The Telegraph [Alton, IL]
22 September 2013
By TOM EMERY
For The Telegraph
BENLD — In a town the size of Benld, the phrase “urban
legend” may be a misnomer. But rumors of gangster Al Capone in the town
persist, eight decades later.
Though unproven, many residents of this southern
Macoupin County village of some 1,600 residents believe that Capone conducted
all sorts of illegal business in Benld, including the manufacture of bootleg
liquor. A mining town established in 1904 with a large immigrant population,
Benld boasted 3,300 residents with at least 32 saloons around the start of
Prohibition and has been described as a sort of “frontier town,” based on its
lawless reputation. [...]
