The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 458 - Bloody Williamson

Episode Date: December 2, 2020

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine Williamson County, Illinois.SourcesTour DatesRedbubble Merch

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listening to the dollop on the All Things Comedy Network. Doesn't get easier doesn't it? Doesn't. This is a buy a buy a racial American history podcast where each week I, Dave Anthony, read a story from American history to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. How many of these have we done like over 450? You would think that at some point I would know the introduction. Yeah you'd think but but to be fair it's not like this is you you saying the All Things Comedy channel which is weird but it's not just that a lot of times you forget your name you forget little things you

know. Names are hard. I'm really bad with names. But it's your name. Right but I'm but to be fair I'm very bad with names. Yeah I've read that on Twitter. Yeah but you would think you would know how to do your own is what I'm saying so. Right but just names in general you understand what I'm saying. Yeah like I think you're just doing that so that if people come at you for pronunciations you go hey sometimes I don't even know my own name. And called it quote his jam patch. Jam? I'm the fucking hippo guy. Dave okay. My name's Gareth. My name's Gareth. Wait. Is it for fun? And this is not going to come to Tigglypod guys. Okay. This is like an up five part

coefficient. Now hit him with the puppy. You both present sick arguments. No sleep though hippo. That's like though hippo. Action partner. Hi Gareth. No. I see Doug my friend. No. No. Ronda. Ronda is the corn. We. All right. David two things. One I want to say on December 17th I'll be doing another one of these avail comic shows. Those are a bunch of people represented by the same manager. They're great. We did one on November 24th. The next one's December 17th. You can go to night. I think it's night light TV night light dot TV is where you can get tickets and they are live now. And then the

other thing I want to tell you is one of the comics who I'm doing that show with is this comic named Greg Barris. And he reached out to me and I did his radio show yesterday because his grandmother is Ruby who was dating Mary and Zion check or it was married to him when he went when he was on his drunk bender and was potentially killed. And he is now like researching about his grandmother and then when he was researching stumbled upon the dollop that we did on Mary and Zion check and and it's fucking crazy. I mean his grandmother was like dating it was married to him at the time when he was throwing coconuts out

the window and throwing other things out the window and putting a tonic and rum in a cup and calling it a Zion check zipper. So fucking crazy. Yeah. And then I so I went back and I listened to that one and it's you me and will and I sound like I'm on cocaine. There are so many bits in that story that are fruitful because there are so many crazy details but I thought that was very interesting. So I talked to him about that yesterday for a little while and and he's like talking to the cop who like you know like was investigating it and is now retired like it's crazy. Wow. Do you have anything to oh on December 12th we are

going to be doing a live online episode of Dumb People Town with the Sklar Brothers and Daniel Van Kerk DVK DVK as we call them all very funny people and we really like that podcast. So you can go to their website and you know buy tickets or whatever you do. February 28th 1839. Okay. Williamson County was formed from Franklin County so it's split off basically. Okay. In the southern part of the state of Illinois your home state. Okay. That's not nope. Don't deny me. I will. I am the researcher and the fact checker. Completely wrong in this fact. After the war of 1812 many Southerners had come to settle there.

Southern culture would always stay prevalent in the county and for a while slavery was allowed to work the salt mines. It's really it's disgusting the way that they still are able to carve out like slavery clauses for so long after. I mean like you know let's just take a pause. Today there was a Supreme Court case in which a lawyer for corporations was arguing that you shouldn't be able to sue companies that have slaves American companies that have slaves overseas. The Department of Justice under Trump obviously was agreeing with this and the guy who was arguing in the case for the

corporations of course was Obama's ex solicitor general. Sometimes it feels like it's just a club. So the county had such strong southern feelings that it attempted to secede from the Union at the start of the Civil War and so a county. It's a strange area like it's not like there's a bunch like you would sort of be your lone island. Yeah in the middle of it's right next to Kentucky but you know whatever it's just so weird. A single county. Oh don't go there that's not Illinois anymore. A lot of residents from the county fought for the Confederacy.

In 1868 some members of the Bulliner family were playing cards with a guy named Henderson and Henderson did not like what was going on and he called one of the Bulliners a quote damn lying son of a bitch. Okay this mother was right there like excuse me. What is posted to that but I'm not here. Excuse me. That's my nerve. That's my best southern Illinois. Really bad. It's very close to your English accent and all you've got. That is pure southern Illinois. What? Yeah not. So this led to a pretty severe beat down for Henderson. Okay. And that resulted in the Henderson's and the Bulliners beginning a long feud. Okay. Survey says.

Now the law decided to stay out of it. They're like all right you guys just handle this on your own. As the law we will sit this one out. Good luck. So they would fight. They would fight all of it. They would fight in the street. They would fight in saloons. They would fight in barns. How many of them. I mean I don't know. I couldn't get a number but it sounds like quite a few. But it's large families. Okay right. Another family the Cisneys sided with the Henderson's and then the Bulliners attacked Cisney's house and shot him four times. Jesus. Then the Crane family got into a fight with the Cisneys in the general store in

