Like many of my contemporaries who grew up in Lincoln, Illinois, during the 1940s and 1950s, I vaguely remember hearing about the gambling raids there, and a desire to learn more about these raids and my hometown prompted me to research and develop this Web page-chapter to tell the story of Governor Adlai E. Stevenson's crackdown on illegal gambling. This page can stand alone, but also is intended to provide background and context for a separate Web page on The Gambling Raids in Lincoln and Logan County, Illinois, During the Late Route 66 Era (1950-1960).

     Note: During a sabbatical leave in the fall of 2003, I researched several subjects, including the gambling raids, and conducted some of this research in Meyer Library of Missouri State University. All of this research was done to explore ways of using English studies for public service in support of the University's public affairs mission: specifically, to advance our knowledge of American social history and culture.

     In presenting information in 2003-04 about how Stevenson dealt with the gambling problem, I faced two choices: either develop a Web page or write an article for submission to an academic, refereed journal. I chose the Web page for these reasons:

• At this final stage of my career I do not need to build my resume (curriculum vitae, or cv) with another academic article and because an academic article would have required deeper research and taken a lot more time (e.g., time to find such primary source material as letters and government documents buried in archives and vertical files of distant libraries);

• I wanted to tell the main story and reach a greater audience than the small readership of a scholarly journal and because I wanted to add pages to expand my community history Web site of Lincoln, Illinois, as a "distance" public service;

• A Web page allows more extensive use of photos and such informal material as memoir and minor digressions. The enrichment of this informal material adds the appeal of "human interest" that the constraints of formal scholarship do not often allow;

• A Web page is a lot more fun and rewarding than writing an article for academic publication--a Web page sometimes prompts reader response. A journal article almost never does. Plus, trying to get published in an academic journal is always a crapshoot anyway; and

• In doing this page and the entire community history Web site of Lincoln, Illinois, I confess I am trying to deflate the myth that we academic types only offer knowledge that is uninteresting and useless to the general public (that we only "pile higher and deeper"). Here, I have tried to "pile higher and dearer."

     Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1900-1965) earned a substantial place in American and world history for his roles as the two-time Democratic candidate for President (1952 and 1956) and as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations (1961-1965). His effectiveness as a one-term reform Governor of Illinois (1948-1952) attracted the attention of the Democratic Party, which convinced him to be its candidate against Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. One of Stevenson's most dramatic and controversial initiatives in promoting "good government" in Illinois was his crackdown on illegal gambling. Beginning in May of 1950, Stevenson ordered the Illinois State Police to conduct gambling raids throughout Illinois, and these raids continued beyond 1950. Following raids in southern Illinois and northern Illinois, raids were conducted in central Illinois, including Logan County and its county seat of Lincoln, on October 11, 1950.

     Other pages in this Web site present additional information about gambling and good government in Lincoln during the 1950s. Links to those pages appear in the Sources Cited at the bottom of this page.

     Topics presented in this chapter/page are

•  Stevenson's principled public service in the Lincoln tradition,

•  Introduction to Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson's crackdown on gambling,

•  Stevenson's reform of the Illinois State Police and anti-gambling legislation,

•  Sidebar: Remembering Harry Dial, Illinois Republican Ex-State Police Officer from Lincoln,

•  Stevenson's decision to use the State Police to attack gambling,

•  The Illinois State Police gambling raids of May--October, 1950, and

•  Stevenson's final word on gambling (1952).
 

Stevenson's Principled Public Service in the Lincoln Tradition

     As a native son of Illinois, Stevenson showed much interest in its history and Abraham Lincoln in particular. Adlai Stevenson's maternal great-grandfather, Jesse W. Fell, was the founder of Illinois State [Normal] University in 1857, and Fell had been a key player in arranging for the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates. Fell also was a friend and supporter of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 Presidential campaign. Thus, by family history, Adlai Stevenson had been introduced to Abraham Lincoln. Historian Kenneth S. Davis describes Stevenson's fascination with Lincoln and Illinois history:

     "Public views of Stevenson as one who moved and had his being in the Lincoln tradition were enhanced by the Governor's obvious love affair with Illinois history. One of his earliest acts was to establish direct and well-used lines of communication between his office and the Illinois State Historical Library, whose head, State Historian Jay Monaghan, was the author of widely read books on Lincoln and Illinois history. From the library he obtained a carefully selected group of books for his office shelves and oil paintings by Illinois artists to hang on the mansion walls.

