Evening Star
- ‘UNCLE JOE’ CANNON DEAD AT 90; LONG CZAR OF THE HOUSE
- HALL-MILLS TRIAL INSPIRED BY PAPER, DEFENSE CHARGES
- BOMBS ARE HURLED FROM AIRPLANE IN ILLINOIS GANG WAR
The Evening Star's front page of November 12, 1926, carried three Associated Press dispatches. From Danville, Illinois, it reported the death of "Uncle Joe" Cannon, the former Speaker once called the Czar of the House, and described how he fought old age in the brick mansion he had built for his bride. From the courthouse in Somerville, New Jersey, it reported the Hall-Mills defense's claim that the New York Daily Mirror had promoted the murder trial, as the Mirror's managing editor was questioned about a calling card said to bear Willie Stevens' fingerprint. From Harrisburg, Illinois, it described an airplane dropping three bombs near the Birger gang's roadhouse in its bootleg war with the Shelton gang, with no damage done.
Translation
‘UNCLE JOE’ CANNON DEAD AT 90; LONG CZAR OF THE HOUSE
DANVILLE, Ill., November 12. — Uncle Joe Cannon died here today at the age of [?]. In the rambling brick mansion he had built for his bride many years ago, life slowly ebbed away from the old statesman whose iron-handed tactics in Congress won him the title of Czar of the House back in the days before his fall in 1910. The same dominant spirit with which "Uncle Joe" ruled the House of Representatives so many years was summoned by him in his fight against old age. He continued his daily walk downtown until physicians ordered him to replace it with an automobile ride, and in recent weeks his fading mind and body had not permitted him to leave his home.
HALL-MILLS TRIAL INSPIRED BY PAPER, DEFENSE CHARGES
COURTHOUSE, SOMERVILLE, N.J., November 12. — Defense counsel in the Hall-Mills case today said in argument to the court that it has a theory that the present trial was "promoted and inspired" by the Daily Mirror, a New York tabloid newspaper. The statement was made during cross-examination of one of the two witnesses of the forenoon session, Philip Payne, managing editor of the Mirror. Payne, who had testified as to the photographing in his office of a calling card the State claims bears Willie Stevens' fingerprint, was asked on cross-examination how much the Mirror has spent "on this investigation."
BOMBS ARE HURLED FROM AIRPLANE IN ILLINOIS GANG WAR
HARRISBURG, Ill., November 12. — The warfare between the rival Birger and Shelton bootleg gangs developed a new method today when an airplane flew over the Birger roadhouse 10 miles west of here and dropped three bombs, one of which exploded when it landed 100 yards from the resort. No damage was done. Swooping suddenly down from the sky, the plane came close to the roadhouse and one bomb was dropped but it failed to explode. The plane then circled around again and two more bombs were dropped, one of which went off. Seven or eight of Birger's men came out and started to shoot at the plane, but missed the elusive target.
Context
How control of the Rules Committee made Cannon the 'Czar of the House'
The AP obituary credits Cannon's "iron-handed tactics" with earning him the title Czar of the House and dates his fall to 1910. Cannon represented Illinois in the House for twenty-three non-consecutive terms between 1873 and 1923 and presided as Speaker from 1903 to 1911, becoming one of the most powerful Speakers in American history. When he was elected, the Speaker also chaired the Rules Committee, which set the rules and restrictions under which bills could be debated, and Cannon reserved to himself the appointment not only of committee chairs but of every committee member. An earlier Speaker, Thomas B. Reed, had already been lampooned as a 'Czar,' but press treatment of Cannon was far more critical even in his first term. Progressive House Republicans known as the Insurgents, led by George W. Norris of Nebraska, revolted against his authority, and the revolt contributed to the Republican split in the 1910 and 1912 elections and led to significant reforms of the House rules. The obituary's 'fall in 1910' corresponds to that revolt, though Cannon kept the Speaker's chair until 1911. He later returned to the House, and on retiring in 1923 he was the longest-serving member of Congress up to that time, which is why the dispatch calls him the old statesman.
How the Daily Mirror revived a four-year-old murder case
The defense charge that the trial was "promoted and inspired" by the Daily Mirror pointed to a newspaper with an open stake in the case. The Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall and choir member Eleanor Mills were murdered on September 14, 1922, in Franklin Township, New Jersey, and New Jersey authorities were unable for four years to produce an indictment. The case returned to public attention about three and a half years later, when a piano tuner petitioned to annul his 10-month marriage, alleging that his wife, a former maid in the Hall household, had kept from him what she knew about the killings. The New York Daily Mirror, a new Hearst paper eager to win a circulation war with the established Daily News, took up the story, and its continued speculation led Governor A. Harry Moore to order a second investigation and a trial in 1926. Frances Hall was arrested at midnight on July 28. Against that background, the question to Philip Payne about how much the Mirror had spent 'on this investigation' went to the center of the defense strategy. Three weeks after this dispatch, on December 3, 1926, all three defendants were acquitted, and Mrs. Hall's later defamation suit against the Mirror was settled out of court.
