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In the early hours of Monday, May 28, 1934, two women lay in the same room in the Marion City Hospital with only a screen separating them. One of the women, a 38-year-old widow named Vesta Smith, was grievously wounded with a gunshot and would die a few hours later. The other woman, 39-year-old Bessie Myers, had been admitted after claiming she mistook bichloride of mercury – a potentially deadly poison – for aspirin.
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Finally Vesta spoke: “Well, Bessie, you almost got me.”
“Yeah, I guess I did,” replied Bessie.
Incredibly, it would soon come to light that Bessie was the person responsible for shooting Vesta earlier that night. The would-be killer and her victim were sharing the same hospital room.
“You’re coming on home”
On the previous day, Sunday, May 27, 1934, Bessie’s husband, 49-year-old Marion Steam Shovel foundry worker Charley Myers, disappeared. Bessie was certain he had gone over to Vesta Smith’s house for a tryst. Bessie suspected the two of them had been having an affair for around a year.
“I can’t stand it any longer,” Bessie wrote in a note investigators later found in the 671 Gay Street home she shared with Charlie. When he still hadn’t returned home by evening, Bessie decided to go find her husband and make him come home. This wouldn’t be the first time she’d gone to Vesta’s house to fetch her husband, but it would be the last time.
When Bessie arrived at Vesta’s house at 728 North State Street, Vesta’s 25-year-old daughter, Kleah, met her at the door and told her Charley wasn’t there. Ignoring her, Bessie pushed past Kleah and walked into the house to confront both Vesta and Charlie. Kleah, wanting to avoid an ugly confrontation, stepped out onto the front porch.
A few moments later, Kleah heard gunshots and rushed back into the house to find her mom on the floor and Bessie holding a gun. “Did you shoot my mother?” she asked Bessie, who then threatened to shoot her as well. Kleah fled the scene to get help.
Charlie stooped to lift Vesta’s prone body up off the floor and asked Bessie to fetch Vesta a glass of water. Bessie, still furious, grabbed a nearby bucket of water and threw it on Vesta.
Although Bessie had fired three shots, only one actually struck Vesta. The bullet entered just below her breastbone, passing through her stomach, kidney and liver before exiting her right hip.
In a panic, Charley and Bessie fled the scene in the direction of the fairgrounds. It was in this area that Bessie threw the gun away. (Although a search was made for the .38 caliber revolver later, police were unable to recover it before the trial.)
The couple then made their way to East Fairground Street and began walking west. As they reached North Main Street, Bessie told Charley she had taken bichloride of mercury and was starting to feel ill. Her husband persuaded a pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church to call a taxi for them, and they rushed to the hospital.
As Vesta was being treated at the hospital, police began searching for Bessie. They even sat outside of the Myers’ home that night hoping that Bessie might return. It must have been quite a shock, then, to the investigators questioning Vesta about where she thought Bessie might be when they heard the woman in the next bed over say, “Why, here I am.”
Bessie later made a sworn statement to Marion County Prosecuting Attorney Russell Wilhelm in which she readily admitted to shooting Vesta.
First Degree Murder
Unsurprisingly, Bessie Myers was immediately charged with first degree murder.
Charley Meyers, apparently deciding to stand by Bessie, hired Grant Mouser and Grant Mouser Junior, a father and son team of lawyers, to defend Bessie.
With her husband at her side, Bessie Myers was arraigned on June 6th and plead not guilty. She was held without bail in the county jail.
On June 21, 1934, a grand jury was convened and, in what must have been a disappointment to the prosecution, indicted Bessie on a reduced charge of manslaughter rather than first degree murder.
On June 27, 1934, The Marion Star reported that the trial date had been set for July 24th. In the meantime, Bessie would be out on bail. Her legal team was preparing a defense that argued the shooting was self-defense and therefore justifiable.
The Trial
When the trial started, the Star reported that around two hundred people sat packed in the gallery. In fact, seats in the courtroom were in such high demand during the trial that many observers refused to leave them, even during breaks, for fear of losing them.
The first witness for the prosecution was Vesta’s daughter, Kleah. She testified that while Charlie Myers visited her mom frequently, the visits were social rather than romantic. Vesta, she said, made and sold beer for a living, and Charlie would stop by to buy beer and have a few drinks with her. She claimed she never saw the two of them embrace.
Kleah did, however, admit she knew Bessie was deeply unhappy about her mom’s relationship with Charley. She related one memorable incident where she and Vesta drove over to the Myers’ house. After pulling up in front of the house, Vesta called out for Charley who soon emerged and jumped in the car to go for a ride with them. When the threesome returned, Bessie came out of the house with a gun and fired a shot into the ground, warning Vesta to leave her husband alone.
After Kleah, the state only called two other witnesses: the Marion County coroner and the Marion City Police night captain who was on duty when the shooting occurred.
