In early
January the new commercial bank of Mt. Washington, now
located in Fairmount, closed. On the door was the
following note:
This bank
has been closed
by order of the banking
department of the state
and will not open until
further notice.
This was not
good news to the 800 people who had entrusted their savings.
The problem was Walter M. Halpin, who had taken $40,000 over
a period of time, it's called embezzlement. Mr. Halpin
also worked a bank in Melford, Missouri, a little east and
south of Nevada, Missouri. Whenever anyone came in for
a loan at the Mt. Washington bank, he also duplicated the
loan in Melford, keeping half. I would imagine the
word "lynching" was used by the crowd that gathered by the
closed sign while the state and suckers tried to figure out
what to do.
Dr. Gilmore
was there, his job was chairman of the board, James Duncan,
a deputy state bank commissioner from Kansas City, was
chosen to sort things out. The bank was closed until
mid-February. The town of Melford was fleeced, too,
and never did recover.
The plan that
was worked out was to sell stock in the bank and ask the
customers not to make a run on the bank. They were
also asked to sign a document stating that they would not
withdraw more than 20% of their savings right away, and not
to withdraw another 20% for six months and so on. The
alternative was to lose everything, as there was no FDIC at
that time. The bank was saved, and became Standard
State Bank, still in business.
On January 30,
Mrs. Bertha Guinich of Sugar Creek was arrested by Sugar
Creek's appointed city marshal, William Dindhart. Early in
the day the marshal spotted a drunk carrying some illegal
liquor. The guy said he could get the cop all he
wanted. "Go ahead," said the marshal. He did,
and Mrs. Guinich was busted. In her basement was three
barrels of "White Mule," a kind of whiskey. She was
immediately fined $500 and sentenced to one year in jail by
Judge Fonda. This led to a 3 a. m. raid on a card
game. Four men, Eli and George Mikulick, George
Stelenoch, and Mike Miller. $38 was on the table when
they were so rudely interrupted. Didn't need a search
warrant back then. Judge Fonda fined the men $11.
This guy was a little too gung-ho.
Because of
post-war deflation, Standard Oil of Indiana cut the wages of
all its employees by 10%, effective February 16. The
1,800 employees were paid from $5 a day for laborers to $8 a
day for skilled labor for an 8-hour day. Company men
received from $160 to $275 a month. Everyone was
affected, to make it fair. When announced, a meeting
was held at Bryant Hall in Fairmount. Hundreds
attended. Bricklayers, carpenters, painters, and
electricians debated whether to walk or work. The
Kansas City Builders' Trade Council favored a strike as the
cut would put the various crafts below union wages in town.
It would also set a precedent. Only 100 picked up
their tools and walked. The rest went to work after a
few days. Mr. Moffitt declared that if the remaining
strikers didn't return to work by Saturday they would lose
their seniority and be replaced. All but 8 were there
Saturday morning. Standard's second strike again ended
in the company's favor. Oil was $2 a barrel.
On Tuesday,
February 15, the new city of Sugar Creek held its first
election. On the ballot was adding 12 twelve electric
street lights to the ten already in place. Kansas City
Power and Light supplied the electricity, the city bought
the poles and lights. The measure passed 82 - 34.
This gave the city council permission to sign a 10-year
contract for the power.
A jitney
driver with a big mouth caused another booze bust in Sugar
Creek towards the end of February. Boys were caught
drinking wine by County Marshal John L. Miles. After
questioning the driver, he took them to the house where one
of the deputies bought a quart of wine for $1.25.
Arrested was Pellegrino Rossi, and the owner of the house
was also arrested. The wine was made from grapes grown
on the property. 200 gallons was seized. The men
were fined $50 each and some of the wine, which was really
good, was given to the local hospital. The remainder
was to be destroyed by being turned into human urine.
