My grandfather was, shall we say, was a “distributor” of alcohol during the days of Prohibition. I didn’t learn of this until my father, dying of congestive heart failure, told me the story one day, as we sat together in his room. They lived over on the east side of Dayton, off Fifth Street. My grandfather had a “garage” and dealt in used auto parts. I don’t imagine the business was very lucrative, as the family was dirt poor, and they moved about a dozen times, always in search of a cheap place to live.
My Dad was pretty young when he first noticed. There were a lot of different men, coming in and out of the garage at all hours. Dad “happened upon the spot” where Grandpa hid the bottles of liquor, although he was never quite sure how they came and went. My grandfather was an alcoholic, and really taking quite a chance when he made the decision to deal in the illegal distribution of alcohol. He had four kids then, and a wife, who I am certain, did not approve.
The Prohibition started in 1920. By the time it ended in 1935, my Dad was only 13 years old. He worked a lot of different jobs as a youngster, from running a paper route, to selling soft pretzels on the corner, three for a nickel. He turned his wages over to his mother to buy groceries.
The nation, too, was struggling and was completely divided on Prohibition. Things were dangerous and corrupt as a result. All of this came to mind when I read the story of Chicago bootlegger, named Roger “The Terrible” Touhy. On this date, back in 1942, he escaped from Illinois’ Stateville Prison by climbing the guard’s tower. The story went that Touhy, had been framed for kidnapping by his “bootlegging rivals” with the help of corrupt Chicago officials. As a result of that “framing” and conviction, he was serving a 99-year sentence for a crime he did not commit.
This guy Touhy seemed like a pretty upstanding guy to start out. He was the son of a police officer. He also served in the Navy during World War I. And after the war, he set up a trucking business in the Chicago suburbs. But things were tough back then, and his business faltered during Prohibition.
That’s when Touhy realized he could earn a better living through bootlegging. He partnered up with a pal, Matt Kolb, and the two of them began brewing their own beer and shipping it to speakeasies all over the state. And they did it well. His beer was widely considered the finest available at the time.
I remind you, this was Chicago. As such, Al Capone got wind of Touhy’s bootlegging success and didn’t like it. They brushed up against one another, and Capone wasn’t about to back down. So he kidnapped Touhy’s partner, that Matt Kolb, and demanded $50,000, which Touhy paid. Then Capone turned around and murdered Kolb despite receiving the money.
Things got worse, and their feud escalated. So Capone set up a “fake” kidnapping. He had the help of Daniel “Tubbo” Gilbert. Gilbert was a Chicago police officer known as “the richest cop in the world.”
In the end, Touhy was convicted of abducting con man Jake Factor and was sent to prison. All of this construed by Capone. No “kidnapping” was ever committed by Touhy. That was in 1933.
I mentioned that Touhy escaped in 1942, but he was caught again quickly. That’s nine years in prison for something he didn’t do. Touhy hired attorneys who kept after the appeals court. Finally, in 1959, they convinced a judge the entire thing never even happened. Touhy was released in ’59, after 26 years of incarceration.
And then. Three weeks after he was released, a car drove by and shot him dead, as he was entering the home of his sister. His last words? “I’ve been expecting it. The bastards never forget.”
No arrests were ever made.
I have to say I am thankful that my grandfather was probably not a very industrious man. As such, he was probably just a two-bit bootlegger during the Prohibition. Otherwise, things could have gone much differently. And I am grateful they did not.
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“Oh, you hate your job? Why didn’t you say so?
There’s a support group for that. It’s called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar.”
― Drew Carey
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“I thought such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them out loud because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.”
― Anne Lamott
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“After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.”
― Oscar Wilde
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A little bootlegger in a big bootlegging world
