Heinrich "Spark" Spenglemaier

Heinrich "Spark" Spenglemaier in 1894

Heinrich "Spark" Spenglemaier (1847-1907) was a German Born politician from Georgia, United States and city councilman from Savannah, Georgia. He is best known for his controversial gambling operation near Richmond Hill, Georgia where he would race chickens and dogs.

Background

He was a German-born immigrant and was born in Bavaria in 1847. His family moved to Georgia when he was a child. Spenglemaier is the Uncle of Rudolph Sorm, the founder of the Sorm's Gas and Gifts gas station chain and the first cousin of Nikolas Johannes Fanmayer IV, heir to the Fanmayer fortune and the companies leader from 1878 to 1914.

Political career

Alderman

Spenglemaier served as Council member from 1885 to 1895.

Mayoral Race of 1907 and Gambling Ring

Spenglemaier was highly favored in the mayoral race of 1907 until it was discovered that he had been running illegal chicken and dog "swamp races" on the Ogeechee river.

Spenglemaier would collect local chickens and abduct the citizens of Savannah's pet dogs, then place them on a large wooden barge in the Ogeechee River near the abandoned civil war Fort McAllister. He would then have the animals race to a finish line before returning the pets to their homes safely before the morning. Initially, a group of local men known as "The Fortmen" who lived inside the ruins at Fort McAllister would place bets on which animal they thought would win, but eventually the gambling operation attracted the attention of residents from neighboring islands and of Savannah.

What participants in the betting activities didn't know was that Spenglemaier had rigged the contest by training one particular dog, "Lightening Bolt Linman" to easily beat the competition each time and would disguise Lightening Bolt Linman to look like a different dog or chicken for each race. The gambling scheme continued for some time until 1907, when one of the Fortmen, James R. Hall, an invalid civil war veteran and brother of Charles Hall, a wealthy businessman in Savannah who had established several large construction businesses and home furnishing stores, lost a 1,000 dollar bet during one of Spenglemaier's rigged races. The 1,000 dollars was a loan from James's brother Charles Hall. When Charles Hall found out about the incident, he rallied the local business community and elites of Savannah to turn against Spenglemaier and unmask his illegal gambling scheme.

Though there was never any proof, Karl Sorm, a local fish bait shop owner, the brother in law of Spenglemaier, and the father of Rudolph Sorm was seen as having been aware and even aiding the gambling operation by offering a stop off point for travelers on the way to participate in the gambling activities at Fort Mcallister. Sorm's fishing bait and tackle shop was burned the same night Spenglemaier's barge was sunk.

Death

Though Spanglemaier's body was never found, it is believed that he was either killed or accidentally drowned the night of August 23rd, 1907 when residents of Savannah sunk his barge near the Fort Mcallister river site on the Ogeechee River.