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Dirty Doc Ames and the Scandal that Shook Minneapolis
The story of Albert Alonzo "Doc" Ames is perhaps the greatest political scandal in Minnesota history. As mayor of Minneapolis, Ames exposed the city to national humiliation–and helped jump-start an era of reform.
At the turn of the twentieth century, Minneapolis was moving away from a time of political rings, frontier justice, and old boys' clubs to a more civic-minded way of governing. But in 1901, the affable, degenerate Doc Ames, a former Minneapolis mayor well past his political prime, duped his way back into the office. Ames appointed his brother as chief of police, and together they assembled a rogues' gallery of thieves to squeeze as much money out of the city as quickly as they could. Under Ames's leadership, criminals walked beats wearing policeman’s uniforms. City detectives robbed prominent citizens. Police maintained arrangements with madams and saloonkeepers, extracting pay for the privilege of openly ignoring the law.
With a card game gone bad, and a complaint to a newspaper, it all fell apart. Ames fled Minneapolis in mid-term to avoid prosecution. And at Doc Ames's spectacular downfall, the citizens of Minneapolis finally woke up and took their city back.
At the turn of the twentieth century, Minneapolis was moving away from a time of political rings, frontier justice, and old boys' clubs to a more civic-minded way of governing. But in 1901, the affable, degenerate Doc Ames, a former Minneapolis mayor well past his political prime, duped his way back into the office. Ames appointed his brother as chief of police, and together they assembled a rogues' gallery of thieves to squeeze as much money out of the city as quickly as they could. Under Ames's leadership, criminals walked beats wearing policeman’s uniforms. City detectives robbed prominent citizens. Police maintained arrangements with madams and saloonkeepers, extracting pay for the privilege of openly ignoring the law.
With a card game gone bad, and a complaint to a newspaper, it all fell apart. Ames fled Minneapolis in mid-term to avoid prosecution. And at Doc Ames's spectacular downfall, the citizens of Minneapolis finally woke up and took their city back.
224 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 16, 2018
OK, all you Minneapolis people: this is a MUST-READ.
Minneapolis nice? Hmmm. Evidently, it wasn't so nice around the turn of the 20th century when corruption in the City government was rife. Holy moly rocky.
The preface is wonderful. Ames left no personal papers, so the author had to use secondary sources. He did an amazing job.
Ames was mayor more than once, and his personal and professional life were a mess. Bribery, debauchery, crime, corruption: it could sound like a listing of the seven deadly sins. However, it makes for fascinating reading.
Minneapolis nice? Hmmm. Evidently, it wasn't so nice around the turn of the 20th century when corruption in the City government was rife. Holy moly rocky.
The preface is wonderful. Ames left no personal papers, so the author had to use secondary sources. He did an amazing job.
Ames was mayor more than once, and his personal and professional life were a mess. Bribery, debauchery, crime, corruption: it could sound like a listing of the seven deadly sins. However, it makes for fascinating reading.
Read
May 12, 2023AMCAB
October 25, 2020
When your current president is, at the very least, shady and the administration appears racked by nepotism and worse, it’s easy to think that we’re facing the most corrupt government ever. Step back into a time machine and look at earlier politicians, whose every move was covered by local press but not on a virtual level. You will see that corruption has long existed, as have the forces trying to take it done – the first of which is the media.
This book was a wonderful and entertaining read that I recommend to anyone, not just to other Minnesotans. With some locally focused biography, the writing and the story telling can be subpar. But here Erik Rivenes brought the tale to life with his engaging style that made me want to speed through the book.
I’d recommend this to anyone who’s interested in learning more about Minnesota/Minneapolis history OR who enjoys a good political tale. It’s a fascinating story of how politics used to (and at times still does) work.
This book was a wonderful and entertaining read that I recommend to anyone, not just to other Minnesotans. With some locally focused biography, the writing and the story telling can be subpar. But here Erik Rivenes brought the tale to life with his engaging style that made me want to speed through the book.
I’d recommend this to anyone who’s interested in learning more about Minnesota/Minneapolis history OR who enjoys a good political tale. It’s a fascinating story of how politics used to (and at times still does) work.
