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chicago jewish history

Vol. 29, No. 1, Winter 2005

chicago jewish historical society

Look to the rock from which you were hewn

IN THIS ISSUEGitta Gradova, Chicago-Born Concert Pianist

Did Frankie FosterMurder Jake Lingle?

Report on February 9Newberry Library/CJHSProgram: “Ben Hecht and Meyer Levin”

CJH Seeks Memoirs

FIVE CHICAGO JEWISH SOLDIERS IN THE CIVIL WARBY NORMAN D. SCHWARTZ. Edited by Marshall D. Krolick and Irwin Suloway.

C hicago’s first sizeable wave ofJewish immigrants occurredfollowing the European “Year

of the Revolutions”—1848. Theselargely unsuccessful attempts atpromoting civil rights and asemblance of democracy inEuropean states brought a largenumber of dissidents to the UnitedStates—immigrants seeking thefreedom denied them back home.The German-speaking statescontributed the largest numbers,

among them many Jews. Chicagoattracted a significant number whosoon became the dominant elementof the local Jewish community.Enjoying their newfound freedoms,they developed a strong patriotismthey were soon to exhibit.

When the Civil War broke outin 1860, their patriotism was put tothe test. Chicago’s German-speakingJews passed that test by enlisting inthe Union army in numbers whichwere more than respectable.

Of the thousands of Chicagoanswho served in the Civil War, somecame home, some fell and wereburied near the battlefields, andsome returned to die of wounds andbe buried in Oak Woods Cemeteryalong with Confederate prisoners ofwar from Chicago’s Camp Douglas.

Some idea of the nature ofChicago Jews who served can begained from the following briefprofiles of five young men interredin Jewish Graceland Cemetery.

This small burial ground at3919 North Clark Street, a halfblock south of Irving Park Road,was established in 1851. It is called“Jewish Graceland” to distinguish itfrom the large Graceland Cemeteryjust north of Irving Park (which wasformerly named Graceland Avenue).

There is no formal monumentto Civil War veterans in JewishGraceland, and we can’t be sure

other soldiers of that war aren’tresting there. It is fitting that wehonor this group of five Jewishimmigrants—four from Germanyand one from Poland—whowillingly risked their lives for acountry which offered rights andopportunities unavailable to Jews intheir homelands.

Save the Date! Tuesday, March 8—Lecture at UIC:Adele Hast to Speakon “Service to theCommunity: ChicagoWoman’s Aid”

Save the Date! Sunday, April 3—CJHS Open Meetingat SVAJ Synagogue: Sheldon Nahmod toSpeak on “The March on SkokieControversy”

continued on page 4

Details and maps on page 3

Officers 2005Walter Roth PresidentBurt Robin Vice PresidentDr. Carolyn Eastwood SecretaryHerman Draznin Treasurer

DirectorsLeah AxelrodHarold T. BercCharles B. BernsteinRachel Heimovics Braun*Dr. Irving CutlerDr. Rachelle GoldClare GreenbergDr. Adele Hast*Dr. David H. HellerJanet IltisMarshall D. KrolickRoslyn LettvinMark MandleDr. Edward H. MazurSeymour H. PerskyMuriel Robin Rogers*Norman D. Schwartz*Dr. Milton ShulmanDr. N. Sue Weiler

*Indicates Past President

Chicago Jewish HistoryChicago Jewish History is publishedquarterly by the Chicago JewishHistorical Society at 618 SouthMichigan Avenue, Chicago,Illinois 60605. (312)663-5634.Single copies $4.00 postpaid.Successor to Society News.

Editor/DesignerBev Chubat

Immediate Past EditorJoe Kraus

Editor EmeritusIrwin J. Suloway

Editorial BoardDavid Heller, Burt Robin, Walter Roth, Norman Schwartz,and Milton Shulman

Send all submissions to: Bev Chubat 415 Fullerton Parkway, #1102Chicago, IL 60614-2842 E-mail: [email protected]


2 Chicago Jewish History Winter 2005

President’s ColumnLook to the rock from which you were hewn

THE CENTRAL THEME OF MY PRESEN-TATION AT THE NEWBERRY LIBRARYon Wednesday evening, February 9 was heroism. I discussed the heroic efforts by the writers BenHecht and Meyer Levin to help rescue EuropeanJewry before, during, and after World War II. (See page 10 for a full report on the program.)

Upon reflection, I find that another themeappeared in the lives of these two authors, namely

the American concept of free speech as it applied to obscenity,confidentiality, and blacklisting. Following are First Amendmentissues that arose in both their lives:

In 1923, Ben Hecht lost his job with the Chicago Daily Newsbecause his novel Fantazius Mallare was considered to be obscene bythe U.S. Post Office. By today’s legal standards, the book would notviolate the law, and would be protected by the Bill of Rights.

