Mudlavia and Gangsters and Prohibition, Oh My!

 “All the records of the hotel were destroyed and the only means at hand tabulating a list of the patients was the remarkable memory of Harve Jackson, the day clerk of the hotel.” – Attica Ledger, March 5, 1920

Almost 100 years later, I can attest to these words! There aren’t a lot of resources on Mudlavia. After the hotel burnt down in 1920, what survived were mostly memories, stories, rumors, and local lore.

Local newspapers reported that the fire burned down on February 29, 1920, from a fire that started in store room 12. It was discovered by a maid retrieving linens.

What is interesting to me is that there is a Mudlavia ad at the Warren County Historical Society that claims Mudlavia was unburnable! Mudlavia boasted of its technology, which included a state-of-the-art sprinkler system with a steam whistle alarm. Some sources state that this was tested and worked perfectly, but it did not work the day of the fire…

The Attica Ledger also stated that they did not know the cause of the fire, so whenever I talk to people about Mudlavia, I always ask how they think the fire started.

There are two main rumors. The first one is that the maid was smoking in the store room and she left her cigarette on the linens, and they caught fire.

The second rumor is that members of the mob were hiding out at Mudlavia, and members from another mob found them, disabled the sprinkler system, and started the fire.

If the second rumor is true, we have to entertain the idea that gangsters hid out at Mudlavia... And oh, the local lore on Mudlavia's gangsters!!!

Mudlavia was situated in what Henry Kramer called “peaceful valley” in Warren County, Indiana. The hotel was nestled away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, making it the perfect place for the gangsters to flee to when things got “too hot” in Chicago.

Some articles on the internet claim that famous criminals like John Dillinger and Al Capone stayed at Mudlavia. In some ways it makes perfect sense. Mudlavia was hidden away (they definitely would have taken advantage of the secluded area), there was a train that went straight from Chicago to the Attica Station, making for an easy escape, and even though Mudlavia was in farm country, it was still extravagant and would fit the lavish lifestyle of these criminals.

First, let's discuss John Dillinger. He didn’t start his life of crime until 1922, and the original, luxurious hotel burned in 1920. By the time the hotel reopened in October of 1934, Dillinger was already dead. When you study the timeframe, Dillinger is out.

But what about Al Capone? That's a fascinating thought that he might have hid away at the extravagant hotel, possibly in a secret room with a secret tunnel! 

When you study Capone, you'll find that he lived in New York until 1919-1920, depending on what source you read, and then went later to Chicago at the request of mobster Johnny Torrio.

There’s a very small window between his arrival in Chicago and when the hotel burned down. When he came to Chicago he was a twenty-year-old bouncer, not the crime boss we all know him for. He did not take over the Chicago Outfit and become famous until after the original Hotel Mudlavia burned down. 

Okay, so there's a pretty slim chance Capone would have visited the first hotel... but what about the second one? The second very modest hotel was built in 1934, and Capone was prosecuted in 1931 for tax evasion, not looking good for Capone as a guest at Mudlavia.

 The thing is, there are so many rumors about gangsters at Mudlavia... could there be some truth to those tales? And if so, who fits the timeline?

The mob was around during the glory years of the first hotel. Big “Jim” Colosimo is credited to starting the Chicago Outfit, and ran gambling joints, brothels, and drug rings from 1902 until 1920. He was nicknamed “Diamond” Jim, because he wore white suits accented with diamonds. Mudlavia flourished from when it was built in 1890 to when it burned down in 1920, fitting Colosimo's timeframe exactly. He also had proximity to Mudlavia, and very expensive tastes, so it’s plausible to entertain the idea that he could have stayed there.

He brought in his nephew Johnny Torrio from New York, who became his second in command. Torrio was the one who brought in Capone in 1919/1920. When prohibition went into effect, Torrio wanted the Chicago Outfit to get involved in the lucrative bootlegging business, but Colosimo refused to, and was ambushed and murdered shortly after that.

I’ve also heard rumors about speakeasies and bootlegging at Mudlavia, an intriguing thought if I do say so myself. The Wartime Prohibition Act went into effect on June 30, 1919, which stated that liquor stronger than 1.28% could not be sold. The Volstead Act, which went into effect on October 28, 1919 carried out the 18^th amendment, which prohibited the sale, manufacturing, and transport of alcohol. The 18^th amendment went into effect at midnight on January 16, 1920. Considering that Mudlavia prided itself on its fine moral reputation, and didn’t allow vices such as alcohol and gambling, it’s hard to believe that the original hotel had any type of speakeasy, especially since it burned down just a month after the 18^th amendment went into effect.

One of the last things that people love to talk about are the secret tunnels. The rumor is that there was a secret tunnel system for the mob to escape from if they got caught at Mudlavia. Some people say that the tunnel went all the way from Mudlavia to the train station in Attica. That would have been over five miles of underground tunnels! I can’t find any actual evidence that there were tunnels, but it is brought up so often that I have to wonder!

So, are the rumors true? Did the mob hideout at Mudlavia? Did Al Capone walk its halls? Were there tunnels beneath the hotel? Was there illegal alcohol?

Primary sources don’t attest to any of these things, but there are many tales, and as the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire… especially at Mudlavia.