By contrast, the defense called nineteen witnesses, most of them character witnesses describing Vesta’s reputation as “bad” and Bessie’s reputation as “good.” The last two witnesses were the Myers themselves.
Charley Meyers took the stand on the last day of the trial. Frustratingly, The Marion Star provided only a cursory summary of his testimony:
Charles Myers testified…regarding his relations with the late Mrs. Smith and told of frequent visits to her home. He was on the stand for more than an hour.
Bessie was the last witness in the trial. She did not dispute many of the crucial facts. Yes, she had taken a loaded revolver to Vesta’s house. Yes, she had pushed her way into the house to find her husband. Yes, she had shot Vesta.
However, her testimony also provided jurors with some insight into both her state of mind and, critically, how she could claim self-defense for shooting a woman in her own home.
Over the previous year, Bessie explained, she had gone to Vesta’s house on a number of occasions to get Charley and bring him back home – incidents that caused her “mental grief over her husband’s conduct.”
She took the gun, she claimed, because she was afraid of Vesta, who had a reputation as a “fighter.” Bessie never intended on using it. In fact, she even reiterated Kleah’s earlier testimony about pulling a gun on Vesta. It seems Bessie wanted to emphasize she’d had the opportunity to shoot Vesta before but hadn’t.
Bessie testified that when she went to the kitchen that night, Vesta had backed up to a table where some knives were lying. Vesta had then approached Bessie with her hand behind her back saying, “If you value your life, get out.” Bessie then claimed she had fired the first two shots into the floor as a warning before firing the third shot directly at Vesta.
Verdict
On the afternoon of July 27th, the state and the defense made their final arguments, and that afternoon the jury convened to decide Bessie Myers’ fate. One hour and ten minutes later, the jury of 12 men returned their verdict: not guilty.
Throughout the trial, Charley had stood by Bessie’s side, and when it was over, the Star reported that the two of them returned to their Gay Street home together. Whether they lived happily ever after is unknown.
Sources:
The Marion Star, May 28, 1934
The Marion Star, May 2, 1934
The Marion Star, June 1, 1934
The Marion Star, June 6, 1934
The Marion Star, June 21, 1934
The Marion Star, June 27, 1934
The Marion Star, July 24, 1934
The Marion Star, July 25, 1934
The Marion Star, July 26, 1934
The Marion Star, July 27, 1934
The Marion Star, July 28, 1934
https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/coffins-in-a-bottle
Illinois is in the process of changing the laws surrounding gambling in the state, both on and offline.
While online casinos are still deemed illegal in the state, online sportsbooks have just started operating on mobile and desktop devices. If online sports betting does well for the state'seconomy, there is huge potential to expand online gambling in IL.
There are different ways you can gamble in the state offline, including racetracks and river casino boats.
The new bill that was introduced in 2019 permitted land-based casinos to start operating in specific areas in IL, however, none have been able to open their doors just yet. This is due to thedelay caused by the Illinois Gaming Board who has yet to give a response to the riverboats that have applied for the license.
The vetting process has now taken a year, with the IGB expected to make a decision in the next few weeks. There are currently nine casino applicants.
Read more about the gambling laws in IL, the current status of land-based casinos, and when you can expect to be playing at an IL online casino, in our guide below.
Illinois Online Casinos
Although Illinois has a long tradition with some great riverboat casinos and a long history with gambling, it has not legalized online casinos just yet. There have been discussions oflegalizing online casinos, but it has not yet been approved by the senate.
A bill that was introduced in 2019 did legalize online sports betting and saw FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetRivers launch online sportsbooks in the state. It also allowed riverboat casinosto start applying for licenses to operate on land. But we'll get into that later.
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For now, if you want to play at an online casino, you'll need to take a trip up to nearby Michigan.
But, you can still register with a legal online casino while you're in Illinois. That means you can get the casino's bonus offers or deposit, and then play whenever you're in stateswhere it's legal.
Land-Based Casinos in Illinois
Unlike Mississippi casinos, not all of the casinos in Illinois are open 24 hours, and Illinois casino laws limit the number of gaming licenses to 10. Up until2019, all casinos in IL had to operate as a riverboat casino.
Now, riverboat casinos are in the process of purchasing licenses to be able to operate on land.
There are five casinos in Illinois near Chicago, two casinos towards the center of the state, and three casinos in southern Illinois.
See our Chicago casinos section for more details on the five properties, as well as details on some casinos in Indiana that are within a short drive of Chicago.
All casinos in Illinois are non-smoking and, unless otherwise noted, all offer slots, video poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, and three-card poker.
Some Illinois casinos also offer: let it ride, baccarat, mini-baccarat, poker, Ultimate Texas hold 'em, Caribbean stud poker, Mississippi stud, pai gow poker, and four card poker.
