Blue Island Bang-Up

The life, career, and kidnapping of James Hackett.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Front and back views of a postcard written but never sent by young George Hackett (pictured on horse) to a friend in Blue Island. Harold Schneider's father was an employee of Jim Hackett.

Posted by Ann Walton at 9:01 AM

gambling, kidnapping, Blue Island, Hackett Happy Hollow, Hot Springs

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Frances at the Greenwood Ave house

Frances Hackett Walton 1914-1981

My grandmother took me travelling with her when I was a young teenager. We went to Virginia, Montreal, New Mexico, California, and Tijuana, Mexico.
Grammy had a chow chow named Cindy who ate rare hamburger and large curd cottage cheese out of a crystal dish, and a half chow named Victoria who attacked people when they sneezed.

James Hackett came to Chicago from the small western New York town of Allegany, Cattaraugus County where he was born in 1874. When he was 15 he left home, joined a travelling theater troupe, acted as a spear-holder in Shakespeare plays. I wish I knew how he went from supernumerary to slot machine saloons in Chicago.

In 1931 and 1933 Hackett was abducted by a group of kidnappers called the College Gang led by Theodore "Handsome Jack" Klutas.