January 16, 2021
A rollicking history of the corruption administration of Doc Ames, mayor of Minneapolis in the late 1800, early 1900's. So many parallels to our last president (Trump). If you like Minnesota history, you'll enjoy this.
December 29, 2019
Review to followCity government corruption is a recurring problem in American politics. Some cities are notorious for their local corruption levels, while others have it come and go. Minnesota cities are no exception, though it has seldom reached the level of Mayor Albert Alonzo “Doc” Ames’ fourth term in 1901.
The son of one of Minneapolis’ founding fathers, and a prominent citizen, Dr. Ames (yes, he was a medical doctor) was elected mayor three times as a Democrat. And during those terms, there was the expected amount of corruption, with Doc hanging out with saloonkeepers and brothel proprietors in a manner too friendly for some to swallow. Plus, his family life and drinking habits had become scandalous. By the late 1890s, the Democratic Party leadership in Minneapolis had tired of Doc and no longer supported him.
Dr. Ames still wanted to be mayor, though, and used the “open primary” system to switch parties and run as a Republican. His “wide open city” policies were still very popular with a large section of the voting public, and adding those to the die-hard partisans who would vote for anyone with an “R” after their name on the ballot, he won his fourth term.
The big advantage of being mayor of Minneapolis at the time was direct control of the police department, and Mayor Ames decided that this time he was going to take full advantage of it as a money-making machine. He appointed his brother Colonel Fred W. Ames (Spanish-American War hero, or coward, depending who you believed) police chief, fired many honest officers, and hired new officers and detectives based on their willingness to pay fees and pledge loyalty to the new regime.
Minneapolis’ vice dens were squeezed for payoffs, especially independent brothels, and crooked card games fleeced tourists with the largest cut going directly to the police. The loot was rolling in, but of course it was unsustainable. The papers broke the scandal, there were arrests and trials, and eventually even Doc Ames himself was on trial for corruption, with a shocking conclusion.
This volume covers many of the details involved in the affair and the colorful personalities involved. The writing is okay, allowing the subject matter to carry interest. There are black and white illustrations, a copious amount of end notes, and an index.
One admitted weakness of the book is that none of the people involved were the type to keep personal journals or collections of their correspondence, so these valuable insights are largely unavailable and the author had to rely on the notoriously biased newspapers of the day for much of the book’s information.
This volume will be of most interest to those with an interest in Minneapolis history, but anyone who loves reading about political scandals should be able to enjoy it. Consider buying it directly from the Minnesota Historical Society so they can fund more exciting books!.
The son of one of Minneapolis’ founding fathers, and a prominent citizen, Dr. Ames (yes, he was a medical doctor) was elected mayor three times as a Democrat. And during those terms, there was the expected amount of corruption, with Doc hanging out with saloonkeepers and brothel proprietors in a manner too friendly for some to swallow. Plus, his family life and drinking habits had become scandalous. By the late 1890s, the Democratic Party leadership in Minneapolis had tired of Doc and no longer supported him.
Dr. Ames still wanted to be mayor, though, and used the “open primary” system to switch parties and run as a Republican. His “wide open city” policies were still very popular with a large section of the voting public, and adding those to the die-hard partisans who would vote for anyone with an “R” after their name on the ballot, he won his fourth term.
The big advantage of being mayor of Minneapolis at the time was direct control of the police department, and Mayor Ames decided that this time he was going to take full advantage of it as a money-making machine. He appointed his brother Colonel Fred W. Ames (Spanish-American War hero, or coward, depending who you believed) police chief, fired many honest officers, and hired new officers and detectives based on their willingness to pay fees and pledge loyalty to the new regime.
Minneapolis’ vice dens were squeezed for payoffs, especially independent brothels, and crooked card games fleeced tourists with the largest cut going directly to the police. The loot was rolling in, but of course it was unsustainable. The papers broke the scandal, there were arrests and trials, and eventually even Doc Ames himself was on trial for corruption, with a shocking conclusion.
