I left the Bushes with half the kids unexplored, particularly the daughters and Grover who was a hot mess most of his life. He was born in 1893, spent at least a year in a reform school in Fayetteville KY, but was with the family when they moved to Clinton in 1910.
In addition to losing his finger, he also had hernia surgery about that time. I find this all so interesting because he enlisted in the summer of 1918, in the 60th Engineers. He went to France on the Duca Degli Abruzzi. I have tried to find specifically what the 60th did in France but not been able to find out any information. I did find an excellent source for general information about the Army Engineers during WWI. They did a little of everything from laying railroad track and running factories for needed materials to building mess halls, it was a paradise for the jack of all trades. Grover served until the summer of 1919 and returned home.
When the United Stated entered the war in April 1917, there were only 3,000 enlisted engineers. By the end of the war in November, 1918, the demand for their expertise had required the services of almost 400,000 engineers. The Engineers were in charge of repairing the devastation of the war to expedite troop movements such as surveying, bridge and road repair, constructing buildings, maintaining communication lines, removal of land mines and "booby" traps, digging trenches and constructing shell, gas and splinter-proof shelters, providing clean water and constructing or removing barbed wire. They also launched gas attacks, built hospitals, barracks, mess halls, stables, target ranges, and repaired miles of train tracks. Their extensive and time consuming duties left them little time for rifle practice and drills and they were not relied upon for frontline combat, but the success of the Allied forces depended upon the support of the Engineer Corps.
It didn’t take him long to jump right back into life in Clinton. By the next year, he was eloping with an underage (16), Viola May Meeks, she was not in school but working in a laundry as an ironer. Oh, those crazy kids, Grover was 27. Viola was a hot mess herself, Grover must have seemed like a kindred spirit and his family was much closer to normal. From 1917.
VIOLA MEEKS. 16. ELOPES TUESDAY (June 8 1920) Her Marriage To Clinton Man Not Acceptable To Surprised Parents Leaving her home Tuesday morning supposedly togo to her work Miss Viola Meeks, aged 16, decided that she would add a little more romance to the world and as a result eloped to Clinton with Grover Bush. The couple were married In that city Tuesday afternoon by Justice Mary J. Phares. Parents Were Surprised. Miss Meeks is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Meeks. 1884 North Walnut Grove avenue. Her parents knew nothing of the plans of the couple and it was not until the girl failed to com home to supper Tuesday night that they knew anything was wrong. Her employer was called and it was found that she has not reported forwork Tuesday morning. Not knowing what might have happened to the girl the parents started an investigation but it was only a short time until they received a telegram from their daughter that she had been married to Bush that afternoon. Was Only 16. It was learned from the mother that the child was only 16 years of ago and could not have contracted a legal marriage without the consent of her parents. When told by the Clinton justice that she looked exceedingly young to get married the girl .replied that she was 19 and the ceremonv Drocccded. Mr. Bush ishe'son of Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Bush, of Clinton and is employed by the I. T. S. in Decatur. The couple have declared their intention of living in Decatur but the parents of the girl think differently. Mr. Meeks left Tuesday night for Clinton in an attempt to bring his daughter back home. The matter will be taken up with Jesse L. Deck, state's attorney, today in an attempt to have the marriage -set aside as being illegal.
Grover was lucky, no charges were filed and they remained married until Viola passed away in 1951. They stuck with each other raising six children, two girls and four boys. It had to be love because their life was a train wreck during many of those years.
Grover and Viola moved into a little house and started their lives together but Viola’s parents had no respect for the marriage. Two months into their new lives things with Viola’s family exploded.
August 3, 1920
Mother-ln-Law) Tried to Ran His House So He Gave Her Shaking question of whether a man haa right to forcibly shake his mother- in the slang sense, but in shimmy sense--will be tried out before Justice H. C. Noble Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 11, beginning at o'clock. Mrs. Mabel Meek had her Grover Bush, arrested Tuesday morning on a charge of assault be gave bond to appear on date. Mr. Bush said that mother-in-law tried to run his house and he Just five her a good shaking.
