Oil City has often had a bad reputation, going back to its early "boomtown" beginnings when its main street resembled a scene straight out of a western movie. Though today a quiet, (relatively) peaceful community, it certainly has a number of incidents in its history to support that past tarnished image.
Here we provide the first of two installments about the seamier side of the community, from its origin and ending in 1917 with the closing of Reno Hill. That was a notorious vice district situated on the east side of the Kansas City Southern Railways tracks that divide the town. A second chapter, currently in progress, will continue to the year 1945, noted by the shooting death of longtime local deputy, Will George.
1907
Ananias Assistant Postmaster Dies In Shreveport
Martin Geiser (incorrectly spelled in article) is killed in a Shreveport Saloon.
1908
Deputy Hughes Arrested
Oil City Deputy and Postmaster
Howard R. Hughes, Sr; is arrested in Shreveport. He would later invent the rotary drill bit, revolutionizing the oil drilling industry, and found
Hughes Tool Company..
Racial Confrontation
A contractor brings in black workers to build a natural gas pipeline to Texarkana, resulting in a conflict with locals.
More on the story, with the names of the two men shot revealed.
Shreveport Times 28-May-1908, Page 2
Two other men were jailed during the incident.
Tensas (LA) Gazette 05-Jun-1908, Page 3
1909
The sworn confession of convicted gang leader Henry Bertrand included details of his brief stay in Oil City. Bertrand led a seven-man group of "yeggmen," who were safe robbers noted for blowing them open with explosives (think Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.), operating in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.
While in town, he was scoping out a prospective target - a safe seen through a store window, when suddenly he was arrested. He and the "officer" went to his hotel, where a "tall Scotch lady" in charge vouched for his being a guest. Bertrand gave the man four dollars (about $80 today) and was released. The woman later informed him the man who had arrested him was no lawman at all, but merely a local teamster who would get drunk and then pull his act on unwary victims. She further advised this hoaxer had bitten someone's thumb off a couple of Christmases earlier.
From OC Bertrand traveled to Vivian, where nothing of note apparently occurred, then on to Bloomburg, Texas where in another article it's stated he robbed the post office. He was later captured in Arkansas.
Daily Arkansas Gazette 10-Jan-1909, Page 25
Oil City is "A Bit Rollicky About The Edges."
The (Shreveport) Caucasian 21-Jan-1909, Page 1
Some local bootleggers are brought before a judge for the fourth time.
The (Shreveport) Caucasian 31-Jan-1909, Page 4
The depot is burglarized.
New Orleans Times-Picayune 10-Feb-1909, Page 16
Governor
Jared Y. Sanders received complaints about local
blind tigers, illicit bars also known as speakeasies.
Donaldsonville (LA) Chief 03-Apr-1909, Page 4
Revelations from a grand jury investigation of goings-on in Oil City.
The (Shreveport) Caucasian 13-Apr-1909, Page 1
A. O. O'Neil, in Shreveport with two hundred dollars "for a good time" was killed by policeman D. M. Ward, who later was cleared of wrongdoing.
Monroe News Star 07-Jul-1909, Page 1
1910
W. A Hamby was convicted on five counts of selling liquor without a license.
The (Shreveport) Caucasian 10-May-1910, Page 8
Caddo Parish Sheriff
James Patteson Flournoy vows to get rid of "tinhorns, bootleggers vagrants, and other undesirables.
Shreveport Times 12-Jun-1910, Page 12
Eight gamblers are arrested during a raid.
Monroe News Star 13-Jun-1910, Page 5
Follow-up findings by the grand jury note improvement in conditions in Oil City, but insinuate local authorities do not pursue bootlegging violations with the same vigor as other crimes.
Monroe News Star 18-Jun-1910, Page 1
A 19 year-old Texas girl was lured to Oil City by the promise of a job at a hotel, that turned out to be a brothel. Authorities purchased a train ticket for her return home.
Shreveport Times 28-Oct-1910, Page 10
There's A Riot Goin' On - A group of bootleggers had given whiskey to the local workers which got them into a stir. One of the bootleggers, Tom Hickey was arrested by local deputy, Pink Taylor, but broke away and reached in his pocket, as if for a gun. Taylor shot Hickey, seriously wounding him. He actually had no gun but acknowledged his action was an intended bluff. Hickey eventually died from his wound at the charity hospital in Shreveport. Taylor was absolved of any wrong-doing.
