Vintage.es has an article on a unique place operated by a unique man. Colonel George Chinn served in WW1 as an explosives expert, then returned to serve in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. He designed the M19 grenade launcher.
After WW1 he coached football for a few years, then decided to make use of his explosives skill and take advantage of Prohibition. He blasted a 100-foot tunnel in a riverside cave near Lexington and opened a gas station and snack bar, but the real action was in a side tunnel where he ran a speakeasy and gambling parlor.
The front of the cave looks familiar.
Here’s a video from a modern explorer who shows that most of the structure is still there, but crudely fenced off.
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Back in the ’60s I explored an abandoned Cave Gas station south of Manhattan, also in a riverside cave. I think the cave itself was natural, not blasted out.
Now I wonder if the owner was copying Chinn’s example. The location would have been out of the Manhattan city limits, next to the river on the Geary County line, easily accessible to Fort Riley soldiers.
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Later and less speculative thought: The Chinn speakeasy reminds me of another cave in that part of the country. The mysterious St Joseph mansion contained actual evidence of being a speakeasy and gambling parlor at some time in the past.
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Finally even the genial Kentucky law got tired of Colonel Chinn’s blatant flouting of all conventions, and arrested him for running a “game of chance”. He explained to the jury that it wasn’t a game of chance because the slot machines were all solidly rigged so no customer could ever win. The jury acquitted him.
Nice to see medieval realism, but not surprising. Juries are normal people who can usually see beyond the myths of “laws” and “elections”. Myths are stronger now, but juries still manage to reach proper conclusions most of the time.
Polistra's Mill 
