KNIGHT MEETS GANGSTER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19628, 24 October 1933, Page 10

KNIGHT MEETS GANGSTER

SIR BEN FULLER STUDIES CRIME IN CHICAGO CHICAGO, October 12. Sir Benjamin Fuller, the Australian theatre owner, and entrepreneur, who is president ol the Prison Reform League in Australia, was entertained here by “Spike” O'Donnell, the South Side gangster and former convict, at a formal reception, which O'Donnell cleverly turned to his own account. Sir Benjamin was studying Chicago’s system of handling criminals in the Court of Chief Justice Philip Sullivan. Hearing that O’Donnell was in the Court, he expressed a desire to meet him. Friends in Australia. “Spike,” with a cigar tilted at a rakish angle, thrust forth his hand enthusiastically and pumped Sir Benjamin’s hand in greeting, saying: “Pleased to meet you.” “Do you know Lord Beaverbrook?” asked O'Donnell. “Oh, yes,” Sir Benjamin replied. “I’ll have you know I know him pretty well, too,” said Spike. “I have lots of friends in Australia also. Some of them left Chicago when the ‘heat’ got too bad.” “I dare say,” Sir Benjamin remarked in some confusion as he expressed pleasure at meeting with O'Donnell and took his leave. “Come and See Me!” "Come up and see me some time,” O’Donnell called after ills departing guest. “An astounding fellow," observed Sir Benjamin. “Spike” told the reporters that the Australian Knight “seemed to be a right nice guy.” Sir Benjamin Fuller tarried in Court to hear a change of venue on a charge of vagrancy granted in the case of Joe Saltis, former big-time liquor hustler, who, in answer to a Court official, said his occupation was a “gentleman farmer.”