The "Kiss of Death" Girl: Mary Margaret Collins

by Linda Paris

A rendering of Mary Margaret Collins for an article in which she

is referred to as the "Death Angel."

This blog entry is the first, in a short series of stories focusing on women who were dubbed "Kiss of Death" Girls in the press.

Mary Margaret Collins acquired her nick name from the press, who faithfully followed her trail of death as the years passed by.

“Mary changed the color of her hair as fast as her boyfriends find bullets.” Said one acquaintance.

Mary was a woman with “gangland” connections. Most of her male friends had nicknames like Bulldog, Gloomy and Dandy Jack and she never wanted for a boyfriend, even after she had earned the nickname ”Kiss of Death Girl.”

Mary’s saga began in Chicago Ill., during the winter of 1923. In spite of the bitter cold a brunette Mary Margaret was escorted to a popular nightclub called “The Rendezvous”, on what was supposed to be her 23rd birthday. Her boyfriend at the time was “Dandy Jack” Sheehy, a small time criminal.

The club had just opened and it was packed with 500 well dressed patrons that night. Apparently, Mary Margaret celebrated enthusiastically and at some point in the evening became violently ill. “Dandy Jack” promptly took Mary to what was described as an “ante-room”…an entrance or waiting area.

Mary Margaret (below) with 2 different Hair

colors.

The following events unfolded in rapid succession:

“Dandy Jack” shouted towards the barkeep, Henry Bing:

“Give me a bowl of ice and be damn quick about it!”

Bing growled back:

“ Go back to your table! A waiter will serve you!”

To which “Dandy Jack” replied:

“To hell with your waiter! Give me ice or I'll…."

And with that Jack produced a “shooting iron” and waved it over the bar while over 500 patrons stared in disbelief and Mary Margaret gasped for air.

It was just at this moment that patrolman John T. O’Malley entered the establishment and in a polite, discreet fashion demanded that “Dandy Jack” put his weapon away. Instead, Jack then turned his gun towards O’Malley and just as quickly turned it back towards Bing.

By this time Bing had his back towards Jack and he fired the gun.

A bullet entered the back of Bing’s neck and emerged from his throat.

It was then that a steward, Leopold Guth, closed in on Jack, brandishing a bottle. It took little time however, for Jack to turn around and shoot him dead.

Amazingly, another policeman, Detective William O’Malley (no relation) heard the shots and entered the bar firing on “Dandy Jack” and hitting him with one of his bullets.

As “Dandy Jack” Sheehy lay there dying, his last words were:

“Gee, they shot me. What do you know about that. The coppers shot me.”

Mary Margaret never did get her bucket of ice, but she did get her name in the paper.
“Dandy Jack” Sheehy was victim #1.

A "weather-worn" Mary Margaret

No more than 2 weeks later Mary Margaret was seen on the arm of a new boyfriend and had transformed herself into a glamorous blond. His name was Johnny Philips and he was described as a “beer runner, a tough guy, a cop-hater and a general all round unpleasant character.”

He had less than a year to live.

It seems that Johnny was involved in a brawl at a place called the “Northern Lights Café” one night. He had started the fight by beating up a female entertainer who worked there.

After the fight broke out someone called the police and told them that there was a riot.

The police poured into the establishment and stupidly Johnny and his pal grabbed 2 policemen and used them as hostages. They attempted to hide behind the officers to get to their automobile and make a get-away. They were unsuccessful.

Patrolman Frank Sobal, who was an excellent marksman, picked Johnny off, just as he started to wheel away.

Victim #2: Johnny Phillips

Blonde bombshell, Mary Margaret Collins

It took Mary exactly one month to step into the limelight again, this time sporting bright red hair.

The police wanted to question her in connection with a shooting that took place in a Florist Shop but this was not just any Florist Shop. The shop belonged to the notorious “Dion O’Banion” who ran a big liquor business on the side.

The police had learned that a few months earlier Mary had become involved in a “hair-pulling” incident with the wife of one “Mike Caruzzo”…one of Banion’s Lieutenants. Caruzzo was there when the fight took place and pulled Mary off of his wife slapping her around in the process.

