Terre Haute’s Notorious Red Light District


Book Description

The author of Hidden History of Terre Haute and Wicked Terre Haute explores the home of sin in the Sin City. Home to uproarious saloons, swindling gambling dens, and thriving brothels, Terre Haute's infamous West End was so wild the Chicago Tribunecalled it "the scene of a hundred all night carousings." Pimps, pickpockets, and conmen roamed the crowded streets where legendary Madam Edith Brown's pleasure palace was the crown jewel of brothels. Yet more than a mere den in inequity, the West End was also a community that could put bickering differences aside and pull together to help their neighbors. And it wasn't only a place for seedy enterprise, but also a place for stores, cafes, and homes. Historian Tim Crumrin presents the first complete history of this legendary area and separates myth from reality to reveal the very human side of the West End.




The Terror of Terre Haute


Book Description

This is a true story of sweat and sacrifice, of triumph over adversity. Professional boxer Bud Taylor became a star in the Golden Age of Sports, when Americans worshipped their sports heroes, and the popularity of boxing ranked second only to baseball. Known as "The Terre Haute Terror," Taylor hit hard and trained hard in passionate pursuit of the world bantamweight title. His obstacles were plenty: the physical, from injuries such as battered hands and broken noses; the emotional: the anguish of watching two men die from his blows; and the practical: a champion who eluded him, wanting no part of The Terror. His story is told from the ringsides, dressing rooms and gymnasiums of the boxer's travels. Meet the fight game's quirky characters, follow the money, marvel at the media frenzy and enjoy anecdotes about the people and places of the 1920s in a first-ever biography of Taylor. The book is part biography and part history lesson of the times, written in the entertaining style of a former sportswriter who became an award-winning investigative news reporter. It is foremost a book about boxing, but it is also about the glitzy, glamorous 1920s, when Americans cherished their diversions-fashion, jazz, auto-mobiles, and above all, sports. This is a story of an underdog, who grew up poor but ideally equipped for his career with the tools of self-discipline and perseverance, who rode the backing of his beloved hometown supporters to the pinnacle of his profession. Along the way, Taylor's reputation for fighting through injuries and his never-quit attitude notched him a reputation as a great boxing ticket, and his show-stopping performances earned him a great fan following in such cities as Chicago and Los Angeles. Taylor was a paradox in many ways: A ferocious predator inside the ring but vulnerable and compassionate outside; So self-focused on a career goal that he trained obsessively, yet generously giving of his time to community causes; A model of fitness and frugality during his fight career who ultimately wound up obese and broke. Bud Taylor fought 166 pro fights in 11 years, an average of about one every three weeks. His classic battles with Tony Canzoneri, Jimmy McLarnin, Pancho Villa and Pal Moore, among others, are recounted. Like many success stories, Taylor surrounded himself with talent: first-rate trainers Jack Blackburn and Barney Furey; his loyal manager, Eddie Long; and the friendship and tutelage of talented boxers of the times-champions Tommy Gibbons, Sammy Mandell, and others. A basher with either fist, Taylor's blows killed two men, ended a third man's career and left others unconscious for tense moments. He was left with the task of reconciling the deaths before he destroyed himself from self-guilt. JOHN D. WRIGHT lives in Terre Haute, Indiana. He has a master's degree from Indiana State University and has worked on the staff of the Terre Haute Tribune-Star newspaper for more than 20 years. As a longtime reporter, he covered news and sports in the Wabash Valley ranging from high-school basketball to murder trials. Among his awards is a state Society of Professional Journalists 1992 first-place award for investigative reporting; and a Hoosier State Press Association 1994 first place for deadline reporting after witnessing in person the execution of mass murderer John Wayne Gacy.Wright's interest in boxing dates from his childhood; his father, "Ren"Wright, boxed amateur bouts out of Sullivan, Indiana, from 1949 to 1951, and often talked about "Bud" Taylor. Wright also knows about one-on-one sports - he is a USPTA-certified tennis instructor and frequently a nationally ranked player in his age division.




Wicked Terre Haute


Book Description

Join local historian Tim Crumrin as he reveals the blackguards, rogues and swindlers of Terre Haute's rough and rowdy past. For more than a century, Terre Haute earned its reputation as a sin city. One of the most notorious red-light districts in the Midwest, the West End, housed sixty brothels and nearly one thousand prostitutes at its height in the 1920s. Across this sordid scene strode the stylish and indomitable Edith Brown, the city's most famous madam. When Prohibition made the city bootlegger central, violence erupted as rival gangs vied for turf. Gamblers flooded in from all corners of the country, making Terre Haute's Wire Room second only to Las Vegas. Through it all, corrupt politicians like Mayor Donn Roberts profited handsomely from grift and deception.




Terre Haute


Book Description

From the days of French explorers and the establishment of Fort Harrison in 1811 to the rise of the "Pittsburgh of the West" and beyond, Terre Haute's history is a study in paradox. Home to prominent schools, railroads, and distilleries as well as social reformers, national figures, and corrupt politicians, the city that grew up along the Wabash suffered devastating setbacks but also soared to spectacular achievements.




