At one time vote buying and vice flourished in the black belt of Evansville, Indiana which carried the name of 'Baptistown.'
The Baptistown area constituted the political 7th ward and was commonly known as 'The Bloody Seventh.' The area derived its name from the many fights that broke out in almost every black precinct in the seventh ward on election day.
That was during the days of the popular 'Blue Goose', a large two-story house which stood at the corner of Governor and Canal streets. The downstairs was a tavern without a license, where bootlegging and gambling was the order of the day.
Upstairs, prostitutes catered to the men who saw fit to purchase their services. None of this was a secret, the community, the mayor, and the police department knew what went on behind closed doors of the 'Blue Goose', known to be the hottest, the roughest, and the toughest joint in town.
During election time, the Blue Goose was a key point for the beer and hot dog buying politicians who were seeking the black vote, which during this time, made the difference.
A black man who recognized the potential of organizing the black vote became the undisputed political boss of 'Baptistown', and eventually became the political boss of the city of Evansville. His name was Ernest Tidrington, a tall, handsome, brilliant individual, who rose from an obscure school house janitor to become one of the most powerful political figures in the state of Indiana.
Born in Clarksville, Tennessee, Tidrington came to Evansville while an infant, six months old. He was educated in the local public school. His first political job was janitor at the Clark Street High School. Later, he became a deputy sheriff under Sheriff Barnes. From the sheriff's he accepted a position as rodman in the city engineer's office under Mayor Heilman.
Later Tidrington accepted a position in Washington D.C., as a clerk in the congressional library and later went to St. Louis where he worked for the Postal Department.
He decided to return to Evansville, and accepted a job as a city detective under the first Bosse administration. His next assignment was in Indianapolis where he gained a position as Assistant Head Custodian and Engineer of State Property during the administration of Governor Goodrich.
In 1921, Tidrington applied for admittance to the Vanderburgh County law bar and his case was referred to committee. When the committee filed to report in time, Judge Phil Gould admitted Tidrington to the bar. The bar association then appealed the matter and it went to the State Supreme Court where his admittance was upheld.
He sat up his office in Evansville and began practicing law and gained many black clients. He later became associated with another Evansville black attorney, Rudolph O'Hara.
Having been accepted by the bar association as a lawyer gave Tidrington more stature and more influence among blacks in Baptistown. A this point blacks began to look upon him as their leader, he accepted this and was the undisputed , 'Boss of Baptistown.'
There are three major factors which account for his rise to become the most powerful political figure in the city of Evansville and was regarded by both blacks and whites alike.
First, Tidrington was a articulate and persuasive speaker.
Secondly, he was able to raise large sums of money from the whites who had political ambitions and wanted the black votes he controlled, which spelled the difference between winning and losing, and this was a fact. Much of the money was used for the purpose of vote buying. It is believed that it was during this period that vote buying became a way of life in the black precincts and was the birth of vote buying in the city.
Thirdly, the vote buying. Vote buying during this time was no secret. Blacks were excluded from jobs and two bucks went a long way at the grocery.
It is said Tidrington could control 2,500 to 3,000 votes at will. It was reported that he could, and did, change an election picture overnight. The night before an election he had the ability to switch from one candidate to another and the one he switched to was always the winner. On one occasion, a candidate for a judgeship and Tidrington had a difference of opinion the day before an election. Apparently, he made a promise which he would not agree to keep. This angered Tidrington greatly and he
told the candidate, 'You will not be elected tomorrow', and he wasn't.
The night before the election the political magnet organized his lieutenants who went from hangout to hangout in Baptistown. They visited restaurants, pool halls, bootlegging joints and other places blacks frequented in numbers, and spread the word handed down by Boss Tidrington to switch from one Circuit Court Judge to another. The same night there was a mass meeting held in the middle of Lincoln and Governor streets with Boss Tidrington as the key speaker for the purpose of announcing that he was switching candidates. The next day his choice was the winner because of the last minute switch with votes 'in his hip pocket'.
Tidrington was described by different people in different ways. There are some who felt he was a great man and a great leader, there are others who declare he exploited the black people to further his own gains as he rose higher and higher up the political ladder. It seems that one's own assessment of facts might be the best way to evaluate what he did, or did not do, for the black people.
It is said he had the influence to get people fired from their jobs, even run out of town if they did not obey his political demands.
The end came for Big Tidrington in January of 1930 when he was killed by a black political enemy, at the age of 47, at the corner of that is now Lincoln and Governor streets.
His assailant was Luther Bell, a pool hall operator also 47 years old.
Tidrington and his wife had just left their neat bungalow on South Linwood Avenue and were driving down Lincoln Avenue when Mrs. Tidrington requested him to stop a the Ed Kraft Drug Store to get stamps to mail some letters she had written.
The Kraft Drug Store was a half block below Bell's Pool Hall. Apparently Bell saw Tidrington drive up to the drug store and stop, for he secured a 12-gauge double barrel shot gun and walked towards the parked car from the rear.
Just as Mrs. Tidrington stepped from the drugstore with a ten-cent purchase of stamps and placed her hand on the car door handle, Bell raised his shotgun and fired and Tidrington's head. The charge passed through the rear glass striking Tidrington in the head and neck.
Bell turned and walked back to his poolroom and scores of blacks rushed to Tidrington who lay slumped over the steering wheel of his car. He was lifted into the rear seat and driven to St. Mary's Hospital by Joe Kirkpatrick, who was in the drugstore at the time. Just as the car pulled away, Bell walked back to the scene and gave himself up to Officers Albert Thompkins and Arthur Bias, two black officers on duty in the Baptistown area.
Bell readily admitted the murder ro police chief Ira Wilshire. He told the chief that he and Tidrington were on the opposite sides of the political fence during a recent election. Tidrington won out and Bell stated, 'He told me he was going to run me out of town.' After the election, Tidrington carried out a threat and had Bell's pool hall raided, but nothing illegal was found. He was ordered to close his pool hall and that he would not be given a new license. Bell also stated that he was arrested on an affidavit charging him with drawing a deadly weapon on a man name Alvie Tillerson. Bell claimed that Tidrington had framed the charge against him.
Tidrington was a close friend of white republican politician Fred Ossenberg and learned much about politics from him. He was always with Ossenberg, whether in the interest of the democrats or republicans.
Because of his political power, Tidrington name whites to high positions in city government, even chiefs of the fire department and police department. Many of the major candidates realized they could not win without the Boss of Baptistown's support.
