Opinion: Bank robbery topped Lake Geneva scandals in the 1950s – Lake Geneva Regional News

At about the very same time that the break-in of the First National Bank took place, Lake Geneva experienced what was maybe the most significant “scandal” in its 185 year history. Due to the fact that of the delicate nature of the “scandal,” I need to be oblique in stating what the “scandal” included.

A popular Lake Geneva business owner had actually “established” a young girl (who had actually gone to school with me in Lake Geneva and was two years older than me) as a prostitute. A brief time later on, the woman's clients contracted sexually transmitted diseases. The signs were so extreme that Lake Geneva physicians lacked the knowledge to supply treatment and the men were sent out to the University of Wisconsin Madison Hospital.

As one might expect, quite a few divorces occurred due to the fact that of the “misfortune” that befell these prominent male residents of Lake Geneva. The scandal supplied locals of Lake Geneva with much to talk about for lots of months after the news of the scandal became commonly understood.

During the early 1950s, two other occasions happened that for me were unforgettable. In among the occasions, a rumor rapidly spread around the town that a gypsy caravan was going to travel through Lake Geneva. I ran down to the corner of Broad and Main streets in the nick of time to see the flashing traffic signals of a Walworth County Sheriff's vehicle coming north on Broad Street on what was then Highway 120. In those days, Highways 12, 36, 50, and 120 came together at the corner of Main and Broad streets.

After the Sheriff's cars and truck, there followed a long caravan of vehicles pulling “airstream” camper vans. It took a long time for the caravan to pass the Broad and Main street intersection, followed by another Walworth County Sheriff's vehicle with the red “gumball” light on its leading flashing.

I asked Corby Giese, a Lake Geneva cop, where the caravan was going. “I do not know,” he replied. “Probably all the way to Canada. At the Jefferson County line, Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies will take control of the escort. They will be changed by the next county Sheriff's deputies when they reach the next county's line.”

I asked Giese what takes place when the caravan shows up in Canada, and Giese quipped that it “will probably be escorted all the method to the North Pole.”

The other event also took place during the early 1950s. I was walking east on the north side of the 700 block of Main Street when all of the people on the sidewalk turned their attention to the street. I did too, to see what they were taking a look at.

A line of five black Cadillacs was driving west on Main street. As they passed where I stood, I saw that their windows were open and from their windows pointing at the crowd lining the street were fearsome-looking “tommy weapons.” The line of black Cadillacs drove gradually through the intersection of Broad and Main streets, heading west. I noticed that the Lake Geneva polices who were viewing the Cadillacs pass appeared to overlook them. I asked among the cops who the people in the Cadillacs with the “tommy guns” were. “Oh,” he responded. “They are simply mobsters from Chicago. Disregard them.”