Word: walush
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...hoodlums shot and killed a Chicago cop in the speakeasy of Vera Walush, in Chicago's heavily Polish neighborhood, Back of the Yards. Two neighborhood boys were picked up and accused of the crime. Vera Walush at first could not identify them, but after subsequent interviews with police, decided that she was sure they were the gunmen. They were Joe Majczek, who had a minor police record, and Teddy Marcinkiewicz. Convicted of murder, they were sentenced to 99 years in prison...
Once again Vera Walush was hauled out and put on the stand, a bizarre figure in a fur coat, blue dress with sequins, platform shoes. Her neighbor, Bessie Baron, who used to supply her with bootleg alcohol, testified Vera had told her that she had had to put the finger on Joe and Teddy or the cops would have "run me out of business." Blowzy Vera squirmed and twisted through her story, insisted sullenly: "I know dey was da killers...
...Marcinkiewiczes had a bottle of whisky with ginger-ale and strawberry soda, but after 17 years on the wagon, Teddy abstained. "I still feel bitter," he said, "but I got to dissipate it. It isn't any good that way." In a tawdry North LaSalle Street walkup, Vera Walush thumbed through a deck of cards and observed: "I got nothin...
Even then Joe could not quite believe what was happening to him. The judge, obviously disturbed during the trial, had called Vera Walush into his chambers, baldly charged her with lying on the stand. He told Joe: "I'm going to see that you get a new trial." But the State's Attorney's office did not agree. Joe got no new trial. Numbly, he kissed his wife and newborn son, became Convict 8356E, a lifer at Joliet...
Reporters sought out witnesses. Bessie Barren, who had been a friend of Vera Walush, talked: Vera had admitted the cops had forced her to identify Joe falsely. Zagata, the trucker, told of being called into the judge's chambers, of hearing the judge say he believed Joe was innocent...