Though LeRoy Pryor served — briefly — in the Army during World War II, the experience did not seem to leave him with a fond regard for all servicemen.
Sergeant John Dotson, a black soldier from nearby Camp Ellis, was beaten and mugged on the 200 block of North Washington Street, one block from the brothels run by the Pryor family. His two assailants netted an impressive amount of cash — $160 according to this article ($106 according to a court record).
LeRoy Pryor was arraigned by a Peoria grand jury as one of the two men guilty of the assault.
Curiously, Dotson was rooming at 105 Jackson Street — the same address where Richard’s Uncle Dickie and Aunt Maxine lived in 1941, and just across the street from the address where Richard’s mother Gertrude lived in 1941.