Dr Calvin Goddard and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre

on Thursday February 14 1929 at approximately 10:30 in the morning seven men were murdered in a garage on North Clark Street in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago's North Side the seat Valentine's Day Massacre represented the crescendo and Chicago's bloody mob wars during the era prohibition and it shocked the nation so much so that the city of Chicago finally had to take extraordinary action to address the crime and violence that was tarnishing the city's reputation and yet despite their efforts the perpetrators were never positively identified the crime remains officially unsolved still the st. Valentine's Day Massacre represents one of the first high-profile applications of the still new science of forensic ballistics and much of what we know about the crime has to do with the efforts of a pioneer in the field that transformed the way that the nation and the world investigates crime dr. Calvin Goddard the son of an army officer Calvin Hooker Goddard was born in Baltimore in 1891 he earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University and studied military medicine at the US Army Medical School in Washington DC dr. Goddard served with the Army Medical Corps in France Germany in Poland during the First World War Jimmy the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1920 he resigned his commission and worked in hospital administration Goddard had had a keen interest in firearms since he was a child and he began applying his expertise to the emerging science of firearms identification Goddard helped to develop the science that proved that every weapon makes characteristic marks on a bullet and a cartridge shell and they are the same every time that the gun is fired science has shown Goddard said that bullet markings are as valuable as fingerprints he helped to design important instruments for the study of firearms notably the helix ometer or an adapted medical device used for looking inside the body which Goddard used to examine defects in the rifling inside a gun barrel he also created the comparison microscope which is essentially two microscopes connected by an optical bridge allowing for a split view of two samples this allowed the direct comparison of the unique marks and striations left on bullets and cartridges by rifling grooves firing pins and extractor claws both devices represented significant advances in the science of firearm identification and he published a paper describing these advances in the journal army ordinance in 1925 he became famous enough in the field of forensic ballistics a term that he himself coined that resigned his medical position and co-founded the Bureau of forensic ballistics in New York City the bureau was the United States first independent criminalistics laboratory the laboratory brought not just ballistics but also fingerprinting blood analysis and trace evidence under one roof the bureau also published a journal called the American Journal of police science despite the labs strong reputation it struggled as a business as police departments in the u.s. largely lacked the sophistication needed to understand and utilize its services at the time Goddard gained the national reputation in 1927 when he was used as an expert in the infamous murder trial of anarchist Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti Sacco and Vanzetti had been accused of two murders that had occurred during the commission of an armed robbery in 1920 they had been convicted by a jury in July of 1921 in a trial marred by accusations of bias by both the trial judge and members of the jury as well as questions about the firearms experts while defense attorneys sought a new trial dr. Goddard offered to test the bullets using the most current methods of forensic ballistics and definitely tied the fatal bullet and shell casing to a 32 caliber Colt automatic pistol owned by Sacco Goddard was called on again when Massachusetts governor Alvin T fuller established a commission to investigate the fairness of the trial subsequent examinations using newer methods were conducted in 1935 1961 and 1983 and all have confirmed Goddard's results however some argue that the police had tampered with the evidence by switching the bullets still after two appeals to the Massachusetts Supreme Court and the review by the Lowell Committee the verdicts were upheld and Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in August of 1927 but Goddard would soon be involved in another even higher profile case and approximately 10:30 in the morning On February 14 1929 five members and two Associates of Chicago's North Side gang had gathered in a garage and 2212 North Clark Street in Chicago called the SMC cartage company the North Side gang was largely in Irish Eric and criminal organization that had developed from a street gang at the turn of the century and prospered under prohibition tension with Southside gangs notably the italian-american organization of Johnny Torrio eventually called the Chicago Outfit had resulted in the murder of North Side gang leader Dean O'Banion in November of 1924 and the two organizations had been at war interrupted by temporary truce 'as ever since