In response to the shooting of Hickey, a riot ensues, with threats to kill and burn out the town. Sheriff Flournoy dispatches Taylor and other deputies armed with Winchesters (rifles) who put down the disturbance and arrested three ringleaders. One of them, J. M. Dixon, was reported "boozy" and "cavorting around" brandishing a shotgun and threatening to burn the town. However someone hit him on the head with a bottle and knocked him out. Note Deputy Stafford (no first name given) was reinstated after Sheriff Flournoy later found out he was in Mooringsport on business, not playing poker during the incident
The (Shreveport LA) Caucasian 17-Nov-1910, Page 1
Incident above described as in "western style."
Coffeyville (KS) 16-Nov-1910, Page 1
Deputy Pink Taylor appears in the
1910 U. S. Census, living in Oil City with the occupation of "Special Police, Oil Territory.".
A widow's kiss costs $500 Oil City postmaster J. K. Norman (also owner of the Norman Hotel) stole a kiss from a young widow, Mrs. Grace Hunter, while she was in the post office. She sued him for $2,000; however upon review the judge awarded $500. Rather than appeal, Mr. Norman relented and agreed to pay the settlement.
The treatment of the following incident by the press of the time shows the dramatic difference in attitudes of then versus now, as it is presented almost whimsical (see editorial "A Widow's Kiss" below), as if Mr. Norman was a mischievous school boy. The judge admonishes him as being old enough to have known better. Had Mr. Norman committed such an act today, as a somewhat public figure, he would at the least be issuing a public apology to show proper contrition to keep his job; and at worst might even be facing the possibility of jail time.
Seattle Times 11-Dec-1910, Page 14
New Orleans Item 02-Dec-1910, Page 9
When the cat's away the mice will play. An Oil City resident contacted the Caddo Parish Sheriff in Shreveport to report that, while the local lawman was pursuing a fugitive in Fort Worth, a group of "rough necks" obtained a quantity of (illegal) whisky, became drunk, and were causing havoc. Casualties included an unnamed Chinese restaurant, whose owners/workers were driven out, as well as the Stag Hotel, reported to have been considerably damaged.
Fights had broken out and "rough house" conditions existed. It was reported the Sheriff sent officers to take charge of the situation. Notable in the story is the presence of Chinese, presumably immigrants, in Oil City in 1910. Both the restaurant and the Stag Hotel were later destroyed in a major town fire in 1911.
Shreveport Times 12-Dec-1910, Page 7
1911
Former resident charged as a horse thief.
Independence (KS) Daily Reporter 18-Feb-1911, Page 1
Robbed in Storyville Oil City resident George Johnson, perhaps seeking a change of pace from the allures of Reno Hill, ventured to the famed Storyville "red light district" of New Orleans where a working girl relieved him of more than he bargained for, namely a $20 bill (equivalent to $500 today). The article doesn't state whether any of the other cash found on her person had also once been his, but handed over willingly for services rendered. Customhouse is now Iberville Street. Like Reno Hill, Storyville was closed by order of the military in 1917 to prevent temptation to troops stationed nearby.
New Orleans Daily Picayune 20-Jun-1911, Page 4
Murder and Lawlessness in Oil City Just another day at the office, as these articles from the same day describe a murder, while prostitution and bootlegging is reported rampant.
The (Shreveport) Caucasian 07-Sep-1911
Whether related to the prior article is not known but a few days later it was reported that "Oil City Queen" Grace Mansfield had been arrested on the charge of vagrancy.
The
1910 U. S. Census identified Grace as approximately 19 years old and a native of Austria; who was living alone in Oil City, having the occupation of nurse. Resolution of her case and/or what became of her could not be found.
A young woman recounts a sad tale to a Shreveport judge about coming to Oil City under the premise of her husband Tom Norton going to work there. He had elsewhere forced her to live a "life of shame" (work as a prostitute) and brought her to what she thought was a boarding house, but was in fact a brothel.
Shreveport Times 11-Dec-1911, Page 6
1912
Noting several women had given him trouble, Deputy Sheriff Con Gray imposed a curfew on Oil City ladies, requiring all off the streets by 11 PM.
"I never held a public office, except that of deputy sheriff and postmaster at Oil City, La. Therein I lost my religion." - Howard Robard Hughes, Sr.
