PEORIA’S  GANGSTER  REPUTATION 

                                                    NORMAN  V.  KELLY

 

After thirty years of researching Peoria’s history I can tell you that there are a lot of gangster fans here in Peoria. Never, during my many lectures did anyone ask me about our churches, schools, or  our industrial background. Frankly, I was glad, because gangsters and sordid history is a lot more fun to talk about.

Peoria became a city in 1845 and we quickly rose head and shoulders above all the other river towns.

Booze and beer propelled us along, and we grew like no other town, thanks to our location along the Illinois River. Never, and I mean never, was Peoria considered a gangster town nor were we referred to as a bawdy, wide-open town during our early history. Peoria was a great place to live, raise a family, and find a job.

Prohibition hit Peoria, Illinois harder than any other city because of our dependence on the breweries and distilleries. 1920 spawned the Roaring Twenties and gambling and prostitution really took hold here in the old river city. Our reputation began to change from a metropolitan, liberal town into a wide-open bawdy town.  A place where a man could get a drink and dabble in the other vices the city provided. Still, you will never find any history of gangsters, nor was that label ever attached to the great town of Peoria, Illinois. Peoria had 79 murders during Prohibition and only two of them were even remotely connected  to bootlegging.

It was not until 1946, one hundred and one years into our history that the word ‘Gangster’ began to appear in the newspapers. That year brought us three ‘Gangland Style’ murders and the out of town reporters ripped into us with a vengeance.  On the evening of February 21, 1946, Frank Kramer a local tavern owner was working inside his glassed in porch. A gunman, armed with a rifle, fired three shots, killing the well-known businessman. On a Saturday in September the ‘bullet ridden’ body of Joel Nyberg was found on a golf course in Lacon, Illinois.  He was a local small-time hoodlum who was out on bail pending his manslaughter conviction. On the evening of October 25, 1946, another gangland style murder hit the newspapers with major headlines.  Phillip Stumpf, a gangster wannabe was driving on Big Hollow Road when a car came up behind him carrying four men with guns blazing. Police found eight holes in Stumpf’s car, and one in the back of his head. In 1947, there was the murder of Flavel Feuger, a Bradley student, which caused major headlines locally, and brought in at least a dozen reporters from large cities. In 1947 George McNear was shot near his home by a lone gunman firing a shotgun. McNear was a very prominent Peorian and that murder was in the newspapers in many large cities across America. In July of 1948, Peoria’s own pet gangster, Bernie Shelton was shot down in the parking lot across from Hunts Drive-In.  Reporters had a field day on that murder, and every story about Shelton that had ever been written was reprinted.

Those six murders ended the quaint reputation of Peoria being a bawdy, wide-open town. Newspapers from around the United States labeled Peoria a ‘ Gangster Town.’ Ted Link, a Saint Louis crime reporter was especially cruel to Peoria as far as gangster reporting was concerned. Link was connected to being in on illegally holding a man and grilling him over the Shelton killing. Link and his pals were accused of holding the victim up side down in an open window inside the Pere’ Marquette Hotel. Our state’s attorney got an indictment against this reporter and Link got even by helping to destroy Peoria’s reputation. The indictment was later dropped, but the gangster reputation stayed with us.

The FBI repeatedly reported that Peoria was as “safe as any other town its size.”  Big city reporters, out for sensational headlines, would have you believe that machine gun fire was as common as fireworks on the Fourth of July.   I am here to tell you that I was never able to verify the use of a Thompson Machine Gun in any of the 235 murders I wrote about over the years.  Once the reporters left town our local reporters went about the task of reporting the coroner’s inquest and the actual facts surrounding the murders. But the damage had already been done, and the gangster reputation stuck.

 

Today, there are a lot of grandfathers in town that will tell you bloody details of crimes here that will curl your hair. I have heard them all. Truth is, some of them have an element of truth to them, but most of them are just myths. I can also assure you that those same gentlemen will not believe one word of what I have just written. After all, gangsters and machine gun stories are a lot more fun than the simple truth.  You can read all of the actual details in my books, available in our local library.

Editor’s Note: Norm is a retired private investigator, historian and author. These stories are excerpts from his books, available in the Peoria Library.  He welcomes your comments.  ( norman.kelly@sbcglobal.net )