg, died within an
uooafler mentioning “police.
jusenberg and his brother,
#r, also killed in the massacre,
1 been accused « year before
ae athe shootlng of McGurn, Mt-
nm head been shot through the
k when ambushed in Als car
2 had been taken supposedly
- as to Alexian Hrothera Hos-
al.
Te ralied and Hved and his
OW gangsters spirited him away
the hospital while he was
in precarious conditlen.
"WANTED FOR MASSACRE
The massacre started a furore
Chicage. Rewards totalling
600 were offered and the po-
listed seventeen men m4 want-
for the killings.
the most tangible lead came
ut ten days Jater when an
omoblte was found in » burn-
: garage at 1723 N. Wood at.
5 + 24 bPparent an effort had
b o inade to destroy the auto-
sole ape. Police named Claude
ro-"dox, @ Capone hood?um, as the
oa 7
oer of the car.
—tremt excitement was occasioned
the arrest of Mchurn February
ot S—“'two weeks after the murder.
was found the machine gun-
had been living in the Btevens
41 with Louise Rolfe as Mr.
I Mrs, Vincent Doro.
OND ALIBI ENTEES.
n the face of reported poai-
evidence was belng uncovered.
In the meantime Scalise was as-
aassinated in a geng killing gen-
erally laid to the Capone moh,
M’GURN'S CASE ETRICKEN, |
McGurn Wiimately was admit-
ted te bail and finally, in Decem-
ber of 1839, the indictment
against biti was stricken when,
for the fourth consecutive term
af court, he appeared ready for
trian] and the state was not. No
one was ever tried far the crime.
So ended the prosecution of Mc-
Gum for the Valentine's Day
Thasgacre Without the “blond alibi”
ever appesring in court.
Several months later came the
Prosecution of McGurn and Lou-
ive on federal Mano act charges.
resulting from thelr trip to Florida
together, which dragged on for
years until the United Siates Bu-
preme Court finally upset his con-
viction by Federal Judge Lindley
which had twice been upheld by
the Court of Appeals,
AN “UNSOLVED CRIME."
The massacre of N. Clark st.
ultimately went down in Chicago
trime annals as an unsolved
crime.
In the passing rears there hag
been # genera] opinion among
lice and other investigator: that)
accepted
theory ie that the head man in
the execution of the seven Moran
waogsters owes Fred Killer")
Burke. alms s Capone ally, who
ls serving a life sentence in Mich-
igen for the murder of & police.
Mean at Bt Joseph.
a .
“Things could atill be worse, yor entine addreseed to Jack MeGurn and
know,” was the ironic phrase on the val-
tossed on the floor ten feet from his body.
LAW, GUNS CHEATED FOR 12 YEARS
Jack McGurn for J@ years bare
& charmed iife.
The law never quite caught up
with him.
The gangs almost got him in
1928: then he survived eight years
more during which. in hotel lob-
bles. on gotf tinks, im Plorida and
elsewhere, he wae the most con-
epicuous charatter of Chicago's
underworld. The blond Louise
Rolfe, whom he married in hi
attempt to beat = Mann act cose,
wes aimost constantly with him,
made him even more conspicuous,
but somehow the dapper gun-
man escaped during ol) these
years the assassination that over-
took so many of his contempo-
raries.
His career was almost cut short
before the St. Valentine's Day
massacre that made him @ ha-
tional criminal celebrity. He was
ambushed in hu car in 1928 and
po- |ehot through the lung.
SPECTACULAR ESCAPES.
His cacapes from the law were
More Numerous and even more
spectacuiar,
His firs. big brush with the
law came in 1927 when he was
graobed in @ police roundup when
Gunmen were seized on disorderly
conduct charges and subjected ta
sanity tests. After many con-
tinuances. during which the dap-
per Jack demonstrated his men-
tal miterness, he was finally ac-
quitted,
And in bis behalf the then}
Alderman A. J. Prignano eppeared
to testify a5 to the good character
of MecGurn. That waz the same
Prigmano who was a state repre-
sentative when he was shot down
and killed in front of his Twen-
tleth Ward home the night of
December 28, 1935.
The next year im Municipal
Court McGurn beat a charge of
carrying concealed Weapons when
Judge Rooney was convinced the
wun he was charged with carrying
Waa not conorsled but was iying
bbeeide hitn on the seal of an autc-
mobile.
ST. VALENTINES NEXT.
McGurn's neat big claah with
the law was the St. Valentine's
Massacre. There was great excite-
ment when he was arrested two
weeks after the killing of seven
Moran mobsters In a N. Clark at.
€atege and the police announced
he hed been positively identified
by two witnesses, one = myster-
lows soclety equesirienne whose
Identity was closely puarded.
Folled in their efforta to ton-
wict him of the massacre, the
preaecuiors moved emainat the
charges and federal charges under
the Mann act based on their irips
te Florida and other acuthern re-
sorta,
The state case dragged theooch
many continuances end # ts
Turore over a bond forfeiture: but
bt got nowhere.
Incidentally McGumm was one
gangster who never faced income
tax prosecution.
While he was stu fightine ihe
Mann act conviction in 1930 he
was tried by Judge Frankhauser-:
on charges of carrying concealed
Weapons and sentenced to @ year.
in Jail and e 8300 fine.
FLED TO FLORIDA.
MeGuin tried to avoid the sun
trial by jumping bond and flce-:
ing to Florida. But eventualiy he
Was caught there on Al Capone's j
Paintial estate and Drury end:
Howe went down and brought him
back.
