1860 photo taken 4 days after Mr.
Lincoln visited Lincoln, Illinois, for the last time. Info at 3 below.
This President
grew;
His town does too.
Link to Lincoln:
Lincoln & Logan County Development Partnership
Site
Map
Testimonials
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission of Lincoln, IL
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Email a link to this page to someone who might be interested. Internet Explorer is the only browser that shows this page the way it was designed. Your computer's settings may alter the display. Print with Internet Explorer only. Est. 73 printed pages. April 24, 2004: Awarded "Best Web Site of the Year" by the Illinois State Historical
Society "superior
achievement: serves as a model for the profession and reaches a greater
public" |
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Marquee Lights of the Lincoln Theatre, est. 1923, Lincoln, Illinois |
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40. The
Gambling Raids in Lincoln and Logan County, Illinois, This chapter/page is dedicated to life-long Lincolnite Attorney Fred Blanford for his generous, tireless help (info, wit, and wisdom), encouragement, and inspiration throughout the development of this Web site since 2002.
40.1: Fred Blanford, LCHS Class of 1959, (1941--2008)
40.2: Fred and Marge Coogan
Blanford in Their Parlor (2003) |
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Introduction and Summary In May of 1950 Governor Adlai Stevenson began to order the Illinois State Police to raid businesses throughout Illinois in order to confiscate illegal gambling devices. Stevenson had been elected Governor by a landslide because of his campaign promise to reform government. Once elected, he was pressured to move against illegal gambling and the corruption associated with it. Caught in a dilemma, the Governor experienced a heart-felt need to crack down on gambling (and the need to fulfill campaign promises), but attempted to do so in a way that would not create political backlash--gambling devices added to the bottom line of many small businesses because countless citizens patronized the various gambling devices (slots, pinballs, punchboards, and fishbowls, for example). Stevenson would have preferred local authorities to enforce anti-gambling laws, and he would have preferred enforcing them in private clubs as well as in "the corner tavern." Note: For the story of the various state-wide gambling raids of 1950 as background to the present chapter/page, see Why Did the State Police Raid Lincoln, Illinois, on October 11, 1950? in this Web site (link in Sources Cited below). On October 11, 1950, Stevenson ordered the Illinois State Police to conduct extensive gambling raids in many taverns, restaurants, and other businesses in Logan County and Lincoln, the county seat--but not the private clubs, for example: the Moose, the Eagles, the American Legion, the V.F.W., and the Elks. The State Police raid Lincoln, Logan County, and other sites in Macon County on October 11, 1950, was the fifth in a series throughout Illinois. The raids in Lincoln touched off legal proceedings against the owners of the gambling machines--especially one-ball pinball machines--and those who offered these machines in their places of business. These 1950 State Police raids in Lincoln and Logan County sparked legal drama that ensnared state, county, and city police; lawyers; an assistant attorney general of Illinois; circuit and county judges; businessmen; ministers; mayors; city council members; county board members; a city attorney; and many private citizens. The controversial civil trial of the state vs. the pinball machines continued into 1951, giving rise to additional proceedings aimed at controlling amusement devices and eliminating corruption. The legal proceedings stemming from the 1950 State Police raid also inspired a controversial "Good Government" movement in the early to mid 1950s. In 1954, the local Good Government Council provided information that led to charges of corruption against a local justice of the peace. After his acquittal, this justice of the peace retaliated by suing his accusers for $900,000. The push for good government led to additional gambling raids in 1954 and 1960 in Lincoln and Logan County, which were conducted by local authorities in city and county government. Believe it or not, the 1954 raid in Lincoln was in a private club. The 1960 raid was even in private residences. Was the Democratic reform governor's vision of social justice beginning to take hold even in the heart of GOP land, where individualistic, enterprising small businessmen and many ordinary, broadminded citizens commonly "winked" at the gambling laws? (But the raids were never in the most prestigious private clubs--the Elks Town Club or the Elks Country Club!) The locations of private clubs, of course, were not secret, so those establishments could have been raided just as easily as the taverns and other businesses that offered gambling. The photo below, taken on Chicago Street during the 1953 centennial celebration of Lincoln, Illinois, shows that taverns (the Schlitz sign of Swingle and Montgomery's, later just Swingle's) and private clubs (Eagles) existed in close proximity--here, literally side by side. Several private clubs were located in downtown Lincoln, for example, the Elks Town Club and Knights of Columbus in addition to the Eagles. As indicated later on this page, taverns on Chicago Street in Lincoln and other downtown locations had been raided by the State Police in 1950.
40.3: Pre-Clydesdale WHITE MULE Budweiser Team on Chicago Street (August, 1953)
(Photo courtesy of John Swingle, son of the
proprietors of Swingle's Tavern (Schlitz sign). The man in the forefront at left is John's
father, John H. Swingle. The man next to him is Lewis "Zoo" Barrick,
long-time Budweiser distributor in Lincoln (this ID provided by Linda
Barrick, wife of Zoo's son, Jack). John Swingle identifies the photographer as Ernie Horton.
Note the brick pavement and the interurban tracks. To the right of the
Molloy Cafe, just before Kerpan's Grocery on the corner of Chicago and
Pulaski Streets, is a barber pole and a taxi cab office. The name of the
Dalmatian is unknown.) The following are the subsequent topics covered:
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Significance of the 1950s Gambling-Related Events in Lincoln and Logan County This page tells the fascinating stories of the gambling raids and subsequent legal activity in Lincoln and Logan County from 1950 to 1960. These are dramatic stories of politics, piety, and power; and the events described on this page are certainly among the most colorful and important aspects of Lincoln and Logan County history of the twentieth century. This chapter/page provides an original case study of relationships involving local and state law enforcement, the court system, city and county government, and various other local community elements, including the clergy and businessmen. An account of these gambling raids and related activity is long overdue--no previous history writers have touched these stories-- because of their unique significance to the history of Illinois (and the nation)--and they all took place in or near the first Lincoln namesake city. Curiously, small-town American life of the early 1950s is often portrayed as uneventful--much complacency and conformity--hardly any social strife. In the Lincoln Evening Courier of the early 1950s, the Korean War raged in the headlines, while the front page often carried stories related to legal and political activities stemming from the 1950 State Police gambling raids. This aspect of the history of the first Lincoln namesake city suggests that small-town Midwestern life could have its own social drama, its own "culture war" -- conflict between moral conservatives and more broadminded citizens -- a social phenomenon more often associated with present-day American life. The Lincoln, Illinois, of the 1950s was not entirely Mayberry R.F.D. On this page I have tried to be clear and accurate in order to be consistent with the educational aim of this entire Lincoln community history Web site. There is a great deal more that I could have written about some of these historic events, especially the controversy surrounding the Good Government Council's activities and the indictment of eighteen of its members; but here I have tried to temper truth with discretion. As a researcher, writer, and teacher of many years, I trust I have struck the right balance; but my readers, of course, will be the judge of that. The events reported on this page suggest important lessons. One is that labeling people as conservative (right) or liberal (left) oversimplifies. The members of the Good Government Council were motivated by traditional morality--the belief that gambling is wrong because it corrupts-- and were thus conservative (right), but they were also calling for reform and were thus liberal (left). Those who supported gambling were conservative in their belief in the traditional American principle that individuals should have freedom in the "pursuit of happiness," and both the business people who provided gambling devices and the gamblers were liberal in their willingness to deny or overlook the moral and civic corruption associated with gambling. Certainly those who supported gambling were radically liberal in their willingness to break the law.
The political/social difficulties reflected in the events
of this period emphasize the need for the rule of law. These events indeed
may have provided well-learned lessons to pave the way for a more moderate,
rational climate that has generally distinguished Lincoln's and Logan
County's
government in more recent decades. In
addition to books and articles,
I have relied heavily on accounts and photos published in Lincoln and Logan
County's only daily newspaper. It was titled the Lincoln Evening Courier
from 1940 to 1956 and was called the Lincoln Daily Courier from 1960
to 1968 (presently it is The Courier). I also usefully draw
upon my contemporaries--LCHS alums--whose memories of gambling I solicited
by email. Below, I offer some of these memories; others
are placed in relevant places throughout this page. I am deeply indebted
to these special and wonderful contributors (as are all readers who enjoy
this chapter/page), so let me thank these "Lincolnites at Heart" for all of
us.
From native Lincolnite Illinois Appellate Court Justice
James A. "Jim" Knecht:
"I remember sitting on the front stoop of Pluth Apartments on Sangamon
Street watching State Troopers raid the bars up and down Sangamon and bring
out machines [in 1950] . . . . It was highly publicized and seemed to be successful
only in the sense it made saloon owners more circumspect in having slots and
tote boards--punch boards--I remember seeing them after the raid." Email
Jim Knecht at [email protected] From
native Lincolnite Patricia Beckholt Kindred: "In regard to gambling, etc., I lived on
Lincoln Avenue and the house across from me (Jim Moriearty lives there now)
was rented (or something) by Al Capone who came to Logan County to see his
businesses (Maple Club; Coonhound Johnny's" between Lincoln and Lawndale;
and possibly other places. The occupants of the house would drive up in
their big black cars (looked big to me - a little girl). This was the early
30's. Hope this information is of some use." Email Patricia Kindred at
[email protected] From
native Lincolnite Pat
Hoagland Geskey: "I remember the horse betting parlor in Lincoln. My
grandmother, Pearl Langenbahn, used to take me with her to bet 'the ponies.'
It was upstairs above where Sorrento's Pizza is now. This would be in the
500 block of Broadway St. Jacobs Clothiers was below. I was about 5 or 6
years old. What I remember is a place that looked like the betting place in
the movie The Sting. When we went, I remember it being in the
daylight and warm weather. My grandfather was Fred Langenbahn. He was the
Schlitz Beer distributor for over 20 years here. His brother, Howard
Langenbahn, had a tavern on Chicago St. Kinsey worked there. They had
gambling upstairs. They had a crap table up there. On Friday nights we would
go to the tavern and eat fish and meet grandpa after we went to the movies.
I would always get to go up there to tell him we were ready to go home.
Always a crowd." Email Pat Geskey at
[email protected] Native Lincolnite Fred Blanford reports, "I can remember playing penny and nickel slot machines in many locations in Logan Co. They were not as much fun as the pinball machines which (in my memory) did pay off also if a certain level of accomplishment was achieved. . . . While a chair was too high, a beer case was about the right height for me to play the machines. Lincoln's involvement continued into the 60's as I recall reading about the seizure of a truckload of slots in Lincoln--reported in a Chicago newspaper while I was resident in Champaign. Fred continues, "The entertainment/politics angle goes back to the night (1950) my dad came home--said get in the car we're going out--and we drove to various locations in town to watch as the machines were hauled out of various establishments (to the County Fairgrounds as I recall) where a photo-op was created for someone to take a sledge to some of them. The only name I will name is C. Marvin Hamilton--Mike's dad. Even way back then Mike was a friend of mine--so his dad's involvement stuck with me while the involvement of other adults that were unknown to me did not make a lasting impression. Marvin was either State's Attorney or an Assistant SA at that time and was involved in any prosecutions that may have taken place" (from email to 175+ LCHS alums, 10-27-02). Email Fred Blanford at [email protected] This Web page documents illegal gambling of the late Route 66 era (1950-1960), but as native Lincolnite Dave Salyers reports, slot machines had also been popular earlier in the Prohibition era, when alleged bootlegger Coonhound Johnny Schwenoha owned and operated his infamous roadhouse just north of Lincoln on Route 66: Dear Leigh -- Just read some of the mail on slots, etc. [posted on the watering holes page]. In the mid-1970s, my father called me to ask if I wanted a slot machine. Long story short, he knew a guy who had several slot machines in his garage. Provenance for all of them was Coonhound Johnny's. A friend and I rented a truck and drove to Lincoln to pick up a vast array of separate parts -- sort of like buying several autos -- all unassembled. We hauled them back to Chicago and found a fellow who repaired slots and told him we wanted three completed, working machines out of the lot and that he could keep the rest (probably a heck of a deal for him, because he didn't hesitate a second in agreeing). Anyway, I've still got one lovely Jennings Indian Head 5-cent machine sitting in my home. Respond to Dave at [email protected]. Leigh replied: "Dave, I mentioned my ignorance [about slots] and suspect many other folks in the LCHS alums' email group are like me -- heard about 'em but never saw one. I did a quick search at Google's images and came up with the following image and description. Does your machine look something like this?" Dave confirmed: "Yes, apart from the fact
that mine sits in a wooden case with a metal rod at the bottom that serves
as a foot-rest for the "serious" player. The red side lights are
illuminated when plugged in, and there's a brass Indian head that you can
see just below the lemon, if you look closely."
40.4: Indian Head Slot
Machine from
www.jme.com/slotsbody.htm |
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Former Lincolnite John Feldman tells how he came to possess the machine shown in the photos below: "There was an old hotel in downtown, can't remember the street, but was right around the corner from the pool hall [formerly the Commercial Hotel and named the Howard Hotel in the 1950s--one block south of several taverns raided by the State Police on October 11, 1950]. My dad owned the building, and when the hotel manager heard the police were raiding and confiscating the pinball machines (deemed to be gambling devices that would corrupt our youth) he offered two to dad to put in his basement. One was an old bowling machine and the second was a Humpty Dumpty pinball machine with flippers, which I still have at home here. It is somewhat famous in that it was the first pinball with flippers in the US, written up in Playboy who had done an article on the history of pinball. Manufactured by D. Gottlieb & Co out of Chicago. My brother Larry tried to figure out how they worked and tore the bowling machine apart and we had to throw it out. Glad he didn't pick on Humpty. P.S. Judi would like me to get rid of it but I just can't. Too much history around it." Email John Feldman at [email protected]
40.5: The D. Gottlieb &
Company's "Humpty Dumpty" Pinball Machine from
Lincoln, Illinois, (Photo is courtesy of John Feldman, LCHS Class of 1960, its president of the National Honor Society, and owner and master operator of the Humpty Dumpty above.)
In the early 1930s,
designers of pinball machines applied electricity to add such lasting
innovations as the tilt mechanism. "In 1937, a feature emerged that. . .
used electrically operated wire and spring bumpers to lengthen the play of
the game. . . . The next major development, one of the most radical
innovations of all, was introduced in 1947 when D. Gottlieb & Company
unveiled Humpty Dumpty. This machine incorporated a feature that
its inventor, Harry Mabs, called flipper bumpers on the side of the cabinet.
