100 years ago, police raided a strip poker game, arresting 11 players — including two minors

ROCHESTER — “I’ll bet my garters” were the famous last words of one player participating in a strip poker game that was interrupted by Rochester police in January 1925.

Before conducting one of the “most spectacular and sensational” raids in Rochester history, according to The Daily Post and Record’s reporting, officers listened in as men and women bet their clothes, socks and cufflinks.

Earlier that evening on Jan. 15, 1925, the police department received complaints of a party resulting in “loud talk, considerable swearing and rattling of bottles and glasses.”

Guards were placed at all entrances of an apartment building located at 305½ South Broadway. Two officers approached the front door of the apartment and heard players place bets.

“I haven’t many duds, but I’ll bet my socks,” one player said, provoking officers to enter the apartment.

Inside, the officers discovered nine players, “scantily clad,” sitting around the table. The players were “relying on the fate of the cards to keep them from returning to either a barbarian state of appearance,” The Post and Record reported.

Police arrested 11 alleged players, including Roy Bernard, Theron Cranston, Mildred Deen, George Eaton, Arthur Sable, Grace Halloran, Harry Kenitz, William Lyons, Cora Shaw and two minors.

The players were charged with disorderly conduct and gambling.

Lyons was the first to be arraigned the morning of Jan. 16, 1925. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct as details of the investigation came to light.

An officer testified that Lyons was fully clothed and not participating in the game when the apartment was raided. Lyons was initially given the option to spend 15 days in jail or pay a $25 fine, which equates to $455 in 2025.

Later that afternoon, the other 10 players, including five men, four women and a girl, made their first appearances in court.

The five men were all fined $20 for their participation in the strip poker game. The sentences for two of the women were delayed after they pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct that afternoon. The charges against the other two women were dismissed.

The case for the 16-year-old girl was sent to juvenile court in Sauk Centre, a city northwest of St. Cloud.

No other details of the strip poker raid were reported in 1925.