August 4, 1920
Father-in-law Arrested. Charles Meek wai arrested Wednesday mornlng on a state warrant sworn out by W. Bush, who charges Mr. Meek with making threats to do .him bodily injury. Mr. Meek gave bond In the sum of $200 to appear before Justice Noble Aug. 13. This Is another chapter In a family quarrel. Mr. Meek Is Mr. Bush's father- in-law. A few" days ago Mr. Bush shook his mather-!n-!aw and she had him arrested for assault
I have done a lot of research and been unable to find what happened in court. It is clear whatever the disposition the problems with Viola’s family either stopped or were no longer newsworthy. In February of 1921 their son, Roy was born and life went on. In the fall of 1922, their daughter Elsie was born, Grover was working as a painter.
Viola’s father was wrong about Grover, he had a weakness for gambling, alcohol and underage girls. The new year 1924 started with Grover’s life imploding.
Viola who was not yet 20 was home with two children under three and a third one would soon be one the way. Notice it was the thirteen-year-old who knew Grover and the nineteen-year-old who didn’t. The “white mule” he was caught with was moonshine. Prohibition was in effect from January 1920 to 1933. I always associated bootleggers and moonshine with the South, both were actually everywhere and bootleggers were common.
BOOTLEGGING. In January 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment became law, banning the manufacture, transportation, importation, and sale of intoxicating liquors in the United States. ... The people who illegally made, imported, or sold alcohol during this time were called bootleggers.
It took to November to get to trial, Grover had to be out on bond part of that time because their third child was born October 8, 1924.
Grover was sentenced to one year in jail, I can’t imagine how difficult it was for Viola. Grover didn’t want to go to the prison farm, far away from family and Viola and the children, but as it turns out serving his time in the County Jail was his undoing. He shared his cell with John Stacey, a convicted murderer. Grover was a drinker, a gambler and a connoisseur of teenage girls but a murderer had to scare him, Stacy was a real criminal. Grover makes a play to get out of jail.
ARGUMENTS TODAY ON MISSING WORDS Grover Bush Asks Freedom Because Docket Notes Did Kot Include "Defendant Admonished- Today Judge J. H. McCoy will hear arguments to determine if the omission from his docket notes of the words "defendant admonished" is of such weight as to justify setting aside the sentence of- Grover Bush sent to the 'county jail for 12 months following his plea of guilty to the charge of contributing to the delinquency of a female child. Bush is a married man, the father of two children. He was indicted for statutory assault upon a girl 15 years of age. When the case was called in circuit court Bush agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor if the major charge were dismissed. That would permit him to escape the possibility of a penitentiary sentence. Bush entered a plea of guilty to the charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor female when arraigned before Judge McCoy who, after admonishing the prisoner of the possibilities of punishment, and Bush persisted in his plea, sentenced him to 12 months in jail. In making his' docket notes from which the more complete "record of the case is written.. Judge McCoy -did not note "defendant admonished." The court clerk had heard the proceedings and when writing the full record, included the. formal admonition of the judge. Attorney Fred Hamilton, representing Bush, has entered a motion to set aside the judgment on the plea because of the omission from the judge's docket of the words mentioned. If the motion is allowed. Bush escapes all punishment.
The ploy didn’t work and Grover went back to jail and his troubles really began. In the county jail men were on one floor and the women were housed on the floor above and fortunately for Stacey, there was a gap around the water pipes that ran up and down between the floors. Prisoners could hear each other talk and Stacey had discovered a young woman in the upper cell who was sympathetic to his cause. There were at least three other women in the cell and the code between Dora Smith was devised, they would light a match which was visible through the space around the pipes. Dora could read and write and Stacey could not and Grover assigned to his cell was all he needed. Notes were passed back and forth with Grover writing Stacey's notes and reading Dora's notes to Stacey. The notes were supposed to be burned or otherwise destroyed, which did not happen in every case. It was an interesting scheme to give Stacey an out of the charges he was facing.
Girl Has Confessed Bush is alleged to have aided Stacey and the Smith girl in framing the story to which the girl swore on the witness stand for the defense In the murder trial. She since has confessed that her story of being in the Rubinstein store on the morning of the murder and hearing Rubinstein ask Stacey to come back that evening he had made part payment on a sack cf shoes Stacey delivered to him. was false and that it was framed by her and Stacey through the assistance of Bush.
