Excitement on the Ridge in 1921 – Part 2
By Carol Flynn
Chicago Police Officer John Mullen was shot down on January 3, 1921, and the search was on to find “Eddie,” his killer, who fled the scene.
This is a summary of what happened over the next few days, as the events played out and were covered in the newspapers.
The man who was with Eddie the night Mullen was shot who identified himself as “John” or “James” Crosby had given a false name to the police. His real name was John McEvilly, 24 years old. The two other men involved that night – both named “Eddie” – were identified as Eddie McBride and Eddie Morris. The three men were accompanied at the restaurant by three girls, ages 15 and 16. The girls were taken to the juvenile detention center, where they gave detailed accounts of the shooting.
Initially, it was reported that Eddie McBride shot Mullen. The police started an extensive manhunt to locate McBride and Morris. Rewards were offered for their capture.
That first night, January 3, a young woman told the police that McBride and an “Edward Hall,” who was really Eddie Morris, were staying in a hotel at 30th and Michigan Avenue. McBride and Morris managed to elude the police, escaping by car. A shoot-out occurred as the police chased them through the south side until the car got away in traffic. A half-hour later, the police spotted McBride and Morris when their bullet-ridden car died and they escaped on foot. Additional gunplay occurred but McBride and Morris got away.
The license of the car that McBride and Morris used that night was registered to Arthur Ahern. The Ahern brothers owned several “cabarets,” or saloons. One was the Jeffrey Tavern at 2021 East 83rd Street, and another was the Beverly Gardens at 91st Street and Western Avenue.
The Aherns owned the land west of Western Avenue that they eventually developed into the Evergreen Country Club. The land is now the strip mall that includes Menard’s and other stores. This is actually Evergreen Park, not Chicago, but the papers referred to it as Beverly.
When questioned, Arthur Ahern denied knowing Eddie McBride and claimed he had no knowledge of how his car license came to be on McBride’s car.
The next day, McEvilly/Crosby identified Eddie Morris, not McBride, as the shooter of Mullen. McBride drove the car in which Morris escaped. McEvilly admitted that they had gone to the restaurant with the intention to rob the place.
Morris, 29, was a known thief and confidence man. He was wanted since 1919 for his involvement in a confidence game. Morris was now looked at for other outstanding crimes. This was the Prohibition era, and there were many criminal activities involving alcohol. Morris was named as the killer of the driver of a “booze laden truck” on December 31, and it was assumed that this was the reason he shot Mullen, to avoid arrest for that crime. [Morris was later exonerated for that crime.]
The police chased down reports on where Morris and McBride could be found. Many tips were from young women who were “discarded companions” of their cabaret visits and illegal schemes. A “definite tip” that Morris was in Bloomington came in, so the manhunt moved there.
This Bloomington “sighting” caused the police to dismiss reports that Morris and McBride were seen on the night of January 4th drinking at the Jeffrey Tavern and the Beverly Gardens.
The Bloomington tip did not pan out. Morris was indeed on the loose on the south side of Chicago.
Next post: A visit to Beverly.