Two Tommy Guns used in the infamous Valentines Day gangland massacre will be among the topics discussed when “A Killing in Capone’s Playground” is presented Thursday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. at Allegan District Library.
The program is presented by its author Chriss Lyon, the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office historian and 911 supervisor.
In her investigative research, Lyon has not only walked the beat but shot the most famous Thompson submachine guns in the world while documenting, researching and using forensic genealogy to uncover little known facts about the massacre and the historic era of the “The Roaring 20s.”
For the past 88 years, the guns have been lodged at the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department, while the masterminds behind the massacre escaped capture for the crime.
Recovered in Stevensville in December 1929, the guns were traced to the bloody scene where seven gang members were assassinated with 70 rounds of ammunition in Chicago on Feb. 14, 1929. To this day, it’s one of the longest unsolved murders in the United States.
The guns were recovered at hitman Fred “Killer” Burke’s house in Stevensville following the fatal shooting of a St. Joseph police officer. Burke had been one of Al Capone’s contract killers.
The house where Burke kept his stash of guns is still standing and is now a Coldwell Banker Real Estate office on Red Arrow Highway in Stevensville.
Like many towns along Lake Michigan’s shoreline, Allegan County also has its stories about connections to Capone—some true and some not.
There are not many real characters scarier than scarface himself. His ruthless reputation for ordering rivals wiped out with a rat-a-tat-tat of a machine gun is not only legendary but an ingredient for a great ghost story.
The Yellow Motel
The Wildwood Castle Resort, otherwise known as the Yellow Motel in Pullman was one of the many Southwest Michigan vacation “haunts” of Al Capone.
It was located at the corner of 112th avenue and 52nd Street in Lee Township. After being abandoned for many years, the 15-room motel burned to the ground on May 4, 1997.
Before an after it was wiped off the map by an arsonist, people continued to visit the “hideout” for its spook factor, which included stories of gangster ghost cars and glowing eyes in the dark.
Local folklore claims Capone’s victims were buried on the property. Historic evidence says it was just a family vacation spot for Capone and his entourage.
The father of the late John Pahl—Allegan County Historical Society’s founder—was a driver from the local train station to the Yellow Motel for Capone and his family. While driving them back and forth, there were no guns or dead bodies stashed in the trunk. In fact, Capone filled it up with any bit of fresh produce or eggs being sold along the road because everything in Chicago was a week old.
John Robinson Hospital
Another legendary “Capone hideout” is the John Robinson Hospital on Marshall Street in Allegan. Built in 1909, the landmark still stands prominent today and has been sold to develop an events center.
In the 1920s, a doctor from Chicago bought the charity hospital during prohibition and made it a for-profit hospital. Grandparents have passed down stories of Capone using it as a hideout, a rum running operation, a place where his henchmen could be treated for gunshot wounds and as a loading dock for dead bodies killed by the mafia.
While the local historical society has found no evidence of Capone’s use of the facility in their research, ghost stories persist of its deceased patients, including a mobster known as tall Louie.
Although many of Southwest Michigan’s Capone stories may be fiction, Lyons “A Killing in Capone’s Playground: The True Story of the Hunt for the Most Dangerous Man Alive” separates fact from fiction and details one of the most violent eras in history. The Tommy Guns, now worth more than $1 million each, will not be on display during the event.
“Because they are of such high profile, we would have needed a large and involved police escort to get them here,” said library program director Billie Spicer.
Registration for the program is required since space is limited. Call (269) 673-4625.
Virginia Ransbottom can be contacted at vransbottom@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.
.