    Out-of-town visitors to the mansion were almost invariably taken, either by the Governor himself or by an appointed guide, to reconstructed New Salem, to Lincoln's tomb, to the house on the corner of Market and Eighth--and these visitors spread abroad tales of the Governor's total immersion in Lincolniana and of his fondness for the company of such famed Lincoln scholars Monaghan, Benjamin Thomas, then at work on his classic one-volute biography of Lincoln, and Carl Sandburg" (Davis, The Politics of Honor, p. 200).

     Note: Apparently when Stevenson spoke on certain occasions relating to Illinois history, he had Lincoln Biographer Benjamin Thomas ghost write speeches. The Papers of Adlai Stevenson, vol. 3, includes the text of at least three "thank you" letters that Stevenson sent to Thomas for ghost-written speeches, including a speech to the prestigious Chicago Historical Society on November 19, 1950, which Stevenson said brought "reverberating applause" (pp. 313, 316, 320, 482).
 

      39.2: Stevenson with Abraham Lincoln Autobiography Written at the Request of Jesse Fell

     (Photo from Noel F. Busch, Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois: A Portrait, p. 28. The caption reads, "Governor Stevenson inspects framed copy of three-page autobiography written by Abraham Lincoln at the request of Jesse W. Fell. Original manuscript, given to Fell, is now in the Library of Congress.")
 

     As a student of Lincoln, Stevenson understood that morality was at the core of Lincoln's view of public service. In Lincoln's time, slavery, of course, was the burning issue, and it brought Lincoln out of political retirement in 1854. Among Lincoln's most famous speeches framing his views on the slavery problem was the speech that led to his Republican party nomination--the speech at Cooper's Union, New York (February 27, 1860). In this speech Lincoln exhorted his audience to act on slavery as a moral issue: "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it" (bold mine; quoted from Benjamin Thomas, Abraham Lincoln: A Biography, p. 204).

     Stevenson's desire for reform and good government clearly reflects his view of public service as a moral endeavor. As a result of this view, Stevenson was committed to act against gambling because of the corruption it caused (but as indicated below, he needed a little prodding).
 

39.3: Adlai E. Stevenson as Governor of Illinois

(Official portrait in the Illinois Blue Book 1949-50, p. 45.)
 

Introduction to Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson's Crackdown on Gambling

     From the beginning of the twentieth century, gambling was illegal in Illinois, but it flourished there through the activities of organized crime. Nationally the Chicago Syndicate ran the use of the telegraph to transmit racing news. The Chicago gangsters also dominated the numbers racket. "They corrupted politicians and law enforcement officers. They contributed to the campaigns of politicians of both parties" (Martin, p. 443). As John Bartlow Martin explains, gambling was at the center of the growing corruption:

     "About 1944 the Chicago Syndicate made an alliance with a gang in the East St. Louis area for the purpose of extending its empire throughout the state, particularly its gambling network. Downstate gambling had been dominated by the Shelton gang. In many counties it had run wide open; the gamblers paid off the local law enforcement officials. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch had criticized Governor Green harshly for permitting it [previously Green had been the States Attorney who had successfully prosecuted Al Capone]. The collision of forces between the Chicago-East St. Louis gangs and the Shelton gang had produced the murder at Peoria of Bernie Shelton at the height of the 1948 political campaign. That murder had led to the disclosure of wide-open gambling, links between downstate politicians and gamblers, links between gamblers and Governor Green's state police, and the indictment, later dismissed, of a Post-Dispatch reporter by a supporter of Green" (p. 443). In Springfield during Green's administration, gambling--including roulette-- "had been wide open at the Lake Club, a night club. . . frequented by legislators" (Martin, p. 444).

     Central Illinois Journalist Bill Monson explains:

     "In 1944, Dwight Green narrowly won re-election as Governor. Some say it was contributions from gangsters which helped him over the top. By this time, one-third of Illinois counties (including Knox County) had gambling of some kind.