In 1947, Hecht’s films, books, and other works were banned inthe British Empire. In April of that year, in Palestine, the BritishArmy had hanged four members of the Irgun in Akko Prison, andthe Irgun had retaliated by hanging two British soldiers. In May,Hecht placed a fiercely worded ad in major newspapers lauding theIrgun’s action. He was blacklisted in Hollywood, and like othershunned writers in the McCarthy era, worked under an assumedname. His First Amendment rights may have been violated by theAmerican movie companies, but he never chose to litigate.

In 1959, Meyer Levin and his publisher, Simon & Schuster, andthe movie studio, 20th Century Fox, were sued by Nathan Leopoldin Illinois courts to prohibit the marketing of Compulsion, the bookand movie based on the Loeb and Leopold murder case. NathanLeopold’s main contention was that his right to privacy was violatedby Meyer Levin’s work. Levin countered that the United StatesConstitution’s guarantee of free speech protected the work.

In my book Looking Backward: True Stories from Chicago JewishHistory, I discuss the case in detail. On April 15, 1964, JudgeThomas E. Kluczynski ruled in favor of Leopold, writing that boththe book and movie “constitute a classic case of an invasion of therights of privacy.” Levin appealed and eventually won. I quote him:“…Costly and protracted, the battle provided a precedent forliterary freedom.” After Leopold appealed, the case eventually wentbefore the Illinois Supreme Court, where, on May 27, 1970, JudgeDaniel P. Ward issued an opinion upholding Levin’s victory.

IN 1978, THE ISSUE OF FREE SPEECH CAME TO SKOKIE.Tensions erupted when some members of the American Nazi Partyapplied for a permit to march in suburban Skokie, Illinois, acommunity with a large Jewish population.

Now, over twenty-five years later, “The March on SkokieControversy” will be the subject of the program at our next CJHSopen meeting on Sunday, April 3. Hope to see you there. ❖

Walter Roth

3Chicago Jewish History Winter 2005

CJHS Open Meeting—Sunday, April 3:

“The March on Skokie Controversy—A Twenty-Five Year

First Amendment Perspective”Speaker: Sheldon H. Nahmod

The next CJHS open meeting will be held on Sunday, April 3, atSkokie Valley Agudath Jacob Synagogue, 8825 East Prairie Road,Skokie. Sheldon H. Nahmod, Distinguished Professor of Law atChicago-Kent College of Law, will make the featured presentation. Aspecialist in constitutional and civil rights law, Prof. Nahmod is theauthor of several books and numerous law review articles. He hasargued many cases before the United States Supreme Court and theFirst, Seventh, and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeal.

The featured talk will be preceded by a brief history of SkokieValley Agudath Jacob Synagogue by its president, Lewis Saltzman.

The program will begin at 2:00 p.m. following a social hour withrefreshments at 1:00 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.Parking is available in the SVAJ lot, the adjoining public lot, and onthe street. For information phone the Society office at (312) 663-5634.

Tuesday Morning, March 8: Adele Hast to Speak on “Service to the Community: Chicago Woman’s Aid 1920-1960”

Visitor Parking: Northeast corner of Morganand Harrison streets ORHalsted Street north ofTaylor. Parking rate for 2.5hours is $5.25; for 2.5–3.5hours $6.50.

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Public Transportation:Blue Line to UIC-Halsted station. Use Morgan Streetexit. From downtown, #7 and#60 buses stop on Harrisonat Morgan.

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The UIC Committee on Lectures and Forums willpresent a talk by Dr. Adele Hast on Tuesday morning,March 8, at the University of Illinois at Chicago,Stevenson Hall, Institute for the Humanities, 901South Morgan Street. The program begins at 10:30a.m. following coffee at 10:00 a.m. The event is co-sponsored by the Chicago Jewish Historical Society.Admission is free and open to the public.

Chicago Woman’s Aid was an active women’sorganization for 106 years, from 1882 to 1988.Members saw themselves as a civic organization servingthe larger Chicago community as well as the Jewishcommunity. Dr. Hast’s talk will focus on several of theclub’s long-range projects. CWA was active inpromoting birth control; members worked in thepublic schools, especially in matters of health and wellbeing. They became involved in civic reform inChicago.

Adele Hast is scholar-in-residence at The NewberryLibrary, past president of CJHS, and editor, with RimaLunin Schultz, of Women Building Chicago, 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary.

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For information phone Pat Bakunas at UIC (312) 996-2742.

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Welcome to NewMembers of CJHSDr. & Mrs. Paul ArnoldZelda BachrachNorman & Corrine EichnerLynn FrackmanMr. & Mrs. Herbert HermanMr. & Mrs. Philip KovalskyEsther MannThe Milken ArchivesSeymour ShefskyMaurice & Donna SteinerMr. & Mrs. Burton Zeiger


SIMON BOURNSTINE (some records spelled hisname Bursint or Bernstein) was born in Warsaw,Poland on June 7, 1846, although his grave marker isdated January 7, 1844. He immigrated to the UnitedStates in 1855 and was naturalized. He could read,write, and speak English.

