The Plot to Kill Comiskey (and Other Interesting Research Finds)

It’s about that time again to share more incredible stories that I’ve stumbled upon while digging for information during my daily research.

No Relation to Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown

August 3, 1920: During a robbery attempt at the Illinois Vinegar Manufacturing Company, three armed bandits gunned down highly-respected Detective Sergeant Frank McGurk, a veteran of the Chicago Police Department, who drew on the gunmen rather than submit to their demands to put his hands up.

Detective Sergeant Frank J. McGurk

McGurk was struck by three bullets that pierced his right arm, shattered his left wrist and penetrated his chest before he was able to return fire. Though he missed most of his targets, he shot one in the stomach and the men were forced to flea before they could get any of the payroll being distributed to employees by cashier J.T. Schroeder. The officer was rushed to a local hospital but died 30 minutes after arriving. “McGurk was the gamest man I ever saw,” said Schroeder after the incident. “He fired his gun until he was so weak it dropped from his hand.”

Eye witnesses identified the shooters as Mike Norton, a prison escapee who had fled Joliet penitentiary in July; James Gallagher, an ex-convict wanted in connection with a hold-up of a bank during which a cop was wounded and a citizen was killed; and “Leggy” Ellickson, who had a long rap sheet and served time in prison for previous robberies. James Moriarty and John Halyko were also questioned after a witness claimed she saw the men talking to the bandits in their car just before the attempted robbery. Moriarty had also worked at the vinegar company, prompting police to suspect it was an inside job.

Despite the positive IDs, more arrests were forthcoming. Moriarty was arrested and charged with murder. “Three Fingered Pete” Kusanski, who earned his sobriquet after being separated from two of the digits on his right hand during a shootout with Police in September 1919, was held on suspicion of being one of the gunmen who killed McGurk when he was identified by a 13-year-old girl, who saw Kusanski in Moriarty’s company on several different occasions in the days leading up to the robbery. Then on August 11, the Chicago Tribune reported that five men were being held for the murder: Moriarty, Kusanski, Stanley “Whitey” Kusakowski, James “Skip” Linden and Danny Vallo, the latter two having been captured by police after a high-speed chase of 50 miles an hour that lasted five miles before the suspects were finally overtaken. Vallo was not connected to the McGurk murder but knew of it.

Two days later, after having been “taken on a mysterious auto trip” by Lieutenant Michael Hughes and Sergeant Michael Grady, “Three Fingered Pete” broke down and admitted he knew the men who killed Frank McGurk and provided police with names and addresses.

James Ryan (standing middle) confessed to being one of Frank McGurk's killers and to planning on shooting White Sox owner Charles Comiskey during his next robbery

Yet no more arrests were made until August 26 when another robbery attempt was thwarted thanks to a tip that three men were going to rob Wilson & Co., stockyard packers of its $40,000 payroll. Police arrived just in time to arrest James Ryan, Louis Maloney and Milton Bronski while they were sitting in a stolen car outside of the Depositors’ State Bank on South Ashland Avenue. It wasn’t until later that Ryan was fingered as one of the gunmen in the McGurk murder, to which he finally confessed. Apparently Ryan was in a talkative mood because he also admitted plans to rob the Whitman Barnes Forge Company in South Chicago and the box office at Comiskey Park in mid-September after the Yankees and Babe Ruth came to town. There’s no telling how much the thieves would have gotten away with but the three-game series drew 25,000, 35,000 and 38,000 fans in a season in which the White Sox averaged just under 11,000 per game.

But Ryan and his gang weren’t just planning on ripping the White Sox off, they were also planning on shooting all of the witnesses, including magnate Charles Comiskey, who they knew would be in the box office because “Comiskey was not permitted by his physicians to watch the games.” Thanks to the arrest of Ryan and his cohorts in late August, Comiskey’s life was spared as well as those who were also in the Comiskey Park box office that day.

But the story doesn’t end there. In late September a 17-year-old soldier named Stanley Galus was identified as one of McGurk’s shooters. Galus was also identified by policeman William Cashman as the man who shot him on August 21. Galus went to trial for McGurk’s murder shortly after and only one juror, who refused to put a 17-year-old to death, stood between a hanging or a life sentence. Galus was sentenced to life in prison on New Year’s Eve 1920. In June 1921 19-year-old Joseph Jablonski was arrested after killing a druggist named Albert Lawrence during a robbery at the deceased’s drug store. Jablonski and six others had been on a crime spree, robbing 16 drug stores before he was finally arrested. Later he was identified as one of Frank McGurk’s slayers. Unfortunately the trail goes cold from there and no more reports about the murder of Frank McGurk have been found by this author (yet).

“A Demon in Human Guise”

November 23, 1905: Thirty-six-year-old Christian Schlather was sentenced to six months in “the workhouse” and fined $200 for assault and battery, $50 for carrying a concealed weapon and $25 for intoxication for forcing his way into a home, kissing a 14-year-old girl and threatening to kill her if she didn’t elope with him or told anyone about his visit. Unfortunately for Schlather, he picked the wrong family to mess with. The girl was Alice Bradley, younger sister of Cleveland Naps third baseman Bill Bradley.

Bill Bradley

One of the stars of the earliest days of the American League, Bradley was every bit the third baseman that Hall of Famer Jimmy Collins was. In fact, Collins once said of Bradley when asked who the game’s best third baseman was, “Well, if I could field and hit like Bradley, I should lay claim to that title myself.” From 1901-1904, Bradley batted .312, slugged .455 and posted an OPS+ of 136 for Cleveland, and typically finished among the league leaders in most offensive categories. He also became the first player in major league history to homer in four consecutive games, turning the trick in 1902. His 11 homers in €˜02 were good for second in the junior circuit as were his 22 triples in 1903. Unfortunately numerous injuries hampered the rest of his career and he batted only .236 for Cleveland from 1905-1910.

