Bunice Tyner was a Marion businessman who owned a handful of taverns in Marion and the surrounding area from 1941 up to his murder in 1960. Tyner also owned Wimpey’s Café at 106 S. Court Street, but the business was actually operated by his wife, Louina. The amusements in local taverns in those days, popular since WWII, were pinball and jukebox machines. Also, slot machines, which were technically illegal, but often tolerated under the right conditions.
A syndicated area business had a stranglehold on those enterprises and apparently held questionable sway over some local and county authorities. After Tyner and a couple of other tavern owners offered some resistance in 1959, two of the businessmen found their homes or businesses burned to the ground and in January of 1960, Tyner ended up dead. No charges in the case were ever filed and remains a Marion Cold Case to this day. Articles appearing in the Southern Illinoisan related to the case are found below:
Marion Man Found Slain
Bunice Tyner is Beaten and Shot; Pinball Link Under Investigation
Southern Illinoisan, Friday, Jan. 29, 1960
Bunice Tyner, 58, Marion restaurant owner and small time pinball operator, was found dead near Goreville Thursday, the victim of a savage beating and three .38 caliber pistol shots.
His body was found in his car on a road about one fourth mile east of Rt. 37, south of Goreville. The body was discovered about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, but apparently had been in the car since shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday.
An autopsy report today showed Tyner was killed by six blows to the head with what probably was a small crowbar or claw hammer. He was shot twice under the left armpit and once in the back of the head after the beating Dr. Lewis Rossiter, Carbondale pathologist, said.
Edward “Buddy-Buddy” Harris, leading area pinball operator, was picked up in Chester early this morning and questioned about the killing from 3 to 5 a.m. He was questioned at Vienna by Johnson County Sheriff Glenn Dallas and State’s Att. Bill Dyer.
Mrs. Verbal Helms, referred to as a girl friend of Tyner, told authorities that Tyner had been planning to expand his pinball business.
Dallas and Dyer said Harris established an alibi which was checked out by the state police. Harris said he was in Murphysboro from 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and then returned to the Buddy-Buddy Club, which he operates in Chester.
Tyner’s body was found by Bryan Bullock, 19, of Rt. 2, Goreville. He told authorities he had seen the car there shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday. He noticed it a second time on his way to work at 6:30 a.m. Thursday. He stopped and investigated on his return home Thursday afternoon.
The body was lying on the floor of the car between the front and rear seats. The left arm was on the folded down right front seat.
Bullock called State Trooper R.W. Jenkins of Goreville. Jenkins called Dallas and the investigation got under way an estimated 18 hours after the killing.
Dallas indicated the time element might be important in the case. Tyner last was seen alive by Marion police officers around 10:50 p.m. Wednesday, seated in his car in front of the North Market street tavern.
It is about a 15 minute drive from Marion to where the body was found.
Dallas ordered the body left in the car overnight, pending arrival of state crime laboratory investigators. The car was kept at a Vienna garage.
Authorities have not ruled out the possibility of robbery as motive. There was no money or billfold in Tyner’s clothing. Eleven cents was found on the floor of the car. Associates said he usually carried money and a billfold.
Those questioned by Dyer and Dallas included Mrs. Helms, Tyner’s widow, and Willard “Tiny” Rhoades of Herrin. Rhoades formerly operated a drive-in restaurant north of Marion, but it was closed by State’s Atty. Carl Sneed because of prostitution.
Mrs. Tyner said she knew little about Tyner’s business affairs. She operated Wimpey’s Café for him at 106 S. Court Street, Marion. Also scheduled for questioning was George Reagan, also known as George Callahan, of Herrin. He reportedly was working with Tyner in the pinball business.
The Marion officers who last saw Tyner alive are Tom Lewis and Jack Stephens, indications are Tyner was attacked only minutes after he was seen by the officers.
Dr. Rossiter, said Tyner’s body bore a mark of a blow on the forehead and there was a swelling on the right hand. He said this could indicate he was struck from the front and raised his hand in an effort to ward off the blow. The main blows were struck from the rear. He said the swelling in the hand was one indication that the beating preceded the shooting. If he had been shot first, swelling would not have been likely.
Dr. Rossiter said one major blow over the left ear broke out a piece of the skull and forced it into the brain. The two shots under the left arm were fired at close range, as indicated by powder burns. The shot pierced the lungs. The third shot was fired at the base of the skull and raged upward into the brain.
Tyner’s own gun, a .38 caliber pistol, was found in the car. It had not been fired.
Evidence that Tyner was surprised or knocked out by the first blow was that his clothes and the car showed no sign of a struggle. Two small tears behind the left jacket pocket possibly were left when the killer grabbed Tyner to shove him in the floor.
Blood matted in Tyner’s graying hair flicked upward by the repeated blows, speckled the window and the rear of the front seat.
Investigators theorized that Tyner was attacked somewhere between Marion and Goreville on Rt. 37 or else forced to lie quietly on the floor during the ride.
All evidence indicates that at least two, and perhaps more, persons were involved in the slaying.
If Tyner were held in the back seat on the 20 minute ride, a second assailant would have been needed to drive. A third person could have followed in another car to pick up the two with Tyner when they left his car on the road.
