My Aunt Nellie Curran Cahill [DS.4.5.9] told me that her father "had a heavy foot" when driving.

Lena Mattes Healey said that she, her grandson Edward William Healey [DS.4.5.6.1], and others were once riding with Tom when he went into a ditch, up the other side, spun around back into the ditch, and onto the road. Edward was thrilled and said "Do it again Grandpa!"

According to my Aunt Margaret [DS.4.5.13]: "He went with my mother [DS.4.5S₂] to Waukesha, Wisconsin, to take the mineral baths and rest after the election. The next day, he [DS.4.5] told my mother [DS.4.5S₂] that he had to drive into the city to sign the payroll for the West Parks. He left early in the morning and said that he would be back in time to have dinner with her [DS.4.5S₂]. He had just bought a new Cadillac. He bought a new car after every election. On the way in, he ran into a pole and was killed instantly. Tony Cermak [later the mayor of Chicago] was also there. He notified my mother of the accident."

After I compared the stories (told 52 years after the event) of Margaret Strauser [DS.4.5.13], Nellie Cahill [DS.4.5.9], Loretta McGrath [WM.6.5], and Grace Sweeney [DS.4.7.6] with contemporary newspaper accounts, I reconstructed the affair as follows:

Thomas Curran [DS.4.5], State Representative from the Fifth District and Republican Committeeman from the 26^th ward; Ald. Frank A. Sloan of the 26^th ward; Dr. C. R. Steinfeldt of 4655 South Michigan Ave.; Anton J. Cermak, President of the Cook County Board (and later Democrat mayor of Chicago); and perhaps some other political leaders; drove, in at least three separate cars, to Waukesha for a meeting to discuss the implications of the recent election and their plans for the future. Tom’s wife, Margaret [DS.4.5S₂], went along and took the mineral baths (also called mud baths).

After the meeting ended on Sunday 11 Nov 1828, Tom [DS.4.5] told his wife [DS.4.5S₂] that he was going to drive to Chicago to sign the payroll for the West Parks board and then drive back to Waukesha in time for dinner. Tom started back to Chicago early the next morning. He was driving east on Wisconsin highway 43 and then attempted to negotiate a sharp turn south on highway 41 about seven miles west of Kenosha. One of the two highways was also called "Waukegan Road". The car slid into a ditch, ploughed 100 feet along the roadside, and smashed into a tree.

Tom was killed in the crash. His only passenger, Attorney Rocco De Stefano, was seriously injured but recovered fully. Close behind Tom’s car was one occupied by Ald. Frank Sloan. While Sloan was removing De Stefano from the wreckage, Dr. Steinfeldt arrived and pronounced Tom [DS.4.5] dead. Just after the accident, a Catholic priest driving from Iowa to Ohio arrived on the scene. The priest gave Tom [DS.4.5] the last rites of the Church. When the police arrived, the priest departed but he had left a note in Tom’s pocket stating that Tom [DS.4.5] had received the last rites. De Stefano was taken to St. Catherine’s Hospital in Kenosha. Tom’s body was taken to Hanson’s undertaking rooms in Kenosha.

Somebody telephoned to notify Mrs. Curran in Waukesha. She fainted when she heard the news. Subsequently, Anton J. Cermak drove her to Kenosha.

Ald. Sloan, Dr. Steinfeldt, and Anton Cermak all told reporters that it was only a coincidence that they were at the scene. They made no mention of the meeting in Waukesha.

Some people regarded Tom’s death with suspicion:

1. Only ten days earlier, a bomb had partly wrecked his headquarters at 1833 South Ashland Avenue, just a few doors away from his home. According to a story in the Chicago Tribune, "the bombing was believed by police to be a warning to him that his final instructions to his precinct captains should include working for office seekers for whom his previous support may have been lukewarm. But Mr. Curran, as boss of the ward, told police he was regular in his support of the full ticket of his party." Another story said: "The bomb, according to police, was a powerful one and apparently was placed close to the building. However, it exploded near the curb, blowing out a large section of the cement. The police theory was that it had rolled from the place where it had been placed before exploding. Had the blast occurred with the bomb close to the building, the police said, the structure probably would have been totally wrecked and there would have been heavy loss of life.
    

2. My mother [DS.4.5.7] told me that Rocco De Stefano had a reputation for panicking in an automobile and grabbing the wheel from the driver. Some people suggested that an excuse was invented to have Rocco as a passenger in Tom’s car where he would cause an accident when Tom panicked him with a high-speed maneuver. According to the Tribune, Rocco refused to discuss the report that he had tried to persuade Tom [DS.4.5] to use his influence with Gov. Small to get a pardon for Joe Saltis (a name that was presumably known to readers of the Tribune). Municipal Judge George A. Curran (son of Tom Curran) had sentenced Joe Saltis to 60 days in the Bridewell and a fine of $50 for carrying a concealed weapon. The Chicago Tribune also reported a rumor that Joe Saltis had appeared at the meeting in Waukesha (p. 4, Tues 13 Nov 1928).
    

