Frank Neugebauer the proprietor and manager of the Dime Theater in Pendleton was attacked by Councilman J.T. Hinkle on Febuary 17th 1909. The main reason for this was that Frank had decided to cancel an act due to it being a very poor act. He brings up in his response that this act had previously been “chased” out of the Star theater the year before because of how bad it was. Also, he says that the act had an initial trial run and did not go well. He paid them for their nights work but refused to let them come back again. It also states how the councilman did not know the entire situation before acting and attacking Frank. While it is not explicitly stated how the councilman attacked him, in the end of his response he brings up that the councilman had thrown mud at him. This was not the first example of how Councilman J.T. Hinkle had acted in a poor way. A bit over two years prior, there had been a request for his resignation. There was a signature from almost every other councilman asking him to retire, and yet he ignored the request. It does not say explicitly why they wanted his resignation, however it does state that due to facts that had come into light during his councilmanship. Another example of how the councilman has acted out was him blatantly ignoring charges against him. Hinkle along with an ex-Marshal were charged with accepting money to protect gamblers. He also was trying to convince the ex-Marshal to allow him to be the attorney for these gamblers so that he would better be able to protect them. It seems like this councilman has had a long history of acting out and causing trouble. What the councilman had done to Frank was completely unnecessary and should have never happened
Citations
Eastern Oregonian, December 15th, 1906: 8
Eastern Oregonian, December 19th, 1906: 1
Eastern Oregonian, February 18th, 1909: 1
