Lindsey Graham

Nevertheless, theories abounded.

Some people thought the Purple Gang, who operated out of Detroit, were making a move into Chicago.

Others believed it was the result of a falling out between the Northsiders and the Sicilian Gang.

Still others thought it was a hijacking gone wrong or merely a continuation of the war between Al Capone's outfit and the Northsiders.

Regardless of who was responsible, authorities were not going to let this one get brushed under the rug.

The police, the state attorney, and Coroner Boondinson all launched investigations.

As coroner, Bundensen wasn't just responsible for examining corpses.

The Illinois Constitution required that coroners investigate unnatural deaths and determine a cause by holding inquests.

Bundensen took his job seriously and was determined to do a proper investigation.

And as an elected official, he was keenly attuned to public perception.

He knew with such a shocking crime the public would demand action and wanted law enforcement to crack down.

So hours after the massacre occurred, on the afternoon of February 14, 1929, Bundensen picked up the phone and began rounding up a panel of jurors for his inquest.

To ensure the inquiry was above reproach, he chose highly respected Chicago businessmen with sterling reputations for being incorruptible, including company presidents, lawyers, court officials, and the dean of Loyola Law School, among others.

But then he went even further, announcing that he would be conducting a reenactment of the shooting at the crime scene.

The next day, he shepherded the six members of the jury into the SMC Carthage garage.

Along with the jury members, the police, police commissioner, members of the Justice Department, and press all packed the garage, eager to watch the drama unfold.

There were so many people that they were forced to huddle together in order to avoid stepping in the sticky puddles of drying blood still on the floor.

Bundenson cast detectives to play the victims, and as a doctor from his office read aloud the report Bundenson had written, Bundenson poked the detectives where each bullet had hit the victim they were portraying.

He even brought the dog back to contribute to the veracity of the reenactment.

Despite all these theatrics, though, not much information was learned from the demonstration.