Sue Burke
One bit of family lore has long interested me. Apparently my grandfather, as a very young man, was picked up on suspicion of murder and had to stand in a police lineup. He was released because a scar on his forehead didn’t match the witness’s recollection. He got the scar falling off a tavern porch as a young child.
That scared him straight, as the story goes. He had been in a Polish street gang on the south side of Milwaukee, and he quit. The gang had probably been involved in bootleg liquor and possibly something worse.
He grew up in poverty with an abusive father and a broken home, and didn’t go to school beyond eighth grade. He also taught me how to cheat at dice. I think cheating at dice has to be in the book somewhere. He was also very proud when I became the first in the family to get a college degree.
That’s all I know. He died forty years ago, and everyone who could have supplied more details has also passed. A lot of drama was going on as the Roaring 20s came crashing down, and his story is a tiny part of that history.
That scared him straight, as the story goes. He had been in a Polish street gang on the south side of Milwaukee, and he quit. The gang had probably been involved in bootleg liquor and possibly something worse.
He grew up in poverty with an abusive father and a broken home, and didn’t go to school beyond eighth grade. He also taught me how to cheat at dice. I think cheating at dice has to be in the book somewhere. He was also very proud when I became the first in the family to get a college degree.
That’s all I know. He died forty years ago, and everyone who could have supplied more details has also passed. A lot of drama was going on as the Roaring 20s came crashing down, and his story is a tiny part of that history.
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