John Kinzie and Potawatomi Chief Black Partridge Bravery During the Fort Dearborn Massacre, Chicago, August 15, 1812.

Sculpture of the Fort Dearborn Massacre. The sculpture portrays the rescue of Margaret Helm by Potawatomi Chief Black Partridge. Monument by Carl Rohl-Smith (1893).

During the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain, American settlers and Indian tribes tensions were high in the region.

In August 1812, the U.S. military ordered the evacuation of Fort Dearborn due to the imminent threat of an attack by Indians. As the evacuation took place, a group of Potawatomi warriors attacked the evacuating troops and settlers, resulting in the Fort Dearborn Massacre, occurring on August 15, 1812. 

Amidst the chaos, John Kinzie and his family were residing near the fort. When Kinzie realized that Nau-non-gee (aka Catherine), Potawatomi Chief Black Partridge's daughter, was being held captive by the attackers, he risked his own life to rescue her. 

Kinzie's positive relationships with Chief Black Partridge and other tribal leaders came into play. Kinzie approached the attackers and pleaded for the young girl's release. Due to his reputation and the respect he garnered, Kinzie was able to convince them to let her go unharmed. He escorted Catherine to safety. Returning her to her father, he earned the gratitude of Black Partridge, demonstrating his influence and diplomacy during that tumultuous time.

Margaret Helm, the wife of Fort Dearborn’s second-in-command and stepdaughter of John Kinzie. Black Partridge is reported to have stayed the hand of a warrior about to strike Mrs. Helm, saying he himself would dispatch her. Instead, he took her to the lake and pretended to drown her for appearance’s sake, ultimately escorting her to a waiting boat where the Kinzie household took her to safety at St. Joseph, Michigan.

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Margaret Helm's lurid story of her salvation by Chief Black Partridge was pure fabrication, if Kinzie is to be believed. Certainly, he would have given his explorer (hearers) if this tidbit had it actually occurred. All she did was run into the lake in fright and walk out again. She hardly left her father's side.

His intervention did not end there. Prisoners had been taken to various Indian villages, and Black Partridge was able to locate and negotiate the release of some. One of these was Lieutenant Linai Taliaferro Helm, the wounded husband of Margaret Helm. Having obtained ransom from the U.S. Indian Agent, Thomas Forsyth, Black Partridge added to it personal gifts: a pony, rifle, and a gold ring. He then escorted Lieutenant Helm to St. Louis and released him to Governor William Clark (of Lewis and Clark Expedition fame).

This lesser-known episode highlights John Kinzie's bravery and ability to navigate intercultural relations' complexities during a violent period in Chicago's history.

ADDITIONAL READING:

John Kinzie's Narrative of the Fort Dearborn Massacre.

The History of Fort Dearborn #1 and #2.

Fort Dearborn Massacre of 1812; a Historical Account & In-Depth Analysis.

Fort Dearborn Massacre by Lieutenant Helm, One of the Survivors. pub:1814

Copyright © 2023 Neil Gale

Mobster, Johnny Torrio, and the Handshake Murder.

In the nineteen twenties, Johnny Torrio was one of the top Chicago gangsters. He was prominent in the underworld but small in size at only five feet six inches tall. 

Chicago racketeer James "Big Jim" Colosimo brings his nephew Johnny Torrio to Chicago in 1910 from New York. Big Jim owned several houses of prostitution but did not favor working with illegal liquor. 

With the advent of prohibition, Torrio decided that the illicit liquor traffic would be more profitable than Colosimo's brothels. 

Colosimo was shot dead on May 11, 1920. No one was ever convicted of the murder.

With Colosimo out of the way, Johnny Torrio was the leading mobster controlling Chicago's South Side and the Loop.

Torrio now needed a loyal friend. He had already imported Al Capone from New York around 1920 to help him run Colosimo's "businesses." He let Capone start working as a bouncer in one of the brothels and soon found that Capone was ready for bigger and more important things. He then promoted Capone to be his right-hand man.

All the Chicago gangsters were busy trying to invade each other's territories.

Charles Dean O'Banion (1892-1924), the florist and his wife, Viola Kaniff. The leader of the North Side gang was the victim of the Handshake murder.

Charles "Dean" O'Banion graduated from the violent newspaper wars of early 20th century Chicago to become the chief bootlegging rival of mobsters Al Capone and Johnny Torrio, who ran the South Side. Dean was the North Side boss. 

O'Banion told Torrio he was buying a ranch in Colorado and settling down to live the rest of his life peacefully. He said he would sell his brewery, Chicago's finest, to Torrio.

When Torrio went to the brewery to inspect his purchase, the police raided the establishment. Torrio knew that O'Banion had set him up. After Torrio had served the short jail term for operating a brewery, he decided that O'Banion should die for double-crossing him and ordered the hit.

Dean was in his North Side flower shop, a front for his Mob activities, when a Torrio associate from New York, Frankie Yale, visited, hand outstretched in friendship. With him were two known gunmen from the Genna organization. A few minutes later, O'Banion was dead from six gunshot wounds in his flower shop. This murder was nicknamed the "handshake murder." No one was pinned with the murder, but the police suspected that the hit was ordered by Torrio.

Johnny "Papa Johnny" Torrio, 1939

With O'Banion dead, Torrio figured he ought to get out of the way of O'Banion's men. He and his Anna Theodosia Jacobs Torrio returned to Italy for three years and then moved to New York, where he became involved in criminal activities again. He spent two and a half years in prison for income tax evasion, being paroled in 1941. Torrio died in 1957, leaving a legacy of one of Illinois' top 1920s gangsters. 

Dean's funeral was the biggest anyone could remember, and among those attending were Al Capone and the South Side Gang members. But there soon would be other funerals. Charles Dean O'Banion is buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Chicago.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.