Simon enlisted as a private in the 22nd Regiment ofthe Ohio Volunteer Infantry on August 20, 1861, inCompany C, and later transferred to Company B.Army records say he was 22, but he couldn’t have beenmore than a teenager when he enlisted.

His regiment served at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, andTrenton, Tennessee; Corinth, Mississippi; and LittleRock, Arkansas. There are papers about him indicatingthat he was sick at Vicksburg, Mississippi around June1863, with “chills and fever, resulting in rheumatism.”His military discharge was dated August 28, 1865, andhis record shows “distinguished service.”

Simon married Taubina Rosenow in Chicago onOctober 28, 1890. The ceremony was conducted byReverend Aron J. Messing, rabbi at Congregation B’naiSholom. Simon and Taubina had one child, Charles.

(An oral history of Charles Bournstine, who diedon November 13, 1989, is in the Chicago JewishArchives, Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.)

According to various papers, including censustracts, city directories, and the death certificate, Simonworked in several trades: he was a peddler, a merchantin the periodical business, and a confectioner. His lastresidence was at 4110 South Wentworth Avenue.Simon Bournstine died in Chicago on April 13, 1910.The funeral home was Furth & Co. His death noticestates that he was a member of Grant Post 28 of theGAR (Grand Army of the Republic).

HERMAN BURGHEIM was born on November 22,1831 in Germany. He enlisted as a private in the 82ndIllinois Infantry Regiment on August 14, 1862. It wascalled the “Second Hecker Regiment” in honor of itsfirst colonel, Frederick Hecker. The regiment wascomposed almost exclusively of German Chicagoans.

Herman’s unit, Company C, was the only all-Jewishunit to fight in the Civil War. It had been raised inAugust 1862 as a result of a meeting held by RamahLodge of the B’nai B’rith at the Concordia Club on

Dearborn Street. The 82nd Illinois had an impressivehistory, including service at Gettysburg and in theAtlanta Campaign, including the March to the Sea.

In 1864, “he contracted inflammatory rheumatismcaused by exposure and marching through swamps,”but served until the war’s end.

After his discharge on June 9, 1865, Hermanapplied for citizenship. He was naturalized onDecember 29, 1865 in the Circuit Court of BureauCounty, Illinois. He received a disability pension for hisarmy service. He spent much of his later years in theclothing business on Clark Street in downtownChicago, but earlier had been in hats and caps, a tailor,an insurance agent, and even a policeman (in 1892).

His first wife was Mina Bamburg. The 1880 censuslists the following children: Bertha, Rachel, Gustav,Fannie, Harry, and Carrie. Mina died in 1892, and hemarried Leonore Goldman on June 12, 1894. HermanBurgheim died in Chicago on June 1, 1899. Theundertaker was Furth & Co.

FIVE CIVIL WAR SOLDIERScontinued from page 1


HERMAN J. EPHRAIM was bornin Germany on June 12, 1845. Hisgiven name was spelled in variousways: Hirman, Heiman, Hinman,and Hyman. At the age of 19, heenlisted as a private in Company Hof the 23rd Infantry IllinoisVolunteers on March 21, 1865.

The 23rd Illinois, popularlyreferred to by the misnomer “IrishBrigade,” was formed by a mannamed Mulligan immediately uponthe opening of hostilities at FortSumter. It was captured as a unit atLexington, Missouri in 1861, butwas later reorganized, and partic-ipated in the pursuit of Lee’s armyuntil the surrender at AppomattoxCourt House in April, 1865.

He was mustered out on July24, after five months of service. Hewas naturalized as a citizen on October 28, 1873.

Herman Ephraim was married twice. His first wifewas Lena Lavanthal, who died on October 6, 1885 inGrand Forks, North Dakota. It appears from theprobate records that they had no children, and thatEphraim’s mother and brothersresided in Grand Forks.

His second marriage, to Rachel(Rae) Jacobs, was performed inChicago on February 12, 1888, byReverend B. Cohn, minister ofCongregation B’nai Sholom; thecertificate was witnessed by Aron J.Messing, minister. Rae Burgheimdied on October 11, 1917. Her lastpension check as a veteran’s widowwas in the amount of twelve dollars.Herman’s pension had beenterminated upon his death onJanuary 31, 1899. City directoriesindicate that he was in the clothingbusiness, and also worked as a tailor.

THEODORE HIRSCH (listed as T.Hirsch). It was difficult to obtainmuch information about this man,since he was a Confederate soldier.However, the librarian at theLouisiana State Archives Library inBaton Rouge was most helpful in

documenting Hirsch’s brief life inAmerica.

Theodore Hirsch, who had beenborn in Germany, immigrated tothe United States in the early 1860s.He settled in Clinton, Louisiana,where his older brother hadestablished a dry goods store. There,on August 1, 1864, he enlisted forthe period of the war as a private inHolmes’ Light Battery, LouisianaArtillery. (Its captain, Eugene H.Holmes, died on April 9, 1865, thesame day Robert E. Lee surrenderedat Appomattox.

