George Lacy Remembers

Before anyone ever heard the names Al Capone or Charles Lindbergh, there was George Lacy. The 93-year-old Coal Country native spoke July 6 at the Benld Rotary luncheon and shared with the group tales of his life growing up in the area and run-ins with notorious gangster and renowned aviator.

Lacy told how he earned a $5 biplane ride with Lindbergh by fetching gas in two 5-gallon cans from a filling station. "I got a free ride because of helping out there. As a 16-year-old kid, I was glad to run up town with two 5-gallon cans and carry them. Believe me, I had to stop more than once – two 5-gallon cans are pretty heavy." Lindbergh was one of two pilots during Lacy's era who used to give biplane rides on the property that is located across Route 138 from Benld City Cemetery. "They used to call him 'Slim' at that time."

Lacy, who took up flying himself, later gave up the hobby after getting an ultimatum from his then-girlfriend. "She said I had two choices – you can give up flying and I'll be your girlfriend. If you keep on flying, I won't even go out because I don't want to see you get killed."

Married in 1940, Lacy spoke of the economic differences between then and today. "I made $900 all year. Of course, if my wife would have gone to the grocery store and bought $5 worth of groceries, I would have needed a coaster wagon to carry them home." The least amount Lacy ever paid for a gallon of gas was 9 cents a gallon.

Lacy told about growing up during the Depression, an era where there was no Social Security and no unemployment benefits. He told how his family saved enough potatoes to get them through the winter, and how they always picked blackberries in the spring and smoked their own meat. "We never went hungry – maybe we weren't the best dressed kids in town."

Lacy related memories of his encounters with Capone. "He would get a boxcar load of corn sugar that they made the whiskey from. If you know where the Adopt-A-Pet is, back behind DeMartini's pond, that's where he would keep his still, and it was camouflaged so it would look like a mine. In Benld, we used to call it No. 5 mine." Lacy went on to tell the story of how Ben Tarro sold the sugar to Capone. "Al Capone paid him good, but he got greedy. He was holding back four or five sacks of corn sugar and then was selling it by the pound in his grocery store. Al Capone found out about it. Lo and behold, Tarro was found dead in the Sangamon River with cement blocks tied around him with barbed wire. Al Capone treated you good, but you didn't want to cross him."

Lacy recounted a terrifying story. "I remember coming to Mass at Benld Church when we lived on Fifth Street. Cordera's had a shed they put their horse and wagons in out there. I was taking a shortcut through that alley, and there a fellow came running by me – a little short fellow, I think he was Sicilian. Right after he passed me up, a Model-T Ford goes chugging along out there with the shotguns out and they blew the man in two. They stopped, threw him in the back, and one of them fellows said to me 'Just keep on walkin' kid.' I said, 'Yes, sir.'"

The General Electric dealer in Gillespie for 50 years, Lacy and his wife were able to travel the world through the many promotional incentives offered by the company. His travels through GE took him to Spain, Austria, German, Africa and Switzerland three different times. Lacy passed along his experience with camels, "You don't want to put your backside to one because they'll bite you. And, they spit at you. They're pretty ornery, camels are."

Lacy's parents grew up in Slovakia while it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. "My father married in 1910, and he came here from the old country in 1911. My mother came in 1912. When my father left her out there, she was pregnant with my first sister, Maria. She was the only one who was born in the old country. I'm one of nine children." Lacy concluded.

Source: Macoupin County Enquirer-Democrat, Carlinville, 2010 Jul 22