At the time Mary was Dion’s girlfriend, so this caused Caruzzo and O’Banion to tangle and become bitter enemies.

As a result of this spoiled relationship…Dion O’Banion died in a hail of bullets not long after this event.

Victim #3: Dion O’Banion

Mary must have loved being a blond because a few months later, although the boyfriend had changed, the hair color remained.

Blond bombshell Mary Margaret Collins is seen in the company of Irving “Sonny” Schlitz. “Sonny” was a bootlegger and a jewel thief. He had gained a small amount of fame by being the first man to run liquor from Canada via airplane.

Sonny’s bullet-riddled body was found on the morning of August 28, 1925.

Victim #4 Irving Sonny ”Schlitz.”

Five years pass by . Not one to be idle, Mary seems to have been working her way up the gangster social ladder. By 1930 she was socializing with some real big shots in the “underworld.” Her company was in great demand and she is now seeing Eugene “Red” McLaughlin, kidnapper, robber and murderer.

It was June 7, 1930 that “Red's” body surfaced when a tugboat, chugging through a drainage ditch, in Summit, Il churned it up.

Eugene “Red” McLaughlin, victim #5.

The time was the Great Depression and kidnapping was rapidly becoming a profitable business. It was commonly referred to as the “snatch racket” among criminal types and that was Sammy Katz's specialty. Mary seems to have genuinely grieved for Sammy and was upset over his sudden demise.

Sammy was one of 3 kidnappers shot down in June of 1932, in a police ambush. The ambush took place in the office of Morris Shachter, a gambler.


When Mary heard the news she commented to the press “Sammy was one grand guy.”

Victim #6: Sammy Katz.

Davey “Jew” Bates had been seen escorting Mary Margaret Collins around town quite a bit in the following years. In the process of trying to execute a “hit” in Cincinnati, on another gangster, Davey tangled with police and lost big.

Davey “Jew” Bates: Victim #7

It is now 1933 and Mary’s reputation has followed her. For Mary’s contemporaries, a little thing like a “jinx” was no deterrent and such was the case for “Gloomy Gus” Winkler, a big time dealer in hot bonds and money.

When “Gloomy Gus” suddenly came up dead, there were some that looked directly at Mary Collins in spite of the fact that the word was he had “squealed” to the government about some stolen bonds.

As the undertaker was laying “Gloomy Gus” out in his coffin early the next morning, he got a telephone call from Mary.

“I’m coming right over!” she sobbed. ”I want to kiss him goodbye!”

And come over she did, indulging in histrionics over “Gloomy Gus’” as he lay in his expensive coffin.
Mary cried out:

“I knew him! I knew him well!”

which did not go over so well since by this time Gus’ widow had arrived.

Mary lost no time exiting the building.

“Gloomy Gus” Winkler #8

It was shortly after Gus’ funeral that Mary was picked up for questioning again by the police. She was arraigned on a vagrancy charge and brought before a judge on Friday, October 13, 1933.

“Aren’t you superstitious?” Judge Erwin J Haster asked her.

“Not a bit!” Mary shot back.

However for the next 2 years everyone else WAS superstitious even if Mary was not. She was no longer able to find playmates that were willing to play with her. She changed her hair color from blond to brunette, then redhead and back again but no one was tempted. They were not willing to risk her company. By now Mary's nickname as “The Kiss of Death” Girl was securely locked in place and no man wanted to end up on a slab in the morgue.

Sol Feldman, Peter Gilhooly, the

policeman on the case and

Mary Margaret (inset.

It took Mary two years to find the exception, Sol “Bulldog” Feldman.

The year is 1933 and Greta Garbo is expected to return from Europe and come back to America.. Pretty Boy Floyd is in the news and suspected of killing a police officer. But bigger than both of those stories is a headline that reads:

“GANGLAND SEES DEATH KISS WORKING.”

Apparently Sol Feldman had scoffed at his friends when they tried to warn him of the jinx that Mary Margaret Collins had carried with her for years.

