Day in Court

In Newport, Ky. (pop. 31,044), just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, gambling houses and brothels have often caused trouble, so newsmen are ever on the alert for stories there. One night last summer, the Louisville Courier-Journal got a solid telephone tip about Newport, and sent Photographer George Bailey hustling to the scene. The tip: Glenn Schmidt's Playtorium, a plush dining-drinking-gambling-bowling club, was about to be raided. The leader of the raid was Newport's Detective Jack Thiem, who had hired 16 private detectives in Louisville, 106 miles from Newport, to help him.

When Photographer Bailey arrived on the scene, he got more than he expected. Inside the Playtorium the raiding party not only found such gambling equipment as crap tables and bingo games; they also encountered Newport's Police Chief George Gugel, and three detectives who had just dropped in "for a soft drink." Photographer Bailey snapped pictures, including one of Chief Gugel with Playtorium Proprietor Schmidt. But Bailey's picture-taking came to an abrupt end.

"Arrest that man!" shouted Chief Gugel, pointing at Photographer Bailey. "I'm still boss in this town, and I'll tell you when you can take my picture." He seized Bailey's camera, ruined his film, and had him carted off to jail. The Courier-Journal reported what had happened in Page One stories, and a grand jury indicted Police Chief Gugel for interfering with Photographer Bailey's civil rights. Another grand jury indicted Gugel for "nonfeasance of duty," i.e., failing to suppress gambling and prostitution. The same jury also indicted Detective Thiem, the raider, on charges of breaking the law himself by having an interest in a brothel, and said he staged the raid on the Playtorium to retaliate for earlier raids on houses he was protecting.

In the uproar of indictments, charges and countercharges, Gugel temporarily withdrew from the force and Thiem was fired (he is now a special deputy sheriff in Las Vegas, Nev.). Although Gugel got back his job as police chief after he was acquitted on the nonfeasance charge, he still faced a federal indictment for his attack on Photographer Bailey. Last week in a U.S. District Court in Covington, Ky., a federal jury found that Policeman Gugel had exceeded his powers, convicted him of violating Photographer Bailey's civil rights and fined him $1,000 plus court costs. Said District judge MacSwinford: "Bailey was performing his duties and had a right to take pictures [and] the right to his liberty. [He] took the pictures in an orderly and peaceful way [and] was within his rights."

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