The Underground Tunnels of Burlington WI
Excerpts from The Mound Builders of Burlington,
by Mary Sutherland Copyright 2004
There Lies a World Hidden
There Lies a World Hidden,
Mysterious, unknown, and forbidden.
Where dwells entities with technologies beyond our comprehension,
And knowledge kept hidden from us, in this other dimension.
Will the truth ever be revealed?
Earthly forces of power and greed want forever sealed,
Forbidden knowledge for warfare to wield.
When humankind understands,
To use the knowledge acquired from these strange lands.
For the benefit of humankind,
Then entrance into their world we will find.
Frank Scassellati Copyright 2004
AL CAPONE AND THE UNDERGROUND TUNNELS OF BURLINGTON WISCONSIN
Although many still ˜insist these tunnels do not exist, Al Capone is living proof that these tunnels not only existed, but he
and his ˜bootlegging associates used them to distribute their bootlegged alcohol and as travel routes from one place to
another without being detected.
Tracing down the underground travel routes of Al Capone and the ˜Speak Easy bars we can a fairly good idea where
these tunnels are.
Al Capone utilized the underground tunnels from Chicago all the way up into Canada! First I will start with our neighbors
Canada . The town is Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I found this information in an article written by Clifford Krauss, The New
York Times, November 16,2004.
As Krauss eloquently puts it, in a country that fancies itself as an angel in an imperfect world, the peccadilloes were
largely hushed up until 1985, when a truck fell through a downtown street, revealing a tunnel that led into a vast
underground network. After some investigation, anthropologists and local historians concluded the tunnels connected
several hotels that were long rumored to have hosted brothels and saloons during Prohibition.
An Alberta magazine began poking around, followed by a mayor's task force, and piece by piece an unsavory past
emerged that the townspeople had a hard time squaring with their wholesome self-image.
During the Prohibition era, from 1919 to 1933, the police force fell into the well-greased palms of organized crime -
reputedly controlled by Al Capone, who was said to run gambling dens and houses of prostitution up and down River
Street, connected by the tunnels.
Prohibition, of course, was an American idea, one that made little impression north of the border. Some of Canada's
provinces experimented with controlling alcohol in the early 20th century, but it was legal throughout Canada through
most of Prohibition. Yet, as a major railroad center that connected western Canada to Minneapolis and Chicago, Moose
Jaw emerged as a prominent trafficking hub for liquor and drugs.
"Once the tunnel thing exploded, people went 'Wow,' and instead of calling Moose Jaw 'the friendly city' it became 'Little
Chicago."' Within a few years, the tunnels became the centerpiece of a marketing scheme aimed at reversing years of
economic decline.
Now, rather than a skeleton in the closet, "Uncle Al" is more like a founding father. Stores sell Al Capone coffee mugs,
fedoras and toy Tommy guns. The coffee shop by the bus depot calls itself "Big Al's cafe," and one of the seediest
motels in town renamed itself "Capone's Hideaway." A mural above the slot machines at a new casino depicts Al Capone
smoking a cigar while a waiter pours some whisky into his coffee cup.
"Uncle Al is a big draw," said Mike Darling, the manager of Capone's Hideaway. "People are jumping on the bandwagon."
Actually, that is not entirely true. Descendants of the old establishment and some churchgoers found the whole
phenomenon embarrassing. Local politicians debated how and whether to subsidize tourist businesses that use Al
Capone as a marketing tool in local elections a few years ago, and the pro-Capone slate won handily.
Today, a portion of the tunnels have been converted into two underground tours: The Chicago Connection and the
Passage to Fortune, and are Moose Jaw's largest attractions.
Back in The United States, I will use as our starting point , Chicago and a great story concerning Geraldo Rivera and
Capone’s hidden treasure located in the tunnels. My source was Prairie Ghosts , Troy Taylor.
In 1986, television reporter and talk show host Geraldo Rivera took a national television audience into the old Lexington
Hotel, where Capone had his headquarters, located on Michigan Avenue and 22nd Street. Rivera was in search of lost
treasure, a fortune that Capone had allegedly left behind in secret vaults in the hotel. Earlier in the 1980’s, a local
construction company, while investigating the hotel for renovation, had discovered passages leading to hidden tunnels
connecting local bars and brothels. Capone was using them as , among other things, as escape routes from police raids
and attacks by rivals.