The payback percentages on electronic gaming machines at all Illinois casinos are released as a matter of public record. Just click here to see a list of slot machine payback statistics for all Illinois casinos.
Types of Casinos in Illinois
There are two types of casino in IL; riverboats and pari-mutuel. While riverboat casinos are in the middle of a lengthy process trying to obtain a license to operate as a land-basedcasino, pari-mutuel betting has started to fade into the background.
There have been proposals on bringing slot games into the racetracks, however, have continuously been turned down.
Riverboat Casinos
All of the casinos in Illinois are riverboat casinos. Illinois was the second state to legalize riverboat gambling and the boats began operating in September 1991 with the launching of thefirst boat: the Alton Belle.
Seven of the riverboat casinos in Illinois are either on boats or on docked barges. These Illinois casinos remain dockside and do not cruise. The other three casinos: Rivers in DesPlaines, Jumer's in Rock Island, and the Casino Queen in East. St. Louis, are all land-based casinos.
Interestingly, however, they all qualify as being riverboat casinos because they are all built over a shallow pit filled with a few inches of water.
Pari-mutuel Casinos
Horse racing has been extremely popular in IL, especially in the 1930s to 80s. Unfortunately, the industry doesn't have nearly as close to as big of a turnout at the tracks today.
Still, there are three major horse tracks in Illinois:
- Fairmount Park - Collinsville
- Arlington Park - Arlington Heights
- Hawthorne Race Course - Cicero
All three tracks offer thoroughbred racing and stream every race to viewers across the United States.
Dog racing is illegal in the state of Illinois.
List of Land-Based Casinos in Illinois
Ameristar East Chicago
- 777 Aldis Ave, East Chicago, IN 46312
- 1 (219) 378-3000
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Caribbean Stud Poker, Spanish 21, Baccarat, Mini-Baccarat, Pai Gow Poker, Three Card Poker, Let It Ride, Mississippi Stud, Poker
Argosy Casino Alton
- 1 Piasa St, Alton, IL 62002
- 1 (618) 474-7500
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Three-Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold 'em
Blue Chip Casino & Hotel
- 777 Blue Chip Dr, Michigan City, IN 46360
- 1 (219) 879-7711
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Caribbean Stud Poker, Three Card Poker, Mississippi Stud, Ultimate Texas Hold 'em, Poker
Casino Queen
- 200 S Front St, East St Louis, IL 62201
- 1 (618) 874-5000
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em
Grand Victoria Casino Elgin
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- 250 S Grove Ave, Elgin, IL 60120
- 1 (847) 468-7000
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Poker, Three-Card Poker, Mini-Baccarat, Poker
Harrah's Joliet
- 151 N Joliet St, Joliet, IL 60432
- 1 (815) 740-7800
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Three Card Poker, Mini-Baccarat, Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, Mississippi Stud, Poker
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Harrah's Metropolis
- 100 E Front St, Metropolis, IL 62960
- 1 (618) 524-2628
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Three-Card Poker, Mini-Baccarat, Let It Ride, Mississippi Stud
Hollywood Casino Aurora
- 1 W New York St, Aurora, IL 60506
- 1 (630) 801-7000
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Three-Card Poker, Mini-Baccarat, Mississippi Stud, Poker
Hollywood Casino Joliet
- 777 Hollywood Blvd, Joliet, IL 60436
- 1 (815) 744-9400
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Poker, Three-Card Poker, Mini-Baccarat, Mississippi Stud
Horseshoe Casino Hammond
- 777 Casino Center Dr, Hammond, IN 46320
- 1 (219) 473-7000
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Caribbean Stud Poker, Mini-Baccarat, Three Card Poker, Let it Ride, Poker, Big Six Wheel, Pai Gow, Baccarat, Mississippis Stud
Jumer's Casino & Hotel
- 777 Jumer Dr, Rock Island, IL 61201, United States
- 1 (309) 756-4600
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Three-Card Poker, Mississippi Stud, Poker
Majestic Star Casino & Hotel
- 1 Buffington Harbor Dr, Gary, IN 46406
- 1 (219) 977-7777
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Caribbean Stud Poker, Spanish 21, Baccarat, Mini-Baccarat, Big 6 Wheel, Pai Gow Poker, Three Card Poker, Let It Ride, Poker,Mississippi Stud
Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino
- 21 Blackjack Blvd, East Peoria, IL 61611
- 1 (309) 698-7711
- Games Offered: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Mini-Baccarat, Caribbean Stud Poker, Three-Card Poker, Let It Ride, Mississippi Stud, Poker, Big Six Wheel
Rivers Casino - Des Plaines
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- 3000 S River Rd, Des Plaines, IL 60018
- 1 (847) 795-0777
- Games: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Mini-Baccarat, Baccarat, Caribbean Stud Poker, Three Card Poker, Pai Gow Poker, Spanish 21, Texas Hold'em Bonus, Mississippi Stud