Wicked Northern Illinois by Troy Taylor

Author:Troy Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Wicked Northern illinois
ISBN: 9781614232209
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2011-11-24T16:00:00+00:00

The Tucker House, a brothel located at 545 East William Street, the heart of Decatur’s red-light district.

Despite attempts to clean up the city, the red-light district continued to thrive. It lasted until 1936, and when it was finally closed down, it was a major event. On the morning of March 14, newspapers reported the death of a local stockbroker named John King, who had been shot to death on the front porch of a brothel that was located at 545 East William Street, in the heart of the red-light district. The shooting, and the publicity that surrounded it, turned out to be the catalyst that closed down the segregated area for good.

Kenneth Ogbin, a guest at the brothel who was a former tavern owner and an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Macon County sheriff in 1934, admitted to shooting King but claimed that it was an accident. Late on Saturday evening, Ogbin was sleeping and was awakened by the owner of the brothel, Alice Hutchings (aka Alice Tucker). She told him that two men were on the front porch shouting and pounding on the door, demanding to be let in. Ogbin took his .38-caliber revolver and went downstairs to tell the men that they needed to leave. He opened the door, and King tried to push his way inside. Ogbin tried to push King back, shoving the barrel of his gun into the other man’s abdomen. He then claimed that it accidentally went off. Ogbin fled from the house and, a few hours later, threw the gun into the lake. Later in the morning, he turned himself in when he heard that the police were looking for him. He had consulted with attorney L.E. Stephenson, who convinced him that this would be the right course of action.

John King, a forty-three-year-old stockbroker, was married and had a son in junior high school. King had offices in Decatur but had previously worked out of an office in the Wrigley Building in Chicago. In 1929, he lost most of his money in the stock market crash and moved to Decatur to work for Allen, Wiley & Jostes, an insurance and investment business. His father was Dr. John King, chief of staff of St. John’s Hospital in Springfield. On the night he was shot, King and a drinking companion named L.A. Lynch decided to end their night by paying a visit to one of the local whorehouses. They first went to a house operated by Della Smull, but when they were refused admittance, they went down the street to a house owned by Alice Tucker. Both men were very drunk, and they began to pound and kick the door when Tucker refused to let them inside. Tucker then stated that she went to an upstairs room where Ogbin was sleeping. It was believed that Ogbin was living in the house free of charge in exchange for working as Tucker’s security man. Ogbin was well known in town. In addition to once running for the office of sheriff, he also once owned a tavern on East Eldorado Street.

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