Hanging Prosecutor

The story behind the night Billy McSwiggin was killed in front of The Pony Inn:

"Back in Chicago at the beginning of 1926, Capone was in excellent spirits. Not only had he made his mark in New York, but his whiskey deal would change the face of interstate transportation. Young men with a thirst for adventure and the need for money made a good living working as one of Capone's truckers.

Klondike O'Donnell

"In the spring of 1926, Capone's run of good luck hit a snag. On April 27, Billy McSwiggin, the young "hanging prosecutor" who had tried to pin the 1924 death of Joe Howard on Capone, met with an accident. He left the home of his father, a veteran Chicago police detective, and went with "Red" Duffy to play cards at one of Capone's gambling joints. A bootlegger named Jim Doherty picked them up in his car.

"Doherty's car broke down and they hitched a ride with bootlegger "Klondike" O'Donnell, a bitter enemy of Capone. The four Irish lads went on a drinking binge in Cicero with O'Donnell and his brother Myles and ended up at a bar [this would be The Pony Inn operated by Harry Madigan] close to the Hawthorne Inn where Capone was having dinner. O'Donnell's cruising around in Cicero was a territorial insult.

"Capone and his henchmen, not realizing that McSwiggin was in the bar with Myles O'Donnell, waited outside in a convoy of cars until the drunken men staggered out. Then out came the machine guns and McSwiggin and Doherty were dead.

"Capone was blamed. Despite the blot on McSwiggin's integrity for keeping company with bootleggers, sympathy was with the dead young prosecutor. There was a big outcry against gangster violence and public sentiment went against Capone.

"While everyone in Chicago just knew that Al Capone was responsible, there was not a shred of proof and the failure of this high-profile investigation to return an indictment was an embarrassment to local officials. Police took out their frustrations on Capone's whorehouses and speakeasies which endured a series of raids and fires."

Source: Al Capone: Chicago's Most Infamous Mob Boss, by Marilyn Bardsley, Criminal Minds and Methods. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/capone/hang_13.html

Photo Source: AP

Patrick Madigan, Gravesite, Calvary Cemetery

When I started genealogy more than 20 years ago I knew nothing more than my great grandparents' names - Patrick and Bridget Madigan.  I remember the day I learned the parents of my Mother's Mother were buried a little over a mile from where I live.  It was a Saturday and I was all alone in the house without a car.  So, I called a taxi and took it to Calvary Cemetery in Evanston. (This is how genealogists respond when they NEED to follow up on information.) It was probably the late 1990s.

I arrived at the Sexton's office and asked for the grave location of Patrick and Bridget Madigan.  I was surprised to learn that my great grandmother, Bridget Thompson Madigan, was buried with three of her sons, Thomas, James and Harry, but not her husband, Patrick. A separate location was given for him.  I thought it strange but assumed when I took off on foot to find the graves they would be close to each other. They were not!

After finding Bridget Thompson Madigan's grave, I nearly walked across the entire cemetery to an area that had very few markers.  With much traipsing back and forth over bumpy ground I still was unable to locate his grave so I went back to the Sexton's office.  He provided me with the name of an individual who was also buried in the same large plot and who had a military grave marker. Back I went and found the plot of land with the military stone but no other markers.  However, the Sexton had now provided me with was a copy of all the individuals who were buried with my great grandfather. Nine additional names. I thought "Wow" these must all be cousins or some other relations I don't know about. 

Over time I researched these individuals, many of whom were infants or very young children.  I found little information beyond date of death and no link to my Patrick Madigan.

I always felt sad my great grandfather had no marker on his grave. This past summer when my husband asked what I wanted for my birthday I said, "a gravestone for Patrick Madigan."  He had heard me speak of my great grandfather and the absence of a marker so it wasn't that much of a surprise.  He also does family genealogy and he truly understood why I even asked for such a gift.

On my birthday we went to Gast Monuments and picked out and designed the stone.  It was installed last week.  When I went to visit the grave this weekend it gave me such a warm feeling to know, after 123 years, Patrick Madigan's gravesite was now identified, but even more importantly, he was not forgotten.

And, what about all those others who were buried with him?  Well, while working with the cemetery and the monument company to install the marker, I was told Patrick's grave was a charity grave and  all the individuals buried with Patrick Madigan, like him, were individuals whose families could not afford to purchase a grave for their loved ones.  At the time of Patrick's death of pneumonia he was 39 with six children and one on the way. I'm sure his family had no money either.

At least now I know why Patrick is buried in a different location than his wife and children. I wish we had the money, I would have bought a huge monument and had all ten names inscribed.  But, I am happy my great grandfather has his stone.  Perhaps family members of the other interred individuals will someday put a stone on their relative's grave.  I know it would make them feel "real good" inside.

Calvary Cemetery, Evanston, Illinois, Gravecard, Front and Back

Photo and images: Elaine M. Beaudoin

Harry and John Madigan Remembered

How exciting. I was recently contacted by someone whose family knew Harry and John Madigan, two sons of Patrick Madigan and Bessie Thompson.  She told me her mother used to pack up her and her siblings and take them over to Harry Madigan's Restaurant and Saloon at Madison and Crawford in the evening.  The kids would sleep in the booths.

She also told me her mother loved to play "26," a dice game. When Harry closed the restaurant, since her mother had been such a good patron, he gave the dice game to her.  She remembers the dice had Harry's initials engraved in them.  Although Harry and John died decades ago, it is really terrific that the memory of them lives on.

She has promised to write up a few stories.   When she does, I'll post them on this blog.


A little bit about the game of "26" from the Chicago Tribune, March 16, 1986.

The dice game of ``26`` was Chicago-born, Chicago-bred and eventually Chicago-banned. It never caught on much in the rest of the country, but it was a familiar sport all the way from elegant Gold Coast and Loop spas (the Palmer House had its ``26`` tables) to family taverns on the farthest reaches of the West Side. 

And as integral to the game as the dice were the estimated 5,000 ``26 girls`` or ``dice girls`` who kept score. According to a 1962 story in The Tribune, "The game is played on small tables behind which the `26` girl stands, smiling and cooing, with a cup of 10 dice in her hand and a score pad by her elbow. The customer engages her in small talk and rolls out the dice 13 times." The high-rollers could risk anything from 25 cents to $1 on the game of chance that paid off in merchandise--drinks, to be precise.

Madigan Baptismal Records, Parteen and Meelick, Co. Limerick

I was in Limerick City at the Limerick Regional Archives in 1998 with the hope of discovering information on my great grandfather Patrick Madigan's (1850-1890) family.  However, when I spoke with the Archivist, I realized there were MANY Patrick Madigans born in the area and I needed to know who his parents were to trace down the rest of the family.  The Archivist provided me with a list of all the Patrick Madigans born in Limerick for the estimated time period and who the parents of each Patrick Madigan were.

After additional research in Chicago and Salt Lake City, learning who the siblings of my Patrick Madigan were, I was able to determine from the death certificate of Michael Madigan (my great grandfather's brother) that their parents were Patrick Madigan and Margaret Fitzgerald.

I then wrote to the Limerick Regional Archives with this information and the following is the reply I received on September 10, 1999.

Click on each page of the image of the letter to enlarge.

Images courtesy: Elaine M. Beaudoin