HOT SPRINGS — Tucked at one end of Hot Springs’ popular Bathhouse Row, past all the specialty and novelty stores and historic bathhouses that put a bright, touristy shine on things, is a tribute to the seamier side of the resort town’s history.
The Gangster Museum of America is devoted to telling the story of Hot Springs from the point of view of the underworld.
What many people may not realize as they stroll down Central Avenue is that Hot Springs was a popular vacation spot for the big bosses. It was a place where they could come, relax, take in the waters and forget those pesky massacres back home - and make a little extra money on the side.
As far back as 1828, there were rough accommodations set up for visitors coming to Hot Springs forthe waters. Its namesake springs were believed to have healing and restorative powers. In 1832, it was named the Hot Springs Reservation by the federal government.
By the 1880s, gambling had started as well, drawing plenty of unscrupulous characters. It became known, as museum guide Bobby Graham says, as a “place you come to get ripped off.”
The gambling was cleaned outearly in the 20th century. Then Leo McLaughlin took charge.
A Hot Springs lawyer who turned politician, he was elected mayor in 1926 and, with the help of his friend, Municipal Judge Vern Ledgerwood, made Hot Springs ripe for gambling again. Gambling was never actually legal in Hot Springs, but with judges, highranking police and/or their relatives involved, gamblers were safe to go about their business.
The museum has a framed document showing the “occupation amusement tax” the city levied on what were supposed to be illegal slot machines.
Owney Madden, at one time second only to Al Capone when it came to organized crime, was eventually attracted to the little resort town for the healing waters.After he married local girl Agnes Demby, he decided to stay and kept his hand in a number of local “businesses.”
His old friends soon followed. Capone. Meyer Lansky. Lucky Luciano.
They may have been at war in New York or Chicago, but in Hot Springs, they lived a peaceful co-existence.
Naturally, they stuck their hands in the local pie - gambling houses and the moonshine stills in the Ouachita Mountains and at the Belvedere Dairy. Bootleg liquor was produced in Hot Springs, then shipped north, often disguised as Mountain Valley Water.
Bank robbers like Alvin “Creepy” Karpis hid out in Hot Springs, knowing they could buy the protection of local law enforcement.
The story of Arkansas’ brush with the underworldis told at the museum, where tours start with a walk through a “time tunnel.” Street sounds provide the ambience. There are doors and trick walls entering rooms decorated with photographs and clippings of the town’s infamous characters. Each room includes a video hosted by museum founder Robert Raines. Interviews with local lawyers, historians and residents fill in details.
One of the more enlightening interviews is with Eddie Attwater, former bell captain at the Arlington Hotel, who has memories of the mob bosses. Particularly amusing are the clips of former madame Maxine Harris Jones as she describes driving her new “girls” down Central Avenue as a way of advertising,or spouts off about her hatred of politicians.
The museum does not have a very large collection as of yet. Raines says the museum is constantly adding to its assemblage of photos, artifacts and stories.
There are old guns, a still found by the local sheriff’s department, slot machines (our guide handed out nickels so we could give one a try) and a gorgeously intact roulette table from Madden’s Southern Club nightclub.
The Capone room has a piano the gangster had specially built for one of his clubs and a phone booth from the Arlington, where Capone and his cronies stayed, always taking over the fourth floor. Capone stayed in Room 442.
The tour ends with one last film - a brief documentary of Raines exploring the old tunnels under Central Avenue. Legend has it the gangsters used the tunnels to get around town without being seen.
A mannequin of Capone, dapper in his white suit and holding a cigar, waits for visitors at the end. Once the tour is over, guests who want to make like Edward G. Robinson or Humphrey Bogart canhave their pictures taken with Al while holding imitation semi-automatics just like in the movies.
By the 1960s, Hot Springs was a glamorous mecca for gambling and entertainment. Performers like Eddie Fisher, Tiny Tim, Jane Powell and Frank Sinatra paid visits to The Vapors lounge. Hot Springs was, Graham said, “like Las Vegas with trees.”
But when Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller allied himself with reform groups, the writing was on the wall and the organized gambling industry was put out of business.
Despite the corruption, theimmorality and the questionable reputation the gangsters brought to Hot Springs, they were actually popular with many residents. They were celebrities. They brought attention, glamour and business, and they didn’t kill people (at least not while they were in town).
The Gangster Museum of America is at 113 Central Ave., Hot Springs. Admission is $10, $9 for ages 65 and older, $4 for children 6-12. Call (501) 318-1717 or visit tgmoa.com.
Travel, Pages 52 on 06/20/2010