It was said that Capone had hidden caches of treasures in these tunnels and Geraldo Rivera was determined to discover
them and do so on national television. In 1986, Rivera and his camera crew went out , telecasting live, in search of the
hidden treasure. In a basement chamber, the crew blasted away a 7,000-pound concrete wall that was believed to be
hiding a secret compartment that contained thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars. Even the Internal Revenue Service
had agents on hand to make sure they got their share of the monies found. Unfortunately for Rivera, it was a bust. If
anything had been there , it was gone.
After all the promotion of this underground treasure and press , it was Harold Rubin, whom worked for another production
company, that eventually found the lost loot.
In my opinion, they missed the greatest treasure of all. They were so blinded by the search for the treasure , they forgot
the treasure of the tunnels themselves and the hidden knowledge and history they represented. After the hype over the
lost loot was over, everyone lost interest and as far as we know, no one has ventured down into the tunnel systems for
further exploration. It seems that only Capone took the time to follow out their routes.
Another place in Illinois to see more tunnels with the Capone connection is the Widow McCleary Bar in Thornton. By
viewing photos you will see that the construction of these tunnels is almost identical to the construction used in the
basement and tunnels of the Malt House Theater in Burlington, WI., which , like the Malt House, was once used as a
brewery before prohibition. During prohibition AL Capone owned the place and it was a Mob hangout. It was rumored
that the enemies or people that ‘ruffled the feathers’ of the Capone gang were dumped into the tunnels. Who
knows what has happened here but it's certainly out of earshot to the rest of the world...and may I add who knows what
still goes on down in the tunnels today. In the town of Rocheseter, WI , the elders have reported before they decided to
seal the tunnels, they heard wails and moans coming from within. Could these tunnels today be used for satanic
practices? Or could there even be a darker nature to the tunnels of what is being done down there...after all , now that
the tunnels have been sealed, who would hear the echoing screams of the victims?
During the Prohibition Period, Speak Easies , Safe Houses and Underground Taverns were springing up all over the
state. One that proudly boasts of Al Capones patronage is â Capone Bar Next Door. The front was known as the The
Wonder Bar
.
The Wonder Bar was built by a gang from Chicago's northwest side. They controlled all of the unions, and had a lucrative
booze distribution business. They transported their beer from place to place undercover in large oil tanker trucks, even
supplying Al Capone with the much-needed beer he couldn't find elsewhere. When the building was constructed it was
built bullet proof, bomb proof, and even had a tunnel that led to a nearby lake for a quick getaway. Now can you imagine
the size of the tunnels to be able to run large oil tanker trucks through! And yes, these tunnels are that big!
From Gambling Magazine, Stories of the Mob, I was able to trace Al Capone to one of the Burlington Wisconsin Locals,
Lynch. Here is the story:
Al Capone and Burlington, Wi
By John William Tuohy
Leading Capone's assault on the labor unions was George "Red" Barker and his first assistant Murray Humpreys.
When the decade of the 1930s opened, George Red Barker was, as one Chicago cop put it, "riding on top of the world."
Barker all but controlled the Chicago teamsters and was reported to be earning $200,000 a year as a result.
A West side Irishman who, before he took to a life of crime, had been an honest bookkeeper, Barker was literate,
devouring every union newsletter and newspaper he could find from anywhere in the country and paid for information on
locals as well.
Barker would get a copy of the financials and study it. If the union had potential, Barker recommended the takeover to
Ralph Capone and Frank Nitti who talked it over with Al Capone.
If Capone agreed, and he almost always did, Barker and his boys went after the union.
In early 1931, Capone urged Barker to go after the Coal teamsters.
Barker approached James "Lefty" Lynch, a semi-honest thug who owned the coal teamsters local 704, which delivered
fuel to the entire downtown district where every office building depended upon the local for fuel to warm its buildings
against the brutal Chicago winters.
Barker told Lynch that Capone expected him to turn over half the control of his union to him as well as his seat on the
prestigious and important joint teamsters council.
In exchange, Barker offered not to kill Lynch. On the upside, Barker told Lynch, Capone intended to double the union's
membership and as a result Lynch's income would double as well.
Lynch sat through Barker's speech and then tossed the hood out of his office. It was his union and he wasn't going to
give it up to Capone or anyone else.
