Vivian Chase

Infobox Person
name = Vivian Chase


image_size =
caption =
birth_name = Vivian Grace Davis
birth_date = c. 1905
birth_place = Nebraska
death_date = death date|1935|11|2
death_place = Kansas City, Missouri
death_cause =
resting_place =
resting_place_coordinates =
nationality = flagicon|US American
other_names =
known_for =
spouse = George Chase (1921-?)

Vivian Chase (c. 1905 – November 2, 1935) was a Midwestern gangster of the 1920s and 1930s.

Biography

Early life

Born in Nebraska around the year 1905, Vivian Davis was the youngest child of Alfred and Sarah Davis. She had three sisters and three brothers; Hazel, Laura, Ella, Lewis, Frank, and Marshall. Soon after her birth, her family moved to Greene County, Missouri, where her father worked as a moderately successful farmer. [1910 USA Census Missouri State Greene County] When Vivian was sixteen years old, she married George Chase on April 1, 1921. She had to lie about her age (stating that she was 19 at the time) in order to marry without her parents' consent. [Marriage License Jackson County MO at Kansas City MO] The circumstances of her marriage are unknown; however, George Chase by this time was considerably older (30) and had begun to make a name for himself as a thief.

Arrests, escapes and notoriety

Vivian Chase first gained notice as George’s wife on December 23, 1923, when George Chase was arrested for an altercation during which he was shot by Ella Keller. Ms. Keller stated that George and his companions attacked her because she had reported them to the police and that she had to shoot George in self-defense. After arresting George, the police went to his home, where they found Vivian wearing six diamond rings. Since she could not explain possessing the rings, Vivian was arrested for "suspicion". She was released after three days when further evidence could not be found against her. [Kansas City Times December 26, 1923]

Vivian did not surface again for three years, when she was in the company of Charlie Mayes, also known as Pighead Hardman. On February 15, 1926, Vivian, Mayes, Lee Flournoy and Flournoy’s wife were arrested after a free-for-all fight in a rooming house in Wichita, Kansas. During the arrest, Vivian refused to talk. [Wichita Beacon February 16, 1926 ] The investigation led investigators to her brother-in-law Charles Chase and allegations of involvement with the Joe Bratton liquor gang. [Wichita Eagle February 17, 1926 ] On June 9, 1926, following a “drunken party and joy ride”, Flournoy and Mayes were fatally shot in a gun battle in Picher, Oklahoma . Vivian Chase was with them. The three of them had been under surveillance by Ottawa County, Oklahoma officers for several days because the deputy sheriff informed the Sheriff of Montgomery County, Kansas that he had found the people who robbed the Cherryvale Bank on May 29, 1926. Vivian was placed in jail, where she refused to talk to reporters. [Miami News Record June 10, 1926] She was released on June 13, 1926, after insufficient evidence was found to charge her with a crime. [Miami News Record June 13, 1926 ]

Once again the record went silent on Vivian Chase, until she resurfaced in June 1932. She was arrested with Jackie Forman and Enos Weeks for the robbery of the First National Bank in North Kansas City on April 9, 1932. She was held on $50,000 bond. It was a small robbery; no more than $1,500 was taken. Vivian was held at the Clay County Jail in Liberty, Missouri and escaped after four months by sawing through the bars of her cell and lowering herself down with a rope made of bed sheets. [Kansas City Times June 8, 1932]

After her escape from the Liberty jail, Vivian fled to St. Louis, Missouri, where she became involved with Walter (Irish) O'Malley. On July 10, 1933, Vivian participated in the kidnapping of banker August Luer. Vivian, O'Malley, and Percy ‘Dice Box’ Fitzgerald drove to Mr. Luer's home in Alton, Illinois. Vivian, accompanied by O'Malley, rang the doorbell and requested to use the phone. When she was let in and shown the phone’s location, she cut the line. O'Malley wrestled August Luer to the floor and gagged his mouth. Mr. Luer was taken to a farm where he was hidden in a damp underground cellar while his captors tried to collect a ransom for him. Mr. Luer was not a well man and, fearing that he would die before they were able to receive any ransom, his kidnappers released him after 123 hours. Both Vivian and O’Malley fled from Illinois back to Missouri after the bungled kidnapping. O’Malley managed to elude capture for two years until he was apprehended in Kansas City on May 23, 1935. Vivian eluded capture. [R. D. Morgan: “Irish O’Malley & the Ozark Mountain Boys” (unpublished)]

In the early fall of 1935, Kansas City, Missouri experienced a series of drug store robberies. The robbers were described as a man and a woman. The woman was further described as approximately 5 ft. 6 in. tall, slender, with hennaed hair. When victims were shown a photograph, they identified Vivian as female robber.

Death and afterward

On November 3, 1935, Vivian’s body was found in a parked car at Saint Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, MO. She had been shot in the neck with a .45 caliber gun, the bullet exiting through her chest. [Kansas City Journal-Post November 4,1935] When she was found, the coroner estimated that she had only been dead 2 hours or less, leading to speculation that her killer drove her to the hospital while she was still alive, expecting her to be found before her death. She had a .22 caliber pistol on her person, with .45 caliber bullets in her handbag. Newspapers speculated that she had been double-crossed by an accomplice and was shot before she could shoot her assailant.

Vivian Chase seemed destined for burial in a potter's field. The owner of the funeral home to where she had been removed received an anonymous call asking about funeral costs. The next morning, the funeral home received an envelope of money for the costs; also received were a blue dress and undergarments (her own) for Vivian to be buried in. Nine mourners outside of reporters and law enforcement officers attended her funeral. No one signed the guest book. [cite news |title=Gun Woman Is Buried |work=Kansas City Times |date=1935-11-09 ]

References

External links

* [http://bestyegg.blogspot.com/search/label/Vivian%20Chase Vivian Chase] posts on Best Yeggs crime blog