Throwback Thursday: The Legacy of William Natcher

Throwback Thursday has told the story of U.S. Representative William Natcher in a past
episode. The congressman from Bowling Green played an important role in much of the history
of South Central Kentucky. Representing the second District in the House of Representatives,
he secured funding for buildings at Western Kentucky University, purchased the Great Onyx and
Crystal caves so they could be incorporated into Mammoth Cave National Park, and broke
ground for both the Barren River and Nolin dams. In this segment, though, we focus on his work
here in Bowling Green and Warren County.

After graduating from Western, Natcher earned his law degree from Ohio State and, in 1934,
started practicing in Bowling Green. In 1937 he was elected Warren County Attorney. He served
three terms in this office, which provides legal advice to the Fiscal Court as well as acting as a
prosecutor.

The Daily News was filled with stories of his exploits. His campaign against disorderly
roadhouses in 1938 made headlines. Ten roadhouses were raided with seventeen people
arrested. Among the charges were maintaining a public nuisance and operating a dancehall on
Sunday.

Natcher also tried to block a certain Bowling Green entrepreneur from doing business In 1942
he led a raid on a house in Delafield in which three women and eight men were arrested.
Pauline Tabor, the infamous Madame of Clay Street, was charged with maintaining a public
nuisance. The two other women were arrested for being inmates of a bawdy house. The eight
men were listed by name in the Daily News article and three were identified as soldiers.
Not only did houses of prostitution draw the prosecutor’s attention, Natcher also cracked down
on gambling. In 1946, a Grand Jury charged that several houses on Main Street between
Center and Adams were being used for gambling, including the use of slot machines. Natcher
closed them all, saying “the people of Warren County are against organized gambling and their
wishes are going to be carried out to the letter.” Later as Commonwealth’s Attorney, Natcher
would put slot machines on trial with a jury condemning them to be destroyed.

When a jilted suitor killed the parents of his rival in 1948, the case that made a house on
Cemetery Road famous as the Murder Mansion, William Natcher managed the preliminary
procedures in the prosecution and can be seen standing behind the killer in one photo.
When Natcher died in 1994 and was buried here in Bowling Green, President Clinton delivered
the eulogy.