Norma and Candy gathered a group that night and went club hopping. Accompanying the group was Jack Newton, one of Candy’s dance partners. They made the headlines that night

Jack Newton had won about $40,000 from Archie Chandler in a card game. Chandler was one of Bennie Binion’s men. Gene Gunter and Richard Jenkins, two of Binion’s enforcers, caught up with Newton later that night and robbed him, not only of the $40,000 but an additional $15,000.

The next night, seemingly unpreturbed by the robbery, Newton joined Candy to go bar hopping.

While they were out on the town, at about 1:30 AM a knock came on the door of a room at the Blue Top Inn on Davis Avenue. When Gene Gunter came to the door, a shotgun blew his head off.

Story continued on Page 165 of Candy Barr, The Book.

Word about Dallas’ “wide open zone” reached the ears of one Lester Ben “Benny” Binion, a thirty-two year old gambler with a notable past history. Benny would soon become the King in the Zone.

Born in Grayson County, Texas in 1904, Binion was the son of a horse trader and he spent his sickly youth traveling with his father. His schoolhouse was the campgrounds where horse traders gathered to awat market days. The subjects he studied were how to judge the age of a horse by looking at his teeth and gambling with cards and dice. He earned an “A Plus” in both courses. He nevere darkened the door of a church or a real schoolhouse.

Story continued on Page 77 of Candy Barr, The Book.

In April of 1956, two twenty-one-year-old boys, Thomas James and Fred Grimes, drove from Brownwood, Texas to Dallas to visit Betty James, Thomas’ sister and a student at Southern Methodist University. While visiting the campus a group of students decided on a trip to the Colony Club. Car loaded with students including Thomas and Fred caravanned downtown.

A big 2-sided sign on the Colony Club’s sidewalk pictured a gorgeous blond in a white cowboy hat, her 36-23-34 torso covered with a blue cowboy top and shorts, wearing empty gun holsters. The blond had her 2 Colt 45s pointed toward the camera. Beneath the sign the beautiful lady was identified as Candy Barr.

At the ticket office, a small sign warned that one must be at least 21 to enter the establishment. Each student purchased a five dollar ticket and entered the club. It was a slow night, half full or half empty, depending on your point of view. In the stage a young girl was traipsing around on the stage, swaying to the music of the small orchestra and slipping of pieces of her clothing. When her dance ended, the lights came up for intermission. Thomas and Fred ordered fifty cent soft drinks and waited for Candy Barr to appear. Suddenly all hell broke loose. A passel of Dallas cops poured in ans began arresting the college boys, including Thomas and Fred.

Story continued on Page 178 of Candy Barr, The Book.

Travis left the Marines, worked down south doing construction work, then accepted the offer to manage the night clube across the street from Gomez Restaurant. The club has gone by many names and the original building was leveled and rebuilt from the ground up. It was known in the old days as “Neal’s Place” and More recently as “Tequila Nights” but at the time it was known as “The Red Lantern”.

When Travis told Candy he was moving to Brownwood to manage the club, candy contacted Gloria Carver at her house on Lake Brownwood. Gloria, now alone, invited Candy, and Ray, and the dogs to come live with her. To Candy, the arrangement was similar to the small block house she grew up in, crowded with so many brothers, and sisters, and hound dogs.

Story continued on Page 408 of Candy Barr, The Book.

The Dallas of 1963 was filled with hate. The largest chapter of Ku Klux Klan in all of the United States existed in Dallas. Born of racial hatred and white superiority, it was joined by those men who controlled the activities of the Dynamic 75.This was a corporate world that hated the new laws clamped on their companies by the “New Dealers” of Frank Roosevelt in the 1930’s. Social Security, minimum wage, forty-hour workweek, unemployment insurance, federal housing, regulation of banks and Wall Street- – - they hated it all.

Story continued on Page 317 of Candy Barr, The Book.