Today in Chicago History: Al Capone sent to prison, ‘I've got to do it, that's all'
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on May 4, according to the Tribune's archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Here's the original Chicago Tribune review of every 'Star Wars' movie
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
1865: President Abraham Lincoln was buried in Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery. The Tribune published a full account of the ceremonies.
But it wasn't the last time Lincoln was laid to rest. Lincoln's body was moved 17 times between 1865 and 1901 because of 'construction and fears of safety of the president's remains,' according to the Illinois secretary of state's office.
1886: The Tribune called it, 'A hellish deed.' An unknown bomb-thrower at a labor rally sparked the Haymarket Affair on the Near West Side; eight policemen and at least four civilians died.
1932: Al Capone was transferred by train to a federal penitentiary in Atlanta. He had been found guilty in October 1931 by a federal jury on five counts of income tax indictments and was sentenced to 11 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
'What do I think about it all?' Capone told reporters. 'Well, I'm on my way to do 11 years. I've got to do it, that's all. I'm not sore at anybody but I hope Chicago will be better off and the public clamor will be satisfied.'
But Capone didn't feel Chicago would be better off until Prohibition was repealed.
'Personally, I'd rather be in a legitimate racket,' he said. 'It don't cost so much. There's too much overhead in my business, paying off all the time and replacing trucks and breweries. They ought to make it legitimate, and if they don't they'll find that sending me away won't help Chicago much.'
1971: The new 200-foot-tall air traffic control tower topped by a glass crown at O'Hare International Airport became the tallest in the United States. The structure cost $2 million (or $16 million in today's dollars).
The tower at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport — at nearly double the height of the O'Hare tower — is the tallest in the country.
1987: Six Cook County judges tied to Operation Greylord — a federal investigation of public corruption in Chicago — were relieved of their judicial duties. Greylord was a watershed in its use of eavesdropping devices and a mole to obtain evidence instead of relying on wrongdoers to become government informants.
Nearly 100 people had been indicted, and all but a handful were convicted as part of the investigation. The convictions included 50 lawyers, as well as court clerks, police officers and sheriff's deputies. Of the 17 judges indicted, 15 were convicted.
1997: Real estate magnate Lee Miglin was discovered slain in the garage of his Gold Coast home.
Though there was no known link, police suspect Andrew Cunanan committed the crime. Cunanan killed himself on July 23, 1997.
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Today in Chicago History: The Rolling Stones appear on Michigan Avenue in ‘tight trousers and haggard looks'
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 11, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) High temperature: 97 degrees (1954) Low temperature: 41 degrees (1980) Precipitation: 3.02 inches (1926) Snowfall: Trace (2001) 1953: Celinus 'Clem' Graver, state representative and 'Bloody 21st' Ward Republican committeeman, was kidnapped from his garage half a block from his home at 976 W. 18th Place, as his wife and a friend watched. Graver was never heard from again. Part of the problem — Graver was a mystery himself. 'Although his government salary totaled only $5,000, he had two $30,000 homes, wore tailored suits and panama hats, and never carried less than $500 in cash,' Tribune reporter Ann Marie Lipinski wrote in 1978. 'Investigators also discovered that the ward committeeman, often described as 'ruggedly handsome,' had made several secret trips to Cuba before the kidnapping.' 1964: A news conference held by the Rolling Stones in Nathaniel Hale Court outside Tribune Tower was abruptly ended when Larry Koznatz, a barber at the Chicago Sheraton (now Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk) hotel, offered to give the five lads hair cuts. 1971: As TWA Flight 358 boarded at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, Gregory White grabbed flight attendant Catharine Culver and put a gun to her neck. When passenger Howard L. Franks of Darien, Connecticut, tried to help Culver, White shot and killed him. The Federal Aviation Administration said it was the first time a passenger had been killed in a U.S. airplane hijacking. No metal detector had been used to screen passengers at the gate. White made Culver sit next to him aboard the aircraft and told all other passengers to exit the plane before it took off for New York, as scheduled. He demanded the pilot take him to North Vietnam, requested $75,000 and 'a machine gun with plenty of ammunition.' During the confusion, word spread at the airport that a short man was needed to crawl into the plane through its cockpit window. Deputy U.S. Marshal Joseph Zito, 5 foot 6, who had just retired as chief of police in Cary, donned a captain's uniform, slid into the plane undetected, then waited. It was his first-ever plane ride, which he spent most of on his stomach 'dodging bullets and matching wits' with White. With the captain's permission, Zito fired two shots during the flight, which hit White in the shoulder. After the plane landed, Culver and the flight crew escaped without harm. White, who was taken into custody by federal agents, was later found incompetent to stand trial on hijacking and murder charges. White hung himself at Chester Mental Health Center in Illinois seven years later. 1997: In what would become known as the 'Flu Game,' a vomiting, dehydrated Jordan scored 38 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, dished out 5 assists and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer late in a series-shifting Game 5 win against the Jazz in Utah. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@ and mmather@
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Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 11, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) 1953: Celinus 'Clem' Graver, state representative and 'Bloody 21st' Ward Republican committeeman, was kidnapped from his garage half a block from his home at 976 W. 18th Place, as his wife and a friend watched. Graver was never heard from again. Part of the problem — Graver was a mystery himself. 'Although his government salary totaled only $5,000, he had two $30,000 homes, wore tailored suits and panama hats, and never carried less than $500 in cash,' Tribune reporter Ann Marie Lipinski wrote in 1978. 'Investigators also discovered that the ward committeeman, often described as 'ruggedly handsome,' had made several secret trips to Cuba before the kidnapping.' 1964: A news conference held by the Rolling Stones in Nathaniel Hale Court outside Tribune Tower was abruptly ended when Larry Koznatz, a barber at the Chicago Sheraton (now Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk) hotel, offered to give the five lads hair cuts. 1971: As TWA Flight 358 boarded at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, Gregory White grabbed flight attendant Catharine Culver and put a gun to her neck. When passenger Howard L. Franks of Darien, Connecticut, tried to help Culver, White shot and killed him. The Federal Aviation Administration said it was the first time a passenger had been killed in a U.S. airplane hijacking. No metal detector had been used to screen passengers at the gate. White made Culver sit next to him aboard the aircraft and told all other passengers to exit the plane before it took off for New York, as scheduled. He demanded the pilot take him to North Vietnam, requested $75,000 and 'a machine gun with plenty of ammunition.' During the confusion, word spread at the airport that a short man was needed to crawl into the plane through its cockpit window. Deputy U.S. Marshal Joseph Zito, 5 foot 6, who had just retired as chief of police in Cary, donned a captain's uniform, slid into the plane undetected, then waited. It was his first-ever plane ride, which he spent most of on his stomach 'dodging bullets and matching wits' with White. With the captain's permission, Zito fired two shots during the flight, which hit White in the shoulder. After the plane landed, Culver and the flight crew escaped without harm. White, who was taken into custody by federal agents, was later found incompetent to stand trial on hijacking and murder charges. White hung himself at Chester Mental Health Center in Illinois seven years later. 1997: In what would become known as the 'Flu Game,' a vomiting, dehydrated Jordan scored 38 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, dished out 5 assists and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer late in a series-shifting Game 5 win against the Jazz in Utah. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
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