Saint Valentines’ Day is upon us and it is one of the most dangerous days of the year. It has the potential to be as dangerous as trying to drive blindfolded in the overtaking lane of a German autobahn. You can get into as much trouble for doing the wrong thing as you can for doing nothing. Banana skins everywhere.
It’s a day when sales of flowers, cards and chocolates go through the roof. It is a time when love poems are written and undying love is declared. Proposals of marriage are made and are often expected. It’s a time for cute little teddy bears, pink hearts and little bows and arrows wielded by Cupid.
The origins of St. Valentine’s Day are a little cloudy but it appears to have its roots in the old Roman Empire. It seems that two characters named Valentine were executed by Claudius on the same date, the fourteenth of February, but in different years. Then at some later stage these guys were martyred and the date became immortalised in their memory.
One story concerns a priest named Valentine who offended Claudius and was duly dispatched. Claudius suspected that single men performed better as soldiers so he decided to ban marriage. Valentine decided that this was ridiculous so he continued to carry on performing secret marriages. That is until good old Claudius got wind of it.
There is also another story of Valentine, whether it’s the same person or not is also vague. In any event he was jailed and fell in love with the daughter of his jailer. Before he was executed he wrote a love note to her expressing his undying love, which was a bit rich given where he was headed.
St. Valentine’s Day hasn’t always been associated with chocolates and flowers. Gang warfare ruled the streets of Chicago during the 1920’s and one incident took place in a garage on the city’s North Side on February 14th 1929. Seven men associated with the Irish gangster, Bugs Moran, one of Al Capone’s long-time enemies, were shot dead by several men dressed as policemen. It has become known as the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Capone was never convicted of any charge related to the incident but it was generally believed that he was the one behind it. Capone, who was not the most romantic of characters, ran a vicious organisation and had no difficulty killing his competitors. It is believed that he was responsible for sixty four murders in 1929 alone. Bugs Moran operated out of a garage and on that fateful day on February 14th seven members of his gang were lined up against the wall and shot. It is believed that over ninety bullets were fired and some of the victims were literally cut in two
That’s the official version of The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and I mention it because as far as I am concerned there is an alternative version. And this is not generally well known. You see it’s no coincidence that this took place on February 14th. Neither is it a coincidence that the victims were all men. Even though Al Capone was blamed for it, he was nowhere to be seen and had a rock solid alibi.
So if you look at all the evidence you’ll find that it all leads to a different scenario. You see, I believe that the whole saga was organised by a bunch of disgruntled women whose husbands obviously forgot to buy them something on Valentine’s Day. So let that serve as a warning to all of you, for God sake don’t forget the flowers!!