For the first time, a pinball machine offered players some control over the
flow of the game on the playing field. The success of flippers was
immediate, and the game as we know it was born (Sharpe, "Pinball," p. 63).
Scroll toward the bottom of this page to see technical illustrations of the
tilt mechanism and electronic bumper, and a photo of the flipper mechanism.
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40.6: Upper Section of John Feldman's Historic Humpty Dumpty Pinball Machine Pinball machines were usually designed to use one or five balls. The one-ball machines were typically used for gambling, while the five-ball machines were used for amusement only ("free play"). The main gambling device confiscated by the State Police raids in Lincoln and Logan County of October 11, 1950, was the one-ball pinball machine.
More memories of gambling and roadhouses in Lincoln and Logan County,
Illinois, are found on the watering holes page of this site. See Sources
Cited below for a link to that page. |
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The Tangled Vine of Illegal Gambling and Corruption One of my Lincolnite correspondents, who wishes to be anonymous (no, it's not Fred Blanford or Jim Knecht), shares the following experience and observation that supports the view that where there is illegal gambling, there is corruption (bribes, payoffs, etc.). My correspondent says that in 1954 he ran into a former Lincolnite in an out-of-town tavern, and the two of them discussed the gambling raids for several hours. This former Lincolnite "went into great detail about the relationships" among various officials in Lincoln and Logan County in the early 1950s. According to my correspondent, "It would not be possible to have the gambling in Logan County at that time like there was without some type of arrangement with the law enforcement officials of that area. It simply would not be possible. That's common sense." In addition, my correspondent said the person he talked to in the tavern claimed he was personally involved in this corruption. This person "said his job was to take care of one special elected official at that time, and he would give a special amount of money to that individual every Monday at the old First National Bank building on the corner of Pulaski and Kickapoo. He made the payoff in the area where you can go privately to check the contents of your safety deposit box." My anonymous correspondent also writes that "I can remember going to shows at the Maple Club and show producer Alan Tidaback (probably have spelling wrong) would get up and say in the old days at the Maple Club the top floor of the Old Maple Club next door was a cat house and that there was a secret room for gambling at the Maple Club and he did have on exhibit an old crap table that was in that gambling room." [Note: More information about the Maple Club appears in Chapter/Page 36 of this Web site: Watering Holes of the Route 66 Era: Entertainment in the Fast Lane. See link in Sources Cited below.] "A lot of the people that knew things are dead. I remember seeing all of the slots and pin ball machines stacked up out at the fairgrounds one time when I came home to Lincoln. I knew a lot of the gamblers and bookmakers in those days. I played a lot of pool and knew John Hickey well and his poker game upstairs from the pool hall. Slick Foutch I knew" (Email to Leigh of 9-2003). Jim Knecht observes, "I remember in the late 1950s an assistant state's attorney who intended to make a name for himself by being against gambling and corruption--he wanted to run for state's attorney [of Logan County] and did so, but I believe he was soundly trounced because no one was interested in doing away with all gambling and all corruption" (email to Leigh of 9-9-03). Email Jim Knecht at [email protected] As this Web page shows, suspecting corruption
is one thing--proving it is another. |
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Gaming Machine in the 1936 Rustic Tavern on Pulaski Street
Amusement devices must have been a long-time tradition in the taverns of
Lincoln, Illinois, as indicated by the following incredible photo from 1936
provided by John Swingle. Is the machine in the background a pinball
machine? A bowling machine? Or what? (Note: the Rustic Tavern was the
alleged site where several men in 1876 hatched their plot to steal the body
of Abraham Lincoln. For more information about that abortive plot and photos
of the Rustic Tavern, scroll to the bottom of
3. The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln in this Web site. See
link in the Sources Cited at the bottom of this gambling page.) |
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40.7: Rustic Tavern Interior of October, 1936
(Photo courtesy of John Swingle. He
identifies the two men behind the bar as Frank Sumski (l) and Joe Sumski.
Others are unidentified. Notice the wood decor appropriate for the tavern's
name.) |
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40.8:
Politically Correct Gaming Machine Patrons Before PC Was Cool: Have you ever seen a more
guilty look than that of the man turning toward the camera? |
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Scope and Procedure of the 1950 Raids
40.9: Pinball Excitement Picks up in Lincoln and Logan County on October 11, 1950 The State Police gambling raids of October 11, 1950, took place in Logan and Macon County. "State Police, acting under orders from Gov. Adlai Stevenson, raided 49 establishments in Logan County. . . and seized 98 gambling devices, including 76 pinball machines, 16 punch boards, and 6 'fish bowls.'" Logan County communities raided were Atlanta, Broadwell, Elkhart, Lincoln, and Mt. Pulaski. "In a companion raid in Macon County, 79 devices, including 10 console type slot machines and 69 pinballs, were confiscated. About 70 Macon establishments were raided although they contributed a lesser haul than small Logan." Macon County communities targeted included Blue Mound, Boody, Colonial, Decatur, Maroa, and Warrensburg. Some rural taverns in these counties were also hit. In point of number of troopers participating and number of establishments visited, the operation was the biggest in the six-month history of the State Police crackdown on gambling" (Courier, 10-12-50, p. 1). "Fifty-two officers under the direction of Harry I. Curtis, State Police Chief, and Thomas P. Brennan, assistant director of public safety, participated in the Logan raid." The raids began at 7:00 p.m. and were completed by 11:00 p.m. "The raid in both counties came with lightning swiftness and without the knowledge of local law enforcement officers until it was underway. A single state patrolman entered each establishment on the list, tagged the illegal machines he found, and then waited until joined by other officers" (Courier, 10-12-50, p. 1). In Lincoln, besides taverns on Chicago and Sangamon Streets, various other establishments raided included the Blu-Inn, the Broadway Cafe, the Mill, the Tizit, the Tiz-Rite, and the J&J Tavern on Pulaski Street. The machines "were carried outside and loaded on cruising State Police trucks. Hundreds of people gathered in Lincoln's downtown streets to watch the Police at work. An interurban train was held up for some time while machines were loaded on Chicago Street." "Lt. H.W. Nofs, of Elgin, who participated in the Logan raids said the men had the 'full cooperation' of both local authorities and tavern and cafe proprietors during the raid. The machines were turned over to the custody of Sheriff C.T. 'Dutch' Kief,' with the State Police getting a receipt for them. Only one local proprietor was reported to have offered any resistance to the raiding officers, and his resistance was minor. A Lincoln cafe proprietor expressed a sudden desire to close up shop as soon as he saw the entering State Police. A moment later he decided to 'cooperate'" (Courier, 10-12-50). "In another Lincoln establishment, State Patrolmen encountered a city policeman off duty who was placed under arrest with the other patrons while the single machine in the establishment was removed." "A State Police lieutenant, questioned by a Courier reporter at the conclusion of Wednesday night's raid, said that his men probably overlooked a number of establishments having machines, and that several were found to be closed. He said the proprietors should not feel slighted at the omission, and suggested that any proprietors still having machines should call the State Police headquarters in Springfield" (Courier, 10-12-50, p. 1).
The confiscated machines were taken to the Logan County Fairgrounds and
stored in rows under the grandstand, and police guarded the machines. |
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40.10: State Police Raid on Chicago Street (Photo from the Lincoln Evening Courier, 10-12-50)
In the above photo, the white box in the upper right encloses part of the same "BARBER SHOP"
sign also seen on the far-right building in the photo below about a decade after the raid. |
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40.11: Chicago Street Barber Shop (at right) in the Early 1960s (Photo from the D.D. Welch collection) |
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40.12: Left to right: Barber Shop, Hickey's Billiards, and Slick's Inn (Photo from the D.D. Welch collection) Jim Knecht reports, "there was a high stakes poker game at Hickey's before our time in the late 1930s and '40s--I know because Hickey told me as did my father who gambled there and at the Maple Club. In the 1960s there was a high stakes poker game that ran in the basement of what had been Bree's and then Kendrick's and then Babe Naugle's pool hall next door to Hauffe's butcher shop--the pool hall was Hickey's competition for pool but not poker because by then Hickey believed it was no longer safe or economical to run a poker game" (email to Leigh of 9-9-2003). Email Jim Knecht at [email protected] Dave Salyers reports, "My mother said that soon after she and my father were married, he lost his job due to an injury. (In the Depression, if you weren't able to work, there were hundreds waiting for your job.) In any event, my mother said that she would put all change -- quarters and smaller that she got back from grocery shopping, etc. -- into a Mason jar. Every night, my father would take as much silver as he could get into his pocket and off he would go to Hickey's. My mother said that it was a rare night that he didn't come back with considerably more than he started with.
I recall when I was four or five
years old, going with my father to Hickey's on weekend afternoons. He'd
play, and I remember sitting at an unused table and playing with those
wonderful clay poker chips. By the time I was in grade school, he had
stopped playing, and I never really talked to him about that as I got older.
Very sorry now that I never learned anything about that part of my father's
life" (email to Leigh of 9-10-2003). Email Dave at
[email protected] |
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40.13: Don Loren's Barber Shop and Site of Former Hickey's Billiards on Chicago Street in 2005 (Leigh Henson photo) Note:
Photos 40.12 and 40.13 suggest that Don's front door and the striped barber
pole to the left of the door have not changed in a half century! |
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40.14: (l. to r.): Slick's Inn, the Empire Tavern, empty store, Molloy's Cafe (and beautiful '56 Fairlane) (Photo from the D.D. Welch collection)
The empty storefront to the
right of the Empire Tavern had been a tavern operated by the father of John
Swingle, LCHS Class of 1957. In July of 2005, John was gracious to take the
time to write in the middle of a move from Wisconsin to Arizona: "My dad's
tavern was between. . .the Empire Tavern and Molloy's Cafe. It was
originally Swingle and Montgomery, and was owned by my dad, John, and
mother, Ruth, after his partner, Harry Montgomery, died. Regulars used to
play cards at a table in there (nothing serious), have a couple of pinball
machines, and a couple of pool tables, where I learned to play. I remember
them talking about punch boards and tip jars in the early days, but I was a
little young in those early years. My dad sold the place in 1955 and retired
as I went into my junior year, but I don't think the new owner lasted too
long." Email John Swingle at
[email protected]. |
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Sidebar: Note the historic twin parking meters in the above photo. Shouldn't they be considered a form of legal gambling machine? You pay to play; then you go about your business, betting that you can finish before you need to feed them again or get a ticket.
By the way, most of these devices have been removed from downtown Lincoln,
but three or four remain in front of the post office, so you can still play.
Does using the post office services help or hinder your odds of beating the
clock? |
(Leigh Henson photo)
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Dining While Gaming in Lincoln During the Early 1950s After a meal
downtown in the early 1950s, you could amuse
yourself with various games of chance (not advertised). The following ads
ran in the Lincoln Evening Courier. Note the wide beer selection
available in Chicago Street taverns (four brands indicated by the signs). |
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40.16: Cold Budweiser Available
(Courier ad, 3-10-51, p. 4) |
40.17: Cold Hamm's Available (Courier ad, 12-18-54, p. 6) |
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According to Jim Knecht, Slick's Inn "was an interesting place that seemed to avoid both scandal and fights--a quiet bar. I think there had been a poker game upstairs earlier, but like [John] Hickey, Slick concluded the risks outweighed the benefits" (email to Leigh, 10-17-2003).
Note that one of the delicacies served at the Empire Tavern was carp, and it
could have come from any of several Logan County gravel pits or such streams
as Salt Creek, Sugar Creek, or Kickapoo Creek. |
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40.18: Cold Rheingold Available (Courier,
4-11-51, p. 4). "L" located at Broadway and Chicago Streets,
future location of the Thudiums' Lincoln Office Supply) |
40.19: The
"L," Near the Train Depot |
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"I remember an oversize bartender at Langenbahn's
Tavern who drove a white Cadillac and was a bookmaker on the side operating
out of a room over what became the Lincoln Office Supply or very near there.
This was in the 1950s and 1960s" (Jim Knecht's email to Leigh of 9-9-2003). |
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40.20: The Mill on Stringer Avenue (Photos by Leigh Henson in
2001) |
40.21: Mill Ad (Courier 1-30-47, p. 3) |
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40.22: The
Mill on Stringer Avenue (Business Route 66) in 1946 (Courier photo,
8-17-46) |
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Temporary Storage of the Pinball Machines at the Logan County Fairgrounds |
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40.23: Pinball Machines Lined Up at the Logan County Fairgrounds |
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40.24: Pinball Machines Temporarily Stored Under the Logan County Fair Grandstand (Courier, 10-12-50, p. 1) |
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40.25: Arrow Points to Location Where Pinballs Were Stored (Leigh Henson photo, 2001.This grandstand was demolished
in 2003 and replaced with bleachers.) Legal Activity Prior to the Civil Trial of the State vs. the Confiscated Machines 10-12-50: On the day after the raids (Thursday, October 12), the Courier reported that "petitions for the destruction of all the devices confiscated will be filed Friday morning in Logan County court and Friday afternoon in Macon County court, Assistant Director Brennan said. The petitions will be filed by Baird Helfrich, assistant attorney General, acting for the State Police. The petitions were not filed Thursday because of court recess in observance of Columbus Day. [Note: Baird Helfrich appeared in Logan County Circuit Court many times to represent the state, but I could not find a photo of him.] "In previous gambling raids, however, no action has been taken by the state against individual proprietors themselves, the office of Thomas J. O'Donnell, acting director of the Department of Public Welfare, reported. In a number of earlier raids, nevertheless, the local state's attorney has taken action against operators [machine owners], the office added." "Destruction of the machines would mean a loss of about $19,000 in yearly income to the city of Lincoln, which licenses the pinball machines. A sum of $8,000 comes from the Lincoln Pinball Association for an operating license under the city ordinance, and an additional approximate sum of $11,000 comes from individual operators through the Association, which collects on the basis of number of machines in the establishment. A city official said 117 pinball machines have been licensed for the city's 1950 fiscal year" (Courier, 10-12-50, p. 10). 10-16-50: The Courier reports that "a number of Lincoln tavern proprietors who were on the list of State Police raiding Logan County. . .have been warned they will lose their state liquor licenses if the machines go back. . ." (p. 8). The petition to the Logan County court for the destruction of the machines had not been accomplished as of this date. State's Attorney Edwin C. Mills was still working on the specifics. Pending court action, the machines, stored at the Logan County Fairgrounds, were under 24-hour guard by a State Police officer and a Logan County deputy. 10-25-50: The Courier reports that the gambling machines have been re-located to the Logan County Courthouse, where they will soon be opened and their contents removed.
