![]() ![]() A few hours later, Popovich was transferred to the Bridewell Hospital and, from there, to the Cook County Jail. Sirens screaming, it raced to Illinois Masonic Hospital. Then the wounded lovers were escorted into the back of the ambulance. After treating Jurges, Davis also looked at Popovich’s injury. Davis had a different impression of the severity of Jurges’s wounds. Moments later, John Davis, the Cubs’ physician, arrived. The half-empty bottle of gin and the suicide note rested on the table. She had suffered only a minor wound to her hand. Police officers located Popovich, who had returned to her room. After taking a quick look at the blood and the wounds, the doctor came to the same bleak conclusion that Jurges had: The ballplayer was probably dying. Soon an ambulance screeched to a halt outside. He rushed up the stairs to find him in the hallway, holding his side. His first thought was that his teammate was setting off firecrackers. Marv Gudat was in the lobby when he heard three sharp explosions coming from the vicinity of Jurges’s room. ![]() A terrifying thought rushed through his mind: I’m going to die. Jurges stumbled into the hallway, bleeding, and tried to assess his wounds. And the third penetrated Popovich’s left hand. Three shots were fired: The first ripped into his right side, colliding with a rib. They struggled for control of the weapon. Jurges reacted immediately, lunging for the gun and trying to wrest it out of her hands. Jurges went to the bathroom, filled a glass, and brought it back to her.Īt that point, Popovich pulled the gun from her purse and pointed it at her head. “I’m not going to go out on any more dates,” he said. Years later, Jurges recalled how he had responded. She told Jurges that she didn’t want to break up. She wanted to give Jurges one more chance, hoping he would reconsider. He said, “C’mon up.”īy the time Popovich got to room 509, she was agitated. She called Jurges from a phone in the lobby and said she wanted to talk to him. 25-caliber pistol into her purse, and walked out of the room. Popovich placed the letter on the desk, pushed a. ![]() My last wish is that mother, you, and the boys go to California and enjoy life to the greatest extent, and remember your father once in a while. I know what I’m doing is best for me and I hate to do it … but? We are getting along famously, just as everything should go, but a few people like Ki-Ki Cuyler and Lew Steadman forgot there might be anything fine and beautiful in our love and dragged it in the mud. To me, life without Billy isn’t worth living, but why should I leave this earth alone. I have just a few minutes of waiting before I see Billy so I’ll write and try to explain everything. She took out a piece of paper and wrote a note to her brother: That morning, Popovich sat at the desk in her hotel room, drinking gin and thinking about murder. Her plan was to confront Jurges on the morning of July 6. Just before the Cubs were to return to town, Popovich rented her own room at the Hotel Carlos. In June 1932, when the Cubs were in New York, Popovich called Jurges at his parents’ house in Brooklyn, and they argued. Jurges’s friends and teammates warned him to stay away from her, and he told her he wanted to break up. Jurges and Popovich began dating, but the relationship soured. She liked ballplayers and was romantically linked with several from the National League, including Al López, the Dodgers’ catcher, and Leo Durocher, the shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds. Tall and dark-haired, she had ambitions to break into show business. In 1931, he met a woman named Violet Popovich at a party. He had been signed in 1929 by Cubs scout Jack Doyle and was more skilled as a fielder than as a hitter. Jurges, born in the Bronx and raised in Brooklyn, was known for hard-nosed play and a fiery temperament. In addition to Jurges, outfielders Kiki Cuyler and Marv Gudat had rooms there for the season. Over the years, Cubs players regularly rented rooms at the hotel, which was within easy walking distance of Wrigley Field and various nightspots. ![]() The scene of the crime was not a surprise. On the morning in 1932 that cubs shortstop Billy Jurges was shot in the Hotel Carlos, the team was scheduled to play a home game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Photos: (Jurges) University of Nebraska Press/National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (Popovich) University of Nebraska Press/Collection of Jack Bales (newspapers) Chicago Tribune and Brooklyn Times Union ![]()
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