Jim and Al Capone Ended Up on Opposite Sides of the Law
On This Date In History: Everyone has heard of Al Capone. In fact, old “scarface” is one of those figures in history that is interesting in that he has been remembered long after his death because he did bad things. Same with Billy the Kid who would probably just be described today as a thug. But think of all of the law-abiding people who go unnoticed in the annals of history. That leads us to Al Capone’s brother. On this date in 1952, Al Capone’s brother died. Jim Capone was quite the opposite from his brother. While Al was making millions in the 1920′s bootlegging whiskey during Prohibition, Jim Capone was a law enforcement officer specializing in violators of…Prohibiition!
Two Gun Hart
When Jim Capone was a boy, he ran away to join the circus. He traveled about the country and throughout Central America before arriving in Homer, Nebraska. For some unknown reason, he thought that Homer was a great place to live. So, he stayed in Homer and changed his name to Richard Joseph Hart. One reference claims that he chose Hart in reference to his cowboy film hero, William S. Hart. A flash flood struck the town and “Hart” rescued a man and his daughter. He then married the daughter. One source claims he served in World War I while another says that he “invented a war record and became the head of the local American Legion. He became known as “Two Gun Hart” because he wore guns on each hip, like a cowboy, and was said to be able to hit a bottle cap with a single shot from 100 feet with either hand. He became the town’s marshal and then the sheriff.
I Guess Jim Liked the Western Look For Two Gun Hart
I gotta tell ya, the history on this guy is not consistent. What seems to be true is that he became a Federal Prohibition agent and busted a bunch of stills and gained a reputation for being a tough guy. He joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a Prohibition Agent and was said to be quite rough. One story is that he killed an Indian in a barroom brawl in a saloon in Sioux City, Iowa. He was acquitted of any charges after the jury found out the dead guy was a bootlegger. He was re-appointed Homer’s town Marshal but was fired after he was accused of a petty burglary while on night patrol. Broke, he appealed to his family for money and his brother Ralph began sending him a monthly check. It was only then in 1940 that he told his wife that his brother was Al Capone.
As I said, the history written on James Vincenzo Capone is very inconsistent. Nevertheless, there is one truth out there that is quite ironic: Al Capone broke Prohibition Laws and Jim Capone served to uphold Prohibition Laws and the law breaker is the famous one while the law enforcer remains largely forgotten. Here is a biography about Two Gun Hart and here is another biography of both Jim and Ralph Capone, though I cannot vouch for the veracity of either account.
Rainfall Amount Forecast Wed Oct 8, 2008
The forecast remains on track with rain likely on Wednesday. The Hydrological Prediction Center has a revised QPF (rain amount forecast) that is advertising a greater rain amount for our area. If it is correct, then some folks may get more than the 1/2 inch to an inch rain total. That is good news. If you are looking for cooler, more fall like weather behind the front, then move or go on vacation because the air behind this front is generally no different than the conditions that we have had of late.
Satellite 1007 0215Z
Tropical Storm Marco Forecast Track 1006 11pm
Tropical Storm Marco: Tropical Storm Marco is one tiny little guy. Its the little
Tropical Storm Marco Spaghetti Model 1007 00Z
blob on the above satellite photo at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Norbert in the Pacific looks much better. You will find the National Hurricane Center Forecast Discussion for Tropical Storm Marco below. The forecaster calls it “minature Marco” and suggests it may be the smallest tropical cyclone that he has ever seen with but a single cluster of convection. This thing started off at the end of last week over the western Caribbean and wandered across
Tropical Storm Marco IR Satellite 1007 0315Z
the Yucatan. Monday morning it appeared over the extreme southern Bay of Campeche as a small circulation area and developed some decent winds. There’s a big fat high to the north of the system so it shouldn’t do anything but move into Mexico and then fall apart, though the spaghetti models suggest that whats left of it gets caught up in a frontal boundary and rotates around through the flow into west Texas. Its so small though I suspect it will not be a significant player down the road. Incidentally, Marco as a central pressure of 998 mb. When the remnant of Hurricane Ike passed west of Louisville and kicked up 40-60 mph winds with gusts to 75 mph for 4 or 5 hours, the pressure was 997 mb.
Al Capone, Jim's Baby Brother
TROPICAL STORM MARCO DISCUSSION NUMBER 3
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL132008
1100 PM EDT MON OCT 06 2008
MINIATURE MARCO HAS MAINTAINED ONE SMALL COLD-TOPPED THUNDERSTORM CLUSTER…ABOUT THE SIZE OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE…OVER THE LOW-LEVEL CENTER. THEREFORE…THE INITIAL INTENSITY IS BEING KEPT AT 55 KT IN LINE WITH THE LAST AIR FORCE RECON DATA…EVEN THOUGH DVORAK SATELLITE CLASSIFICATIONS ARE T2.0/30 KT FROM BOTH TAFB AND SAB. I HAVE WORKED SOME TINY TYPHOONS IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC BEFORE…BUT HORIZONTALLY-CHALLENGED MARCO COULD BE THE SMALLEST TROPICAL CYCLONE ON RECORD. INITIAL MOTION ESTIMATE 295/06. MARCO HAS REMAINED ON THE PREVIOUS FORECAST TRACK…SO THERE IS NO CHANGE SIGNIFICANT CHANGE TO THE PREVIOUS FORECAST TRACK OR REASONING. MARCO IS EXPECTED TO MAINTAIN A GENERAL WEST-NORTHWESTWARD MOTION TO THE SOUTH OF A STRONG MID-LEVEL RIDGE PARKED OVER MOST OF THE GULF OF MEXICO…AND MAKE LANDFALL IN 18 HOURS OR SO. THE OFFICIAL FORECAST TRACK IS ROUGHLY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NHC MODEL GUIDANCE SUITE. ALTHOUGH MARCO MAY BE SMALL IN STATURE…IT HAS BEEN ABLE TO MAINTAIN DEEP CONVECTION NEAR THE SMALL CIRCULATION CENTER THAT ONLY HAS A RADIUS OF MAXIMUM WINDS OF ABOUT 4 NMI. SMALL SYSTEMS LIKE MARCO CAN SPIN UP QUICKLY…BUT THEY CAN ALSO SPIN DOWN JUST AS FAST. VERTICAL SHEAR IS FORECAST TO REMAIN RELATIVELY LOW AND SSTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE ABOVE 28C UNTIL LANDFALL IN ABOUT 18 HOURS. THEREFORE…SOME SLIGHT STRENGTHENING IS POSSIBLE. THE SHIPS MODEL BRINGS MARCO UP TO HURRICANE INTENSITY IN 12 HOURS…AND UP TO 71 KT IN 18 HOURS…WHICH SEEMS A LITTLE TO AGGRESSIVE AT THIS STAGE. THE OFFICIAL INTENSITY FORECAST IS A BLEND OF THE STRONGER HWRF AND THE WEAKER GFDL…WHICH KEEPS MARCO JUST BELOW HURRICANE STRENGTH.
FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS
INITIAL 07/0300Z 19.8N 95.4W 55 KT
12HR VT 07/1200Z 20.2N 96.4W 60 KT
24HR VT 08/0000Z 20.7N 97.8W 25 KT…DISSIPATING INLAND
36HR VT 08/1200Z…DISSIPATED INLAND OVER EASTERN MEXICO
$$ FORECASTER STEWART
