On the afternoon of June 30, 1933 Buck Henrichsen
called one of Roger Touhy's former bodyguards, Eddie Schwabauer. Like Henrichsen,
Schwabauer had a drinking and gambling problem. However, Schwabauer's habits
were so severe that they caused him to be fired by Roger several weeks earlier
for being drunk at work.
Henrichsen reached Schwabauer at his
mother's house where he was living with his children (his wife having left him
a few months before) and told him "a guy with money, a rich guy...needs to
disappear for a while. You interested? There's money in it for you."
Schwabauer, who was perpetually broke, said
he was interested...very interested. Henrichsen asked if he could put Factor up
at Schwabauer's mother's house for a few days and Schwabauer said "Sure,
why not?" Before they parted, Henrichsen told Schwabauer to be sure and
not say anything to Roger Touhy about it.
Later that same night Jake the Barber and a
party of seven, including his wife and his son Jerome, spent the evening in a
casino, The Dells,
the same place where Roger's
men had murdered a syndicate hood a few months before. Factor and his guests
drank and gambled until about 1:00 A.M., then piled into Jake's Deusenberg to
return to Chicago. As they drove down a narrow, darkened stretch of road, two
cars roared up behind them and forced Factor's Deusenberg off the road.
Buck Henrichsen, Eddie Schwabauer, Jimmy
Tribbles and "Ice Wagon" Conners-all Touhy men-surrounded Factor's
car. With their guns drawn, they dragged Factor from the Deusenberg, tossed him
into one of the waiting cars and sped away. An hour later Jake arrived safely
at the house of Eddie Schwabauer's mother, where he issued some orders to
Henrichsen to get in touch with his family in Chicago and then asked
Schwabauer's mother to leave the kitchen while he made several phone calls.
Afterward he asked for something to eat and then went to bed about 5:00 A.M.
The next morning, Schwabauer's mother went
shopping and saw Factor's picture on the front page of several newspapers. The
headlines screamed that Factor had been kidnapped at gunpoint while the British
government's representative in Chicago was calling it all a hoax. Outraged and
scared, she rushed home and went into her son's room and shook him awake
"You tell that Buck Henrichsen that I want that man out of this house. I
won't have any part of this!"
An hour later, Henrichsen came to the house
with Ice Wagon Connors. They collected Factor and drove him to a rented house
in Bangs Lake, Illinois, where Henrichsen and several other Touhy gunmen took
turns keeping Factor company. When Jake tired of them, Henrichsen hired the
comedic vaudeville team of Harry Geils and Frankie Brown to entertain Jake who
spent the rest of his free time drinking and playing cards.
On July 12, 1933, Jake the Barber Factor
showed up in La Grange, Illinois, flagged down a passing police car and
announced, Tm Jake Factor, I was kidnapped!"