Carterville. And so now the Cranes were involved in the feud. So now this now because because the Cranes fought the Cisneys they are now part of which faction? The Cisneys are with the Henderson's and the Cranes are with the Bulliners. Okay so that's cool. So men are getting shot and killed. George Cisney moved to Carmondale after a while to get away from it all but then someone shotgunned him through his living room window. Oh my god. But he healed. He actually survived and he felt better. But then someone. You're not better than before. No I mean I'm sure. Actually this shotgun sort of loosened up some of the

cobwebs. I remember where my retainer is. But then he got shotgunned again and killed. Oh okay for sure. So that's not it. That was a bad ending I guess. Yeah that's not a fun ride. The feud finally ended in 1876 when Marshall Crane was arrested, tried for murder and hung and then three other people were sent to jail and the feud just kind of peered out. This this was called the Vendetta feud. Okay so and this was again all over a card game. Yeah sorry. Yeah well that's how yeah it's all a feud start. You ain't got Rummy. Oh I got Rummy boy. You ain't got no Rummy. This man's lying. You dirty dog son of a bitch. Well and now we go

through the part we just explored. Hello governor. Oh god damn it I was hoping she wouldn't make it. Cole was found in the late 1800s in thank God Williamson County in the town of Heron. So my you're not gonna believe this but my owners there did not treat the miners very well. That's the first. That's counter to everything this country stands for. That's right. Author Troy Taylor quote they worked in water up to their knees and in gas filled rooms and unventilated mines where the air was filthy and filled with toxins. There was no compensation or accidents which occurred frequently and the average daily wage was

less than two dollars. Oh well at least you're getting compensated for swimming in gas infested rooms with no airflow. Well you know you are kind of getting to take a bath. That's true. So that's how they would pitch it. What you guys ain't understanding is I'm giving you a day trip to the spa. Your skin is gonna look unbelievable once you come out all that cold water. Cole's fantastic for the skin. It's great for digestion. It's an exfoliant. It's an exfoliant. Right thank you Trevor. It's an exfoliant. All you gotta do is rub a little bit of that coldly water. It's like holy water but Cole coldly water into some of your crows

feet crevices. That's you know look 20 years younger if you if you make it out of there which again is not that likely. Yes go ahead. Yep. Yes questions. My feet are so wet that my skin is slothing off like my that's because under your under that foot skin is a better foot. So that's just your foot shell cracking to give birth to the actual foot. Are you familiar with the the way that a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. That's a lot of what your foot is about to go through. So what you're going through is the growing pains of nature. So your foot is crackling. Your foot hurts. Your foot you know it's got sores on it.

That's just God's way of saying hey get ready. There's a transition of power coming. Your foot's about to be brand new. Okay. Yeah. All right. That feels like oh god what. No. Okay. That makes. Yeah. Great. Okay. Great. Yes. So just fight through it. What you're getting down there is I'm paying you two bucks a day to have a trip to the spa. Don't be afraid to mix that water in your mouth and spit it out like you're a fountain stone. Okay. Yeah. All right. That's great. Yeah. Can I say what's fantastic about what's happening now. Some of those tears are black and that shows me that you are working hard. All right. Now don't

don't cry the day away. Get that axe. Pick. So keep picking. So the miners unionized in 1900 if you can imagine. Bastards. There were strikes. There was violence. But they made progress. Wages went up. Standard of living increased. A strip mine was then opened by owner William Lester nearby. That's right. When you're done with work come on down to the strip mine. That's where some of the female miners make a little extra cash down at the strip mine. Strip mine is a place where you can go. We got a buffet. Come on down to the strip mine. That's right guys. Come on down to the strip mine. Give it up. Give it up for Kohli.

Kohli guys. She's not up there for her health. Come on. Throw some nickels on that stage. That's right down here at the strip mine. Strip mine. It's just like a mine except the women are naked and the men are disgusting. I mean you you say this but this would actually turn people around on strip mining. If this. Yep. If you just had naked women dancing while they were strip mining. It's that it's I wish I hadn't said it now because someone's gonna be like you know what. Not a bad idea. We have to look it up on the internet but there has to be a strip club somewhere out in coal in the coal territory world called strip mine. Does

there not? There has to be. If it doesn't exist it is a massive failure of the strip community. Yeah this is gonna be a hard one but let's see. No. I don't think there is one. At least I can't. No. I'm learning a lot of stuff but no that's not one of them. How is that possible? I mean. I don't know. That's a play left on the field. That would like yeah 1840s boom. So he opens his mind in September 1921. He uses 50 union workers but in April all mine workers in the country went on strike. So this guy's in debt. He negotiates with the union to let the miners take the the coal out of the mine but not ship it. So like just getting

ready for when the strike ends. Right okay. They pulled out by June they pulled out 60,000 tons of coal but because of the strike and it's just sitting there. Right but because of the strike the price of coal is shooting through the roof so this guy is now just like well that's gold. Right. So Lester fires all the union guys and hires scabs and then starts shipping out the coal. Now the state government was like don't this is a really bad idea. Don't don't do this. This is not gonna end well. National Guard Colonel came and told Lester this is gonna end in violence. If you do this this is gonna end in

violence. Okay. I bet Dave I have this feeling it's gonna end in violence. Well the crazy thing is is that a rich guy doesn't care about that and he's just like money. So yeah on June 21st a truck full of scabs and guards was shot at near a bridge over the Big Muddy River. Three of them were wounded and then in town the strikers raided stores for guns and ammo and they headed for the mine. Jesus Christ I mean this this really is like I mean if if the company fucked with you enough it used to be like we're going to go kill the company like you know what I mean like whereas now we're like oh damn it it's too big

it's just bullshit but then they were just like all right well let's go kill everyone involved. So they get there the scabs in the mine and the union men are now shooting at each other. Why would you do that I would just be like wait what they didn't tell us you guys were on strike wait a bullshit you guys are on strike they told I was like why is such a great job available that is bananas that is worse than bananas that is just that is that is cuckoo banana let me give me a hand let me get out of here real quick good Lord God you guys must be furious see that makes sense yeah I get it now but for a second I was