by February 1929 George bugs Moran was the leader of the North Side gang and the war had again flared up with Al Capone than the leader of the Chicago Outfit a series of tit-for-tat killings had occurred most recently the murder of Capone adviser and president of the politically influential for Turner order the italian-american National Union Tony the scourge Lombardo in September there are various stories as for why these men were meeting with the most common being that they've been offered a load of bootleg beer at a good price that was likely a setup Moran himself was laid some stories claimed that he had to wait longer than expected while getting a haircut upon arriving he saw a police car out front he assumed that the members of the gang were being shaken down by the Chicago Police and walked away moments later several witnesses heard what sounded like rapid gunfire and others watched as two police officers led out two or three men at gunpoint all then left in a police car described as one of those used by the Chicago detective bureau that was the car that had scared off bugs Moran other witnesses reported at least one more such car driving by police later speculated that two men dressed as police had disarmed the group who likely assumed this was simply a shakedown for money and made them stand up against the wall in the garage the three other men had entered the garage spraying the seven men with bursts of gunfire the two dresses police then escorted two of the killers out pretending that they were being arrested while a third man retrieved the second car parked behind the garage a neighbor who had heard what they thought was gunfire and the dog barking German Shepherd was tied up in the garage but not hurt went to investigate inside the garage still reeking gun smoke where six dead men among the dead were Moran's second command and also the gangs bookkeeper and business manager but North Side gang enforcer Frank gusenberg was still clinging to life Guttenberg was too into a hospital and briefly stabilized but when asked by police to identify his killers refused to break the code of silence one account had him saying nobody nobody shot me despite his 14 bullet wounds he died a few hours later the murders quickly dubbed the st. Valentine's Day Massacre by the press shocked both Chicago in the nation the Chicago city leadership had to respond while the Chicago Police Detectives bureau started their investigation the Cook County State's Attorney's suspecting that the police may be involved also started an independent investigation meanwhile the Cook County Coroner dr. Herman bunda sin' impaneled a Blue Ribbon Commission to investigate the case thus three different investigations were going at the same time the six members of the quarters jury included leading citizens like Bert a masse president of the colgate-palmolive company Colonel a a Sprague the Chicago Commissioner of Public Works walter olson owner of the olsen drug company and dr. John McCormick Dean of the Loyola University Law School bunda sin had been careful before the bodies were taken to the morgue but Nissen ordered that dozens of photographs be taken and that all shells bullets and bullet fragments be gathered and preserved they were carefully catalogued and placed in sealed envelopes to protect the evidence much of that evidence has been preserved coroner's jury member Burke Massey had heard of dr. Goddard and knew that his expertise would be valuable to help make sense of the evidence and determine which weapons have been used to commit the murders when told that there was no money available to hire Goddard Massey together with Olsen use their own private funds to hire Goddard services on behalf of the panel as the Chicago Police Department was still suspect at Benison suggestion Goddard set up a lab under the auspices of the Northwestern University Law School Goddard was able to determine from the slugs taken from the victims and the shell casings recovered from the scene that 70 45 caliber slugs had come from two Thompson submachine guns one firing 50 rounds from a drum magazine and the other 20 rounds from a box magazine a 12-gauge shotgun was also used Goddard was then able to obtain and test-fire all the Thompson submachine guns owned by the Chicago Police in their suburbs his analysis determined that the slugs did not come from any of the police weapons meanwhile police have been searching for what they consider to their best suspect a man named Fred Burke Burke was a swindler armed robber and contract killer suspected in many notorious crimes he had been a member of the Egan's rats gang of st. Louis and had done contract work for the Detroit Purple Gang before having a falling-out with them he then moved to Chicago were in formed an association with Capone and the Chicago Outfit Burke had become a suspect in the st. Valentine's Day Massacre because two witnesses had encountered one of the men pretending to be police and had reported that one was conspicuously missing two front teeth that led police to immediately suspect Burke police in st. Louis confirmed that in addition to the missing teeth Burke had been known to impersonate a police officer while committing crimes knowing that he was a suspect Burke