Southern Illinois Bootleggers, early 1920s

I wish the picture was a little clearer. The three Thompsons are obvious but I'm not sure about the others. I think one guy sitting on the running board is holding a Kraig carbine. He definitely is in the 1927 picture. Nice that they were proud enough to take annual Company photos.

They were actually out of Southern Illinois and there is a lot of information available if you google them. There were 2 competing gangs. One of them even had an airplane and dropped dynamite on their enemies.

I am impressed the car supported all their weight.

walnutred said:

I wish the picture was a little clearer. The three Thompsons are obvious but I'm not sure about the others. I think one guy sitting on the running board is holding a Kraig carbine. He definitely is in the 1927 picture. Nice that they were proud enough to take annual Company photos.

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Looks like a Saturday gathering for a Dove Shoot at my house.

max said:

They were actually out of Southern Illinois and there is a lot of information available if you google them. There were 2 competing gangs. One of them even had an airplane and dropped dynamite on their enemies.

I am impressed the car supported all their weight.

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Yeah, don't get Illinois criminals confused with our Hoosier criminals!

Are those 100 round drums on the Thompson's?

BE Mike said:

Yeah, don't get Illinois criminals confused with our Hoosier criminals!

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I made the correction, thanks. We had our share of bootleggers and other period gangs in Ohio. My grandfather drove a milk wagon in Delaware county during that time. He said it made it convenient to pick up and deliver other commodities as well.

No pics but “ heard about” a bootlegger in the 60’s-70’s above Asheville N.C. that had the still in a camper on the back of his pick up. Would “cook” a batch as he drove around in the AM. Around 5 PM he would stop at various places and sell a few jars. Took the revenuers several years to catch him. He was in his 70’s so he got house arrest. Know several moonshiner stories, lol

I did some genealogy for a friend who’s mother left behind stories of delivering hootch in Minneapolis as a child in her little red wagon. (Her dad was a “distributor”.)

Can't be sure, but it looks like EVERYONE with a handgun out has his index finger outside of the trigger guard.

This one is Charlie Birger the leader. He was the last person publicly hanged in IL. His last words reportedly were "It's a beautiful world."
Birger was hung for ordering the killing of the mayor. He'd killed others but killing the mayor went too far.
He was also implicated with killing State Trooper Lory Price and Price's wife. Birger was hung for the murder of the mayor before he could be charged with killing Price. Price was the 1st Trooper to be shot and killed in ISP history.
There are a couple of theories why Price was killed. One was that Birger thought Price was cooperating with the Shelton gang against the Birgers. There was never any proof to that theory. It was spread by a couple of Birger's henchmen who tried deflecting the blame to "Price deserved it."
What is known was Price had arrested some of the Birger gang for stealing cars. That really upset Birger. Then the Birger hang out, the Shady Rest, was burned most likely by either the KKK or the Shelton gang. The Birger gang had long been at war with the KKK.
Price lived fairly close to the Shady Rest. Someone came to Price's house and told him the Shady Rest was on fire. Birger kept a pet monkey at the Shady Rest. When Price got to the Shady Rest he rescued the monkey and gave it to another person. Birger found out Price had given away the monkey which really set off Birger. He believed the only way Price could have gotten the monkey was to have gotten the monkey and then burned the Shady Rest.
A few days later Price and his wife disappeared. 2 weeks later Price's body was found in a field shot multiple times. His wife was not found for several months. The ISP got a tip Price's wife had been shot and dumped in a mine shaft.
A side note on Price. During WWI he received the Distinguished Service Cross, the 2nd highest award in the US Military. His unit was overrun by the Germans and he was taken POW. He was initially submitted for the Medal of Honor but at that time the US would not give the MOH to someone who was taken POW and did not fight to the death.
A good read on southern IL is "Bloody Williamson". Chicago and New York gang stories pale by comparison. The Birger gang was so rough that even Al Capone and other Chicago mobsters told their people to stay out of southern IL because they didn't want to go to war against the Birgers. The Birger gang still carried some influence in southern IL at least until the mid 1970s. One of the gang was a farmer. In the mid 1970s he was shot and killed while on a tractor in his field. Believed to be a gang hit. No one was ever arrested.
The Shelton gang from E St Louis was equally as rough and notorious.

When I was a teenager living in Kentucky in the early ‘70s, a buddy and I were hiking out in the hills and came across a busted up still in a shallow cave.
Looked like it happened a few years before but we still got the heck out of there!

max said:

I am impressed the car supported all their weight.

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I think the photo has been "embellished" with something like Photoshop. I bet the original photo had a bunch of people on the car, but not the full load it appears to. The car does appear to be sitting on its suspension stops and I rather doubt it could support that entire load of bodies. Look at some of the guys' images. The lighting varies and there are shadows around the images. I'm pretty sure they were added to the original picture.

Krogen said:

I think the photo has been "embellished" with something like Photoshop. I bet the original photo had a bunch of people on the car, but not the full load it appears to. The car does appear to be sitting on its suspension stops and I rather doubt it could support that entire load of bodies. Look at some of the guys' images. The lighting varies and there are shadows around the images. I'm pretty sure they were added to the original picture.

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Maybe, but the tires look overloaded and delivery cars usually had beefed up suspension. Another real possibility is that some of the guys in back are actually standing on ladders of a scaffold of some sort. Dappled sunlight can give strange shadows in photos.

Very cool, embellished or not.

My father's uncle was a bootlegger and the next time I come up with his photo (it's in storage) I'll post it. I recollect two - one at the helm of a boat of some kind with a brace of revolvers visible and one with some other dandies on horseback.

Pretty interesting history

The pic of Charlie Birger looks like he is wearing an amored vest. Kind of flat and squared off like the old ones were w/a plate.
If he is, it was probably a good idea from the sounds of it.
TSMG w/a C drum is good insurance as well

The guy to his right in the pic appears to have one of the Winchester SLR's.
The 1907 .351 and the 1910 cal .401 being the most popular of the 4

Historic Photos

walnutred said:

I wish the picture was a little clearer. The three Thompsons are obvious but I'm not sure about the others. I think one guy sitting on the running board is holding a Kraig carbine. He definitely is in the 1927 picture. Nice that they were proud enough to take annual Company photos.

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Interesting pictures. We can only hope that those Thompsons surfaced in time for the 1968 amnesty.

mikerjf said:

I did some genealogy for a friend who’s mother left behind stories of delivering hootch in Minneapolis as a child in her little red wagon. (Her dad was a “distributor”.)

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St. Paul MN granted amnesty to all gangster as long they didn't commit any crimes (other than speak easy) in the city of St. Paul.

The bluffs off the Mississippi River along Wabasha Ave had sand stone caves where they stored the booze brought up river.

One caves had a speak easy bar in it as well that has been restored to 1930's gangster style and rents out for events.

Twin Cities Gangster Locations and Hideouts - Historic Twin Cities

My grandfather sometimes drove a truck hauling booze for Philly gangster Bobo Hoff during Prohibition. I think he did it as much for the excitement as the money. Grandpop also had a deep loathing for the entire concept of Prohibition, and enjoyed violating the Volstead Act whenever possible. According to Grandpop the booze would come ashore on the beach in Jersey, and he would drive it to Philly. Although there were a few close calls he never got caught. He also had a reputation for building first rate stills for anyone who wanted one.