3. In 1980, Loretta McGrath [WM.6.5] told me that Cermak was sitting next to the telephone when the call came to Mrs. Curran [DS.4.5S₂] to tell her of Tom’s death. Loretta [WM.6.5] was convinced that Cermak was waiting for the call and that he was part of a conspiracy to cause Tom’s death.

In 1980, I asked Grace Curran (Sweeney) [DS.4.7.6] about these suspicions. Grace [DS.4.7.6] is the daughter of Tom’s brother, Jim Curran [DS.4.7], who managed political operations in Chicago while Tom [DS.4.5] was in Springfield. She replied vehemently, "No! I knew my father. If their had been anything like that, he would have [pause, then speaking softly] done something."  Grace’s husband, Marty Sweeney [DS.4.7.6S], who had worked in the Curran organization with Jim Curran [DS.4.7] indicated that there was absolutely no doubt about what Jim [DS.4.7] would have done.

Loretta McGrath may have been biased concerning Cermak. She told me that he pretended to be interested in becoming a Catholic at a time when it would be helpful to his political career but then had his wife’s funeral from a Protestant church. She also told me that when Tom Curran visited Cermak at home, Cermak’s wife would "hide under the bed". Loretta quoted Tom as saying to Cermak that he would "beat him up" if he learned that Cermak ever hit his wife. It sounded to me as though Cermak’s wife had a mental disorder but I never heard any other details.

Tom Curran [DS.4.5] had a son-in-law, Kyran J. Cahill [DS.4.5.9S] (18 July 1897 — 10 June 1947), who was a police officer and knew the character of all the people involved. Kyran’s son, Thomas Cahill [DS.4.5.9.1], who later became a Chicago police officer, had both a family and a professional knowledge of the players in the drama. When I consulted my cousin Tom Cahill [DS.4.5.9.1] (circa 1980) about the accident, he was in strong agreement with the opinion of Grace [DS.4.7.6] and Marty [DS.4.7.6S] Sweeney.

Anton Cermak died about four years later. In view of the amount of time that had elapsed (and other details), it seems unlikely that Cermak’s death was directly related to the misfortune that befell Tom Curran and Rocco De Stefano.

I am satisfied that the death of Tom Curran [DS.4.5] was a tragic accident. His brother, Jim Curran [DS.4.7] (with all the assistance that he wanted, including private interrogations), would have asked all the questions that needed to be asked and done all the investigating that needed to be done. Grace [DS.4.7.6] and Marty [DS.4.7.6S] would both have known if Jim [DS.4.7] had found anything more than suspicions. Nevertheless, I would be interested to know whether the family of Rocco De Stefano agrees with my conclusion.

On 14 November 1928, the Chicago Tribune printed the following words:

"VALLEY" DISTRICT MOURNS DEATH OF TOM CURRAN

Crepe hung on one door in the "valley" yesterday and for miles around there was sadness. State Representative Thomas Curran was dead — sufficient cause for mourning throughout the Twenty-sixth ward.

For forty years he had been in politics in the section around 18^th street and Ashland avenue and he had become Republican leader because of his care of the poor and the unfortunate. In his twenty-two years as a member of the state legislature he had so entrenched himself in the hearts of his constituents that none would run against him for legislator or ward committeeman.

He was a colorful and important figure in Illinois politics. A saloonkeeper in his younger days, his "Curran’s Buffet" at 2023 South Racine avenue became famous as a gathering place for river ward politicians. He finally emerged from the rough and tumble politics of the ward supreme in command.

He became known as one of Gov. Small’s warmest supporters and when the latter took office Curran was rewarded. He became chairman of the appropriations committee of the lower house. He was made superintendent of the west park system. He was a Republican committeeman in his ward.

The home at 1847 South Ashland avenue was far too small to accommodate those who came to mourn . . . More than 6,000 persons attended funeral services . . . The funeral procession to Mt. Carmel was more than a mile long.

Six friends who had been his boyhood playmates and his devoted followers in political life were the pall bearers. They were Joseph Simons, Thomas Garry, James McClarey, James McGlynn, Thomas Conroy, and George Lindeman.

The Reverend Father William A. Marchant, who had watched Curran come to church week after week and had helped to rear the large Curran family in the church, officiated at the services."

Margaret [DS.4.5.13] recalled that there was a huge funeral and that the window was removed from Tom’s home on Ashland Avenue in order to get the casket out. Tom [DS.4.5] was buried in Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

The photo above shows the scene at the home of Tom Curran as the casket is being carried down the front steps to the hearse.