Capone waited.
Later in the month, Lynch went to his summer home with his family to Brown Lake outside Burlington, Wisconsin. The
family was preparing a barbecue, and seated around a long picnic table, when Danny Stanton and Klondike O'Donnell,
two of the meanest hoods in Chicago, drove into the yard and parked. They climbed out of the car slowly. They were in
no hurry. There were no cops or witnesses around for miles. They were armed with shotguns, pistols and rifles. Stanton
walked over to Lynch and said, "The Big Fellow back in Chicago sends this message. You just retired from local 704.
From this moment on, you stay away from the Union hall. You stay away from the office. You stay away from the joint
council. You understand?"
Lynch nodded his head and Klondike added, "Well, just so's you don't forget what was said ..." and pulled out his pistol
and shot Lynch through both of his legs while his wife and children looked on in horror.
Lynch fell to the ground, groaning in agony. Stanton bent over Lynch to make sure he was alive and said, "You got balls,
I'll give you that." He stood up and turned to Lynch's daughter and said, "Get him to a doctor and he'll be alright."
At the next meeting of the joint council, Red Barker and Murray Humpreys appeared at the door with a dozen heavily
armed Capone torpedoes. Barker, carrying a baseball bat, stood in the center of the room and asked, "Which one is
Lefty Lynch's chair?" Somebody pointed to a large leather chair in the middle of the room and Barker sat there. He
looked around the room and announced that he was now running the Coal Teamsters Chauffeurs and Helpers Union
Local 704 and that everything would remain just the way Lynch had left it. The only difference was that the entire
treasury was turned over to Capone except for $1,000, which was left to cover administrative payrolls.
After that, Barker went to the fuel dealers in the district and informed them that they were only hiring union members and
that they were giving all of their drivers a massive pay rise or else Capone would see to it that not a lump of coal was
delivered downtown.
The dealers had no choice but to agree and passed the cost along to the real estate developers who rose the price of
office space in the area to make their money back.
Capone kept Lynch on the payroll to avoid a revolt in the ranks. However, he never appeared at another union function
for the rest of his life.
Tunnels Continued on Next Page
Excerpts from The Mound Builders of Burlington,
by Mary Sutherland Copyright 2004
There Lies a World Hidden
There Lies a World Hidden,
Mysterious, unknown, and forbidden.
Where dwells entities with technologies beyond our comprehension,
And knowledge kept hidden from us, in this other dimension.
Will the truth ever be revealed?
Earthly forces of power and greed want forever sealed,
Forbidden knowledge for warfare to wield.
When humankind understands,
To use the knowledge acquired from these strange lands.
For the benefit of humankind,
Then entrance into their world we will find.
Frank Scassellati Copyright 2004
AL CAPONE AND THE UNDERGROUND TUNNELS OF BURLINGTON WISCONSIN
Although many still ˜insist these tunnels do not exist, Al Capone is living proof that these tunnels not only existed, but he
and his ˜bootlegging associates used them to distribute their bootlegged alcohol and as travel routes from one place to
another without being detected.
Tracing down the underground travel routes of Al Capone and the ˜Speak Easy bars we can a fairly good idea where
these tunnels are.
Al Capone utilized the underground tunnels from Chicago all the way up into Canada! First I will start with our neighbors
Canada . The town is Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I found this information in an article written by Clifford Krauss, The New
York Times, November 16,2004.
As Krauss eloquently puts it, in a country that fancies itself as an angel in an imperfect world, the peccadilloes were
largely hushed up until 1985, when a truck fell through a downtown street, revealing a tunnel that led into a vast
underground network. After some investigation, anthropologists and local historians concluded the tunnels connected
several hotels that were long rumored to have hosted brothels and saloons during Prohibition.
An Alberta magazine began poking around, followed by a mayor's task force, and piece by piece an unsavory past
emerged that the townspeople had a hard time squaring with their wholesome self-image.
During the Prohibition era, from 1919 to 1933, the police force fell into the well-greased palms of organized crime -
reputedly controlled by Al Capone, who was said to run gambling dens and houses of prostitution up and down River
Street, connected by the tunnels.