like hey what are these guys doing you can't just kill a guy and take his job boy hey who wants a nice pale ale I wouldn't that at the spot right now round of those huh you guys are my best friends without question oh what a mix up what a dumb little mix up. So three of the union guys are killed the mine superintendent calls for the sheriff but no one could find the sheriff is that just your job when you're the mine superintendent like I need to call someone with authority I've been put in a place of fake authority he begs for the National Guard to be sent but they're not meanwhile in town Hugh Willis

who was the local United Mine Worker spokesman explained to supporters in Herron what was going on and basically he his summation was that the scabs deserved whatever was about to happen okay good nuanced so all night long the scabs are begging the supervisor to surrender and so he finally does so they're just kind of they're in the mine yeah I think so and they're just kind of trapped down there while these guys are shooting at them and the supervisors like hold hold and they're like we do not want to die for this they might have been in like some sort of housing situation you know right but either way

they are sort of at the mercy of this the superintendent which is a normal title for a mine worker so they're just at the whim of the superintendent who has the decision whether or not to cave yeah it's yeah it's all very weird so okay so then you know they come out they surrendered the scabs are now being marched toward Herron now all the union miners hate the mine superintendent because they've been working on them for a while he had a big mouth he was a total asshole he was arrogant when they were talking about going on strike he was saying the mines gonna stay open whether you guys going strike or not so while

they're walking you guys keep hitting the superintendent and he's bleeding hitting him with whatever their fist what are they okay okay oh just physically hitting him okay yeah yeah he also had a wooden leg and that made him walk slower and that just pissed off the miners no that's I mean that is tough because he's a brutal asshole but it's also like I take it easy he's got a bad leg so they shot him twice in the chest all right David that's that's now well good lord I mean it just shows you that's why that's why I just take care of workers just take care of workers that's what happens all that all that happens now you can go

back to when the guy started shipping out the coal if the guy never shipped out the coal man people get mad at all the violent stuff and he was like yeah but go back to the rich guy doing the thing yeah so it's that's what we've been dealing with this whole year we're like how dare they do that you're like what did you have you thought about the case so they keep marching the the scabs further and they're on the road I bet you the scabs had a little pep in their step after the superintendent was shot in the chest twice or hey why don't we take it to a trot you guys want to trot let's trot let's trot for a while huh

let's do a little trot so the union spokesman willis pulls up in a car and he and he says hey look guys don't kill the scabs here on the road but quote take them over to the woods and give it to them kill all you can so the strikers what then take the scabs over into the woods and they start shooting them what that must have been a moment where you're like finally a cooler heads you guys guys guys what are you doing okay you do not don't kill these guys out on the trail go to the woods it's right over there and then just kill at mercy just go absolutely bananas go crazy over there so they start

shooting them in the woods they run but there's a bob wire fence they're all getting caught in the bob wire funds oh Jesus Christ the ones that make it pass the fence don't know they're not from around here so they're easy to track and one by one they're getting killed oh my god six were caught six were caught and taken to heron cemetery and then a crowd gathered and watched as the scabs were killed after they were shot and beaten one minor slit every scabs throat as they were laying there Jesus Christ this is this should we we got to send this clip to Jeff Bezos buddy listen just listen just listen because I mean it is it's

violent and the truth is that I'm sure like you know you take jobs because you are trying to take care of yourself and your family so while yes these are the scabs and they have wronged you like you're saying it's like also just remember the source like there's the guy you know you know you know you know how this wouldn't happen is if the dude would just pay yes if all if there was no owner if the workers own the mine right right you see I'm like no you just pay them just cut out cut out the asshole yeah the mine was set on fire so all together about 20 of the scabs were killed they were dumped in a mass grave

no one has ever found out their names the news spread quickly across the country and people demanded justice as it would congressman attacked unions newspapers wrote of their shock at the violence president Harding called it quote butchery wrought in madness now the corner did is I would to call it I would call it butchery grounded the corner did investigation he said the scabs were killed by quote unknown individuals and stated the deaths were due to the actions of these southern Illinois coal company a few months later a grand jury handed down indictments against six men for murdering one

scab they had a trial and the jury acquitted all of them and also that that's just one trial that six people for one guy and that was it okay so okay the that'll teach you we're potentially not never mind so the national press and government officials the everyone's outraged they demanded a new trial and and they got one in 1923 the same six men were put on trial and again the jury acquitted them all right are we good here can we stop doing this I only have one suit so now the union man whatever faced any justice for the massacre now prohibition was happening and with it bootleggers in the county like the

Shelton brothers Charles bilger were active and with them came violence so right people in the county thought the police weren't enough so they turned to a very popular favorite at the time that was making a comeback the Ku Klux Klan oh shit Jesus Christ now most bootleggers were Catholics and foreigners so this worked great for the Klan well actually it works for us on a couple of levels because say we don't like them just because of who they are but now we also need to be in charge of keeping them within the lines so for us it's a win-win that's great but you know we might even need to bring extra robes so so the