Hirsch was captured by Uniontroops at Woodville, Mississippi onOctober 6, 1864, after he hadserved for less than three months. InNovember, he was sent north fromVicksburg through Cairo, Illinois to

Camp Douglas, a prisoner of war camp on the SouthSide of Chicago (at 38th Street and Cottage GroveAvenue). He died a little over a month after arrival, onDecember 12, 1864.

Prisoners of war who died at Camp Douglas weregenerally buried in Oak WoodsCemetery (1035 East 67th Street,Chicago). However, someonerecognized that Theodore Hirschwas Jewish, and he was buried inJewish Graceland. A “Register of theRange of Adults” at the cemeteryshows an entry #17: “TheodoreHirsch on Dec. 15, 1864. PrisonerCamp Douglas.” There is no otherentry in any other record to showthe exact location of his interment,and no grave marker was foundwhen an inventory was taken of thecemetery. He may have been buriedin an unmarked grave as were hisnon-Jewish compatriots at OakWoods.

continued on page 7

Grave markers, Jewish Graceland.From lower left: Simon Bournstine,Herman Burgheim, Herman J.Ephraim, and Marcus M. Spiegel.Photographs by Norman D. Schwartz.


Chicago-Born Concert Pianist Gitta Gradova: A Sensitive Memoir by Her Psychologist Son

When the Music Stopped: Discovering My Mother, byThomas J. Cottle (State University of New York Press,2004), is a book I recommend to readers of CJH.

Thomas Cottle is a sociologist and a clinicalpsychologist. He is Professor of Education at BostonUniversity. Although he is the author of twenty-fivebooks and hundreds of magazine articles, he delayedwriting an autobiography, because in it he would haveto confront, explore, and try to resolve his difficultrelationship with his late mother.

Gertrude Weinstock was born in Chicago in1904, the last of seven and the only American-born child of Joseph and Sophie (Sonya)

Weinstock. “She took a stage name, Gitta Gradova(GRA-dova), the feminine version of the nameGradovosky her father assumed when, after leaving therabbinate in Russia, he toured Europe and Asia, andeventually came to the United States as founder andactor of a Yiddish theater company in Chicago…”

Sophie Weinstock and the older daughters wereactors in Joseph’s troupe. Gitta’s own talents for comicstorytelling and mimicry were certainly home-grown.

From top left: Gitta, photographed on January 25, 1913,at age nine; at age 20; with Vladimir Horowitz; NathanMilstein costumed as Hitler and Gitta as Maestro ArturoToscanini; Dr. Maurice H. Cottle, Gitta, son Tommy, age 16,and daughter Judy, age 19. Courtesy of Thomas J. Cottle.


MARCUS M. SPIEGEL was born in Aben-heim, Germany in 1829, the son of Rabbi Mosesand Regina Spiegel. He came to America in 1849,and first settled in New York City. He movedfrom there to Uniontown, Ohio, and then toChicago, where he arrived in 1853 with his wife,Caroline F. Hamlin, a non-Jew. She wasconverted to Judaism in the first ceremony of itskind in Chicago.

The couple had five children: Clara, Hamlin,Hattie, Lizzie, and Moses. Marcus Spiegel wasamong the founders of the Hebrew BenevolentSociety in Chicago, with which he was activelyidentified until moving to East Liberty, Ohio.There he engaged in the dry goods business.

When the Civil War broke out, he raised acompany of the 67th Ohio Volunteer Infantry,and was made its captain. He served throughvarious campaigns along the Mississippi River in1862 and 1863, until July 12, 1863, when, nearJackson, Mississippi, he was wounded in the legby an artillery shell. He was sent home asdisabled. Although compelled to use crutches, heinsisted on returning to active service.

For bravery on the battlefield, Marcus Spiegelwas promoted to the rank of colonel of the 120thOhio Infantry. On May 3, 1864, while on theRed River expedition to reinforce General Banks,he was mortally wounded, and died the next day.

It is interesting that though Marcus Spiegelwas in business in Ohio and raised his militarycompany there, his widow chose to bury him inChicago, where she lived until her death in 1901.She lies next to him in Jewish Graceland. ❖

NORMAN D. SCHWARTZ is past president of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society. He is co-author, with Bea Kraus, of A WALK TOSHUL: Chicago Synagogues of Lawndale andStops on the Way, published by the Society.

MARSHALL D. KROLICK is an attorney, a distinguished Civil War historian, and a member of the CJHS Board of Directors.

IRWIN SULOWAY is an esteemed educator, a member of the CJHS Advisory Board, and editoremeritus of Chicago Jewish History.

FIVE CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS continued from page 5

Her formal musical training in Chicago started atage six, and she was concertizing before she reachedthirteen. Then her father determined that she hadabsorbed all the musical teaching our city had to offer,and sent her, alone, to New York City for further study.She went to live at the home of the Adlers, the “royalfamily” of Jewish actors. In exchange, young LutherAdler came to stay with the Weinstocks in Chicago.Through her father’s friend Sergei Prokofiev she metSergei Rachmaninoff, who influenced her greatly. In1923, at age nineteen, she made her New York debut atTown Hall. It was a great, career-launching success.