Prohibition, of course, was an American idea, one that made little impression north of the border. Some of Canada's
provinces experimented with controlling alcohol in the early 20th century, but it was legal throughout Canada through
most of Prohibition. Yet, as a major railroad center that connected western Canada to Minneapolis and Chicago, Moose
Jaw emerged as a prominent trafficking hub for liquor and drugs.
"Once the tunnel thing exploded, people went 'Wow,' and instead of calling Moose Jaw 'the friendly city' it became 'Little
Chicago."' Within a few years, the tunnels became the centerpiece of a marketing scheme aimed at reversing years of
economic decline.
Now, rather than a skeleton in the closet, "Uncle Al" is more like a founding father. Stores sell Al Capone coffee mugs,
fedoras and toy Tommy guns. The coffee shop by the bus depot calls itself "Big Al's cafe," and one of the seediest
motels in town renamed itself "Capone's Hideaway." A mural above the slot machines at a new casino depicts Al Capone
smoking a cigar while a waiter pours some whisky into his coffee cup.
"Uncle Al is a big draw," said Mike Darling, the manager of Capone's Hideaway. "People are jumping on the bandwagon."
Actually, that is not entirely true. Descendants of the old establishment and some churchgoers found the whole
phenomenon embarrassing. Local politicians debated how and whether to subsidize tourist businesses that use Al
Capone as a marketing tool in local elections a few years ago, and the pro-Capone slate won handily.
Today, a portion of the tunnels have been converted into two underground tours: The Chicago Connection and the
Passage to Fortune, and are Moose Jaw's largest attractions.
Back in The United States, I will use as our starting point , Chicago and a great story concerning Geraldo Rivera and
Capone’s hidden treasure located in the tunnels. My source was Prairie Ghosts , Troy Taylor.
In 1986, television reporter and talk show host Geraldo Rivera took a national television audience into the old Lexington
Hotel, where Capone had his headquarters, located on Michigan Avenue and 22nd Street. Rivera was in search of lost
treasure, a fortune that Capone had allegedly left behind in secret vaults in the hotel. Earlier in the 1980’s, a local
construction company, while investigating the hotel for renovation, had discovered passages leading to hidden tunnels
connecting local bars and brothels. Capone was using them as , among other things, as escape routes from police raids
and attacks by rivals.
It was said that Capone had hidden caches of treasures in these tunnels and Geraldo Rivera was determined to discover
them and do so on national television. In 1986, Rivera and his camera crew went out , telecasting live, in search of the
hidden treasure. In a basement chamber, the crew blasted away a 7,000-pound concrete wall that was believed to be
hiding a secret compartment that contained thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars. Even the Internal Revenue Service
had agents on hand to make sure they got their share of the monies found. Unfortunately for Rivera, it was a bust. If
anything had been there , it was gone.
After all the promotion of this underground treasure and press , it was Harold Rubin, whom worked for another production
company, that eventually found the lost loot.
In my opinion, they missed the greatest treasure of all. They were so blinded by the search for the treasure , they forgot
the treasure of the tunnels themselves and the hidden knowledge and history they represented. After the hype over the
lost loot was over, everyone lost interest and as far as we know, no one has ventured down into the tunnel systems for
further exploration. It seems that only Capone took the time to follow out their routes.
Another place in Illinois to see more tunnels with the Capone connection is the Widow McCleary Bar in Thornton. By
viewing photos you will see that the construction of these tunnels is almost identical to the construction used in the
basement and tunnels of the Malt House Theater in Burlington, WI., which , like the Malt House, was once used as a
brewery before prohibition. During prohibition AL Capone owned the place and it was a Mob hangout. It was rumored
that the enemies or people that ‘ruffled the feathers’ of the Capone gang were dumped into the tunnels. Who
knows what has happened here but it's certainly out of earshot to the rest of the world...and may I add who knows what
still goes on down in the tunnels today. In the town of Rocheseter, WI , the elders have reported before they decided to
seal the tunnels, they heard wails and moans coming from within. Could these tunnels today be used for satanic
practices? Or could there even be a darker nature to the tunnels of what is being done down there...after all , now that
the tunnels have been sealed, who would hear the echoing screams of the victims?
During the Prohibition Period, Speak Easies , Safe Houses and Underground Taverns were springing up all over the
state. One that proudly boasts of Al Capones patronage is â Capone Bar Next Door. The front was known as the The
Wonder Bar
.