Circuit Judge Frank Bevan ordered the Logan County
sheriff personally to deliver legal notices to 69 individuals in Logan
County who might have some claim on the confiscated machines and other
devices. The notices were to inform these people that they would have to
appear in court on or before November to answer the petition for the
destruction of the machines as prepared by State's Attorney Mills.
Failure to appear would be the same as confessing that the machines were
used for gambling. |
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Key Players from the Bench and Bar As indicated later on this page, Judge Bevan presided over most of the legal proceedings relating to the gambling
raids.
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At the time of these proceedings, Judge Bevan was serving his second six-year term as a circuit judge, and in March of 1951, he was re-nominated by his party. At that time, the Courier reported that Judge Bevan was a descendant of two of the pioneer families of Logan County. A native of Atlanta, Illinois, he was 64 at the time of his re-nomination. He was educated in the Atlanta public schools and the University of Chicago, where he received his law degree in 1910. "The Illinois Supreme Court admitted him to the bar in October, 1910. He began a law practice in Atlanta with
his father under the
firm name of Bevan and Bevan. John L. Bevan practiced in Atlanta from 1874
until his death in 1933. Until his election as circuit judge in June, 1939,
Frank Bevan carried on their extensive law business" (Courier,
3-23-51). |
40.26: Circuit Judge Frank S. Bevan (Courier photo) |
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40.27:
Logan County State's Attorney (Courier photo) |
40.28:
Lead Defense Attorney (Photo from The Namesake Town, p. 67) |
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As indicated later on this page, Edwin C. Mills, Sr., as the Logan County state's attorney (Democrat), played a prominent role in the legal proceedings relating to the gambling machines. The professional bio below derives from a Courier article in January, 1960, when that paper named Mr. Mills its "Man of the Month." Edwin C. Mills, Sr., a native of Lincoln (b. 1900), attended St. Mary's Elementary School and Central School and graduated from LCHS in 1918. Thinking about a career as a chemical engineer, he attended Eastern prep schools and graduated cum laude in 1920 from the Phillips Academy at Exeter, N.H. He then attended Yale before going to California because of a health issue. In Los Angeles he attended Southwestern University before returning to Lincoln in 1927, where for a year he read law in the office of Peter Murphy. At the age of 28 he then went to Chicago for further legal studies, also working first for the Chase Securities Corporation and then the Chicago Title and Trust Company. In Chicago he graduated from the Marshall Law School in 1930 and was admitted to the Illinois Bar. In 1928 he had married Esther Dehner in Lincoln, and he returned to Lincoln to begin his legal career in the early 1930s. At first he was in private practice as a trial attorney in the firm of Peter Murphy. Then, he was a master in chancery of the Logan County Circuit Court from 1932 to 1935. He was elected as the state's attorney of Logan County in 1940, 1944, and 1948. After 1952 he returned to private practice. His community service included being county chairman of the National Recovery Act, board member of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, and chairman of the Logan March of Dimes one year. Edwin C. Mills, Sr., like some other successful members of their professions in this community, was a leading participant in the Lincoln Elks Club--the most prestigious private club in Lincoln. These memberships in the Elks Club have significance for the gambling scene in Lincoln, and this significance is indicated later on this page. Mr. Mills joined the Lincoln Elks in 1927 and served as exalted ruler during the lodge year of 1937-38. In the mid 1930s, he participated in Elks ritualistic team competition, and during that time the Lincoln team won district and state titles, and placed third in the national competition held in Los Angeles. Mr. Mills was also an officer of the Illinois State Elks Association as district deputy grand exalted ruler for the East Central District of Illinois during the lodge year of 1942-43. In 1960 Edwin C. Mills, Sr., and his son, Edwin C. Mills, Jr., were partners in the law firm of Mills and Mills. In 2005 the senior Mills' grandson, Edwin C. Mills, III, practices law in Lincoln.
40.29: 1950s Luminaries of Bench and Bar from Lincoln and Logan County, Illinois (Photo from Dooley and Welch, The Namesake Town: A Centennial History of Lincoln, Illinois, p. 34.) The above image is a cropped section of a photo of judges and lawyers taken in the cafeteria of the Hotel Lincoln when they gathered to help legendary Lincoln scholar Judge Lawrence Stringer celebrate his 75th birthday. Left to right: Harold F. Trapp, Sr.; Luther Dearborn; C. Marvin Hamilton; Edwin C. Mills, Sr.; William S. Ellis; Harold Trapp, Jr.; and Leland Miller. As the story that unfolds below on this page shows, Harold F. Trapp, Sr., was a seasoned, skillful attorney whose strategies shaped much of the early phase of the legal proceeding in Judge Bevan's court hearings related to the confiscated gambling devices. Harold Frederick Trapp, Sr. (1877-1951) was the son Frederick and Emma Rubly Trapp of Springfield, Illinois. Attorney Harold Trapp's father had been a major legal and business counselor to the vast Scully estates: The Lincoln-based office of Scully and Koehnle was re-named Koehnle and Trapp in the 1880s. Frederick Trapp implemented an effective record-keeping procedure for the Scully estates. A later agent praised Trapp: "when Fred Trapp came, the records started and the business really began to move. . . . He contributed much that could be of use to William Scully" (Socolofsky, Landlord William Scully, p. 87). Harold F. Trapp, Sr., married Lillian Attchison April 20, 1908, at Mt. Pulaski. Their first son, Harold F. Trapp, Jr., also became an attorney and his father's law partner. Another son was Robert N. Trapp, M.D. Harold F. Trapp, Sr., attended the University of Illinois, where he lettered in track and received his law degree. In Lincoln, Trapp read law in the firm of Beach and Hodnett, and after Mr. Beach's death continued the office. Trapp belonged to the American and Illinois Bar Associations. Also, he had been president of the Logan County Bar Association. In 1933 Mr. Trapp was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for state supreme court justice in the third judicial district. A prominent trial lawyer, Mr. Trapp in 1950 was honored by the Illinois State Bar Association for 50 years of service to his profession. Attorney Trapp, a resident of 227 Tremont Street in Lincoln, was deeply involved in the civic life of the community. He was a charter member of Lincoln Lodge 914 B.P.O. Elks. In addition, he was the organizer and first president of the Lincoln Rotary. Also, he served as a trustee of Lincoln College. Mr. Trapp was a member of the First Presbyterian Church (information from Mr. Trapp's obituary in the Courier, 1-24-51, p. 1). In my little library of publications relating to Lincoln, Illinois, is a book titled Lincoln: The Namesake College, A Centennial History of Lincoln College (1865-1965). I bought it in a used book store in Springfield, Illinois--the town where Mr. Trapp's parents had lived--, and this book had been owned by Harold F. Trapp, Sr. The book contains his signature. Graphologists will note that the signature suggests Mr. Trapp possessed a strong, balanced, and unpretentious personality:
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The Beginning of the Pinball Machine
Trial: 12-7-50: "Claims Gambling Machines Were Seized Illegally" (Courier title) Mr. Trapp had been hired by nine members of the Lincoln Pinball Operators Association--the owners of the confiscated gambling devices--to defend the owners against the state's petition to destroy the devices as illegal gambling equipment. In court, Mr. Trapp came out swinging--he filed a motion to dismiss the state's petition based on the argument that the devices were taken by "unlawful search and seizure." Trapp's motion to dismiss was also based on the argument that the state's petition failed to show that the machines were used for gambling. "Judge Frank S. Bevan. . . overruled that part of the owners' motion that the petition by the State's Attorney was insufficient because it states the machines are gambling devices without any basis. Trapp held the state's petition jumps to a 'legal conclusion" that they are gambling devices without any description of the operation of the machines." "The judge then asked for arguments on whether there is any property right in the machines, assuming they are gambling devices and seized by legal means. Trapp argued the machines were seized without statutory authority and against the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Baird Helfrich, assistant attorney general of Illinois, was present in court for the state. " (As the "rest of the story" shows, Mr. Helfrich determined that Mr. Trapp was a formidable trial lawyer of the "old school" and that Mr. Helfrich needed to become directly involved to help the local state's attorney.)
"Trapp read in entirety an opinion from an Appellate Court [ruling] in a
1945 Chicago case involving roulette wheels and tables which held that
search warrants and the bringing of persons in possession of seized devices
into court are means of notice to proceedings clearly intended by Illinois
law." |
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12-8-50: "State Alters Pinball Case to Include Sheriff as Plaintiff" (Courier title) "Assistant Attorney General Baird Helfrich and Logan State's Attorney Edwin Mills were allowed by Judge Frank S. Bevan. . . in Logan circuit court to amend their petition for the destruction of 75 pinball machines seized in Logan County Oct. 11 by State Police to include the Logan sheriff as a party to the seizure." Judge Bevan allowed the insertion of the name of Clair W. Smith, Logan sheriff, to the list of plaintiffs against the machines which beforehand included only the 'people' and the Attorney General and State's Attorney as their agents.
Purpose of the amendment was to bring the seizure action directly under the
terms of section 342 of the Illinois criminal code, which allows the
confiscation of gambling devices by local or municipal authorities. |
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Attorneys Trapp and Trapp and C. Everett Smith, counsel for the nine owners of the machines who argued a motion to strike and dismiss the case, professed themselves 'caught by surprise' by the amendment allowed the state and sought an extension of time to extend and amend their own motion against the state's petition. As one argument in their attempt to show the petition was insufficient, they had held that the State Police had no authority to seize the machines. "Judge Bevan in turn granted their motion to revise, and late Thursday afternoon continued the hearing until 9:30 a.m. next Tuesday."
"The hearing had consumed five hours during which both the state and the
defense referred freely to judicial opinions in several earlier and similar
cases, in several instances drawing on contradicting dicta from the same
case. Ten or twelve law volumes were heaped on the tables of both people and
defense." |
40.30:
Logan County Sheriff Clair Smith, (Courier photo) |
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"The amendments allowed by the judge to petition and cross-petition marked
the third revision for the state, but only the first for the owners'
counsel. The judge earlier in the hearing denied two parts of the motion by
the owners, one that the petition was insufficient in that it jumped to a
'legal conclusion' the machines were gambling devices, and the other asking
the state to specify in its petition how the machines were operated as
gambling devices." |
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"The amendment to the state's petition adding the sheriff's name to the seizure was allowed over the objection of owners' counsel that it constituted a departure from the original petition and allowed a different basis and cause for the proceedings. Attorney Harold Trapp, Sr., indicated this would be one of the grounds upon which his revised motion would attack the people's case, i.e., how the sheriff came into possession of the machines." "It was also indicated the owners would move for a clarification from the state on its allegations and a statement on which how and on what authority the machines were seized and whether search warrants had been issued. "In answer to the owners' contention the confiscation was illegal because no search warrants were issued, Assistant Attorney General Helfrich cited four Illinois gambling cases and his experience with similar proceedings in 15 other Illinois counties in arguing that search warrants were not involved in prosecutions of either slot machines or pinballs, the latter of which he said have been held to be a kind of slot machine."
He said the state also does not require search warrants except in the case of
forcible entry to seize concealed property, nor due process of law 'for the
abatement of contraband' such as pinball machines. He said the circuit judge
in a similar case in Decatur threw out a motion against the state's
petition." |
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12-12-50: "Bevan Bars Motion to Drop Pinball Destruction Petition" (Courier title) Judge Bevan overruled "a motion by nine owners of 75 pinball machines [principals in the Lincoln Pinball Operators Association] confiscated in Logan County Oct. 11 to strike a petition by the Illinois Attorney General, Logan's state's attorney and sheriff for their destruction as gambling devices" (Courier, 12-12-50, p. 1). "The judge said his ruling. . .was based 'on the theory [assumption] that the motion admits it [the type of pinball machine confiscated-the one-ball] is a gambling device.' He explained this admission was implicit in the [defendants'] motion in its argument that the state's action was unlawful search and seizure." "The defense counsel objected to the ruling and asked leave to answer or plead over. The defendants' amendment had taken issue with the state's most recent amendment to its petition. . ., which named Logan County Sheriff Clair W. Smith as a plaintiff against the machines. It argued that Smith was not sheriff when the machines were seized and that the amendment constituted a departure from the original petition." [Below I provide information that offers one reason the former sheriff, C.L "Dutch" Kief, had not been named in the state's amendment to its original petition.]
Sidebar (12-14-50): The court proceedings
were heating up during the Christmas season. Perhaps some of the owners of
businesses raided felt a need to boost their public image at this time. On
this date, the Courier carried the following brief story under the heading
"Cafe, Tavern Owners Give to Rec Yule Party": "The spirit of Christmas is on
the wing in Lincoln. It invaded a recent meeting of Lincoln cafe and tavern
owners. Learning a committee. . . is planning a Christmas party at the Rec
for a selected list of youngsters, the group. . .demonstrated the Christmas
spirit by raising funds for providing a treat package for each of the
invited children. Those contributing. . .include Floyd Altman [owner of the
J&J Tavern], Swingle and Montgomery, Lee's Cafe, the 'L' Corner Tavern,
Rustic Tavern, McCoy's Tavern, Slick's Inn, West Side Tavern, Western Hotel
and Tavern, Looby's Inn, and the Old Milwaukee Tavern." (Note: I am
not sure that all of the preceding establishments had been raided by the
State Police, but some of them were.) |
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12-19-50: "City Police to Hunt for Unlicensed Pinballs" (Courier title) The Courier reported that the Lincoln city council, responding to a motion by Alderman Thomas Kenning, asked Police Chief Marshall Downs, to investigate the alleged presence of unlicensed five-ball pinball machines and shuffle-board games in a number of Lincoln businesses. The City of Lincoln had an ordinance that required businesses to license gaming machines that were to be used "for amusement only." These machines included the five-ball pinball machines. The type of pinball machine used for gambling and targeted by the October State Police raids was the one-ball pinball machine.
The photo below did not appear in conjunction with the above story. Instead
this photo appeared with a story about the new uniforms of the city police.
