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SO THIS IS CHICAGO.I
In recent years Chicago has figured
conspiciously as the most lawless
city in the United States.. Under
the rule of that quaint patriot, Big
Bill Thompson, who wanted to have
the school history books revised in
order that the youth of 'Chicago
should not be tainted with. any pro,
British sentiment, Chicago has been
brought to a condition unparalleled
by any other great city in the world:
Chicago, with a population of about
3,000,000, is the fourth largest city
in the world,. and one of the richest,
yet it is terrorised by gangs of
blocodthirsty ruffians whose exploits
make the early-day stories of the
Wild West seem quite tame.. An Aus
tralian who toured America recently
tells us that Chicago is a Tower of
Babel, for every language is spoken
there, including, to a limited extent,.
English. 'Even Americanese, though
spoken on a larger scale, is having
a struggle for existence against the
host of alien tongues, of which
twenty-two hail from Europe alone.
It would be a poor national demon
stration in Chicago ,at which fewer
than seventy-two nationalities were
represented, so that it is not surpris
ing that the city should be called a
microncosm of the world. It has the
third largest German population of
any city on earth, and contains more.
Jews than are to be found in
Palestine.
Edward Sullivan, in his recently
puih lished book, "Look At Chicago,"
says that much of Chicago's crime
can be trace d to the traffic in illicit
liquor, or booze-running, as it is
called. Many prisons in and out of
illinois discharge their tinie-expired
inmates into Chicago. That is to
say Chicago is the first city they
make for, because it is the centre )f
the bootlegging industry, which is
more profitable than other forms of
lawlessness. Prohibition has great
ly decreased the number of stick-up
men, pay-roll ,robbers, jewellery
thieves. burglars and safe blowers
resident in Chicago. The great
majority have gone into booze-run
ning. It pays better, and the penal
ties are less severe. The murders
and acts of violence committed by
these criminals who have gone into
bootlegging are now confined to rival
gangsters in the booze trade. Dion
O'B'anion, the miurdereid leader of a
gang, was a safe-blower. Pete and
Frank Gusenberg, slain in the St.
Valentine's Day massacre, were pay
roll bandits. lHymie Weiss and
Schemer Drucci, both inurdered
gangsters, were noted for burglary
and armed robbery respectively be
fore they took to the liquor field.
Countless leaders in every type of
criminality have either suffered
death at the hands of rival gangsters
or are in the liquor nus:ness.
Iii 1900 murders averaged one a
fortnight. In 1928 Chicago had
368 murders, or one for every day
in the leap year and two extras. In
1900 the police recovered property
valued' at 414,131 dollars, and in
1928 the total was 41,967,841, which I
was a mere fraction of the total
amount stolen. As for miirders,
io earlier days they were usually
spontaneous affairs, as chance
brawls are to-day, but the great
majority perpetrated in gangland
are now premeditated and planned
to the last detail. Where a beating
would -suffice to satisfy grudges
years ago, murder is now done.
This crime is now the accompani
ment of alcohol, gambling and
racjket wars, bank robberies, fruas
trated hold-ups, gang reprisals,
love affairs, feuds, and elections.
The gangster is ready for killing
at all times. Policemen have been
deliberately "taken for a ride," and
seated in front .of the car had a
weapon pressed against the back of
I their heads and their brains blown
out
The city was long under the con
trol of two murderous gangs, led
respectively by Capone and Moran..l
They Ipursued t hei, predatory 2
operations on the north and south
side respectively, but necasi m:ally
I one gang would invade the .doma i
of the other, and lthen there was
troible. For a time they Lound
their chief victims in ~t;he proprietors
and. frequenters of gambling densa
They, wouid raid these places 'as.
the police should have done) and.J
seize for their own benefit all . the
money on. the tables or inl the
pockets of those present. • But soon.
an understanding was reached
whereby they contented themselves
with a percentage of the plunder,
out of which. they paid the police to
leaye the dens alone. Thus they
controlled. the whole of the gam- I
hng, ,which. helps to explain tim
massacre, perpetrated on. February
14,. 1929, at the headquarters on. the
norrh side of Chicago of members
of. the Moran gang..
Of this massacre, which. shocked
the whole country, Mr.. Sullivan
writes :-"Just before.11 o'clock. four
men, two. disguised in police uni
forma,..were seen to enter a garagej
in North .Clark-street. It was used.
as the central booze-loading plant
of. the gang. These meen left whatl
apparently was a police squad. cars
putside the garage. One or two
curious people,. seeing the police
enter a small door of the garage,.,
stopped for a moment,. and subse
quently remembered the time of the,
entrance of. the four men.. Others?
remembered hearin, what they be
lieved to be back-firing from the
garage.- Still others saw four nmen
come out of the garage eight minutees
after their entrance had been noted.i
and drive away. It was more than.
an hour before a truckman, enter
ing, the garage, found seven men.
lyiitg in a forty-foot pool of blood;
they were riddled from head to foot I
with machine-gun bullets. Five had
been members of the Moran gang;
the otlier two had died so that they
could tell no tales. All this within a
mile of the Chicago City Hall ! Onie
of the most powerful gangs Chicago
ever. knew had ceased to exist. its
leader,. Moran,. alone sur'vi ving. "The
code of these ruffians will not allow
themn to 'squeal, and Frank (;usent
berg,. who was still breathing in the
welter- of -blood in which he wysj
lying, died with a lie on liis lips,
his reply to a qllestion as to who"
:hot him being, 'nobodi\.' Moran,
asked for his solution, blnrted out,"
'Only the Caipone gang kills like I
that,' and thereafter remanined reti.
cent. The seven meni were evidently I
taken unawares. Probably they,
were misled by the police uniforms,
for. they knew thieir gang had
nothing to fear from the police.
Tlhey .wero first reassured by some
circumstance arranged by their de
stroyers; then covered with revol
vers, before they could make a
move: then lined lup, against the
wall, with their hands above their
heads, and mowed down with more
than a thousand machine-gun bul- 1
lets. Their heads, bodies,. and legs
ierio in some instauces almost
seviCerec ".'
The position has become so bad ,
that recently a Citizens' Comninittee
was formed with the. express inten
tion of "cleaning up the lawless ele
mnent in, Chir'sgo." It has a big
task. The committee will. have to
start high up and wipe out the
grafters in important positions who
have been waxing rich on bribes
from the gangsters; it will have to
reorganise its police force and
strengthen it to such an extent as to
epnable it to contend against mur
derous gangs who shoot on the
slightest provocation, and do not
hesitate to use machine guns if ne
cessary. But the great city is stir
ring at last, and it will be strange
if law and order cannot he restored
in thl second city of the United
States.
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