Jackson Jambalaya

Collection of all posts on the Gold Coast.  

It is Saturday night and that means JJ is publishing another post on the Gold Coast of Rankin County.  This week's edition covers the battle for the soul of Jackson that took place between the bootleggers and "the law".  Troops raided the Gold Coast, court dockets filled up, politicians screeched, and yet somehow, the whiskey flowed.

Prohibition was in full swing yet fell it fell afoul of the laws of supply in demand.  Too many people in Jackson wanted to have a drink and too many would-be capitalists pigs saw an opportunity to sell them booze at black market prices.  Bootleggers began operating in an area that came to be known as the Gold Coast in what was known as East Jackson several decades ago but is actually the east bank of the Pearl River in Rankin County.  Drinking, gambling, and general carousing flourished on the Gold Coast - until the law would come shut it all down.  The forty or so years of the Gold Coast's existence saw a grown-up's game of cat & mouse take place between the bootleggers and the police.  Friendly politicians got fat and happy off of the bootleggers until things got out of hand.  Public outcry would then bring in a new crop of law and order politicians who busted the bootleggers - until the pendulum swung the other way at the ballot box.

This week's batch of articles begins in 1936.  Sheriff John Law raided the Gold Coast several times that year but didn't find much contraband. It is almost as if the bootleggers were tipped off - or got the word that times were a'changing.  Law enforcement officials also tried what would be a common tactic today: civil lawsuits.  The articles also report the Governor had enough of this lawlessness that was taking place only a few blocks away from the capitol and literally sent in the troops.  What was interesting was the Lieutenant Governor refused to enforce the Governor's policy when Governor Hugh White took a trip to Texas.  He said something about not wanting to interfere with state government unless he had to do so.

However, the 1936 raids were only a precursor of things to come.  Jacksonians were a God-fearing folk and such licentiousness across the river could not be tolerated.  1937 was a very busy year on the Gold Coast as Governor White attempted to shut it all down.  The legislature even issued a $25,000 appropriation to Governor White to use for the "suppression of vice" in Rankin County.  Governor White, however, spent less than $1,000 of the appropriation on a few raids and he said that the Gold Coast problem was a "matter of local enforcement."  The Sheriff and courts attempted to pick up the slack as padlocks and injunctions became the preferred weapons but to little avail as the bootleggers always seemed to return whenever law enforcement's attention waned.  1937 ended with the Rankin County Chancellor ruling that the use of troops violated the constitutions of Mississippi and the United States.

The year ends with Jackson officials discussing the annexation of East Jackson so it could enforce the law across the river.  Irony.

There is much more history and colorful stories in the articles posted below.  Pour a drink and enjoy!