This volume covers many of the details involved in the affair and the colorful personalities involved. The writing is okay, allowing the subject matter to carry interest. There are black and white illustrations, a copious amount of end notes, and an index.
One admitted weakness of the book is that none of the people involved were the type to keep personal journals or collections of their correspondence, so these valuable insights are largely unavailable and the author had to rely on the notoriously biased newspapers of the day for much of the book’s information.
This volume will be of most interest to those with an interest in Minneapolis history, but anyone who loves reading about political scandals should be able to enjoy it. Consider buying it directly from the Minnesota Historical Society so they can fund more exciting books!.
May 1, 2018
For those interested in Minneapolis history or corruption in local politics, this is a worthwhile read. The author sheds light on the surprisingly freewheeling atmosphere of Minneapolis at the beginning of the 20th century, when gambling and prostitution were conducted openly and violence was part of everyday life. The subject of this book, Doc Ames, briefly turned the mayor's office into a crime ring, using his elected authority to run bunco schemes and protection rackets.
While the story is interesting, I felt the book sometimes bogged down in the details. There are a lot of names to remember and many criminal activities described when a few representative examples might have been sufficient. I would have liked to see the author do more to place these events in the broader context of state and national history, perhaps by comparison to similar scandals in other cities or by more development of background on progressive politics and muckraking journalism.
While the story is interesting, I felt the book sometimes bogged down in the details. There are a lot of names to remember and many criminal activities described when a few representative examples might have been sufficient. I would have liked to see the author do more to place these events in the broader context of state and national history, perhaps by comparison to similar scandals in other cities or by more development of background on progressive politics and muckraking journalism.
October 1, 2019
I have been a listener of the author’s podcast, Minnesota’s Most Notorious: Where Blood Runs Cold, for about a year now. When I saw this book at the library, I figured I’d give it a shot.
The book details Doc Ames, four time mayor of Minneapolis. It centers around his fourth term right around 1900. It was a very interesting read. Dirty Doc Ames turned the mayor’s office into his own little profit center. His sole goal was to make money, from charging men for the privilege of becoming police men to the bribes he took from saloons and brothels to look the other way.
This book was very detail, I commend Mr. Rivenes for that. The reason I didn’t rate it higher was sometimes the amount of people and details left my head spinning. A little less on the details, I feel, might have made the story flow a little better. Overall a good read, especially if you are interested in Minneapolis at the turn of the century. His podcast is worth a listen to also.
The book details Doc Ames, four time mayor of Minneapolis. It centers around his fourth term right around 1900. It was a very interesting read. Dirty Doc Ames turned the mayor’s office into his own little profit center. His sole goal was to make money, from charging men for the privilege of becoming police men to the bribes he took from saloons and brothels to look the other way.
This book was very detail, I commend Mr. Rivenes for that. The reason I didn’t rate it higher was sometimes the amount of people and details left my head spinning. A little less on the details, I feel, might have made the story flow a little better. Overall a good read, especially if you are interested in Minneapolis at the turn of the century. His podcast is worth a listen to also.
April 28, 2022
Thoroughly excellent book by Erik Rivenes. I’m a long-time fan of Erik’s podcast, Most Notorious, and I had high expectations which were more than met. The research the author did really makes this book stand out—and finding so many photos from this time period is no easy task.
I have some mixed feelings about Doc. He was a character. His blustery style was a little much but also endearing. He was a man who could have been anything he chose to be, but his habits, the people he associated with, and his inability to let his better self triumph led him down a dark road.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys history, the study of human nature, or just enjoys a great story!
I have some mixed feelings about Doc. He was a character. His blustery style was a little much but also endearing. He was a man who could have been anything he chose to be, but his habits, the people he associated with, and his inability to let his better self triumph led him down a dark road.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys history, the study of human nature, or just enjoys a great story!
August 18, 2023
I really enjoyed reading this book. I was hoping there would be more pictures from that time of what the city looked like, but otherwise I thought it was a great, quick read. The podcast about this episode in Minneapolis history is a great supplement to the book.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews