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Al Capone — Part 8
Page 33
33 / 70
~¥ who KILLED
MSWIGGIN:
The scene now shifts to the West Side where “Klondike”
O'Donnell and his horde of homicidal hoodlums, inspired
by their elimination of Eddi Tancl, have been continuing
@ sporadic but ruthless warfare against the growing power
of King Capone in Cicero, To the “Big Fellow” it is appar-
ent that drastic action must be taken against these enemies
who are now reported to be trying to rob him, not only of
his liquor customers, but of his political protection.
At this time police were confronted with what the news-
papers called the Beauty Shop Mystery. This institution of
beautification at 2208 S. Austin Ave. in Cicero was bathed in
machine-gun fire on April 24, 1926, and Miss Pear] Wilson,
the proprietress, could not, for the life of her, explain to the
police why such a thing could have happened. The police
wondered whether or not a new racket had started, say a
beauty shop war, when their attention was attracted to an
automobile which was parked around the corner. On tracing
its license it was learned that it had been registerd by one
John Burns. This was one of the numerous aliases em-
ployed by James “Fur” Sammons, and so a hunt for him
was made but without success. It was even rumored that
“Fur” had been terribly wounded in the machine-gun fire
and either dead or in the hands of one of Gangiand’s physi-
cians—men who treat wounded gangsters for a price and
ry Fittem “iondixe” O-Donzel ooking Pleasant befe Before s camera at the Detective Bureau.
yailding in which was located a beauty shop which
tended for “ar” Sammons, one of "Elondixes” henchmen. (3) “© Sphreefager” ‘Jack White,
enother “Klondike” 0'D
(27]
do not notify police. If their Patient dies a} gant ean diss
ses of the body. But “Fur” could not be and
nally the police ceased to ack for him and the incident
of the Beauty Hie Ter bts was abandoned as insolvable.
During were rumors that political
Bro tection in Cicero was about to shift from Capone to the
"Donnell gang, a rumor which was worked for all it was
worth by jtlondive® in his sales talks to the roadhouse
owners and dive keepers. To some of them the rumor
took on the aspect of truth when it was reported that
William McSwiggin, ace prosecutor, in the office of State’s
Attorney Robert E. Crowe had been seen frequently in
Cicero in company with members of the O'Donnell wang,
two of whom, curiously enough, he had unsuccessfully pro-
secuted for the murder of Eddie Tancl. Other old-timers
in Cicero scoffed at this however and pointed to the fact
that MeSwiggi in was merely out in Cicero having a
time, some or the O’Donnell gangsters had been
mates in high school. Anyway it was strange that a public
official should chum around with the underworld 'y
and it certainly was embarrassing to Al Capone,
Fellow whatever the reason for it might be. ‘The m
people of Chicago who did not know of these Pe ae a8s0-
ciations between hoodlums and prominent public officials,
were, therefore profoundly shocked when, in the early
street editions, of the morning newspapers they read that
Wi Kiam H. McSwiggin was one of ‘ree men killed by
machine-;
n bullets in front of the saloon of John Madigan
at 5613 West Roosevelt road. The other two victims,
companions were James Doherty and John Duffy, the men
he had tried for the murder of Eddie Tancl.
In this murder the public saw a climax to the killings
of Gangland, and the question “Who Killed MeSwigein”
was on the lips of every strap-hanger for weeks. Indi
tion and excitement were intense. Demands for an newer
to the question persisted and, in the endless columns of
newspaper space devoted to the murder, a vast number of
different theories were advanced and discussed in detail.
One of the stories related that as “Klondike” O'Donnell,
his brother, McSwiggin, Doherty, and Duify rode into
Cicero a Sicilian, standing in the shadows of a building
ad passed, raced to Ca-
one’s headquarters, where the
ig Fellow was at dinner.
He listened to the messenger’s
news as he ate and, when he
had finished, he calmly walked
to the rear of the hotel, took
out the machine guns from &
closet, and went out, followed
by three men.
An eye witness to the mur-
der, said that a great automo-
bile sped past the four men as
they walked out of the road-
house and that “fire spit out
of what seemed to be a tele
phone mouthpiece’ projected
through the rear curtain.”
McSwiggin fell mortally
wounded at the first blast,
while Duffy and Doherty
walked for some distance be-
fore they fel! in pools of their
blood. More than two-hundred
bullets were fired. “Klondike”
ulled McSwiggin’s body into
is automobile and had it taken
to the O'Donnell home, but
later it was again placed in the
car and taken and dumped on-
to a spot in a street of a suburb
adjoining Cicero so, as “Klon-
dike” later explained, that no
one would know that McSwig-
gin was with gangsters:
Another story has it that
“Klondike” had paid $40,000 to
McSwiggin and wanted to get
it back again.
“T know who killed my son,”
said Sergeant Anthony Me-
fon bullets believed
Swiggin, of the Chicago police _
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