The Wonder Bar was built by a gang from Chicago's northwest side. They controlled all of the unions, and had a lucrative
booze distribution business. They transported their beer from place to place undercover in large oil tanker trucks, even
supplying Al Capone with the much-needed beer he couldn't find elsewhere. When the building was constructed it was
built bullet proof, bomb proof, and even had a tunnel that led to a nearby lake for a quick getaway. Now can you imagine
the size of the tunnels to be able to run large oil tanker trucks through! And yes, these tunnels are that big!
From Gambling Magazine, Stories of the Mob, I was able to trace Al Capone to one of the Burlington Wisconsin Locals,
Lynch. Here is the story:
Al Capone and Burlington, Wi
By John William Tuohy
Leading Capone's assault on the labor unions was George "Red" Barker and his first assistant Murray Humpreys.
When the decade of the 1930s opened, George Red Barker was, as one Chicago cop put it, "riding on top of the world."
Barker all but controlled the Chicago teamsters and was reported to be earning $200,000 a year as a result.
A West side Irishman who, before he took to a life of crime, had been an honest bookkeeper, Barker was literate,
devouring every union newsletter and newspaper he could find from anywhere in the country and paid for information on
locals as well.
Barker would get a copy of the financials and study it. If the union had potential, Barker recommended the takeover to
Ralph Capone and Frank Nitti who talked it over with Al Capone.
If Capone agreed, and he almost always did, Barker and his boys went after the union.
In early 1931, Capone urged Barker to go after the Coal teamsters.
Barker approached James "Lefty" Lynch, a semi-honest thug who owned the coal teamsters local 704, which delivered
fuel to the entire downtown district where every office building depended upon the local for fuel to warm its buildings
against the brutal Chicago winters.
Barker told Lynch that Capone expected him to turn over half the control of his union to him as well as his seat on the
prestigious and important joint teamsters council.
In exchange, Barker offered not to kill Lynch. On the upside, Barker told Lynch, Capone intended to double the union's
membership and as a result Lynch's income would double as well.
Lynch sat through Barker's speech and then tossed the hood out of his office. It was his union and he wasn't going to
give it up to Capone or anyone else.
Capone waited.
Later in the month, Lynch went to his summer home with his family to Brown Lake outside Burlington, Wisconsin. The
family was preparing a barbecue, and seated around a long picnic table, when Danny Stanton and Klondike O'Donnell,
two of the meanest hoods in Chicago, drove into the yard and parked. They climbed out of the car slowly. They were in
no hurry. There were no cops or witnesses around for miles. They were armed with shotguns, pistols and rifles. Stanton
walked over to Lynch and said, "The Big Fellow back in Chicago sends this message. You just retired from local 704.
From this moment on, you stay away from the Union hall. You stay away from the office. You stay away from the joint
council. You understand?"
Lynch nodded his head and Klondike added, "Well, just so's you don't forget what was said ..." and pulled out his pistol
and shot Lynch through both of his legs while his wife and children looked on in horror.
Lynch fell to the ground, groaning in agony. Stanton bent over Lynch to make sure he was alive and said, "You got balls,
I'll give you that." He stood up and turned to Lynch's daughter and said, "Get him to a doctor and he'll be alright."
At the next meeting of the joint council, Red Barker and Murray Humpreys appeared at the door with a dozen heavily
armed Capone torpedoes. Barker, carrying a baseball bat, stood in the center of the room and asked, "Which one is
Lefty Lynch's chair?" Somebody pointed to a large leather chair in the middle of the room and Barker sat there. He
looked around the room and announced that he was now running the Coal Teamsters Chauffeurs and Helpers Union
Local 704 and that everything would remain just the way Lynch had left it. The only difference was that the entire
treasury was turned over to Capone except for $1,000, which was left to cover administrative payrolls.
After that, Barker went to the fuel dealers in the district and informed them that they were only hiring union members and
that they were giving all of their drivers a massive pay rise or else Capone would see to it that not a lump of coal was
delivered downtown.
The dealers had no choice but to agree and passed the cost along to the real estate developers who rose the price of
office space in the area to make their money back.
Capone kept Lynch on the payroll to avoid a revolt in the ranks. However, he never appeared at another union function
for the rest of his life.
Tunnels Continued on Next Page
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