![]() In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan supported national prohibition. A small barbecue stand just off the highway served as the guard shack.Ĭharlie Birger and the Shelton Brothers Gang fought for control of the coal fields of southern Illinois, but their attention was diverted by a common enemy. Shady Rest stood next to old Highway 13, halfway between Harrisburg and Marion. The law authorities in Saline County eventually persuaded him to leave, and he built a fortified speakeasy called Shady Rest just across the line in Williamson County. īirger initially based his operation in Harrisburg, southern Illinois. Birger recognized this as a business opportunity, and in 1920 he joined forces with the Shelton Brothers. Later became a miner in the quickly expanding coal mining community of Harrisburg, later to become a keeper at one of the local saloons.įollowing World War I, in 1919, the United States adopted national prohibition, which banned the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. However, he eventually returned to Illinois, where he met his first wife, Edna, to whom a daughter was born.īirger went on to marry multiple times, being married to Beatrice Bainbridge of Harrisburg Illinois in 1921. When he left the army, he became a cowboy. Birger was described as a good soldier and was honorably discharged on July 4, 1904, at Fort Meade, South Dakota. On July 5, 1901, Birger enlisted in the United States Army and was assigned to Company G of the newly formed 13th Cavalry Regiment, then stationed in South Dakota. ![]() Later, Birger moved to the O'Fallon, Missouri, area, where he started work in a pool room. Louis, where, aged eight, Charlie got a job as a news boy at the St. Birger was the last person to be publicly hanged in Illinois.Ĭrab Orchard, Williamson County, Illinoisīootlegging, murder, proprietor of gambling housesĬharles " Charlie" Birger (born Shachna Itzak Birger, Febru– April 19, 1928) was an American bootlegger during the Prohibition period in southern Illinois.Ĭharles Birger was born to a Jewish family in the Russian Empire, and emigrated to the United States as a child with his parents. Soldier, cowboy, miner, saloon keeper, bootlegger, criminal gang leaderīootlegging and leading the Birger Gang, who fought a bloody war with the Ku Klux Klan and the Shelton Brothers Gang over the domination of southern Illinois.
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