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Lebman Cash Hoard Coming to Auction

It was recently announced that the first-ever offering of Fr. 2100-K* 1928 Dallas $50 is being featured in Heritage Auctions’ Platinum Night Session, Jan. 9. But how did they acquire this note?

Heritage Auctions received a most unusual time capsule—a trove of bills untouched since the darkest days of the Great Depression, mysteriously divided nearly equally between currency native to its southern Texas discovery and others from nearly 1,000 miles away in Minnesota, with no bills from the various districts in between. The collection was introduced to the experts at Heritage with no hint of the intrigue that would surface, the text of the consignor’s email reading simply, “We cleaned out the Lebman’s Western Store bank box, where some banknotes from my grandfather have laid there since 1934, and we would like to bring in these banknotes for evaluation.”

The cash was stored from 1934 to the 1990s in the bank box for Hyman S. Lebman’s business. Hymie Lebman was an accomplished tradesman from San Antonio, specializing in leather works and gunsmithing. His store operated for over six decades at 111 S. Flores, less than a mile from the famed Alamo Mission. His saddles, belts, and gun holsters are prized by collectors for their high quality and artistry. But the Lebman name carried a decidedly different association for federal law enforcement officials tracking Public Enemy Number One, the notorious gangster Baby Face Nelson.

During that Golden Age of gangsters that flourished in the decade leading up to the Second World War, Lebman’s San Antonio hometown had gained a well-deserved reputation as an organized crime laundromat for stolen cash, its banks amenable to those transactions requiring a unique standard of discretion. Lebman, meanwhile, had come to the attention of those criminal enterprises as a main expert in the modification of firearms in an age when the infamous Thompson Machine Gun turned automatic weaponry into an essential tool of the trade.

The most famous of Mr. Lebman’s personal creations resides for eternity in the FBI Museum, a 1911 Colt .38 Special handgun modified with a forward grip, an extended magazine and, most importantly, fully-automatic firing capabilities. The weapon’s serial number tracks its history through Lebman’s shop to Nelson’s hands and the rain of fire on federal officers raiding the Little Bohemia Lodge in northern Wisconsin in April 1934, one of the most notorious gun battles of the decade.

This paper trail to Lebman resulted in the shock of the gunsmith’s life when federal agents raided his shop, as he professed ignorance to the identity of his client. Nonetheless, Lebman would be sentenced to five years in the Texas State Penitentiary for violations of the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 and the Texas State Machine Gun Law, but those convictions were ultimately reversed on appeal.

Lebman’s son Marvin granted an interview to Man At Arms magazine in 2009, saying of his father, “He told me many stories about the customers who he later found out were John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson. He thought they were charming, wealthy oilmen who were interested in guns, and even invited them to his house for his wife to make them dinner when I was about three or four. Our shop had a firing range in the basement, and when he was experimenting with a Model 1911 on full automatic, the third or fourth round went off directly overhead, through the floor, and I was visiting above at the time. It scared him so much that he invented and installed a compensator on the muzzle to control the recoil.”

This weapons transaction in the waning days of November 1933 came just a month after Nelson and his gang famously held up the First National Bank of Brainerd, Minn. on Oct. 23, making off with some $32,000 in cash. After days on the lamb—carousing and gambling among the underworld characters of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the robbers would flee the area, heading south to Texas with their ill-gotten gains, anxious to launder the cash and secure an arsenal for future crimes. It’s hard not to imagine that the Minnesota bills in Lebman’s lockbox found their way to San Antonio by way of the Nelson gang’s infamous southbound journey.

It is particularly intriguing that Lebman’s hidden treasure was transported to the Heritage offices in a $1,000 bank bag from the Commercial National Bank of San Antonio, with many of the $100 denomination notes wrapped in bank straps bearing its name despite the fact that no notes issued by the bank appear in the hoard. That particular financial institution was well-known to cops and robbers alike for its participation in the laundering of illicit, underworld cash.

In the same month that Nelson and his gang were operating in San Antonio, the FBI came down on Z.D. Bonner, President of the Commercial National Bank and attorney John H. Cunningham. They were arrested on Dec. 21, in connection with a brazen daytime mail robbery a year earlier. The Dec. 6, 1932 robbery netted a Chicago gang $250,000, mostly in government bonds.

At the time of their arrest, Bonner and Cunningham were in possession of $75,000 worth of the bonds traced to the Chicago robbery, $47,100 of which was in bank boxes in the Commercial National Bank. During their trial, prosecutors brought evidence forward that even more United States Bonds from a large heist in New York were also washed through the San Antonio bank and more from mail heists in Minneapolis. A total of five separate offenses of embezzlement were brought against the pair.

In a summary of Bonner v. United States, the manner in which the bonds were embezzled is made clear, “Appellants agree that on March 1, Cunningham and Morrow came to the bank and before the first bond was delivered Bonner had the cashier make out a bank draft on a branch Federal Reserve Bank in San Antonio for $100,000, and that amount of money was delivered to Bonner by the cashier in the presence of Cunningham and Morrow. After this was done, Bonner sent the bond over to the Federal Reserve and borrowed $100,000 on it. The other bonds were handled in practically the same way, except that the drafts on the Federal Reserve were for $92,500 each, although the full amount of $100,000 was borrowed on each. The cash proceeds of each draft were taken in $50 and $100 bills.” They further elaborated on the operation, “During these several bond transactions, Bonner and Cunningham each placed in safety deposit boxes over $30,000 in $50 and $100 bills.”

The Chicago and Minneapolis robberies were later connected to Roger “Tommy” Touhy, who was using Bonner, Cunningham and the Commercial National Bank of San Antonio to help launder his cash and bonds. It was under Touhy’s tutelage that Baby Face Nelson got his start. After troublesome adolescence, Nelson was hired by Touhy to help guard liquor shipments in San Francisco.

As the heat of the San Antonio investigations intensified, Lebman supplied the Feds with whatever details he could, short of the existence of this far-flung cash hoard. Just before he was executed in Ohio in 1934, Harry Pierpont, who was said to be Dillinger’s mentor, insisted that it was Lebman’s testimony that had brought the gang down. On Nov. 27, 1934, Baby Face Nelson was killed by federal agents in Langendorf Park, in what was dubbed the Battle of Barrington (Illinois).

The Cash

The approximately $16,000 in face value cash is central to a timeline of 20th-century criminal activity that changed the United States forever from firearms control to the repealing of prohibition. The timeline of the bank box being locked up in late 1933 or early 1934 is supported by the notes themselves. Not a single note in the group was from series or banknote deliveries that could have fallen after 1934. Most cash hoards are nothing exciting, providing quantities of notes, rather than quality or rarity. That is not the case here.