In his own words, the elder Hughes, Harvard-educated, inventor of the rotary drill bit, founder of Hughes Tool Company, and father of aviator and film producer Howard, Jr., sums up his two-year tenure (1907-1909) in Oil City in two sentences included in his personal profile published in "The Harvard College Class of 1897 Fourth Report", dated June 1912.
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| Howard R. Hughes, Sr. |
He's probably described the Oil City of his day more accurately, and in fewer words, than anyone before or since as below is the town he served.
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| Oil City, LA 15-Sep-1912 |
A 19 year-old boy, Clarence Williams, kills man boarding at his mother's house in Caddo City for slapping his 13 year-old sister.
Monroe News Star 06-Jun-1912, Page 4
A woman was shot by oil field worker "Fatty" Yergerson, who skipped town.
New Orleans Item 03-May-1912, Page 11
Reno Hill is raided by Sheriff Flournoy and deputies. One establishment mentioned is the "Dew Drop Inn." Sent to Shreveport were the "soiled doves" (ladies of the evening) inhabiting the area.
Shreveport Times 20-Jun-1912, Page 2
A quarrel leads to the fatal stabbing of an oil field worker.
New Orleans Item 07-Jul-1912, Page 9
Jack Kreiger, said to originally be from Connecticut, commits suicide in Texarkana. He wills a house he owns on Reno Hill to a Mrs. J. M. McAdams.
Shreveport Times 20-Aug-1912, Page 6
D. C. "Red" Blassingame, reported gambler and Reno Hill saloon owner kills oil field worker Ed Wilson after the latter had been in an argument with Alice moore, a woman he (Wilson) had been living with.
Shreveport Times 08-Oct-1912, Page 1 & 7
News of Ed Wilson's death prompted 24 year-old Lucile Wilson, reported to be an "inmate (prostitute) of a house (brothel)" in Shreveport, to take poison. She was the woman who earlier had lived in Oil City with Wilson and was with whom he had the argument, resulting in his being shot. Another news article mentions the former Alice Moore as now being Lucile Wilson, something that would not be at all odd, given that aliases were often used in the netherworld of the vice districts.
A Shreveport Times editorial states "Reno Hill must go."
Shreveport Times 10-Nov-1912, Page 16
A Shreveport Times reader identified only as "Rough Neck" and purportedly from Oil City, responds to the editorial; writing about Reno Hill vs. similar goings on in Shreveport's St. Paul Bottoms restricted district..
To which the Times responded:
Shreveport Times 17-Nov-1912, Page 13
Restaurateur Fred Henderson is killed.
Madison (Tallulah, LA) Journal 23-Nov-1912, Page 1
Several OC merchants are cited for sanitary violations, including Dorothy Jackson, operator of a "soft drink place." She would later be charged with bootlegging and running a whorehouse.
Shreveport Times 20-Dec-1912, Page 7
1913
Sex sold 100 years ago as it does today. Here is the sequence of events of an intriguing local incident that received national attention:
- A young woman was horseback riding with another man when her jealous husband confronted them, threatening to kill both
- The men got into a struggle and she shot her husband, killing him
- She is put on trial for murder and her defense was that he had abused her and wanted her to return to her prior life as a prostitute
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| The Woman Accused |
A highwayman robs a poker game in progress.
Monroe News Star 30-Apr-1913, Page 5
Identified as Charles Malon, he was captured and sentenced to six months in jail.
Abbeville (LA) Progress 14-Jun-1913, Page 2
Train robber Ed Cable, captured at his hideout in the woods near Oil City, is sentenced to 10 years in prison for holding up a Kansas City Southern Railways train.
Shreveport Times 24-Jun-1913, Page 5
Citizens contribute to fund building of a jail.
Shreveport Times 23-Sep-1913, Page 5
1914
Deputy Mac Rascoe shoots a man said to be a laborer for the Arkansas Natural Gas Company. A Reno Hill joint "Peggy's" is identified as one of the establishments that had been terrorized by the man he killed.
Shreveport Times 01-Mar-1914, Page 1
Deputy Rascoe was exonerated by a coroner's jury, ruling he acted in self defense.
Shreveport Times 02-Mar-1914, Page 3
"the deed was did" - OC is swept clean in a raid conducted by deputies.
Shreveport Times 19-Mar-1914, Page 1
Among those arrested was Dorothy Jackson, dubbed the "Queen of Reno Hill."
Shreveport Times 26-Mar-1914, Page 2
Woodrow Wilson dies from knife wound in fight.