     Peoria also had prostitution, which shamed some citizens so badly that they managed to elect a reform mayor, Carl O. Triebel, in 1945. The Sheltons tried to buy him off but couldn’t. Carl Shelton decided to retire to his farm in Wayne County and left Bernie in charge (Earl had never been much involved in the Peoria operation, preferring to operate from his home territory in Fairfield.) With the end of the war, Peoria became tamer; but there was still gambling, and Bernie got most of the take. Then the Sheltons’ enemies began to make their moves. In October 1947, Carl was shot to death in an ambush near his farm. In July 1948, Bernie was cut down by a sniper’s rifle outside his headquarters in Peoria [Leigh's note: I have seen the site of the slaying; it was in front of a tavern on Farmington Road near Bradley Park]. Their deaths had two results. There was a shakeup in gang operation throughout Illinois and a media frenzy about corruption which extended all the way to the governor’s office.

     Green ran for a third term in 1948 and was expected to benefit from popular Republican Thomas Dewey’s campaign for the Presidency. But the media fallout from Peoria led to statewide investigations which connected Green and Attorney General George Barrett with corruption" (Monson).

     After some prolonged soul searching, Stevenson became the Democratic candidate for Governor. He set out to campaign

     "in the name of non partisan efficiency--for good men who might not be Democrats in state office, for a new constitution that might not protect the organization, and for the civil service cloture [closure] of patronage jobs that formerly bound the 'shock troops' to the Democratic party . . . ."

     "Stevenson's campaign for the governorship began in the dark and cold and snow of an Illinois winter, with his chances as dismal as the weather. By spring when the planting began and the long horizons held a mist of color, and he had received a good turnout in the uncontested primary, his chances for elections had improved. The Republican incumbent, Dwight Green, felt it necessary to shorten his Florida vacation to respond to Stevenson. By summer when a withering hot dry spell set in and the bookies in Mason County, in central Illinois, were giving seven-to-five odds on Green, the two candidates were providing Illinois voters, as is the way of American politics, mirror images of themselves and their concerns. With tireless public ebullience, the bald-pated, rumpled, self-proclaimed amateur in Brooks Brothers button-down shirts talked and talked, worried about contributions, and sometimes helped install the red, white, and blue Stevenson banners at the county fairs and courthouse squares where he spoke. 'Four counties a day is a fine education,' he informed Alicia Patterson in September, 'but I don't recommend it for human beings.'

     Unknown to most Illinoisians, who had forgotten his family, Stevenson squirmed when after his calls for better government the first question was how to pronounce his first name. In Lincoln, a small town in central Illinois, he spoke of ending corruption and especially gambling, before an audience [at the Logan County Fair] that could not hear him for the shouts from the racetrack in the background" (emphasis mine; Baker, Chapter 1).

     Through his vigorous campaigning, Stevenson had successfully reached a public interested in reforming government because of the corruption that stemmed from gambling:

     "Voter anger in Illinois was reflected in the fall election. Green lost to underdog Adlai Stevenson by over half a million votes" (Monson).

     (Photo from Patricia Harris, Adlai: The Illinois Years. Stevenson appears to grimace in contempt.)
 

Stevenson's Reform of the Illinois State Police and Anti-Gambling Legislation
 
     During the 1948 gubernatorial campaign, Stevenson denounced gambling and corruption, and that position attracted the support of groups who wanted reform that would achieve "good government." The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that Stevenson won a landslide victory because of his commitment to reform government (5-13-50, p. 3).

     In his first year as governor (1949), Stevenson took action to reform the corrupt State Police force. It had been established in 1923 with 100 officers and was gradually expanded to 500 in 1945 (Illinois Blue Book 1949-50, p. 526).

     "Sponsored by Governor Adlai E. Stevenson, legislation was passed by the 66th Illinois Legislature removing the Illinois State Police from politics, establishing tenure of office for members of the force and permitting reorganization of the division to an efficient, stream-lined policing unit. Under the new legislation, a non-partisan merit board was created, charged with the responsibility of selecting qualified candidates for appointment to the state police. The new law requires that by January 1, 1951, the police division shall be equally composed of members affiliated with the two major political parties. After that date, politics will play no part in the selection of candidates for police work. The new legislation assures members of the State Police division of tenure in office by providing that no members may be discharged, or demoted, except upon proper charges brought and substantiated in a hearing before the non-partisan merit board" (Illinois Blue Book 1949-50, p.527).

