WSIL-TV had me on bright and early this morning plugging "Inside the Shelton Gang," the new book by Ruthie Shelton and myself.
We will both be at Bookworm this Saturday, April 20, from 1 to 3 p.m. at a book signing, and at the Flora Public Library next Thursday, April 25, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Click on the Books link to order it and my other books online. Books ordered over the next few weeks will go out with Ruthie's autograph as well as mine.
Showing posts with label Bloody Williamson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bloody Williamson. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
This Day in Illinois History - Jan. 17
On this day in Illinois history (actually yesterday since I'm a day late), Jan. 17, 1927, members of the Birger Gang kidnapped the first member of the Illinois State Police to die in the line of action. A few hours later he was murdered in a wheat field near Du Bois in Washington Co., Illinois.
Lory L. Price's assignment on paper was to patrol Illinois Route 13 between Harrisburg and Carbondale. His secondary role was to serve as the eyes and ears of Gov. Len Small in the turbulent Egyptian Badlands of 1920s Southern Illinois.
Price wasn't the only one to die that night. Another carload of gangsters kidnapped his wife Ethel Price, a pregnant school teacher who had taken the spring semester off. They shot her and dumped her body in an abandoned mine's air shaft on what's now the grounds of the Williamson County Shrine Club on Route 37 north of Marion.
Price had known and had been friends with both Carl Shelton and Charlie Birger for more than a decade by that time, according to the story Price's half-brother William Dufour told me back in 1994.
A few months after the second trial acquitted the perpetrators of the Herrin Massacre, Gov. Small hired Price, a World War I veteran, to be a motorcycle cop on the newly opened stretch of Route 13.
His job wasn't Prohibition enforcement and he continued his contacts with all sides. Birger, in particular, would tip him off to the whereabouts of stolen cars when good rewards had been offered. The pair would then split the reward.
There are three versions of what happened the night of his kidnapping and death, Birger's, Art Newman's and the one told by Gary DeNeal's source for "A Knight of Another Sort," who took part.
The event took place following the open warfare between the two gangs in the fall of 1926, the murder of West City Mayor Joe Adams in December, and the burning of Shady Rest a few days before.
Price was finally acting like a cop, investigating and getting close to the more junior members of the gang locked up in the Williamson County Jail. There he may have learned that one of the prisoners was booked under an assumed name, and really was somebody else, one of Adams' two killers nonetheless.
If so, he also managed to talk to the killer's fellow gunman and younger brother who perished in the attack and destruction of Shady Rest. Price definitely was one of the last to visit the cabin before its destruction. How much had he put together and how much had he reported back to the governor.
It's my contention that Newman was most responsible for the night's events. He had decided that Price was too much of a liability and whose long-term relationship with Birger would keep the gang leader from doing anything about it. By ordering the other carload of gangsters to kill Ethel, rather than just keep her safely out of the way while they scared Price, Newman must have thought that it would force Birger's hand. It did.
Some of the accounts indicate Newman fired the first shot at Price.
Ethel probably died on the 17th before midnight. Lory likely was shot and killed after midnight in the early morning hours of the 18th. His body wasn't found until Feb. 5. Ethel's body wasn't found until later in June.
More about the events of the Price murders can be found in DeNeal's book as well as "Bloody Williamson" by Paul Angle, though not the background. For that you'll have to wait until my upcoming book, "The Bloody Years."
Lory L. Price's assignment on paper was to patrol Illinois Route 13 between Harrisburg and Carbondale. His secondary role was to serve as the eyes and ears of Gov. Len Small in the turbulent Egyptian Badlands of 1920s Southern Illinois.
Price wasn't the only one to die that night. Another carload of gangsters kidnapped his wife Ethel Price, a pregnant school teacher who had taken the spring semester off. They shot her and dumped her body in an abandoned mine's air shaft on what's now the grounds of the Williamson County Shrine Club on Route 37 north of Marion.
Price had known and had been friends with both Carl Shelton and Charlie Birger for more than a decade by that time, according to the story Price's half-brother William Dufour told me back in 1994.
