Well-to-do Armenian baker, A.D. Magarian, the "King of little Armenia" in East St. Louis, pushed to shut down a house of ill repute over a saloon next door to his bakery/residence. The "Droit resort," as it was referred to by one paper, was a brothel operated by husband & wife team, Charles & Garnet Droit.
After several complaints lodged by Magarian, police raided the brothel on September 30, 1913. Garnet Droit was held on the charge of white slavery in conjunction with operating a "disorderly house." She & the girls were held on bond. After their release, the Droits & several co-conspirators plotted their revenge.
On October 4, Alphonse Magarian, the 3-year-old son of A.D. Magarian, was kidnapped, murdered, & beheaded in retaliation. To cover their tracks, the gangsters framed the murder on a prostitute at the brothel, then placed her murdered body on the railroad tracks to make it look like a suicide.
Alphonse's headless body was discovered in a rubbish dump, or "ash pit" as they were sometimes called, one block from the Magarian's home, ten days after he disappeared. The body was wrapped in newspaper.
His head was found in a gunny sack at another dump a week later.
Police initially suspected Turks - natural rivals of Armenians then.
Lex Droit & Charles Bergholz of East St. Louis and two others were tried by a jury & acquitted of murder in connection with the boy's death.
Droit & Bergholz were convicted & sentenced to 15 years in the Southern Illinois penetentiary for the crime of kidnapping however.
Sylvia Upton, a 16-year-old "inmate of the Droit resort," testified at all three trials that she overhead threats against Magarian after the police raid.
At the time of the trials, James Campbell was serving a 20-year sentence for robbery that would not expire until 1934, & was never tried on the kidnapping indictment.
A fourth suspect, Danny Sullivan, was never apprehended.
From:
McLaughlin, Malcolm. Power, Community, and Racial Killing in East St Louis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
After several complaints lodged by Magarian, police raided the brothel on September 30, 1913. Garnet Droit was held on the charge of white slavery in conjunction with operating a "disorderly house." She & the girls were held on bond. After their release, the Droits & several co-conspirators plotted their revenge.
On October 4, Alphonse Magarian, the 3-year-old son of A.D. Magarian, was kidnapped, murdered, & beheaded in retaliation. To cover their tracks, the gangsters framed the murder on a prostitute at the brothel, then placed her murdered body on the railroad tracks to make it look like a suicide.
Alphonse's headless body was discovered in a rubbish dump, or "ash pit" as they were sometimes called, one block from the Magarian's home, ten days after he disappeared. The body was wrapped in newspaper.
His head was found in a gunny sack at another dump a week later.
Police initially suspected Turks - natural rivals of Armenians then.
Lex Droit & Charles Bergholz of East St. Louis and two others were tried by a jury & acquitted of murder in connection with the boy's death.
Droit & Bergholz were convicted & sentenced to 15 years in the Southern Illinois penetentiary for the crime of kidnapping however.
Sylvia Upton, a 16-year-old "inmate of the Droit resort," testified at all three trials that she overhead threats against Magarian after the police raid.
At the time of the trials, James Campbell was serving a 20-year sentence for robbery that would not expire until 1934, & was never tried on the kidnapping indictment.
A fourth suspect, Danny Sullivan, was never apprehended.
From:
McLaughlin, Malcolm. Power, Community, and Racial Killing in East St Louis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Well-to-do Armenian baker, A.D. Magarian, the "King of little Armenia" in East St. Louis, pushed to shut down a house of ill repute over a saloon next door to his bakery/residence. The "Droit resort," as it was referred to by one paper, was a brothel operated by husband & wife team, Charles & Garnet Droit.
After several complaints lodged by Magarian, police raided the brothel on September 30, 1913. Garnet Droit was held on the charge of white slavery in conjunction with operating a "disorderly house." She & the girls were held on bond. After their release, the Droits & several co-conspirators plotted their revenge.
On October 4, Alphonse Magarian, the 3-year-old son of A.D. Magarian, was kidnapped, murdered, & beheaded in retaliation. To cover their tracks, the gangsters framed the murder on a prostitute at the brothel, then placed her murdered body on the railroad tracks to make it look like a suicide.
Alphonse's headless body was discovered in a rubbish dump, or "ash pit" as they were sometimes called, one block from the Magarian's home, ten days after he disappeared. The body was wrapped in newspaper.
His head was found in a gunny sack at another dump a week later.
Police initially suspected Turks - natural rivals of Armenians then.
Lex Droit & Charles Bergholz of East St. Louis and two others were tried by a jury & acquitted of murder in connection with the boy's death.
Droit & Bergholz were convicted & sentenced to 15 years in the Southern Illinois penetentiary for the crime of kidnapping however.
Sylvia Upton, a 16-year-old "inmate of the Droit resort," testified at all three trials that she overhead threats against Magarian after the police raid.
At the time of the trials, James Campbell was serving a 20-year sentence for robbery that would not expire until 1934, & was never tried on the kidnapping indictment.
A fourth suspect, Danny Sullivan, was never apprehended.
From:
McLaughlin, Malcolm. Power, Community, and Racial Killing in East St Louis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
After several complaints lodged by Magarian, police raided the brothel on September 30, 1913. Garnet Droit was held on the charge of white slavery in conjunction with operating a "disorderly house." She & the girls were held on bond. After their release, the Droits & several co-conspirators plotted their revenge.
On October 4, Alphonse Magarian, the 3-year-old son of A.D. Magarian, was kidnapped, murdered, & beheaded in retaliation. To cover their tracks, the gangsters framed the murder on a prostitute at the brothel, then placed her murdered body on the railroad tracks to make it look like a suicide.
Alphonse's headless body was discovered in a rubbish dump, or "ash pit" as they were sometimes called, one block from the Magarian's home, ten days after he disappeared. The body was wrapped in newspaper.
His head was found in a gunny sack at another dump a week later.
Police initially suspected Turks - natural rivals of Armenians then.
Lex Droit & Charles Bergholz of East St. Louis and two others were tried by a jury & acquitted of murder in connection with the boy's death.
Droit & Bergholz were convicted & sentenced to 15 years in the Southern Illinois penetentiary for the crime of kidnapping however.
Sylvia Upton, a 16-year-old "inmate of the Droit resort," testified at all three trials that she overhead threats against Magarian after the police raid.
At the time of the trials, James Campbell was serving a 20-year sentence for robbery that would not expire until 1934, & was never tried on the kidnapping indictment.
A fourth suspect, Danny Sullivan, was never apprehended.
From:
McLaughlin, Malcolm. Power, Community, and Racial Killing in East St Louis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
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