     A first step involved replacing about half of the Republican State Police with officers belonging to the Democratic Party, but complete reforming would take time. In August of 1950, at the height of the gambling raids, five State Police were charged with theft of $150 from slot machines confiscated during a raid in Cairo, Illinois. The accused officers were suspended immediately, and Acting Chief Thomas J. O'Donnell asked the State Police Merit Board to fire them (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8-3-1950, 3A).

     Stevenson not only reorganized the State Police, but also advanced the use of technology for better law enforcement. "The decision to utilize the aircraft for state police assignments was reached by Governor Stevenson on recommendations of the Directors of both the Aeronautics and Public Safety Departments" (Illinois Blue Book, 1951-52, p. 461). There is, however, no indication that air-to-ground communication was used during the 1950 gambling raids. Typically the State Police on those raids did not use radio communication as a security measure. The State Police thus prevented gamblers from monitoring their radio transmissions and gaining advanced warning that a raid convoy was on the move.

39.5: Illinois Officials Confer on the Coordination of Air-Ground Law Enforcement

(Photo from the Illinois Blue Book 1951-52, p. 461)

     Some of Stevenson's early efforts to attack gambling through legislation met with defeat. "When Congress passed a law forbidding the shipment of slot machines in interstate commerce, Stevenson proposed a law prohibiting their manufacture in Illinois where, as a matter of fact, practically all slot machines were made. The legislature said no. He also proposed to strengthen the powers of the Liquor Control Commission, to halt gambling wherever liquor was sold. Again the legislature said no" (Kenneth Davis, pp. 234-235). Stevenson, however, made significant progress "by increasing administrative efficiency and eliminating waste" (Davis, p. 235).
 
Sidebar: Harry Dial, Illinois Republican Ex-State Policeman from Lincoln

     Pictured below is Harry Dial (left), an Illinois ex-State Police officer, who was a Republican from Lincoln, Illinois. I speculate that he was a casualty of Stevenson's strategy of replacing Republican state policemen with Democrat new hires. In the early 1950s, Mr. Dial and "Putz" Jones, another Republican ex-State Policeman, owned and operated Dial and Jones's Texaco gas station on Business Route 66 in Lincoln at the corner of Fifth and Union Streets. Later in the 1950s and 1960s, Dial was the sole owner and operator.

39.6: Illinois Ex-State Police Officer Harry Dial (left) Accepts Trophy from George Harford for
Winning the Civilian Pistol Match Sponsored by the Logan County Shooters Rifle and Pistol Club

     Photo from the Lincoln Evening Courier, 11-16-54, p. 4. Image is poor due to scan of microfilm printout. Mr. Dial's picture above shows him in his Texaco uniform, which he wore proudly. I always suspected that he liked it because it reminded him of his State Police uniform. I never suspected, however, that any uniform ever went to his head. He never expressed any "big me, little you" attitude, but I do recall he happily told the story of once humbling "Squire [Thomas] Scully"--the largest landowner in Logan County and thus its wealthiest--by pulling him over for some minor traffic violation on Route 66.

     Harry Dial kindly allowed countless young men in Lincoln to make this Texaco station their second home--including Gerry Dehner, who grew up to become a Logan County Republican Circuit Court judge; Robert Madigan, who grew up to become an Illinois Republican State senator; and James "Jim" Knecht, who grew up to become an Illinois Appellate Court justice. At his station Dial allowed his young charges to wash their cars, borrow tools, watch TV, and play catch on the drive. Mr. Dial's gruff exterior concealed his heart of gold. He let his place of business be used as a hangout for teen guys even though this benevolence must have cut into his bottom line: no one knows how many old ladies decided to "trade" elsewhere because of the un-business-like, menacing appearance created by this semi-harmless collective socializing. Dial's Texaco station had a $.25-cigarette machine, a Coke machine, but no gambling machines.