Yet, the photo shows those who were charged with the investigation of the
local [legal] five-ball pinball machines. |
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40.31: Lincoln, Illinois, Police Force of Late 1950 (Courier, 12-19-50)
The Courier story says that
the main feature of the new uniforms was the "Eisenhower" style of navy blue
jacket. From left to right, first row: Frank Barrick, Herman Ireland, Harry
Salmons, Earl Minder [police chief in the late 1950s], Elroy Williams, Paul
Seabolt, Louis Membower, and Chief Marshall Downs. Second row, left to
right: Health Officer Adam Schack-?, and Radio Operator Ed Morris. Art
Steffens was absent due to illness. |
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12-21-50: "Counsel for Pinball Owners Allowed to Act for Storemen" (Courier title)
"Over the stern objection of Assistant Attorney
General Baird Helfrich, Judge Frank S. Bevan . . . allowed the defense
counsel for the nine owners of 75 confiscated pinball machines to file
motions against the state as alleged representatives of 55 proprietors from
whose restaurants, taverns or gas stations the machines were seized last
October 11." |
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"As the pinball case entered its 70th day of litigation in Logan Circuit Court, the proprietors evidently became parties to the defense when the court allowed Attorneys Harold F. Trapp, Sr., Harold F. Trapp, Jr., and C. Everett Smith to file their answer to the state amended petition, claiming the machines are not gambling devices, and a motion to suppress them as evidence and return them to the nine owners because they were illegally seized. "Harold Trapp, Sr., told the court he now represents all the non-owners of pinballs involved in the case."
"Judge Bevan granted leave for the new motions
after denying a motion by Assistant Attorney General Helfrich requesting
that the defense counsel be ordered to show written authorization that they
actually represent the 55 proprietors. However, the judge denied the
non-owners' motion to strike the state's petition, but set a hearing on the
motion to suppress for 10 a.m. January 3. |
40.32: Attorney Harold F. Trapp, Jr. (Courier photo)
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The owners themselves also filed a similar motion to suppress
along with their answer to the state's amended petition. "The defendants [machine owners and business proprietors] "alleged that the
pinball machines were not seized by any local authority nor under a search
warrant, and no arrests for an offense committed in the presence of an
officer were made in connection with the seizures. The motions to suppress
argued that no complaint in writing or warrant preceded the raids and that
none of the defendant proprietors were arrested" (Courier,
12-21-50, p. 1). |
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12-22-50: "Committee of 5 to Take
Money from Stored Pinballs" (Courier
title) "A 'pinball committee' of five persons, acting under a circuit court order by Judge Frank S. Bevan, moved into the basement of the Logan Courthouse early Friday morning and began removing the money from 75 pinball machines which have been stored there since a State Police raid October 11."
40.33:
Logan County Courthouse in the 1950s |
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The pinball committee consisted of Sheriff Smith, three owners of the machines
(including Vince Schwenoha), and Arthur M. Wallker, a brother-in-law of
Attorney Homer B. Harris and a long-time employee of the Lincoln Sand and
Gravel Company. Mr. Walker was selected as a "completely disinterested"
person. |
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Judge Bevan's order that the five persons should count the money and place it in a local bank in the sheriff's name followed a stipulation between the state and the defense after agreeing that the money should be deposited in a bank for safekeeping until the case is adjudicated, with the amount of money contained in the machines not divulged.
The stipulation was arrived at after a motion by
State's Attorney Edwin C. Mills for the removal of the money by the sheriff
was met by an objection of Defense Counsel Trapp and Trapp that the money in
the machines is still private business and should not be disclosed unless
and until they are declared gambling devices by the court" (Courier,
12-22-50, p. 1. |
40.34: Businessman Vince Schwenoha (From a Tropics ad in the Courier, 1950) |
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[Note: Mr. Schwenoha owned Coonhound Appliances, 121 Kickapoo, and Coonhound Motors, 215 S. Sangamon. Coonhound Appliances provided service for radios, so the staff had expertise in electronics. I have no information that these technicians also maintained or modified electronic amusement devices. Mr. Schwenoha was also the founding owner of the world-famous Tropics restaurant on Route 66 at "the Four Corners" in Lincoln. He was known as "Little Coonhound," his father being legendary Coonhound Johnny, owner of a Prohibition-era roadhouse north of Lincoln on Route 66 (with rumored Chicago connections.)] On December 28, 1950, Sheriff Smith delivered a sealed report from Arthur M. Walker, of Lincoln, to Judge Bevan concerning the amount of money removed from the confiscated machines. The money was deposited in a local bank.
A hearing was scheduled for January, 1951, on the defense motion to suppress
the machines as evidence in relation to the state's petition to destroy the
machines as illegal gambling devices (Courier, 12-29-50, p. 1). |
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1-3-51: "Helfrich Accuses Pinball Owners of Stalling Hearing" (Courier title) "Assistant Attorney General Baird Helfrich . . . accused the attorneys for the nine operators [owners] of 75 confiscated pinball machines with a 'dilatory' and 'red herring' motion in Logan Circuit Court to divert the state's suit to have them destroyed." Helfrich asserted that "a pending motion by Defense Counsel Trapp and Trapp to suppress the machines as evidence because they were illegally seized is "a dilatory motion to avoid the use of evidence which they feel is unconstitutional. . . another red herring to divert the case from the main question--whether the machines are criminal or not." When Harold F. Trapp., Sr., indicated he would call the Logan ex-sheriff, C.L. Kief, and the current sheriff, Clair W. Smith, in seeking to prove the machines were not seized by any local authority but by the State Highway Police alone, Helfrich replied it was immaterial to the case whether Sheriff Kief said he seized or did not seize the machines, since the present sheriff is 'living up to his duties" by holding them in custody." "He further accused the defense of attempting to try the case 'piecemeal' on a number of issues of fact in their motion for a trial by jury." "Judge Bevan overruled Helfrich's objection to the operators' motion to suppress the machines and allowed Trapp to call Kief and Smith as witnesses. . . ."
"Ten or twelve ministers, members of the Logan County Ministerial
Association were present . . . . One minister said the group was a
delegation of observers spearheaded by the Association's Social Action
Committee. |
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Also present in the gallery were two pinball operators from Decatur, where a similar case is pending." "Under examination by Trapp, C.L. 'Dutch' Kief testified that neither he nor any of his deputies 'to my knowledge' participated nor arranged to participate in the State Police raid in Logan County the night of October 11, 1950. He said he told Assistant Attorney General Helfrich the night of the raid that he did not want to accept responsibility for the machines because he believed they were not gambling devices. He said he still believed they had been changed over to 'free-play' devices with no 'payoffs.'"
He said he gave the State Police a receipt for their custody after they
complied with his request that they be suitably protected from the weather
at the Logan County fairgrounds where they were assembled by the raiders." |
40.35: Sheriff C.L. "Dutch" Kief (Courier photo,
11-6-46, p. 6) |
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"Under cross-examination by Logan State's Attorney Edwin C. Mills, Kief admitted he had cooperated with the State Police in the storage of the machines and acceptance of their custody and that he had not returned any of them to their owners up to the expiration of his term, December 4." "Sheriff Clair W. Smith told State's Attorney Mills on the stand that the
sheriff's office did not object to the seizure of the machines and that,
during a conversation he overhead between Helfrich and Kief, the two had
agreed that a court should determine whether they are gambling devices" (Courier,
1-3-51, p. 1). |
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1-3-51: "Bevan Rejects Motion to Nullify Pinballs as Proof" (Courier title) Judge Bevan ruled after a four-hour hearing in which Counsel Trapp, Sr., called various business proprietors to the stand to testify that the raids had not been conducted with search warrants. Under cross-examination by State's Attorney Mills, one businessman admitted that "winning combinations" on the pinball machines in his establishment had been rewarded with both cash and free plays. He said that "once in a while" winners received a nickel for each cashed-in free play, admitting to Mills that as many as 10 to 20 plays were paid off at one time. The businessman said that he had "advisedly discontinued the pay-off in cash a week before the raid." Attorney Trapp continually but unsuccessfully objected to the state's cross-examinations. "Assistant Attorney General Baird Helfrich, at the conclusion of each witness's testimony, asked the court to summarily condemn and destroy the machines involved because the defense had admitted by its own witnesses the machines were gambling devices," but the judge allowed the hearing to continue. ". .
. The judge indicated he would allow a jury to determine whether the
machines were gambling devices, as requested by defense counsel. Helfrich,
however, asked for leave to argue against the trial as uncalled for in the
civil proceeding" (Courier, 1-3-51, p. 1). As indicated below, Judge Bevan suddenly reversed himself and decided not to allow a jury trial to determine whether the machines were for gambling or amusement.
In March of 1951, after the state's successful prosecution of the pinball case, Judge Bevan barely missed being nominated as a Republican candidate for election to the Illinois Supreme Court: "In a nominating convention of the third Illinois Supreme Court district Judge Bevan was second in a field of six candidates on the final ballot polling 158 votes against 161 for Judge George W. Bristow of Paris."
At a Republican convention of delegates from the five-county 11th judicial
district, Judge Bevan was nominated for re-election to the circuit court"
(Courier, 3-23-51). |
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1-7-51: Logan Co. Churches Urge Gov. Stevenson to Intervene in Pinball Hearings (Courier title)
A Courier story of February, 1951--a month
after the pinball hearings were concluded--reported that in the first week
of January, 1951--just before Judge Bevan decided not to allow a jury to
determine whether the pinball machines were gambling devices, "two
Logan County churches had petitioned the Illinois governor for intervention
in the trial of 75 pinball machines in Logan circuit court . . . ." |
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"A letter urging Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson to use his 'influence' to secure the destruction of the machines, signed by 60 or more members of the Beason Methodist Church and 40 members of the Harmony Methodist Church, was mailed a week or ten days before the conclusion of the court case." "It evoked a reply from the governor's secretary, who said that Stevenson was too busy with the opening of the General Assembly to answer personally, although he had read it 'with interest and appreciation.' Neither letter nor reply was released to newsmen from the governor's office." "A letter of similar wording was addressed to Lincoln's Mayor Alois M. Feldman at the same time. It also was revealed, asking his aid in the interests of a 'clean community.' That letter was not acknowledged." "Commending the governor for his action in cleaning up gambling in the state, the letter to him said: 'There is some talk that the pinball machines confiscated in and around Lincoln last Oct. 11 may eventually be turned back to their owners. We sincerely hope not.'" "If it is within the power of law to secure the destruction of these machines,' the letter went on, 'we urge you to use your influence to do so. . . you can thereby win our deepest gratitude by helping to make our community as clean and wholesome as possible.'" "The governor's secretary, in reply, said that 'it was encouraging to the governor to know that a number of good people are standing behind him in his efforts to promote clean government.'"
"The reply, however, was reportedly careful not
to commit the governor to any definite course of action in regard to using
his 'influence' in the Logan County pinball case." |
40.36: 1950 Movie Ad in Courier This movie ad suggests that in the 1950s while conservatives condemned gambling, others found it a source of amusement. "The more things change, the more they stay the same?" |
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"The letter from the governor's secretary noted that 'the forces on the other side of the question always use influence and often pressure to achieve their desire ends. . . because of that, he appreciates your influence on his side.' Mailing of the letters to Governor Stevenson and Mayor Feldman followed close upon the delivery Sunday, December 31, 1950, by the Rev. J.W. Pursell of an entire sermon on the 'evils of gambling' to his congregation at the Beason and Harmony churches. The sermons were made at the suggestion of members of both churches, and the 100 signatures went on the letters the same Sunday." "The letter soliciting the governor's aid was mailed at a stage in the pinball trial when defense counsel for nine operators of the machines. . . were arguing that the machines had been illegally seized and should be suppressed as evidence in the state's case against them." "The letter preceding by only a few days the appearance in the circuit courtroom as 'observers' members of the Logan Ministerial Association Social Action Committee" (Courier, 2-3-51).
Note: Although Stevenson
obviously discussed his secretary's letter of reply with her, he did not
sign it, and so that letter neither appears in nor is referred to in The
Papers of Adlai E. Stevenson, [Vol.] III: Governor of Illinois, 1949-1953, eds.
Walter Johnson and Carol Evans (the latter being one of Stevenson's
secretaries) [NY: Little Brown, 1973]). Curiously, the secretary's letter
does not say that the Governor would have no legal means of influencing the
Logan County pinball machine trial, and the question remains whether
Stevenson had special communication with his Attorney General's office in
this matter. The question is especially poignant in view of the developments
described below. |
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Conclusion and Outcome of the Civil Trial of the State vs. the Pinball Machines 1-10-51: "Bevan Cuts Further Pleadings by Pinball Operators' Defense" (Courier title) "Judge Frank S. Bevan ruled to strike all answers by the defense against the state's petition for the destruction of the machines because of what he termed 'false pleadings." He defaulted all defendants in the case and said he would allow no further pleadings by operators or proprietors because they had 'attempted to impede the orderly progress of the court." "He threatened to assess each pinball operator and proprietor with all the costs of the sheriff and State Police in guarding the machines since their Oct. 11, 1950, seizure because of the improper pleadings." "An amended answer filed . . . by Defense Counsel Harold F. Trapp, Sr., was branded 'an insult to the dignity of the court' by the judge because it was 'absolutely inconsistent' with the sworn testimony last week of a Lincoln restaurant proprietor and a cafe bartender." "But they [the machines] had all been changed to free plays," Trapp insisted. He . . . then asked the court's leave to withdraw from the case and allow his clients to seek new counsel. He claimed he had been acting in good faith." Judge Bevan said he would not allow any further delay for a hearing of the original petition for the destruction of the machines. The judge then allowed Helfrich to set up a pinball machine in open court to demonstrate its operation as Helfrich called witnesses for the state. The machine tag indicated it had been in the Tizit Restaurant on Chicago Street.
