The A&M chips came from a regular BB poster. I am certain he will be along with a sales post. Only one black chip was found and it rests safely in my collection. Thank you friend.

I am fairly certain the A&M plain mold chips came out of the Hunt and Co in Chicago. There are Chain molds in their records with the same font as the plain mold shipped to Pekin, Illinois in 1939 and 1943. The 1943 record says Chain mold but the picture is a plain mold. Hunt sold many different molds including Harps and T molds after they bought Taylor in 1960. The Hunt catalogue shows 9 different molds including the Die Square originally owed by Code and Company. Add Harp and T molds, makes 11 different molds sold by Hunt. Off hand, I cannot think of any other distributor that sold that many different molds.

Hunt did not use the actual die on their record cards like the other distributors did. They did keep an actual chip in small envelopes with the record cards. The actual chips are pictured in Hertz's book on the Hunt Company.

From the past 27 Illinois "Illegal Of The Day" posts we know the various mobs that controlled the illegal gambling ruled with an iron hand, using murder, bribery, and mayhem. Illinois was more than likely the most violent state during the "Era of the illegals." In 1939 a new mayor was elected in Pekin and instituted a unique new law in Pekin that beat the mobs.

This post tells the story of Arends and Mann, an illegal gambling joint through 3 name changes over the years.

Enough of that:

Illinois:

Arends and Mann
300 Court St
Pekin, Illinois.

Enter our "Friend of the hobby:

A&M

Henry Herman Arends & Lawrence Edward Mann. Henry Arends, born 1874 in Illinois, was the son of an immigrant from Amsterdam, Holland who opened a saloon in Pekin in the late 1800’s. As a young man Henry worked at his dad’s saloon and around the turn of the century they went into business together, opening a new place in Pekin at 300 Court St.—the same location the A&M chips were delivered 40 years later.

Here’s an ad for their place from 1902:

My note: An ad from 1902! Sometimes I am amazed at what can be found on the internet. 110 years old.

Arends father died a few years after they opened the place and Henry became the sole proprietor until the late 1930’s when, in his mid-60’s, he brought in Larry Mann, a bartender at the place and the husband of his only child Alpha. Calling their place Arends & Mann they placed their first order for the A&M chips in 1939.

1939 was a significant year for Pekin because it was the year that Norman Shade became Mayor. Shade instituted new civic policies regarding gambling. He was still mayor when this article was written in 1952:

My note: Show up at the court house each week, plead guilty to running a crap table, pay $30 fine. and return to your game. Sweet!!!!

The second A&M order came in 1943. Around this time Arends & Mann started describing their place as “Stag Bar, Congenial Associations.” Within a year or two after the 1943 chip order Henry Arends dies and his daughter Alpha divorces Larry Mann. Arends widow becomes the owner and Alpha’s new husband, Pearl Bible, becomes the manager of the place at 300 Court which starts calling itself “Arends Stag Bar.”

Here’s an aerial view of Pekin from 1949 showing the location of 300 Court, which was on the south-east corner of Court and 3rd (building no longer exists).

Arends Stag Bar lasted until about 1946-47 when the place was taken over by Fred Morrow and it became known as “The Stag Bar.”

In the mid 1940’s Morrow had opened a cigar store at 228 Court Street with Steve Budde called “Morrow & Budde.” They ordered the Morrow Budde harp mold chips in 1946. The chips were ordered by Steve Budisalich, AKA Budde, who at the time also owned The Belmont at 430 Court.

After Morrow took over the Stag Bar, he moved Morrow & Budde to the same location as the Stag. Morrow, a Kentucky native, continued to operate the Stag Bar for several years.

My note" I need the Morrow Budde harp molds. If you have traders cough them up. I do have the Rectangle Heart chips.

This chip order was sent there in December 1949:

My note: I have all 3 colors of the P chips.

In this photo from 1952, the man standing in the hat is paying the illegal gambling “fine” for the Stag Bar at the police magistrate’s office.

My note; They plead guilty and pay a fine every week was in place for 13 years. An operator would have pled guilty 676 times. Can you imagine the "Rap" sheets these guys had.

A year later in April 1953:

Mayor Shade defended Pekin’s practice of “fining” gamblers arguing that if the law was enforced then gambling goes underground and payoff money “goes into the pockets of politicians and law officers” instead of the city treasury. Shade resigned as Pekin’s mayor in 1954.

My Note: The mayor managed to beat mobs with his policy. The mob known as the "Feds" joined with him when they passed the "Federal Gambling Stamp Act and accessed the gamblers 10% of profits.

pic of Mayor Shade from 1952:

My note: I see no evidence the mayor was getting anything out of the gamblers for his policy, but who knows. One thing in the above newspaper story caught my eye. Pekin's punch board business was given to one person for a fine of $500 per month. If punch boards did not have a union label they were confiscated. Punch boards like the race wire was a huge revenue stream in the "Era Of The Illegals." I cannot imagine this concession was given away free of kickbacks especially if a union was involved.

In the current CCGTCC magazine you can read the story of 600 Monmouth Street from the 1930's through today. "Booze, Broads, Murder, and Mayhem" by Jim Linduff. I owned a redneck-topless joint there 1973-75 called The Mustang. We had punch boards and they could only be bought through one distributor. They also had union labels. This was well after the "Era of the illegals." We never had a problem with the cops over the punch boards. I didn't ask and wasn't told why.