“Stick’em Up”

Craps Game Rochester, New York-Library of Congress

A well dressed man entered the Primrose Social Club located at 11 Railroad Avenue in Kingston at 1:00 in the morning on October 12, 1931. The club, which occupied the 2nd floor of the Cook Building, was for members only. William “Chuck” Connors, who was president of the Primrose stopped the man. He asked him his business. The man explained that he was looking for a high stakes craps game, and was told there was one going on inside. Conner told the man that the Primrose was for members only. After watching the man exit the building, Connors and an associate proceeded to a local café for a cup of coffee.

The man that Connors had stopped was correct. There was a craps game going on inside one of the Primrose Social Club’s rooms. By 2:00 am, eleven men stood around the craps table. According to The Kingston Daily Freeman, those present were Connors, Harry Gage, Shale Alcon. Arthur Mains, Mack Rose, Edward McDonough, Albert Partlan, Frank Calvin, Warren Miller, Thomas Dolan and Frank O’Conner.

Sometime around 3:00am, a car pulled up in front of the Cook Building with five men inside. Four men exited the car including the man who had earlier been looking for a craps game. A fifth occupant of the car remained behind the wheel with the engine idling. The men made their way up to the second floor till they came to a closed door. One of the men knocked on the door to the room where the men were engrossed in their gambling. McDonough opened the door, and was met by a gun leveled at him. The man with the gun uttered, “stick’em up!” McDonough instantly compiled, and the bandit motioned behind him saying “come on in.” Three more men appeared also holding guns.

All four made their way over to the craps table. There was between 40 and 400 dollars on the table. When later questioned by the police, none of the men could remember the exact amount. The gunmen ordered the men at the table to put their hand’s high up in the air. One of the gamblers made a sudden move. It was met with a hail of gun fire.

When the gunfire stopped, Galvin had been creased across the abdomen; Dolan and Miller were each shot through the leg. A third man,Frank O’Conner, was crumpled on the floor in a pool of blood. He had been shot once above the right eye. When the survivors ran up to O’Conner, they saw he was still breathing. One of the men in the room ran to a phone to call the police. He requested a doctor and an ambulance.

O’Conner and the other three men were rushed to Kingston Hospital where Doctors Snyder and Krom waited. Twenty minutes after the shooting, O’Conner was pronounced dead. An autopsy conducted later would reveal that the bullet had splintered his skull. The other three men were treated and released.

Chief of Police Wood stated that none of the members of the Primrose that were present could figure out why the gunmen targeted their game. The police had two theories. Their first theory was that the bandits were out for revenge on a member of the club. A second theory was that someone had tipped the gunmen off about the craps game.

Meanwhile, O’Conner, twenty-nine years old, a book keeper for a local company, and a justice of the peace for Rosendale, was driven back to Rosendale under the care of Undertaker Frank J. McCardle. Funeral services were later held at St. Peter’s Church on “Wednesday morning at 10 o’clock where a High Mass of requiem will be offered for the repose of his soul.” The four shooters who burst into the room were never found.

The City of Kingston Hospital and Nurses’ Home in Kingston, New York 1927 New York Heritage Digital Collections.