Gitta and Maurice Cottle were married in 1926.He was born in London, the oldest of seven children ofa ne’er-do-well tailor and his wife, both from smalltowns in Polish Galicia. By age twelve Maurice was thebreadwinner. The family immigrated to Chicago’sHumboldt Park neighborhood (the Weinstocks hadsettled in Lawndale). A boy violinist, intelligent andresourceful, he was to become Dr. Maurice Cottle, theeminent rhinologist at Illinois Masonic Hospital.

Young Tommy was a keen observer of the manyworld-famous figures who were guests in the elegant,three-story Cottle home at West 530 HawthornePlace—from singer Marian Anderson to impressarioHarry Zelzer. Dr. Cottle played the violin in amateurchamber music groups that regularly gathered there.

Gitta retired from the concert stage when herchildren were young. She was increasingly plagued byfear of travel, stage fright, headaches, and depression.Tom became her adversary. In this wise and generousmemoir, published twenty years after her death, he atlast makes peace with his mother. —Bev Chubat


the ponies. Over the years he established contacts withthe gangs that controlled liquor distribution, gambling,prostitution, and other illegal activities thriving here inthe 1920s—with Al Capone, the boss of the South Sidegang, and with “Hymie” Weiss and “Bugs” Moran, thesuccessors to Dion O’Banion as leaders of the NorthSide gang. Lingle also remained close to his childhoodfriend, Chicago’s police chief, William P. Russell.

Since the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929,when seven of Moran’s men were gunned down in aNorth Clark Street garage (allegedly by Capone’s mendisguised as policemen), rumors had circulated aboutJake Lingle—that he owed a great deal of money toCapone for his gambling losses, and that he hadattempted to extort money from Moran, who wantedto reopen his Sheridan Club, a large North Sidegambling establishment closed by the police in acrackdown after the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

Enter Frankie Foster. He had been a minor figure inDion O’Banion’s gang, was a friend of “Nails” Morton,and now seemed to be working for Moran. In fact, itwas originally thought that Foster was one of thevictims of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, but thebody identified as his turned out to be someone else.

On the morning of June 9, 1930, Jake Lingle, a cigarin his mouth and a Racing Form under his arm,

descended into the Randolph Street pedestrianunderpass to catch an Illinois Central train toWashington Park racetrack. As he walked through thetunnel, a man who had been trailing him pulled out arevolver and shot him fatally in the head. Two personsdressed as Catholic priests stepped between the fleeinggunman and those pursuing him. Later it was said the“priests” must have been part of the murder plot.

The murder provoked sensational headlines in theTribune. The paper advertised “rewards totaling$55,725 for information leading to the arrest andconviction of the slayer of Alfred Lingle.” On the dayof his funeral, flags flew at half staff. Brass bands andparaders accompanied the hearse down MichiganAvenue. But it was soon revealed that great amounts ofmoney had been found on Lingle’s body and in hissafes, and that he had been receiving “favors” fromunderworld elements. The Tribune was humiliated.

The Chicago police suspected Frankie Foster ofLingle’s murder. Investigation of the ownership of themurder weapon, a 38-caliber revolver left at the scene,

Michael Karsen, a member of CJHS and a notedChicago genealogist, recently sent me an article, “Myuncle, the gangster,” written by his relative, IraEisenberg, and published in the San Jose Mercury Newson July 4, 1993. My interest was immediately caughtby the article’s opening paragraph:

“The events occurred more than six decadesago, yet my 80 year-old mother remembersthem as if they happened only yesterday. Shewas just a teen-ager in June 1930, living onChicago’s North Side and on her way homefrom school with some friends. ‘We passed anewsstand and I saw the headline,’ Momrecalls. ‘It said, “Frankie Foster Indicted ForMurder.” I just left my girlfriends standingthere and ran the rest of the way home.’

“Frankie Foster was my mother’s olderbrother, the mysterious Uncle Frank I neverknew, and about whom members of my familyspoke only rarely and in cryptic terms. He hadjust been accused of a sensational crime, onethat would expose Chicago’s corrupt underbellyand shake up the city’s power structure, thekilling of Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Lingle.”

Over the years, our Society quarterly has carried mystories about colorful Chicago Jewish underworldcharacters such as Samuel “Nails” Morton and theMiller brothers. I knew of the Lingle murder and themysteries surrounding it, but this was the first time Iever heard that Frankie Foster, a Jew, was the allegedkiller. Here is what my research disclosed.

Alfred “Jake” Lingle was a legman for the Tribune. That is,

he was a street reporter whophoned his information to arewrite man at the newspaperoffice, who then shaped it into astory for publication. (It was saidof Lingle that he could not spell“cat”—but in those days a streetreporter’s most valuable assetswere his contacts and confiden-tiality, not his writing skills.)