COUET AID TO HOODLUMS.
Altomeya Thomas Nash and
Michaee!l Ahern, who fought mos!
ef McCrurn’s court battles carried
the case te the Ihnois Supreme
Court and won reversal on the
eTound that the detectives had n
starch warrant when they so... 0
McGurn. The decision nat ons
freed Rim but other hoodlums fac -
pair in state courte on statutory! ing similar prosecutions.
*
Vivste
When Police
Arrive,
Continued from First Page.
ered by a sheet. Hin black heir
i ruftled. There was s mnudge
nis forehead and blood on hia
or Just a moment pretty Loulse
ered her handkerchief.
hen Sergt, Donohue had to
ty her back to the anteroom.
ie offered her water, but she
1
“I don't want any.”
‘arlier, Weeping softly al the
‘ine st. police station, where
was questioned by Sergt. Don-
le, Capt. Martin Mullen, De-
ive Lieut. Richard Barry,
et. Kyran Thelan and Patrol-
O Richard P. Broehl, she had
ed or. peatedly for water and
aspirin.
NTS DRINK EN ROUTE,
ym the way to the station with
gi. Donohue, ber eecart_an her
fidow Fully Dressed!
y Call Tells ‘Blond Alibi’ of
“Machine Gun Jack's” bullet-torn
body. There was nothing now. She
didn't want anything. Not even
@ plans of water.
That was Louise Gebardi. in
her happier days the senszatio
witness for the defense of "Ma-
chine Gun Jack” when the heat
wes on him for the infamous Bt.
Valentine's Day massacre. perpe-
trated exactly seven years before
Jack Himself was massacred.
GAVE "JACK AN ALIBL
She testified then that she was
with Jack at the tlme the seven
were slain In the N. Clark st. ga-
tage. He “beat the rap.”
Later they were arrested to-
gether in the Stevens Hotel and
convicted under the Mann act,
but the United States Supreme
Court reversed the conviction.
Allbls today Were needless. And,
Perhaps, it wat just as well for
Loulse that they were. She in-
sisted she knew of no reason for
Jack's assassination, that she
didn’t even know what he did for
hours before his death.
STORY OF LAST HOURS,
Here,
eh. according to the police
@—Be yo know
bowied? A—No.
Q—Was any one with him when
ne left the Rouse? A—No,
where he
Q Of your own knowledge do ‘after
you know if he had any trouble
with any one lately? A—No,
TOLD BY REPORTER.
@_Do you know he was ahot
and killed Inst evening. A—Yas.
A reporter came to my hous and
told me,
Earlier Loulae had told Sergt.
Donohue of mw mystery phone call
telling her “something had hap-
Q.—Do you khow of any rea-
son why he should have been
Killed? A—Na.
Q—Do you know if he belonged
to apy Secret or labor organiza-
tions? A--Nane.
Q-Has he been out of town
lately? A—Noe.
Q—How did he leave home last
night? A—He left in hls own
Ford coupe.
Loulse was taken to the station
for questioning by Sergt Donohue.
SWAYE IN WALK TO CAR.
“Take me to him: Take ime
t him:”
When Bergt. Denohue rang her
doorbell early today she answered
& delay, She wea fully:
dressed, sobbing byt not hyster-
ical.
Bergt. Donohue ssked:
“De you know abel JackT
Bhe seid:
“Yes! My Ged! Hew bad
bet”
“Well, he's gene.”
And Louise threw on her fur
cost, a Jjmunty black hat and
walked down the path with Sergt.
Donohue.
TELLS OF FHONE CALL,
She told of the phone call as
they drove t the station, but
did not mention it during the of-
flelal questioning. Shortly after
the shooting, she anid, & voice told
her over the phone:
“Something bas happened to
deck!"
But she insisted that was all.
Ironically, ahe revealed, Jack
head gone to a wakes Thursday
night Yesterday morning he hed
some to the funeral whish
1
time Louise saw him alive.
1
She said she didn't know what
dack bad been doing for a hiring
lately, but she thought— :
“He owned a picce of a book ;
al Melrose Park.” |
When Sergt. Donohye and ree
Porters approached = MrcGuim's,
home it wae evident that bad news|
had arrived first.
NIGRT LAMP BURNING, 1
Through a window they could,
see the master bedroom on tiie ,
first Floor, A ought lamp burned
dimly between Louis XVI twin!
beds of aspen wood. But ihe bed«!
were deserted.
They peered through another
window into # Living room. car-
pelted in dark coffee color like the
bedroom. It, tog, waa lighted by
a dim lamp. But the tamp threw
its raya Oh upholstered furniture
which was. vacant.
Two bedrooms on the second
floor also were empty. It is be-|[
lieved one was used by McGarn‘sh
1é-year-old daughter, a dark-eyed. |.
auburn-haired beauty. Bul i ttl.
wea, the daughter had flown, |.
aN
*
if
f,
Community corrections
No user corrections yet.
Comments
No comments on this document yet.
Bottom Reader Ad Slot
Bottom Reader Ad Slot placeholder
If you would like to support SpookStack without paying out of pocket, please consider allowing advertising cookies. It helps cover hosting costs and keeps the archive free to browse. You can change this choice at any time.
Continue Exploring
Reader
Topic
Agency Collection
Explore This Archive Cluster
Broad Topic Hub
Topic Hub
bureau
Related subtopics
Subtopic
Subtopic
Subtopic
Subtopic
Subtopic
Subtopic