Al Capone gambled at
the casinos in French Lick and West Baden, and used underground tunnels to move
around undetected.
Al Capone was part of
a shootout at West Baden Springs Hotel that left bullet holes in the side of
the building.
Al Capone had a “French
Lick girlfriend” whom he’d always see when he was here.
Al Capone got married
in a barn a few miles outside French Lick, and he also owned a whiskey still
out there for bootlegging.
Folks from this area grew up hearing the stories from their
parents and grandparents. Maybe you’ve even heard the tales during your visit
to one of our hotels. There’s so many anecdotes about Al Capone using this area
as a hideout spot that it has to be true.
Or is it?
Or is it?
Nobody has 100 percent, smoking-gun proof to solve the
Capone riddle either way. But that just feeds even more into the juicy intrigue
of this history mystery. So we’re dedicating a series of blogs in the next few
weeks to try and shed some light on the debate: Did one of the most infamous
gangsters of all time really frequent French Lick and West Baden back in the
day?
Some of the anecdotal evidence is awfully compelling. Take
the account of Park Flick, who was the last night manager at West Baden Springs
Hotel before it closed to guests in 1932.
In a past interview while he was still with us, Park said he
saw Capone at least once at the hotel. He said Capone maintained a low profile,
spending most of his time in his suite of rooms. Capone may have been infamous
as “Public Enemy No. 1” back in that era, but Park described him as
surprisingly quiet. He even had a reputation at the hotel for being very polite
to the staff and a generous tipper.
As the story goes, Capone was friends with Ed Ballard (who
owned West Baden Springs Hotel at the time) and they had a business
relationship — Ballard was rumored to be a major importer of Canadian alcohol
during Prohibition and may have been supplying Capone’s speakeasies. And when
Capone started to feel the heat in Chicago, well, it would come in handy to
have a friend who owned a luxury hotel in a rural area nearly 300 miles away.
Capone’s gambling interests, connection to Ballard (who
owned many of this area’s illegal casinos) and the ease of railroad travel from
Chicago to French Lick/West Baden would seem to indicate he did stay here. Lists
of Capone’s hideouts exist in the historical literature on his life, and the
French Lick area is often included in them.
Capone’s supposed presence here has circulated over in a
couple other tales that have been retold over the years:
 |
| French Lick Springs Hotel circa 1920, around the time when Capone was becoming heavily involved in organized crime in Chicago. |
Jeff Lane is French Lick Resort’s historian and even he couldn’t
say for certain whether Capone was here or not.
“With as many people as were coming into the area, I could
easily see that he could have been here,” Jeff says. “I think it’s very
possible. I just wish we had proof.”
The best he can do is share some of the things he’s heard.
One such tale Jeff has heard: If Capone was welcome over at
West Baden he surely didn’t get as warm a reception over at French Lick Springs
Hotel from Thomas Taggart, the hotel's owner.
“It seems as though — although we have no official proof —
one story I have heard is that Al Capone was starting up the front steps of French
Lick Springs Hotel, and he was met at the top of the steps by Thomas Taggart,”
Jeff says. “And Thomas Taggart basically stared him straight in the eye and
said, ‘You’re not welcome here.’ And so Capone turned around and walked back
down the steps.”
A kinder, gentler
Capone?
Remember that anecdote from Park Flick that Al Capone was
very courteous to the hotel staff at West Baden? Maybe there’s something to that
notion of Capone not being as gruff as his reputation might indicate.
Jeff Lane fills us in more:
“Another story I’ve heard is that a man who was a guest at
West Baden Springs Hotel was giving the young man behind the front desk
a hard time. Another other man walked up, laid his coat on the front desk, and
said, ‘Give the kid a break. He’s a young kid, just give him a break.’ And then
he just grabbed his coat and he walked away. The guest was very put off by all
of that, and he looked at the young man behind the desk and he said, ‘Who does
he think he is?’ And the young man said, ‘Well, that was Al Capone.’ And it
seems as though the guest checked out immediately and left the property.”
 |
| The small arrow carved into the top of the bar (at the lower left of the photo) shows the dividing line: Al Capone sat on one side of the bar, and all others were expected to sit on the left. |
You may have heard stories about the turn-of-the-century
Brunswick Bar inside Hagen’s Club House Restaurant today: Al Capone used to sit and drink at this same bar!
Same bar, yes. But not actually at Hagen’s.
The real story behind the bar:
It was saved from destruction from a boarded-up saloon located
in the stockyards area of Chicago. During the saloon’s heyday, it was
frequented by cowboys and cattlemen trading at the stockyards. As times changed
and Capone came to prominence, the saloon was a popular gathering place for his
South Side Gang. During Prohibition, it went underground as a speakeasy.
There is an arrow carved into the bar on the right side.
Capone sat where the arrow was located, and all other customers were expected
to sit at his left — supposedly so he’d be able to keep an eye on everyone else in the bar
without having to worry about anyone behind him. (When you’re an infamous
gangster, you tend to watch your back.)
 |
| The staff at Hagen's likes to keep the chairs arranged so there's an empty seat in front of Al's arrow. |
The bar was later raided and closed by the police. The Brunswick
Bar was then restored and relocated to Ski World in Nashville, Indiana. Years
later, the Ski World owner was willing to sell it, and that’s how it made its
way to Hagen’s in August 2006 when the Donald Ross Course clubhouse was being
furnished. It may fit with the Capone legend, but the bar isn't actually a French Lick original.
We’re just getting started on the legend of Capone. Next
week, we’ll hear from people who knew Capone’s supposed money runner — and the
week after that, we’ll hear from a history guru who’s convinced that Al Capone
was never here at all. And finally, we’ll share the story of a popular (but far
lesser-known) gangster of the era who is proven to have visited West Baden back
in the day.