had gone into hiding in Michigan under the name Frederick Dave but he slipped up in December when he got into a minor traffic accident in st. Joseph Michigan Burke tried to flee the scene but the other driver followed him and alerted a local police officer when the officer stepped on the running board of his car Burke who was drunk at the time panicked and shot and killed 25 year-old patrolman Charles Kelly Burke managed to escape the resulting manhunt but a search of his home and st. Joseph turned up a small Arsenal including sawed-off shotguns revolvers tear gas bulletproof vests a high-powered automatic rifle and two Thompson submachine guns the guns were taken to Goddard who was able to definitively determine that they were the two guns used in the st. Valentine's Day Massacre Goddard was also able to identify one of the guns as being the weapon used to murder Brooklyn gangster Frankie Yale in July of 1928 he had been killed in a blazing shootout in which Forman in a Buick fired into his car Neil had been hit with both a shotgun blast and bullets from a Thompson submachine gun it was the first use of a tommy gun in a gangland killing in New York City Yale and Capone had been friends but Capone had figured out that Yale had been hijacking liquor shipments from him the fact that the same gun that was used in the st. Valentine's Day Massacre had been used to kill Frankie Yale further implicated Capone ironically Yale was suspected of being one of the men who had murdered Dean O'Banion in 1924 working on behalf of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone although did not have enough evidence to arrest him that murder sparked the war that have finally resulted in the infamous st. Valentine's Day Massacre Fred the killer Burke was finally caught in Greene City Missouri in 1931 turned in by an amateur detective who had seen his photograph in true detective magazine he was extradited back to Michigan where he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of officer Skelly for reasons that aren't completely clear he was never sent back to Chicago to answer questions in the st. Valentine's Day Massacre killings it's possible that Chicago officials realizing that he was going to be spending life in prison anyway and that most of the other suspects had already been killed in gangland violence just didn't see it as being valuable there said he simply wanted to put the massacre behind them Burke died in prison in 1940 despite all his findings dr. Goddard's evidence didn't result in a conviction the st. Valentine's Day Massacre still remains officially unsolved but still identifying the guns from which the bolts were fired left little doubt in historians mind that it was the work of the Capone organization although it's still unclear whether Al Capone ordered the killings directly the case that roiled the nation resulted in the federal effort to get Capone which finally resulted in a seven year imprisonment for violations of prohibition and tax evasion he was released in 1939 but by then was disabled by complications from syphilis and never played a significant role in organized crime again he died in 1947 a man destroyed by the terrible massacre committed on his behalf the two Thompson submachine guns that were used in the st. Valentine's Day Massacre are still the possession of the Barron County Michigan's Sheriff's Department much of the evidence including bullets fragments shells coroner reports and the wall from the SMC cartridge company against which the massacre occurred still showing bullet pock marks are on display at the mob museum the National Museum of organized crime in law enforcement in Las Vegas Nevada bugs Moran was unable to control his gang after the st. Valentine's Day Massacre and the North Side gang never fully recovered eventually he sank back into petty crime and was arrested multiple times ended up dying in prison in Fort Leavenworth Kansas in 1957 dr. Goddard's work on the st. Valentine's Day Massacre helped to establish credibility of the field of forensic ballistics which is critical to the investigation of crime today he remained in charge of the northwestern lab where they made several advancements not just in firearms identification but also the analysis of fibers and hair and serology the study of blood evidence when World War two came he was called back to active duty and ended up in Occupied Japan where he established the Criminal Investigation laboratory for the Far East command under General Douglas MacArthur he died of heart disease in 1955 you from all of us here at the history guy we're wishing you and yours a massacre free Valentine's Day I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets have forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section I will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on Facebook Instagram Twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring com and if you'd like more episodes on forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 310,370

Rating: 4.9706511 out of 5

Keywords: History, The History Guy, forensic science, ballistics, chicago, mob, us history, history guy

Id: MmMz8LLxpeQ

Length: 14min 44sec (884 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 08 2019