Word: stricklands
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Outside right Bob Strickland made it 3 to 0 at 14:15 with the first of two markers. Inside left Tom Bernheim retaliated for the varsity three-fourths of the way through the period, but Strickland scored again five minutes later...
Last month Frank C. Allen, managing editor of the States (circ. 103,583), had a bright idea. Allen had started as a reporter on the Birmingham News, had later read with interest Strickland's detailed accounts of corruption in Phenix City. As far as he knew, Strickland's face was unknown in Jefferson Parish, and after a quick phone call to News Managing Editor Vincent Townsend, Allen borrowed Strickland for a couple of weeks...
Allen's hunch was right: no one recognized Strickland. Working up to 20 hours a day, he toured bookie joints by day, gambling houses by night. His technique was simple. "You have to sit there at the bar and drink a beer or two or they'll get suspicious," he says. "I tried martinis at first, but you can't drink many of them and know what you're doing. I've got beer running out of my ears...
Nobody Tried. After establishing a sudsy rapport with the proprietors, Strickland would head for the action, which, he soon discovered, was usually near the men's room. "I'd just walk on back toward the men's room," he explains, "maybe acting a little unsteady, and then push on into the gambling room...
After ten days and nights, Strickland had the facts and figures he needed. In his five installments, Strickland documented the corruption with such facts as the addresses of 27 places where he found illegal slot machines, told where to lay bets or roll dice, and reported: "I have seen horse bets placed, and openly discussed, while a policeman sat drinking a cup of coffee almost within arm's reach of the bookie." Strickland's summation of Jefferson Parish: "A giant new octopus of organized gambling is flexing its tentacles for an even bigger grab. It is little short...