While Lingle earned a respectable weekly salary ofsixty-five dollars, he had a chauffeured limo, lived in afancy apartment, and spent a great deal of money on

FRANKIE FOSTER—DID HE REALLY MURDER JAKE LINGLE?BY WALTER ROTH

Jake Lingle


was traced to a Diversey Parkway retailer who hadprovided the machine guns used in the St. Valentine’sDay Massacre. The serial number on the gun, whichhad been partially filed off, led to Foster. He had beenthe purchaser of the weapon a number of years earlier.An order was issued for his arrest, but Frankie hadvanished. However, he was soon picked up in LosAngeles and extradited to Chicago, where he was held.

After a hearing on the evidence, he was released.The police also arrested Ted Newberry, because he waswith Foster when he purchased the murder weapon,and was involved in some of the same ventures asFrankie. Newberry was also released. Julian “Potatoes”Kaufman, one of the owners of the Sheridan Club, wasarrested on the theory that he sought revenge againstLingle for his refusal to help in reopening the club.Another theory surfaced, that a St. Louis organizationhad, for whatever reason, plotted the murder.Throughout the summer the police arrested andreleased gang members.

Al Capone, who had suffered most from the post-St. Valentine’s Day police crackdown, decided thatsomebody had to pay for the Lingle killing. Moran,Kaufman, Newberry, and the pimp Jack Zuta wereCapone’s first targets. (The latter three were Jewish.)

Zuta was the first to go, gunned down on August 1,1930, at a summer resort near Delafield, Wisconsin;Newberry was killed a little while later. (Kaufman fledto New York, where he successfully ran a wire service,and was involved in gambling and prostitution. Hebecame connected with the mob’s move to the West,led by “Bugsy” Siegel and Meyer Lansky. Moran wasleft powerless in Chicago, and operated as a small-timethief until his natural death.)

Finally, as one source theorized, Capone, who neverliked to turn a gang member over to the police, butpreferred to do his own executions, turned in “the manwho killed Lingle,” Leo Vincent Brothers, from St.Louis. He was sentenced to 14 years, and was paroledeight years later; the sentence was light because the jurybelieved he was “taking the fall” for someone else.

But what of Frankie Foster? He had, by now,reportedly gone to New York, and would soon be

off to Nevada. His recorded encounters with the lawwere infrequent after the Lingle affair. An article in theChicago Tribune on April 13, 1932 was headlined“Frankie Foster Guilty of Vagrancy in California.” Heappears to have jumped bail on the charge, because thenext day, the Tribune headlined: “Frankie Foster GetsSix Months and a Fine of $500” for his new misdeed.

On April 24, 1938, the New York Times reported

that Frankie Foster had beenarrested by Federal agents inReno, Nevada for a hold-up,with an accomplice, in NewYork City. After a four dayhearing, the Nevada judgerefused to extradite Foster,and released him. The judgebelieved the witnesses whotestified that Foster and hiswife Dorothy had not leftReno “since arriving inNevada in 1935.” It appears

to have been the last time that Foster’s name made thepapers in connection with a crime. His family believeshe spent the rest of his life working in gamblingestablishments in Nevada and California. He appears tohave maintained contact with some relatives. He diedon April 23, 1967 in North Hollywood, California.

F rankie’s early life was fairly typical of the poor EastEuropean Jewish immigrants who flocked to

America in the late nineteenth and early twentiethcentury. His family, named Frost, was from Romania.While other members of the family went to England,Frankie’s parents came to America and settled on theWest Side of Chicago. Frankie was the oldest of eightchildren—two boys and six girls. He was nineteenwhen his father died, and it fell on him to support thefamily. He quit school and went to work as abookkeeper for a neighborhood food merchant. But themoney he earned there was apparently insufficient tosupport the large family, and he joined the “business” ofDion O’Banion, who had already seen the the potentialprofit in the transport and sale of liquor in view of thenew Prohibition laws. O’Banion’s gang had a numberof Jewish members.

As Eisenberg recalls in his article, and several otherof Foster’s nephews and nieces confirm, Frankiesupported his family, and “on Friday nights wouldbring some of his cronies for dinner, and leave behindthe money his mother and three youngest sistersrequired for the coming week.”

Research indicates that Frankie made his living inillegal activities—but not as a hit man for Capone orMoran. While Chicago Jews were members of gangs,they were not known to be killers for hire (at least notin Chicago). But the most important fact, of course, isthat Frankie Foster was released after a hearing becausethere was insufficient evidence to hold him for themurder of Jake Lingle. American law holds that aperson is presumed innocent until proven guilty. ❖

Frankie Foster


Meyer Levin (1905-1981).The Sentinel: History of

Chicago Jewry 1911-1960.

Ben Hecht (1894-1964).David S. Wyman Institute:

souvenir folder cover;“Ben Hecht Way

Street-Naming Ceremony,”June 29, 2004.