Why the fingerprinted calling card was contested
Payne's testimony concerned the State's central piece of physical evidence. At the 1922 crime scene, while police from two counties sorted out jurisdiction, curiosity-seekers trampled the ground, took souvenirs and passed Hall's calling card among the crowd. At the 1926 trial a prosecution fingerprint expert testified that the card bore Willie Stevens' fingerprint. A later account of the trial notes that the card had been handled by police, reporters and the curious, and that after three years it had languished in the possession of the editor of the Daily Mirror. That custody explains why the defense pressed the Mirror's managing editor about photographing the card in his office. The defense answered the prosecution's expert with three fingerprint experts of its own, who could find no resemblance between the smudge on the card and Willie Stevens' prints.
The Birger–Shelton feud and the air raid on Shady Rest
Later accounts place this air raid within the open war between the two bootleg gangs, although the AP dispatch does not say who flew the plane. Charlie Birger had built a fortified speakeasy called Shady Rest just across the line in Williamson County, beside old Highway 13 halfway between Harrisburg and Marion, which matches the dispatch's 'Birger roadhouse 10 miles west' of Harrisburg. Earlier, in April 1926, Birger and the Shelton Brothers had joined forces to attack the remaining Ku Klux Klan leaders in Herrin. By October 1926 the two gangs were in open conflict, and according to the Wikipedia account the Shelton Gang even tried to bomb Shady Rest from the air, but the dynamite it dropped missed, consistent with the dispatch's report that no damage was done. The feud did not end there: within a few months, Shady Rest was destroyed by a series of large explosions and an ensuing fire.
How Illinois authorities dealt with the gang war
Southern Illinois authorities had a poor record of containing Prohibition violence well before this raid. During the Klan's campaign in Williamson County, federal authorities apparently deputized Klansmen to help enforce Prohibition, and the Illinois state government was either unable or unwilling to reestablish lawful authority. When Birger and the Sheltons attacked Klan leaders in Herrin in April 1926, the police were called repeatedly but chose not to respond. The decisive legal reckoning came in court. In June 1927 Birger was arrested on a charge of ordering the contract killing of Mayor Joseph Adams, and he may not have realized that the trial would take place in Franklin County, which his political allies did not control. He was hanged for the Adams murder on April 19, 1928, and was the last man executed in a public hanging in Illinois.
Original
‘UNCLE JOE’ CANNON DEAD AT 90; LONG CZAR OF THE HOUSE
DANVILLE. Ill., November 12. - Uncle Joe Cannon died here today at the age of [?]. In the rambling brick mansion he had built for his bride many years ago, life slowly ebbed away from the old statesman whose iron-handed tactics in Congress won him the title of Czar of the House back in the days before his fall in 1910. The same dominant spirit with which " Uncle Joe " ruled the House of Representatives so many years was summoned by him in his fight against old age. He continued his daily walk downtown until physicians ordered him to replace it with an automobile ride, and in recent weeks his fading mind and body had not permitted him to leave his home.
HALL-MILLS TRIAL INSPIRED BY PAPER, DEFENSE CHARGES
COURTHOUSE, SOMERVILLE, N. J., November 12. - Defense counsel in the Hall-Mills case today said in argument to the court that it has a theory that the present trial was " promoted and inspired " by the Daily Mirror, a New York tabloid newspaper. The statement was made during cross-examination of one of the two witnesses of the forenoon session, Philip Payne, managing editor of the Mirror. Payne, who had testified as to the photographing in his office of a calling card the State claims bears Willie Stevens ' fingerprint, was asked on cross-examination how much the Mirror has spent " on this investigation. "
BOMBS ARE HURLED FROM AIRPLANE IN ILLINOIS GANG WAR
HARRISBURG, Ill., November 12. - The warfare between the rival Birger and Shelton bootleg gangs developed a new method today when an airplane flew over the Birger roadhouse 10 miles west of here and dropped three bombs, one of which exploded when it landed 100 yards from the resort. No damage was done. Swooping suddenly down from the sky, the plane came close to the roadhouse and one bomb was dropped but it failed to explode. The plane then circled around again and two more bombs were dropped, one of which went off. Seven or eight of Birger's men came out and started to shoot at the plane, but missed the elusive target.
Source: Holding institution