Houston Post 12-Jun-1914, Page 8
Bullet intended for another kills man - Reno Hill mentioned.
Shreveport Times 22-Jun-1914, Page 1
Porter Lawson is referred to as the "king bee" of Oil City bootleggers.
Shreveport Times 12-Jul-1914, Page 6
Caddo Parish deputies conducted a raid of "near-beer" joints in Oil City, and took three individuals into custody for operating "blind tigers" (illegal bars). However a large cache of illicit goods found somehow later managed to "escape."
Charged were Doc Selsor, Dorothy Jackson, and Bill Mayfield. Notably, Ms. Jackson was stated to be known around town as "The Queen of Reno Hill." The booty included : 30 casks of beer, 10 gallons of whisky, 25 gallons of gin, 2 gallons of whisky in a jug, 25 pints of whisky in a suitcase, and 19 cases of pints of whisky. Some contraband was taken to be used as evidence, while the rest was inventoried and locked up in the building where found. When authorities returned later to recover the remainder, it had been removed by unknown parties.
Selsor and Jackson were released on bond while Mayfield went to jail. Selsor, who had a long record of dealing in illegal alcohol, was later convicted.
Shreveport Times 21-Aug-1914, Page 2
Interestingly, in the 1910 U. S. Census a Dorothy Jackson, age 22, is recorded living in Shreveport as boarder in a house occupied entirely by single women aged 17-31, all having no occupation listed, save for one listed as running it. The locale was in the proximity of the Shreveport vice district - behind the downtown Methodist Church at Texas and Common Streets.
1910 U. S. Census - Louisiana, Caddo Parish, 7th Ward, Enumeration District 45, Sheet 13-B
Next door is a "boarding house" run by none other than
Annie McCune, Shreveport's most famous madam.
1910 U. S. Census - Louisiana, Caddo Parish, 7th Ward, Enumeration District 45, Sheet 13-A
Two OC men are fined for bootlegging. One pleads that he did it out of desperation. Being 65 years old would have made it hard to earn a living in the oilfield otherwise.
Shreveport Times 24-Nov-1914, Page 12
While on a southbound Kansas City Southern Railway train, Clamant (or Clement) Apollo, reported to be part of a vaudevillian troupe of three, left his seat to retire to the smoking compartment. Upon his return, he found one Sam Pratt sitting on his (Apollo's) overcoat, with his feet propped up on the actor's suitcase. Enraged and perhaps calling down strength from his mythological namesake, Mr. Apollo struck a blow to the right eye of poor Sam.
OC Deputy Sheriff A. L. "Mack" Rascoe, who was also on the train, quickly intervened before a full-fledged fight broke out and placed the hostile thespian under arrest - charged with assault and battery. After posting bond, Apollo appeared in court the following day where, for his offense, he was fined $5 (approximately $100 today) plus court costs.
Per his WWI draft registration, Samuel Jefferson Pratt (1888-1961 was single oilfield worker living in OC , born in Tennessee, and working for Producers Oil Company. He later moved to Arkansas where he died in 1961. What became of Mr. Apollo (possibly a stage name) is not known.
Shreveport Times 08-Dec-1914, Page 5
1915
Dorothy Jackson pleads not guilty.
Shreveport Times 16-Jan-1915, Page 8
Henry Reno is mentioned as being charged with shooting to murder. Is he or a family member perhaps the origin of Reno Hill's name?
Shreveport Times 14-Jul-1915, Page 8
1916
There's going to be a new sheriff in town, as
Thomas Roland Hughes is elected Caddo Parish sheriff in Jan-1916, and will take office June 1.
I went to my mama
Fell down on my knees
Said, 'Oh, mama, won't you forgive me, please?'
She started to cry
Follow me down,
Follow me down,
Follow me down
By Mr Tom Hughes town
Mr. Tom Hughes Town (Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter)
That song was written by the notable onetime OC resident about Shreveport's infamous Fannin Street in the St. Paul Bottoms, home to saloons, gambling, and prostitution. But Oil City was also about to become "Mr.. Tom Hughes Town," as the new sheriff is determined to take control of the lawlessness in that community centered on Reno Hill.
Shreveport Times 27-Jan-1916, Page 1
Mrs. Addie Morris charged for running disorderly house.
