A Memorable Incident

For Father’s Day, I’ll tell you a story Frances told me about her dad. One afternoon she and some neighborhood children were playing together when a man came along pushing a cart. Some of the kids started skipping along after the man shouting Ben de sheenie Ben de sheenie, and she joined in the fun. Frances remembered figuring that the peddler was an Italian and that the kids were just chanting his name.

Just then, Jim Hackett came home, passing the children in the road. He jumped out of his car, pulled his daughter aside, upbraided her, and spelled out for her that the little mob was taunting the man because he was Jewish and that “sheenie” was a bad word used to insult Jews. Frances was about seven years old at the time, so it would have been 1921.

Jimmy Blouin 1886-1947

Jimmy Blouin was Jim Hackett's business partner and played an important part in paying his ransom during the 1931 kidnapping. Above, 19 year old Blouin poses for a Chicago Tribune photographer as if throwing a bowling ball, 1905. In February 1925 Blouin beat Joe Scribner of Detroit to win the world's bowling championship. He was inducted into the Bowling Hall of Fame in 1953.

James Blouin won the USBC Open Championships all-events title in 1909 and captured the singles title two years later. Blouin made his mark on the lanes in the days when challenge matches were the determining factor for the stamp of greatness. He possessed steely nerves and had a strong, slow curve ball he seemed to push rather than roll. For many years he took on all comers in the Chicago area and around the nation. -from  bowl.com. United States Bowling Congress, n.d. Web. 8 Jun 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.

Happy Hollow, Hot Springs, Arkansas

Al Capone and his wife at Happy Hollow

Happy Hollow, Hot Springs, Arkansas

 

While Adeline benefited from the theraputic steams, vapor cabinets, and wraps offered by the elegant bath houses and Jim made business contacts, Frances and George had fun posing at Happy Hollow. Frances and George are at either end, I don't know who the people in the middle are.

Spike O'Donnell Has a Theory

On May 9, 1931, the Tribune reported
Edward (Spike) O'Donnell, south side gangster, who was questioned in connection with the purported kidnaping, said that Hackett's story was a gesture to defraud the government.
O’Donnell came right out and claimed that Hackett had staged his own kidnapping so that he could cry poverty and avoid paying back taxes.
Was there a connection between the kidnapping and Hackett’s tax status? Shortly before the 1931 kidnapping federal internal revenue service agents placed a tax lien on Hackett, with acting collector Robert E Neely claiming he owed $354,639 to the government. The debt was for the years 1914 - 1929 during which time his income was allegedly more than $2,000,000. Hackett had recently compromised with the collector's office. O'Donnell's theory was that Hackett's payment of a large ransom would let him off the hook for paying his settlement. Another plausible connection between his debt and his kidnapping is that an insider at the IRS leaked news of these vast sums to criminal persons. Hackett’s agreement with tax authorities involved a large payment that would clear his liens. If he had enough to pay the government he had enough to pay a ransom.

My dad told me that his mother and grandmother often characterized deeds of his as things Jim Hackett would or would not have done. Adeline's sense of security and well being was destroyed by the 1931 kidnapping and the thought that her son George was a potential target of kidnap gangs. Such a deliberate destruction of his wife’s peace of mind falls into the category of something Jim would not have done.

Up North at Calvert Camps

Sometimes in the fall, Jim Hackett went fishing for muskellunge in Lake of the Woods.  A day's journey from Chicago, this vast body of water encompasses thousands of islands and sheltered bays. Lots of bootleggers operated in Lake of the Woods, transporting alcohol across the lake in the wilderness between Ontario, Canada, and Minnesota.

Muskies perk up at the beginning of autumn, after summer sluggishness, and look around for something to eat. Anglers sought the big 'lunge, warrior fishes lurking in the glacial waters, grown to greater proportions than anywhere else. Lake trout had been known to grow to over thirty pounds. The black bass could chew the bottom right out of your boat, the muskies would gnaw the bark off of trees, and pike had a strong habit of gobbling up spoon lure like candy. It was a sportsman’s haven as well as a hub of criminal activity. No wonder when Jim took his son George up there for a little hunting and fishing he brought along bodyguards.