In honor of Valentine's Day – rather than posting some romantic-type nostalgia – I thought it'd be interesting to see how the front page of the Lorain Journal reported the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre. It took place in Chicago 96 years ago today on Feb. 14, 1929.
The lead story noted, "Six employes of a north side cartage company were murdered with sawed off shot guns today and one man was wounded when two automobile loads of bandits raided the garage in which the company had its headquarters.
"Police construed the assassinations as an outgrowth of the Chicago beer war and said it was likely ta some of the men working for the S. M. C. Cartage concern had been engaged in running beer."
The History.com website provides a summary of the event. "The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre shocked the world on February 14, 1929, when Chicago’s North Side erupted in gang violence," it notes. "Gang warfare ruled the streets of Chicago during the late 1920s, as chief gangster Al Capone sought to consolidate control by eliminating his rivals in the illegal trades of bootlegging, gambling and prostitution.
"This rash of gang violence reached its bloody climax in a garage on the city’s North Side on February 14, 1929, when seven men associated with the Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran, one of Capone’s longtime enemies, were shot to death by several men dressed as policemen. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, as it was known, remains an unsolved crime and was never officially linked to Capone, but he was generally considered to have been responsible for the murders."
Here's the link to the whole story.
Wikipedia has a pretty good, detailed account of the murders as well (here), including a gruesome photo of its aftermath, cheerfully provided below for your perusal.
Elsewhere on the same front page: a busy Valentine's Day at the Lorain County Courthouse, with a full slate of divorces; marriage plans of Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow are kept secret; a 16-year-old Lorain girl runs away; members of Lorain's police force and city officials receive Valentines of "the comical type, with grotesque caricatures and jibing lines of verse"; and a really interesting interview with Theodore W. "Dorcy" Watson, Lorain's "hack driver emeritus," in which he reminisces about the days when he drove a horse carriage.
3 comments:
I was interested in the two policemen receiving promotions. Three years later one of them, Sergeant Lenahan shot and killed his wife, Theresa.
He was charged with murder in the first, which was lowered to murder in the second, but the grand jury indicted him for murder in the first. His lawyer, Charles Adams (remember him from the comments in this post? (https://danielebrady.blogspot.com/2025/02/one-hundred-years-ago-in-lorain-end-of.html)), had him plead insanity caused by drink.
Long story short: Lenahan gets life in the Ohio Pen.
Dan... It's on page 297 of my Lorain County murder book.
That horse and buggy lover is just like the current backlash against the EV movement going on now.Whether we want it or not EV cars are here to stay.After the government gets the charging situation settled,EVs will be more acceptable to the masses.But that'll take a good 30 years to sort out.Then people will reminisce about the good old days of when they had to get out of their car to put gas in the tank and change the oil and have a new muffler put on their car,etc.
I drive a Volt and love the electric side of the car. I've thought about going full EV, but you're right, the charging ain't nowhere near as easy as filling up with gas. I hope I live long enough to own a full electric, but until then, it's plug-in hybrids for me! Besides, 50 miles of battery's covers 80% of my driving and it sure is nice averaging 100+ mpg.
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