Police theorized the killer struck Tyner, shoved him down, then walked around to the right side and opened the right-hand door. The killer could have swung the weapon down into the door opening.
Two slugs were found in the body, one in the head and one, under the skin on the right side. A third slug emerged from the body, but was found in Tyner’s clothing.
Victim Told Newsmen of Pinball Pressures, in July 1959 Statement
Southern Illinoisan, Friday, Jan. 29, 1960
Bunice Tyner, who was found murdered on a lonely road near Goreville, was one of a group of Williamson County tavern owners who made a statement to the Southern Illinoisan last July on pinball operations.
He is the third of the group to be the target of violence. The property of two others has burned, and arson was suspected in both cases.
Tyner made the statement last July 22nd in the Southern Illinoisan’s Herrin office. Others in the group included Amos Curry, former operator of the Green Lantern Tavern near Herrin and Willard “Tiny” Rhoades. Since that time, the Green Lantern Tavern has been damaged by fire and Rhoades’ house in Herrin burned.
Earlier in 1959, Tyner operated the Servicemen’s Club in Marion. The place was closed after a petition to revoke the liquor license was filed. The club had a license to sell beer only.
Williamson County Sheriff Dean West and Marion Police Chief Charles Edwards said a waitress at the club sold whiskey to two customers.
The gist of the July statement was that the tavern operators had been harassed by officials because they had not used pinball machines operated by Earl Walker, then chief distributor in Williamson County. They alleged that other tavern operators, who used Walker’s machines were permitted to stay open all night and to operate without interference.
Walker, since had sold out to Edward “Buddy-Buddy” Harris, now the kingpin of pinball and jukebox operators in the area.
Four slot machines were seized at the Servicemen’s Club on January 15th. The license then was held by Loren “Nub” Henson. Police Chief Edwards identified Harris as the owner of the slot machines.
In his July statement, Tyner said that he had bought three pinball machines for $1,000 but he said he was told by an official that he could not use the machines in his own tavern. He said he was told there would be trouble. He said he agreed to put in two of Walker’s machines. The next day, three of Walker’s machines were brought to the place.
He said he pulled the electric plugs from Walker’s machines, leaving them idle. He said Walker later removed the machines and the action to close the club followed later.
Tyner gave the statement to Bill Boyne, Southern Illinoisan managing editor, and Dick Stegeman, Herrin city editor. The statements were not published at the time because it was impossible to get independent corroborative evidence.
Tyner and Curry both volunteered to take lie detector tests on the information in the statements at the time. The statements were written and signed.
Johnson County authorities, who learned about the statement from a source other than the Southern Illinoisan, have asked to see the statements in connection with the Tyner murder case investigations…Southern Illinoisan, Jan. 29, 1960
Tyner Rites Set Sunday in Marion
Southern Illinoisan, Friday, Jan. 29, 1960
Funeral services for Bunice Tyner, 58, who was found murdered near Goreville Thursday, will be held at the Wilson Funeral Home of Marion.
Tyner, 106 S. Court St., Marion, was born in Kentucky, August 30, 1901. He operated Wimpey’s Café, South Court St., since 1953. He was a partner in operation of the Ideal Tavern, West Main Street, from 1941-1948 and was a coal miner at Pittsburg before that.
Tyner married Louina Groves on December 12, 1948, in Piggott, Arkansas. He leaves his wife, a daughter by a former marriage, and Mrs. Naomi Sheppard of Indianapolis, Ind., and one granddaughter in Indianapolis, brothers Robert Tyner of Detroit, Mich.; Reese and John Tyner of St. Louis and sister, Mrs. Mary Ezell of Atlanta, Ga.
He was a member of the Eagles Lodge.
Services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Wilson Funeral Home of Marion. Burial will be in Rosehill Cemetery……Southern Illinoisan, Jan. 29, 1960
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The few follow up articles from February indicated that a service station attendant saw Tyner’s car being driven out of town on that night with four men inside. Sheriff Dallas indicated that whereas they had no leads, the strongest suspicion was that this murder was the result of a “syndicate” hit as a result of Tyner attempting to expand his pinball business.
A later article, indicated that of the five fingerprints found at the scene, one print matched Mrs. Verbal Helms, who was not a suspect. Blood samples taken from the scene and a hatchet found nearby yielded no results.
Sam’s Notes:
In the investigation, it was revealed that the murder was the second in the family. Bunice Tyner’s father, Thomas Tyner, was gunned down in an ambush near Shawneetown. Thomas was shot by an unknown assailant as Tyner passed dome dense woods enroute to feed hogs a mile from a house where he worked about five miles north of Shawneetown near Hulda Lake. The shooting occurred in July 1927 and the body was returned for burial here at Rose Hill Cemetery.
Several months before the murder, Tyner’s car had been stolen and it was later found dumped in a strip pit north of Marion.
In October 1957, a local man by the name of John McCree, 25, went into Wimpey’s Café and threatened to whip Bunice. Tyner shot McCree in the left leg above the knee. McCree was treated at the V.A. and charged with peace disturbance.
(Southern Illinoisan, January 29- February 8, 1960)