On This Date in Minnesota History: January 14

January 14, 1920 – Jack Burke, 27 years old, former boxer and St. Paul taxicab driver, who was shot in the head last evening during a pistol battle between the police and a gang of alleged liquor thieves taking whiskey from a boxcar in the Soo yards in St. Paul, died tonight at the St. Paul City Hospital.

Jack Burke¹

Eddie Holton, manager of the H & H Taxicab Company and Harry Rabinovitch, Winnipeg merchant, are under arrest following the gun duel with police and Soo watchmen in the Soo railroad yards at lower Seventh Street yesterday, where Burke was killed.

The gun fight resulted from an attempt by railroad agents and police to capture the men as they looted a box car containing 1,595 cases of whiskey consigned to Rabinovitch at Winnipeg.

More than 20 shots were fired at the bandits, with the battle lasting five minutes. The thieves returned the detectives’ fire almost shot for shot.

Burke was shot between the eyes by Special Agent D. L. Webb when the former boxer jumped from the box car and attempted to escape.
The liquor is alleged to have been sold to Charles Couplin, St. Paul jewelry merchant, convicted of robbing the Wicks Fur Company in Minneapolis; W. J. Uber, saloon proprietor; Mike Weisman and Ben and Harry Rosenberg of Minneapolis. Weisman is complaining witness in the trial of H. A. Gulliford, tried in Minneapolis on an extortion charge. They were named in a confession made to the police yesterday, according to Detective Captain George W. Welis.

In a statement issued by C. B. Reinardy, chief special of the Soo railroad, after an hour’s conference with Eddie Holten at police headquarters, he said that there probably would be ten or 15 arrests today.

It is believed that several merchants in St. Paul and Minneapolis and several persons well known in the underworld, who have made up the “liquor running trust” in the Twin Cities, will be implicated, according to Reinardy, who asserted this case may mean breaking up the ring.

Burke is alleged to have paid $700 on the deal; Uber a larger sum, and Twin City merchants still more in the purchase of the entire 1,595 cases, according to Soo officials.

Rabinovitch was arrested at The St. Paul Hotel an hour after the shooting by Detectives Judd Kelly and Hans Fabian, who, with Sergeant Fred McAlpin and Martin Farre, had been called to the yards by Webb when the men were discovered.

The box car carrying the whiskey, valued at $25,000, has been watched since it left Chicago several days ago, according to Chief Special Agent Reinardy. It was consigned to the Soo road for shipment to Winnipeg. But at Minneapolis it was redirected over the Great Northern and transferred to St. Paul where it was hauled to the Soo line loading tracks, according to police.

It is known that $13,000 has been deposited at a St. Paul bank as part payment of the liquor. Police are also investigating the report that the car containing the whiskey was switched to the loading siding with authority.

According to the confession, Rabinovitch met Holton early Tuesday night and went with him to the yards where he pointed out the box car in which the whiskey was held, and then returned to the hotel. Rabinovitch has registered with his wife and child at the Hotel Radisson in Minneapolis, police assert.

Rabinovitch, who denies any connection with the robbery, refused, police say, to open his door at the hotel when the detectives arrived and called several phone numbers, one of which police declare was the number of the Charles Couplin jewelry store.

¹The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Jack Burke Dies Due to Wounds in Liquor Fight. Harry Rabinovitch Is Arraigned on Charge of Conspiracy to Rob Car.”; Jan. 15, 1920; pp 1 & 6.

The Daily People’s Press; “Jack Burke Shot in Raid on Liquor Car. Former Pugilist Dying at City Hospital in St. Paul From Bullet in Head. Two Others Are Held at Jail. Group Caught While Unloading Car of Whiskey in Railway Yards.”; Owatonna, Minn.; Jan. 15, 1920; p. 1.

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