From Sutton's Lusty Days

This clipping is from the March 29, 1962 issue of The Clay County News describing the razing of one of the old pool halls on the east side of the main drag, just north of the railroad tracks.

There were two brick buildings at that end of the street, two buildings that kids did not go into.

This story credits Richard Silver for building the structure in the 1880's. Silver was an early settler who owned land on the north edge of town - some of the Charlie Campbell farm if I remember right. The last of the Silver family was Cessna Silver who lived with his wife Lottie a mile north and 1 1/2 mile west of town before they moved into town and lived across the street from the school house for their last years.

The appeal of the story is the tale of Sutton's Lusty Days as told by N. G. (Gus) Bender to the newspaper editor, Roy King. Bender seems to be telling us of two houses of ill repute in Sutton at one time, one of them being in this very convenient location downtown, next to the tracks, etc. Wonder where the other one was.

The raid in the story was conducted, or at least ordered by Jacob Bender who was the father of Gus Bender. Jacob held several official positions within the government of the city of Sutton over time including that of mayor.

The story does not give more than a wide range of possible time frames for the story, but a bit more research would likely uncover more details.

So we'll add this item to the growing list of Sutton research projects... Does anyone have a festering desire for the detective field? Let us know what you found out.