If you are not interested in the history of our chips, it is time to hit the back button. This is a long one that I felt I had to limit to 18 scans. Plenty more scans could have been added.

OK, it is time for me to give my "Best Guess" on where the Lake Tahoe, Stateline Country Club $1 chips were confiscated in an Illinois illegal club raid in 1957.

We know in fact from Taylor records and Captain Brantley's raid notes that Joe Dodd bought chips and dice returned to Taylor from a Mississippi illegal.

We know in fact from Taylor records and Captain Brantley's raid notes that Joe Dodd bought chips from Taylor, made in 1948 for and never delivered to a Louisville, KY illegal. Joe bought them between 1948 and 1953.

Below we will narrow it down to 3 possible clubs where the SCC $1 chips were confiscated. IMO, Joe Dodd bought an overrun or a returned lot of SCC $1 chips from Taylor and used them at The Colony Club in McClure, IL. I think the evidence is very strong for my decision. Captain Brantley documented almost all of his confiscated chips. The SCC's were an exception.
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Enough of that:

This is the third 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 3

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.

Actual chips confiscated in 1957 raid on Joe Dodd's Colony Club in McClure, IL.

Taylor record for chocolate Harp mold chip below. Taylor bought out Ryan Speed Checks and their stock of the Slant S mold. There are several Taylor cards where they shipped the Slant S molds but none for the 50¢ yellow above. My guess is, the 50¢ was bought from Ryan.

From our "Friend Of The Hobby."

You said that the trooper’s grandson said the SCC chips were taken in a raid in 1957 at a place in the
East Cape Girardeau area. ( per Captain Brantley's notes) Here’s an article from August 4th 1957 in which trooper Elza Brantley leads raids on four places, three in the East Cape Girardeau area: Purple Grackle, Colony Club and Thunderbird.
All three places have chips confiscated, so I guess it’s possible this could be when the CSS chips were taken.

You mentioned that JJJ T-mold chips, originally ordered for De Soto County, MS, were taken at the Colony Club and that they must have been resold after they were returned to Taylor.

My note: Per Captain Brantley's raid notes the JJJ T molds were confiscated at the Colony Club in a 1957 raid. Note on Taylor card shows they were returned to Taylor.

Actual JJJ chip and dice confiscated in 1957 raid at the Colony Club.

The guy who opened the Colony Club in 1939 and ran it until 1958 was named Joe Dodd. He appears to have purchased returned Taylor chips before. These Colony Club chips were originally ordered by a G. W. Hutchinson of Louisville, KY but end up at Dodd’s Colony Club.

My note: I don’t know when Taylor sold the Colony Club chips made in 1948 to Joe Dodd but here is a reorder sent to Joe in 1953

My note: Actual Colony Club T mold, Cord mold, and Diamond mold confiscated in raid. T mold is from the 1953 order. Looks like many of the old distributors got in on Joe's action. Cord mold O'Neil, Chicago-Diamond mold Jack Todd, Kansas City.

My note: Actual SCC T mold chip taken in raid. 250 of these were confiscated by State Trooper Elza Brantley in 1957. At this time we cannot say 100% they were taken at the Colony Club, BUT there is good evidence. We know Joe Dodd saved a few bucks whenever possible by buying returned and undelivered chips from Taylor and more than likely other distributors. I believe the SCC chips were an overrun from 1956 order, just sitting around waiting for Joe Dodd to call.

The SCC green $1 T molds shipped to Sam Murray in Lake Tahoe 3/15/56. Mason Co also shipped 5000 blue-3 white $1 hubs ATTN Sam Murray along with other colors and denoms 3 months later in June 1956. 8,000 $1 chips 2 different colors. Sounds like the hubs were a new rack. Did the SCC obsolete the T molds after 3 months?

BJ chip rack confiscated in 1957 with 250 SCC $1 chips in it.

Generic chips taken in 1957 raid on the Colony Club. You can see them in the above scan in the rack.

Generic chips taken in 1957 raid on the Colony Club. You can see them in the above scan in the rack.

From Captain Brantley's notes.

2nd paragraph last sentence. The Colony Club was raided 90 straight nights 3 times a night. Today that would be harassment. . Most of these raids were one uniformed officer walking through every room in the club. These raids are described in another of Captain Brantley's notes.

Another state trooper Don, was with Elza Brantley on the raids is over 90 and his memory is a little foggy. He relayed this story to me. In 1968 he traveled to Las Vegas with his daughter. They went to a strip casino to see a show. While standing in line a casino employee came up to him and told him he was working in an East Cape Girardeau casino when a raid happened. He remembered Don as one of the troopers raiding the joint. They had a good laugh and the casino employee comped the best seats in the show for him. Don does not remember his name. This could very well be the connection to the SCC chips. Could this have been Sam Murray? OK, that might be a stretch.

Here’s a postcard:

A pic of the place on fire in 1959:

Here’s a map showing Cape Girardeau, MO and East Cape Girardeau & McClure, IL; the Colony Club was located at the intersection of Highway 146 and Highway 3:

OK gang, what do you think? Did I make my case for the Stateline Country Club chips usage at the Colony Club? Or did I over reach? I would like to see or hear your comments.

There are still several articles to go in the "Raiders Of The Lost Illegal's" series including The Thunderbird, The Turf Club, Club Prevue, and the 200 Club/The Annex. Captain Brantley's relentless 5 year assault on Illinois illegal Clubs will be well documented when we are done. IMO he was the Estes Kefauver of Southern Illinois.