40.37: Ad from the 1947 Lincolnite Note: the pinball machine demonstrated in Logan County Circuit Court had come from the restaurant where the world-famous "Pig Hip Sandwich" had been invented and which became part of the legend of Route 66 in Illinois. There is even a Pig Hip Restaurant Museum at Broadwell, Illinois, supported by the Illinois Route 66 Association. In addition to the four proprietors, the state called State Policeman Howard Stein of Bloomington, Illinois. Stein said he had investigated the pinball machines in sixteen locations in Lincoln on six days just prior to the raid. "Stein testified he received or witnessed the receipt of both cash and merchandise in return for free plays registered upon the machines. He listed as payoffs from different establishments two cigars, $1.00 in cash, a sandwich and a cup of coffee, and miscellaneous amounts of change." "In one establishment he said there were so many young people playing the machines that he was not able to get near them. In another establishment two sixteen-year-old boys played for a half-hour before winning anything" (Courier, 1-10-51, p. 1). A second State Policeman, W.T. Hall of Springfield, demonstrated the working of the machine confiscated from the Tizit. "He placed 30 nickels in the machine, which had been set up in open court, but won nothing after attempting to build up the odds. 'The machine is so constructed that the high-paying odds are difficult to obtain,' Hall said. 'It has the most complicated system of wiring and lights I have ever seen. . . If I play long enough, I might win.' He said he spent a full day in Logan County last August 3 making a spot check on gambling under orders of a superior" (Courier, 1-11-51). Helfrich also attempted to show that the Lincoln Pinball Operators Association had used intimidation to force local businessmen to use its various kinds of amusement devices--including shuffleboard machines and jukeboxes--, effectively monopolizing the local market these kinds of products. Helfrich "charged in open court. . . that the pinball operators [Lincoln Pinball Operators Association] are 'the most arbitrary dictators this community could know' and they keep their control over businessmen by 'direct and indirect threats of violence, which have included the breakage of windows, filing of gambling warrants, and revocation of liquor and sanitary licenses." Helfrich "said he hoped to show that the Lincoln Pinball Operators Association was a 'conspiracy to control exclusively all coin-operated devices from legitimate cover,' using a city ordinance with an $8,000 license fee requirement. He said 'this town has a group of gamblers forcing their will upon the businessmen. . . a syndicate of shake-downs.' He was not allowed to elaborate by the judge." "Under examination by Helfrich three Lincoln proprietors of establishments from which machines were seized told how they had shared the profits from them on a 50-50 basis with the owner of the Speedy Electric Service. The proprietors said the machines paid off automatically until about September 1 when the owner of Speedy Electric installed 'free play meters' on them to register free plays as rewards. But they admitted that the free plays could be cashed in for both cash and merchandise up to the time of the raid." [Note: The 1950 Lincoln City Directory lists the location of a Speedee Electric Company at 117 S. Sangamon--the same block as the Western Hotel and the Illinois Tavern. I suspect that "Speedee Electric" and "Speedy Electric" are the same, and if so this location certainly was central to many of the taverns and other businesses which offered gambling devices. The 1950 Lincoln City Directory also lists a "Coonhound Amusement Service" at 121 N. Kickapoo Street. None of the Courier accounts of the pinball trial mention this business, but its name easily suggests a relevance to gambling machines.]
The proprietors "said that a
weekly payment of $2.00 was collected for each machine by the East Lincoln
township constable. However, when Helfrich asked them about an 'exclusive
monopoly' of all coin-operated devices including shuffleboards and
jukeboxes, they were not allowed to answer by the judge, who upheld an
objection of Harold F. Trapp, Sr., that the questions were irrelevant." |
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"Judge Bevan would not allow Helfrich to pursue this line of questioning on the grounds he had 'not formulated a pleading in this direction.' The judge restricted the evidence to the one-ball pinball machines which were the defendants in the case. He prohibited Trapp from cross-examining the state's witnesses."
The judge, however, did allow the testimony of a businessman who had tried
to use his own amusement equipment. LaMont Bingham, president of the Tiz-Rite Enterprises, "said he had continuously tried to put in his own
legal gaming
equipment but that he had been told this was impossible in conversations
with the owner of Speedy Electric. |
40.38: Businessman LaMont Bingham (From 1952 Tiz-Rite ad in Courier) |
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Also, "Floyd Altman, owner of the J&J Tavern on Pulaski Street, said he had last year installed five-ball pinball machines, considered amusement games, but had been informed he was violating the city ordinance. He said he ended up selling them to the owner of Speedy Electric. Subsequently, he said he installed his own music box and shuffleboards."
Judge Bevan concluded this session with "a formal order . . . compelling
the operators and proprietors involved in the case to pay all the costs of
storing the 75 machines since the October 11, 1950, raid. He said this was a
penalty for false pleadings" (Courier, 1-11-51, p. 14). |
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1-11-51: "Post 24-Hour Police Guard for State's Pinball Witnesses" (Courier title) Illinois State Police maintained a round-the-clock guard on "the homes and establishments of tavern and restaurant proprietors who testified as state witnesses." This action followed Judge Bevan's rejection of the defense's argument that the devices were not used for gambling but for amusement only. As the judge allowed the state to pursue its case, the Assistant Attorney General Helfrich called various operators (members of the Lincoln Pinball Operators Association) and proprietors (businessmen) to the stand. The owner of the Speedy (or, Speedee) Electric Service, a member of the Association, said he owned 21 of the 75 pinball machines and had purchased them from his father. The owner testified that the Association was established by local businessmen "who have set up rules" and who had "worked collectively last September [1950] to convert the machines from automatic payoff to free plays 'in order to change them from gambling to amusement devices.'" When Audas "Slick" Foutch, owner of Slick's Inn on Chicago Street, was "questioned on the reason for the conversion of the pinballs from payoff to free play, he refused to answer."
"When stopped by the judge for going into
'collateral matters,' Helfrich charged that the change-over was just a
method of evading the gambling laws of the state. The judge would not allow Helfrich
to ask the owner of Speedy Electric if the operators' agreement on pinball
locations was known to city officials, nor the name of the 'bonded person'
who actually paid the city license fee for the operators, nor whether he had
ever had conversations with proprietors with regard to installing their own machines in their establishments, nor as to how many
machines he operated in the county" (Courier, 1-11-51, p. 1). |
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1-12-51: "Gambling Devices Destroyed" (Courier title) "The state was about to complete its proof that 75 pinball machines seized in Logan County last October 11 were gambling devices. . . in circuit court when their nine owners, suddenly and surprisingly, surrendered them up for destruction." "A stormy case thus was ended quietly and without judicial finding when defense counsel Harold F. Trapp, Sr., said his clients were ready to release all claims to the machines and their contents and to pay costs totaling $1,400.76 for their storage in the courthouse basement for the past 90 days." Logan State's Attorney Edwin C. Mills said that gambling charges would be filed against individuals in the near future. He said the charges would 'certainly' come under the Illinois gaming statutes, which provide a $100 fine for each operated machine and a jail sentence, and 'possibly' for conspiracy to violate the gambling laws, which is a penitentiary offense." "Judge Frank S. Bevan ordered Sheriff Clair W. Smith to destroy all pinball machines, punchboards, fishbowls and a pull board which were defendants in the case and report to him within 10 days. Sheriff Smith immediately arranged for the burning of the machines at the City of Lincoln dumping grounds southwest of the city. . . . Trucking of the machines from the courthouse was scheduled to began at 1 p.m." "The Judge opened a secret report from Arthur M. Walker, of Lincoln, which disclosed that $2,177.95 in nickels had been taken from the machines December 26 and placed in a local bank for safekeeping. " "The sudden ending of the case followed 45 minutes of closed-door consultation between attorneys for the state and the defense and four or five of the pinball operators. . . . Then the attorneys conferred 30 minutes in chambers with Judge Bevan before introducing the settlement in the form of a stipulation, or agreement, between all parties. The stipulation included a request that the state's petition for destruction. . . be granted and that the defendant operators and proprietors voluntarily waive all right of appeal to a higher court. Attorney Trapp remarked that in view of the settlement there was 'nothing left to appeal.'" "Helfrich added that the state's witnesses would be available to any local authority for criminal prosecutions."
"A check for $1,400.76 written by Vincent 'Little Coohnound'
Schwenoha was accepted by the judge in open court as payment of costs for
custody and guarding of the machines" (Courier, 1-12-51, p. 1). |
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40.39: Torching the Pinball Machines (Courier photo, 1-13-51) From Courier photo caption: "Logan Sheriff Clair W. Smith tosses the first torch upon the pile of crushed and broken gambling devices to carry out a circuit court order for destruction. He was handed the torch by nearby Lt. John Stuper of district 8, Illinois State Police, who with Captain Tom O'Connor brought 16 State Policemen and two trucks to aid in the burning. In the bottom
photo, the machines go up in flames hot enough to melt their soft metal
working parts. They had been broken up with sledges and double-edged axes,
then covered with gasoline before the torch was applied. Pinball machine
gambling will probably be investigated by the Logan grand jury." |
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40:40:
Machines That Had Run Cold Suddenly Turn Hot |
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The Logan County Grand Jury of January, 1951, and Related Activity
The court actions described above were civil
procedures. Near their conclusion, officials suggested that criminal
procedures might follow, and in mid January, 1951, Judge Frank S. Bevan
impaneled a grand jury. |
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"Robert Langellier was appointed foreman of the 23-member body after the judge charged the jurors with full responsibility for law enforcement. He said the burden of bringing accusations against person is upon the jury on the basis of evidence brought by the state's attorney or otherwise brought to their attention. The judge made no direct reference to the recent case of people versus 75 pinball machines, in which the operators released all claim to the devices. . . before the state had finished its proof they were gambling devices. He made routine instruction that jurors must look into 'bucketshop, gambling,' etc., activities as called for by Illinois statute.
Leaders of the Lincoln Ministerial Association land the Logan County Social
Action Committee were again in court. . . to witness the impaneling of the
jury, which retired to make its routine investigation of the county jail" (Courier,
1-15-51, p. 1). |
40.41: Robert Langellier (From 1952 ad in Courier)
Mr. Langellier, with his father, O.L. Langellier,
was co-owner of the Langellier Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury dealership in
Lincoln and manager of the used car division. |
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1-16-51: "Ministerial Group Blasts City Pinball Licensing" (Courier title) Lincoln's "ordinance licensing of pinball machines for 'amusement or skill only' received a sharp lampoon from a group of clergymen. It was an aftermath of last week's court battle over the legality of the one-ball variety of the devices. Five Logan county ministers attacked the ordinance and asked Mayor Alois M. Feldman and the city council to 'repeal its sanction' of the machines in a letter read at a recent city council meeting. The ministers, members of the Social Action Committee of the Logan County Ministerial Association, said 'these machines were without question demonstrated to be gambling devices in the recent hearing and confessedly so by their owners.'
They urged the city to 'take action immediately to end the license of
gambling devices' and further solicited the council to 'direct the city
police to enforce the laws against all gambling devices.' The held that the
city's need for revenue is 'no valid excuse' for carrying an illegal
ordinance in the city code. |
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Neither the mayor nor the council had open comment on the letter, which was signed by the Rev. T.J. Marshall Crapp, the Rev. Wayne Sill, the Rev. Arthur A. Vinz, and the Rev. T.H. Sanders, all of Lincoln, and the Rev. Selden L. Myers of Emden. Mayor Feldman referred the communication with dispatch to the Ordinance Committee, whose chairman, Robert McAllister, was absent from the meeting."
The members of the Social Action Committee had attended the pinball case
civil procedures in Logan County circuit court. |
40.42: Rev. T.H. Sanders of the Lincoln (Photo from the 1947
Lincolnite, p. 59) |
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40.43: Rev. Wayne Sill, Founding Pastor of the Lincoln Free Methodist Church (From a Courier photo, 3-14-50, p. 10) |
40.44: Rev.
Arthur A. Vinz of the Lincoln (Courier photo,
10-23-50, p. 12) |
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Note: Reverend Vinz had
served as president and vice-president of the Illinois Baptist Ministers
Council (Courier, 10-23-50, p. 12). |
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In a Lincoln city council meeting, "a Lincoln attorney representing
four cafe and restaurant proprietors called upon Mayor Feldman and asked him
to revoke the license of the Lincoln Pinball Operators Association under the
terms of the city ordinance. The attorney, Bernard Mayberry, who is
assistant state's attorney of Logan County, told the mayor he has the duty
to revoke the license since the ordinance was violated by the operation of
gambling devices." |
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"The ordinance specifies that 'nothing. . .shall be construed to authorize or permit the setting up or placing of any gambling device of any kind that is prohibited by this ordinance or by any other ordinance of this city or by the laws of the state of Illinois.' It gives the mayor the 'right to revoke any license issued for the violation of any of the provisions of the ordinance.'"
Mayberry said his clients have no intention of forming any type of
organization such as the present operators association. He added that he
believed the pinball ordinance is illegal for a number of reasons, citing
the amount of the operators' license, $8,000 yearly, its vague terms
regarding the type of pinball machine permitted, and charging it is designed
to create a monopoly in the hands of a group. |
40.45: Bernard C. Mayberry (Cropped from a Courier group photo, 9-20-48) |
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Mayor Feldman made no open
reference to Mayberry's request at the city council meeting. He told a Courier reporter he would take no action on the
request until the operators' license expires May 1. He did not indicate
whether he was in sympathy with the request" (Courier, 1016-51, p.
1). |
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"The grand jury interviewed both present and past township officials, including Lincoln's ex-Mayor David Sullivan, Mayor Alois Feldman, Police Chief Marshall Downs, East Lincoln Constable Claude Applegate, and an East Lincoln Justice of the Peace. This grand jury was composed of fourteen men and 9 women." "Although no witnesses divulged the nature of their testimony, the Courier discovered that the grand jury was apparently focusing on "the nature and working of the city pinball ordinance. The ordinance, passed originally in 1936, had been amended in 1948 during Sullivan's administration to raise the operator's license [Lincoln Pinball Operators Association] fee from $3,000 to $8,000 yearly."
