Category Archives: Crime and vice

Moonlight Garden

Posted on March 17, 2021 by editor

Moonlight Garden flourished as an open-air dance pavilion and then an indoor roller rink on Wabash Avenue for more than 35 years. Entrepreneur/showman Roy Dexheimer Sr. founded Moonlight Garden as the otherwise nameless “Open Air Dance Pavilion” in June 1927. … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Business, Crime and vice, Social life, Sports and recreation | 6 Comments

Jake Wexler murder, 1935

Posted on February 4, 2021 by editor

Jake Wexler was a jeweler in downtown Springfield for 15 years. But when he was gunned down gangland-style in 1935, newspaper stories revealed he had a sideline: slot machines. And, unwisely, he apparently refused to sell his devices and get … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice | 5 Comments

Three killed in saloon shootout, 1905

Posted on January 19, 2021 by editor

A drunken shootout in a Springfield saloon in 1905 left three men dead and two brothers charged with murder. The cause was a previous fistfight, followed by a series of telephoned challenges, newspaper articles reported. Those killed were all from … Continue reading →

Posted in Communications, Crime and vice, Hotels & taverns, Journalism, Law enforcement | 5 Comments

Theater bombings, 1931-32

Posted on January 3, 2021 by editor

Unhappy theater workers were the immediate suspects in 1931, when bombs – both explosives and stink bombs – went off in three local cinemas. A few months later, another bomb wrecked the home of a theater manager. Members of Springfield … Continue reading →

Posted in Amusements, Business, Crime and vice, Depression, Labor unions, Law enforcement, Theaters | Leave a comment

Cornfield shootout, 1914

Posted on December 18, 2020 by editor

The robbery of a general store near Chatham on Christmas Eve 1914 climaxed in a cornfield shootout that killed one of the bandits and wounded two of his pursuers. Newspaper accounts of the incident read like a movie script, complete … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice, Law enforcement | 2 Comments

Child charged with ‘depraved’ crime (1894)

Posted on December 5, 2020 by editor

When two itinerant horse traders were charged in 1894 with “a nameless crime” – apparently sodomy and child sexual abuse – their presumed victim, a seven-year-old boy, went to jail as well. “The details of the story are too indecent … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Crime and vice | Leave a comment

Abortion murder trials, 1894

Posted on September 7, 2020 by editor

Was a Springfield doctor guilty of killing two women via botched abortions in 1893? Juries said no, but newspaper editorial writers disagreed. And despite the acquittals of Dr. John H. Lawrence, the boyfriend of one of the women was convicted … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice, Medicine, Women | Leave a comment

Killing of police detective, 1938

Posted on July 26, 2020 by editor

A work disappointment sent James Young into an emotional crisis on Jan. 11, 1938, culminating in the deaths of both Young and Springfield Police Detective Patrick Gilmore. Florence Young told officers later the incident began that morning, when her husband … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice, Law enforcement | Leave a comment

Murder-extortion gang, 1932

Posted on July 13, 2020 by editor

A wild shootout in Christian County in 1932 ended the bloody history of a Springfield-based murder and extortion gang. Authorities claimed their followup investigation solved a half-dozen area slayings. But Springfield’s chief of detectives struggled to explain why police hadn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and vice, Italians, Law enforcement | Leave a comment

Springfield’s statewide stickup gang, 1938

Posted on June 6, 2020 by editor

Authorities squelched a statewide crime wave with the arrests of a Springfield-based stickup gang in March 1938. Sangamon County assistant state’s attorney John Curren called the group, which he credited with 150 or more robberies, “the best organized gang of … Continue reading →

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