Crime biographer and historian Rose Keefe has just written the account of the first automobile facilitated murder ( Okay, Pal! You're Goin' Fer a Ride) in our history.
In 1904, shortly after the Chicago Stockyard Strikes of that summer, a young man from Racine,Wisconsin, William Bate, who was working in a Chicago hotel, became the first victim of an automobile facilitated murder out in then rural Lemont, Illinois.
Rose Keefe has written a twelve page study of this ground-breaking and fast-getaway murder that you can access by clicking my post title.
From Lulu the instant download publisher:
On November 19, 1904 in Lemont, Illinois, Chicago chauffeur Billy Bate was found slumped behind the wheel of his Toledo touring car. He'd been shot in the head execution-style, making him the first recorded victim of the now-infamous one-way ride. Although the authorities launched a nationwide manhunt for 'Mr. Dove', his last known passenger and probable killer, their efforts were unsuccessful and the Bate Auto Murder remains unsolved. This 12-page ebook includes photos of the victim and the death car. It's a story of big city violence in rural surroundings, and marks a trend that continues to this day.
Rose Keefe and Richard Lindberg of Chicago write the best studies of American Crime in the context of the American Experience. Rose Keefe's The Starker is a magnificent study of Big Jake Zelig the New York Jewish Gangster and Richard Lindberg's Gambler King of Clark Street links the roots of the Chicago Political Machine to Big Mike McDonald.
Rose Keefe CV
Published Books:
Guns and Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot Before Al Capone. Cumberland House Publishing (Nashville, TN) 2004
The Man Who Got Away: the Bugs Moran Story. Cumberland House Publishing (Nashville, TN) 2004
The Starker: Big Jack Zelig, the Becker-Rosenthal Case of 1912, and the Advent of the Jewish Gangster. Cumberland House Publishing (Nashville, TN) 2008
Professional Affiliations:
Member, the Writer's Union of Canada
Radio, Television, and Film Appearances:
"Talkline with Zev Brenner", WSNR 620 AM(NY) (November 2008)
"Dave Gordon Radio Show Show", ThatRadio.com (October 2008)
"Our Gotham",www.monk1903.com (June 2008)
"Bulldog and The Rude Awakening Show", WOCM-FM 98.1 (June 2008)
"Mobs In America", Abu Media Ireland (August 2007)
"Man, Moment, and Machine" History Channel televised special (November 2006)
"Young Indiana Jones" DVD Series- consulting expert (July 2006)
"Paddy Whacked": the Irish Mob History Channel televised special (March 2006)
Dave Strauss Radio Show, KTRS St. Louis (February 2006)
The Radio Detective, with Jerry Pearce (March 2004)
WBIG AM with William Kelly (March 2004)
Web and Magazine Articles (author) :
"Max 'Kid Twist' Zweifach - Leader of Monk Eastman Gang ." J*Grit- the Internet Index of Tough Jews, January 2009
"Big Jack Zelig - Lower East Side Gang Leader." J*Grit- the Internet Index of Tough Jews, January 2009
"Rose Rossi- First Victim of the One-Way Ride?" On The Spot Journal, Fall 2008
"The Fighting Parson: Remembering the Reverend Leslie Spracklin, Canada's Elliot Ness." On The Spot Journal, Volume 1, Issue 5, Winter 2007
"A Buck A Fist: Dopey Benny Fein and New York's Labor Wars". On the Spot Journal, Volume 1, Issue 3, Spring 2007
"Labor Pain: Mossy Enright and Chicago's Labor Wars". On the Spot Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 2006
"Mary Ward: The First Fatal Automobile Accident". History Magazine, Volume 8, Number 2, December / January 2007
Personal Appearances:
Golden Age of Gangsters Convention, Itasca, Illinois, September 2004
Contributing Author / Expert:
The Most Evil Mobsters in History, by Lauren Carter. Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, London, England, UK 2004
Public Enemies: America's Criminal Past 1919-1940, by Rick Mattix and William J. Helmer. Cumberland House Publishing, (Nashville, TN), 2007
Bad Seeds In The Big Apple, by Pat Downey