     This Texaco station also became the informal Logan County Republican Headquarters. Local GOP leaders crossed paths there almost daily, including Logan County Committee Chairman Joe Sapp, who became the unofficial "right hand man" of Republican Governor William G. Stratton in the 1960s. Mr. Sapp gassed up at Dial's before driving to Springfield almost daily. When my father was young, Mr. Sapp had been his baseball mentor. In my own youth, Mr. Sapp used his political connections to obtain two minor patronage jobs for me: one with the Department of Conservation in the summer of 1960 in which I worked on the game farm on the NW corner of the Illinois State Fairgrounds--site of the new DNR Headquarters. My other political patronage job was with the Department of Public Welfare in the summer of 1963 (Lincoln State School).

     The Web page on the 1950 gambling raids in Lincoln, Illinois will show that gambling devices remained in Lincoln as late as 1960. As one of the guys who hung out at Dial's in the1950s, I can testify that this gas station was free of punchboards, and there were no slot machines in the back room. The most harmful device in the station was a cigarette machine. Mr. Dial had no children of his own, so perhaps he considered all of us his sons.

     In the later years of this socializing, Dial's gang bought him a new telephone and some other office equipment to express its appreciation for his friendship. Around 1960 we secretly bought him a new desk and office chair (Jim Thudium got us a good deal through his parents' Lincoln Office Supply). While Dial was at dinner, the new furniture was installed, and the old pieces were placed on the big curb out front, chair stacked on top of the desk. We had the hired man, Wayne Charron, call Dial to tell him he had better come down to the station right away as there was trouble. Harry, arriving, seeing the furniture, and knowing his office had been "vandalized," pulled onto the middle of the drive in his old blue pickup truck, stopped, got out, and entered his station with a very red, angry face. Then, amazed, he saw his new office, and Pete Ross asked him, "Now that you like 'em, do you want to buy 'em?" Mr. Dial then unlocked the Coke machine so we could help ourselves.

     August, 2013: Jim Knecht wrote: "Leigh, I would add to your account with my memory—an imperfect tool.  I remember Harry arriving in a white over yellow Buick 2 door--nice car.  And I think Ron Castor was either sitting on or just gotten off the desk and chair that were stacked at the corner of 5^th and Union.
 

     When Harry left work, he would go home, bathe, shave, put on what today would be a 1950/60 version of business casual and take His mother to dinner—so he arrived not only red-faced but in pristine attire having either dinner or the pick- up of his mother interrupted.

     He was livid—then relieved—then warm and grateful. Though less of a friend to youth, I trust you remember his early partner—another retired State Trooper—Albert “Putts” Jones.

     Cranky—profane—but with a sense of humor—though less tolerant of the reprobates who hung out there—he was interesting  and affable at times.  I remember being told he was sitting on the step outside the front door when a local miscreant—Hooner Eckert—kept riding his bike back and forth over the tube that rang the station bell—Putts told him to stop, he did not and Putts reached for a full oil can, heaved it and knocked Hooner off the bike—no serious injury but it stopped the bell-ringing. 

     I can remember going to then Dial & Jones in the early 50”s while walking to Central School—meeting Fred Worth (fat Freddie who lived on 5^th ) and Wally Smith and we would walk to school together. Once we were 9 or 10, Joe Sapp would pay the three of us to pass out campaign flyers door to door up and down 5^th.  Then when the State Fair arrived the following summer, he would drive us to Springfield, drop us off at the front gate and pick us up again. At 4 or 4:30—I think kids got free fair entry in those days.  That was an introduction to Politics—coupled with Joe’s second headquarters, Alvey’s Drug Store. Best regards, Jim Knecht." (Leigh's note: Justice Jim Knecht's page in this site: http://findinglincolnillinois.com/knecht/jknecht.html.)
 

Stevenson's Decision to Use the State Police to Attack Gambling

     Stevenson understood that gambling was a complicated problem. He believed that efficient government could best be achieved through local government wherever possible. (Note: Stevenson was a Democrat, but he embraced de-centralized government wherever possible--a principle traditionally associated with the Republican Party.) Stevenson also knew that countless citizens enjoyed illegal gambling, and "he disliked the double-standard morality of respectable citizens who denounced corruption but played slot machines in their private clubs" (Martin, p. 444).

