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thedrifter
03-31-06, 06:14 AM
Friday, March 31, 2006
Byron Crawford
Col. Chinn's life was a sure bet for excitement

The recent legislative game of "Kentucky Hold 'Em" over casino gambling brings to mind an amusing footnote from the colorful life of an old friend, the late Col. George M. Chinn of Harrodsburg.

Chinn, who died in 1987, had a brief flirtation with casino gambling in his younger days.

He was the grandson of Col. J. P. Chinn, one of the owners of 1883 Kentucky Derby winner Leonatus, and was a member of Centre College's 1921 national champion football team that defeated perennial national champion Harvard 6-0 in the upset of the century. He was witty, creative, kind-hearted and lucky.

By 1929, when the Roaring '20s were reduced to a whimper by the stock market collapse and Great Depression, Chinn already had tried his hand at coaching high school football in North Carolina and as an assistant at Bucknell in Pennsylvania.

He had returned to his native Mercer County and the scenic palisades that he loved in the Brooklyn community along the Kentucky River near the Brooklyn Bridge between Jessamine and Mercer counties.

A dynamite expert who went by the name "Tunnel" Smith helped Chinn blast out a hole in a cliff near U.S. 68, where Chinn hung out a sign that read, "Chinn's Cave House."

There were four gas pumps out front to fuel the new Model-A Fords that passed, and diners could enjoy the signature ham sandwiches and foot-long hot dogs Chinn and his wife, "Cotton," prepared. The sandwiches were so inexpensive that some customers wondered how Chinn made any money.

The truth was, he had two or three slot machines off the main bar and grill -- a tiny, Depression-era, off-track, riverside, underground gambling operation, if you will.
Penny slot splashes

At one time he had a penny slot machine, but tossed it into the river off the bridge after becoming concerned that youngsters might get hooked on gambling at the penny slot. He didn't want that on his conscience, his grandson, Howard "Buddy" Howells, told me.

A popular story in Mercer County has it that Chinn eventually did get hauled into court, accused of operating a game of chance at the Cave House. But he is said to have gotten the case dismissed after proving to the court that his slots had been adjusted so as to allow for no "chance" -- of winning.

Chinn gave up the Cave House business after a few years and served as a bodyguard for Gov. A. B. "Happy" Chandler during his first term.

"George weighed about 330 and was strong as an ox -- one of the toughest men I ever saw in my life," Chandler recalled in his autobiography.

Chinn later had a long and distinguished career with the Marines, reaching the rank of colonel and contributing to the research and development of a number of the military's automatic weapons.

"Edgar Hoover told me George designed the gun that was one of the best automatic weapons the Army had," Chandler wrote.

Chinn is best remembered as a co-inventor of the Mark 19 automatic grenade launcher that fires grenades in machine-gun fashion. Chinn and other naval weapons developers secretly tested the weapon in the Cave House years after the place was closed as a cafe.

John Glenn, in his 1999 memoirs, described Chinn as "one of the world's leading armament experts," who helped solve the jet engine flameout problem on fighter planes that the former astronaut and senator flew as a test pilot.

It was Chinn's knowledge of the slot machine, however, that brought Marine brass to his door for advice during one of his overseas tours.

"He said they told him that they understood he knew something about slot machines, and that they were having trouble making any money with the slot machines at service clubs. They wondered if he could help," Howells said. "He said, 'Well, there's an easy solution to that. Just change the personnel who are emptying the machines at night.' "

It worked.

Byron Crawford's column appears on the Metro page Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. You can reach him at (502) 582-4791 or e-mail him at bcrawford@courier-journal.com. You can also read his columns at www.courier-journal.com.

Ellie