When it came to bringing down the infamous 1920s gangster Al Capone, a former Oneontan did his part. Chauncey W. Herrick was not one of Elliot Ness' 11 "Untouchables," but nevertheless played a role in sending Capone to Alcatraz prison in 1931.
Police in Chicago had been unable to put Capone behind bars for almost 10 years. When all else failed, on came the Internal Revenue Bureau, as it was known at the time. Then came the FBI, Treasury Department, Coast Guard and other agencies during a time when Prohibition was the law of the land. Capone was part of the criminal industry that rose to meet the demand for the nation's desire for alcoholic beverages.
Chauncey W. Herrick was born in April 1876 in Laurens and later moved to Oneonta with his parents, father Elman and mother Alice Kenyon-Herrick and four other siblings about 10 years later.
While growing up here, Herrick learned the trade of cigar making and worked in it for a few years in North Tonawanda and then East Syracuse before returning to Oneonta around 1906. Herrick had married Hannah Margaret Hunt of New York City the year before. Along with Clarence Miller, Chauncey became part of the Miller and Herrick plumbing and heating business for a short time. Herrick then worked in the laundry business before making a big change in his career. In 1914, Herrick entered the Internal Revenue Bureau, later known as the IRS, as a special agent.
Herrick's new career started in Syracuse and then took him to Buffalo, Washington, Jacksonville, Chicago and San Francisco.
Edwin Moore, a veteran columnist for The Daily Star, knew Chauncey Herrick through Oneonta's Masonic Lodge and local veterans groups, as Herrick was a veteran of the Spanish-American War.
Moore wrote of Herrick, "While stationed in Buffalo he was sent to Sodus Bay to investigate a suspected wine smuggling operation. He broke the case and the government was some $200,000 richer by reasons of the fines and penalties assessed.
"The Federal government was not satisfied that the wine growers of California were paying the amount of income tax which their apparent prosperity indicated was due and Herrick was dispatched there to investigate. He uncovered evidence of chicanery and "¦ a couple of million dollars flowed into the Federal treasury.
"In the late 1920s he was appointed head of the field office in Chicago and did considerable work on the Capone case."
Moore wrote how there was a bribe attempt made by Capone to Herrick, and Moore narrated the transaction: "Herrick, those bags my men are carrying contain just a million bucks in old bills. Get out of the country, or work it any way you want to, but agree now not to testify against me and the money is yours."
Capone had been charged with income tax evasion through the efforts of Elliot Ness and others, and a trial took place Oct. 6-24, 1931. Herrick didn't take Capone's money and was part of that trial.
Herrick never forgot about Oneonta. When he passed away in January 1937, he was returned to Oneonta and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery.
A news article in The Oneonta Herald about Herrick's death described how he "possessed in unusual degree the ability to make firm friends even on casual acquaintance, sincere friendliness being one of his strongest characteristics and, although he had been away from Oneonta for many years, he possessed an unusual number of close friends here and in the other communities where he had lived."
Well liked and incorruptible "" that was Chauncey W. Herrick.
On Monday: Oneonta deals with a noisy side effect of the Cold War.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.