     Stevenson well understood that any direct interference of his state government to curtail gambling would have a backlash against him. Thus, Stevenson's first attempt to stem the twin problems of illegal gambling and corruption was to encourage local officials to take action: "during 1949 he and his Attorney General, Ivan Elliott, had quietly brought pressure to bear on local law enforcement officials. They had been only partly successful. In some counties gambling had stopped[;] in others it had stopped for a time then resumed, and in others it had continued unabated. Now in the spring of 1950 he began to move against the gamblers" (Martin, p. 444).

     The circumstances of 1950 that led Stevenson to order Illinois State Police raids on gambling establishments provide an interesting and important plot twist in this story. It seems that Stevenson needed some prodding to act against gambling, and it came in the form of two provocative stories by Gordon Schendel that ran in Collier's magazine in April of that year. At that time, Collier's was struggling, so its new editor, Louis Ruppel (ex-Marine and ex-Federal narcotics investigator), was probably eager to publish controversial material as a way to boost readership and attract more advertisers.

      Curiously, Ruppel had worked for Stevenson's gubernatorial campaign, and both men had spent time together "riding around Illinois in the summer of 1948" (Harris, p. 59). Historian Harris raises the question of Ruppel's motive in publishing articles critical of Stevenson's handling of the gambling problem. Specifically, she wonders whether Ruppel may have felt inadequately paid for working on Stevenson's campaign and thus might have held a grudge that led to the stinging criticism in the two articles (pp. 59-63).

     Patricia (Milligan) Harris, a member of the press corps during Stevenson's governorship and vice-president of the Illinois Correspondents Association, describes the Collier's articles:

     "On April 15, 1950 the new 'Ruppelized' Collier's came out with the first of two blistering exposes on gambling in Illinois titled 'ILLINOIS SHAKEDOWN: The Little Guys Lose.' '. . . Governor Adlai Stevenson won the support of Republicans and Democrats on reforms, but he has not yet delivered on gambling.'
 

     Although most of the article zeroed in on gambling in the city of Quincy, there were several juicy little paragraphs by the author, Gordon Schendel, to the effect that Stevenson was reneging on his campaign promises. Schendel quoted from some of Adlai's speeches, particularly one delivered on Democratic day at the 1948 Illinois State Fair, in which Stevenson asserted:

     'My colleagues and I are going to fumigate the statehouse or break our hearts in the attempt!' [emphasis mine].

     Stevenson also was quoted as admitting that gambling was his Number One headache but that it was a 'local problem' to be solved by local law officials.
 

39.7: Patricia Milligan-Harris

(Illinois Blue Book 1950-51, p. 275)

     Even more telling were quotes from Stevenson's sidekick, Attorney General Elliott, to the effect that his powers were limited by statute and that he could move into a county only when asked to by local authorities.

     Schendel went on to say that newspapermen in Springfield were making wry jokes about how much worse the slot machine situation would have to become before the Governor would use his legal power to act."

     Milligan-Harris continues: "I didn't know about that but from personal observation, I knew that the slots and punchboards were in operation full blast all over middle Illinois, as they had been since the day I moved there. I was not much of a gambler myself, but some of the newsmen with whom I lunched played the punchboards regularly, and one of them rolled the dice for 'double or nothing' almost every noon (and lost). We usually ate in a narrow little place called 'The Saddle Club,' where the beer was cold and the plate lunches adequate" (Harris, pp. 63-64).

     Patricia Milligan-Harris's above account is the fullest explanation I could find of the role the Collier's articles must have played in Stevenson's first gambling raid. As a trusted member of the press corps in Stevenson's administration, she was invited to ride along during one of the gambling raids, and I provide her account of that experience later on this page.

     Stevenson's own papers show evidence that the Collier's stories prompted him to order the State Police gambling raids. Schendel's second Collier's article, quickly following the first, appeared on April 22, 1950. In an undated response, Stevenson wrote,

     "The Collier's article [note the singular of article] correctly quotes me as having said during the campaign that I would keep the state administration free of gambling taints. I say the same thing now, and I have done what I said.

