TALES FROM H-TOWN: THE STORY OF ANTHONY JONES

I moved to Harvey around 1974-75. My family and I moved into a house on 155th & Vine. One of the first people I met was Anthony Jones. He lived on my block across the street; and we were in the same grade school class. Over the years Anthony and I were in the same circle of friends on Vine. We played sports together, ate together, talked about girls, and did all the things that friends do. We went on to attend high school together too. We were tight, or so I thought!

It was 1985. Anthony had been getting into trouble with his parents for a while. They were very strict Jehovah's Witnesses, and he rebelled. Eventually it got to the point where he stole money from them, and had even stolen the family car! He crashed it into a stoplight! Eventually he was kicked out of the house.

When Christmas 1985 came around I asked my mother if Anthony could spend it with us. She said yes, and so he did. He ate Christmas dinner with my family, and spent about 5 days at my house. Eventually my mom said that his time was up, and so he left. A little bit after he was gone I noticed that one of my Christmas presents was missing. It was a cologne set. I looked everywhere for it, and finally figured that it had been stolen. Lots of people hung out at my house, so I had no idea who did it.

One night I was up late getting a snack. I always made sure to look around the property in the evenings to see if everything was alright. When I looked out of the back window I saw a light on in my garage. I knew that I hadn't left it on so I went to tell my mother. She said for me to call the police, and I did. When the police got there we all went into the garage -- there was Anthony sleeping! He'd set up a little living space for himself! The police got him up. My mother didn't want to press charges, so he gathered his things and left.

A few months later I was on college spring break. I'd broken my ankle playing soccer so I wasn't going to be able to enjoy it much. One day some friends came by to get me out of the house. We drove around Chicago, and the wind felt good going through my hair, and the toes protruding from my cast. When I got back home I found out my house had been robbed! All types of things were missing and my mother was furious! The neighbor had the nerve to imply that I might have been involved. WTF! I lost my whole music collection (which included classic WBMX hot mixes), money, and more! I was pissed and wanted to find out who did it.

I told my friends on the block what happened. In short order, they all started to have things come up missing too. We went through every street contact we had to find answers. A block meeting was called one night, in the clubhouse (my garage), to discuss the evidence. Aside from myself there was Tim Collins, Tracy Dyson, Aubrey Fourte and his brothers Mark, James and Terrance, Tim Collins and his cousin Donald, and maybe a few more people.

Carol Thompson came up missing money after Anthony was around! He'd also been seen with my missing cologne in his bag! Tim Collins' family was missing Avon that had been stolen after a UPS delivery. Anthony was seen selling it! The Fourte Family had ten whole frozen chickens stolen, and that led back to Anthony as well. That bastard was robbing his friends, and he had to pay! We decided that night that he was to have his ass beat on sight!

The first to catch up with Anthony was Aubrey and one of his friends. Anthony got beat down on the next block; and was hit with a swing set to top it off! A while after that I was in a car with Tim Collins driving. I was still in a cast. We saw Anthony on 150th and Marshfield. Tim pulled the car over and said "Wait here." He walked towards Anthony on the corner. Before Anthony could react -- POP! Tim hit him in the jaw and he fell over a rock. Anthony got back up just in time to get hit a few more times. Anthony looked dazed as Tim walked away saying "I just kicked yo ass and I'm gonna kick it every time I see you Bitch!" We drove off. Not long after Anthony got caught again by somebody. This time he went to the hospital! He had a busted blood vessel in his eye, broken ribs and a punctured lung.

A couple years passed. I'd stopped thinking about Anthony when Tracy Dyson had news to share. Tracy had a girlfriend in Harvey, that had a 15 year old male cousin staying with her. Tracy had seen Anthony hanging out with the cousin, but he found out just how close they were when he found them in bed together sleeping! Anthony had to be 20 or 21 at the time.

One night me and the boys were out at a friend's apartment in Robbins. Who walks in but Anthony...and his face dropped! He immediately started gripping (kissing up)! He was sweating bullets as he promised to get us anything we wanted to drink or smoke. The boys looked at each other and walked into the front yard. By this point Anthony was a pathetic figure, and nobody wanted to bother with him. Just then the 15 year old walked up and grabbed Anthony by the arm. He pulled him to the side of the apartment building and started shouting at him for talking to us. The 15 year old boy was jealous! As Anthony tried to answer him, he got bitch slapped! Then the 15 year old took him away! I never saw him again.

A couple years later I got the news that Anthony was dead. I don't mourn people who steal from me so I had no remorse at hearing it. He had been killed in a car while trying to beat a train over some tracks. Apparently he'd recently gotten a girl pregnant too. And so ended the twisted story of Anthony Jones

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