San Antonio Light, 28 April 1926, page 1: Prosecutor slain by gang

Front page of the San Antonio Light, Home Edition, Wednesday, 28 April 1926. The banner reads “Prosecutor Slain by Gang,” with the decks “Machine Gun Crew Kills Three in Auto” and “‘Hanging’ State’s Attorney and Two Companions Shot to Death.” The side headline was garbled in the OCR and was read from the page image.

The Associated Press story, datelined Chicago, 28 April, says Assistant State’s Attorney William H. McSwiggin, known as the “hanging prosecutor” because of his zeal in conducting criminal trials, was killed the night before by machine-gun fire poured into an automobile, and that two companions were also killed: James J. Doherty, whom the story calls a “reputed” leader of beer runners in Cicero, and Thomas Duffy, a saloon owner. It says the shots came from a second car that drew up beside theirs on Roosevelt Road, on the boundary between Chicago and Cicero.

The characterizations of the men are the wire service’s. The page is filed as a first-day report; the Union Daily Times page of the next day, filed separately, adds the ‘wall of silence’ account of the investigation.