February 9: Newberry Library/CJHSProgram Looked Back at Two Heroic WritersOn Wednesday evening, February 9, elegant

Ruggles Hall at The Newberry Library was filledto near-capacity, despite the windy, snowyweather outside. The hardy audience was there forCJHS President Walter Roth’s talk, “LookingBack at Two Heroic Chicago Writers: Ben Hechtand Meyer Levin.” The program began promptlyat 6:00 p.m., following a social with refreshments.

Past President Adele Hast, scholar-in-residence at Newberry, introduced Mr. Roth,noting that he is a practicing attorney who hasbeen president of CJHS since 1988, and that hehas written over forty articles for our quarterly,many of them collected in his anthology, LookingBackward: True Stories from Chicago’s Jewish Past.Adele Hast and Bev Chubat read excerpts fromthe book as part of the program.

Both Ben Hecht and Meyer Levin heroicallyrisked their considerable careers for their ideals—Hecht to combat anti-Semitism and help save theJews of Europe, Levin to present the Holocaustnot as a universal tragedy—as it was shown to bein “The Diary of Anne Frank” stage play andmovie—but as a uniquely Jewish tragedyperpetrated by the Nazis.

BEN HECHT was born in 1894 in New YorkCity, to Russian Jewish immigrants. The

family moved to Racine, Wisconsin in 1897. In 1910, Hecht enrolled at the University of

Wisconsin—and stayed for three days. He cameto Chicago and began working as a newspa-perman. He married Marie Armstrong. By 1920,the editor of the Chicago Daily News had givenhim a prestigious daily column, “1001 After-noons in Chicago.” But when his novel, FantaziusMallare, was held to be obscene by the US PostOffice, he was fired. He tried publishing his ownpaper, the Chicago Literary Times, but it failed.

In 1924, Hecht divorced Marie and moved toNew York with his new wife, Rose Coyler. Therehe collaborated with his friend CharlesMacArthur, a former Chicago Tribune reporter, inwriting for the stage. Their play, “The FrontPage,” produced in 1928, was a smash hit.

In his autobiography, A Child of the Century (1954), Ben

Hecht wrote: “I havelived in other cities buthave been inside onlyone. I knew Chicago’sthirty-two feet ofintestines. Only news-papermen achieve thisbug-in-a-rug citizenship.”

These sentimentscaused Hecht’s widow,Rose, to donate hispapers to Chicago’sNewberry Library. Thelarge collection wasrecently catalogued, andit can now be more easilyexamined by scholars andresearchers.

West Walton Street,between Dearborn andClark, in front of TheNewberry Library, wasdesignated by the CityCouncil as “HonoraryBen Hecht Way.” ❖

Encouraged by writerHerman Mankiewicz, Hechtwent to Hollywood. He iscredited with over seventyscreenplays, and is known tohave contributed uncreditedwriting to hundreds of films.

In 1940, already battlinganti-Semitism, Hecht cameunder the influence of PeterBergson and the RevisionistZionists. For them he wrotethe stirring pageant, “WeWill Never Die,” in 1943.

After the war, he wrote asecond Zionist pageant, “AFlag is Born.” In response toa newspaper ad he wroteattacking British policy inPalestine, his films werebanned in the BritishEmpire, and he was black-listed in Hollywood.

In 1948, after the Israeligovernment destroyed theship “Altalena,” in which theIrgun was attempting tobring arms into Israel duringa cease-fire, Hecht brokewith the Zionist movement.He wrote Perfidy, a bookexcoriating Israel’s leaders.


MEYER LEVIN was born in 1905, in Chicago, toJewish parents living on the Near West Side. He

graduated from the University of Chicago in 1924, thesame year his fellow students, Richard Loeb andNathan Leopold, murdered Bobby Franks.

Levin worked for the Chicago Daily News that year,hoping, unsuccessfully, to follow in Hecht’s footsteps.He traveled to Europe, studied art in Paris withFernand Leger, and took his first trip to Palestine.

Back in Chicago, he resumed newspaper reportingand worked as a cultural director at the JPI. He took asecond trip to Palestine, working for six months atKibbutz Yagur. He began writing novels, many onJewish themes. In 1933, he married Mabel Schamp.

In 1937 he published The Old Bunch, a realisticsaga of first and second generation Jews from the WestSide. Although the book is over nine hundred pageslong, and contains many characters, it is very fast-paced. The final section is set at the 1933 ChicagoWorld’s Fair. There is a fascinating description of theJewish Day pageant, The Romance of A People.

World events drove Levin back to journalism. Hewent to Spain to cover the Civil War. In 1941 he joinedthe U.S. Office of War Information as a writer-director-producer. His marriage to Mabel ended in divorce.

In 1945 he became a correspondent for the JewishTelegraphic Agency and the Overseas News Agency. Hewas one of the first reporters to enter Buchenwald andBergen-Belsen concentration camps, and he gave hishorrified eyewitness account to the world.

Levin worked with the Haganah in bringing Jews toPalestine, and documented their efforts on film in TheIllegals and Voyage of the Unafraid.

