FUNNY MONEY IN PEORIA
Over the years I have written a lot about the lack of
real gangsters in our town and I can tell you most people prefer that I carry
on the myth of gangsters in Peoria. I remind them that I am a Peoria Historian
and that the only thing I write about is what was actually in our local
records. Records like police reports,
coroner’s reports, medical records from the medical examiners, and of course written
newspaper articles. I also interviewed
at least 50 aged Peoria Citizens, and believe me when I tell you I have the
record straight. A lot of myth makers
like to tell you how crooked Mayor Woodruff was, and all the money he
personally received from his schemes.
Nothing could be further from the truth and within our records is every
dime the city coffers ever received from the gamblers in this town. He said there would always be graft in Peoria
Peoria during the war years was the most entertaining
town in America. Mayor Edward Nelson Woodruff, through his contacts, both
business and political knew how many slot machines were in town, who owned
them, and where the ‘real’ gambling was going on. Now he was elected 11 times
for a total of twenty-four years and his machine controlled every inch of the
city limits. Every Monday morning,
employees of the gambling czars lined up at city hall, room 108, to be
precise. They would pick up their ‘John
Doe Warrants,’ and count out, in cash, their ‘fines’ of $1,500. The madams would also drop by with their
‘employee lists,’ and pay their ‘fine’ based on the number of ladies they had
under their control. Now these were
weekly payments and usually that amounted to a minimum of $78.000 into the city
coffers annually. This money was
carefully counted and often discussed in the weekly mayor and alderman ‘Tuesday
night show’ in city hall. People stood
in line to get in to hear what the mayor had to say, and believe me they were
riotous, humorous meetings chaired by ‘Hiz Honor.’ There were open discussions
about the money being collected from these ‘local business men,’ so anyone who
thought it was coming from ‘Under the table’ simply had no idea what the truth
was.
Mayor Woodruff not only ran this town, he worked
constantly to defeat men that he simply did not like…and they were legion. As Liquor Commissioner he decided who got the
liquor license and if certain owners got out of line, or caused him grief, he
had the power to revoke or cancel any license he chose. One alderman stated publicly at one of these
meeting: “I have been on the liquor
Commission for two years and I have never voted once.” The mayor…with that grin of his and his
crooked neck stare said, “No…and you never will.” Get the idea?
When Mayor McClugage came into office, Woodruff was
out, and the funny money stopped. Oh,
sure, gambling continued and the average citizen in the know thought it was
just plain stupid to have gambling and not get a percentage of the proceeds to
benefit the city. So…you guessed it, in
1941 Woodruff was elected for four years this time…and Peoria was up and
running as before. In May of 1945,
Woodruff was out and Mayor Triebel was in.
Now a lot people called him a reformer…but he was not. In order to
separate himself from all those ‘Slimy gamblers,’ he too decided not to collect
the ‘Funny Money.’ I might add, the
first year he was in Peoria operated in the red, and he got a lot of flack,
believe me. Finally on September 6,
1946, he gave his famous ‘NO Gambling’ speech and Peoria went out of the casino
gambling business. Of course the slots
stayed, but a huge change was coming downtown and the do-gooders were tickled
pink.
In a dump called the Madison Smoke Shop, repairs and
slot adjustments still continued, but the writing was on the wall, and many of
the real casino owners began to sell off their buildings. Even Peoria’s pet gangster Bernie Shelton,
moved from downtown to out in Peoria County to a place called The Parkway. Peoria’s big time business men and established
gamblers like Bill Urban, Jacob Reuter, Frank Daugherty, and Clyde Garrison saw
their local power and golden goose slip away. Triebel was adored by the do-gooders and hated
by all the folks associated with the bawdy, wild side of downtown Peoria, Illinois
Thus an era that began with the Water Street brothels
way back in the 1850’s ended that historic night in September of 1946. As I mentioned Peorians in the know realized
that slots weren’t really gambling and if you wanted a little of the real
action downtown, you needed to know where to go. Here is just a tiny example of a few of the
sources of Peoria’s infamous Funny Money.
Remember it is all part of the City records. Does that sound like a
gangster set-up to you? Not all had John Doe Warrants, many just walked in and
paid as a part of doing business in Peoria
Empire Room…$18,500, Saratoga…$5,250, G.C.
Rooksby…$500, It Club…$4,750, Club Gig-Gallaux…$4,250,
Sportsman Club…$5,250, John Smith…$250, H.L.
Lamb…$250, Talk O’ Th’ Town…$250, Lyceum…$4,750, J
Swain…$4,500 and John Snyder…$250. Gangsters…what a joke.
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