Henderson history: Tropical tree on riverfront entrance led to teenage gang’s stash
Custodian James Shoutz walked into The Gleaner’s office 75 years ago holding a leaf that measured 30 by 30 inches.
It came from what was probably a banana tree growing inside the Imperial Tobacco Co. building on the Henderson riverfront. A gang of teenage hoodlums used the tree to access their stash of stolen goods before they ended their crime spree in a submachine gun shootout with local police.
I’m relying on Francele Armstrong’s Gleaner column of Sept. 27, 1947, to tell you about this tree, which grew in the courtyard of the Imperial factory at Third and Water streets. It could not be seen from the street.
Publisher Leigh Harris and his wife Jane followed the custodian back to the tobacco factory because they wanted to see the tree for themselves. “What they saw there led to a trip by this writer,” Armstrong wrote.
The tree had already been growing there when the Imperial company bought the factory from the William Clark & Son Co. March 3, 1903. The courtyard originally had a wooden staircase leading to the second floor, but by the 1940s it had become unsafe.
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The courtyard “opens to the street by a narrow fence and gate, now kept locked,” Armstrong wrote. The tree was cut down about the same time the gate was locked. That was done at the request of the Henderson Police Department because “Henderson’s group of juveniles, who later shot it out with police on the riverfront, were using the deserted courtyard and the tropical tree as a means to ‘disappear’ stolen goods. By climbing the tree they could keep their loot on the roof of the Imperial factory.”
Four teenagers who had stolen five submachine guns from the National Guard armory had a riverbank shoot-out with the police Feb. 25, 1946, resulting in the death of 15-year-old Bobby Williams, who went down still blasting away with his Tommy gun.
His three companions – Benjamin F. Grossman, 16; Sam Nunn Jr., 18; and Leroy Robbins, 18 – continued shooting at law enforcement officers as they made their way south along the river’s edge. They were arrested without resistance at 12th Street.
A half-dozen other members of the gang were arrested later. The harshest sentences were seven and eight years in federal prison for the adults.
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The boys under 17 were sent for three years to the Justice Department’s National Training School for Boys, the federal reform school in Washington, D.C.
“Since that time the company has cut the tree back to the ground (periodically) … but it still grows up again, tall and strong, to the top of its man-made brick chasm,” Armstrong wrote.
“They don’t know what makes it grow, nor what causes its leaves to grow so large. They are larger than those on the sister trees” at 240 Third St. and 304 S. Main St.
I suspect it grew so fast because it was a banana tree. Andy Rideout, Henderson County extension agent for horticulture, tends to agree. “It might be possible, surrounded by brick walls, that a tropical tree would survive,” he said. “They (banana trees) typically won’t survive the winters here but depending on conditions in a micro-environment … maybe. They do grow back easily after they are cut down.”
They can reach their full height of 20 to 40 feet within nine months of being cut down.
100 YEARS AGO
The Gleaner of Sept. 26, 1922, reported that a committee of the Chamber of Commerce had met with the Henderson City Commission to discuss plans for a new system of streetlights. That project was significant, not only because those lights lasted until 1954, but also because our current streetlights are modeled after them.
The chamber committee was made up of Secretary Vance Evans, B.B. Mann and C.A. Katterjohn. No decisions were made in that initial meeting, but it laid the groundwork for what came later.
The initial plan was to install the lights all the way out Second Street – much like they are currently installed – although the plan then was to run them up the center of the street where the streetcar tracks were being taken out instead of along the sides. Cost considerations apparently kept that from happening.
The Gleaner of Oct. 18 reported that plans had been solidified and the lights were expected to be in place by Christmas. That was more than a little optimistic.
But the chamber agreed to help raise a sizable contribution from merchants and citizens who stood to benefit from the lights. The plan was to erect eight lights to the block on Main, Green and Second streets. Other areas would get half that many.
