Evening star., 1959-12-17
Chicago Presses Hunt for Killers
OfProh;bition Fro Gang Leader

posed as policemen to put
Touhy and Sergt. Miller of
guard.
If so, the killing would have
a macabre. nostalgia touch. The
gangsters who worked the
bloody st. Valentines Day mas
acre in 1929 put their seven
victims of guard by posing as
q police squad on a routine
beer raid.
The blast Of gunflre last
night pierced the stiffness of a
West Side residential neighbor-
hood preparing to retire for the
night.
Mrs. Doris Peel. widow liv-
ing on the second floor of the
dwelling Of Mrs. Alesia, said
she was watching a television
Western when she heard real
shots outside.
II was petrified," Mrs. Peel
declared.
Lights blinked on along the
100 block of N. Lotus street.
Faces pressed against windows.
and soon people began pouring
into the street.
Roger Touhy's been shot"
the word hurriedly passed
among them.
Virgil Peterson, former FBI
man and now head of the Chi
cago Crime Commission, said
survivors of the old "Scarface
Az, Capone gang might have
been responsible.
Cites Old Grudge
"Touhy definitely could have
been shot in vengeance by sur
viving members of the old
Capone gang" he said.
They had a grudge against
him. The Touhy -Capone rivalry
was one of the bitterest in
Chicago gang history. Nobody
except Touhy ever stood up
successfully to Capone."
Assassination by the Malta
was suggested by Robert Tie
ken, United States district al
torney. He said:
I'm convinced the Mafia is
operating in this town. No one
else can seem to find them but
we're convinced they're oper-
ating here"
Touhy's lawyer, Kevin Gil
logly, expressed an opinion
amateurs assaSsinated the for
mer gang chief.
1T doesn't look like a pro-
feSsional job" the lawyer sa....
They generally hit you in the
head"
Factor has sued Touhy and
others for SO million in con-
nection with publication of
Touhy's biography, THE Stolen
Years" He contended state
ments in the book libeled him
Shot In Both Legs
In an ambulance on the way
to the hospital, Touhy told po-
licemen. 'I'll be all right. I'm
OK"
However, he had lost much
blood from a gaping wound in
the left leg above the knee.
Other pellets from the shotguns
wounded him in the right leg
below the knee.
The shooting occurred short
ly after 10 pm. (CST and
Touhy died at 11:20 pm. as
Chief Of Detectives John Ascher
stood by to question him.
Sergt. Miller told police one
of the killers was tall and the
second was short. He said that
two men appeared as he and
Touhy walked up the front
steps Of the home where Touhy
has been living since his parole.
Sergt. Miller said he showed
them his retired police SER
geant's star and said, we're
police officers"
The blast Of shotguns fol-
lowed. Touhy slumped forward
on the porch. The wounded
Miller, before firing at the flee
ing gunmen, fell on top of him.
Mrs. Alesia and her husband,
Henry, rushed to the porch, but
said they did not see the slay-
ers.
Sergt. Miller told police a
third man possibly was with
the gunmen, and probably was
near their car in a nearby
parking lot in the quiet resi-
Dental district.
Visited With Reporter
Touhy and Sergt. Miller were
returning home after visiting
with Ray Brennan, a Sum-
Times reporter and co-author
with Touhy of the ex-convict's
autobiography. at the Chicago
Press Club In the Loop.
Mr.. Brennan, who hurried to
the hospital where Touhy was
taken, told a reporter: "I wish
I had not written the sinking
book. Roger would be alive
today He did not amplify
his comment.
Mr.. Brennan was indicted
in 1852 for allegedly posing
as a staff member of the old
Kefauver Senate Crime In
vestigating Committee to OBJ
tain information taken in
secret.
(Federal Judge Henry A.
Schweinhaut on January II,
1855, dismissed the charges
of impersonation against Mr..
Brennan. Judge Schweinhaut
ordered the charge dropped
following a request by Will
liam Paisley. an assistant to
the Attorney General. Mr..
Paisley said Mr.. Brennan's
act was one of IAN over
jealous reporter, rather than
one Of criminal intent"
Before joining the Chi