{"id":6479,"date":"2014-03-12T15:34:21","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T15:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=6479"},"modified":"2023-02-17T13:13:03","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T18:13:03","slug":"outlaws-in-the-news-bonnie-clyde-al-capone-my-ancestor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/outlaws-in-the-news-bonnie-clyde-al-capone-my-ancestor.html","title":{"rendered":"Outlaws in the News: Bonnie & Clyde, Al Capone & My Ancestor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Scott\u00a0Phillips shows how criminal records and old newspaper articles about your outlaw ancestors can help fill in important details on your family tree. Scott is a genealogical historian and owner of Onward To Our Past\u00ae genealogy services.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Everyone\u2019s family tree has at least one or two \u201cbad seeds\u201d: outlaw ancestors, who ran on the wrong side of the law. While it is unfortunate that they chose the \u201cdark side of the force,\u201d it is lucky for us genealogists that newspapers love to report on these black sheep! Our outlaw ancestors might have been portrayed as \u201cbad,\u201d but we reap the benefits of the press coverage they generated\u2014finding in those old newspaper articles many additional details for our genealogy, family history, and family trees.<\/p>\n

To illustrate this point, I searched through GenealogyBank\u2019s online Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> for old news articles about famous outlaws, to show how much family history information those articles contain.<\/p>\n

Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow<\/strong><\/p>\n

Take a look at Bonnie and Clyde for example. While we all know the basic story, there is far more that can be found in the newspapers of the day, such as this 1934 article from an Illinois newspaper. This particular news article alone contains many juicy genealogy facts about the Clyde\u2019s funeral, such as where Clyde was buried, that Bonnie\u2019s sister was in jail at the time facing two counts of murder in the deaths of two policemen, and the name of Bonnie\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

And what about that intriguing last paragraph? Who was the anonymous friend who flew an airplane over the gravesite as Clyde was being buried and dropped a wreath of flowers onto the grave? Now there\u2019s a mysterious puzzle that would be fun to try and unravel!<\/p>\n

\"Clyde<\/a>
Morning Star (Rockford, Illinois), 26 May 1934, page 7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Al Capone a.k.a. Scarface<\/strong><\/p>\n

While we all recognize the name \u201cScarface\u201d Al Capone, this 1926 article from a Massachusetts newspaper reports that Mafia legend Al had a brother, Ralph, who had just been arrested and charged with the slaying of Illinois Assistant State\u2019s Attorney William McSwiggin and two \u201cbeer gangsters\u201d: \u201cRed\u201d Duffy and James Doherty.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Springfield Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts), 30 April 1926, page 11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And of course it is almost impossible to say \u201cAl Capone\u201d without thinking of, or saying, Eliot Ness! I enjoyed this 1931 article from a California newspaper not only because it talks about Eliot Ness and his crew of agents\u2014it also gives us the name of Steve Svoboda, who was among those arrested. Since Svoboda had been arrested in another Capone-owned brewery just two weeks earlier, he may well have been a member of Scarface\u2019s gang!<\/p>\n

\"Stage<\/a>
Evening Tribune (San Diego, California), 11 April 1931, page 19<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My Outlaw Ancestor: Herman Vicha<\/strong><\/p>\n

But it is not only the infamous that we can read about and learn from for our family trees.<\/p>\n

In my own family tree is information from a small newspaper clipping that a cousin once gave me. Yellowed with age, brittle, and tattered about its edges, this small article was dated in its margin simply \u201c1916\u201d and consisted of a single sentence. That sentence was: \u201cHerman Vicha was convicted in common pleas court of stealing brass from the Lorain Sand and Gravel Company.\u201d That one sentence led me to some amazing discoveries about this ancestor.<\/p>\n

First I contacted the Lorain County, Ohio, courts and\u2014thanks to a wonderfully helpful staff member\u2014I soon received five pages of court documents from the 1916 case of \u201cState of Ohio vs. Herman Vicha.\u201d The case was for grand larceny because my ancestor was accused of stealing $37.25 worth of brass from the Lorain Sand and Gravel Company. He was convicted and sentenced to 1 to 7 years!<\/p>\n

Following up on this case, I contacted the Ohio State Historical Society and, after filing the appropriate paperwork, received over a dozen pages of the prison files for this ancestor. This paperwork path initially took me to the Ohio State Reformatory<\/a> in Mansfield, Ohio. If the name of this prison isn\u2019t familiar, perhaps you have seen the movies Shawshank Redemption<\/em><\/a> and Air Force One<\/em><\/a>? If so, this was the prison used in those movies.<\/p>\n

\"photto<\/a>
Photo: Ohio State Reformatory. Credit: from the author\u2019s collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the more amazing historical documents I received was the \u201cBertillon Card<\/a>\u201d for my ancestor. This was a great genealogical find since it has our only photograph of Herman Vicha, plus gives a wealth of physical description about him as well as the year and location of his birth.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Photo: Bertillon card for Herman Vicha, 1916. Credit: from the author\u2019s collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I admit that I had to take a moment and learn exactly what a Bertillon Card<\/a> was. The full-page obituary for Alphonse Bertillon that I found in a 1914 Colorado newspaper gave me all the information I needed to understand the details listed on my ancestor\u2019s card.<\/p>\n

\"obituary<\/a>
Colorado Springs Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado), 15 March 1914, page 31<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My ancestry research path moved from this prison, across the state of Ohio, to the Lima State Hospital for the Criminally Insane where Herman was kept. My concern for what my ancestor went through increased when I read this 1971 article from a Virginia newspaper with this opening sentence:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fortress-like state hospital for the criminal insane here has been described by inmates, staff members, state officials and Ohio\u2019s governors as a chamber of horrors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ohio<\/a>
Richmond Times Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), 28 November 1971, page 34<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Herman Vicha\u2019s sentence actually lasted for 7 years, 3 months, and 8 days plus an additional 1 year, 3 months, and 12 days in the Cleveland State Hospital after being released from Lima.<\/p>\n

Note that all of this detective work to track down my outlaw ancestor began with one small old newspaper clipping!<\/p>\n

Herman died in a boarding house in Danville, Kentucky, while working as a trucker and having assumed the new name of \u201cHenry Miller\u201d\u2014but how I found him under his new name<\/a> is a whole different genealogy detective story that will have to wait for another day!<\/p>\n

What information have you found for your family tree from the criminal records and newspaper clippings about your outlaw ancestors? Share your family stories with us in the comments.<\/p>\n

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