"It was testified during the [pinball machine] trial that Claude Applegate,
as constable, had worked out of the office of the Justice of the Peace in making a
collection of $2.00 weekly from each pinball machine toward the cost of the
city operator's license" (Courier, 1-17-51, p. 1). |
40.46: David L. Sullivan (Courier photo, 12-31-46, p. 6) |
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1-18-51: "Witness List Lengthens as Grand Jury Renews Pace" (Courier title)
The grand jury was interviewing members of the city council and local
businessmen. The Courier article reported that "its members were
paying little heed to considerations of time, and would stay in session as
long as necessary to find out what they want to know." Two of the business
owners called had expressed "resentment against the coin machine control of
the Lincoln Pinball Operators Association" during the recent trial. Also
questioned was the secretary of the Association, who was also the bookkeeper
for Speedy Electric. This person paid the operator's license fee for the
Association to the city clerk's office (Courier, 1-18-51, p. 1). |
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40.47: Courier Headline of January 20, 1951 Those indicted were seven members of the Lincoln Pinball Operators Association and two other owners of pinball machines. Curiously, only those businessmen were indicted who had claimed their machines were for "free play" amusement, not gambling, during the preceding trial of the state vs. the pinball machines. "In an extraordinary special report issued by the grand jury in connection with its indictments, the jury recommended that the city council of Lincoln 'take immediate steps' to repeal or amend its ordinance licensing pinball machines and similar devices. The report, for which the jurors asked special release to the press, said the jury believes the ordinance under which the operators association was the sole licensee is 'not only invalid in law and unenforceable, but that it is a distinct detriment to the welfare of all persons in this community. . . . It fosters, nourishes and encourages a monopoly." "The jury further recommended to the 'proper authorities of the city of Lincoln that they determine whether or not all of its officials, officers, agents, and employees are fully performing their duties and that if any be found to be derelict therein, that they be removed and replaced.'" "The pinball ordinance, the jury said, 'denies the ordinary businessman the opportunity to own and operate in his own place of business, the coin-operated devices contemplated by the ordinance.' They said it 'should be repealed and done away with.' There was no hint in the special report of further action by the grand jury, which remain[ed] in session until May 1." "Immediately after the jury had reported to the judge, Assistant State's Attorney Bernard Mayberry told the court that rumors are rife in Lincoln as a result of the jury's investigation of gambling that there was 'personal vindictiveness' in the jury. Several of the 15 witnesses called by the jury on the pinball machine hearing were reported to have blamed Mayberry for carrying the lead in the investigation." "Elaborating later on his statement after the judge had disallowed it from the record, Mayberry said he was being accused of pressing the jury to indict the pinball operators. State's Attorney Edwin C. Mills said that he did not witness any vindictiveness before the grand jury while in session. He said that both he and his assistant presented evidence before the jury which led to the gambling indictments." (The grand jury also indicted a Mt. Pulaski man and a Springfield man for theft of corn from farms in Logan County [Courier, 1-20-51, p. 1]). The Logan County
circuit clerk mailed a copy of the grand jury's special report to the city
clerk's office. Lincoln Mayor Alois M. Feldman said it would be up to the
city council whether to act on the special report. He "anticipated
difficulty within the council in arriving at a solution because of the
necessity of securing an eight-vote majority in the eleven-man council. He
also expressed amazement that the grand jury should single out Lincoln for
criticism of its pinball ordinance when a number of other cities and towns
in Logan County [had] ordinances regulating the operation of pinball and
similar devices. . . . Robert McAllister, chairman of the Ordinance
Committee expressed his belief that many of the councilmen were 'bewildered'
at the grand jury's recommendation and that few have yet formulated a
definite attitude toward it" (Courier, 1-29-51, p. 1). |
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"Judge Bevan accepted a motion of the Trapp and Trapp law firm to withdraw as counsel for eight of the nine pinball operators indicted by a Logan County grand jury. The motion was presented by Harold F. Trapp, Jr., who declined to give the press an explanation."
"C. Everett Smith, counsel with Trapp and Trapp for the operators throughout
the recent trial of 75 confiscated pinball machines, said the withdrawal was
for reasons of ill health of the senior member of the Trapp firm, in Florida
since the conclusion of the pinball trial. Smith said that he would remain
as defense counsel. Note: Harold Trapp, Sr., passed away in December,
1951. |
40.48: Attorney C. Everett Smith (Cropped from a photo in The Namesake Town, p. 34) |
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Note: Harold F.
Trapp, Jr., served as an Illinois Appellate Court Justice for twenty years.
For a rare, inside story of how he gained that position, see
The
Honorable James
A. "Jim" Knecht: Memoir and Short Story Set in Lincoln,
Illinois
(link below in Sources Cited). |
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The Question of the Outcome of the Criminal Trial of the Pinball Machine Owners Following in the footsteps of Harold F. Trapp, Sr., Attorney C. Everett Smith filed "a motion to dismiss an indictment charging seven Lincoln men with conspiracy to violate the state gambling laws. . . , alleging, among other grounds, that the grand jury which brought the indictments was not legally selected and impaneled. The motion to quash the indictment "alleged further that the grand jurors of the January term were not chosen by the board in a regular manner nor at a legal meeting. It held that all three counts of the indictment. . .'were insufficient to charge a criminal offense.' Other grounds presented for dismissal were that the indictment failed to charge a conspiracy for the purpose of gambling, and that its allegations against the operators [were] 'vague, indefinite, and insufficient.'" At the request of State's Attorney Mills, Judge Bevan granted "a general continuance of the case, with no date for resumption set down" (Courier, 3-29-51, p. 1). Mills wanted time to investigate the basis of the motion. In August of 1951, Judge Bevan overruled the motion to quash the indictments (Courier, 8-1-51). In skimming issues of the Courier for the rest of 1951, I did not see any further news reports relating to this case. Perhaps no date to resume proceedings was ever set, or if the case was continued, there were no major determinations. As noted later on this page,
the grand jury of January, 1951, stimulated a controversial "good
government" movement that affected the governments of both Lincoln and Logan
County. |
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Revoking and Revising Lincoln's Ordinance for Licensing Amusement Machines
Lincoln Mayor Alois M. Feldman
revoked all licenses for coin-operated devices on February 2, 1951 (Courier,
2-3-51). The revocation applied to
members of the Lincoln Pinball Operators Association and to all businesses,
including restaurants, taverns, grocery stores, and gas stations. This
action thus prohibited businessmen from offering such legal amusement
devices as the five-ball pinball machines, bowling machines, and
shuffleboard machines. |
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Apparently the mayor took this sweeping action as a means by which the city government could officially disallow illegal machines, avoiding any loopholes or controversy over whether a particular kind of machine was used for gambling or amusement. The Social Action Committee of the Logan County Ministerial Association had sent a letter to Feldman urging him to repeal the ordinance pertaining to coin-operated amusement devices (Courier, 2-6-51, p. 1). Feldman said "it was up to the city council to determine upon what basis any machines will be operated in the future."
"While all but one of the location proprietors readily turned over their
licenses to the police, there was considerable grumbling among them as they
did it. Albert Huffman, co-proprietor of the Mill, said he 'realized
afterward I should not have turned over the license. . . . I paid for it.'" |
40.49: Mayor Alois M. Feldman (Photo from The Namesake Town, p. 63) |
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"LaMont Bingham, president of Rite Enterprises, said he [did] not intend to surrender his licenses 'unless given a sufficient legal reason.'" "The city's action looks to me too much like the operators' hand" [Lincoln Pinball Operators Association], Bingham said, "like their action in the past whenever faced with a desire by the proprietors to install their own machines.' He said he had just invested considerable money in his own legal devices.
"Bingham said his employees informed him that the two five-ball pintables and
a bowling machine on his two locations had been unplugged in the presence of
the [city] police. Winfield "Win" Bates, proprietor of the Broadway Cafe,
joined with Huffman and Bingham in protesting the city's action. Bates said
he had been operating a five-ball pintable without payoffs" (Courier,
2-3-51, p. 1). |
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2-6-51: "Council Tables Action on Pinball Ordinance
Repeal" (Courier headline) |
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"The city council postponed action on the grand jury's special recommendation asking for the repeal forthwith of Lincoln's ordinance licensing pinball machines and similar devices." In the audience of this council meeting were two members of the ministerial Social Action Committee. Chairman of the council's Ordinance Committee, Robert McAllister, requested that the matter be referred to his Committee, and the mayor agreed it would be up to the Ordinance Committee to "propose a new coin-device ordinance if it sees fit." McAllister observed that it would "require considerable study to properly evaluate the jury's recommendation." Fifth ward Alderman Rell Musick was the only spokesperson for the city council. He asserted that "the city council had acted in good faith in 1936 when it first passed the pinball ordinance. Musick said the council could not rightfully be blamed for what use of it had been made by the operators. Presuming to speak for other aldermen, he said, 'We would resent an accusation of indulging in shady tricks.' The present situation is not the council's fault. If the terms of the ordinance were violated by the operation of gambling devices,' he went on, 'then it was the duty of the city's executive department to check them.' He scored the 'lack of enforcement' of the ordinance."
"Musick expressed a doubt whether a new ordinance 'would last any longer nor
have any more virtue than the present one'" (Courier, 2-6-51, p. 1). |
40.50: Councilman Robert E. McAllister (Photo from Beaver, The caption of the photo in |
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Sidebar: Lincoln Ministers Supervise Lottery for State Basketball Ticket Sales
In the spring of 1951, Lincoln High's basketball team advanced to the "Sweet
Sixteen" state tournament in Champaign-Urbana. According to the caption
of the Courier photo below left, Lincoln High Athletic
Director Roy Anderson enlisted the help of the Reverends Wayne Sill, pastor
of the Lincoln Free Methodist Church, and John T. Burns,
pastor of the Lincoln First Presbyterian Church. (Both ministers were members of the Logan County Ministerial Association.)
These two ministers were called upon
to oversee--"keep things on the 'up and up'"-- the drawing for those season
ticket holders who would have first chance to buy coveted tickets to the
state tournament.
Apparently not all Lincoln ministers were opposed to all games of chance. As
a further measure of to ensure an honest drawing, Cub Scout (and future
Federal Magistrate Judge) Robert Goebel was the one chosen for the honors,
and most likely Bob was chosen by Reverend Burns because the Goebels
attended the First Presbyterian Church. |
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40.51: Bob Goebel Plays a Game of Chance (Courier photo, 3-14-51) |
40.52: LCHS
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In the above photo at right, LCHS Principal W.C. Handlin sports the small, yellow "Victory Hat" at a pep rally in the LCHS gym prior to the state basketball tournament. By custom, the "Victory Hat" was passed around during a pep rally so that many folks could add to the hat's mystical power. The "monster" pep rally, attended by 2,500, filled the bleachers of the gym and half of the playing floor. Lincoln's luck ran out, however, when it lost in the quarter-finals to the Quincy Blue Devils: 63 to 65 (despite Lincoln's having seven players in double figures).
Note: The late Reverend
John T. "J.T." Burns (@1910--2005) had been one of the more broadminded members
of the Logan County Ministerial Association. His daughter, Marilyn Burns Potler, had written
the following about her father shortly before his passing: |
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"My father was, of course,
a member of the ministerial association. Don't remember him mentioning
illegal gambling, but he may have chosen not to mention it to his children.
I do remember his mentioning a meeting of the ministerial association at
which the plans for a youth center were discussed, probably around 1953 to
1955. It was going to have some activities, such as a pool table and perhaps
a pinball machine, and would allow dancing. The ministerial association had
been asked to lend their support for having public money support such a
place. I know my Dad told us that he and one other minister supported having
such a center but all the others opposed it because dancing would be
allowed. |
40.53: The Reverend John T. Burns (from the 1961 Lynxite--Lincoln College Yearbook) |
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Dad felt it was far better
to have a center in town with adult supervision rather than having youth go
out in the country to socialize with no supervision and, presumably, access
to drinking, etc. (I don't think he mentioned teen pregnancy but I assume
that was one of the negative results he knew could come from the
unsupervised socializing.)" (email to Leigh of 3-2005). Email Marilyn Burns Potler at
[email protected] |
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10-16-51: "City to License Amusement Devices for Pinball Control" (Courier headline) "'Because of a desire to control all pinball machines operating in the city,' in the words of Mayor Alois M. Feldman, the city council passed an amendment to the ordinance licensing amusement devices. It was brought out the new regulation will cover the five-ball pinball machines which are now in operation here without license coverage." The mayor emphasized that five-ball machines are for amusement only. "The new regulation bans all gambling devices. It puts a license fee of $50.00 on each and every mechanical amusement device and sets a scale of lesser fees for all other types of machines. Penny operated machines will pay $2.00 per year; nickel operated vending machines, $5.00 per year; nickel operated juke boxes, etc., $25.00; and vending machines taking coins larger than a nickel will pay $10.00."
"The mayor also emphasized that the licensing ordinance
is not intended to raise significant revenues and is "only a means of
controlling the machines in the city." |
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"The new ordinance nullifies the ordinance that previously dealt with the licensing of pinball machines, and called for a license of $8,000.00." "Alderman James Coddington was most outspoken against passing the ordinance. He maintained that the attorney general had given the opinion that it is illegal to license pinball machines." "This declaration was taken up by Alderman Rene Hoagland, who declared that if they are illegal then the city should get rid of them. 'If they cannot be taxed, then we should take them out and throw them on the dump,' he stated.
City attorney Thomas Walsh informed the council that the machines have been
taxable in Lincoln since 1907, and no court has as yet held that there is
anything illegal about the machines in question. Aldermen Coddington, Henry
Lee, and Larry Shepler cast dissenting votes on the passage of the
ordinance." |
10.54: City Attorney Thomas Walsh (Photo by Larry Shroyer and
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10.55: Mayor Feldman Greets Adlai Stevenson in Lincoln, Illinois (Photo from Paul Beaver, ed., Logan County History 1982, p. 20)
Adlai Stevenson makes a whistle-stop in Lincoln during his
1956 campaign as the Democratic candidate for the Presidency. WPRC announcer
Earl Layman is at the right. Stevenson's State Police raids on gambling
eventually led Mayor Feldman to revoke the licenses for amusement devices in
Lincoln. |
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The Rise and Fall of the Good Government Council of Logan County Attorney Fred Blanford affords some useful background for this section, "Over the years I heard the phrase 'Good Government' that referred to a rather loose-knit group that had organized and exercised some influence in Lincoln around that time. I DO NOT know which side of that group Mr. Hamilton may have come down on. I am given to understand that there were a few prosecutions--very few is the usual summary--may have been no convictions--and apparently a lot of hard feelings. As an adult, when I asked various people that I had been given to understand were part of the affray (one side or the other) to tell me about it--I was unable to get anyone to tell me anything further. To this day, while I may know a lot of names that were ostensibly involved--I have never been able to ascertain who all was involved--who was on what side--what occasioned the divide--and what the results were. I have found no one who was there and knew what was going on that wanted to talk about it" (email to Leigh of 10-27-02). Email Fred Blanford at [email protected] The grand jury of January, 1951, stimulated a "good government" movement that greatly affected the citizens and governments of both Lincoln and Logan County. Specifically, this grand jury began to raise questions about records of justices of the peace relating to the collection and disposition of licensing fees for the pinball machines and other mechanical devices installed in Lincoln's businesses. Also questioned were the records of justices of the peace relating to fines assessed for highway traffic tickets issued by the State Police. Leading proponents of this good government group pressured the Logan County Board of Supervisors to hire a new auditing firm to examine these records, and this pressure divided the Board between those who favored the new audits and those who did not. "Supervisor Roy Johnson agreed that such a step [new auditing] is needed if the good names of the county officials are to be cleared of the rumors that have been circulated throughout the county." "Louis Lauer, supervisor of West Lincoln township, questioned the need. 'We have an audit by a man who is as good as any in the state,' he declared, 'so why waste money on something that has already been done?' The rumors will die out, he opined." "Johnson said he personally wanted an audit so that everything can be brought out in the open and 'we can tell the whole world we are on the square. Men are being accused of that of which they are not guilty,' he roared, 'and I am for an audit that will protect men like Mills, Claude Tull, and all the other fine county officials whose good names have been besmirched by vicious rumors." The motion for new audits carried on a vote of 18 to 3 (Courier, 3-14-52).