The first small-size National Bank Note from Moore, Texas was also buried in this safety deposit box for the last eighty-five years. Scarce $100s are reported from Texas, a Type II from Dallas, and a Type I from Vermont. More notes are classified as scarce, and some are common in comparison to normal notes absent the pedigree. Each of the notes traced to Nelson will be offered without an estimate, while the Hyman S. Lebman Cash Hoard is being offered with estimates aligned with unpedigreed notes. The premium for the story here is unknown, left to the market to price this historic offering. Additional Lebman notes are included in their Internet Session of this auction to conclude on Monday, Jan. 13.

For more information, visit www.ha.com.

The post Lebman Cash Hoard Coming to Auction appeared first on Numismatic News.

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"Dozens of Clews Fail in Convict Hunt," Chicago Tribune. October 12, 1942. Page 1 & 17. --- ALL 7 IN BREAK STILL AT LARGE AFTER 60 HOURS ----- Report Fugitives at Widespread Points. (Pictures on page 17.) --- Seven desperate convicts, seven men who would rather kill than be taken alive, went over the wall at Stateville penitentiary near Joliet at 1:40 p. m. last Friday. One was Basil Banghart, a cunning, ruthless criminal. Another was Roger Touhy, one time chief of the murderous Terrible Touhy gang. Men who know the underworld read those names and said the escape had been well planned, with assistance from the outside and perhaps from the inside - planned with patience that might have taken years.

Many Clews Investigated. That opinion was borne out early today when the 60th hour of the search for the desperadoes approached, with not one of them back behind the bars. There were clews, many of them. The police had investigated them by the score. Some of the outlaw band had been reported seen in Tennessee, in Iowa, in Michigan and in many parts of Illinois and Chicago.

But the will-o'-the-wisp gunmen were still at large, free to return to their hidden caches of wealth, which some estimate as high as $100,000. The convicts fled over the wall in broad daylight. They drove away on a well traveled road in a car that had been parked outside the prison walls by Herman Kross, the tower guard they wounded with a bullet in their flight.

No Witnesses Found. Yet no one has been found who witnessed their dash from the walls. Not a clew was reported until hours after the escape was made public. That means one thing to the experts in charge of the search: The fugitives did not race madly away, or their flight would have been noted in the wartime 35 mile an hour traffic.

They drove leisurely, the experts say, and they did not drive far. Some place not far from the prison they entered a hideout that had been carefully prepared. And some police believe they never have moved from that hideout, despite the fact that the car in which they escaped was abandoned Saturday night in suburban Villa Park by four men who stepped promptly into a parked automobile and hurried away.

The searchers believe that some of the puzzling circumstances of the case have been planned and executed by friends of the fugitives to becloud the trail. Others are believed to be the result of coincidence.

Story Up to Date. These are the incidents and the clews that have been reported, in their chronological sequence: FRIDAY. 6:20 p.m. - Fugitives were reported seen in Downers Grove. 8:10 p.m. - Fugitives were reported seen farther away from Chicago, in Naperville. 8:45 p.m. - A car occupied by several men switched off its lights and raced west at 80 miles an hour thru a police barricade at Wolf road and Lake street, north of Elmhurst. 10:30 p.m. - Mrs. Charles M. Burlingham saw an automobile with several men inside park in front of her garage two miles south of Lombardon Finley road. This car, which may have been eluding pursuit, remained some time, terrifying Mrs. Burlingham and her two children. SATURDAY. 2:25 p.m. - A man posing as a Chicago police detective telephoned the state police that the convicts were heading for Dubuque.

2:30 p.m. - State police telephoned an alarm to Dubuque. They were surprised to learn that the keeper of a tavern near Dubuque had just reported that a man he recognized as Touhy had come in with two strangers at 12:30 p. m. and remained drinking, until 1 p. m. The men had then inquired directions to Davenport and departed. The tavern keeper did not explain why he had delayed telephoning or why he had telephoned, the police said. He had not heard that Touhy had escaped. 3:10 p.m. - Roger Touhy was reported seen in Sturgis, Mich, in an auto-mobile. 4:30 p.m. - T. P. Sullivan, state director of safety, reported that his men were examining three supposed high explosives or incendiary bombs found soon after the escape in the prison storehouse, whence the convicts took the ladder with which they scaled the wall. The supposed bombs, huge electric light bulbs filled with colorless liquid, are still being examined. Sullivan believes the convicts abandoned them as too dangerous to handle after obtaining guns inside the walls. 8:10 p.m. - The keeper of a road-house near Knoxville, Tenn., reported that three men had entered and demanded food. Two ate at a table, while the third, answering the description of Banghart, stood guard at the door with a gun. in evident fear that they had been followed. When his comrades had finished eating, the guard threw a $5 bill on the table and the three left without waiting for change. They stole a purse from a woman at a table as they fled. 10:45 p.m. - Mitchell McKnight saw four men in a car approach his gasoline station at St. Charles road and Villa avenue in Villa Park, Du Page county. Fearing they were gunmen come to rob him, he watched. They stepped into a parked auto behind which they had stopped and drove away. He called police to examine the abandoned automobile. 10:55 p. m. - Police arrived to look at the abandoned car. It was the one the convicts had stolen from the prison tower guard. The license plates were covered with mud, purposely placed there. Within the car were a convict's cap and shirt, and the scissors Touhy is believed to have used to cut the prison telephone wires in the store room. SUNDAY. 11 a.m. - The Rt. Rev. Msgr. Thomas M. Conroy, rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at Fort Wayne, Ind. received this telephone message from a man who lisped: "This is the Touhy gang. Stay where you are. We will get you this afternoon or tonight."

State's Attorney Thomas J. Courtney dispatched police to search Fort Wayne for the convicts. He explained that Roger Touhy evidently sought vengeance because he blamed Magr. Conroy in part for conviction of the Touhy gang in the $70,000 kidnaping of John [Jake the Barber] Factor.

12:10 p.m. - A resident of Oregon in Ogle county reported that he had seen and recognized Banghart sitting alone in a car, listening to the radio, at White Pines park, west of Oregon. The Oregon man said Banghart recognized him and put up a hand to hide his face. State police and Sheriff James M. White searched the vicinity all day without finding the gangster. Police believe that the gangsters may have buried the $70,000 from the Factor kidnaping and $80,000 from a Charleston, S. C., bank robbery before they were sent to prison.

NO WHITEWASH ON PRISON BREAK, GREEN PLEDGES Gov. Dwight H. Green, who is personally directing the investigation of the Stateville penitentiary prison break, replied yesterday to Democratic members of the legislature who have asked him to appoint an impartial citizens' committee to conduct the inquiry.

The governor said his administration will not relinquish its responsibility in the matter. And, he said, the administration will not "emulate the titular head of the Kelly-Nash machine and appoint a committee to whitewash any one connected with the state government who may share in the blame."

