Rankin County authorities claimed they had had enough of the free-wheeling and bootlegging Gold Coast and took steps to shut it down in January 1937. The Jackson Daily News blared "Rankin Opens Vice War With Arrests" as the grand jury issued indictments on several Gold Coast operators. The Gold Coast was an area of Rankin County that was bounded by the Pearl River and traversed by Casey Lane, Fanin Road, and Old Highway 49. Numerous juke joints, nightclubs, casinos, and other dens of iniquity populated what was known as East Jackson. It was a world of hard drinking, gambling, jukin', raunchy music, and violence.
Rankin County Sheriff T. B. Spann arrested Charlie Warren, the operator of the Silver Moon No. 2, on a Saturday night at his club. The grand jury returned fifteen indictments. The grand jury actually urged Governor White to "rid our county of these wholly unnecessary evils". The rest of the indictments were not revealed as the capiases had not yet been served by the Sheriff. The newspaper stated that if actual indictments were served and prosecutions were actually made, a "new precedent will have been set in Rankin County." The newspaper reported:
the gambling resorts of Rankin drew most of their patronage from Jackson and Hinds County and 19 of the 21 persons who obtained federal liquor licenses to sell whiskey in that county gave their mail address as Jackson, Ms."The grand jury noted that little fact and said "it appears that our county is victimized in as much as those who promote, and those who are fleeced and support these evils, are not indigenous to the county" (KF Note: Does this mean that Rankin County had a problem with Jackson crime nearly 75 years ago?)
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Other Gold Coast posts
Rankin Sheriff beaten on Gold Coast
Rankin Constable killed in Gold Coast shootout (1946)
Governor sends troops into Rankin County (1939)
5 comments:
I'm too young, 73, to know much about the 30's and 40's on the Gold Coat but even in the 50's it was the go to spot for liquor. Red Hydrick and the Muses were two of the better know distributors. As an 8 year old I took a ride with Red and several young girls down the river in a fancy wooden inboard. You didn't mess with Red he was always packing a Colt 45 and used it on more than one occasion
My grandfather owned a cabinet shop on what is now Medger Evers Blvd. I worked for him after school(Bailey Jr. High). Red was one of our best customers. We built the insides of the Gold Coast building where he dispensed his product. My Granddaddy got paid in merchandise. He used to go outside and shoot the stop sign just to let folks know not to break into his establishment. It must have worked.
Interesting bit of information to add to this article. A book was written in the mid to late seventies about Red Hydrick and his business by his daughter. I can't remember the name; but, if you can find it, it's an interesting read. Hydrick was a colorful figure.
I found the book on Ebay. It should be titled "Ode to Daddy".
Let us just say it is very and embarrassingly one sided. For example, Daddy was the best friend the blacks ever head but strangely, his attending the Woolworth sit-in to egg on the mob was somehow left out of the book.
The book is GW Big Red Hydryck by Willie Mae Bradshaw. Book is a collectors item author is deceased. Very rare
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