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Joe Hyland, one of New Orlean's two earliest pioneer gambling kingpins, started his career in his teens about the same time that the "Coconut King," Jack Sheehan, opened the Suburban Gardens. Chartered social clubs had a long tradition in the Crescent City, and often served as fronts for illegal gambling operations and later for illegal liquor speakeasys during prohibition. Hyland opened the Southport Inn operations at the turn of the century, just a few blocks from New Orleans city limits in Jefferson Parish, 9001 Oak, at River Road and Protection Levee. Games of chance in the "Free State of Jefferson" included roulette, craps, horse book, poker and black jack, Faro, the lottery, keno, and a bank card game called "kotch," which were openly advertised and played at Hyland's Southport. Once raided by the Louisiana National Guard in 1915, Hyland's Southport catered to an exclusive clientele, including high ranking government and law enforcement officials. Hyland brought two kid brothers, Rudy and George O'Dwyer, into the operation and taught them the business. He later sold them the club. In a January 1920 news article, The Times Picayne called Hyland's Southport a "by-product of 20 years of RING RULE in New Orleans." Hyland's Southport roulette chips are of the finest quality and are likely some of the oldest surviving chips from the new Orleans area. they are die cut with white inlays and were manufactured in four colors to make a matched, completed set - red, blue, gray, and yellow. Initials are inlaid with a highly stylized "H" on the obverse and "S" reverse. (These chips are L numbers 178, 179, 180 and 181 in Delta Night, NOLA Illegal Gambling Clubs, Checks and Chips - page 17.) |
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