Henderson history: Much finger-pointing over gambling in late 1948

The “lid” was on in 1948, which meant the only slot machines available locally were in private clubs and lodges.

It was not a new phenomenon. For nearly two decades – whenever public concern about gambling reached a crescendo – local officials would take action. Usually that meant the gamblers would hide their machines, pay their fines, and very quickly go right back to work.

It’s not clear exactly when slot machines made their appearance locally, but I\'ve seen 1903 indictments for maintaining them. Certainly by 1929 slot machines were well established here, because on Jan. 12, 1930, local law enforcement officials published warnings in The Gleaner that a crackdown was coming.

Local officials reached a tacit agreement with gamblers, though, that allowed gambling operators to contribute to public coffers and public officials to appear they were doing something about the problem. It was mostly done initially through civil lawsuits filed in Henderson Circuit Court. In 1934 there were 30 such suits filed, and that pattern continued every year through 1939.

On Jan. 23, 1940, the crackdowns switched to criminal court; 30 informations (similar to indictments) were filed. Forty-seven indictments were filed Jan. 28, 1941; 258 on Jan. 22, 1943; and 41 on Jan. 7, 1947. In most cases the charges were either dropped after a month or so, or gambling operators paid a fine and continued doing business.

Which brings us up to the controversy that began in The Gleaner of Oct. 21, 1948. City Prosecuting Attorney James E. Hunt, in speaking to the Henderson Ministerial Association, accused Police Chief Leon Beckham of refusing to sign gambling arrest warrants.

(I’m presenting the conflicting statements pretty much as they appeared in The Gleaner because I don’t know where the truth lies. I’ll leave that to you.)

Beckham had supposedly agreed a few months before to sign warrants against about eight gambling operators but Hunt said when he presented them, Beckham replied he would first have to consult with beer distributor Elmer Herron. “A little while later he called and said he couldn’t sign the warrants.”

Beckham denied the charge in the Oct. 22 Gleaner. He said Hunt had proposed only fines and that slot machines would not be confiscated. Beckham said he refused because that would be the equivalent of “shaking down” the gambling operators so the prosecutor could get his 30 percent of the fines. He also denied consulting with Herron, noting the beer distributor had no connection with city government.

Mayor Robert B. Posey gave his views in a companion article. He noted he had led the campaign for the 1947 indictments “and was congratulated for this by many businessmen. Later, however, all but three of them were sorry they did so, because of the economic pressure that was brought to bear upon them by the gambling element.”

In the Oct. 23 Gleaner Hunt declined to get into “mudslinging” with the police chief. “I’ve made my statement. I’ll just let it stand where it is.”

Guy C. Shearer, chairman of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control board, told the ministerial association his agency would be starting an investigation of the Henderson situation before the end of the year, according to the Oct. 24 Gleaner. He also warned them that entrenched corruption is hard to root out because of longstanding connections with law enforcement.

Blonnie Watson had a letter in The Gleaner of Oct. 31 in which she said all the “money being flashed at election time” was the cause of the “terrible condition” of the city and county. “Some who claim to be Christians will take the money. Some take it because they need it, others because it is such a temptation that they can’t resist.”

Henderson police officer D.E. Gibson had a letter in The Gleaner of Nov. 7 that said, “grand juries won’t indict and courts won’t convict.” Operating slot machines could bring up to three years in prison, he said, “yet gambling houses are running wide open in the city and county.

“When are our officials going to act to clean up these rotten conditions” … and give the people the government they deserve?

The Henderson City Commission met the next day, which was reported in The Gleaner of Nov. 9. “I saw a letter from one of our policemen in the paper yesterday,” said Commissioner Andrew P. Sights. “I didn’t like it.” He finished that statement by making a motion that policemen enforce all laws. He emphasized the word “all.”

“I don’t know where the police got the idea they weren’t supposed to enforce those laws,” said Commissioner T.C. Hollowell. The motion passed unanimously. The Nov. 10 Gleaner reported the police chief had given his men new marching orders. “We won’t pull any punches, and everybody’s going to be treated alike.” Beckham promised results within 10 days.