A few months after the second trial acquitted the perpetrators of the Herrin Massacre, Gov. Small hired Price, a World War I veteran, to be a motorcycle cop on the newly opened stretch of Route 13.
His job wasn't Prohibition enforcement and he continued his contacts with all sides. Birger, in particular, would tip him off to the whereabouts of stolen cars when good rewards had been offered. The pair would then split the reward.
There are three versions of what happened the night of his kidnapping and death, Birger's, Art Newman's and the one told by Gary DeNeal's source for "A Knight of Another Sort," who took part.
The event took place following the open warfare between the two gangs in the fall of 1926, the murder of West City Mayor Joe Adams in December, and the burning of Shady Rest a few days before.
Price was finally acting like a cop, investigating and getting close to the more junior members of the gang locked up in the Williamson County Jail. There he may have learned that one of the prisoners was booked under an assumed name, and really was somebody else, one of Adams' two killers nonetheless.
If so, he also managed to talk to the killer's fellow gunman and younger brother who perished in the attack and destruction of Shady Rest. Price definitely was one of the last to visit the cabin before its destruction. How much had he put together and how much had he reported back to the governor.
It's my contention that Newman was most responsible for the night's events. He had decided that Price was too much of a liability and whose long-term relationship with Birger would keep the gang leader from doing anything about it. By ordering the other carload of gangsters to kill Ethel, rather than just keep her safely out of the way while they scared Price, Newman must have thought that it would force Birger's hand. It did.
Some of the accounts indicate Newman fired the first shot at Price.
Ethel probably died on the 17th before midnight. Lory likely was shot and killed after midnight in the early morning hours of the 18th. His body wasn't found until Feb. 5. Ethel's body wasn't found until later in June.
More about the events of the Price murders can be found in DeNeal's book as well as "Bloody Williamson" by Paul Angle, though not the background. For that you'll have to wait until my upcoming book, "The Bloody Years."
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
This Day in Illinois History - Jan. 15
On this day in Illinois history, Jan. 15, 1924, Williamson County Sheriff George Galligan asked Gov. Len Small to withdraw state militia troops from the county.
The sheriff had requested troops following government-led raids staffed by hundreds of members of the Ku Klux Klan against bootleggers and others in Herrin and surrounding communities
Though sanctioned initially by federal authorities, incidents of abuse that took place in the raids had risen to the level of diplomatic complaints by the counsels of France and Italy on behalf of their citizens in the county.
Anti-Klan sentiments had risen and the sheriff (with this two full-time deputies) had no way to guarantee the public safety.
Klan and anti-Klan forces negotiated and worked out an agreement on the night before at a meeting at Herrin City Hall. On the 15th at 11 a.m. Galligan made his request to the governor to remove the troops.
Over the next few days he and his men conducted raids on bootleggers, but received no help from Klan supporters or their hand-picked local police.
The peace lasted six days when the Klan violated the agreement and began raids of their own.
After additional raids and reprisals, chaos erupted early in February and the governor ended up sending nearly a thousand troops to control the county.
The sheriff had requested troops following government-led raids staffed by hundreds of members of the Ku Klux Klan against bootleggers and others in Herrin and surrounding communities
Though sanctioned initially by federal authorities, incidents of abuse that took place in the raids had risen to the level of diplomatic complaints by the counsels of France and Italy on behalf of their citizens in the county.
Anti-Klan sentiments had risen and the sheriff (with this two full-time deputies) had no way to guarantee the public safety.
Klan and anti-Klan forces negotiated and worked out an agreement on the night before at a meeting at Herrin City Hall. On the 15th at 11 a.m. Galligan made his request to the governor to remove the troops.
Over the next few days he and his men conducted raids on bootleggers, but received no help from Klan supporters or their hand-picked local police.
The peace lasted six days when the Klan violated the agreement and began raids of their own.