On November 29th Sol Feldman was shot and wounded after smashing a furrier’s window and stealing a fur coat. He was taken to the hospital and released a month later almost fully recuperated. As he left the hospital he was greeted by taunts from his companions who reminded him of Mary Collins and her list of fatalities.

Apparently the thought preyed on his mind and Feldman became weaker and paler.

"This resulted in shock which lowered his vitality.” Explained Dr. A.J. Chesrow

when he was discussing Feldman’s case.

“It has reduced his resistance to the poisoning in his system.”

Feldman had a relapse and was sent back to the hospital in serious condition. He survived... but just barely.

Mary vanished from her old haunts and the death toll amongst Chicago’s underworld decreased noticeably.

“The Diana of Doom”

On February 5, 1940 there was much to read in the evening paper. Some of the headlines read:

"NAZI TROOPS THREATENING SWEDEN!”

“ARMED WORKERS IN GAS STRIKE!

Actress Ann Sheridan, dubbed “The OOOMPH Girl” came out with her annual top 10 Eligible Hollywood Bachelors list and left off all of the big glamour boys in favor of lesser-known actors.

Above: Actress Ann Sheriden

Amongst the big stories of that day the “Kiss of Death”-Girl makes what will be one of her final appearances in print.

“SHOPLIFTING SUSPECT DIES IN CROWN POINT!”

“DEATH OF PAL GIVES LIBERTY TO JINX WOMAN!”

“The Kiss of Death Girl was freed from the Lake County jail at Crown Point last night on a dead woman’s bond.”

Incredibly the curse of Mary Margaret Collins had struck again in Feb of 1940 and this time it was a female who suffered the ultimate price for sharing the company of Mary Margaret Collins.

Mary was charged with Grand Larceny and conspiracy to commit a felony in connection with a Gary, Indiana shoplifting plot.

Mary’s $1000 bond on the conspiracy charges was signed by a Dominie Pungatore but the money was meant for her co-defendant Anna Williams, 58, one of 5 people charged.

To the amazement of everyone, Anna Williams died in a Methodist hospital after becoming ill in jail. Anna’s bail money went towards Mary’s bail as a result. An additional $3000, a considerable amount at the time, was posted for Mary by a mysterious couple…Luella and William King.

Mary and the dead woman, together with 3 accomplices were arrested for the theft of 2 fur coats from the Gary Indiana, Sears Roebuck and Company.

The "Kiss of Death” Girl had been convicted 21 times on larceny charges by Feb of 1940.

Mary Margaret stunned everyone with the headline. Another of her associates comes up dead. The coroner’s office ordered an immediate autopsy on Miss Williams, who succumbed in a Crown Point hospital.

Anna Williams, 58, one of three women and a man arrested with Mary Margaret Collins in Gary Indiana on Jan. 23, 1940 died of unknown causes.

Feb. 19 1940:

“KISS OF DEATH WOMAN ON TRIAL”

The article states that Mary Margaret Collins, alias Margaret Martin also known as gangland’s “Kiss of Death” girl, pleaded not guilty.

Later her sentence was suspended.

Mary's final appearance in print would tell this sad story:

Sunday, August 25, 1940 the headline reads:

“KISS OF DEATH GIRL NABBED IN NARCOTIC RAID”

This time Mary Margaret surfaced in Chicago and was being held on what the police referred to as “dope charges.” The article goes on to say that 4 women and 2 men were arrested in a North Chicago apartment where over $4000 worth of heroin was found. Officials referred to Collins and one of her co-defendants as “dope addicts.”

Allegedly the other women arrested operated a “narcotics ring.” An undercover cop had a rendezvous with one of the suspects and was to meet them with 430 grains of heroin. Collins and her co defendants were turned over to the state and federal authorities after facing charges in the Chicago court.

A young and vibrant Mary Margaret Collins

I looked for more information on Mary Margaret Collins…the notorious “Kiss of Death” Girl, but was not able to find anything else.

Sad to think of the potential of this glamorous, enigmatic woman who ended up a thug and a drug addict.

I will always wonder just how Mary Margaret Collins met her end?

Paris Creative, LLC (copyright 2011, all rights reserved)