Hiland Boucher had a letter in the same issue, noting gambling joints couldn’t operate without customers. “I am not for gambling, but I don’t think people should get what they like and then put the blame on the city officials.”The Gleaner of Nov. 11 reprinted an editorial from the Courier-Journal of Louisville, which, like other Kentucky cities, was grappling with gambling.

“The hapless police force of Henderson may be pardoned if it raises rueful eyebrows over its latest orders to stop gambling and arrest gamblers. Henderson’s police force has been arresting gamblers diligently for at least five years and probably much longer. But gambling is still Henderson’s major community problem….”

Except for the ministerial association, “nobody in Henderson will care very much, just as nobody in Louisville cares very much when our day-by-day roster of bookies and slot machine operators pays over its token fines and returns to work. Otherwise law-abiding Kentuckians have elastic consciences where gambling is concerned ….”

The results within 10 days the police chief had pledged Nov. 10 were not forthcoming until the Jan. 1, 1949, Gleaner. Police confiscated three slot machines from Johnny’s Bar at 331 Second St. and charged owner John Puckett.

“They were right there in the open,” Beckham said. “As far as I’m concerned it’s an open and shut case.”

Police confiscated three more from a pool room at 705 Dixon St., according to the Jan. 2 Gleaner, where J.R. Fellows was the proprietor.

The same issue reported that Nina Sheffer had preferred a charge of setting up gambling machines against William Walker, owner of Walker’s Tavern. She maintained her husband had lost his paycheck there a few weeks earlier.

The Gleaner of Jan. 5 reported the grand jury declined to indict Walker.

Dynamite blasted Walker’s Tavern -- along with several other gambling joints -- in the spring of 1949.

But that’s a story for another day.

100 YEARS AGO

A Hawesville man, David Curtis Snyder, was killed at Spottsville while trying to hop a freight train, according to The Gleaner of Oct. 21, 1923.

The station agent told the coroner that Snyder was trying to grab onto a coal car but missed the front of it. He then fell between the cars while trying to grab the rear of the car.

“Both of his arms and one leg were crushed, and a hole knocked in the back of his head.”

50 YEARS AGO

Henderson County was undergoing a boom in major building projects, according to photos in The Gleaner of Oct. 28, 1973.

They included a new Central Elementary School, Seventh Street Elementary School, East Heights Elementary School, the Henderson Municipal Center, 16-acre Community Park on Kentucky 136, the Firestone Steel Products (now Accuride) plant, and the new Henderson Golf and Country Club.

Another change, which The Gleaner noted Nov. 2, said the Elks Lodge building at Third and Main streets, which the Elks had used since 1906, was auctioned to five businessmen for $36,000. They were Malcolm Neel, Owen and Jim Barnett, Bud Crafton and Ed Schrecker.

The original structure was built sometime between 1828 and 1859 by George M. Atkinson, the first exalted ruler of the lodge, and a third floor was added in 1909. The Gleaner of July 25, 1974, noted the building was coming down.

25 YEARS AGO

The Henderson-based Autism Society of Western Kentucky brought Temple Grandin to this area to speak about what it’s like to experience autism from the inside, according to The Gleaner of Oct. 24, 1998.

She is a prominent author about autism and animal behavior; in fact, she is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and has designed well over half of the major livestock-handling facilities in this country.

She has also been the focus of numerous books, articles, and television programs, as well as a 2010 semi-biographical movie on HBO starring Claire Danes, which won seven Emmys.

Nancy MacMellon Boyett (who I’m proud to have been married to for 45 years) was one of the founders of the local autism chapter and was agency director at the time of Grandin’s visit. Her inspiration, of course, was our wonderful daughter, Alyssa.

Grandin was the first in a long line of nationally and internationally known speakers Nancy brought here to headline the autism society’s annual conferences through the years.

The 1998 event was held at the Executive Inn Rivermont in Owensboro, which was attended by about 500 educators, social workers and parents.

Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at YesNews42@yahoo.com.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Henderson history: Much finger-pointing over gambling in late 1948