     The enforcement by local officials of the gambling laws is better now than it has been for a long time. Had Collier's wanted the facts--and to know what the Attorney General and I have done--its reporter could have come to Springfield and talked with us. He didn't" (Walter Johnson and Carol Evans, The Papers of Adlai E. Stevenson, vol. 3, p. 270).

     One of many letters Stevenson received about the gambling problem was written by Paul Simon, the young editor and publisher of the Troy Tribune, Madison County, Illinois. Mr. Simon said: '"It seems to me your extremely able administration should not be hindered by attacks of failing to act in the gambling situation.' James W. Mulroy [one of Stevenson's administrative assistants] replied to Simon's letter on May 4, saying, ". . . I am told that Madison County is still open in some respects but I am of the considered opinion that in a comparatively short time the better known gambling places in your county will be closed either to action taken by your own authorities or by some other type of action. . . . " (Johnson and Evans, p. 270). The first State Police gambling raid targeted Madison County.
 

Key Players in Stevenson's Battle Against Gambling
 

39.8: Carmi Native Ivan A. Elliott, Attorney General

IL Blue Book 1949-50, p. 56.

39.9: Paris, IL, Native Carl McGowan, Administrative Assistant

 IL Blue Book 1949-50, p. 441.

39.10: Chicago Native Thomas J. O'Donnell, Acting Head of the State Police

IL Blue Book 1949-50, p. 524.
 

The Illinois State Police Gambling Raids of May--October, 1950

     Stevenson was at first reluctant to use the State Police to fight gambling, but the circumstances of political pressure summarized above show that later he was quick to order the State Police on gambling raids. As indicated above, Madison County (just east of St. Louis) was a notorious gambling Mecca, but did Illinois authorities have some basis other than hearsay to know which establishments would be good targets there and in other locales?

     The answer is yes because government records existed for the names of establishments where slot machines were located. These records existed because the Federal government required sites with slot machines to pay taxes on them. Owners of slot machines in such states as Illinois and Missouri faced the irony that although these devices were illegal in those states, owners had to pay Federal taxes on them. Certainly in Illinois state officials most likely would have had access to those records: the office of the Collector of Internal Revenue was in the state capital of Springfield.

     In August of 1950, just two months before the State Police raided Macon and Logan Counties, the Internal Revenue records "show that taxes were paid on 1,402 slot machines in 355 establishments in Illinois during July. This [was] considerably below the figures for the same month in any other recent year. July is the beginning of the government's fiscal year." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8-3,-50, p. 3A). Each machine was taxed $100.00 (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7-28-50, p. 7A).

     Logan County (and its neighboring Macon County) ranked among the counties with the highest number of machines: "The largest concentrations of slot machines in the new list are in Madison county, 39 machines in seven places; Macon county, 37 machines in 32 places; Logan, 27 machines in 17 places, and Tazewell, 10 machines in eight places" (Post-Dispatch, 8-3-50, p. 3A). As indicated later on this page, all of these counties were targeted by Stevenson's State Police raids.

     Former Lincolnite Dave Salyers says that the slot machines in Lincoln and Logan County were Indian head slot machines like the one pictured below. The Web site where I found this photo explains: "They [Indian head slots] have the highest odds against a player. They make enough money to pay for all the overhead cost required to run a large, modern casino. The big payoffs are far and few, but people play the slot machines more than any other casino game."

39.11:  Photo of Indian Head Slot Machine from www.jme.com/slotsbody.htm

     The irony of having to pay taxes on illegal gambling machines puzzled their patrons as well as their owners. In his final published statement on gambling in 1952, Governor Stevenson writes:

     "People don't understand how slot machines can be illegal in Illinois while the Federal government collects a tax of $150 per year [taxes must have gone up $50 per machine in two years] on each machine. The lawyer can explain the difference between the gambling laws of Illinois and the revenue laws of the United States. The average citizen, however, naturally assumes that when a machine has been properly registered with the Collector of Internal Revenue and the tax has been paid, the owner is entitled to use it. The owner is indignant when gambling devices on which he has paid the Federal tax are confiscated and destroyed under state law.

