The basics of this 7/8” button are an illustration of crossed pool sticks and 3 balls along with the text “Sweitzer/Non-Partisan/Billiard/Fan Club.” Button is c. 1920s with Chicago union bug on the curl and union bug back stamp. The fascinating part is the back story. Robert M. Sweitzer was described in a Time Magazine article June 17, 1935, as a man of great personal and political charm. The article relates his participation in neighborhood blackface minstrel shows, his ability to dance a jig, his skill at 3rd base on a semi-professional baseball team and as a famed contestant in billiard tournaments. In 1910 he was elected Cook County Clerk and twice he ran against mayor William Hale ‘Big Bill’ Thompson, “Losing Without Disgrace.” In 1935 it was discovered during his 24 year tenure of County-Clerkship, some $350,000 of money from a delinquent tax fund disappeared. In the process of being brought to account for the missing funds, Sweitzer barricaded himself in the Treasurer’s Office with 30 private detectives and held it until midnight when police with riot guns and tear gas appeared to remove him physically. After 25 years on the public payroll, he went home reluctantly without a job and as the Time article concludes, the state’s prosecutors pledged criminal action on the theory that “While You Cannot Get Blood Out Of A Turnip, You Can Put A Turnip In Jail.” Couple of trivial scuff lines only in reflected light. Button displays glossy and Mint. Rare.