Klan starts showing up there they go to local churches and they give money and they make speeches about law and order and being an American the locals the locals mostly Protestants are super into it they're like yeah this sounds that's great I don't see any downside to this idea this is fantastic the Klan said they would put Williamson's bootleggers and gamblers out of business and they promised to make the country quote more like home and less like hell it's catchy so the Klan and locals formed a committee and it was called the law and order league and they asked the governor to help but the governor wasn't

interested so they went to they sent a group to DC and they met with the commissioner of prohibition and he said like there's not really anything we can do but he he's the prohibition yes that's the prohibition right but he said there was an ex-prohibition agent named s Glenn young who I'm not coming back I'm done I told you I don't do this anymore my wife and I are very happy right now okay yeah but we're the Klan you're gonna have to sweeten the pot a little more than that honey but we're I told you we're fighting Italians I hate Italians and Catholics my god I'd hug you but my dick just got so hard I

don't think it'd be right so so they hire them they hire young okay young arrives in Williamson County in November 1923 what is he gonna do he's gonna be he's gonna take charge of the operation right he's the right the leader of his anti-prohibition experience and law enforcement experience he'll give them a Ku Klux Plain I get you so he's in his 30s he'd been raised on a ranch and was supposed to be very very good with a gun he also loved violence right this is this is shaping up to be a really good episode at 21 he had joined the Texas Rangers after that he was I'm a pitcher no it's not oh sorry oh sorry

sorry after that he joined he was US Marshall in Oklahoma for two years but his very big moment was during World War one he got a job as an agent with the Bureau of Investigation in the Justice Department where he went after and tracked down draft dodgers and deserters so hundreds of them mostly in southern southern states so he was known to track them down alone he didn't work with anybody and then he would have gunfights with these people in October 1918 he had a gunfight with five deserters he killed one during a raid in Madison County he killed a guy who is in the house next door of the house they

were raiding the guy had come out and tried to shoot young first and a coroner's report cleared him but then Madison County prosecuted him and he was found not guilty but the Justice Department during all this looked into him and all he was doing and then they they fired him because they said he'd acted immorally and improperly okay okay what was a trial like back then they just had to be so much hearsay like there's just like so little like actual evidence so you just be like hey look at his eyeballs he done it he done it if you look at that right look at his eyeballs how come he got dirt under his fingernails trigger

dirt he got all that dirt from pulling the trigger and then the dirt went under his finger is that this man a hundred percent guilty ah yeah all right perfect hey great shit wait you're on my side what are you doing okay I don't think you're supposed to do the money you're you are my wife's nephew shut up okay great but you know what I mean like there was nothing you were like exhibit a my opinion exhibit B some thoughts I've had so all what young is exactly what the clan wanted heading law and order league so right lunatic he start with experience he starts at the beginning of November and

by the end of the month young and his crew had bought booze from a hundred county establishments so he's just setting it all up right sure his first it would be great if he wasn't though if people like he seems drunk a lot do you think he's gonna follow through I feel like he's just buying booze okay so his first raid was on December 23rd 1923 a huge event all all the arrests were taken to Benton and then thousands of people came down to have a look at the prisoners there were so many prisoners they losers I know well there's no TV so you just like hey I know but even a chair there's gonna be a we're gonna go

look at a bunch of guys it is crazy I mean I even think that like now the time we're living in like TV is not enough for me anymore like what more I mean what more if back then you would have just been like hurry up the worms are almost going in their holes you're not gonna be able to live the rest of your life without having seen a bunch of not crawlers go back into their holes so there were actually so many prisoners they couldn't that couldn't make bail that they had to ship some of them to the jail in Heron the second raid happened on January 5th now the jails in Benton and Heron were full and they had to send

them to other towns after after the third raid there were 256 prisoners oh my so young it's a lot of bootleg it's like everybody yeah I mean literally young recruited clansmen and formed a private army he soon had an army of 500 men young started wearing a military uniform with 245s strapped to his legs and he carried a submachine gun Jesus Christ they had some machine guns okay so he's got they so he's got 90 between his legs and then a machine gun they started raiding private homes mostly that were owned by Catholics and Italians sure now the people being arrested yeah they're like black water but they're like they're

white water that's right they're white water so the people being arrested started complaining that there was evidence being planted that they were being robbed and they were being beaten and the clansmen just responded they said well they're foreigners to be fair your honor we did take everything he had and beat him mercilessly but the man is Irish alright case dismiss thank you good Lord but many a lot of the locals are believing the stories brutality claims were mostly directed at young and soon he was arrested for assault during his trial okay well armed clansmen walked around the courtroom carrying

machine guns I don't need to hear anymore I'm not guilty honestly for me it's a just a vibe thing I just kind of go off of the vibe of a fella and I'd look at him and I say yeah no way call me crazy for not even needing to hear anything can I get a little more water whoo the jury deliberated for minutes and he was not guilty yet we decided sorry it took us so long by the way that it was rude of us to be honest we just I don't even know what took us all it takes two and a half minutes what the hell a lot of it was just the pleasantries but it's so sorry so now local gangsters and bootleggers obviously not happy with

everything that's transpiring the biggest ones who were once rivals Charlie Berger or a Thomas and the Shelton brothers teamed up to fight young in the clan now young rated the Shelton brothers Roadhouse and a few days later on February 8th 1924 a clansman and cop named Caesar Kegel was inherent and he was walking on the street and a man walked walked towards him you know like he's walking past him and right in front of the Jefferson hotel he pulled out a pistol and shot Kegel point blank at the exact same time another man came up from behind and shot Kegel and then the gum and ran for it wait two people shot

cable one from behind and one from the side Jesus Christ it's just okay now gotta be safe by the way that was a very quick intro outro for Kegel the shooting doesn't go well over well with the clan they descend on Heron soon there were hundreds of clansmen patrolling the streets and stopping did they parachute in in their robes like paratroopers that's just sort of what actually if they just open the robot it's just like a parachute clan arm for flight they all just run off a cliff it sounds like they're being shot so there's there's there's stopping cars they're just checking everybody right meanwhile the

