My Father grew up knowing his real mother as Aunt Eva, her sister Minnie had adopted Fred and raised him. The only story he knew as to why this all came about was the story that Minnie had told him. Minnie had told him that his real mother Eva didn't want him so she just dropped him at the steps of the Children's Home.
This story along with the events of the families aftermath of the Kansas City Massacre affected my Father throughout his entire life, he thought of it often and talked about it from time to time.
In my research I had discovered1 letter that my Father had saved his entire life which he provided me concerning his adoption. There were only 2 clues, "The Topeka Agency", and "Mrs. Shirk" as administrator who wrote the letter. That led me on a quest to find the adoption agency and secure his records if they existed. Once I found those records this is the story of my Fathers mother and how he ended up in the Kansas Children's Service League Home, and the story he never knew until he was 70 years old.
His mother Eva had been laid off from her job at Morrell's Meat Packing Plant in late November 1931. After her husband Fred had abandoned her she had met another man. On Wednesday December 3, 1931 Eva had quit her part time job at the drug store that day, and had told her boss that she was thinking of going to Springfield, Missouri to see her brother and see whether he could advance her some money. Her boss described Eva as being quite satisfactory when she had worked for him, but was quite slow and was unable to handle money correctly. On Thursday, December 3, 1931 she left the rooming house with her little boy and never returned. She had left her clothes behind and never paid a thing on her room.
Fred 1931
On that day, December 3, 1931, Eva for the last time left young Fred with her friend saying that she found work on the other side of town, and that she would be back by 7pm that evening. Eva never returned that evening. A few days went by and Eva still had not returned. On December 3rd 1931 not long after she had left her son with her friend, Eva had been arrested in Pittsburg, Oklahoma for robbery, forgery, car theft, and child abandonment. She was to remain in jail under the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, through February 1932. Her friend called the rooming house where she knew Eva had been staying. The landlady there did not know Eva's whereabouts, however she did know that her clothes were still there. Eva's friend went to the boarding house and acquired more clothes for young Fred.
On December 16, 1931, Eva's friend tired of caring for young Fred contacted the Provident Association who in turn contacted the Kansas Children's Home and Service League. The friend turned young Fred over to them with great hesitation and felt that Eva needed to learn a lesson. Fred was then taken and cared for by the Kansas Children's Service League Home, while they checked into the situation. Eva never returned for her son. Eva was excited about her brother's adventures and wanted to be apart of his life. What was about to transpire with by then, a little 3 year old boy, was about to change his life as he had come to know it along with his older cousin, Jack Smalley who was Clementine and Blackie's son. Adam Richetti was about to influence the course of history for these young children and other family members through his cavalier actions as a gangster that would eventually affect many family members for another generation to come.
By December 22, 1931 the family in Oklahoma and Ohio knew about Eva's situation and the whereabouts of her son, Fred. A friend of the Richetti's from Oklahoma came to the office in Topeka. He had a letter from Mrs. Clemantine Smalley, saying she wanted to raise young Fred, and did not want any of his father's family to get hold of him, since she feared they would not treat him well. The friend had told the agency that Mrs. Smalley was living with her second or third husband, had one child, and that they were living on compensation that her husband had obtained as an ex-serviceman. He felt that they were in poor circumstances as far as finances were concerned, and that Joe Richetti would be in the best interest in keeping Eva's son. He had always earned a good living and though he had just one leg, was a good worker. His wife Beatty was a former schoolteacher in Springfield at the time.
Fred's Adoption photo 1932
Fred eventually was adopted by Eva's sister, Minnie Richetti Sustik. This was the beginnings of young Fred's new life in Ohio.
Minnie, Eva, Fred 1934
Fred continued to have the question now of "What happened to his father". There were a couple of versions that he had been told over the years.
1. Fred Simpson departed for California and lived on 227 East First St., Los Angeles, during 1931 that address coincided with then China Town. It was there he became addicted to heroin and the trail lost.
2. According to an FBI report on a statement gathered from Eva while she had been incarcerated in Tyler Texas, Eva made reference that Fred died sometime between 1932-1934 in an automobile accident.
3. During my research Eva's older brother Adam and other family members had robbed a bank in Sulpher, Oklahoma. One of the individuals in the robbery was killed. That individual was listed as Fred Hammer in the local paper. It's was too coincidental that my Father's middle initial is "H". Was Fred Hammer an alias for Fred Simpson. Of all of the individuals that robbed that bank that day, all were family members with the exception of Fred Hammer was this an alias. Could this have been the end of my Father's Father?
Fred 1935
Fred grew up in Dillonvale, Ohio in a quiet little mining village of Jug Run. He attended school at Tiltonsville, and graduated high school there.
Graduation 1947
After graduation he was drafted into the US Army and served in the Korean Conflict. He achieve the rank of Staff Seargant serving in the Army Corp of Engineers, and was Honorably discharged at the end of the war.
Coporal Sustik 1952
He returned to the local area of Dillonvale and Wintersville, Ohio. After his enlistment his career began at Weirton Steel, Weirton, W.Va. He had been as pipefitter and worked his way up to foreman over the pipe gang. Fred retired from Weirton Steel after 35 years. He married Jacqueline F Pfabe of Wintersville, Ohio on 20 June 1953, and raised 3 children, Fred S. Tracey F. and Lynda D.
At age 74 Fred died of heart failure Oct 20th 2004. He had lived out his retirement years in Wintersville, Ohio. He spent most of his time doing wood working and bass fishing. Fred is buried at the Fort Steuben Cemetery. He was the last of the second generation in America.