In 1948 he married Tereska Torres, daughter ofsculptor Marek Szwarc, in Paris. From Tereska he firstlearned of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl,published in French. He contacted Otto Frank, andbelieved that he had secured the right to adapt hisdaughter’s story—a Jewish story—for the stage. Butanother treatment, with a universal message, wasstaged. Levin was convinced that a conspiracy existed todelete the Jewish elements of the diary. Years of costlylegal battles for production rights followed, in vain.

To help cover his legal expenses, Levin conceived ofwriting a blockbuster novel based on the Loeb-Leopoldcase. This plan provoked its own lengthy court battles.

His “Jewish” version of The Diary was kept off thestage, even in Israel, where he settled and continued towrite novels until his death in 1981, in Jerusalem. It isno wonder that two of Meyer Levin’s later books weretitled The Fanatic (1963) and The Obsession (1963). ❖

AUTHOR QUERY RE: ALLAN SHERMANAllan Sherman, a Chicago native, became a

comedy sensation in the early 1960s with theappearance of “My Son, The Folk Singer,” acollection of Jewish parodies of folk songs. For abiography of Sherman, author Mark Cohen invitesthose who knew Sherman or Sherman’s family tocontact him at [email protected].

Cohen wrote the liner notes to a six-CD boxedset of Sherman’s complete works, to be released thiswinter. He is also the author of a history, LastCentury of a Sephardic Community. Cohen’s articleshave appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Daily News,Midstream, and Journal of Jewish Studies.

CJHS Seeks Memoirs of Jewish Chicagoans

Our Society quarterly, ChicagoJewish History, occasionally publishesmemoirs of individual Chicagoans.These memoirs give us the oppor-tunity to present history in itsnarrowest contours. A story youmight recall from your childhood, or from someunusual situation in which you found yourself, oftenprompts other people’s memories to flow as well.

The memoirs we seek are refined versions of thestories you may tell at family gatherings or when youand old friends get together. We encourage you torecord what you remember from your first-handexperiences. Memories are most convincing when theyare most personal. Much of the rest of the work wepublish in CJH focuses on broad themes, famousindividuals, and notable events. Memoirs allow us tofocus on the history that most of us actually lived.

Keep in mind that your manuscript should be nolonger than six double spaced pages, and preferablyshould be transmitted to us via e-mail. For those of youwithout access to computer technology, good old paperwill work just fine! We attempt to comment on everymemoir submitted, but are not always able to do so,and cannot guarantee publication of any work.

Be sure to include a return address and phonenumber with your submission. Please e-mailsubmissions to our editor at [email protected] orsend to Bev Chubat, 415 West Fullerton Parkway,#1102, Chicago, IL 60614-2842. ❖

Note: Our regular feature, “From The Chicago JewishArchives” by Joy Kingsolver, will return in the spring issue.

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MembershipMembership in the Society is opento all interested persons and organizations and includes asubscription to Chicago JewishHistory, discounts on Society toursand at the Spertus Museum store,and the opportunity to learn andinform others about Chicago Jewishhistory and its preservation.

Dues StructureMembership runs on a calendaryear, from January throughDecember. New members joiningafter July 1 are given an initialmembership through December ofthe following year.

Life Membership ..................$1000Historian ..................................500Scholar......................................250Sponsor.....................................100Patron/Family .............................50Individual/Senior Family ............35Synagogue/Organization.............25Senior Individual/Student...........20

Make checks payable to the Chicago Jewish Historical Society,and mail to our office at 618 SouthMichigan Avenue, Chicago, IL60605. Dues are tax-deductible tothe extent permitted by law.

Volunteer OpportunitiesWould you like to become moreinvolved in the activities of theChicago Jewish Historical Society?We invite you to take part. Pleasecontact any of the committeechairpersons listed here.� Membership Committee

Dr. Rachelle Gold(773)338-6975 andMark Mandle (773)929-2853, Co-Chairs

� Oral History CommitteeDr. N. Sue Weiler, Chair (312)922-2294

� Program CommitteeCharles Bernstein, Chair(773)324-6362

� Tour CommitteeLeah Axelrod, Chair(847)432-7003


About the SocietyWhat We AreThe Chicago Jewish HistoricalSociety was founded in 1977 and isin part an outgrowth of local Jewishparticipation in the AmericanBicentennial Celebration of 1976.Muriel Robin was the foundingpresident. The Society has as itspurpose the discovery, preservationand dissemination of informationconcerning the Jewish experience inthe Chicago area.

What We DoThe Society seeks out, collects andpreserves written, spoken andphotographic records; publisheshistorical information, holds publicmeetings at which various aspects ofChicago Jewish history are treated;mounts appropriate exhibits; andoffers tours of Jewish historical sites.

Non-Profit Org.PRESORT

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Chicago, IL 60611Permit No. 6590

www.chicagojewishhistory.orgThe Society is now online! Browse our Web site for information about

our upcoming programs. Read past issues of our quarterly journal. Discover links to many interesting Jewish sites. Use the printable

membership application. We welcome your inquiries and comments.

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