But his best off-the-field performance came on November 22, 1905 when he learned what happened to his sister. Schlather asked Alice to meet him on Cleveland’s Cafe Avenue. She agreed as a means to set him up for a confrontation with her brother. When Schlather arrived, Bill jumped out from behind a tree and pummeled Schlather from head to toe. “His head and face were a mass of cuts and bruises,” reported the Washington Post . “The beating by Bradley and the threatened lynching by the crowd followed, and the arrival of a policeman was the only thing that saved the prisoner.”

Unfortunately that was the best hitting Bradley would do for the rest of his career.

Arrested Development

August 21, 1901: “Washington was treated yesterday to probably the most disgraceful exhibition that has yet taken place on a ball field of the American League,” reported the Washington Post on August 22, 1901. The disgraceful exhibition took place between the first-place White Sox, who boasted a slim 1 1/2 game lead over Boston, and the Washington Senators, who were mired in seventh place, 18 1/2 games off the pace. Washington took an early 1-0 lead against White Sox hurler “Big Jack” Katoll, while Washington’s Win Mercer, aided by a defense that was “eating up everything that came within reach,” held Chicago scoreless through three. Then the fourth inning rolled around and things got ugly.

"Big Jack" Katoll

Katoll loaded the bases with a two-out walk to “Scranton Bill” Coughlin, which drew neither the ire of Katoll or catcher Joe Sugden at the calls of home plate umpire Jack Haskell. But when Billy Clingman cleared the bases with a triple, Katoll and Sugden “began to berate Haskell as though he permitted Clingman’s hit.” Sugden let Katoll’s next pitch get past him so it would hit Haskell and Clingman came in with the fourth run of the inning. The White Sox hurler then threw a pitch directly at Haskell, which nailed the arbiter in the leg and forced Chicago skipper Clark Griffith to banish his pitcher to the bench.

In the bottom of the fifth, White Sox shortstop Frank Shugart “said something of doubtful propriety” to Haskell, prompting the umpire to pull out his watch and give Shugart 60 seconds to leave the field. Instead, Shugart lunged for the watch, causing Haskell to dodge. Sugden, who was on deck, shoved Haskell, then Shugart punched the umpire in the mouth and “brought a crimson flow.” Haskell got Shugart in a headlock and was about to retaliate with a punch of his own when police and spectators separated the combatants. Shugart and Katoll were arrested and released on $20 and $10 bail, respectively. Haskell was escorted from the field under police protection after the Senators trounced the White Sox, 8-0.

The White Sox later claimed that Haskell had cost them some close games in the past with his incompetence. Griffith agreed but chastised his players for fighting on the field. “If they wanted to do anything like that they should have waited until some other time,” Griffith said after the game. He also took a shot at American League president Ban Johnson, insisting that if Johnson “paid more attention to getting competent officials and less to fishing the league would do better.” Johnson responded, “If Griffith gave as much attention to instructing his players as he does to stirring them up against the umpires he would be far in the lead in the race instead of holding on to first place precariously.” Johnson then gave Griffith his blessing if he chose to jump back to the National League. “We don’t care to have that kind of men in our league,” stormed the A.L. czar.

White Sox shortstop Frank Shugart

Promising to put umpire baiting to a stop, Johnson made an example of Shugart by suspending him indefinitely and promising that his playing days in the American League were over unless Haskell’s report “contains mitigating facts not now known.” Katoll was also suspended indefinitely, although he was expected to escape with a shorter sentence and a heavy fine. Orioles hurler Joe McGinnity was suspended for spitting in the face of umpire Tommy Connolly on the same day as the Shugart/Haskell donnybrook. Griffith was irate and speculated that players would begin deserting the junior circuit “like rats from a sinking ship.” The Chicago Tribune opined that the league was “in dire straits” and facing a “crisis.” The paper also thought Shugart’s suspension was much too harsh considering other players had struck umpires earlier in the season and had gotten off with lighter sentences. In fact, Burt Hart had punched Haskell only two weeks before Shugart and was suspended but eventually reinstated. The Washington Post laid blame for the assaults at the feet of Johnson and his umpiring crew, calling the arbiters “too domineering for any use” and “horrible examples of human depravity.”

Johnson reversed course in September and reinstated Shugart to good standing on September 14, a decision the Tribune called “something of a surprise” considering Johnson’s insistence that Shugart was through. On the other hand, he’d already reinstated McGinnity after the hurler committed an offense considered more “injurious” to the game than punching an umpire, and Katoll was back in good standing by the end of August, so it made sense for Johnson to forgive Shugart as well. Meanwhile, rather than fall out of the pennant race, as most predicted, the White Sox went 16-8 in Shugart’s absence and extended their lead over Boston to 6 1/2 games.

The White Sox held on to win the pennant by five games over Boston, but Shugart’s major league career was over. He played his last game on September 27, was eventually released by the White Sox and landed in the California State League where he piloted and played for San Francisco. Katoll appeared in one game for the White Sox in 1902 before he was purchased by Baltimore in May. He spent the first half of the season with Minneapolis, going 9-5 for the Millers, before joining the Orioles for the second half of the season. He went only 5-10 for Baltimore with a 4.02 ERA and pitched briefly for Minneapolis again in 1903. It appears he also played in the Canadian League in 1905, although no stats are listed for him. Haskell’s stint in the American League lasted only one year and when the Washington Post learned he wouldn’t be back, it called his termination “a matter of congratulation.” Haskell ended up in the American Association and, according to his obituary, umpired for 40 years before becoming a member of the Missouri Legislature where he served six consecutive terms.