     Effective law enforcement in Illinois with respect to slot machines and similar gambling devices that are Federally taxed has been complicated by popular misconceptions arising from this paradoxical legal treatment by two separate governments. Moral confusions--always a problem with respect to gambling--are intensified. And the paradox is further aggravated when Congress taxes these machines yet prohibits their interstate shipment--which prohibition, by the way, does no good in Illinois, where they are all made" (Stevenson, "Who Runs the Gambling Machines, The Atlantic, 2-52, p. 35).

     The main source I used to identify the following series of gambling raids was the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

     Raid 1: May 12, 1950: Madison County, IL (St. Louis suburban area in Illinois)--the 200 Club in Madison, Illinois, and the Hyde Park Club in Venice. This raid made the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch with the blaring headline:

     "State Police Raid East Side Casinos; Will Be Used Further, Governor Warns. Hyde Park Club, 200 Club Closed; 3 Operators, 48 Helpers Booked."

     I quote much of the Post-Dispatch story below because it is the fullest published account of all the raids, because it helps to explain the role of the Illinois State Police, and because this raid was apparently typical of the procedures used in the other raids.

     "Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson served notice today that state police will be used to suppress gambling in Illinois communities where local authorities fail to act. . . . Three operators of the two casinos and 48 employees were carted off to jail at Alton in a state police convoy after the raiders surprised about 800 customers in the two handbooks in the mid-afternoon rush of betting business. The prisoners later were transferred to Madison county jail at Edwardsville, where warrants charging them with handbook operation were issued, and bail was arranged.

     Fifty Illinois state troopers, mostly new men in the department, from various sections of the state, swooped in on the two large gambling establishments in simultaneous raids shortly after 3 p.m. Madison county authorities were given no word of the well-planned raids, and there were no state police on hand from the immediate East Side area.

     Spearhead of the invasion of the two gambling establishments, which had continued wide-open handbook operation in the face of repeated efforts by the Governor to get local authorities to take action, were state troopers in plain clothes, who mingled with the customers. Their presence apparently was to insure that the raiding forces would get inside the establishments with minimum opposition.

     Using unmarked state cars, the uniformed raiders moved into the parking lots at the Hyde Park Club, 836 Main Street, Venice, and the 200 Club, 200 State Street, Madison, at the appointed moment.

     The separate groups were led by Assistant State's Attorney General Baird Helfrich; Thomas P. Brennan, administrative assistant to Director of Public Safety Thomas O'Donnell; Normal J. Lee, Chief investigator for the State Bureau of Investigation, and State Police Capt. R.C. Winder of Duquoin. . . .

    The 500 customers in the Hyde Park Club were busy with their racing forms, receiving results from major horse tracks over a public address system. Clerks were marking the 'boards' and cashiers were in their booths.

     The scene was much the same at the 200 Club, where some of the 300 customers believed the troopers were robbers in police uniforms. Blackjack games were going in both establishments, being conducted largely for the amusement of customers between races. The dice, roulette and 'heavy' card games were closed by the operators late last year because of 'poor business.' The Hyde Park gambling casino is in a building separate from the handbook. Customers were ordered to remain in their places while officers took their names and addresses. The customers then were ordered outside, where many loitered on the sidewalk watching developments. [Note: the Post-Dispatch published the names and addresses of those arrested.]

     After the customers had been disposed of, the officers began the removal of betting paraphernalia and equipment. A moving van was summoned to the Hyde Park Club to haul away the evidence, which included the familiar arm chairs provided for horse bettors, bar stools, the loud speaker equipment, black boards and the various printed charts and tabs. Equipment not taken was smashed with axes, crowbars and heavy hat racks, the latter part of the handbook equipment . . . . Cash seized as evidence in the two handbooks totaled $22,663, of which $16,663 was found in the cashiers' cages and the office at the Hyde Park Club. Safes in the handbooks were too bulky to cart away, but authorities plan to open the strong boxes later and expect to examine records of the establishments. State police details were posted in the raided places overnight. [Prior to the raids,] members of the raiding force were summoned to Springfield by telephone, arriving there by 11 a.m. yesterday. They were given a general briefing on the situation, but were not told where the raids were to be made. It was not until their cars approached Madison county that the rank and file of State Police learned that their objectives were the Hyde Park and the 200 Clubs. Madison County Sheriff Dallas T. Harrell was not notified, and there were no local officers in on the raids" (pp. 1 and 3).