While Gene is off taking care of some personal business I thought I would drop a quickie IOTD here before taking a vacation myself (Michigan U.P. – here I come!). The IOTD staff is overworked these days and I’m happy to report that we received a little help this week.

All the research for this week’s IOTD comes from Jim Steffner. I sent him an identification for a Mason chip hotstamped “BCB” that came back from his area of expertise. The problem was I mistakenly sent him the wrong ID. The chip he was looking for had a different font than the one I sent, so unfortunately he did a lot of research for a chip he didn’t actually have. Oh well, at the least the research is good (that counts for something, right?).

The actual chips we are looking at here are these:

The picture is from Gene’s files and he doesn’t know where it came from or who has the chips. He got the ID for someone in June 2013. He’ll say he can’t remember because he’s old, but really I think it’s because he can’t keep track of the tens of thousands of chips he has.

If anyone has extras for trade or sale there are three guys here who need them!

There wasn’t much on the Mason card:

E.R. Bertram
Steubenville, OH
1930

But it was enough for Jim to ferret out the story.

Bertram spent his entire life in Steubenville, from his birth in 1892 till his death in 1947. Around the age of 16 he took a job as a molder for the LaBelle Iron Works which he continued until 1917 when the global war finally reached the United States. Bertram served with Company K, 332nd Infantry in Italy and France from 1918 through 1920.

Upon returning to the states, he went back to the iron works job, but not for long. The first time we see Bertram involved in gambling comes in 1925 when he is called to testify in an extortion case against Justice of the Peace Lee Jennings who instead of bringing gamblers to jail, accepted payment on the spot. He claimed he was collecting for the state, but the money never left his pocket. Edward Bertram was one of the three operators of Steubenville gambling rooms that were shook-down by the JP.

The next year has Bertram and some partners opening a billiard parlor on the second floor at 608 Market Street called “Brogan’s Place”. From the get-go, Brogan’s Place was on the radar. In 1929 police raided the club and destroyed $7,000 worth of gambling equipment. The small fine assessed for the gambling was nothing compared to the loss of the equipment. It was a hit, but for the gamblers, it was simply the price of doing business.

In 1933 came another raid and it is here that we find the names which explain the BCB on the 1930 chips. It was reported that “P.H. Brogan, Gus Conley and E. Bertram, May 6, permitted gambling.” These three men were seen by the prosecuting attorney as “more flagrant violators than the others.” His assessment rang true as they would again be charged in 1934 and 1935. In each of the arrests the men made no excuses. They admitted their wrongdoing, paid a nominal fine and went back to work.

Bertram continued operating the Brogan’s Place with defiant impunity. The final time Brogan’s Place was raided was 1939 when Bertram and Brogan plead guilty. There was no mention on the third partner Gus Conley here.

Edward Bertram benefitted from the Steubenville gambling scene. He and his wife held parties for the city’s upper society and he enjoyed membership in many of the town’s fraternal clubs.

Bertram was young, in his mid-50s when he died in 1947 of a heart attack and was laid to rest in local cemetery.

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I want to thank Jim Steffner again for his research into these chips. For those who don’t know, Jim has written a book titled “Dice and Dollars” which tells the history of the illegal gambling joints in Northeast Ohio. It’s full of pictures, stories and chips from all these clubs. The above Brogan’s Place is not in the original edition, but I have a feeling it might show up in a future printing.

I’m sure Jim will reply below with information on how you can order his book.