Bill Caldwell: Mayor Guy Humes' mission was cleaning up Joplin
Feb. 28—Joplin's reputation as a rough-and-tumble mining town was rightly earned in the decades following the 1870s. By the turn of the century, the city had grown in size and wealth, leading prominent residents to dream of Joplin becoming the metropolis of the Southwest. However, there were many who wanted to keep things the way they had always been.
Nightlife made easy money possible through alcohol sales, saloons, gambling and prostitution. The House of Lords was the iconic symbol of the way things used to be. The bar with its classy restaurant, gambling and prostitutes all were available at Fourth and Main. After 1900, calls to clean up the downtown gained voice among Progressive Republicans and church groups. For some, changing municipal government was the answer. Others such as Guy Humes worked through the existing council.
At that time, partisan-based council seats numbered between 14 and 16. The common wisdom was that no mayor was ever reelected to a successive term. Democrats were led by Mayor Jesse Osborne and the party boss, Globe editor Gilbert Barbee.
Humes worked for the News Herald, a Republican paper, as advertising manager. He successfully ran for a council seat in 1905 and 1907. In 1909, he decided to run against Osborne for mayor.
The campaign had two issues. First was city finances. The city heavily relied on the sizable fees from saloon licenses. Osborne's administration had borrowed money to tide it over until fees for the next year were paid. Humes advocated no borrowing. But the issue near and dear to Humes' heart was cleaning up the vice trades.
Humes won the April 1909 election and went to work. While he couldn't eliminate alcohol, the city did prohibit Sunday liquor sales, which was widely ignored. He took that as his weapon to begin cracking down on saloons and their attendant vices.
House of Lords and Connor raids
Of course, what better way to send a message than to hit the House of Lords itself? The saloon had doors connecting it to adjacent buildings and one skyway that connected an upper floor across the alley to the Globe building for Barbee, who was part owner of the saloon. Humes saw it as a sting operation whereby he would hire men to go into the saloon and pass information to him and the police. He paid for some of those men himself, and others he hired as part-time officers.
The raid took place on Sunday, Oct. 31, 1909. The News Herald conveniently had a reporter accompanying the mayor. "Mayor Humes, single-handed, conceived and carried into execution the raid. Through agents who had been posted in the saloon, he ascertained to a certainty that the place was open, against the state and city laws.
"Entrance was made through a door leading into a pool hall on the north of the saloon. Humes was somewhat in advance of the two officers (he had contacted in advance). As he stepped into the pool hall, it is said the signal of his approach was flashed to the barroom, the doors of which were immediately closed and locked. The mayor stepped to the door and gave three loud knocks, being admitted by one of his agents who had been appointed a special agent for the occasion, and who had been stationed on the inside. A porter attempted to prevent the mayor from entering, but he forged ahead, closely followed by the two policemen, who placed (Bert) McCullough (proprietor) and his employees under arrest."
The article ran on the bottom of the front page the next day. Atop the page was an article and photo of Albert Gill, advance man for evangelist Billy Sunday. The timing of the raid and Sunday's imminent arrival was not lost on the saloon party. Through November, Humes led raids on bars and searched for gambling venues. The House of Lords raid had confiscated some gambling furniture, though gamblers had been tipped off just soon enough to evade arrest.
Barbee didn't ignore the raid but ran front-page articles mocking the mayor and his methods. On Nov. 19, a trial for an illegal poker game was reviewed as a farce with multiple acts. The transcript of the trial highlighted the mayor's amateur zeal in a foolish light. With a few minutes' deliberation, the jury found the poker players not guilty.
Just as famous was a raid on a room in the Connor Hotel on Sunday, Dec. 5. Officers found the 8-foot roulette wheel and table from the House of Lords as well as other gambling paraphernalia. E.W. Young, manager of the Connor, faced trials in municipal and state courts for hosting gambling. Jurors set records for short deliberations in both cases, acquitting Young.
Forging ahead
That didn't stop Humes. He next turned to private clubs. In April 1910, he raided the Greco and the Illinois clubs. Both had wet bars. He called for their charters to be revoked, saying, "Some of these clubs exist merely as blinds to cover violations of the Sunday law. ... Prosecuting Attorney Coon agrees to help me put the clubs out of business, and proceedings will be instituted at this term of circuit court."
Humes had success stopping blatant Sunday liquor sales, gambling and prostitution, but he lost his reelection race to former mayor Osborne in 1911. Humes also lost the thorn in his side when Barbee was ousted as editor of the Globe by A.H. Rogers in 1910. He went back to work for the News Herald and continued to work for the combined papers when the Globe and News Herald merged in 1922.
In 1924, Humes reentered politics to run for Jasper County sheriff. He won and served until 1928, though he suffered declining health the last year of his term. He moved to California, where he lived until his death on Nov. 20, 1933, at age 61.
The News Herald summed up his work as mayor in 1910: "Anyone knowing conditions is proud of the fact that Joplin is a cleaner city in which to live than ever before. When gamblers send their stuff away, their employees seek other climates, and the painted ladies write their letters from a distance instead of trying to run this town — times have changed. Guy Humes is cursed a bit, and laughed at by others, but is there a believer in a hometown who would have (prior) conditions return?"
Bill Caldwell is the retired librarian at The Joplin Globe. If you have a question you'd like him to research, send an email to wcaldwell@joplinglobe.com or leave a message at 417-627-7261.
