Captain Brantley and his raiders unlike other local law men and politicians did not play favorites with the Illinois illegal club operators. They took all of them down. The Turf Club in Cairo, IL was no exception. Our "Friend Of The Hobby" contributed to this series of posts.

Enough of that:

This is the sixth in a series of mid and southern Illinois "illegal Of The Day" posts.
I am calling this series of posts "Raiders Of the Lost Illegal's" in honor of Captain Elza Brantley and the troopers that served with him.

"Raiders Of the Lost Illegal's" Part 6

The grandson of Captain Elza Brantley sent me 150 scans of raid pictures, notes on the raids, newspaper articles, official documents, and confiscated chips from 500 (300 in one month) raids on Illinois illegal's, conducted by his grandfather. Some of the chips we have never seen. Also raids on clubs we have never heard of.

Elza Brantley 1913-1999
Graduated from the first class at the Illinois State Police Academy.
1955-1960 Captain in Command Battery #6 Illinois State Police-District #13 East Saint Louis- 27 counties - 105 Troopers.

Explanation of "500 (300 in one month) raids." Most of these raids consisted of one state trooper in full uniform walking through every room in a club, 3 times a day. It would be hard to start "Dem Bones" rolling with this going on. Today it would be called harassment.

My note: Blue rect/heart mold is an autual chip taken in the 1955 raid on the Turf Club in Cairo. IL. I've had the dots and rectangle molds since 2006.

Enter "Our "Friend Of The Hobby:"

The Turf Club was in Cairo. IL. Cairo is the county seat of Alexander County and sits at the most southern point of Illinois:

My note. Great picture. It brings back fond memories of my first 40 years of life in the Ohio river valley.
Cairo like Newport, KY was isolated on land at the point of two rivers. I bet Cairo like Newport can trace its illegal history back to 1800's river pirates.

The Turf Club was on Commercial Avenue at the far southern tip of downtown Cairo (you could walk a couple of blocks east of the club and be standing at the Ohio River and looking into Kentucky). Here are a couple of Taylor orders:

My note: I need this chip. Cough it up if you have a trader.

My note: I need this chip. Cough it up if you have a trader.

The building on Commercial Avenue which housed the Turf from at least as early as 1941 to as late as the mid 1980’s, perhaps later, was demolished in 2011 (the whole block was torn down). Here’s a pic when it was still standing; you can see the old Turf neon sign on the right:

Here’s a close-up of the sign which was offered on eBay in 2011:

Troopers raided the Turf in February 1955:

My note:
Example of Captain Brantley's notes.

All of Captain Brantley's notes.

I was willing to pay for a complete copy of the notes. It was looked into but never happened.

Special thanks to Captain Brantley, his raiders, and his grandson, for an epic adventure through the Illinois illegals. Best part is, "it's not over yet." I think I can squeeze out a couple more posts from his scans and notes.

Captain Brantley's grandson just put me in touch with the son of Shot Winchester owner of Club Winchester in Pulaski county. He has chips. It was a big joint with entertainment including Louis Armstrong. "Illegal Of The Day" and Club Winchester chips are on the way to me.