Discharged by Marines

He was in the marines, won a noncommissioned officer status and then got a discharge soured by a signed confession of homosexual practices.

Billingslea met Birns June 26, when Birns lost his appeals and came as a prisoner to the workhouse. Birns was slated for a sevenmonth term for punching Patrolman Edward J. Kirk in a parking lot behind the Alhambra Grill, 10403 Euclid Avenue, Birns' slick, glass-doored tavern.

Birns began furnishing free cigars to all comers. He called his acquaintances in town-Bill Veeck, owner of the Indians, for one-to get free baseball equipment for the workhouse sports program. He got a job in the commissary department and special eating privileges. He ranged around the grounds.

Billingslea talked numbers rackets with Birns, he testified. They discussed what would be the upshot | when Willie A. Hoge and Arthur (Little Brother) Drake were convicted of blackmailing their way into partnership with Buster Matthews, boss of the rich Goldfield policy game.