Illinois, again! Geez, it is a never ending story. Our “Friend Of The Hobby” asked me to ID this chip for him.
I did not think it was a biggie when I saw the ID. Wrong again! To be honest I should have recognized the name on the Mason record as I have other chips Spellisy bought on my list to research when time permits. Old age, again!

I do not have the WMS chip. I repeat, I DO NOT HAVE IT! I want it. Cough it up if you have a trader.

Enough of that:

Illinois:

William Spellisy
618 E. North St.
Morris, IL
1936
200 black, 800 green

WMS

William Spellisy, an Illinois native, moved to Morris, IL in the mid 1920’s and died there in 1988 at the age of 87. From the mid 1930’s through the mid 1960’s Spellisy operated a place just outside the Morris city limits and across from the Morris County Club called the “Seven Gables.” Today the place is called the Rockwell Inn. Here’s a current pic; not sure how much of this building was around during the time of the Seven Gables.

In October 1950 Spellisy testified before Kefauver. According to his testimony the Seven Gables had only been raided once since its opening in Dec.1935—a raid which took place in May 1950, only a few months prior to his testimony. At the time of the raid Spellisy gave this statement to an Illinois Asst. AG:

My note: IMO, 30 years and only 1 raid. That might be a record for an illegal.

My note: How would you like to rob a bank with this guy? He folded like an accordion and gave up everybody involved and the info to get the IRS on their trail.

Here’s a pic of Spellisy on his way to testify before Kefauver:

During his testimony Spellisy was asked where he got his gambling equipment:

It’s hard to remember everything.....
“I never bought any stuff from Taylor”

My note: Or he lied! BUT, why does he spill his guts to the locals and lie to a United States Senator, under oath? Just a wild and crazy guess. O’Neill was an independent operator and Taylor was owned by the Chicago mob!

The following 2 chips are the ones I had on my list to research. The SG Harp he bought from Taylor in 1943.

Spellisy continued to buy from O’Neil after Kefauver—several orders between 1952 and 1963:

Here’s a snip from a newspaper article about the raid in May 1950:

My note: Once again a non-descriptive “little piece of clay” gives us a thirty year peek into a man’s life. The history of our chips is amazing. How many little mementos of your life are you leaving lying around to tell your story to some future collector?