Worst Man

It was grey dawn. Upstairs in a farmhouse near Milan, Mo. lay a burly middle-aged man with a scarred lip, asleep. Near his pillow lay a loaded pistol. But he did not wake up when four stealthy-figures entered the bedroom and "covered" him with a submachine gun, did not have time to snatch his weapon before they had seized and beaten him into submission.

Thus last week was Fred Burke, "the most dangerous man alive" in the eyes of the Federal Government and police of 18 states, who had trailed him futilely for four years, captured by country detectives. So incredible did it seem to Burke that he begged the officers to show their badges, terrified lest rival gunmen had come to do away with him.

Three months ago one Joseph Hunsaker, a Green City, Mo. truck driver who likes detective fiction, saw a picture of the man accused of conducting the massacre of seven Chicago Moran gangsters on St. Valentine's day two years ago (TIME, Feb. 25, 1929). The man in the picture had a scarred lip and ruffy face. So did the stranger who lately married into the nearby Porter family, thought Joseph Hunsaker. The stranger seemed to have plenty of money, always in bills of large denominations. He never did any work, took long mysterious trips. Joseph Hunsaker took his suspicions to the Sullivan County sheriff. They proved correct.

As soon as he was taken to St. Joseph, Mo., Killer Burke found that a half-dozen states were clamoring to try him on murder charges. Michigan wanted him for shooting down a St. Joseph policeman in cold blood while discussing a minor traffic accident, since which time Killer Burke had not been seen (TIME, Dec. 30, 1929). Chicago sent a earful of detectives to apprehend him for the Moran massacre, because guns found in Burke's elaborate arsenal at St. Joseph, Mich, were identified as those used in the St. Valentine's day killings. Alias Brook, alias Burchell, alias Camp, Kemp, Kemper, he is wanted in New York for the slaying of Gang King Frankie Uale in 1928, in Detroit for murdering three "Red" McLaughlin hoodlums in 1927, in Columbus City, Ind. for killing a woman. Since his graduation from the Egan Rats of St. Louis, Killer Burke is credited with $1,000,000 worth of robberies from Paterson, N. J. to Los Angeles. The prices on his head totaled $100,000.

"Fred," Governor Caulfield of Missouri is reported as having said, "Chicago wants you, Michigan wants you. Where do you want to go? To Chicago?"

''That matter," replied the 225-lb. gunman, "is out of my hands."

Governor Caulfield turned him over to the Michigan authorities, who soon moved their prisoner in an armored car. Maximum penalty which can befall Burke in Michigan is life imprisonment.

Maintaining a passive silence, Killer Burke gave no clue as to his activities during the past 18 months, refused to disclose his trail from St. Joe, Mich, to St. Joe, Mo. But his automobile was purchased last fortnight in Chicago from a salesroom next door to Ralph ("Bottles") Capone's Cotton Club.

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