100 years ago: Prohibition officers raid Mascoutah and Shiloh saloons
Looking back at stories that appeared in the O’Fallon Progress 100, 75 and 50 years ago:
100 years ago, March 6, 1924
Prohibition officers from East St. Louis, armed with search warrants, raided three saloons at Mascoutah and one at Shiloh last Friday. Six officers took part in the raids.
At Mascoutah the agents found illicit liquor at the saloons of Jac. Ohlendorf, Henry Lerch, and Otto Schaefer.
At the saloon of John Jung (Shiloh) the dry officers discovered a large quantity of bottled home-made beer, 80 gallons of home-brew ready for bottling, and some moonshine liquor.
Jung went to East St. Louis the next day and appeared before the U. S. Commissioner to furnish bond for his appearance.
75 years ago, March 10, 1949
After an all-night search the bodies of two local boys, students in O’Fallon Township High School and members of well-known families, who were reported missing late Sunday afternoon while on a fishing trip, were recovered Monday morning at 9:15 o’clock in 10 feet of water in Engel’s creek, four miles northeast of this city.
The dead are: Walter G. Meyer, Jr., 17, a junior at Township High School and only child of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Meyer, of 210 East Third Street, and Jerry Southern, 14, a son of Captain and Mrs. William H. Southern, of 116 East Third Street. He was a freshman at Township High.
Capt. Southern is stationed at Scott Air Force Base, the family having resided here for the past eight months, coming here from the south.
Recovery of the bodies was made with the aid of grappling hooks by Elton Dressel, chief of the local fire department, Vernon Scheibel, assistant chief, and Earl Friederich, members of the department’s rescue squad.
They were assisted by Constable Ed. Trame, Elmer Kirsch, and Walter Meyer, father of one of the youths.
The latter three had been members of several searching parties, including Chief of Police William Morton, which scoured the creek bank and surrounding wooded areas all night after the disappearance of the boys.
The bodies were discovered when, what appeared to have been slight mud prints were seen on a log across the creek. Closer investigation by Constable Trame revealed that the tracks stopped near the center of the log.
The local fire department was notified and members of the rescue squad went to the scene with their equipment, locating both the bodies alongside the log in about 10 feet of water.
They were removed from the water and taken to the Wolfersberger-Meyer funeral home where an inquest by Coroner C. C. Kane is pending.
A large crew from Scott Air Base, assembled by Capt. Southern to take up the search arrived just as the bodies were being removed from the creek.
How the youths lost their lives will probably never be known, except that they may have started to walk out on the log when one slipped, pulling the other down with him.
The double tragedy was at a point around a bend about 200 yards distance from where Pete Transano, 45, was fishing.
Details of the fishing trip were given as follows: The two lads and Mr. Transano, of this city, left their homes at 1 p.m., Sunday. They selected a point near Bennett’s Crossing, about three-fourths of a mile north of U. S. Highway 50.
After fishing for a time, Transano stated the boys said they were going to take a walk through the woods along the creek. Transano continued to fish but when the boys failed to return when it was time to go home, he began a search for them.
After darkness had set in he returned to this city to report their disappearance. When the boys had not returned home by 7:30, Transano went back to the creek, taking his wife and their parents with him.
Unable to find a trace of the youths, they returned home and when the boys failed to come home an hour later again went back, reporting their disappearance to Chief of Police Morton who also organized a searching party which unsuccessfully scoured the area until 2:30 a.m., when others took up the search.
Walter George Meyer, Jr., was born in Belleville, April 26, 1931, a son of Walter and Catherine Middendorf Meyer.
The father was a native of Collinsville and the mother was born in Damiansville.
Surviving, in addition to the parents is his maternal grandfather, Herman Middendorf, of Belleville.
The deceased was a member of the St. Clare’s Holy Name Society. He was known as an all-around ball player in the O’Fallon Junior League where he was on the pitching staff and also played at first base and other positions.
During the evening hours he was employed as a pin setter at Central bowling alleys and after school and on Saturdays at a service station.