In February
the local phone companies were consolidated by the Kansas
City Phone Company. The Fairmount business district
was the hub. Business lines were $4.50 per month, home
phones $2.25; two-party lines, $2; four-party line, $1.75,
great for nosy people. Extra phones, business, $1 per;
residents, $.75, rural party line, business, wall phone,
$2.50. Resident wall phone, $2. A desk phone was
an extra quarter. Calls between Fairmount, Sugar Creek
and Independence were free, up to three minutes. Calls
to Kansas City were a nickel for the first three minutes.
Ballard Todd,
16, had a good job. Every morning he drove a Model T
to the Sugar Creek depot to pick up the U. S. mail from the
9:30 Santa Fe train. On March 5, four Italian
gentlemen in a large Chandler machine (all autos were then
called machines). They forced young Todd off the road,
brandishing 45s. The took two mail sacks and drove
off, heading toward Kansas City. In the sacks, they
thought, was the payroll for the Standard Oil employees.
They were spotted by Constable Howard Ainsworth on his
motorcycle. He gave chase but a few well-placed rounds
from the 45's caused him to dump his bike and pray.
Later that afternoon, rumor spread that the bandits, having
missed the payroll by one day, were very angry, and now they
were going to rob the bank of either Sugar Creek or Mt.
Washington. Police were sent to Mt. Washington, but at
the Sugar Creek bank there were enough deputized citizens
with weapons to hold off the French Army.
The auditorium
at the school was getting used. Concerts by the
Standard Oil Band, playing marches and patriotic music.
The Red Cross of Sugar Creek and Mt. Washington held a dance
there Saturday night, April 2. 200 attended. A
one-hour concert by the Standard Oil Band, followed by
refreshments, followed by a piano solo for dancing, for the
Standard Oil Band was forbidden by the company to learn any
dance numbers. $90 was raised, a good time for a good
cause, admission was 50 cents.
Many of the
children attending the Sugar Creek school were underweight
or malnourished. 125 of the 375 students were so
diagnosed by the Red Cross, just the opposite of now.
There was no cafeteria, children had to bring their own
lunches. Some parents could only afford to give their
kids an apple or an onion. The local Red Cross began
providing milk to the children. At 10:30 every
morning, milk was served along with two crackers.
Those who had no pennies for the 1/2 pint got it free.
Sounds a lot like poverty.
On a brighter
note, the newly minted city of Sugar Creek held its first
major general election in April. For mayor, Boehmer,
Republican, refinery hot-shot, beat Charles Choat,
Independent, by 141 votes. Lee Norman, Democrat, beat
R. M. Davenport by 38 for marshal. G. W. Evinger
received the most votes for councilman, and won a two-year
term, Frank Woodward, second in vote-getting, received one
year. Edward Lynn and F. H. Frisbee won the Second
Ward. George Rodman received 107 votes, but it was not
enough for a show. The first order of business was to
dig a culvert along Carlisle Road at a cost of $200.
The road was already called Carlisle because it led to Mr.
Carlisle's lake.
It was brought
to the attention to the county authorities that something
strange was going on at the pool hall at Cement City.
Upon undercover inspection, it was noted that the three pool
tables had no felt. There were only three balls on the
front table and the closest cue ball was in Sugar Creek.
On payday, April 29, six county policemen entered the pool
hall, guns drawn. Knives, cards, dice, and corn
whiskey were found. 43 men were wasting their
hard-earned money, but having fun doing it. 4 were
arrested and fined $50 each. The pool hall was then
shut down by Judge Fonda.
In May the
city of Sugar Creek was wealthy. Land values in the
town of 1800 was $5,000,000, thanks to the oil refinery.
The total value of Independence with 10,000 people was $11
million. The city wanted running water and sewers now,
and they could afford it.
Fairmount Park
opened on Saturday, May 14. Record opening day crowds
packed the park. Although the lake was not open to
swimmers, the warm weather made it tempting.
Picnickers were everywhere again. New tables, ice
water, more fireplaces with firewood were furnished.
More parking, new concessions, "101 New Novelties", Homer
Montfort's band gave concerts at 2 pm and 8 pm.
