Excitement on the Ridge in 1921 – Part 3
By Carol Flynn
Eddie Morris, wanted for the killing of Chicago patrolman John Mullen on January 3, 1921, continued to elude the police.
He and Eddie McBride were involved in a shoot-out with the police on the evening of January 3, and the car they were driving was traced to Albert Ahern, one of the owners of the Beverly Gardens saloon at 91st and Western Avenue. Morris and McBride were reported drinking at the Beverly Gardens on January 4, while the police searched for them in Bloomington.
On the evening of January 7, Morris had another gun battle with the police and again managed to escape.
Desperate now for money to leave Chicago, he attempted to rob a man he knew from his days working at Swift and Co. at the Chicago stockyards. The man collected payments from Swift customers and often had a lot of cash on him.
Morris’ plans were thwarted when the wife of the man recognized Morris and called for help. Morris was approached by a police officer, and immediately started shooting at the officer, who returned fire. Morris escaped down an alley.
The search was once again on for Morris, as backyards and alleys were scoured by the police, and all his possible hideouts were searched again. Two hundred men were put on the search.
The driver of the cab Morris had taken to/from the botched robbery told the police that Morris had first ordered him to drive to 91st and Western Avenue, but the driver was hesitant. Morris then had him drive to this man’s house.
The police were keeping an eye on the Beverly Gardens. Detective Michael Grady had been posing there as a bartender for the last few nights.
Note that the Beverly Gardens had quite a history during Prohibition. It was raided not only for alcohol but for illegal gambling. The place would be shut down for a full year in 1923 for violations.
Morris might or might not have been aware that the detective unit that was hunting him had the best record in the city. On January 2, the unit, composed of Lt. Shoemaker, Det. Grady, who was acting as the bartender, and Det. Sgts. Ronan, O’Neill, and Carter, were the champs of the fifteen detective squads for December, with 550 arrests and the recovery of $33,000 in stolen property (about $438,000 today). They had rounded up a notorious band that had robbed a pharmacy and killed a police officer.
The new Chief of Detectives, Michael Hughes, who had just taken the position in October, sent out a New Year’s greeting to the criminal class: “Nineteen twenty-one is going to be the hardest year the crooks ever saw in Chicago.”
Now these detectives were leading the effort to capture Morris and McBride.
RHS did additional research on Edward Foster “Eddie” Morris. He often used Foster as one of his aliases.
Morris was born on December 29, 1891, in Equality, Illinois, a very small town in the far southeast tip of the state. His father, John, a U.S. Civil War veteran, was a farmer. His mother was Jennie E. Abbott. There were eight children in the family, and Eddie was the third child and third son.
Morris worked as a rural mail carrier in Equality until around 1916. His father died that year. He then moved to Evansville, Indiana, and worked as a rural mail clerk. He registered for the World War I draft in 1917 – 1918 while in Evansville. He was listed as married.
By 1920, Morris was in Chicago. On the 1920 U.S. Census, his address was given as 4515 Lake Park Avenue. He is listed as an agent for meat packers. His wife was listed as Ethel, but she went by Essie.
Morris had worked for Swift and Co. but said he had not been with them for about a year when the shooting occurred. He said his wife worked as a typist, and he made some money from gambling.
But the police identified Essie Morris as an active member of her husband’s gang, and considered her the brains behind some of their plans. Essie was identified as the woman who rented parlors and rooms in boarding houses, to which she lured men, and then they were robbed by her confederates waiting there.
Next up: Morris is captured.