Terre Haute's Notorious Red Light District


Book Description

The author of Hidden History of Terre Haute and Wicked Terre Haute explores the home of sin in the Sin City. Home to uproarious saloons, swindling gambling dens, and thriving brothels, Terre Haute's infamous West End was so wild the Chicago Tribunecalled it the scene of a hundred all night carousings. Pimps, pickpockets, and conmen roamed the crowded streets where legendary Madam Edith Brown's pleasure palace was the crown jewel of brothels. Yet more than a mere den in inequity, the West End was also a community that could put bickering differences aside and pull together to help their neighbors. And it wasn't only a place for seedy enterprise, but also a place for stores, cafes, and homes. Historian Tim Crumrin presents the first complete history of this legendary area and separates myth from reality to reveal the very human side of the West End.




The American Issue


Book Description




Echoes of Distant Thunder


Book Description

The author draws vigorous portraits of the era's leading figures, including Woodrow Wilson, the cerebral president; Teddy Roosevelt, the saber-rattling ex-president; Henry Cabot Lodge and Robert LaFollette, bitter Senate foes, the former favoring intervention, the latter never wavering from his conviction that the war was anathema; and many others. Ellis also focuses on working people and the growing labor movement that led to vicious confrontations such as the deadly massacre at John D. Rockefeller's Ludlow mine in Colorado.




Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups


Book Description

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Examines terrorists¿ involvement in a variety of crimes ranging from motor vehicle violations, immigration fraud, and mfg. illegal firearms to counterfeiting, armed bank robbery, and smuggling weapons of mass destruction. There are 3 parts: (1) Compares the criminality of internat. jihad groups with domestic right-wing groups. (2) Six case studies of crimes includes trial transcripts, official reports, previous scholarship, and interviews with law enforce. officials and former terrorists are used to explore skills that made crimes possible; or events and lack of skill that the prevented crimes. Includes brief bio. of the terrorists along with descriptions of their org., strategies, and plots. (3) Analysis of the themes in closing arguments of the transcripts in Part 2. Illus.




Naked in the Woods


Book Description

In 1970, Margaret Grundstein abandoned her graduate degree at Yale and followed her husband to a commune in the backwoods of Oregon. Together with ten friends and an ever-changing mix of strangers, they began to build their vision of utopia. Naked in the Woods chronicles Grundstein's shift from reluctant hippie to committed utopian. Grundstein, (whose husband left, seduced by "freer love") faced tough choices. Could she make it as a single woman in man's country? Did she still want to? Although she reveled in the shared transcendence of communal life, disillusionment slowly eroded the dream. Brotherhood frayed when food became scarce. Rifts formed over land ownership. Dogma and reality clashed. Many people, baby boomers and millennials alike, have romantic notions about the 1960s and 70s. Grundstein's vivid account offers an unflinching, authentic portrait of this iconic and often misreported time in American history. Accompanied by a collection of distinctive photographs she took at the time, Naked in the Woods draws readers into a period of convulsive social change and raises timeless questions: how far must we venture to find the meaning we seek, and is it ever far out enough to escape our ingrained human nature?




Baring the Iron Hand


Book Description

During antebellum wars the Regular Army preserved the peace, suppressed the Indians, and bore the brunt of the fighting. The Civil War, however, brought an influx of volunteers who overwhelmed the number of army Regulars, forcing a clash between traditional military discipline and the expectations of citizens. Baring the Iron Hand provides an extraordinarily in-depth examination of this internal conflict and the issue of discipline in the Union Army. Ramold tells the story of the volunteers, who, unaccustomed to such military necessities as obeying officers, accepting punishment, and suppressing individuality, rebelled at the traditional discipline expected by the standing army. Unwilling to fully surrender their perceived rights as American citizens, soldiers both openly and covertly defied the rules. They challenged the right of their officers to lead them and established their own policies on military offenses, proper conduct, and battlefield behavior. Citizen soldiers also denied the army the right to punish them for offenses like desertion, insubordination, and mutiny that had no counterpart in civilian life. Ramold demonstrates that the clash between Regulars and volunteers caused a reinterpretation of the traditional expectations of discipline. The officers of the Regular Army had to contend with independent-minded soldiers who resisted the spit-and-polish discipline that made the army so efficient, but also alienated the volunteers' sense of individuality and manhood. Unable to prosecute the vast number of soldiers who committed offenses, professional officers reached a form of populist accommodation with their volunteer soldiers. Unable to eradicate or prevent certain offenses, the army tried simply to manage them or to just ignore them. Instead of applying traditionally harsh punishments for specific crimes as they had done in the antebellum period, the army instead mollified its men by extending amnesty, modifying sentences, and granting liberal leniency to many soldiers who otherwise deserved the harshest of penalties. Ramold's fascinating look into the lives of these misbehaving soldiers will interest both Civil War historians and enthusiasts.