Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring by Pete Earley Read Free Book Online Page B

however. Trouble seemed to follow Johnny. Merchants began to complain that he was not paying his bills. There were shocked whispers that he had been seen around town with various women. Gossip escalated after a loud public argument between him and a bartender ended in Johnny’s being kicked out of a popular nightclub. Johnny and Peggy began fighting physically again. Some of the brawls were so violent the police were called in by neighbors.
    When Arthur graduated from St. Patrick’s, Johnny took him aside and told him that he was going to college. Arthur didn’t want to go, but his father insisted. Perhaps he had failed his boys, but he wasn’t the first father to get mired in alcohol, and his problems didn’t mean that he didn’t want his sons to succeed. Arthur dutifully enrolled at the University of Scranton, but by the end of the first semester it was obvious that he was in over his head. Without telling his parents, he went downtown to see a Navy recruiter. He chose the Navy, he confided to me later, because he liked the uniform.
    Johnny was furious when Arthur broke the news, but there was little he could do. Peggy was certain that Arthur would be killed. Arthur listened to them complain for nearly an hour, then went over to Rita’s. To Arthur’s irritation, it was nearly a year before he was called to active duty. Rita saw him off.
    By the time that Arthur left, John, too, had found a means of escape from the family. He had used some of the money he had saved from working various jobs to buy a baby blue 1949 Ford for $590, a hefty sum in 1954. Johnny had hoped that his son would use the money for college tuition, but John showed even less interest in a college degree than Arthur had.
    John loved his car, in the way that only teenage boys can. He washed and waxed it faithfully, shampooed its interior, and fidgeted with its engine. On May 27, 1955, John was sitting in a soda shop on Jackson Street with a boy nicknamed Smiley, who suggested that if John needed money for new tires, they could break into a gasoline station and either steal some money or tires for his car. John agreed, but the first station they broke into didn’t have anything worth stealing. The next few hits also turned up little. Frustrated, they decided to go after a bigger score – Cuozz & Gavigan’s, a men’s clothing store.
    John and Smiley removed the cover from a ventilator and lowered themselves inside the rear of the building, but found the door into the main store barred. After several minutes, the two boys began climbing out of the store, only to be met by Patrolman William Shygelski, who had heard noises from the rear of the clothing store while walking his beat.
    Shygelski ordered John and Smiley to stop, but neither did, and the foot patrolman drew his revolver and began firing at them. John ran to his car and sped away. Undeterred, Shygelski flagged down a passing car and gave chase. It never occurred to John that Shygelski might commandeer a car, so he assumed he was home free. Slowing down to avoid attention, he stopped at a red light at North Hyde Park and Jackson. Before the light turned green, Shygelski’s car sped up, and he jumped out, gun in hand.
    “Stop! Police!” he yelled.
    John jammed the gas pedal to the floor as Shygelski dropped to his knee and fired twice more. He had taken aim at the Ford’s gas tank, but his shots hit the bumper. Shygelski chased John at speeds up to eighty-five mph until John finally lost him.
    A few days later, the police captured John on the basis of a tip from his mother. During several hours of questioning, John confessed to the attempted burglary and told about Smiley. The police called Johnny Walker to see if he wished to post his son’s bail. “No, he might learn something if you keep him in jail a few nights,” Johnny replied. John was taken to the Lackawanna County Jail and locked in a cell with adults. The next morning, Johnny Walker took Jimmy to see John.
    “Now you take a