Trouble Right Here in (Chariton) River City ....

Back in 1909, The Chariton Herald-Patriot accused Mayor George F. Carpenter of being soft on crime. In an attempt to prove that he wasn't, the mayor caused the following notice to be published on the front page of the Herald-Patriot's competitor --- The Leader --- in its edition of Nov. 27:

"To Whom It may Concern: Attention is called to Ordinance No. Thirty Five, 'An Ordinance regulating the keeping of Billiard Tables,' and I will endeavor to enforce the same. Geo. F. Carpenter, Mayor."

Now Chariton's older generations had been convinced since at least the 1870s that the younger generations were going to hell --- and that one of the major devices propelling young men in that direction was the public billiard table. Preachers preached against it; city councils legislated against it.

Some years later, during the early 1950s, Mason City's Meredith Willson even wrote a song about it, "Ya Got Trouble" --- "Trouble with a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for pool!"

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Mayor Carpenter's front-page notice included all of the relevant sections or Ordinance No. 35, including Section 4:

"It shall be unlawful for any person keeping a billiard table in any other place than his private residence, and who allows the same to be played upon, to permit or allow minors to play upon the same; any person violating this section shall be fined in the sum of twenty-five dollars for each offense, and stand committed until the same is paid; and any person violating this section, upon conviction thereof, without any further proceedings, all licenses or permits he shall hold to keep a billiard table or tables shall be forfeited and of no further effect, and the Mayor shall issue to such person no new license or permit to keep a billiard table or tables for the full term of one year from and after the date of said conviction."

And then there was Section 5 which declared it illegal "to permit or allow minors to be and remain in the hall, house, or building, or any place, house, or building, appurtenant thereto, where such table or tables are kept" and imposed penalties that included a $10 fine for every violation, imprisonment or hard labor on the public highways

Even the younger generation was not spared. Section 6 provided that "any person, under the age of twenty-one years, who shall have entered a public house, hall or building where a billiard table or tables are kept and allowed to be played upon, who shall refuse, fail or neglect to immediately retire from and leave said house, hall or building" should be fined $5, imprisoned or sentenced to hard labor on the public highways.

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Concern about pool tables waned during the World War I years, but sputtered on during the 1920s. And then in 1929, Carl L. Caviness American Legion Post No. 102 formed the American Legion Junior Band. And the rest is history.