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Al Capone's Personal Cuckoo Clock

From his Lexington Hotel suite hung this 1923 Black Forest Cuckoo clock made in Germany by Hubert Herr. Chicago American editor Harry Read visits Capone for the first time in 1929. Here is his description of the event. We are now in Al Capone's office in The Lexington Hotel. Room 230 Chicago American editor and reporter Harry read, Al Capone and Rocco Fishchetti are interacting. Daniel A. Serritella and William V. Pacelli are also present in the room. By turning his chair he could look directly down on the four corners of Michigan Avenue and Twenty-second Street. A second desk stood against the south wall immediately to my left. Opposite, against the north wall, was a beautifully carved Chinese cabinet with the largest cuckoo clock I have ever seen hanging above it. A third desk was pushed against the west wall and across the room, facing it, was a radio console between a fireplace and the door through which we had entered. The only pictures were conventional prints of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. A threadbare carpet, a number of substantial arm chairs and an electric adding machine thrust into a corner completed the furnishings. The place was an amazing hodge-podge with its modern office equipment and radio, its historical pictures, its Chinese cabinet and German cuckoo clock. When Capone noticed the frequency with which my eyes strayed back to that enormous timepiece his foot again sought the buzzer. "Rocky," he ordered, "play the cuckoo clock, will you?" "S'broke," replied Rocky in one syllable. "Broke! Who broke it?" "Some of the boys were making it go," said Rocky with a grin. Capone walked around the desk. "Come on let's look at it anyway," he said. "That's a swell clock. Got two birds in it. One comes out every fifteen minutes end chirps once for the quarter, two for the half, three for three-quarters and four on the hour. "He's a little bird. When he starts his four squawks his big pal pops out and cuckoo's how many hours it is. And a gong bangs inside. A deaf man could hear it. I had a hard time getting used to it when it first ran and the outfit nearly drove me nuts touching it off when I wasn't expecting it. They would wait until I got a long distance telephone call and then make it strike twelve. "Maybe you can have it fixed," I suggested. "Nothing doing!" he replied. "One of these days I'd drop it out the window. Don't get it fixed -- you hear, Rocky?" His attendant nodded and dropped a terse inquiry. "That all?" "Yes; but bring in some more drinks." Learn more about this infamous clock at http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com