According to the Chicago Daily Tribune, Billy Jurges had been “playing brilliantly” for the Cubs prior to July 6, 1932, the day that 21-year-old Violet Popovich Valli, a “cabaret girl,” put his career on hold for a while. They had been seeing each other for about a year, and Valli said that Jurges was “one in a hundred thousand. I met him at a party, and I fell hard.”

Apparently Jurges (age 24) did not share the same feelings. After he broke off the relationship, she confronted him at his room in Chicago’s Hotel Carlos, where several other Cubs players lived. (The hotel, just a couple of blocks from Wrigley Field, is now called theSheffield House, though the old name can still be seen above the door.) The New York Times related that Valli “made one final plea for his love” and pulled a .25 caliber pistol from her purse. As Jurges made “a wild lunge” for it, the gun went off. One bullet “struck him in the right side, ricocheted off a rib and came out the right shoulder. The second ripped the flesh about the little finger of his left hand.” The third bullet hit Valli, striking her in the left hand and traveling “up the arm six inches.”

As she fled to her room, Jurges stumbled into the hall, calling for help. The Cubs physician, Dr. John C. Davis, happened to be in the hotel lobby, and after he treated both Jurges and Valli the two were taken to the Illinois Masonic Hospital. Neither was seriously injured.

That night a suicide note, addressed to Valli’s brother, was discovered in her room at the Hotel Carlos. It said in part: “To me life without Billy isn’t worth living, but why should I leave this earth alone? I’m going to take Billy with me.” (Later she backpedaled a bit, stating that “I had been drinking before I wrote that note, and when I went to Billy’s room I only meant to kill myself. He knows that.”)

Perhaps that is why Jurges, as the Chicago Daily Tribune reported, refused to sign a complaint against the “chestnut haired divorcee” and said he would not appear as a witness. She was still arrested and booked on a charge of assault to kill, however, and on July 15 she appeared in the court of Judge John A. Sbarbaro.

Not surprisingly, newspapers from all over the country covered the hearing. The Tribunewrote that “after a curious crowd had filled the courtroom, Miss Valli, a former chorus girl, made her entrance, wearing a white crêpe dress, trimmed in red, white hat and purse, and red shoes.” A subpoenaed Jurges “stepped to the bar” and told Judge Sbarbaro that he did not want to press charges and that he expected no more trouble from Valli.

“Then the case is dismissed for want of prosecution,” ruled the judge. After the hearing, Valli said that she would remain at home for a while. “I owe it to my self-respect to consider the entire matter a thing of the past,” she said. “If I happen to see Bill again, it will be just impersonal.” By all accounts, Jurges stayed clear of her, too, and while he recuperated he missed only a few weeks of the baseball season.

This photo appeared in newspapers on July 16, 1932 (click on image to enlarge). From left to right: Herbert G. Immenhausen, defense attorney; Violet Valli; James M. Burke, another of Valli’s attorneys; and Billy Jurges (with handkerchief to his face). Although Jurges refused to sign a complaint, Valli signed a contract to sing in local nightclubs, billing herself as “Violet ‘What I Did for Love’ Valli.”

Interestingly enough, when Judge Sbarbaro dismissed all charges against Violet Valli, he added “. . . and I hope no more Cubs get shot.” Unfortunately, this was mere wishful thinking on his part, for seventeen years later another Cub (albeit a former one) made newspaper headlines after a deranged young woman nearly killed him.

William F Jurges