Shelton brothers I love the I love the idea that you've just given up your town to the clan and I gotta say it's my identification I mean remember this is I think like 95% of Indiana has voted for the clan like if this is like just when the clan is like the rage right the Klan Demik this is the Klan Demik so the Shelton's and two of their gang around this time drive out of Heron and head to Florida interesting had to flow of course of course yeah they're just like we just started the car and it started driving us there we didn't even need to move the wheel the car instinctually took us to Florida now an anti-clan

meeting was held in Heron at the Rome Club the meeting was put on by the Flaming Circle which was a Millington anti-clan group okay may I great name yeah can we bring back the Flaming Circle great name yeah for sure flaming like that's like a band the Ku Klux Klan you're like we're the Flaming Circle it's like what no we have grants we have a grand wizard really we have a butcher man but we might need to get a butcher man we have a Cyclops oh god so the sheriff came to the meeting with a deputy and he told them the best thing they could do right now was to quote Lalo and be peaceable now after a bit at

the meeting someone ran in and said Klansmen were coming so the sheriff and a deputy went out and met them at the top of the stairs it was the police chief and one of his cops and then a huge crowd behind them so the that that side that but which side that's the clan side yeah so we have the sheriff okay so you have the sheriff who's with the flag and the deputy sure and then a bunch of robes sheriff with the Flaming Circle cops okay right cops are all Klansmen the cops are our Klansmen okay right got you I know it's very confusing so the sheriff grabbed the chief and the deputy grabbed the other cop and then the chief shot his

gun the deputy was shot and he yelled out quote they have got me George the crowd of Klansmen scattered except one other cop and then the sheriff pulled out his gun and held point at the other three and they and they were they stopped so he's got them at gunpoint right and then the flaming flaming circle members come out of the meeting and demand that the sheriff turn over the cops and they the three that he's got and they said they were gonna hang them that's why they wanted them that's a great you should lie well what are you gonna do with them if I give them to you they're gonna talk to him about ethics okay you may

you know then you hang them right at this moment a car drives by the sheriff stops it and he tells the driver to drive himself and the prisoners to Marion can you imagine being the driver here take these three Klansmen go to Marion excuse me I do not what will we talk about hi guys all right which hey all right but that was just he was just saying that out loud so the people here he actually had the driver take them to Jackson County and where he had them locked up so okay now the Klansmen go to the hospital because that's where the deputy who had been shot had been taken and they wanted to hang him and also get

the others who were with him in the hospital are do they wear the robes the whole time are they robed I don't think they're robed up at all I think they're just okay yeah because they're like because if you're like 95% in charge you don't need to wear your costume anymore yeah they're not robed up so you know anywhere they go to the hospital to demand the hospital hand them over but the administrator refused to let them in so the clan threw bricks in windows and then started shooting the hospital but but also like if you've ever tried to like align like what someone's apartment is from the outside

after you've been in it it's impossible so they're probably throwing bricks and shooting at the so many different areas of the hospital yeah they just every window every yeah they just they just they're literally just that's cool they're just shooting the hospital right they're like kill the hospital buildings die after a long time the National Guard were called and they came and they broke up the clan mob at the hospital by then the hospital was covered in broken glass there were bullet marks all over any wall that faced outside but somehow not one person inside have been hurt well hurt more double hurt what one guy's leg

was better the brick hit my leg but it actually honestly is a little looser you guys should look at this you guys should have those guys throw bricks at some of us so all the anti-clansmen guys stayed in the hospital guarded by the National Guard so the National Guard now circle the hospital and those guys are like we're not leaving the hospital martial law is then declared what a terrible you'd be like wait what did they do we'll figure it out it's just gonna work itself out now the next morning over in Jackson County where the sheriff had brought the the three prisoners three guys three cops the police the police

chief in Carbondale got a call from Heron and was told to arrest arrest the sheriff so I guess the sheriff had gone to Carbondale after dropping them off so okay he went to Robert's hotel where the sheriff saw him and jumped out of a car and tried to run away I don't know why I don't know what why he was in a car and why he thought it'd be better to run but that's that's what he did yeah I like it I mean it's also the idea of like someone saying arrest the sheriff you're like I don't know why but that's exciting I think the sheriff was maybe trying to get back into his hotel room or whatever so the LA Times quote the chief had a

shotgun he followed sheriff Galligan into the lobby sheriff I want you the chief said throw up your hands and back against the wall and the sheriff gave up and did so now the sheriff has been arrested it's just quite a feeling a so it turns out a warrant had been filed for the sheriff for murdering Caesar Cagle so young oh okay young said the sheriff killed Caesar Cagle right right police chief in Carbondale said he found Cagle's gun in the sheriff's pocket okay wow so he was held there until Klansman slash cops from Heron came quote there must have been 40 or 50 of them they had a state warrant charging him with the

assassination of Cagle now young also accused the sheriff of kidnapping the three cops he arrested and quote importing thugs okay so he's got a few things knocked against him at this point so eight other guys are charged for the Cagle killing including the spokesman for the miners union Hugh Willis who had who had rolled up on the road and said killed them okay the mayor of Heron and bootlegger aura Thomas so they're just kind of they're just kind of it basically they they're using a murder to he's using a murder to get rid of all of his enemies yeah it's like the ice ball it's like everybody was there he's like

