The Shephard-Matthews crime syndicate, who had controlled a significant part of the city's economy for years, moved out of illegal enterprise in 1951. Stimson called Phenix "the wickedest city in America" and Major General George Patton, who was stationed at Fort Benning, proposed using his tanks to raze the city to the ground. The US Secretary of State for War Henry L. By an official army estimate some 80% of the soldiers visited Phenix City and more than half of their pay was spent there. Fort Benning was expanded during World War II and at one point housed 80,000 troops, boosting the illegal economy. ĭespite widespread illegal lotteries being exposed in the 1938 Ritz Café disaster during which 24 people were killed after a gambling house collapsed, the state governor refused to intervene. Jury selection was rigged with many deceased residents remaining on the lists if called to serve their places were taken by criminals. Many of these men were also members of the Ku Klux Klan who held an annual torchlight parade and cross-burning in the city. Criminal elements even took seats on the chamber of commerce and school and hospital boards. Elections for the county sheriff, city police commissioner, and other offices were fixed with votes being bought for up to $10 each. The three-man city commission was in league with the local crime lords who ran the liquor, gambling and prostitution rackets. The numerous gambling halls and brothels would be raided to keep up pretences but faced only fines or 30-day suspensions of their licences. In the 1930s the city authorities entered agreements with criminals to selectively enforce laws in exchange for contributions to the treasury. An attempt to curb lawlessness by merging Girard with neighbouring Phenix City failed with the new city authorities being corrupted. During the roaring twenties and under national prohibition of alcohol the criminal element in the county flourished Daniel was even re-elected as sheriff. Army opened Fort Benning, and hundreds of soldiers were soon travelling into Russell County to visit its brothels, liquor shops and gambling houses. In 1918, just across the Chattahoochee, the U.S. Martin's deputies carried out the largest liquor raid in the South at that time, disposing of 1,000,000 US gallons (3,800,000 L) of whisky into the Chattahoochee River in a single day.
A grand jury subsequently convicted the city marshal for accepting bribes, impeached Pal Daniel, the Russell County sheriff, for conspiring with criminals and forced the resignation of the mayor and board of aldermen. In 1916 the Alabama state attorney general Logan Martin intervened, sending armed deputies to the city and appointing a special prosecutor to take charge.
The state outlawed the sale of liquor in 1914 but it continued in Girard with local officials turning a blind eye. The city of Girard in Russell County, Alabama was dependent upon the liquor trade, being home to two major whiskey warehouses. After an investigation by the state's acting Attorney General, Russell County's chief deputy sheriff was convicted for the murder of Patterson, whose son, John Malcolm Patterson, was later elected Attorney General and then governor. The state of martial law was lifted on January 17, 1955.
#Martial law in the us free
By November, the national guard had restored order and helped to facilitate the first free elections in the city for decades. Hanna, took steps to disarm the citizenry and to close down gambling establishments and premises serving alcohol. The national guard, under Major General Walter J. Under the martial law proclamation, the city police department and the county sheriff's office were stood down, and their duties were assumed by the Alabama National Guard.
The county, particularly Phenix City, had become lawless, and Persons lost faith in the local law enforcement, which had been implicated in illegal gambling syndicates, political corruption, and the murder of Albert Patterson, the Democratic Party's nominee for Attorney General of Alabama. On July 22, 1954, a limited state of martial law was declared in Russell County, Alabama, by Governor Gordon Persons. Alabama Governor (1951-1955) Gordon Persons
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