After additional raids and reprisals, chaos erupted early in February and the governor ended up sending nearly a thousand troops to control the county.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Secrets of the Herrin Gangs
Ralph Johnson, co-author, was the alias of a Shelton gangster who decided to cash out when he got out of the gang temporarily at the end of the Gang War in January 1927. He sold his inside account to the St. Louis Star, and then to the N.E.A. news service which distributed his story in a 10-part series that newspapers printed from coast to coast that month. For the first time all ten accounts are collected on one volume.
I first ran across Johnson's stories in the clippings from the St. Louis Star in the Paul Angle Papers at the Chicago Historical Society. Angle, was the Illinois historian who wrote the classic, Bloody Williamson, more than a half century ago.
When I started this round of Bloody Williamson era research a couple of years ago I had two questions dealing with Johnson's account. One, "Was he for real?", and if he was, then, "Who was he?" since he freely admitted Johnson was his alias.
The second half of the book deals with those questions and reveals the real man behind the pseudonym. He had quite an interesting criminal career.
I won't reveal his name here in this post, but I'll give you a hint, if you look on the cover closely you'll see his name. He's also the double mugshot on the cover as well.
Click on the "Buy Now" button if you want purchase the book online and get a signed copy. You can also mail your orders to IllinoisHistory.com, PO Box 1142, Marion, Illinois.
Books cost $9.95 each, plus $2.25 shipping and handling for a total of $12.20, plus another 80 cents sales tax if you live in Illinois, for a total of $13.
Check out my IllinoisHistory.com Books page for my other books on the Old Slave House, the Bloody Vendetta, Lincoln stories from the Civil War, and the history of Gallatin County, Illinois.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Secrets of the Herrin Gangs Goes to the Printers
Like the earlier post from August, the Secrets book is an inside account of Bloody Williamson as told by a member of the Shelton Gang who had worked for both the Shelton Brothers as well as Charlie Birger. Unlike the earlier post the new book is a 96-page paperback that expands on Ralph Johnson's inside story with what I've discovered about the man behind the Ralph Johnson alias.
I won't tell you the name in this post, but if you click on the cover and look at the signature in the bottom right corner, you'll find it. He was a Benton native who played a much larger role in Bloody Williamson than anyone realized. It's also his fingerprints on the book as well.
For the last couple of years I've been digging into the region's Prohibition Era history which has grabbed my interest like the Old Slave House did a decade ago. I think I'm working on four or five (or maybe six) different Bloody Williamson projects from a screenplay with a St. Louis-based filmmaker to publishing other writers' works, as well as working on my own writing projects.
I'm still looking for photographs and stories for an upcoming pictorial history of Southern Illinois in the 1920s that will be titled, "The Bloody Years." I've found some real neat ones that's not been published before as well as intriguing angles on the big stories that are just now being uncovered.
The new "Secrets of the Herrin Gangs" will be out in mid October. Within the next 24 hours or so (I've got a couple of other deadlines to meet before then), I'll have links up for some special offers for those wanting to pre-order the book before it gets shipped back to me.
Monday, August 09, 2010
New Shelton Gang Book Available
Ralph Johnson ran with the Shelton Gang during Prohibition. As the Shelton-Birger Gang War wound to close in December 1926 and the first week or so of 1927, he decided to get out and cash out.
The way they did it back then wasn't much different than today. He went out and sold his story to the press, first to the St. Louis Star and then to the NEA news service which distributed his story as a 10-part series for newspapers across the country.
They called it "Secrets of the Herrin Gangs". In it Johnson told the inside account of life in the Shelton Gang as well as well as his own experiences with Charlie Birger and his gang.
It's been a key source of original gang life for decades. Now, for the first time it's available in one volume. I've added a new foreword with information about the life and times of Johnson, as well as who I think he really was. I've also added footnotes with corrections, dates and additional information, as well as an index.
For more information on books from IllinoisHistory.com, including books on the Old Slave House, the Bloody Vendetta, Abraham Lincoln or Gallatin County, Illinois, check out the book page at www.IllinoisHistory.com/books.