let's just wipe everybody out with one he also killed him bunch of them he killed after he died to kill them again his eyes opened up and then he shot him even though it's clear the Shelton's it's obviously the Shelton's so right but right young was then made the chief of police and the mayor pro tem wow quite a that's all right hell yeah his newly deputized special police roamed the streets the hospital was still surrounded by soldiers so young has basically made himself the dick the dictator of a county king of the king of the county warrants were filed for suspects like I said this included the

mayor so he then appoints himself the sheriff Wow what is the matter of time I mean so time goes by days go by months go by there's ambushes and shootouts in the streets of hair and it's just like a level of violence is just you know every day right the state and government a state and federal government not not thrilled with what's what young is doing which is basically overthrowing the civil authorities of Williamson County so this the state starts an investigation but still he's running the show for a while there they were booze related trials the clan sweeps the November elections so the KKK is

in complete troll control of Williamson County and then the government drops their investigation on young and he is indicted on 55 charges Wow other other clansmen are also indicted so obviously he's losing control and then one by one the Shelton brothers return there's three Shelton brothers okay from Jacksonville now young decides what we miss anything change did that guy we should what are you guys been up to that guy we shot anything happen with that man that was great got away with it too huh what 400 people got arrested for killing him huh what the clan what so young decides to get out

town and move to East St. Louis now on May 20 and but he's still going back and forth he's he's still doing like clan events and stuff sure May 23rd he and his wife were driving from Heron to St. Louis when a dodge pulled up beside them on the road there were four men in the car and they all started shooting with shotguns and revolvers young was shot in the leg his wife took a blast of buck shot to her face he young would be okay but his wife was permanently blinded yeah now it's the Dick Cheney is the Dick Cheney the clan vows revenge so they start hey all of the counties start looking for the dodge now the next day

it's the next day a dodge I mean how many died there had to be a number of dodges like it's like it's not cars like when the when the LAPD was looking for daughter and they were just shooting everyone with a Toyota yeah right and then if you have that car you're like don't go outside so then hey now you notice you're driving a Raj truck yep that's right brand new the letters that two legs on the our look off well it's Raj for you Raj trucks that's what they that's what they were known for mm-hmm I've never actually even heard of dodge personally I always wanted to get myself a Raj so I actually have a podge great

that's he and that's what we do a lot of the yes he's got a podge I've got a Raj so good luck finding that Fodge was it Dodge Dodge good luck finding that dodge never heard of that I mean either all right through yeah please excuse me just gonna get in the front of my Raj and him is Podge so excuse us thank you great to meet you guys good luck finding that son of a bitch if you get him boy oh boy wouldn't want to be driving a dodge today all right honk honk bye guys these guys through the Raj the Podge the stodge all uh-huh um what about my dodge oh fuck fuck so the next day a dodge is driving from St. Louis to Heron and as

it crosses the Williamson County border they come across a group of armed clansmen blocking the road that's him for sure he checks out what evidence got a dodge kill him two bootleggers are driving the dodge and one hits the gas and they drive past the clansmen who open fire but they don't get far because up ahead another car blocks their path the driver stops and puts up his hands and is immediately shot and killed the other bootlegger ran but was shot in the leg and captured a corner's jury ruled so now he's just a boot leg that's my noise thank you a corner's nice appreciate it a corner's jury ruled the bootlegger had

been killed by quote unknown persons it's a second time plural second time just like the scavs yeah it's weird the other guy in the car was arrested for attempted murder and then Earl and Carl Shelton were arrested in st. Louis so at the preliminary hearing young shows up because he's gonna testify and he has 30 car loads of armed clansmen with them what what it doesn't at some point doesn't that make you look less tough like you like I need all of them to protect me he then identifies the shooters in the courtroom but still the Shelton's and the other bootlegger they were released on bail okay so young then

goes on a tour sure this is by the way the level of to like I don't know what they would have done in a pandemic because they toured so much back then for anything we're taking my boot on a tour I mean just hey I can make money woohoo yeah a tour okay so what is he's going on okay so there's bodyguards with them the whole trip but wait basically he goes through Illinois Wisconsin and Minnesota showing off his nice bullet riddled car to people for ten cents a look look now not that's a stare brother move on gonna cost you another dime you keep your eyes locked on that thing to look not a stare dick

head I guarantee you he shot it up more before he took it on tour right oh for sure yeah yeah for sure and I'm just thinking that if we're gonna take it on tour I should have a few more bullet holes in it maybe couple stab marks one of us like an eyeball just sitting on the seat that's where she lost that oh I'm sorry I didn't know that was still out I'll take that out before the next tour it's just so authentic you see so while young was gone the Shelton's were rested and charged with killing Kegel but there was not enough evidence to hold them in there released 30 minutes after they're released the sheriff who now is

back in charge because young's gone right he tells a deputy to go to the garage where the car of the dead assassin was being held okay and have it turned over to his brother right okay but not sure just how policing works the garage where the car is being kept is a known clan hangout well this is quite a little quite a little extraction then right so so it so it starts off as an easy mission and then like wait what so that don't mind me so the deputies like why need I need help so he asked the Shelton brothers to go with it well there are there's just no clear line like not it's there's just no line

between what is who is the authority and who isn't like it seems like if you were in a like police department you could just be like I deputize my friend Chuck now he's a charge you know it's like but he didn't go through any of the training but it's like it doesn't matter yeah it's yeah so so the Shelton's are like we're gonna need more guys so they round up about 12 guys so starting to it's gonna look a little more suspicious when you bring the Shelton's and 12 additional dudes so they're walking down the middle of the road towards the garage and as they get close a shot man a man a man a man a man a man a man a

