The Booze Runner

I have been looking over more of what my cousin Peter sent me from Guernsey and found something else about my ancestors that I find very interesting and quite amusing!

In one of my previous posts I talked about my 1st cousin 2x removed Linda Mary West, who earned a spot in my "West Women Hall of Fame" since she was such a kick-ass kind of woman.  Well, Linda had a son named Frederick William Harper.  Fred was born in Plymouth Devon, the Garrison town where his father was stationed and his parents liked to drink on weekends and kick roughneck ass.  It was not surprising to learn that Fred was not exactly an angel whilst growing up in Guernsey.  Apparently, his paternal grandfather Jack "Happy Harper, the Laughing Policeman" thought nothing of chasing Fred's ass across the "Bridge", belt in hand to keep him in line.

When Fred was 16 years old, he sailed on the SS Olympic to go live in the US.  Whilst there, Fred got a job running booze trucks over the Canadian border for none other than Machine Gun Kelly, during the height of prohibition. George "Machine Gun" Kelly is probably considered one of the most famous "gangsters" from the prohibition era.  His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson sub-machine gun.  Here is a "mugshot" of him that was taken after one of his arrests in Memphis:

George "Machine Gun" Kelly

According to family history, a watchful eye was kept on Fred while he was in the US by a family member who was a policeman.  This relative advised the family back over in Guernsey to send Fred home before he ended up in the electric chair. 

Fortunately, Fred didn't end up in the electric chair as predicted!  He eventually went back home to Guernsey and married Kathleen Florence Campbell and had 5 children.  Fred died on 09 August 1979 in Guernsey.  Here is a picture of Fred:

Frederick William Harper

What was really amazing to me after looking at Fred's picture is that he bears a striking resemblance to my brother John Martin West, who sadly passed away on 21 October 2009.  They had the same forehead, hair, eyes, nose and face shape!  The only major difference is that John's ears were different than Fred's.  God bless their souls and may they both rest in peace!