To have a trial, the
prosecution would need a victim, so with the assistance of States Attorney
Courtney, U.S. Secretary of State Cordull Hull and the Justice Department, Jake
Factor's deportation hearing was postponed since he would be needed as a
witness for the prosecution. After the hearing was postponed, Factor's image in
the press changed for the better, literally, overnight. Reporter Milton Mayer
recalled being surprised to read in his paper that Factor was now "John
Factor, wealthy speculator. "
"I kept filing the story as Jake the
Barber but it kept coming out John Factor, wealthy speculator." Mayer went
to see his editor who said that "States Attorney Courtney was up here and
he's asked the papers to use the expression 'John Factor, wealthy speculator'
so as not to prejudice prospective jurors in the Touhy trial."
Touhy's image in the newspapers suffered.
"The stories in the Chicago papers irked me a little," he said.
"The news stories now were calling me 'Black Roger' and 'Terrible Touhy.'
I discovered that I was a machine gunner, a bomber, a probable murderer and a
few other things about myself I didn't know." The trial was presided over
by Michael Feinberg, who had earned a reputation as one of Chicago's least
qualified judges. In 1932, Feinberg ran in the Republican primary against John
Swansa for the position of chief judge, but the Chicago Bar Association refused
to endorse him, stating "He has used his judicial position to further his
campaign for state's attorney. In this he has shown a lack of appreciation of
obligations of judicial office." The Chicago Tribune went a step further
and flatly advised the public against voting for Feinberg at all.
After he lost the primary, Feinberg resigned
from the Bar Association and ordered a special grand jury to look into fraud in
the elections. The grand jury was disbanded by the Illinois Supreme Court who
wrote that Feinberg had no such right to call the jury in the first place and
that "he has demonstrated a lack of qualifications essential to the holding
of judicial office."
In as far as the Touhy case was concerned
Feinberg saw it as a waste of the taxpayers' money. Touhy was, in Feinberg's
eyes, guilty of something; if it wasn't kidnapping John Factor, then it was
something else. As Roger wrote, "Feinberg wanted a trial right now-or
sooner, if possible. There would be no delays, which left us little time to
locate witnesses or prepare a defense."
Several days before the trial began Touhy
wrote that "an emissary came to me in the jail with a proposition. A
message had been sent to him that [we] would go free for a pay-off of $25,000
to a politician. I said the hell with it. I was innocent and no politician was
going to get fat off of me."
Years later, Roger told newsman Ray Brennan
that the politician who wanted the kickback was actually Judge Feinberg, and
that the reason he refused to pay was that his own sources in City Hall told
him that Feinberg had already shaken down Jake Factor for $25,000 assuring him
of a conviction.
Jake the Barber was the first witness called
to the stand. One of the questions Crowley asked him was if he was allowed to
use the bathroom while he was being held captive by Roger Touhy. Factor said
that he was.
"And how many times," Crowley
asked, "while you were in the basement, did you use the lavatory?"
"Very often, that night," Jake
replied.
At that point, Chicken McFadden leaned over
to Touhy and said in a voice loud enough for the jury to hear, "He's
trying to get it across that Jake had the shit scared out of him."
Factor said that right after he was
kidnapped, he was blindfolded and tied, brought to a house and walked down to a
basement where he was tied to a wooden chair. He said he could sense
"several men around me, a single light bulb burning over my head."
He
said that the kidnappers demanded that he give them the name of a person he
could trust as a contact and Factor said he suggested Joe Silvers or Sam Hare,
owners of The Dells, where Factor had been gambling just before he was
kidnapped.
But Joe Silvers would never get to testify
and Factor probably knew that when he gave his name from the witness stand.
Silvers was facing federal charges for mail robbery and decided to turn
informant rather than do time. Perhaps fearing that he would tell what he knew
about the Factor disappearance, Murray Humpreys' boys had followed Silvers down
to Florida, kidnapped him, took him out on a boat, shot him and threw him
overboard.
Silvers' partner in The Dells, Sam Hare,
wouldn't fare much better. Somebody pulled up alongside his car as he was
driving along on a Chicago highway and shot him.
Factor went on to say that right after he
gave their names as contacts, he was left alone with two men whom he dubbed
"the good man" and "the bad man. " The bad man was the one
who slapped him around, robbed him of his rings and watch and threatened to cut
off his ears "and send them to your wife as souvenirs."
However, when he complained that the
blindfold around his head was too tight, Factor said that the "good
man" removed it from his eyes, cut it into pieces and then pasted it back
over his eyes with adhesive tape.
Factor said that while his eyes were
uncovered he looked up and saw Roger Touhy whom he now identified as the
"bad man."
Factor said that the next day he was told by
the bad man "You're going for a ride," and assumed that meant he was
going to be killed and wept for his life.
Factor claimed that at this point he was
driven to another house. There he was forced to write a ransom note while
someone held a machine gun to the back of his head. The ever astute Stewart
asked Factor "How did you know it was a machine gun? Do you have eyes in
the back of your head?"
Crowley objected to the question and the
objection was upheld by Judge Feinberg. "Crowley objected to every
question asked of Factor," Touhy said, "and Judge Feinberg upheld the
prosecution most of the time."
Despite the judge's apparent predisposition
toward the prosecution, Stewart's cross-examination of Factor was brutal and
relentless. Though he managed to cause Factor to confuse his story, it was
clear he was fighting an uphill battle.