June 16, 1932 -- "Red" Barker Gunned Down

June 16, 1932 – George “Red” Barker is gunned down as he walks in front of 1502 North Crawford Avenue.  An abandoned machine gun and spent cartridges are found on the floor of a room at that address.  Indications are that there were shots fired from across the street as well.  Two men and a woman walking with Barker are unharmed. They drag Barker into a car and speed to the Keystone Hospital on North Kostner Avenue where they find the doors locked.  Kicking in the door, they command the night nurse, Miss Elizabeth Curran, to attend to their companion, but he has already died from his wounds.  Barker had a criminal record going back 16 years and had served time in the prison at Pontiac, Illinois.  There was little mystery behind the execution.  As the Chicago Daily Tribune observed, “Underground rumors for some months had indicated that Barker, with Jack (Three Fingers) White and Murray Humphreys, former Capone gangsters, had formed a triumvirate with the intention of taking over extensive liquor and gambling territories held by the Sicilian survivors of the Capone regime, who had control of practically the whole of the county.”  [Chicago Daily Tribune, June 17, 1932]  The son of a policeman, Barker heads to his grave at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in style.  4,000 people observe his final ride as 18 carloads of flowers follow the hearse.