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CHICAGO ..

HOW'S THAT SONG GO AGAIN? The Gay Bar Raid

About 1 A.M. Saturday, April 25, 1964, Cook County Sheriff Ogilvie's officers raided Louie's Fun Lounge, 2336 N. Mannheim Rd., Leyden Township, fulfilling one of the Sheriff's campaign pledges made when he was running for office. The officers claimed to find narcotics and arrested all 108 persons in the bar, including 6 women, the bartenders and the owner-operator Louis Gauger. The cused" were held until 11 A.M. the next morning when they were released on 10 and 25 dollar bonds and told to appear in court on May 15th. Newspaper reporters and photographers were allowed to violate the privacy and civil rights of the accused and to treat them as "convicted."

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Some of those arrested who were teachers proved that they still had a lot to learn by cooperating with the police under the belief that they would be quietly released to avoid publicity. Naturally the opposite happened and the teachers became the "whipping boys" and had their names, addresses, occupations and almost their pictures on the front page of the 4 newspapers in Chicago in what has

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been called "conviction by publicity."

The newspapers played up the asserted discovery of narcotics and the fact that the bar was a known hang-out for sex deviates. The actual charge, which wouldn't have been so interesting or sell as many newspapers, was "disorderly conduct."

On May 15th those accused appeared in Judge Wayne Olson's court in Oak Park Branch of Circuit Court. Deputy Sheriff John Chakonis was the only witness called. He said he and other officers walked into the lounge at 1:30 A.M. on April 25th and that he saw couples dancing and embracing, but he could not identify them. With that Lawrence Genesen, assistant state's attorney rested the prosecution.

"You rest?" Judge Olson asked. "You have to do something to get tired before you rest." He then dismissed the charges against all the defendants except the alleged owner and the bartenders.

The owner and the bartenders are scheduled to be tried on June 26, 1964.

One of the accused had been brought in from an an adjoining building, where he lived, and did not in any way participate in any-

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