Gov. Green pledged that any one found to be involved will be punished, and said that he would not permit the Democrats to make political capital of the prison escape.

MAE BLALOCK'S BINGO CHEATING CAREER IS TOLD ---- Criminal Pursuit Bared in Hunt for Fugitives. --- A strange chapter in the life of Mae Blalock was told by authorities at Buffalo, N. Y. last night while Chicago police were searching for her in the belief that she may hold the key to the mystery of the Stateville prison break.

Mae Blalock is the sweet-heart of Basil (The Owl] Banghart, most desperate of the seven convicts who scaled the prison walls to freedom. Something New in Crime. Early this year she introduced something new in criminal enterprise -cheating the bingo game.

Bingo, as played in Buffalo, in a variation of bank night. Each patron is given a numbered ticket.

The winning number, determined by the spin of a wheel, wins a $1,000pot.

Miss Blalock, who is 28 years old, organized a gang of six women to prey upon the bingo games, according to John Fitzgerald, assistant chief of the Buffalo detective bureau.

Blank Tickets Filled In. Carrying portable printing sets, Miss Blalock and her gang went to the theaters with blank counterfeit tickets. When the winning number was called, one of them would stamp it upon her ticket and claim the $1,000 before the rightful winners could collect.

The fraud worked, too often. The true winners protested. A police investigation was begun.

Banghart's sweetheart, who was using the name of Mae Simpson, was caught. She was indicted for conspiracy to commit fraud and released on bond after spending sometime in jail. Then she went to Knoxville, Tenn., where she was living until she vanished three weeks ago.

How Trail Was Picked Up. The Chicago police picked up her trail in a curious manner after the prison escape. They discovered that a Jollet penitentiary parolee, Leonard Bryk of 3657 Pueblo avenue, had been called before parole authorities for corresponding with Miss Blalock while she was in jail at Buffalo.

Bryk, who is 38 years old, was brought in and questioned. He confessed that he had fallen in love with Miss Blalock after his release from prison last November and that they had exchanged letters while she was in jail.

Dropped Her, He Says. But he said he wanted to make one thing clear: He had dropped her like a hot potato upon learning recently that she was the original sweetheart of the desperado, Banghart. Police believe that she planned the escape,and that they can get the true story, if they can learn from Bryk where she is.

Another woman the police want to question is Mrs. Jessie Touhy, the wife of Touhy, another desperate jailbreaker.

#stateville penitentiary #illinois state prison #chicago #illinois history #prison break #escape from prison #notorious criminals #touhy gang #police manhunt #1942 stateville escape #history of crime and punishment #american prison system

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"FBI AGENTS TELL HOW FUSILLADE KILLED 2 FELONS," Chicago Tribune. December 31, 1942. Page 7. ---- Seek to Link Touhy and Gang to Holdup ---- How federal agents killed two of the Touhy gang of escaped convicts last Monday night was told yesterday as the government attained custody of the five catured alive.

Earl J. Connelley, assistant director of the federal bureau of investigation, told a coroner's jury about the shooting as other agents were seeking to determine whether the Touhy gang was responsible for the $20,000 holdup of an armored car on Dec. 18. The bodies of Eugene Lanthorn, alias James O'Connor, and St. Clair McInerney were on slabs near by as Connelley gave an account of the shooting. Lanthorn, 36 years old, was slain in his third escape from the prison, where he was serving a 1 year to life term for armed robbery imposed in 1932. In May of that year he fled but was shot and captured in a robbery. In 1936 he pulled the masterlight switch of the prison and scaled the wall on a ladder he contrived, but was caught the next January in Kenosha, Wis. McInerney's death closed a life sentence he was serving, under the habitual criminal act, imposed in 1937 after a safe blowing attempt which followed two previous robbery convictions. He was 30 years old. Nelson in Minneapolis. Held at the FBI headquarters here were Roger Touhy, Basil Banghart, Edward Darlak, and William Stewart. In federal custody at Minneapolis was Matthew Nelson, the last of the gang of seven who escaped from the Stateville prison on Oct. 9 and the first to be caught.

"Eugene Lanthorn and St. Clair McInerney [the subjects of the inquest) escaped from the Stateville prison on Oct. 9," said Agent Connelley in starting the story of the battle at 1256 Leland avenue on Monday night. "We sought them as violators of the draft law. A subsequent investigation showed they had taken refuge at 1256 Leland avenue in apartment 31. Trapped in Own Flat. "On Saturday, Dec. 26, and Sunday.Dec. 27. agents of the governmentidentified the two men thru visualobservation. On Monday when thetwo left their apartment we placedmen in it and also in apartment 21.on the floor below, and in apartment33, down the corridor. We waited fortheir return.

"Monday night about 11 o'clock the two men approached the door. One,I think it was Lanthorn, placed a key in the lock. The door opened and they started to enter. At that time a command was given: "Stick up your hands. We are federal officers." Connelley didn't say so in his testimony, but it was understood he was one of the men inside the room. 20 to 40 Slugs in Each. There were shots by the two men and subsequent firing by the agents on the second and third floors, he said. "The agents used 38 caliber revolvers and 12 gauge shotguns. There is a possibility that magnum ammunition was used."

[Police ballistics experts said that magnum ammunition is fired from a specially designed magnum pistol, which is one of the two hardest hitting hand weapons in existence. It is a .357 caliber cartridge, which with a 150 grain powder charge has a muzzle velocity of 1,512 feet per second, against 800 feet for the .38 caliber police special cartridge which is the same size and carries the same weight of powder. The only other hand gun with similar hitting power is the 9 mm. Luger pistol, they said.]

The body of each convict was pierced by 20 to 40 bullets or shot-gun slugs, coroner's physicians said. As far as was known no government agent was hit.

Two pistols were turned over to the coroner and said to have beentaken from the bodies of the slain convicts. One, a 45 caliber pistol, had been fired twice. The other, 30-38 revolver, had not been fired. May Transfer Banghart. The jury held the shooting of the two men was justifiable homicide and extended congratulations and commendations to the government agents.

United States Atty. J. Albert Woll announced that four of the recaptured convicts would be turned over to the state authorities for return to prison probably by the end of this week. The government may decide to send Banghart to a federal prison, Woll said, in as much as he is under a 36 year sentence for a mail robbery in North Carolina.

Spencer J. Drayton, special agent in charge of the FBI in Chicago, said his aids still were questioning Touhy, Banghart, Darlak, and Stewart. He said there had been no admissions of guilt in the Buick plant robbery.

Because the escaped convicts were known to have had little money on Dec. 17 and to have had plenty afterward, however, it was believed they robbed the armored car.

