Showboat

Status: Closed

Parish: Calcasieu

Location: Vinton/East Orange

From http://www.orangeleader.com: “The most unique of all the clubs was the Showboat. It was an actual paddlewheel riverboat that had seen service in the Memphis, Tennessee area of the Mississippi. The ÒHarry LeeÓ was brought to Orange and docked on the left side of the highway in the ditch left from the dredging. The boat consisted of three decks, was 200 feet long and 43 feet wide. Over the years it would gain a reputation as being the roughest of the clubs. There was drinking, some prostitution, and much gambling at the Showboat. The owners wanted gamblers, but wanted them to lose. If a winner tried to leave the boat, he was usually faced by some employees who tried to intimidate him into staying until he had lost his winnings plus everything he had gone into the club with. There were a lot of fights, stabbings, some shootings and even a murder or two. The Showboat became known as a ‘bucket of blood.’ R. F. ÒBobÓ Bass was Chief of Police in Orange from December, 1942 until August, 1946. In those years he would occasionally be called about a problem. Even though he had no jurisdiction, he would go. In an interview his son, Harley, related that his dad once went to the Showboat to see about a body floating in the water. When the body was pulled out of the water and Chief Bass rolled him over, he found two bullet holes in his back. It was reported that when the water was clear enough to see the bottom from the gangway that went from shore to the boatÕs deck, that one could see literally hundreds of billfolds. It was not unusual for someone to be knocked in the head, have his billfold taken and emptied and the bill fold thrown in the water. Under somewhat strange circumstances the Harry Lee burned to the waterline. Fire trucks from Orange drove across the bridge to the burning boat but were unable to control the fire. The boat burned to the waterline. A smaller boat similar to the Harry Lee was brought in by barge and docked where the Harry Lee had been and business resumed as usual.”

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Photo Credit: Pine Grove Press