The Doherty Hotel

“A Gangland Murder at the Crossroads” The Doherty Hotel

By Tom Carr to Clare because he was tired of working for “scum.” Others have said he came because he

On a Saturday Night in May 1938, Isaiah felt the heat of the law breathing down his Leebove strolled into the Hotel Doherty, the neck in the Big Apple. four-story brick building in the center of As Livingston sat at the booth hearing downtown Clare, [Michigan]. Leebove’s wife, Leebove talk and laugh with the Gellers, Enid, had asked him to go to town and get he felt the heavy gun at his side. He’d been her some ice cream. Little didLeebove know, considering what he’d wanted to do for some a disgruntled former business partner was time now. watching him and had murder on his mind. Livingston and Leebove’s association

That former partner was Jack Livingston, started a few years prior after oil was known as “Tex” by friends and associates discovered in central Michigan and the because he grew up in Houston. He saw two men started drilling and investing near Leebove step into the door that led to Clare. They joined forces and their venture the hotel restaurant, so he ran up to the eventually became Mammoth Producing & room in the Doherty in which he’d been Refining Co., which grew into the largest oil living. Livingston picked up the .38-caliber company east of the Mississippi. handgun he kept there, stuffed it in his But they often argued bitterly over how clothing and went down to the restaurant. to run the company. Due to their volatile

Livingston found a booth near the table relationship, Livingston eventually left where Leebove had sat down to chat with the company that had made both him and a fellow lawyer, Byron Geller, and his wife Leebove a lot of money. Leebove was still Elizabeth. doing well, having built a luxurious log home

Leebove and Geller had a friendly on the Tobacco River that he called Tobacco relationship as they were both attorneys, Ranch. He and Enid, a former showgirl though they had different backgrounds. from Canada, entertained the wealthy and Geller had been a newspaper reporter in powerful at the ranch, including ex-Gov. Windsor, Ontario, then assistant attorney William Comstock, whose campaign he general for the state of Michigan, and now helped bankroll. had a private practice in Clare. Livingston, on the other hand, had

Leebove, on the other hand, had practiced squandered his earnings and was now law in New York City and had represented hurting for cash. His hatred of Leebove ate at some heavy hitters in organized crime, him, or as he said later, “He ruined my soul.” including mobsters like Salvatore Spitale He claimed his former partner had cheated and Irving Bitz—go-betweens in the ransom him out of everything. And he had convinced negotiations for the Lindbergh baby. He also himself that his former associate had used represented Arnold Rothstein, a gangster his friendship with Meyer Lansky—a wellinvolved in gambling who is believed to have known New York crime figure—to order a helped fix the 1919 World Series. His legal hit on him. services extended to members of Detroit’s Now, sitting in the restaurant a few feet Purple Gang as well. Leebove claimed he from the object of his resentment, Livingston had left his practice in New York and came figured he had thought about it enough. He 12 • jan 25, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly

stood up, walked over to Isaiah Leebove’s table, pointed the .38 at him and began firing. The shots blew Leebove off his chair, as a stunned Geller stood up. Leebove writhed on the floor, gasping, “Jack, Jack, why?”

In the sudden melee, Geller noticed that he too had taken two bullets in his leg. Jack “Tex” Livingston walked over to Harry Wehrly, the assistant manager of the hotel, handed him his gun and went upstairs to his rented room, accompanied by a bellhop, to quietly wait for the police.

A doctor heard of the shooting and ran to the hotel within minutes, only to declare Isaiah Leebove dead at the age of 42. The chaotic crowd was soon joined by Enid, who had heard that her husband was shot and sped downtown to the Doherty. She saw her lifeless husband and collapsed, sobbing.

Livingston sat in his room dictating to the bellhop a message for his father, expecting the police at any minute. He went with them peacefully as they led him to their car and to the county jail in Harrison.

Livingston stood trial for the murder. There was no question and no argument that he had indeed shot a bullet through Leebove’s heart, in cold blood and in a restaurant in front of several witnesses. Yet his defense convinced the court that he had acted in a state of temporary insanity.

The jury acquitted Livingston, though he was committed for a short time to a northern Michigan mental institution. He died of a drug overdose ten years later in New Jersey.

The shooting remains a curiosity to this day, particularly to those visiting the Doherty Hotel. The mob ties are often part of the narrative, as they should be. Detroit and New York gangsters had dealings with Mammoth and other connections in the local oil industry. And Leebove’s ties with Lansky certainly played into Livingston’s deadly paranoia.

But in the end, it appears to have been a crime committed out of very personal paranoia and animosity.

(Excerpted from “Dark Side of the Mitten: Crimes of Power & Powerful Criminals in Michigan’s Past & Present”)

If You Go

The Doherty Hotel, which sits at the intersection of three major roadways — US10, M-115, and US-127 — is often called the Crossroads because Clare sits halfway to everywhere in the Lower Peninsula. The original hotel, founded by late Senator Alfred James Doherty in 1924, contained sixty rooms, each with hot and cold running water and only some with a tub or shower. In addition to the Clare Public Library, a coffee shop, soda fountain shop, barbershop, and other essentials like “a refrigerator room,” the ground floor also housed Senator Doherty’s office. In 1969, his grandson Alfred James Doherty III, took the helm and over the next several decades, substantially expanded the hotel with the help of his two sons, Dean and Jim, who have continued their family legacy. In addition to several meeting rooms, 157 total guest rooms, an indoor pool, historic Leprechaun Lounge and dining room, plans are underway for a 10,000-square-foot conference center. Nearby amenities include several hiking, biking, and snowmobile trails, and access to more than a dozen golf courses. Room rates, which include free WiFi, start at $99. Rooms with king-size bed, fireplace, jacuzzi, and fridge start at $143.