#chicago #coroner's inquest #police shooting #police ambush #shot to death #escaped convicts #hideout #federal bureau of investigation #1942 stateville escape #stateville penitentiary #history of crime and punishment #world war ii

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"G-MEN KILL 2; FBI CHIEF HERE," Chicago Tribune. Decembeer 29, 1942. Page 1 & 6. --- GANGSTERS IN FLAT BUILDING ARE AMBUSHED --- Police Hear Touhy's Pals Slain. ---- (Pictures on page 6.) Two men, reported to be members of the "Terrible Touhy" gang that staged a daring escape Oct. 9 from the Stateville prison, were shot and killed late last night by federal bureau of investigation agents on the second floor landing of an apartment building at 1256 Leland avenue.

The slain men were reported reliably to have been St Clair McInerney, 31, safe blower and robber, and James O'Connor, 36, bandit. Both were serving life sentences.

Two other members of the gang were reported to have been captured.

Witnesses who viewed the bodies said that a high powered rifle lay across the chest of one of the slain men, which police said was an indication that they were aware of the identity of their ambushers.

Hoover Takes Charge. J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, entered the Bankers building at 105 West Adams street at 1:15 this morning and proceeded immediately to the 21st floor where the FBI offices are located.

A reporter who recognized him asked, "You're Mr. Hoover, aren't you?" Hoover nodded his head, and the reporter continued, "Have you any comment to make on the shooting?"

The FBI chief replied that he would have no statements to make "before several hours."

The shooting occurred after federal agents sprung an elaborate trap. Ambushes had been set inside and outside the building. FBI automobiles, their motors kept running, were parked in strategic locations on the street and in adjacent alleys, and armed agents commanded all en- trances and lower floor windows. The agents also took over several apartments in the building, including apartment 31 on the third floor, which was occupied by the gangsters, and apartment 21 on the second floor commanding the stairway.

Let Four Men Enter Ambush. It was shortly before midnight when four men, attired in workmen's garb, entered the building. They were known to the waiting federal agents to be the men they wanted and were permitted to enter the building unmolested.

Once inside, two of the men apparently became alarmed and fled toward the rear, while the others mounted the steps, to be met at the landing with a blast of machine gun and shotgun fire. Both, police said, were killed instantly.

Police, who later were barred from the premises, were admitted shortly after the shooting and viewed the dead men. Lt. Robert Welling of the Town Hall station said that neither was Roger Touhy, leader of the seven gangsters who fled prison, or Basil [The Owl] Banghart, his chief lieutenant.

Identify O'Connor as Tenant. Mrs. Anthony Battaglia, manager of the apartment building, is reported to have identified photographs of O'Connor as the man who rented the apartment from her on Dec. 10 under the name of Peterson.

She and other occupants of the building also are reported to have identified pictures of Touhy and Banghart as frequent visitors to the "Peterson" apartment. Other members of the gang who fled Stateville prison are William Stewart, 43; Matthew Nelson, 40, and Edward Darlak, 31, all criminals under life sentences. All save McInerney and Darlak were members of the Terrible Touhys.

The Touhy gang was sentenced to life imprisonment, after a career of crime and terrorism that has few parallels in Chicago, upon conviction of the kidnaping of John [Jake the Barber] Factor.

Watched Place for Weeks. The federal agents were reported to have laid their trap with extreme care. They were said to have known of the presence of the suspects for several weeks, but reportedly refrained from staging a raid in the hope that the entire gang could be seized.

The elaborateness with which they prepared their ambush recalled the thoroness of the planning which led to the death from FBI bullets of John Dillinger as he left the Biograph theater, 2433 Lincoln avenue, on July 23, 1934.

Since shortly after the alleged gangsters' occupancy of the apartment, federal agents, posing as workmen and professional men, had maintained constant tenancy in the building, first in one apartment then another, it was reported.

Their identification of the men was effected thru the simple expedient of entering the apartment when its occupants were gone and looking for fingerprints, it was said. These were said to have been found in abundance upon more than 50 half gallon beer bottles Police reasoned that the gangsters refrained from returning the bottles, as is usually done, for fear that their prints might fall into police hands.

Victims Carry Big Sums. Considerable sums of money were reported found on the bodies of the two slain men, it was reported $1,000 in the pockets of one, and $500 on the other. Mrs. Battaglia said that the man who was known as Peterson informed her that he wanted the apartment for himself and his wife. He paid his rent by the week, and on Christmas day, she said, he knocked at her door and handed her $10.

A 16 year old boy, David Black, who lives at 1260 Leland avenue, immediately adjacent to the Norwood apartment building in which the gangsters had their hide-out, was a witness to part of the affray.

Boy Sees Two Men Flee. He said his attention was attracted by gunfire, presumably from a ma- chine gun. Running to the window he saw the darkened cars parked along the street and in the alley, armed men standing in readiness. During the shooting, he said, he saw two men run north into the alley, then the G-men poured out of their cars with guns in their hands."

HISTORY OF TOUHY GANG Touhy, once the head of the murderous Terrible Touhy gang, andBasil (The Owl] Banghart, the gang's machine gunner, led the escape of five other desperadoes over the walls of Stateville prison last Oct. 9.

Prison officials found in an investigation later that the convicts had obtained four pistols while in the prison. They also procured ladders inside the walls, and when the stage was set began their carefully planned break,

With Touhy and Banghart were James O'Connor, an undersized bandit who had escaped twice before from the same prison; William Stewart, lanky Chicago bandit leader; his old time associate, Matthew Nelson; Edward Darlak, 31 years old, murderer of a Chicago policeman, and St. Clair McInerney, 31, a safeblower and bandit. The latter two, prison officials said, may have escaped in the confusion which followed the Touhy break, but are listed as missing with them.

The first move came when a garbage truck driven by Jack Cito, a convict, stopped at the prison's kitchens.

Touhy dashed out of the bakery in which he worked armed with a pair of scissors. He slashed at a guard, knocked him down, and drove off with the truck. He drove a mile and a half across the prison grounds to the mechanical shops and stores, picking up somewhere en route his other pals.

The truck, with Touhy at the wheel, backed down a ramp into a loading tunnel under the machine shops. Touhy and Banghart jumped out immeditely and beat William Dahler, foreman of the mechanical shop who was working a gang of convicts there preparing scrap metal for loading.

Slugged with Gun. They hit him with a gun and slashed a 2 inch gash in his scalp. Touhy left Dahler to the others of the gang and went feet first thru the service window into the mechanical stores room, confronting Samuel Johnson, the guard on duty there. He snipped telephone wires with his scissors and aided by Banghart, who came thru the gate door, armed, demanded ladders.

