This is the 5th stop on our trip across Illinois and its Illegal casinos. Two posts were for Chicago only. As I told you Illinois may have had more illegal’s than any other state. We still haven’t scratched the surface of Illinois and its illegal’s.

DePue, IL

Morris’s Tavern
1010 4th St
DePue, IL
Chips in 1938-39

I got the white, red, and blue chips in 2008. Still need the yellow $5.
I would buy one of this chip, any color if anyone has a spare. One of my researchers wants it.

CRM
Charles Richard Morris, died 1963 in Illinois age 72 (native of Marion County, KY). The delivery address, 1010 Forth, is problematic. As far as I can tell, there has never been a Forth Street in DePue. If we assume it's a typo and Forth is 4th there's still a problem because there does not seem to have ever been a 1000 block of 4th St.

Not sure what Morris was doing when he ordered the chips. In the early 30's he was the proprietor of a hotel in DePue.

The only surviving child of Morris, Joseph Roger Morris, appears to be living just east of DePue in Spring Valley. He's 87--would have been 15-16 when the chips were ordered.
This phone number looks good: 815-XXX-XXXX (if not, then this # might be good: 815-XXX-XXXX.

My notes:

I talked to Joseph and May Morris. Joseph is not well. He spoke to me through May, from his bed.

They told me Charles Morris’s wife owned a boarding house (hotel) in DePue. Charles Morris owned a tavern next door to it, Morris’s Tavern. Charles had a crap game in the tavern. They had no clue on the mix up in the address on the Mason records and could not recall the actual address. DePue was a small town in those days and any package to Charles Morris, DePue at any address would have gotten delivered. First thing May said was, “sorry I don’t have those chips.” I told her “not to worry, I had some. “

They were amazed that I actually had the chips and tracked them back to them. Sounded like they never heard of the internet. She said she would bet some family member sold them at a flea market.

Eddies Tavern
Ed Bulak
DePue, IL
Chips 1953-58

Another chip I got from Doug Smith in 2005.
I would buy one of this chip, any color if anyone has a spare. One of my researchers wants it.

My Note: Looks like Ed Bulak picked up the chips at Taylor in Chicago. I cannot find his name or address on the Taylor contact list. This list was compiled for a subpoena from the Estes Kefauver commission in 1951. The list may or may not be complete. That correspondence is posted on:
http://www.preservinggaminghistory.com/

EB
Funny you would ask about the DePue CRM chip at the same time as this one because it's also DePue.

Edward "Eddie" Bulak died 1978 in Spring Valley, IL age 64. He and his wife Oletha operated a place called Eddie's or Eddie's Tavern for 34 years in DePue (if you talk to Morris it wouldn't surprise me if he knew the place). (my note: I did not ask Charles and May Morris about Bulak. My bad.)

In 1962 he had a Federal gambling stamp.

My note: Not sure when Federal gambling stamps were first issued. They were mostly obtained by operators that had race wires. It kept the Feds out and operators only had to worry about local cops. I have a scanned copy of one issued to an Illegal, but could not find it for this post.

In 1955 Bulak was charged with attempted bribery of a Bureau County deputy sheriff (see article).