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Gambling in Grant County
"Reports were made to the district attorney in
this city last week that several gambling dens were running wide open in
Platteville. Arrangements were
immediately made by Under-sheriff Harcleroad and deputy, Kidd, to apprehend the
wrong-doers. On arriving at Platteville
and the alleged "dens" were "spotted" and entered it was
discovered that someone had tipped the gamblers and they had disappeared with
all the "valuable" paraphernalia needed in such business... The
supposition is entertained that the ministers who were behind the attempt to
arrest the gamblers were too active and their appearances here in Lancaster
made friends of the gamblers take notice of unusual proceedings and the
Platteville parties were thus informed.” - -----Dubuque Telegraph
Herald, September 12, 1909
Gambling has always been a
problem in Grant County. Small taverns
on back roads have often been the home of gambling machines and the devils lair
that emptied working men's pockets before their wages got home to buy the
children's food. In early mining days
“gambling dens” hosted such worthies as Patch Eye John, Bloody Kentuck and
Bullet Neck Green who played poker and “old sledge.” Recently I have begun
systematically searching the records of county Justice's of the Peace. It is a sad record for the years spanning
1930 to 1956, and gambling is a part of that story. Cases that appear to be a complaint of non
support, disorderly conduct, or nonpayment of debts, if viewed from a higher
vantage may well bear the shadow of ruinous gambling and intoxication.
Slot machines were common in Grant County in the
30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. So were stories of
law enforcement officers looking the other way when Bingo, raffles,
lotteries, payoff pinball machines, punchboards, and slot machines popped up in
churches, American Legion Halls, public bars, and hidden gambling dens. In December of 1929 District Attorney Manfred
S. Block published in various local newspapers direct warnings against the use
of gambling machines, and other sorts of gambling, including "poultry
raffles." In 1935 Attorney General
James E. Finnegan pointedly advised that "pin ball or whiffle ball
machines which pay off in cash or in tokens (were) gambling devices and beyond
the pale of the law." These
machines were "in wide use" throughout the county. They could be found in pool halls, taverns,
hotel lobbies, and even candy stores.
Gambling machines were a problem in other
areas of the State also, particularly in the northern resorts. The resort owners resisted, openly keeping
the machines and resisting the enforcement efforts of state agents. They believed gambling was economically
necessary to draw tourists and to keep the bottom line positive. No doubt Grant County owners of drinking and
gambling establishments felt the same.
After tougher laws were passed in 1945, the Vilas County News-Review
wrote an editorial saying "Let's Secede." They said the "little fellows"
would be driven out of the gambling business and "a few will become richer
and more powerful and more dangerous."
Thus the involvement of criminal syndicates was conceded.
Then there were the
punchboards. These were boards with
holes that, for a price, a customer could punch through with a stick or other
instrument. Inside he found a piece of
paper either showing the amount won, or words such as "try
again." These punchboards were the
precursor of today’s scratch off lottery tickets. At right is a punchboard showing advertising
for the Potosi Brewing Company.
Gambling and moonshine went hand in glove
during the prohibition years. No doubt
the slot machines were distributed by underworld syndicates. In March of 1943, after returning from a
three week vacation, Sheriff Aloys Klaas, who succeeded Joe Greer, returned to
find about 100 new slot machines in operation throughout the county. When he started removing them, he said, he
was offered a bribe of $400.00 per month if he would turn his head and permit
their operation. He reported this to
Governor Walter Goodland, who called Sheriff Klaas and Grant County District
Attorney John E. Grindell to a meeting in Madison with, Milwaukee County District
Attorney James Kerwin, and Deputy Attorney General J. Ward Rector. In September
of 1943 Goodland ordered Grindell to resign or face suspension. Grindell resigned. The specific reasons for
the governor’s demand were not revealed.
Sheriff Klaas,
D.A. Grindell, and Gov. Goodland Milwaukee Journal Page
one September 2, 1943
Little was resolved. In 1941 Congress passed a tax on "coin
operated amusement devices" regardless of the state laws which limited or
outlawed them. In 1942, the IRS reported
that 238,000 pinball and slot machines were in operation, and Wisconsin was
number one in the number of slot machines registered with 7,247.
Gambling machines and
punchcards kept creeping back into the Taverns of Grant County. Legion halls and churches kept having
lotteries, bingo games, and raffles. In February
of 1956, after a deputy sheriff was fired, Sheriff Robert Seemeyer (at right
with his wife) was accused of, among other things, ignoring gambling
activities, including bingo games and dice played at the annual Labor Day
celebration of the Holy Ghost Church in Dickeyville (which is still held) and
at a veterans rally. Retired judge A. W.
Kopp was selected to head an investigation of the accusations leveled against
the sheriff. He selected Leary Peterson
of Prairie Du Chien to pursue the allegations and question witnesses at an
investigative hearing. A sheriff’s
deputy who directed traffic at the Dickeyville event denied seeing bingo games
in progress. Peterson went so far as to call Rev. Joseph C. Niglis of Holy
Ghost Parrish to testify. He freely
admitted that bingo, which he called “homer” was played, but denied being
promised immunity from prosecution by the sheriff. Failing to find specific wrongdoing, Governor
Kohler dismissed the charges against Sheriff Seemeyer. That was not the end of the matter.
In July of 1956 the gambling issue was
again in the news. The editor of the Grant County Independent, Norman Clap,
who was seeking the Democratic congressional nomination for 3rd district, ran a
story alleging that gambling activities had occurred at the American Legion
Fourth of July picnic and at the Catholic parish in Kieler. This injected the scent of politics into the
whole business. Sheriff Seemeyer was
once again accused of ignoring gambling activities while he was at Hazel Green
on July 4th directing traffic.
He was quoted as saying “I was at Hazel Green to take care of
traffic. I wasn’t looking for anything
else.” He was also quoted as saying “I’m
not so sure it’s up to me to enforce the antigambling laws.”
Religion was also a factor. Methodists and other Protestant denominations
had long been opposed to any form of gambling, and advocated strongly for its
eradication. In 1954 the Protestant Grant County Fellowship
of Churches pronounced “firm and active support to any and all law enforcement
agencies striving to eradicate the evil within the county.” In the spring of 1956 they sent a letter to all
Grant county papers warning “We have heard of gambling by some public schools
and other organizations.” Catholic
churches, on the other hand, used parish activities which included what they
considered harmless games of bingo as fund raising tools.
With the
Independent coverage, District
Attorney Mark Hoskins launched a John Doe hearing and eventually filed charges
against 16 persons. He was required to
do so by the harsh anti-gambling laws of 1945.
Failure to pursue such allegations could lead to the District Attorney’s
removal by the governor. The individuals
charged were fined an average of $35.00 apiece plus costs and released.
In the intervening years the law has been
relaxed greatly to allow for the kinds of raffles, lotteries, and bingo games
we are all familiar with. Gambling has
been expanded to the rivers and reservations all over this country, and even
the state runs a lottery and advertises it widely. Are we better off with widespread legalized
gambling? There have been articles in
various papers over the years of families’ bankrupt and ruined men committing
suicide. The state that profits by it
all devotes very little to the treatment of gambling addiction.