The Good Government Council of Logan County became controversial. Some
criticized the ethics--if not the legality--of its methods. One of this
Council's founding members expressed this criticism:
Lincolnite William R. Wilson, a local grocer,
dramatically resigned from the Good Government Council of Logan County and
from his position as its secretary after three attempts to "bring the entire
membership into the open and eliminate the secrecy of its activities."
Wilson sent a formal letter of resignation to the Council's chairman of the
executive committee. Wilson also sent a copy of his resignation letter to
the Courier, which published it on March 13, 1952. |
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In resigning, Wilson expressed
his view that the Good Government Council was hypocritical in concealing the
names of its members: "the citizens of our county are entitled to know the
names of those responsible for the recent audits and investigations, and if
they approve such actions, the citizens will have much greater respect for
the organization regardless of the ammunition they fear it might furnish the
suspected adversaries." |
40.56: Citizen William R. Wilson (Photo provided by his
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Apparently the Council had acted to conceal information about its membership and operation, and Wilson condemned this concealment: "This organization [the Good Government Council] has taken the liberty to look at the records of our county citizens and should not expect to prosper in its efforts if these citizens are denied the same liberty to inspect the records of any organization involving itself in public matters." Wilson also expressed the criticism that the Good Government Council was beginning to betray its original commitment not to endorse political candidates (Courier, 5-13-52).
William R. Wilson was the father
of Lincolnite author Robert Wilson. More information about William Wilson
appears on the Web page about Robert Wilson in this Lincoln community
history Web site. See link in Sources Cited below. |
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The Kickapoo Press
In the early 1950s, some proponents of the local "good government" movement
supported and invested in a printing business, that included a weekly newspaper titled The Kickapoo Press,
co-founded by the multi-talented Don Dunkelberg and located at 119
North Kickapoo Street in Lincoln. J.R. Fikuart writes that "Dad remembers
that Roy Clapper founded the paper with Don Dunkelberg and that Good
Government issues may well have been the reason for doing so" (email to
Leigh of 8-27-03). Email J. Richard Fikuart at
[email protected] |
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The Kickapoo Press offered commercial printing of wedding announcements, letterheads, envelopes, and business forms. The newspaper lasted only several months. The Illinois State Historical Library project to copy/preserve newspapers in Illinois had microfilmed only a couple of issues. When I looked at them, most of the content was advertisement, not editorials calling for government reform or feature stories based on investigative reporting.
Don Dunkelberg was also much involved in Lincoln's civic life. He was a
talented amateur actor, participating in various productions of the Lincoln
College Community Players. For example, in 1954 while launching The Kickapoo
Press, he played the leading role of Tommy Turner in The Male Animal.
Turner is an "embattled young professor who takes a tip from the panthers
and penguins and puts up a fight for his mate--and settles an issue of
academic freedom" (Courier, 12-8-54, p. 7). |
40.57: Businessman Don Dunkelberg (from 1952 Courier ad)
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Jim Knecht comments: "As for The Kickapoo Press--Virginia Dunkelberg (and Marilyn Hale Meadows)--was my cousin--her husband Don was often in theatrical productions at Lincoln College and was not only an aspiring actor (he spent time in New York in plays and seeking work) but also a printer and the writer-editor-publisher of The Kickapoo Press--very near where the old K of C used to be in downtown Lincoln. . . . He was a classic liberal with a highly developed social conscience as well as wit and courage."
"I have strong
memories of family discussions involving the pressure to which he was
subject to not publish certain stories and to avoid comment in stories or
editorials about race and perhaps crime. . . . Thus, I am certain about the
stress and pressure to Don Dunkelberg because of his liberal views and
willingness to write about a side of life in Lincoln that did not often
appear in the Courier. . . . [He raised] the ire of the establishment"
(from email to Leigh of 2003). Email Jim at
[email protected] |
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40.58: Kickapoo Press Masthead on Its First Issue, February 4, 1954
Roy Clapper was a successful
businessman who also worked to advance commercial growth. He was a 1927
graduate of LCHS and had attended Illinois Wesleyan University. |
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Early in Roy Clapper's sales career, the B.F. Goodrich Tire Company hired and trained him. He founded the Lincoln Tire and Battery Company at 216 S. Kickapoo St. "In the forties Roy Clapper became a national director of the National Tire Dealers' Association. He worked industriously to improve conditions for and promote legislation to protect small businesses."
"Roy was elected president of
the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce in 1949. He worked diligently to promote new
industry and create a better business climate. The Clappers bought the store
building, and the adjoining lot, expanded and remodeled it, renaming it
Lincoln Tire and Appliance Company" (from "Roy and Inez Clapper"
by Inez Clapper in Logan
County History 1982, p. 222). |
40.59: Businessman Roy Clapper (From a Courier ad) |
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Mr. Clapper's civic involvement included membership in the Elks and Kiwanis. He helped plan and organize the 1953 Lincoln centennial celebration. His support of The Kickapoo Press shows that he was a businessman with a social conscience. Perhaps his family's religious background helps to explain his ethical motivation: His father had been a Methodist minister, and Roy and Inez Clapper were active in Lincoln's Methodist Church (Beaver, p. 222). Note: For dramatic photos of the Clappers' Lincoln Tire and Appliance Co., see 20.6 and 20.7 at Cars, Trucks, & Gas Stations of the Route 66 Era (link in Sources Cited below). The lore of Lincoln and Logan County says The Kickapoo Press weekly newspaper was founded to serve the interests of the Good Government movement. The paper, however, makes no mention of such political purposes in the "Introduction" of its first issue. Yet the tone of the language suggests its author--most likely Mr. Dunkelberg--took pleasure in the public's anticipation of the paper's appearance: "Since wheels of commerce runs [sic] fairly slowly, this edition of The Kickapoo Press was preceded on the streets by a lovely amount of rumor, talk, and plenty of plain old wonderful gossip [bold mine]. We've enjoyed most of the stories we've heard about this sheet, laughed at plenty of others and felt quite humble at other reports." "One opinion seems commonly true--Logan County wants and needs something like The Kickapoo Press. In garnering advice the past few months, we have talked to a trainload of people who will read what is printed in Logan County and many who will advertise. They wish us well, and what is more important is each contributed his valued opinion concerning the duties and responsibilities of printing any kind of circulated printed sheet of paper." "Whether we can call ourselves a newspaper now is not the question. (We can't.) The question is whether or not we can attract readers and have faithful enough readers to keep us in business until we can offer the best news coverage, the best policy, the best size for the service of the people hereabouts." "He who said 'Talk means nothing' didn't have us in mind. For our bread and butter we need advertisers. Our advertisers want to see A-C-T-I-O-N in what they advertise. If a confectioner advertises a truckload of divinity fudge on Thursday in this paper and has to hire statisticians on Friday to keep track of the zooming profits then that confectioner is our boy and will venture a few more bucks with us next week."
"This naked appeal is sincerely
meant. We want you to be careful shoppers--to take advantage of the many
bargains that thoughtful buyers and merchants put on their counters for your
pleasure. We want you to mention The Kickapoo Press when you buy. Say it
over on your way uptown and get a real throb in your voice! If you are
successful in this, we will be successful in THIS. Your support will be
cherished thing" (The Kickapoo Press, February 4, 1954, p. 1). |
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The Good Government Council Helps to Get Indictments, and Then the Council Gets Indicted
The audits of Logan County
revenues generated by the system of using justices of the peace led to a
series of legal developments over several years. A call for audits stemmed
directly from the 1951 grand jury activities described above. |
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The call for audits was closely associated with the controversial political
activities of the organization known as the Good Government Council of Logan
County, Illinois (GGC). In March of 1952, members of the Good Government Council brought
formal perjury charges against one of Lincoln's justices of the peace
"concerning [this justice's] annual report" of 1950 (Courier, 4-9-54, p. 1).
The Council also charged this justice of the peace with embezzlement. In
April, 1952, "Police Magistrate Robert Thornton dismissed perjury charges
because [the Council members] refused to proceed with further hearings of
the charge" (Courier, 4-9-54, p. 1). Members of the Good Government
Council testified before the May, 1952, grand jury, which brought additional
charges of perjury and embezzlement. "In April, 1953, [the justice of the
peace] went on jury trial in Logan County circuit court and was acquitted.
The jury trial created a stir here [in Lincoln and Logan County]" (Courier,
4-9-54, p. 1). |
40.60: Police Magistrate Robert L. Thornton (Courier photo) |
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The trial of the justice of the peace was most unusual and tense. At one point, members of the Good Government Council (GGC) petitioned the judge in protest of the way he was handling the proceedings. An anonymous source says that the petition was signed by approximately 1,000 citizens. This source says that the judge "responded by threatening all of them with contempt of court and calling them into his courtroom on a hot day where they had a chance to withdraw their names from the petition. Some did, but most did not." According to information obtained by J.R. Fikuart from his parents, "All of the petitioners were called before the judge. With all in the courtroom, a bailiff inadvertently leaned up against a long shade in one of the windows in the courtroom. It was loosed and shot up to its moorings making the sound of gunfire. The judge paled and leapt from his chair" (email to Leigh of 8-27-2003). Email J. Richard Fikuart at [email protected] Giving the petitioners an opportunity to withdraw their names must have been highly controversial, for a different judge was in charge at the end of the trial than the one who began it. The first judge allegedly was later censured by a higher court for violating the right of the people to petition. After his acquittal, the justice of the peace sued eighteen members of the Good Government Council (GGC) for "maliciously intending to injure the plaintiff in his good name, fame and credit, and to bring him into public slander, infamy, obloquy and disgrace. . . and thereby to further their own selfish political purposes. . . ." The slander suit asked for "redress of $900,000.00 (Courier, 4-9-54, p. 1). The attorney for the justice of the peace was Thomas F. Walsh. In skimming various issues of the Courier, I saw references to postponements of the legal proceedings related to this case and to reduction of charges against the GGC members, but I did not find information to indicate the final disposition. Also, the effectiveness of the Good Government Council in achieving political aims appears limited. According to J. Richard Fikuart's father, one county official "was sacrificed" and lost his pension, while another county official failed to gain re-election as a result of notoriety generated from the special audits.
The reason for my reference to these matters is, again, to demonstrate the
need for the rule of law and that
Midwestern, small-town life in the 1950s was more complex than commonly thought: it had plenty of controversy--values
conflict between those involved in gambling (either as businessmen who
offered opportunities to gamble or as gamblers) and those who opposed it and
its related corruption, including a "do gooder" religious
right that sought to impose its moral vision on the rest of society. (Of
course, there were also the many citizens who were merely curious about all
the excitement and those who were apathetic.) Lincoln and Logan County,
Illinois, in the early 1950s had a kind of culture war more often associated
with present-day American life--conflict between moral conservatives and
more broadminded citizens. |
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The Issue of Post-Trial Illegal Gambling in Lincoln
Did so-called "politically incorrect" entertainment in the private
clubs, indicated below, include gambling? |
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40.61:
Courier Ad, 9-21-54, p. 4. |
40.62: Courier Ad, 9-29-54, p. 4. |
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And speaking of political incorrectness, do you suppose the entertainment
from Decatur was integrated? |
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The 1954 Gambling Raid on the Moose Club As noted above, in the fall of 1951 the City of Lincoln revised and updated its ordinance to prohibit gambling machines and to require paid licenses and for such legal devices of amusement as five-ball pinball machines and shuffleboard machines. Of course, this fact begs the question of how well the ordinance was enforced. While skimming microfilm issues of the Courier for 1954, I noticed that on June 23, 1954, Police Chief Earl F. Minder had discovered three slot machines in the Moose Club "during a routine check of downtown taverns, clubs, and billiard rooms for pinball licenses, shuffleboard and bowling game licenses. The three machines were confiscated and taken to the city hall" (Courier, 6-24-54, p. 9).
40.63: Slot Machines Confiscated from the Moose Club in 1954 (Courier, 6-24-54, p. 5)
The caption for the above photo says that a session of
the Logan County Court was held in the Lincoln City Hall, where Judge
William S. Ellis issued an order to destroy the machines. Left to right in
the above photo are State's Attorney C. Marvin Hamilton, Logan County Judge
William S. Ellis, Assistant State's Attorney Paul Knoblock, and Priscilla
Rademaker of the county clerk's office, and Minder. She helped count the $64.16
recovered from the slot machines. |
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40.64: State's Attorney C. Marvin Hamilton (Courier photo) |
40.65: Logan County Judge William S. Ellis (Courier photo) |
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At the left below is Chief Earl Minder acting on the
court's order to destroy the slot machines. At the right below is a 1951 photo of
Logan County Deputy Sheriff Joe Scanlon, who, according to the Courier, helped Minder destroy the
machines. |
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40.66: Minder Whacks Slot Machines (Courier, 6-25-54) |
40.67: Deputy Joe Scanlon (Courier photo, 1-6-51, p. 8) |
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The Question of Law Enforcement Against Gaming in the Private Clubs Since the slot machines were taken from the Moose Club, I wonder what other private clubs in Lincoln may have sometimes had illegal gambling activity. As shown on another page in this Web site, Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson had expressed his criticism of the hypocrisy of raiding local taverns but not private clubs. Did local authorities check other private organizations for slot machines? By all indications, some--if not all--of those organizations had slot machines in their facilities. Provided by Fred Blanford, the images of slot machine slugs below are allegedly from the K of C club in Lincoln, Illinois. He includes images of coins to show the relative size of the slugs:
Fred Blanford writes, "the slugs were part and parcel of the slots in all of the clubs back then. I remember being 'paid off' in slugs on the machines I played [but not in the K of C] from atop the beer cases in the 'joints' that had the machines--you traded them in at (usually) the bar."
