All Good Things...

There isn't a lot of documentation on the Lincoln Club. However, what does exist is enough to give an idea of what people thought of the club.

The club existed for six years and obviously, it was popular. Why else would it receive the attention from the police it did? Reg Dotson was doing more than just 'ekeing' out a living with the club. This is evident in his big car and ability to impress out of town entertainers.

At this time in history, the jobs open for black men were sleeping car porter, janitor or another low- level position. Dotson was making more financially then he ever could in one of those jobs.

The papers had unexplained mentions of 'white' women being in the club. This was probably intended to add to the notoriety of the club. Remember the times frowned upon race mixing. Those reports tell us something else though. They tell us despite the Lincoln Club being known as a black club, it wasn't so racially segregated.

Then there was the annual Easter Sunday breakfast dance. This tells us the club was more than just for drinking and gambling. It has a community purpose.

Don't forget about the numerous performers who lived above or stayed at the club. This tells it was home to a vibrant musical culture. Most notably, jazz, right when the genre was coming into its own.

Vancouver's black population was tiny at the time. But the Lincoln Club linked it to a larger and more sophisticated black cultural network that travelled North America on railway lines and entertainment circuits. I think that Dotson and the club brought the whites and blacks together, if only for a little while, to enjoy great music. And perhaps see other races aren't so scary or different.

102 East Georgia was listed as vacant in a 1925 city directory. In 1935, Reg Dotson passed away.

Thanks to the Past Tense Vancouver blog for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

The Sting

When I left off Friday, I was telling you about how a man named George McLeod posed as a chief inspector for the B.C. liquor control board and visited Reg Dotson, asking for money so Dotson wouldn't have to pay a fine. Dotson wisely called the police and agreed to help Inspector Charles Tuley and his fellow officers in capturing the poser.

Dotson met with McLeod the first time in Dotson's car. Later, the two spoke on the telephone - with the police listening in - and discussed the pay off. Dotson stalled McLeod by pressing for assurances he wouldn't be fined after he paid McLeod.

McLeod arrived at Dotson's home at 102 Georgia for their final meeting. Dotson answered the door in his pyjamas, appearing as if he had just woken. McLeod came in to complete the deal and Dotson handed him $50 of marked bills supplied by the police.

Unknown to George McLeod, the police were hiding in an adjacent room listening to the conversation and watching through a peep hole. Inspectors Tuley, Sutherland and Detective Thompson burst into the room and arrested McLeod.

(Here is a newspaper article on the arrest: Vancouver Daily World)

At the police station, McLeod was told he had been a fool. According to Tuley, he replied, “I know. I wish I hadn’t. Keep this quiet and I will quit my job and leave the country,”

By the time the case went to court in the fall of 1923, McLeod had worked out his defence. He didn't argue the facts the police presented but rather explained it away. He said he wasn't really extorting money; he was trying to find out which clubs were paying off the police. Dotson testified, as did Tuley and Thompson. George McLeod was believed though and he was acquitted.

So why was McLeod believed over Dotson and the police? Many reasons may have played a factor. It may have been that the fact people believed the Vancouver Police Department was corrupt. A female juror was reprimanded by the judge for stating, before the verdict was reached, that she hoped McLeod got off because she felt it was "frame-up". An officer remarked under cross-examination the police were forced to do some things, which he didn't approve of, to secure convictions under the Liquor Act. Sometimes the informers turned out to be "rotters".

The defence council grilled Dotson about the Lincoln Club, bringing up its history of liquor law violations. Dotson stated the club had shut down in October of 1922 and was now being used as a space for black railway porters. Dotson refused to answer questions on whether 102 East Georgia was the home of an illegal gambling den. He didn't want to incriminate himself.

Thanks to the Past Tense Vancouver blog for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Scandal at the Lincoln Club

The Avenue Theatre - the building behind is where the Lincoln Club was.

Reg Dotson was a black man born in Missouri and he also ran the Lincoln Club. According to an important post WWI, African American newspaper, the Chicago Defender, Dotson hosted many entertainers passing through town.

A comedy duo, Green and Pugh, wrote the paper and said, “Reginald Dotson, who owns the finest club in Vancouver, was waiting at the pier for us in his big car, and that is the way we have been treated since leaving Chicago.” L Louis Johnson also wrote in and said, “we dined with Reggy [Dotson] at his palatial home and Oh, such a meal.” That was in 1921.

The manager of the vaudeville act Creole Fashion Revue, Joe Sheftell stated “Reggie Dotson gave a banquet last night and we had everything from soup to nuts.” ET Rogers lived at 804 Main Street in 1922. He informed the Defender t“Vancouver is still on the map … The Lincoln Club is still headquarters. It is the best club on the coast.” Also in 1922, a Defender article stated that the “Lincoln Club gave its annual breakfast dance Easter Sunday.”

Vancouver's white press didn't admire the Lincoln Club. In fact, they painted a picture of the club as nothing more than a disorderly house. Two incidents that earned Reg Dotson and his club coverage in the local papers.

The first was a police raid in December of 1919. The Vancouver World newspaper reported that “Among the colored members four white girls were found." Dotson was fined $50 plus costs for keeping a gaming house and $300 “having liquor illegally in possession” under the prohibition act. Thirty nine people at the club were fined $15 plus costs. I wonder how the presence of white women influenced this case.

The second incident was a bit more exciting. In the spring of 1923, George McLeod entered the Lincoln Club, claiming to be the chief inspector for the BC Liquor Control Board. According to Dotson, McLeod stated that Dotson could be facing a $100 fine due to bottles of unsealed liquor, which was confiscated from him.

“We don’t like to prosecute these cases,” McLeod said, “because the city gets all the money and we do all the work. The liquor board or government don’t get the fines.”

Dotson was suspicious of McLeod, especially when the man claimed the whole matter could be dropped if the club manager would pay McLeod $50. Dotson told him to come back at 8pm then called Inspector Charles Tuley of the Vancouver Police Department.

Tune in Monday to find out more about this incident. I want to thank  the Past Tense Vancouver blog for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.