Halfway, Illinois (Little Juarez)
Halfway, (or Half Way) Illinois was a rough and very wet
It is not to be confused with another ghost town in the county by the same name,
History
One of the earliest references to the community dates to September 1916 when the circuit judge, D. T. Hartwell, issued an injunction against 31 saloons and clubs in nearby Herrin restraining them from "selling intoxicating liquors of any kind." The sheriff and his deputy (and future Prohibition Era sheriff) George Galligan served the court injunctions on establishments on the 9th. A few days later one of the Marion newspapers noted that "Herrin is again dry," and that "now
Following the onslaught of nationwide Prohibition in 1920, Halfway became an even bigger destination with joints on just about all corners.
On 7 October 1924, Birger's joint burned at Half Way, identified as 3.5 miles north of Marion. "This was one of the buildings which had been closed for a year under a government injunction and was where one room had been used for the sale of refreshments contrary to the law while the other had been prepared for a dance hall altho it had not been opened when the injunction went into effect. At that time it was reported that it was controlled by Charlie Birger. The origin of the fire is unknown. The building was of frame and it and its contents were a total loss."
In June 1925 a reporter described what was left. "For nearly a year, the lone building [Birger's joint] stood alone on the state concrete highway but nothing now remains but weeds, charred wood and broken bottles." Before the fires and the raids, "saloons, dance floors, restaurants and sleeping rooms made up the settlement." He claimed the settlement, also known as Little Juarez, was really a part of Whiteash, but it's not clear if it was actually inside the village, or just adjacent to the village which was generally farther to the east.
Notable shootings
On 3 Jun 1923, Ralph "Scrambler" Hill, Charlie "Chink" Schafer and Ezra Fowler engaged in a gunfight leaving Fowler dead and Hill wounded in the thigh and leg. According to testimony at the coroner's inquest, Hill ran a craps game in the roadhouse on the southeast corner of the crossroads. Hill, Schafer, "Tick" Gallagher and Sue Riddle operated the roadhouse. Fowler worked as a coal miner and lived with his family in nearby
Later that year on 14 November 1923,
References
External links
Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfway,_Illinois_(Little_Juarez)