In the Lincoln, Illinois, of the 1950s, the
Elks' Town Club and the Elks' Country Club were the most exclusive private
club facilities in Logan County. Did local authorities monitor the
entertainment resources of these clubs, which were frequented by the rich
and powerful members of the community, including lawyers and government
officials? |
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40.69: Courier Ad for
Elks' Public Party October 13, 1951
40.70: Latham Building When the Elks Town Club Occupied the Upper Floors
(photo courtesy of D.D. Welch and Fred Blanford) |
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The "public party" was scheduled for just four days after the first anniversary of the State Police raid in Lincoln, and various members of bench and bar and the business community who were involved in the prolonged legal procedures were members of the Elks. Was this "public party" an attempt to show the public that the Elks Town Club was free from illegal gambling devices? Oh, to have been a fly on the wall of that gathering! And what about the Elks Country Club? The Elks Town Club was located on the Kickapoo Street side of the Logan County Courthouse square and was above the building that housed the Myers Brothers clothing store. Several distinguished Lincolnites whose photos appear above on this page belonged to the Elks, frequented the Town Club and the Country Club, and could thus answer the question of what kind of amusements might have been offered in the Elks' facilities. The photo below shows additional distinguished Lincolnite Elks of the 1950s who would have been able to answer the question:
40.71: Celebrating the Elks Fiftieth Anniversary in Lincoln, Illinois (Courier photo, 9-27-54, p. 1) Photo caption: "CONGRATULATIONS to William K, Maxwell (center), one of the charter members of Lincoln Lodge 914, B.P.O. Elks, comes double. On his left is U.G. Kinsey, exalted ruler and at right, R.G. Borman of Carlinville, president of the Illinois Elks Association. Charter members were honored at the lodge's 50th anniversary observance at the Elks County Club. John LaMothe, Lincoln organist, is in the background. Note: William K. Maxwell, Sr., was the father of the famous Lincolnite Author William K. Maxwell, Jr. Both Mr. Kinsey and Mr. Maxwell drove Cadillacs--the coveted symbol of upper-middle class affluence in the 1950s. One anonymous contributor reports, "Dad said there were slot machines everywhere at one time, perhaps when they were legal. He remembers nickel slots at Tull's and others at Lee's [on Business Route 66, Keokuk St., later the site of the Colonial Restaurant] and also at the [Elks] Country Club." Another anonymous contributor writes that the Elks' Country Club had machines back then. Each summer the workers club of the local utility company rented this facility for its annual picnic. "In the old clubhouse--off the screened patio (entry level--dining room was up on split level while pro shop and row of slots was down from the level) was where I saw and played the machines on many occasions--as a kid--Dad would give me some pennies and nickels." This source also says that above Myers Brothers clothing store where the Elks had two floors, "there was a fire door on the second floor landing that would lead into the second floor of Maxey's Drugs that I was always told was where the slots were stored. . . ."
Note: Elks' members
included businessmen and such professionals as lawyers and doctors--people
of influence. If slot machines were stored in the Elks' Town Club--on the
Logan County Courthouse square, right in the middle of town--, it would not
have been a well-kept secret, and the location would have been an easy target for law
enforcement--just "kitty corner" across the square from the City Hall,
headquarters of the Lincoln city police. Was this situation a classic
example of Governor Stevenson's criticism that some citizens thought it was
all right to raid the corner tavern of gambling devices but not the private
clubs?
Card playing in private clubs
(and in obscure places of pool halls, taverns, etc.) is
an age-old pastime, and William Maxwell and Fred Blanford have described
this practice at the Lincoln Elks Club. In his extensive family history,
Ancestors, Maxwell writes, "Lincoln itself was a farming community, and
owed its prosperity to the rich farmland that lay all around it. It was also
a place that successful farmers retired to when they were ready to give up
farming and spend their declining years at the Elks Club, playing rummy" (p.
231). Respond to Fred at [email protected] If rich farmers played cards at the Elks Club and other locations, how high could the stakes go? Do you suppose it's possible that fortunes based on expensive Logan County farmland might have changed hands as a result of high-stakes card games in the 1950s? (Will the sun set tonight?) Bill Gossett, LCHS Class of 1941, Remembers the Elks Club Bill Gossett belonged to the Elks Club in Lincoln at mid-20th century. The photo below shows him in 1951, when he was elected Exalted Ruler of the Lincoln Elks Club. James W. Abbott was the Leading Knight; Ken Goodrich, the Loyal Knight; James R. Gayle, the Lecturing Knight; Harold Coogan, Secretary; Raymond Downs, Tyler; and James Vaughn, Trustee. Bill Gossett was also chosen to represent the Lincoln Elks at the Elks Grand Lodge Convention in Chicago that year. At the ceremony in which Bill was installed as Exalted Ruler, a smelt supper was served. At my request, Bill offers some recollections about the Lincoln Elks' culture at mid 20th century:
40.72: Bill Gossett as Lincoln Elks Exalted Ruler (photo from the Lincoln Courier, 3-22-51, p. 10) [Bill's response to my question about the Elks Club Town Club on Kickapoo Street across from the Logan County Courthouse] "2nd floor "club rooms" front room - (Kickapoo St.) so-called sitting room - chairs sofa, magazines, etc. Dominating the room was a huge Elk head staring our from large fireplace, never used to my knowledge. Small office to north in area that would be over the looooong stairway. Of note - apparently structural supports for 3rd floor were covered with nicely finished wood and around these pillars, etched in glass, were names of deceased brothers. Middle room card room and MODEST eating area. Back room - billiard table, pool table and ping pong table. 3rd floor used for lodge meetings and social functions - i.e., dances. ALSO - very important to many, many in the community - mostly women - was the regular Monday nite. Bingo games - purpose of which was to raise $$$ for the Elks crippled children's work -- a most notable and praiseworthy charity of the Elks. Primary fund-raisers for this charity were the annual Elks Festivals held early on in Elm Park and later in what is now known as Scully Park. All kinds of fun and games for dimes and quarters-- later more, of course -- Big $$$ came from selling Sunshine bonds - chances on a new car. Each year - a dealer "sold" a care to the lodge and something like a cost price and that car was given away on the last night to the holder of the winning # on a Sunshine bond - no limit as to how many you could buy. Proceeds rec'd along the years were wisely invested and today there are still youngsters seen @ clinics @ the hospital at no charge and this would include what we used to call braces, etc. [Bill's response to my question about whether membership was all male]: ALL Elk lodges were men only during these times just like Rotary, etc. The old boys are spinning out there in Union and Holy Cross, etc., but as the times changed so have many lodges and clubs. Horror of horrors - women are now officers in the lodge-- Paving the way for Hillary I guess -- just threw up on my nice keyboard. [Response my question on whether membership was exclusive to the upper middle class]: NO! - there did not appear to be a "class" attitude - Not everybody was a professional or businessman - of course many, many were. When it came to voting - if you were a son-of-a-bitch you were that whether or not you had money. [Response to my questions about whether gambling and drinking were allowed]: Yes -- there was lots of card playing -- mostly rummy and on certain nights there was usually a rather heavy poker game going on. No bar as such and I do not recall much drinking in the club room. NO teetotaling, though -- upstairs dances were another story. Pinballs did not make much of an appearance until the move was made to what was known as the Elks Country Club. As I remember there were no pinball machines up there [Town House on Kickapoo St.] - slots yes and therein lies a memory that sits firmly in the grey cells that are deteriorating up there. Like all lodges, the Elks had an annual "party and the Elks had theirs out at the old country club bldg - later burned. Jim Abbott & I were co- chair for this event and we decided that we would take the slots out there for the big bash. They were stored on the 3rd floor of the old Elks bldg. - this was after the big raids and these were not confiscated for some reason - in any event, Jim and I carried those things down three flights of stairs and they were HEAVY - and then they had to be returned to their "resting place" - have no idea as to whatever happened to them -- no wonder my back is no good today. Another "flash-back" - like other lodges, organizations, etc. the Elks always had a big family day on the evening of the 4th, with entertainment, etc. --capped off by a big fireworks display - always under the supervision of our veteran fireman -- Skinny Watson. A special treat(?) one year was when Jimmy Malerich landed his bi-plane crop duster on the 18th fairway -- for a "demonstration". The take-off left a bit to be desired - Jim didn't get enough altitude on take off and flew that plane right into the top of a large leafy tree, doing a beautiful job of tree-trimming - but a bit hard on the plane, which promptly cartwheeled into a crash -- no damage to pilot -- but that sure put a damper on the evening. Respond to
Bill at
[email protected]
40.73: Bill Gossett's Fellow
Elks Members of the 1950s: (photo from the Lincoln Courier, 9-20-51, p. 8) 40.74: Elks' First Country Club (undated photo from The Namesake Town, p. 60) William Keepers Maxwell, Sr., the father of author William Maxwell, was a founder of the golf course that was eventually purchased by the Elks Club in Lincoln. As noted above, the senior Maxwell was also a founding member of the Lincoln Elks Club. Access the senior Maxwell's account of their Country Club and golf course, published in the 1953 centennial edition of the Lincoln Evening Courier. (Click image of the Maxwell JPEG on your screen to enlarge for readability.)
40:75: 4th Green or 2nd Hole at
the Lincoln Elks Country Club with (photo courtesy of Jerry Gibson) Mrs. Bill Berger (l) and Tom McGrath (r). One of the other two men is Mr. Bill Berger.
40.76: Edward Hoblit, Elks Country Club Golf Pro (undated photo courtesy of Jerry Gibson, Ed Hoblit's nephew) Not everyone who went to the Elks Country Club golf course went there just for leisure- time fun. Jerry Gibson, LCHS noble Class of 1960, recalls that "before they headed to Illinois State Normal University, Ed and his younger brother, Ron, caddied for years at the Elks Country Club golf course to earn money for the family." One problem that made the Hoblits' struggle during the Depression especially difficult was that the father, John, was incapacitated for a couple of years due to illness. As a result, Ron and Ed's mother, "Grandma Hoblit, had to walk to the State School at night to make some money during those tough times. Ed or Ron would walk her to and from home to the entrance gate at the Colony. There wasn't a light near the tunnel under the RR tracks at the end of Elm until we [Jerry and Leigh] were kids-- Grandma Hoblit had her own Nightmare on Elm Street in the late twenties into the early thirties. Dark, cold, hungry times in those difficult years. During the Great Depression (and the Hoblits' plight), Grandma Hoblit always found some sort of food scrap to give to the hobo train riders who frequented the rail cars parked on the multiple tracks [double tracks of the GM&O and single track of the Illinois Traction System] less than a hundred yards from the Hoblits' front door. Any compassionate gene we possess must have come from her." Respond to Jerry at [email protected].
Access
Tom
McGrath's 1931 letter of recommendation for Edward Hoblit on McGrath Sand &
Gravel letterhead (courtesy of
Jerry Gibson). (Click image of the McGrath JPEG to enlarge for
readability.) |
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The Annual Elks' Festival: A Bonanza of Legalized Public Gambling to Benefit a Charitable Cause A lottery ticket to win a new vehicle was sold for $1.00. Vendors sold tickets from booklets of 15. Non-Elk members, including enterprising youth, could obtain the booklets for ticket sales. Vendors paid the Elks $10.00 per booklet, thus making $5.00 for each booklet sold.
During the Festival, always held in Washington Park (now Scully Park),
various games of chance were available: fishbowls, punchboards,
wheels-of-fortune, and bingo. Folks could also take their chances on
carnival rides. The Elks' Festival was one of the summer's highlights.
Always held early in July, it gave folks time to save up for the Logan
County Fair in early August. |
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40.77:
Courier Ad for the Elks' Festival |
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Weren't the Fords in the Elks' drawing usually black with black wall tires? One year the Ford was won by a guy who worked at a Sinclair gas station. Wearing his green uniform and cap, he liked to pretend his new Ford was a police squad car, and he enjoyed sitting on Madison Street next to the VFW to scare people driving on Business Route 66 into thinking their speed was clocked by radar. Seems I
recall he was eventually arrested for impersonation of an officer of the
law. Since plea bargaining had not yet been invented, I am unsure if
he is eligible for parole even today. |
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The Last(?) Gambling "Raid" in Lincoln--September 27, 1960 I have no memory of the 1960 slot machine raid described below, although I was still living in Lincoln at the time. In September of 1960, I was a freshman at Lincoln College and driving to classes in my first car, a 1949 Ford with a flat-head V-8. I had bought this wonderful vehicle with $300.00 of my own money earned the previous summer from a job which family friend Joe Sapp had obtained for me at the Illinois Department of Conservation through his close ties to Governor William Stratton's administration. Please understand that at the time I was too preoccupied with this car, thoughts of the opposite sex, and my classes--in that order of importance-- to pay much attention to local news. Now, thanks to journalistic accounts and the collective memory of other Lincolnites at heart, I can come to know what had been invisible to me 45 years ago. Fred Blanford reports, "Slots--Two different and distinct "raids." The "Good Government" one (and I'm not even sure it was the Good Government Council that did it) was when I was quite young. The incident in the 60's was not a raid--the elderly Mrs. Schwenoha (I have guessed at the spelling--Mrs. Coonhound for short) was the one who owned the house from the basement of which a large (semi?) truckload of slots was being on-loaded when a neighbor we think one of Marge's [Marge Coogan Blanford, Fred's wife] neighbors from the next block west on Delavan--called the police in the middle of the night to report suspicious activity--and the police investigated to find the "on-loaders" "en flagrante delicto" which is Latin for bare-assed--or in-the-act. That was the one that made the Chicago papers while I was a student in Chambana" (email of 9-4-2003). Email Fred at [email protected] |
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