Handcuffed and guarded by Sheriff Underwood and Deputies Cooper and Disney. Stacey was brought into the court room after Judge Baldwin has ordered all spectators to take seats in the rear of the room. It was the condemned man's first visit outride his cell since the day he was sentenced to death and it probably will be his last trip outside the jail during his lifetime.
Answer Emphatic After some delay during which he sat composedly in the press chair he took the witness stand. Deputy Cooper loosened one handcuff that he might have one hand free, but stood behind the witness box and retained his hold on the chain attached to the hackles.
His answers to the questions of Bush's attorneys were emphatic and state’s Attorney Evans on cross-elimination, was unable to shake his testimony. After he had left the witness stand, the state's attorney read the records Stacey's conviction on the charge of murder.
Stacey made no trouble during the trips to and from the court room and proved as docile a prisoner outside his cell as within.
Women Testify Four women prisoners, all who were in the women's department on the- second floor of the county jail Just prior to Stacey's trial, testified in the trial Thursday that Bush and -Stacey had held numerous conversations with the Smith girl concerning the evidence she was to give on the witness stand.
Stacey and Bush, the only two prisoners in the men's compartment immediately below, denied the testimony of the four women almost in its entiretv. There is water pipe extending through the floor of the women's compartment down into the cell below !n which Stacey and Bush were Imprisoned prior to the trial. The hole about the pipe leaves a space of hout an inch between the pipe and the flooring and through this the women testified, it was possible for Prisoners above to see and carry on conversatlons with the prisoners below
Tells of Conversation Doris Smith, the first witness for the state, told of a conversatlon with Bush about two weeks before the Stacey trial in which she told him she as sorry for the accused man and wished she could help him. Bush, she said, told her she could help, that Stacey's attorntys had been unable to find a girl who was in the Rubinstein store when Stacey delivered the sack of -shoes on the morning of the murder. She could go on the stand and testifv that she was the girl that she entered the store Just as the town clock was striking and that she heard Rubinstein tell Stacey to return for more money that evening. Bush, she said, advised her to get the details of what she should tell on the stand from Stacey.
After that, she said, she held numerous conversations with Stacey and Bush about what she should say on the stand. Frequently. Bush would write notes for Stacey and Stacey ou!d pass them up to her through the hole about the piipe. she said. Buish assured her she would not get into trouble if she made no mistakes in her testimony. At the directions of Bush she burned the notes, she said. Through Bush and Stacey she was instructed to tell of her supposed visit to the store, of seeing a man come with a sack whch she knew to contain shoes because the. Imprint of the heels. Rubinstein. she was old to say. paid the man some money and told him to come back at 6 o'-rlock to get some more. Her testimony in the trial was to that effect.
Bush Denies Charges Leva Tavlor and Geneva Cartwrite. both colored and held for bootleggging. verified the Smith girl's testimony, adding a few details. Mrs. Taylor told of seeing one note received by the Smith girl. and of seeing her burn several others. Lucile Miller, in jail for vagrancy at the time in question, testified to the same effect. All these told their stories to the state's attorney just after the end of the Stacey trlaL
Bush was the only witness, other than Stacey. put on the stand by the defence He denied writing any notes or holding any conversation with the Smith girl concerning her testimony. On cross examination, he admitted talking to the .girls through the hole about the water pipe a number of times, but said that Stacey generally was lying down when those, conversations took place.
The girls who testified against Doris and Grover and Stacey were terrified someone would do them harm. For his part, if found guilty his 1 year in the county jail would have 1-14 added to it in a real prison. Viola and their new baby, sat with him during the trial.
Grover was sentenced on February 22, 1925. I don’t know if he appealed or what his actual sentence was, although I am sure he did time. Just based on the births of their children I assume he came home in 1931 since their fourth child Earl was born April 19, 1932. The family moved to Michigan soon after and Grover worked as a printer and later as an interior decorator in his own business. He passed away on September 27, 1988 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Next time Chester, Shirley Bush the remaining “bad” boys and the daughters.