They loaded the ladders onto the truck. Lt. George Cotter arrived in the tunnel and was beaten and dumped on the truck. Touhy and Banghart took the white caps that, Johnson and Cotter wore to identify themselves as guards and drove the truck toward the northwest prison gate at tower No. 3.

There they opened fire on Herman Kross, the tower guard, wounding him. They set up their ladders, took Kross's keys to the outer tower stairway and calmly went down the outer tower stairway and to Kross's automobile, parked outside. They made their escape in the car, which was found abandoned near a filling station at St. Charles road and Villa avenue in Villa Park, DuPage county,at 10:45 p. m. the next night,

Kross, 51 year old resident of Lockport, and two other guards, Roy C. Everton, 51, of Plainfield, who was in tower No. 2, and Joseph L. Montonye, 31, of Lovington, who was in tower No. 4, were discharged as a result of the investigation which followed the escape. Kross was only slightly wounded by the desperadoes' bullets.

Manhunt Is Widespread. The hunt for Touhy and the desperate men he led blanketed the United States.

The FBI, circularizing their descriptions, described Touhy and Banghartas "two of the most desperate and dangerous criminals at large today." They were variously reported as having been seen in Chicago and suburbs for a week or more after the escape. Police in far distant places also were told that the convicts had been seen, but no one found an actual trace of them.

BLAME GUARD IN ESCAPE Two guards at Stateville prison yesterday testified that Herman Kross, suspended guard, could have frustrated the Oct. 9 escape of Roger Touhy, Basil Banghart and five other convicts had he used the guns or bombs with which he was equipped.

The two guards, Lt. George R. Cot-ter and Officer Samuel Hill, gavetheir testimony at a hearing before Robert L. Hunter, president of the Illinois civil service commission, in the Will county courthouse.

Kross testified that he had seen the garbage truck which the prisoners had commandeered coming across the prison yard, but had attached no significance to it. He did not realize that an attempted escape was in progress until the prisoners leaped from the truck, placed a ladder against the tower, and started shooting.

Asked why he did not return the fire, or toss a bomb, Kross said that he was sick from the effects of a bullet that had nicked him, and was too confused to act. Hunter said the civil service commission would review the testimony and decide whether Kross will be formally discharged. Kross is charged with failure to perform his duty.

"FBI Agents Slay Two In Raid on North Side Flat," Chicago Tribune. December 29, 1942. Page 6. ---- Clockwise from top left: Roger Touhy, leader of band of escaped convicts who were believed to be target of FBI raid on northside last night when two men were slain.

Basil (The Owl) Banghart, who fled prison with Touhy and five other men last fall.

St. Clair McInerney, who wa sbelieved to have been slain in the FBI raid last night. He escaped from prison with the Touhy gangsters.

James O'Connor (left), who was believed to have been one of the men slain, and Matthew Nelson. Both were members of the Touhy gang who participated in the prison break.

#chicago #gunned down #police shooting #federal bureau of investigation #stakeout #police ambush #escaped convicts #desperate convicts #1942 stateville escape #stateville penitentiary #world war ii #history of crime and punishment

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"FIND TOUHY MOB HAD FIRE BOMBS HIDDEN IN PRISON," Chicago Tribune. October 13, 1942. Page 13. ---- Multitude of Tips Fails in Hunt for Felons. ---- Three liquid filled electric light buths left behind by the seven convicts who shot their way out Stateville penitentiary last Friday, were found last night to be incendiary. The colorless liquid in the bulbs was gamine, according to T. P. Sullivan, state director of public safety. The improvised hombs had fuses of cotton Selvan said that once the fuses were lighted, the bombs could be exploded by burning them upon the ground, so that they would scatter flaming gasoline. Report by Keeler The report as to the nature of the bombs was made by Leonarde Keeler, state police criminologist.

Sullivan said the convicts evidently had bidden the bombs in the prison storeroom before they invaded it to take the ladder with which they scaled the wall Had they met effective resistance, the safety director said, the desperadoes would doubtless have tried to spread confusion within the prison with flames.

Police telephones and radios buzzed yesterday with reports on Roger Touhy, Basil Banghart and the other convicts who escaped with them.

Banghart was reported to have been seen in Chicago, getting his car greased in a service station at West Grand avenue. Touhy and four companions were reported to have threatened a truck driver four miles west of Paw Paw, Mich. From many parts of Illinois came telephone calls that the convicts had been seen.

But all seven were still at large last night, and many of those closest to the investigation were willing to bet that not one of them had stirred from the hideout to which they are believed to have fled. Surveys Scene of Break Col. Frank D. Whipp, státe superintendent of prisons, surveyed the se of the break. George A. Barr, Jolet attorney, conferred with War des E. M. Stubblefield. Barr, a brother of State Sen. Richard J. Barr [41st] of Joliet, said later he had only offered his assistance to the warden. Police were called to the Grand evenue service station by Ben Skulnik, the owner, after a nervous man with a weapon in his car called there and asked for a quick greasing job. Osborn Jackson, a Negro attendant accidentally had pushed a coat off the weapon in the back seat while serv Icing the car and had been reprimanded by the owner, who Osborn said resembled Banghart. The weapon was said to have been a machine gun. No Such Wisconsin Numbers. The supposed Banghart had de parted when the police arrived. Jackson gave them the Wisconsin license number he had recorded, but Wisconsin authorities said there was no such number. Erving White, Paw Paw truck driver, told police he met a man who looked like Touhy with four other men west of Paw Paw. White offered the men help when he found them repairing their car, but one pointed a sawed off shotgun at the truck driver and ordered him on his way White said the other men all were armed. A palice blockade falled to trap the men and police said they might have been hunters. Warden Stubblebeld reported that he received a telephone call from New York from a man who identified him self as a police captain but mumbled his name so that the warden could not understand it. The caller reported that five of the convlets had just alighted from a train and said: "There was one wrong guy in that bunch and we are going to take care of him." Touhy's brother, Edward, was questioned at Madison, Wis. by Lieut. William McCarthy of the state's attorney's police. It had been waspected that the man who had frequently visited Touhy in prison under the name of Edward Touhy was not the gangster's brother, but was a member if the gang, arranging the escape Edward, Madison bartender, said, however, that it was be who visited Truhy MCarthy said Edward denied all knowledge of the gangster's whereabouts, and said he wouldn't tell even it he knew.

The car in which the convicts fed from the prison was returned yesterday to its owner, Guard Herman Kross, from whom the fugitives stole 1. The automobile was found abandoned Saturday night in Villa Park. The police removed its license plates before returning it. lest acme official who had not heard of its recovery might suspect the convicts were in side and fire upon It.