bum bum bum okay shot comes from a grape arbor which is off to their right it hits one of the men in the head and kills him instantly Jesus then everyone starts shooting taking cover the shots are coming out of the garage everyone shooting or else Shelton runs around behind the grape arbor with another guy and they shoot that guy in the head gun battle goes on wait they shoot who in the guy they shoot the guy that's with the first guy we shot okay got you so it goes on for a while this gun battle until the sheriffs bring out a machine gun they stashed in the palace hotel and started shooting what okay so and what is the

room under the gun's name or something do you have a machine gun room yes we do yes it's available we have well would you like a king or a queen oh excuse me okay and then I'll just need to get a credit card from the gun just for incidentals and that's just we put a $50 hold on that just you know so that might show up on the gun's account but then that will be that we won't charge that that's just a hold is there a morning ammo there's morning ammo between 6 to 10 30 and then after that if you want ammo by day you can just come down to the front desk and we can bring you some ammo up to your room okay thank great

okay unbelievable you're very welcome enjoy your stay gun hello gun hotel yes we do have a room actually all together six people were killed three clansmen two of the shelf and gang and then a bystander now National Guard is once again sent to Williamson might be time to hang out so things calm down for a while at the same time young I couldn't figure out what this was but he is getting in trouble with the clan and on September 13 young is this fish officially kicked out of the clan what should it's like that's when you should be like I'm proud of myself I did something good I'm finally

taking steps in the right direction unless he was too racist for the clan and they were like buddy all right pal we agree the whites are the superior race but some of these thoughts are a little fringe okay clean it up so that would be amazing for the clan to be like unfortunately just the language just terrible so around around this time the sheriff made aura Thomas his special deputy so now this ex bootlegger is now a special deputy okay sure now aura Thomas and young had had a lot of run-ins and they really really hated each other okay so young comes back to Heron and people get scared and they

stopped going outside good because they think that shit's gonna hit the fan so yeah well it sounds like I mean if he's back you're like it's not good you know what I mean I'm not happy to see him so local businessmen are you know losing business and they offer young $1,000 to leave man I need that deal that's like 15k today like I would yeah be like all right great job and then I come back every every couple months yeah yeah it's like you're the walking mob just like yeah I hear the human kid just what do you do I leave professionally what do you mean I'm a fucker offer so around this time Thomas arrests young for

carrying a concealed weapon but it turns out young had a deputy sheriff badge from Vermillion County so he is not charged but now so now it's just now the animosity between these two guys is really right it up yeah on January 10th 1925 Thomas was in the European European hotel lobby young came in with four guests young and Thomas immediately pulled their revolvers when they saw each other can you imagine just like checking in I just it's it's just so lawless and so many what like if you were just like but the fuck is gone like sorry sir they're going to have a gun battle we should check you in after like

remember like you're on the road when like a room isn't ready into like for another hour and a half and we're like ah brah brah brah hey man people have got pulling guns out on each other like whoops excuse me you might want to duck under here for a second sir and then we'll finish the chicken this is not very European also I believe you gentlemen want the gun hotel it's down the road they've got plenty of rooms available so Thomas shoots first he hits young twice he also shoots two guards Thomas was then shot in the head young died right away in the lobby Thomas was taken Jesus Thomas was taken to a hospital

the other two guards died now that night so the guy who got shot in the head is like we think he might survive I don't know how he how he's surviving but yeah he's the one who makes it yeah the guy who got shot in the head is the one is like okay now I should probably go hospital pretty soon maybe for my head part now the doctor at the hospital who is treating Thomas the Thomas the clan hates because he has treated so many anti-clansmen that's my job took the Hippocratic oath the oath so the clan go to the hospital that night and the doctor sees him coming and he just fucking runs he runs down the hall get

up on the roof and run escapes over the roof what to just seeing your doctor that's my doctor oh that's dr. Jason Bourne a dr. Batman so the clansmen then go into Thomas's room and they just keep punching Thomas spitting in his eyes but they don't and he's already been shot in the head but they don't kill him they leave what because he's crazy a robo he's clearly dying now like he's been shot in the head they're beating the shit out of them they're punching the head wound so that night he asked if he had killed young and he was told that he had and then he said quote well I'm

willing to die then and he died soon after big smile on his face can I see my doctor he's unfortunately on a flag he won't be back for a while so this is when Williamson County got the nickname and it was using papers all over the country bloody Williamson Wow because now but now young is out the Sheltons and Charlie Berger who are the two biggest bootleggers who had teamed up because they were going after young right now their friendship ended okay the Sheltons were running booze out of Florida and Berger had let them use Harrisburg which was his his area as a shipping stop Berger also opened a joint

called the shady rest between Marion and Harrisburg and it had liquor gambling cock fights and dog fights but no catfights but no cock no cock dog fights that's unethical no no no my my hold on hold on now hold on now that I'm restricted hold on training my rooster to fight dogs for about a year and a half well my dog here hates roosters sounds like some dollar sign dollar sign eyeball eyeball the cops leave it alone I assume it's paid off or whatever they're just not going there sure it's also yeah it's also built to handle a siege there the walls are a foot thick there is a giant like basement