Electric's crowds were also large. They would have
witnessed The Follies, a vaudeville show in the new Pasaic
Pavillion, no admission. Oscar V. Babcock and his Leap
of Death. The Alligator Boy in the Swimming Pool with
34 well fed alligators. In the evening, dining and
dancing was in. "The Midsummer Frolics," music and
cocktails in the Silhouette Garden with a jazz band.
On Decoration
Day, when the beach at Fairmount opened, it was packed.
Many just hung on the ropes separating the swimming areas
from the boating and fishing areas. The beach had
again been enlarged, 75 boats and hundreds of new bathing
suits. A new locker room and several new diving boards
of different heights. Because of the crowds, hundreds
lined up.
On June 17 the
Mason's put on a huge picnic for Kansas City's less
fortunate children. Kids from Boy's Hotel, Children's
Hotel, Evans Home, Interdenominational School, Spofford
Home, Scottish Rite Home for Crippled Boys, McCune Home,
Jackson County Girls' Home, and from Kansas the Chidren's
Home, Life Line Mission, and Menonite Chidren's Home, all of
Kansas City, Kansas.
The
festivities started Downtown at 12:30. A parade by the
Masons and the children ended by everyone driving out to the
park in private automobiles furnished by private citizens,
that being a parade of sorts. Once at the park, the
children were given popcorn, peanuts, Cracker Jacks, and
lemonade. Free tickets for the many rides. A
concert by William Roy's DeMolay Clown Band at 6 p.m.
Free ice cream and other goodies was followed by an auto
ride back to town. They got everything except into the
lake.
By now fifty
organized picnics had been held, and there would be more
than 100 before the end of 1921. The week before the
Fourth, four picnics were scheduled: The Mount
Washington Blue Lodge of Masons, Chapter of the Eastern
Star, Good Fellowship Club of Kansas City, and the Employees
of the National Zinc Company. In the children's
playground, a large herd of trained Shetland ponies and a
troop of monkeys had been added. The beach had never
been more popular. At night, the band shell showed
photo plays, cheaper than any vaudeville act. They
were short silent films that started early in the evening.
The Fourth of
July was picnic day. No balloon ascensions or
vaudeville, which cost money. Sporting events in the
lake and on the ball diamond took up the daylight.
There was no room for big company picnics; they would have
to wait. Paine's Fireworks Company provided the
pyrotechnics. People were encouraged to view the
display, free of charge, on the knoll east of the lake
between the railroad tracks and Fairmount avenue. The
coins they dropped are still in the ground. Between
numbers by the band in the dance pavilion, "Grottos" were
held, a kind of treasure hunt.
After the
Fourth there was a large picnic almost every day, sometimes
two. One was by the unemployed Veterans of World War
One. By the end of the year, there would be 600,000 of
them. In the end they would get screwed real good.
The First of August brought gas balloon racing back,
temporarily. A three-balloon race had to be cancelled
because rats ate holes in the balloons. Labor Day at
Fairmount Park again started downtown. 15,000 union
men, representing 20 crafts and 80 unions, led by bands.
First came the building trades, carpenters and plumbers,
then the railroad people, followed by the industrial trades,
amusement crafts (like stagehands), more bands, metal
workers, printers, more bands, electricians marched last,
followed by a band.
James A. Reed
was the featured speaker, followed by hours of others.
Meanwhile, the park put on a party. A tongue-in-cheek
celebration of sobriety, as in John Barley-corn, the devil
of alcohol consumption. Balloon races and fireworks
were part of the corn festival, and would close out the
season at Fairmount Park. Customers were encouraged to
wear their country worst. Prizes were given to those
who took the dressing down to extreme. Roving judges
dressed as farmers gave out the awards. Upon entering
the park, everyone was given a noisemaker of some sort, so
all week the park was full of nauseating sounds, horns and
bells drowning out the roving minstrel bands and serenaders.
Various paper hats were part of the end of the season.
This year the
beach part of the lake had over 125,000 paying customers,
not including the boaters, fishermen, and skinny dippers.
It was a record. Cool weather caused the lake to shut
down early, as expenses were high. Ever morning
chlorine was sprayed on top of the lake. The laundry
bill was said to be $1,000, plus people had to be paid.