#stateville penitentiary #government investigation #police investigation #prison break #escape from prison #escape plot #notorious criminals #wanted fugitives #1942 stateville escape #world war ii #history of crime and punishment #illinois prisons #illinois history #illinois state prison

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if-you-fan-a-fire · 2 years

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"Hunt 7 In Touhy Escape," Chicago Tribune. October 10, 1942. Pages 1, 6, 7 & 8. --- GANG CHIEF AND 4 PALS FLEE IN PRISON BREAK ---- Roll Call Reavels 2, Others Gone. ---- BY WARREN BAKER. (Pictures on pages 6, 7, and 8.) Seven desperate convicts, all facing the prospect of spending the rest of their lives in prison, were hunted late last night, hours after a desper ate break over the walls at Stateville prison, near Joliet.

Five of them, headed by Roger [Terrible] Touhy, head of the old northwest side gang that kidnaped John [Jake the Barber] Factor, es- caped in an assault that ended in the wounding of two guards and a civilian employé.

Touhy Heads 5 in Break. Those with Touhy were:

Basil The Owl] Banghart, Touhy's former machine gunner who is known to police as one of the most vicious criminals of modern times.

James O'Connor, an undersized lifer who has escaped twice before from Stateville. The first time he got out hidden in a desk he had helped to build in the carpenter shop. The second time he went over the wall when some one turned out all the prison lights.

William Stewart, lanky 43 year old bandit sentenced to life as an habitual criminal.

Matthew Nelson, 40 years old, one of Stewart's Chicago associates in a bandit gang, also sentenced to life as an habitual criminal.

Discover Two More Missing. Hours after the escape, when Warden E. M. Stubblefield had returned from a business trip to Springfield, a roll call of the inmates was taken. Then it was found that two more convicts were missing, but whether they had escaped in the confusion could not be learned for certain before every foot of the prison and its huge grounds had been searched. The two are:

Edward Darlak, 31 year old mur derer of a Chicago policeman, serving 199 years.

St. Clair McInerney, 31, a safe blower and bandit who also is serving life as an habitual criminal.

Four and five guards manned each tower last night, and worked in relays hunting Darlak and McInerney.

Gov. Dwight H. Green said last night that he was "shocked" when informed of the prison break. He added that every facility of the state will be put in operation not only to bring the men back to prison, but to and out how they escaped.

Far Flung Manhunt Begins. One of the biggest and most widely flung manhunts the state ever has known was set in operation as soon as word of the escapes reached city, county, and state police. Every state policeman on the rolls was called into service and scores set to patroling highways and barricading intersections. The state's attorney's police, with a number of city policemen who could recognize the convicts, were sent out in squads to patrol old Touhy haunts and to aid the state forces.

Reports came pouring in from allsides late last night. The convicts had been seen in Downers Grove, in Naperville, on route 56 headed for Chicago. But the hottest of these reports came from two state policemen operating a barricade at Wolf road and Lake street [route 20].

They had stopped about five cars on each side of the intersection and were questioning occupants, when a dark car answering the general description of that in which the five escaped came roaring west on Lake street, and swung wide of the stopped automobiles.

Heads Car Toward Policeman. Policeman Benjamin Webb jumped out into the path of the car, waving his revolver. The car increased its speed, turned out its lights, and headed for Webb. He leaped out of the way just in time and it sped thru the intersection at 75 to 80 miles an hour and on westward.

The two policemen chased it to York road, about two miles, but never caught sight of it again. They then reported to their station by phone and the alarm was spread north, south and west of the point where it vanished. The policemen fired several shots.

State's attorney's police also were busy all night searching for those who recently had visited any of the convicts. Hunt Tony's "Brother." Madison, Wis. pollce were asked by Capt. Daniel Gilbert of the state's attorney's office to look for Edward Touhy, supposed brother of Roger Touhy, whom prison records list as having visited the gangster six times.

His latest visit, according to the records, was in Sept. 21. Capt. Gilbert said that Touhy was the only one of the escaped convicts who received more than one or two visits in the last year.

He expressed skepticism regarding the alleged relationship of the visitor, if Touhy had a living brother named Edward, he said, the state's attorney's office never had heard of him. He suggested that the "brother" may have been a member of the Touhy mob who posed as a relative in order more readily gain permission to visit the gangster.

Jall Driver Explains Visit. A deputy sherif, Jerry Kalal of Des Paines, who drives the bus bearing prisoners from the county jail to the state prison, also was listed as a visitor to Touhy and was questioned.

His explanation that he had visited Touhy to Inquire about some prop erty owned by the Thuhy family in Des Plaines was accepted.

Police visited Mrs. Hasel Kushn of 5659 Grover street, sister of Matthew Nelson. She and her husband, Albert, said that they had not seen Nelson since they visited him in prison in July and August of 1941. They said they had received no calls from the escaped felon. Police Visit Darlak Helatives. Police also called upon Edward Dur sister, Mrs. Mildred Roces, 541 Barber street, and his mother, Mrs. Pauline Darlak, 1257 West 14th place Two of Darlake's four brothers, Fred and Paul, who live with their mother. also were questioned. Two other brothers, Casimir and Loule, live in Chicago. Police searched the North Clark street taverns in the hope of finding Stewart, whom they relied w arrested in a Clark street gin mill.

Capt. Gilbert ordered a guard for Buck Hendricks former county high- way policeman, whose testimony as a state witness was instrumental in Touhy's conviction.

The guard for State's Attorney Courtney also was ordered tightened, and the detective squad car that normally follows the state's attorney was ordered to redouble its vigilance.

STORY OF THE ESCAPE The full story of the spectacular daylight foray inside the prison came out laze in the evening when Warden Stubblefield and Safety Director T. P. Sullivan questioned the prison personnel. After the inquiry, double investigation was opened, first to learn by what means four pistols were smuggled into the prison to the convicts - all were armed save Touhy and, second, whether Darlak and McInerney were in or out of the place.

From the stories of the guards and trusties who saw or were forced to take part in the break it was learned that the action started about 1:40 pm.

First warning came when a convict later identified as Touhy dashed from the bakery, in which he worked, to the convict driver of a garbage truck. Touhy, armed with a pair of scissors, ripped the shirt and slashed the forehead of the convict, Jack Cito, knocked him down, and leaped into the truck. He drove eff at high speed across the prison yard.

Cuts Telephone Wires. He drove to the mechanical shop where he rushed in and confronted Samuel Johnson, the guard on duty. He snipped the telephone wires with his scissors and, as at a signal. Banghart came thru a window with a gun.

In the mechanical store are kept number of sections of ladders locked in racks. Touhy and Banghart demanded two sections, one at 40 feet and another 30 feet long. As Johnson was unlocking the ladders, under the menace of Banghart's gun. Lieut. George Cotter, in charge of the mechanical shop, arrived on the scene. Banghart and Tray leaped on the Lieutenant beating him with their weapons, and dumped him into the truck, taking Johnson along, too. The ether three convicts were waiting is the truck.

