Module 4: The Murders of Lory and Ethel Price
The Murders of Lory and Ethel Price
On April 19, 1928, The New Britain Herald reported to its Connecticut readers, “Birger Hanged in Presence of 500,” and continues, “Thousands Surround Jail When Gangster Pays With Life for Hiring Assassins [to kill] Mayor Adams of West City, Ill.” Yet, the paper claims it was the accused gangster’s other actions that were even more heinous: “One of the most atrocious crimes attributed to the Birger gang was the murder of Lory Price, highway patrolman, and his wife.” Had he not been executed for the Adams murder, Birger would have been tried for this crime as well. But what made the murders of Ethel and Lory Price worse than Adams'?