Electric put
on a Mardi Gras. Nightly band concerts and also giving
awards for the most grotesque costumes. Confetti
battles with Hugo the Highdiver diving from a 100 foot tower
into a small net. Electric Park was where the negro
unions held their labor day celebrations.
Not only did
some of the Sugar Creek children suffer from malnutrition,
they had the highest trachoma rate in the state. In
1913 passed legislation to stamp out the degenerative eye
disease which, untreated, turns eyelids inside out, cutting
up the eye ball, causing blindness.
Backed by the
Red Cross on June 15, Doctor William H. Schutz, an eye
specialist from Kansas City, talked to parents in the school
auditorium. Because of the obvious problem, the whole
town got behind solving the problem, which was caused and
spread by dirty hands and faces, i. e., lack of proper
hygiene. The mayor and city council signed on, along
with the Sugar Creek Red Cross, the School Board, PTA, and
the Sugar Creek Improvement Association. After four
weeks of weekly exams, it was determined that out of the 242
students examined, 49 out of 242 students examined had
trachoma and were in need of treatment. Ten needed
operations. Cement city had yet to be examined, and
there was fear that it may also be rampant there. The
disease is no longer a problem, the last cases in America
being in the early 1950s.
The election
of Lee Norman, Sugar Creek Marshal, was questioned after he
was caught in a sting operation at Fairmount Park. It
had been reported to Major Miles, County Sheriff, that
someone passing as a police officer was patrolling the park
after hours and hassling the people spooning. Park
security claimed ignorance. Park management said that
it wasn't happening. Officer R. C. Phipps, deputy
County Marshal, went with his girlfriend to the park.
At about 1 o'clock in the morning, while spooning on a park
bench, they were approached by a man carrying a badge.
After apologies, the man with the badge was offered a $10
bribe by Marshal Phipps. When accepted, Officer Phipps
pulled his pistol and placed Marshal Norman under arrest.
Norman grabbed for the weapon and was shot in the shoulder.
Before going to the hospital, he was identified as Marshal
Norman, newly elected Sugar Creek marshal, out of his
jurisdiction. After getting out of the hospital, he
was arrested for impersonating a police officer and released
on $500 bond, probably paid for by the city. He was
finally acquitted by a jury after his defense cited a state
law that allows small city cops to protect the land around
said town. The county wanted to charge him with
bribery, but nothing ever came of it.
1921 was not a
good year for the area's major employers, Portland Cement
and Standard Oil. First, after the Standard Oil
strike, the company laid off about 600 employees. In
July, Portland shut down for two months because of a glut of
finished cement with nowhere to go. 200 of 300 were
unemployed. In August, Standard Oil laid off another
400, bringing the workforce to between 500 and 600.
The reduction wasn't limited to the Sugar Creek refinery,
but throughout Standard Oil (of Indiana). At Sugar
Creek, 80 of the 100 stills were shut down. Mr.
Moffitt said every day now seems like a Sunday.
Luckily, all my relatives remained on the payroll.
A $120,000
water and sewer bond was passed in Sugar Creek.
Because even after the Standard Oil cuts, the town was still
financially well off. The school was holding night
classes for 24, mostly males. They were taught English
and the basics of business. The school also had a new
40' x 70' gymnasium and basketball court. Movies were
shown in the auditorium every Saturday. In the school,
the main curriculum for girls were what then were called the
"domestic sciences". The boys were taught trades like
shoe repair, besides wood shop.
In Germany,
and American Army Captain of the occupation, asked a
4-year-old boy what he wanted to be when he grew up.
"I want to be a soldier and kill the French," was his reply.
On a brighter note, Harry Truman was going broke. He
hawked everything on a Downtown Kansas City haberdashery,
trying to compete with the big chain stores. He had a
great location, Twelfth and Main, right across the street
from two illegal saloons. One day Jim Pendergast
walked in the store to encourage Harry to run for office.
In Jackson County there were two factions, the goats and the
rabbits. 1922 will be an election year, and Harry
Truman is a goat.