Guard Shot in Forehead. Touhy and Banghart then headed the track for the northwest corner of the prison, to the area guarded by tower No. 3. As they neared the wall several of them opened fire en Guard Herman Kross in the tower. Kross was struck in the forehead by a bullet and fell.

The convicts then put up the long section of the ladder, making Johnson help them after beating him and tearing his shirt off. They took Johnson up the ladder with them. Kross had crawled inside the tower and was found dazed in a corner.

"Here's the key," one of them said, pointing to Kross' key to the door leading from the outside of the prison to the tower stairway. (There is no way to reach the tower from inside the prison.)

Hanging from its usual hook was the rope with which the tower guards lower the door key to the guard relieving them and up which they draw their lunches and coffee. Other convicts had searched Kross and had taken the key to his automobile, parked outside the prison at the foot of the tower stairs.

Flee In Guard's Auto. They then seized two rifles, part of the tower armament, and a heavy plated Kross wore, together with 15 or 20 rounds of extra ammunition for each gun, and calmly went down the tower stairs, unlocked the door, and left in Kross' light auto.

Kross, still dazed from his wound. was brought back to the prison last night from his home in Lockport, to which he had been taken after the break.

He said when he saw the truck coming toward the wall he saw prison officers on it and had started back for his rifle when he was felled by the bullet. He said he heard only two shots - four were fired, other witnesses said - and and he hesitated to shoot because he was afraid of hitting other guards. He said he was still dazed when a convict reached the tower and shoved him into a corner and took his gun.

Foreman Seized and Escapes. William Dahler, foreman of the mechanical shop, revealed during the questioning of guards, that he had been slugged and had suffered a bad scalp wound when Touhy and Banghart jumped him before they con fronted Johnson In the store room He was put into the track, too, but during the confusion of subduing Johnson and Lieut. Cotter, he escaped.

Warden Stubblefeld said after the Inquiry that there are about 2,800 inmates now in the prison. On guard over them are 240 men in three shifts. The warden said his turnover of guards had been 85 per cent in the last year because of the low pay - $115 to $135 a month - and because many of the men have left for war jobs or entered the armed services.

A count of the convicts is taken three times a day, 5:39 m. 4:30 p.m. and 9 pm. All were accounted for at the morning count, but there were seven sheet at both counts later in the day. Secretary Calls Police More than an hour elapsed after the escape of the four before Chicago police were notified. Then Warden Stubblefield's secretary called police head-quarters and told meager details of the break, naming Touhy and Banghart and a man named Connors. The secretary said she did not know the name of the fourth man.

It was nearly three hours before the state's attorney's staff were able to get the complete list of the fleeing convicts. Wilbert Crowley, first assistant state's attorney, demanded the prison name all who had fed so his force would know whom to look for. Only then was he told that the third and fourth men were James O'Connor and Stewart.

Believe Banghart Planned It. The smoothness and thorouhness of the escape and its planning were credited by most authorities to Bang hart and O'Connor, Banghart was brought back to Illinois in 1554 after lending a $100,000 mail robbery in Charleston, S. C. for which he was sentenced to 36 years. He was sentenced here to 39 years for the Factor kidnaping in a separate trial and was sent to Menard prison.

In about a year he managed, with three other desperadoes, to obtain scissors from the prison tailor shop and cut his way out of the penitentiary. He was shot in the arm and captured within an hour. Banghart is supposed to have some thing more than $380,000 of his mail robbery proceeds cached somewhere in this area. Two others of the gang were sent down to Jollet with Touhy. [Banghart was sent there after his Menard escape.] They were Gloomy Gus Shaeffer and Albert Paily Nosel Kator. Schaeffer died while in prison.

SEEK BANGHART'S GIRL The sweetheart of Basil Banghart, who broke out of Stateville prison yesterday, was one of the persons police wanted to question about the escape. She is Mae Block, some times known as Mrs. Basil Banghart., a dark haired, attractive woman, who gave birth to a daughter in 1914 at Asheville, N. C, while Banghart was awaiting trial for a $100,000 mall truck robbery.

After that robbery $81,000 of the foot was not recovered, and there were reporta that Banghart had buried it in Chicago. Banghart was sentenced to 34 years Imprisonment for the robbery but since he was al ready under a 90 year sentence In Illinois for the John Factor kidnaping, he was returned here to serve that term.

Pardoned by Governor. Soon after the mall robbery trial the Blalock woman was arrested in Tennessee on a state charge of kid naping Rufux Costner, a brother of Ike Costner, who was convicted with Banghart for the mall holdup. She was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison in 1936.

Two years later the governor of Tennessee pardoned her, declaring he thought the kidnaping charge was fictitious. She promptly agreed to help show the authorities where the balance of the mail loot could be found.

In company with the chief of detectives of Charlotte, N. C, the Bis lock woman came to Chicago in September, 1928 to hunt for the buried treasure It was never found, but police suspected she knew where it was hidden.

Nothing has been heard from her since the treasure hunt. She has not been among Banghart's recent visitors at the prison.

"KIDNAPING PAIR, LONG NOTORIOUS, IN FOR 99 YEARS," Chicago Tribune. October 10, 1942. Page 6. ---- In Gang of Killers That Battled Capone. ---- Roger Touhy and Basil Banghart, who escaped yesterday from Stateville penitentiary, were members of a notorious gang of killers, kidnapers, and bootleg operators. For years they fought the Capone gang, and after Al Capone was sent to prison, the Touhys were undisputed masters of Chicago's underworld.

Roger Touhy was the boss of the gang. Banghart, known "The Owl," was the gang's machine gunner. Both were sentenced to 99 years in prison in 1934 for the $100,000 ransom kidnaping of John [Jake the Barber] Factor. Gus Schaefer and Albert Kator were sentenced to thesame terms for the same crime.

At his trial Touhy accused Factor of staging a fake abduction to prevent his return to England where he faced trial for an alleged stock swindle. Touhy carried his appeal to the United States Supreme court, which denied his application for a writ of habeas corpus in 1938.

Two Brothers Slain. The Touhy brothers [Roger, James, Thomas, John, Joseph, and Edward] grew up in the neighborhood of Polk street and Damen avenue. Their father was a policeman - an honest one and a good one, his associates said. The boys' mother was burned to death accidentally when they were youngsters.

From petty thefts they went to burglaries and then to bootlegging. The roster of the brothers dwindled. James died in the penitentiary. John was killed by a stray bullet in a tavern. Joseph was killed in a gun fight. Edward died a natural death.

That left only Thomas and Roger, who organized the gang that became known as "The Terrible Touhys."

