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N Ragan -b Eau SLAIN BY GANG: | / MOTIVE SOUGHT .| Trio Mows Down Al Capone’s ; Machine Gunman in Bowling =| Alley; Alcohol War Is Seen CHICAGO, Feb. 15 (U.S.). Chicago’s gangland peace came to a bloody end today with assassination of “Machine Gun” | Jack McGurn, expert execu-|. : tioner for Al Capone and chief ‘Isuspect in the Valentine Day |F “|massacre of seven mobsters |? s;Just seven years ago. ' The slim 38-year-old gangster, whose educated trigger finger was Teputed to have sent a dozen men to death in prohibition days, ,Was shot down as few minutes |, , after midnight in a bowling alley, j Tries To Flee at Three men marched into the + Place with drawn guns, announced |* ‘ "This is a stickup,” and then fired an accurate stream of lead into McGurn’s head as he tried to flee, Two “pals* who had accom- panied McGurn to the alley and who scribbled their names with his on a score sheet for their quiet little game, vanished even as the gunman gasped his last on the smooth boards. They took the score sheet with them, Indicted in Massacre It was a “perfect fob" of gang- land execution and left police with an endless number of theories—and a few witnesses who “dot emow" anything about it. McGurn Was indicted for the wholesale glaughter of seven Ne ore in a garage on St. Valentine's Day, 1929, the crime which shocked » nation already : familiar with scores of single, ‘ double and triple slayings. Seven men were lined up against a wall and shot down by « particularity accurate ma chine gunner, . . But McGurn had an alibi, furnished by his attractive blonde “Moll," Louise Rolfe, now Mrs. * Louise Gebardi—McGurn was also . called Vincent Gebardi—who testi- fied to the satisfaction of the law ¢ that her husband was with her in i Lg hotel at the time of the masse cre, And today, as the blonde widow sobbed over “poor Jack” as he lay on & morgue slab, police declared his shooting was not in vengeance for the shocking crime of 1929, In Power Again Capt. Richard Barry explained: “Gangs don't shoot to avenge something that happened years ago, They put men out of the way for what they are doing now.” Chief of Detectives John L. Sullivan, declaring he was certain the three gunmen were “im- y ported” for the assassination, + gave as his theory that McGurn was slain in the opening stage of a new alcohol war between Chi- cago and Milwaukee gangsters: He said: “Gangsters who do their kill- —tng {hat way pin their con- - Mr, Fewred= Mr. vores Mr. F fidence to the th witnesses will either forge unterlly or can be ‘taught’ to forget. That is why such kill- ers use no masks and are not afraid of light. ss McGurn Was “Broke” ~ “Here's the situation—Mo- Gurn had been practically broke, "There is reason te believe he had even been compelled to sell his wife's jewelry and his‘own. He had been trying to get along on a petty gambling racket—book- making. And so he tried to resur- rest the bigger racket of his for- mer boss, Capone. “He undertook to muscle in on, : the Milwaukee boys, and there were three killings, Frank Stypn- lowski was shot November 14, Jos- eph Scaffide, of Milwaukee, and Angelo Kieronomos, of Cicero, were shot a day fater in front, I believe that a connection will be found between these killings and MeGurn’s. “We know that McGurn had been making desperate efforts to raise money—and his enemies knew that when he was desper- ate he was dangerous. They put him on the spot. The trouble was that McGurn outlived the easy days of his racket,” Inquest Postponed An inquest, formal investigation of McGurn's slaying, was con- tinued until March ¢ to allow police to probe less formally into the murder. Im ntae Ae or 1 t a