The funeral was held from the Wolfersberger-Meyer funeral home this morning at 8:45 to St. Clare’s church where services were conducted at 9 o’clock by Rev. John Goelz. Internment was in Mt. Calvary cemetery, Shiloh.
Jerry Maurice Southern was born Aug. 9, 1934, at Minden, La., a son of Capt. William Howard and Ann Lucille Culbertson Southern.
In addition to his parents, he is survived by one sister, Marjorie, at home, and his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. V. E. Culbertson, of Shreveport, La.
The body was forwarded last night to Shreveport, La., for funeral rites and burial.
Our Mistake! In the last issue it was incorrectly stated that Ervin Trame is a candidate for constable in the O’Fallon township election. It should have read Edwin B. Trame, present constable, who is running for reelection.
50 years ago, March 7, 1974
The city of O’Fallon has agreed to treat the raw sewage from the Shiloh Valley Sanitary District when the new O’Fallon treatment plant is in full operation.
The agreement was made in the form of a resolution Monday night but negotiations will still have to be made on the costs which will be charged the Shiloh district by the city of O’Fallon.
The resolution needed passage Monday night so the Shiloh district can submit an application for funds from the federal government by the March 11 deadline with the approval from O’Fallon that it will treat Shiloh’s waste.
Dave Horton, zoning administrator for O’Fallon told the council it is to everyone’s advantage to work on projects like waste treatment on a regional basis.
“It puts us in a positive light with the federal government to get funds for projects,” Horton said.
O’Fallon Mayor Gary Mackey said that even though many things still need to be negotiated, the regional idea of O’Fallon treating Shiloh’s waste is “the right direction to follow.”
Jack Enloe, consulting engineer for the Shiloh sanitary district, said the district will submit an application to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency for funding of the interceptor treatment lines which will be run from Shiloh to the O’Fallon plant.
Enloe said that the EPA could approve funds up to 75 percent of the total cost of the Shiloh project. Enloe said that the approximate cost of the project will run somewhere over $600,000.
According to Enloe, no problems are anticipated in building the lines to O’Fallon, and he estimates 1,600 potential users will get the first service from O’Fallon and that the number may increase to as many as 3,000.
Jeff Ashauer, from the Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (SWIMPAC) told the council that Shiloh had wanted a treatment plant of their own but found it “financially unfeasible.”
It was more convenient and less costly to run a line from Shiloh to O’Fallon’s new plant to have the waste treated there, Ashauer said.
“It will cost the O’Fallon taxpayers nothing,” Ashauer said.
Dave Davis approved of the idea, stating that the treatment plant, when completed, will easily handle the Shiloh waste.
“The plant will be able to treat 3 million gallons of waste. It is projected that Shiloh’s capacity of waste flowing to the plant will be one-tenth what the plant can treat,” Davis said.
Davis added that the average load from O’Fallon will be 800,000 gallons. While speaking of the regionalism idea, Horton hinted that the city is still trying to negotiate with the Caseyville Sanitary Sewer District to work out a plan whereby Caseyville would treat the waste produced in the area around Carbon Hill and north of Interstate 64.
Davis said the rate for Shiloh would probably be based on operation-maintenance cost.
Shiloh will pay their share on a 1000-gallon rate and will probably be a flat rate instead of a progressive scale rate.
In other action, the council approved a raise for the city’s auditor, R. Gordon Laughlin. His pay will rise from $1,610 per year to $2,800.
The council also heard a report from Alderman Ralph Thomas on the state fire marshal’s visit to the Marie Schaefer School building that the city is studying for possible purchase.
A new fire escape would have to be built on the outside of the building since the old one is in poor condition. (This was the old West Grade building on West Fifth Street, between Cherry and Oak.
The city didn’t buy it and it was ultimately torn down in 1977.) The city will also take bids on a tractor backhoe for the street department.
Bids for the backhoe will be opened March 18 at 11 a.m. at City Hall.