The Gleaner of Nov. 5 reported that the block of Main Street between First and Washington had been added “and it is hoped to extend the lights to the (railroad) bridge, if possible, but unless subscriptions are secured the last standard will be placed on the corner (of Third Street) by the Elks Home.
“The fund with the additional blocks must total approximately $6,000, or about $800 more than has been subscribed to date.”
The Gleaner of Nov. 21 noted W.F. Grasty, who had a drug store at First and Elm streets, had garnered the support of Mayor Clay Hall to also extend streetlights up First Street. (Minutes of the city commission from Oct. 13, 1924, show it authorized lights on First between Main and Green streets and on Elm between First and Second.)
Construction work didn’t begin until March 28, 1923, according to The Gleaner of the following day. Electricity was to be provided through buried cables, which were being installed before the streets were paved.
L.P. Hite, superintendent of the city’s power system, said the initial installation was considerably smaller than what had been originally envisioned. The new plan covered Second Street from Ingram to the river and Main Street between Third and Washington.
“These two lines will cover the most important part of the business sections and will illuminate that portion of the downtown streets where traffic is heaviest, and at the same time attract attention to the progressive spirit of the city administration and supporters.”
Henderson’s streetlights date back to about 1867. The first set of lights were one of the main purposes for developing Henderson’s gas system, and construction of the gas works was authorized in 1859. It is one of the nation’s oldest municipal gas systems. That first gas system didn’t really work until the gas works were rebuilt in 1867, according to E.L. Starling’s History of Henderson County.
Those gas lamps were replaced in 1884. Here is an item that appeared in the Sept. 16, 1884, issue of the Henderson Reporter:
“The new streetlights are certainly an improvement upon the old ones. They look better and handsomer and throw out a more brilliant light and throw it farther than the old ones did.”
The city’s third set of streetlights were lit up when the city’s first electric power plant was activated Aug. 15, 1896. Those arc lamps served until they were replaced by the fourth system installed beginning in 1923. Those are the lights that the current streetlights replicate.
A new set of mercury vapor lamps was turned on Sept. 3, 1954, and a huge community celebration accompanied activation of the fifth set of streetlights.
Henderson’s sixth and most recent set of downtown streetlights were installed beginning in the spring of 2001.
50 YEARS AGO
Kentucky’s five-percent sales tax on food items was lifted Oct. 1, 1972, according to that day’s edition of The Gleaner.
“Nunn took it away and we’re giving it back,” Gov. Wendell Ford said in a press conference in Lexington where he and state Sen. Walter “Dee” Huddleston hurled $2 worth of nickels into the audience. Ford’s predecessor, Louie B. Nunn, had raised the sales tax from three percent to five percent, which gave rise to the term “Nunn’s nickel.”
The sales tax is now six percent; it still does not apply to most grocery items.
25 YEARS AGO
Maralea Arnett, who was a leader in the creation of the Henderson County Public Library District and whose “Annals and Scandals” history book told much of Henderson County’s history between 1775 and 1975, died at Medco Nursing Home Sept. 23, 1997, according to The Gleaner of two days later.
“She was a person who was devoted to education and learning and libraries,” said Library Director Don Wathen. “She gave a lot to Henderson County as a teacher and as a librarian.
“There was a time in the middle 1970s when she campaigned and worked diligently to aid the public library by setting it up as a countywide library district. She made a lot of enemies by doing that, but she knew it was worth the effort and persevered. She is largely responsible for the library being the way it is today.”
The Evansville Press of May 10, 1976, reported she was working hard to complete the “Annals and Scandals” book by her July 1 deadline.
Prior to writing that book, she did a brief history of the community of Dixie. She also contributed articles leading up to the community’s celebration of the Bicentennial, as well as to the special Bicentennial edition The Gleaner published.
Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at YesNews42@yahoo.com and on Twitter at @BoyettFrank.
This article originally appeared on Henderson Gleaner: Henderson history: Tropical tree on riverfront led to gang’s stash