Shreveport Times 27-Feb-1916, Page 13
Deputy Rascoe is fired not enforcing prohibition. He would go on to serve on the Shreveport police force before dying of a brain hemorrhage at age 39.
Shreveport Times 25-Mar-1916, Page 4
A. J. Porterfield gets the deputy job.
Shreveport Times 26-Mar-1916, Page 2
Porterfield possibly never served or if so was soon replaced, as once Sheriff Hughes took office he named John Hudson as local deputy.
Shreveport Times 01-Jun-1916, Page 3
Reno Hill is cleansed once again. With a new sheriff and deputy, this time it is for real.
Shreveport Times 13-June-1916, Page 10
Nettie Moore OC Tigress first victim of Sheriff Tom Hughes campaign.
Shreveport Times 23-Jun-1916, Page 4
A man killed another after refusing to have a drink him. In a later article about the incident, the victim is identified as J. W. Roberts.
Alexandria Town Talk 27-Jul-1916, Page 5
The Louisiana State Supreme Court confirmed the bootlegging conviction of Dr. Selsor.
Shreveport Times 31-Oct-1916, Page 1
Lawrence E. Reidheimer becomes local deputy.
Shreveport Times 02-Dec-1916, Page 10
One Asa Drew took off with $17 given to him by Jessie Ballastina to be deposited in the Oil City Bank. He also forged her signature on a $1 check (~$20 today). Jessie is identified later (spelled Ballantina (both valid spellings)) as one of the Reno Hill operators when the vice district is shut down.
Shreveport Times 08-Dec-1908, Page 5
1917
J. L. Robinson, who took poison and thought he was dying, confessed to two murders committed in Oil City four years earlier. The only problem is that local authorities had no awareness of the crimes.
Shreveport Times 23-Feb-1917, Page 14
Drugstore employees selling booze on side.
Shreveport Times 14-Mar-1917, Page 10
Even the ladies got involved in gunfire exchanges as landlady Ida Burks took a shot at boarder Sam Bates in a dispute over his bill, and was hit when he returned fire.
Shreveport Times 20-Mar-1917, Page 11
A man is shot in the back, possibly in a dispute over women.
Shreveport Times 18-Apr-1917, Page 4
A store owner, thought to be German or of German descent, curses the American flag, to the outrage of townsfolk.
Tulsa (OK) Daily World 25-Apr-1917, Page 1
For his actions, George Thomas, who claimed he was born in England and brought to the U. S. as a child, was convicted and sentenced to 10 days in jail.
Shreveport Times 28-Apr-1917, Page 4
Deputy Reidheimer is shot at by an alleged abusive husband he was attempting to arrest, but the gunman misses. (Hint for upcoming
Part II: In 1919, he won't be so lucky.).
Shreveport Times 15-May-1917, Page 2
A hung jury occurred in the murder trial of Louie Thompson; charged with killing J. W. Roberts, bouncer in an OC "resort." If this is the same Louis Thompson mentioned previously (which it appears), the name of the victim and some details of the story changed from what was originally reported.
Shreveport Times 03-Jun-1917, Page 12
Reno Hill is cleansed. Among the operators arrested were white women Jessie Ballantina (mentioned earlier), Viola Titeworth, Sadie Raymond, and Queeni(e?) Brooks, who each posted $50 (approximately $1,000 today). A black woman, Lizzie Walker, remained in jail. Deputies made the surprise raid by circling in the woods behind the establishments and attacking from the rear.
Shreveport Times 11-Jun-1917, Page 5
Of note from above, Queen Brooks was living on Cain Street in Shreveport in 1910, in what was that city's vice district.
Several months later the notorious Reno Hill vice district is finally no more.
Though not stated as the reason in the above article, this later one about the closing of Shreveport's "red light" district in the St. Paul Bottoms shortly afterward mentions the shutting down of Oil City's notorious Reno Hill was by order of the U.S. War Department. New Orleans' famed "Storyville" district was also closed at this time.
Read about the military presence in local oilfields in Occupied!
Whiskey was also banned and the sale of firearms restricted in efforts to minimize potential violence during the strike.
New Orleans Item 24-Nov-1917 Page 2
Epilogue
And so ends the first installment of
Murder, Mayhem and Vice. As a tease for
Part II, be advised that the 1917 closing of Reno Hill did not bring about the end of disorderly houses in Oil City.
There is a house in Oil City
They call the Rising Sun...
Just a little ditty I've been working on. Haven't figured out how the rest should go..
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