Orders can also be mailed in with a check or money order for $9.95 plus $2.25 s/h. Illinois residents add $0.85 sales tax, for a total of either $12.20 or $13.05.
The book is also available at the Book Daddy at Taylor's Mini Mall on Hwy 15 east of Fairfield.
UPDATE - I'm out of stock with this version of the book, though Taylor's Mini Mall in Fairfield and the Book Emporium in Harrisburg may still have copies. There's a new version at the printers that has much more on the man behind the alias of Ralph Johnson. It will be out in mid-October.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Nashville Artist's Music Mines Region's History
The song's story may be fictional in terms of the disaster at the Muddy mine, but the sentiment certainly is real for the coal mines of that era. Also, the photographs in the video come from the Saline County Historical Society in Harrisburg.
The singer-songwriter behind this is Rocky Alvey, a Saline County native who's now the assistant director at Vanderbilt's Dyer Observatory just outside Nashville, Tennessee.
He's got more of these Southern Illinois songs, including Hardin County Line, Shawneetown and Grand Pier Creek, just to name a view. All are on his latest album, Blackberry Jam. Listen to some of the songs on his MySpace page.
If Blackberry Jam focuses on Southern Illinois places, his next project mines the history of the region's bloody 1920s history. Although the title song hasn't been released publicly, it's really good I can tell you. He's also getting good reviews on it from others in the Nashville music industry.
In the video below he talks about the Muddy song.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Bloody Williamson Firepower Returns
Two keys pieces of the firepower used during the days of Bloody Williamson have returned to Southern Illinois for the first time in more than 80 years.
S. Glenn Young was famous for his Thompson machine gun, his World War I era rifle, and his pearl handed revolvers. As head spokesman and gunman for the Ku Klux Klan in this area from 1923 to January 1925, Young ranks was one of the leading figures of that violent era.
Two of his weapons were recently bought from his daughter and grandson, the latter I had the opportunity to meet in June. Look for an announcement or two in the next few weeks as to what museum will take them on display.
I know the answer of course, but it's not my place to make the announcement. The revolver was last fired on the night Young was killed.
S. Glenn Young was famous for his Thompson machine gun, his World War I era rifle, and his pearl handed revolvers. As head spokesman and gunman for the Ku Klux Klan in this area from 1923 to January 1925, Young ranks was one of the leading figures of that violent era.
Two of his weapons were recently bought from his daughter and grandson, the latter I had the opportunity to meet in June. Look for an announcement or two in the next few weeks as to what museum will take them on display.
I know the answer of course, but it's not my place to make the announcement. The revolver was last fired on the night Young was killed.
Friday, April 18, 2008
80th Anniversary of Birger Hanging Saturday
Tomorrow, April 19, is the 80th anniversary of hanging of Charlie Birger, Southern Illinois' most famed gangster. He was the last man executed by hanging in Illinois and by all accounts most deservedly so. Officially he was sentenced to death for his role in the conspiracy to murder Joe Adams, mayor of West City, Illinois, but was responsible for a number of other deaths, including that of Lory Price, the first Illinois State Policeman to die in the line of duty.
I grew up hearing the family stories about Birger and his hideout, Shady Rest. My grandmother's family, the Angels, lived less than a half mile away from the site to the northwest.
There were stories of gangsters passing counterfeit money in my great-grandparents' store, of Birger offering my grandmother and another friend a ride into Crab Orchard, the offer of medical help for my grandmother's baby sister, and the plaster dog my grandmother and her future husband won at the grand opening of the barbecue stand Birger had established right along the hard road between Marion and Harrisburg.It wasn't until junior high did I learn about Paul Angle's book, "Bloody Williamson" and Donald Bain's "War in Illinois" since republished as "Charlie and the Shawneetown Dame".
None of the books included my family's stories, but they proved to me there was something real to them.
There was a cheesy western song written after the hanging. Southern Illinois' "original, caustic acoustic band", The Woodbox Gang, has resurrected it and made it sound cool. Here's the video from their performance last fall at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
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