For a while the Touhy gang had a working agreement with the Capone gang, under which they divided territories for the sale of bootleg liquor. Eventually the truce was broken, and a war between the gangs raged for several years. The full story of this war has never been told, but many an "unsolved" murder was laid to the strife.

Judge's Home Bombed. In 1939 part of the story came out when an unnamed convict told the state's attorney's office how several sensational crimes were committed. One of these was the mysterious bombing of the home of Judge John P. McGoorty in 1932. The blast blinded a boy who was passing by, and a woman lost the sight of one eye.

This crime, said the convict, was committed by the Touhys in order to add to the public clamor for the return to prison of their deadly enemy, James [Fur] Sammons, a gunner for the Capone gang.

The convict also blamed Roger Touhy for the 1932 ambush murder of George [Red] Barker, a Capone killer. This slaying was to avenge the killing of Timothy J. Lynch, czar of the teamsters' union, in the previous year.

Repeal of prohibition cut off the Touhy gang's rich sources of income, and they turned to bank robberies, kidnapings and efforts to muscle into labor unions. Thomas Touhy concluded his career by taking part in a $78,000 mail holdup in the Minneapolis station of the Milwaukee road on Jan. 3, 1933. He and seven others were sentenced to 23 years for this crime and they are still in federal prison.

That left Roger as the last of the brothers. With Banghart as his chief aid, he kidnaped Factor, and was sent to prison for 99 years. Police say he turned "cry baby" when he got behind prison walls and spent all his time complaining and plotting ways to escape or to have his sentence voided.

The real toughened criminal of the gang, according to police, is Banghart. His break yesterday was his fourth escape from prison. In 1927 he escaped from the federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga., along with the notorious Gerald Chapman. Captured at South Bend, Ind., he shot his way out of the city jail while awaiting extradition.

Shot in Chase. Banghart was recaptured in Baltimore, Md., and returned to Chicago for trial as one of the Factor kidnapers. Sentenced to 99 years, he was sent to Menard prison, where he staged his third prison break by smashing thru the prison gates in a commandeered truck with three other prisoners.

About nine miles from the prison the truck crashed into an automobile. Pursuing prison guards then caught up with the fugitives. Banghart was shot in the arm during the roundup that followed. Soon afterward he was transferred to the old state prison in Joliet, where the most hardened criminals usually are confined.

"POLICE RECORDS OF FELONS WHO ESCAPED PRISON," Chicago Tribune. October 10, 1942. Page 7. ----- (Story starts on page 1.) Figures in Escape ---- 'Terrible' Touhy Leader of Ruthless Gang. ---- Here are the criminal records and descriptions of the five convicts who escaped and the two reported missing from Stateville prison yesterday: ROGER TOUHY - 45 years old. 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 139 pounds; of medium build; has chest- nut hair mixed with gray; light blue eyes. He was the leader of the "Terrible Touhy" gang that ruled the liquor traffic on the northwest side during prohibition days. Later the gang turned to bank robberies, kidnapings, and muscling in on labor unions. Touhy was convicted only once - for the kidnaping of John Factor - and was serving a 99 year sentence.

BASIL BANGHART - 41 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs 152 pounds; has light blue "slanty" eyes and chestnut hair, medium gray. Police describe him as the toughest man who ever walked into the Chicago detective bureau. In the old gang days he was known as the machine gunner for the Touhy mob. Banghart also was serving a 99 year sentence for the Factor kidnaping, but he is also under another 36 year sentence for a mail truck robbery in Asheville, N. C.

JAMES O'CONNOR - 36 years old, 5 feet 4 inches tall; weighs 158 pounds; orange-green slanty eyes; chestnut hair. He was serving a term of 1 year to life for armed robbery imposed in 1932, but earlier he served a sentence for assault to rob. Yesterday was his third escape from the penitentiary. In May, 1932, O'Connor and a pal concealed themselves in a desk while at work in the prison furniture factory and broke free from a truck outside the prison walls. Later that year he was shot and captured during an attempted robbery. In 1936 he made his second escape from Stateville, climbing a cleverly contrived ladder resting against the 33 foot wall after throwing the entire prison into darkness by pulling the master switch. He was captured in January, 1937, in Kenosha, Wis., and returned to prison.

WILLIAM STEWART - 43 years old, 6 feet tall, medium build: dark hair mixed with gray; light hazel green slanty eyes. He was sentenced Nov. 14. 1937 on a plea of guilty to robbery. Under the habitual criminal act he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

MATTHEW NELSON, ALIAS MARTIN NEWTON - 40 years old, 5 feet 95 inches tall; weighs 149 pounds; medium build, sallow complexion, chestnut hair and blue eyes. He was a member of Stewart's robbery gang. and like him was sentenced Nov. 14. 1937 to life imprisonment under the habitual criminal act.

ST. CLAIR McINERNEY - 30 years old. 5 feet 8 inches tall; weighs 157 pounds, medium build, chestnut hair, fair complexion, blue eyes. He was serving a life term under the habitual criminal act, imposed in 1937 after he was caught while attempting to blow a safe in the Swedish club, 1258 North La Salle street. In 1932 he had been granted probation after he confessed to four robberies. The probation was voided, and he was sentenced to one year to life for burglary. He was paroled after serving two years. 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighs 141 pounds, medium build, fair complexion, chestnut hair, hazel eyes. He was serving a 199 year sentence for the murder of Policeman Thomas Kelma during a holdup in 1935. One of his companions in the holdup, Frank Banks, who confessed firing the fatal shots, committed suicide by hanging himself in his county jail cell. "Roger Touhy, Basil Banghart, and Five Others Escape from Stateville," Chicago Tribune. October 10, 1942. Page 8. ---- [From top left] An aerial view of Stateville prison, near Joliet, with important buildings located. Seven of its inmates were reported to have escaped yesterday. They included the notorious gangsters Roger Touhy, kidnaper of John Factor, and Basil Banghart. Warden E. H. Stubblefield (seated) and guards who figured in the jailbreak drama. Left to right, standing: T. P. Sullivan, state director of public safety, and Guards Herman Kross, Samuel Johnson, Glenn Harris, and Lieut. George Cotter.

Here is the northwest corner of the Stateville prison wall, with Tower No. 3, the guard of which was shot as the desperadoes made their escape. Within 45 minutes all highways within 25 miles of the scene were blocked by state police. Illinois highway police stopping motorist last night as they searched for Statesville fugitives. Tower No. 3 at Statesville prison, from inside the walls. Broken line shows where felons placed ladder to escape.

#stateville penitentiary #prison break #escape from prison #escape plot #notorious criminals #desperate convicts #life sentences #habitual criminal #long criminal record #1942 stateville escape #illinois history #illinois prisons #illinois state prison #history of crime and punishment #world war ii

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