Cuckoos Get Two Birds

Lester Barth and Dewey Goebel were former Cuckoo gangsters who sided with Tommy Hayes when the latter split with the St. Louis gang. It is believed that the duo were responsible for the killing of some of their former gang mates.

Like most men of their ilk, Barth and Goebel met a violent death. On November 22, 1930 both men had just exited the grocery store they visited nearly everyday at the same time (a fact no doubt known to the Cuckoo gunmen in the Hudson sedan that was following them) after loading the groceries into Goebel's Ford coupe. Speculation was that the two men had a still in operation and the daily supplies were for the men they had running it.

As they drove off from the grocery store the Hudson, containing four or five men, pulled up along side and three of the men, each armed with a Thompson machine-gun, opened fire.

Bullets ripped into the coupe and went crashed through the rear window. The groceries exploded as bullet after bullet plowed into the cases. Goebel turned, hoping to lose the Hudson but the killers made the turn as well, continuing to pour fire into the coupe. After a couple of blocks the Ford jumped the curb and came to a stop. The Hudson continued and got away.

Witnesses approached the coupe and pulled the duo, both of whom had been shot in the head, from the car. Both men died later at the hospital. A search of their homes turned up a Thompson machine-gun, two pistols and ammunition in the coal bin of Barth's house.

 L. Lester Barth    R. Dewey Goebel

The death car