The Tommy Gun Incident

          It always seems that the small towns have some of the greatest amounts of history. Huntley has seen its fair share. Some world renowned. Some local. And some, well, some are just downright odd. Such is the Tommy gun incident of 1968. Of course, there is a little background information to help explain this occurrence. In the 1960s, there was a common issue in small towns, especially those located near the city of Chicago. Biker gangs were coming from the city and wreaking havoc on these small farm towns.  One such group caused issues around July and August of 1968 to the peaceful town of Huntley. In late June or early July, a small group of men arrived at one of the taverns, but when they came they were in cars and in street clothes. On the 10th of August, more came, and although they still arrived in cars, this time they were dressed in their biker jackets. Due to their dress and obvious gang association, they were turned away from the three bars they visited. This led to a special visit that they would not soon forget.
          On the night of August 17, 1968, the gang arrived around 60 strong on their bikes and in cars, and all wearing their group jackets. Once they arrived, they proceeded to occupy Parkside tavern and cause a raucous in the downtown. Although the gang rubbed the townspeople the wrong way by bickering loudly, the arguments were the least of the townspeople's worries. Some of the members spotted a toilet bowl sitting in front of one of the barber shops, and tossed it into the street, breaking it. Some other members went behind the stores in town, where they discovered two more discarded toilets, which they then placed at the corner of Main and Woodstock Sts. Another toilet was also found and broken. Word reached the town authorities rather quickly, and the chief, Richard Nelson, along with two officers, arrived at Parkside to disperse the crowd.  The two officers, one armed with a service revolver and the other a shotgun, stood outside as cover for Chief Nelson. Nelson, however, went to the trunk of his squad car and pulled out a Thompson sub-machine gun. Chief Nelson then entered the establishment and ordered the men out. Now a small town police chief walking into a bar with that much fire power in his hand must have been quite intimidating. Some of the gang members thought it smart to make threats of setting fire to several of the town's structures, but the leaders of the group talked some sense into the members and they reluctantly cooperated with the police. All the members were rounded up, led down the street to their vehicles, and told to get out of town. A shot was fired behind the stores in town, and one member made the threat that the gang would return 200 strong, but overall they complied with the Tommy gun wielding chief and left town.
          Now as all of this was going on, some unknown person had called the state police, and along with them the McHenry County Sheriff. Both groups arrived on the scene as the gang was being led out. When the lieutenant of the state police asked if there were going to be any charges filed, Chief Nelson told him there would not be.
          Of course, after the incident, some of the residents spoke out against the idea of using a Tommy gun to quell the crowd. The reason for the backlash was due to the fact that there were some Huntley residents mixed in with the crowd at Parkside. But with the lack of using the gun, the outcry was little more than a blurb in the opinion section of the local newspaper.
       Fast forward to 2012, and that threat of returning 200 strong never happened. The group never wanted to test the machine gun wielding police chief, and never returned. The Tommy gun incident never left the memory of the town's residents. Whether it was at Chief Nelson's retirement or today, the story is always shared with a smile, a wink, and a couple laughs, to those interested in hearing some of the odd, quirky history that has occurred in Huntley.