to hide out in well plus also like you've got the front line of cops you know like oh god they're coming for our pistols I do I know I'm sorry all right so here we go all right I know they're not turkeys but someone sound like I'm let him go let him go your guns are useless against them they think the bullets are seen my intestines have been fully digested that thing sucked it up like Schwarzenegger eating a bowl of pasta and then it puts and then it puts it's wearing him as a suit all right sir if you say so we'll take our orders from you no matter what they sound like turkeys in charge boys all

right guys look the sheriff sounds a little different so then he also has rifles and some machine guns tons of ammo canned food water so it's like set up so right on November 1926 an associate of burger was shot and killed the mayor and police chief were called and they came and as they got out of their car they were shot okay they both lived but they were both enemies of the Sheltons okay so days later a car driving by the shady rest through a bomb it missed the shady rest a couple of days later the mayor of West City a buddy of the Sheltons had his home shot up the mayor was also a mechanic who was

working on the Sheltons armored car that's right sure they were building armored cars for their war with each other great okay good and the mayor is like I'll do the mechanic work sure I'll get under there I love to get under there okay so we are prepping a few hours after that a plane flew over the shady rest and tossed out Christ tossed out bundles of dynamite wrapped around bottles of nitroglycerin oh my god they have planes they really are like that they have like the like Bruce Wayne money the bombs were not built well and they didn't go off but this is supposedly the only time bombs have been

dropped during aerial warfare in US history wow that's crazy and they didn't even go off that's right and by the way give us five years a week later the mayor of West City's door was blown off by a bomb on December 12th two men came to the door and said they had a note from Carl Shelton for the mayor he came and they handed in the mayor the note and he opened it and then they shot him and killed him why I don't know why let him open it why not just we have a note and then shoot him why make him be like let me get my reading glasses for a second okay I'm sure it said something right it had to have it yeah I just

probably you're so dear sir you're about to be shot that's interesting the two men in front of you have gotten you in a ruse where they're making you believe that the letter you're reading is from your friends when in reality they're just here to shoot you the second you look up from stopping to read this your life will be over you're about to take your last breath sincerely the two men in front of you now what's this all oh it couldn't just said this is a message from the turkey what does it say blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah what the hell is this so obviously he's dead we had some fun though with his last

moment we on January 8th 1927 the shady rest was destroyed by a bomb four people were killed one of them a member of Berger's gang so Berger then contacted the US Postal Inspector about a robbery that had happened two years before I basically he was giving up the Sheltons because the Postal Inspector was convinced and the Sheltons were arrested and convicted and they got 25 years each that's what it took that's great like that you literally call the post office and then it's like now we'll get it one of Berger's gang turned on him said he because so the the guy who was killed in the shady rest who was

part of Berger's gang mm-hmm his brother became convinced that Berger had blown up the shady rest on his own so he killed his brother so then he comes and he says that he's the one who shot the mayor and that Berger had paid him so Berger's tried and found guilty in July 1927 and sentenced to death on April 19 1928 he was hung he was the second to last person hung in Illinois but that was easy right instead of like just just coming up with like a plan to kill him just been like yeah he got me to kill that guy he did hang him wait what the Sheltons managed to get new trials and get out but they were they were done in

the town they moved to Peoria where they started their rackets they lived there for a while Carl was killed in 1947 when he left the business and retired on a farm in Wayne County someone came and shot him that sounds like what the mob term for killing someone on a farm yeah he's retired to the farm don't worry about it we retired a farm a while ago Earl was almost killed in Fairfield but he survived Bernie was killed in 1948 he was shot by an assassin they had a fourth brother who had nothing to do with any of the crime stuff but he they had a Zeppel but he was working on Earl's farm in 1950 and driving a tractor

someone must have thought he was Earl because they shot him while he was driving the tractor and killed him had to be Earl he's a shelter and he's not a tractor hundred percent so that is the story of bloody waves Jesus Christ good God it's this country man it is really fucking nuts I mean it's just it never ends that is just so can you I mean I just can't imagine living there like just being a regular citizen there just like we should move yeah it just I mean can you just imagine having a grocery store you're like I just yeah I just want to sell beans and stuff yeah yeah it's like instead you're in the Jackie Chan

Bronx like everything everything I mean I don't know it's well what's also so troubling is that you know I think when we first started doing this show like I was like you know yeah like we're on a collision course without question and I don't know what form but these stories now are feeling so much more applicable to today than they did when we started like this is I could envision a version of this you can envision versions of this martial law yeah you know we've had clan runtimes we have versions of martial law you know curfews in cities yeah because there's there's protesters getting beaten by cops and like it's you

know it's all well that's what I mean it's like it you it seems like and you know I mean obviously like law enforcement has been yeah detrimental in many ways but it feels more and more like we're getting closer to that time than away from it yeah yeah and it's it goes in cycles yeah I just think we need to restart the flaming circle I agree I agree a hundred percent and after going through that I believe instead of training cocks to fight one another we do need a frontline of cocks absolutely just that'll be that is how you fuck with the wiring of your assassins we haven't been trained for this like you

haven't been like to shoot chickens with that lead only mean I think that would help at least give us like a minute yeah okay well great did it good I mean the real lesson from history I mean after you know we need to treat each other as complete equals based on nothing more than the character of the individual is what you should be judged by is don't get rid of liquor that's right don't ever try to take away the people just people like it it's too much we can't if the people like it and then it opens up the people who hate it to just yeah leave the booze alone okay all we ask all right that was your dad's policy too all right

gobble gobble we sign chickens the main source for this episode was Troy Taylor's true crime Illinois the state's most notorious criminal cases and then a bunch of papers the LA Times messenger inquire etc check it out on our sources page