My sister Loretta (age 6 yr 10 mo at the time) recalls that people entering the house at 1847 S. Ashland Avenue to view the body were told, "You’re going out through the tailor shop". The visitors entered through the front door of the house, walked through the house, out the back door, through the back yard, and then through the ground floor of a tailor shop out onto the next street (which was probably Laflin Avenue). Because of the thousands of people that came, this procedure was necessary to maintain the flow of people through the house. Loretta though that there were twelve flower cars.

The photo at the right shows a close-up of some of the attendees at the funeral.  The largest man in the photo is Mayor William "Big Bill" Thompson.  Next to the mayor's left shoulder is my father, John A. FitzMaurice, Sr.  Next to the mayor's right shoulder is my uncle Walter Curran, the eldest son of Tom Curran.  The man directly in front of the mayor may be my uncle, Emmett FitzMaurice.

The story that my brother, Father Terence, heard from our father was that there was a taxi strike at the time of the funeral. Colonel McCormack, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, arrived in Chicago by train but was unable to get from the station to the funeral by taxi. However, Colonel McCormack persuaded the drivers’ union to transport him to the funeral on condition that he would provide a generous amount of space for the obituary in the Tribune.

Funeral at Saint Pius Church, 1909 S. Ashland Avenue, on Wed 14 Nov 1928.
Burial at Mt. Carmel Cemetery

A newspaper story dated 23 Nov 1928 said that Tom’s Will had been read and that his estate had been valued at $376,000. "His father, Daniel Curran, 86 years old, is given the family residence at 1847 South Ashland Avenue. A brother, Daniel, who is a bailiff, is left $5,000. Another, James, superintendent of the Bridewell, is left $2,000. The widow, Mrs. Margaret Curran, is bequeathed a third of the residue. ... The children, each of whom will receive a twelfth of the estate, are Municipal Judge George A. Curran, Walter T., Raymond, Harold, and Thomas Curran, and Mrs. Mary C. Healy, Mrs. Laura C. Fitzmaurice, and Mrs. Nellie C. Cahill."

My mother told me that Tom had sold his investments in stocks before the market began its long decline from 1929 to 1936. In fact, he owned about $274,000 in stocks at the time of his death. However, they were stocks that any reasonable investor of that era might have thought would behave like utilities and be relatively panic proof. [Note: The word "Depression" was invented as a euphemism for the word "Panic", which was used in the 19^th century for the same phenomenon. Both words were misleading descriptions of what was actually happening in the stock market and in the economy.]

My mother also told me that Tom’s total estate was worth about $1,000,000. She might have exaggerated a little in rounding the number, but not by a factor of three. It seems likely, in view of his dealings with the Kaspar Bank, that Tom had more assets then were revealed by his Will. In the long term, the difference didn’t matter. My mother told me that the men in the family dissipated the inheritance through bad investments. Of course, it was not a great climate for investing. The value of stocks fell about 90 percent between 1929 and 1936.

During the last half of his life, Thomas Curran was the focus of the social lives of all the descendants of his father, Daniel Curran. Tom could provide jobs for his relatives and supporters. He was the protector of the poor and helpless when they had to deal with city, county, or state government. He fought for labor unions and fair wages when there was no protection for workers at any level of government.

I doubt that Tom Curran ever lost a vote because of his involvement in the illegal sale of whiskey. That was just one more service that he provided to his community under difficult circumstances. It appears that any violence was in self defense. After his death, however, the character of the organization changed. Marty Sweeney told me (after I turned off my tape recorder) about an occasion when all the marked ballots at a particular location were stolen and thrown into the Chicago River. My brother, Father Terence, heard from our father that the ballots were obtained at pistol point by three sons of Tom Curran.

After Tom’s death, there was no political successor in the next generation of the extended Curran family. Jim Curran replaced his brother Tom in the state legislature for a while but he disappeared from the political scene soon after Anton Cermak took office as mayor of Chicago in April 1931. Another Tommy Curran, a son of Jim’s brother Will, was subsequently elected to the legislature but never had the broad support that his uncle Tom (DS.4.5) had had. Without a new family focus, the various branches of the Curran family gradually drifted apart socially. With the greater financial freedom that they had acquired after the Depression, they slowly moved far away from the old neighborhood. By 1945, they were too widely dispersed to ever again be a potential political force. Later politicians in the extended family would have to form new coalitions.

In May 1968, my brother, Rev. Terence FitzMaurice, OSB, became the assistant pastor at St. Procopius Parish (which was adjacent to the parish of Tom Curran). By that time, almost every voter in the area voted straight Democrat. However, one anonymous person consistently voted Republican. Finally the mystery was solved when an elderly woman told Father Terence that she was the person who voted Republican. She said," I vote Republican because I remember your grandfather and all that he did for us".

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