Tom's Town Tattler! Christmas in the Paris of the Plains!

KANSAS CITY, Christmas, 1937: The fine scribes at Siegrist Engraving Company gave us this photogravure etching of Union Station, The Power & Light Building, the new City Hall, and all the rest of Boss Tom’s Christmas presents to the people in 1937 - and what a season it was! 

Some of Tom’s “boys” are finding it tough to negotiate the recently-legal liquor trade. The police blotter reports citations given this week for selling on Sundays, for selling five percent beer in packages smaller than the original, and other misdemeanors. Joe Berbeglia, newly in business at 418 E. 10thStreet, was cited for selling spirits on a five percent beer license. These things were never a problem when Boss Tom ruled the booze scene!

Finally, it seems that new neighbor and nosey Fed, Maurice Milligan, is not satisfied with his convictions of low-level Machine workers for their unfortunate mistakes committed during the 1936 election. The U.S. Court of Appeals just upheld a dozen of Mo’s convictions of poor little Grannies who only registered a few (thousand) dead voters from local graveyards. Now Mo says, “The ruling means the decks are clear. It means American citizens have the right to vote and to have their votes counted as cast. It means that if we can prove those persons conspired to deprive persons of their rights of suffrage, we can send them to the penitentiary.” Well, merry Christmas to you too, Mo!