Mill on Route 66 offers an Al Capone Saturday
New David G Clark Route 66 Library dedicated

 

[July 17, 2019] 

LINCOLN 

On Saturday afternoon it was standing room only at the Mill on Route 66 Museum in Lincoln. A large number of guests from near and far gathered for the introduction of the Mill’s newest feature, the David G Clark Route 66 Library.

Clark gave a talk about the notorious life of Al Capone. Capone has ties to Lincoln and the Mill, as well as to some of Logan County’s more colorful characters such as Coonhound Johnny, who was a known bootlegger, and Ernie Edwards, who owned the Pig Hip Restaurant in Broadwell.

The day began at 2:30 p.m. at the Mill for the presentation. Afterward a caravan style motor tour was led by Geoff Ladd taking guests to a wide variety of Route 66 attractions within the city of Lincoln.

At approximately 5:15 p.m., tour guests finished their day at Sorrento’s Pizzeria, where the special of the day was the Al Capone Smoking Cannoli dinner for two.

To start the day Ladd acknowledged some of the Mill volunteers, the 90th Anniversary of the Mill and the upcoming 100th Anniversary of Route 66 in 2026.

Ladd acknowledged that the guest speaker for the day had contributed enough materials to the Mill that the Mill was able to establish a Route 66 Library and was now on the “National Registry of Route 66 Libraries.” To that end, the library at the Mill has been named in honor of Clark as the David G Clark Library.

When Clark was called to the front to speak, he began by acknowledging the recognition he was being given and went on to say that his journey through the history of Al Capone and Route 66 had begun with his late wife, who had collected information on his behalf over the years. He noted there were three pieces of Route 66 literature that started the journey and collection. In honor of his wife, he would be donating those three items to the Mill for their massive display of Route 66 items.

Clark then moved on to the topic of the day - Al Capone and the prohibition era. He started by playing clips from the popular gangster television and movies about the “untouchables.” In those productions, he noted that the writers and directors had taken artistic license with some of the details of the life and times of Elliott Ness and Al Capone. He concluded though that the sensationalism of the characters and events were acceptable because neither the television shows nor the movie were designated as documentaries. He used a particular scene in the movie as an example where there is a stairway at Union Station and a shootout where a baby carriage is careening down the stairs. One of Ness’s group rescues the carriage while shooting a large number of bad guys. Clark said in that particular scene the death toll is tremendously high and had that been a true event, the number of people killed would have exceeded the number killed in the Valentine’s Day Massacre.

Another scene he disputed, Al Capone was being driven from the courthouse after his sentencing for tax evasion. The scene included Ness standing outside Capone’s transport looking into the car at Capone. Clark said that at that particular time in history Ness was not working on the Capone case. He said, yes, there was a possibility that Ness was there as a spectator, but the idea that he was there as the man who brought Capone down at that point in time was incorrect.

Clark walked through the Chicago area connections between Capone and Route 66 in the era of the battles over beer during prohibition. There were more than sixty breweries in Chicago that were impacted, and supposedly shut down, during prohibition. A number of those breweries were located in areas along Route 66.

He told how Chicago mobsters had circumvented the law, continuing on in their manufacture and sale of alcohol without being shut down. He told the stories of “flunkies” who were hired to play the part of the brew master or manager of a brewery. Their sole responsibility was to occupy the manager office, while the real manager was disguised. When the ‘feds’ would raid the place, the flunky was arrested and hauled off for prosecution, while the real manager was able to quickly re-establish business as usual.

Clark talked about the history of Route 66 and how that it was established through the work of a crooked governor Len Small. Small bought votes with promises of paved roads. He was quite successful and even though he was obviously crooked, well loved by the people of the state who voted him in for two terms. The roads were for the most part built, including the Route 4/Route 66 corridor from Chicago to St. Louis.

Clark also talked about the Capone connection to Lincoln and said that Capone did visit the area and was the guest of Coonhound Johnny. He recounted that Coonhound Johnny in turn introduced Capone to Ernie Edwards, and would call on Edwards to provide transportation for Capone when the gangster was visiting the area. Ladd would later recount that Edwards once told him that the most terrifying thing he ever did was to act as chauffer for Al Capone.

Clark also recounted that the bullet-proof cars owned by Capone had a criminal connection to Logan County in another way. As organized crime grew in Chicago, being Al Capone became a danger all in its own. After a particular event where one of Capone’s vehicles was generously sprinkled with bullets injuring Capone’s driver, the mobster decided he needed better protection in his cars.

First, he chose a particular style and color that matched the vehicles of the Chicago Police Department. This would help him blend in and be less conspicuous. Capone purchased four identical vehicles and had all of them reinforced with steel in the doors to protect the passengers and added bullet proof glass.

When Capone was arrested, he was taken into federal custody, but was housed for a time at the Cook County Jail. While there his car was impounded. On one particular day the jail warden, David Montgomery, was in need of transportation to go from Chicago to Springfield, passing through Lincoln. Montgomery chose to take Capone’s vehicle out of impound and drive it to Springfield, something that he should not have done. However, he would have gotten by with taking the car had it not been that on the way back to Chicago the car broke down in Lincoln. When questioned about the incident, Montgomery did not deny taking the car, but did say he had no idea who the car belonged to.

The armored cars owned by Capone also made national history. On December 9th, 1941, it is reported that Secret Service Agent Michael Reilly provided a Capone vehicle for then President Franklin D. Roosevelt for added protection on the day following a declaration of war against Japan.

The cars owned by Capone are also considered to be the first armored cars in history.

Clark spoke about Capone for just over one hour accounting how the man gained his power in Chicago and the many events during the Capone era that established gangster or mob groups in Chicago.

Many of those stories were connected to Route 66. At the end of the discussion Clark offered up some of his books including copies of ‘The roads that lead to Lincoln (the President)’ and ‘Exploring Route 66 in Chicagoland.’

Ladd invited guests to take some time visiting with Clark and also visiting the museum. He announced that at 4 p.m. the motor tour would begin outside the Mill and would conclude at Sorrento’s Pizzeria from the Capone Special Dinner.

The number of people in attendance did fall a bit as the guests for the motor tour gathered, but in all, about 15 people went on the tour with Ladd.

[Nila Smith]